Deer Lodge Nevada
Deer Lodge Nevada Overview
Remnants of old mining relics, intact buildings, Hackett Ranch, and an old cemetery were used by residents of Deer Lodge in Lincoln, Nevada.
Deer Lodge included four saloons, a barbershop, a general store, a post office, bunkhouses for the miners, and a stage service.
We will add more details once we have documented the area.
Learn more about Ghost Towns in Nevada and Ghost Towns in the Southwest.
Managed By
Most of the area is privately owned.
The Nevada-Utah Line in 1897. Map from Special Collections, University of Nevada Reno Library.
Deer Lodge Nevada History
Deer Lodge and Fay Deer Lodge made headlines in 1896 when the main section of the town burned down. But a year later Deer Lodge was home to about 100 people, with a saloon, livery, and a general store. A post office soon followed.
In 1899, more promising discoveries were made about 1 ½ mile to the south, and activity shifted to what became the new town of Fay.
Fay prospered until mining ended in 1914.
George Moody, one of the leading citizens in the Eagle Valley District, was among the first successful prospectors. He helped write the district bylaws and served as a recorder for fourteen years. His family opened a general store in Deer Lodge and later moved the store to Fay. Moody also served as a deputy sheriff, school trustee, postmaster, and local census taker for the 1900 Census.
Edward Herbert Hackett began prospecting in the Deer Lodge area in 1896. He was involved in a number of mining operations, including the Homestake Mine. The Hacketts built a log home in Deer Lodge, where the family continued cattle ranching once the mines had shut down.
Veronica DeVany Elliott described the Deer Lodge School, where she took a teaching position for the 1926-1927 school year. Mr. Everest Hackett had been looking for someone to open a school there because they had managed to get 5 children together—that’s what it took to [open a school then]. So they let me know and I went up to Deer Lodge to teach. The Deer Lodge school was a two-room log building, with blackboards salvaged from the abandoned Fay schoolhouse, and a bedroom in the back with a little woodstove. I really lived more in the schoolroom than I did in the bedroom. All I had in the bedroom was a bed and a small chest of drawers. It was tiny.
The Pioche Record – Pioche, Nevada · Thursday, July 23, 1896 | Deer Lodge in Ashes. Deer Lodge has followed in the wake of other mining towns, and has received its baptism of fire, and it now lie in ashes. Deer Lodge is in the new mining district of Eagle Valley, and preparations had been made to do a great deal of work there which will now have to be suspended for the time being. The fire broke out on Wednesday the 15th inst. and is a severe blow to the mine promoters. We have received the following particulars: On Wednesday the 15th inst., a fire broke out in the office of the field Bug Mining Company, owned by Messrs. Lytles, Hammonds and Moody, which rapidly spread to the assay office on the east, the blacksmith shop on the west and to W. S. Bennett’s residence, which stood nearby, and in spite of the efforts of Mr. Bennett, he being the only one there, the whole was soon reduced to ashes. Mr. Bennet succeeded in saving most of the valuable articles, but the loss was felt keenly by the owners, as they were intending to resume work on their valuable mining property, which will be temporarily delayed. Loss $1000, no insurance.
Timeline
- May 9, 1897 – Deer Lodge was established.
- July 23, 1896 – Fire broke out in the office of the Bug Mining Company
- March 22, 1898 – Deer Lodge Post Office opened
- 1899 – More promising discoveries were made about 1 ½ miles to the south, and activity shifted to what became the new town of Fay.
- October 15, 1900 – The post office closed and Fay served the surrounding area
Post Office
March 22, 1898, through October 15, 1900, and then the Fay post office continued serving the surrounding area until 1924.
Elevation
6,880′
GPS Coordinates
37°54’29.7″N 114°04’10.8″W
The population of Deer Lodge Nevada
The population of Deer Lodge was estimated at 220 residents in 1900.
References Used
- 1900 United State Federal Census as reference for District 0027 – Deer Lodge – Lincoln County, Nevada
- National System of Public Lands | US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management – Deer Lodge and Fay – Mining Town Life on the Nevada-Utah Line
- Tingley, Joseph V. Mining Districts of Nevada, 1998
Deer Lodge Nevada