Transvaal Nevada

Transvaal Nevada

Transvaal Nevada Overview

Transvaal was a mining district in Nye County, Nevada.

Also known as Nyopolis.

Learn more about Ghost Town in Nevada and Ghost Towns in the Southwest.

Year Established/Founded

March 1906

Transvaal Nevada History

Following the gold discoveries of 1906, a tent city quickly grew but before anything permanent could be established the deposits proved superficial and the miners abandoned the area.

No structures remain at Transvaal and the site is marked by prospects and a few mine shafts.

Timeline

We have found conflicting information about how long this district existed and are trying to untangle the references before sharing here.

• February 1906 – Gold discovered.
• April 6, 1906 – Transvaal – Since last Wednesday every available mode of conveyance has been utilized by prospectors and claim hunters in going to the Transvaal stroke about 20 miles northeast of Rhyolite. Some of the surface float was brought in Monday and from pannings was estimated to run about $50 per ton. The Goldfield News and Weekly Tribune, Goldfield, Nevada, April 6, 1906, Friday – Page 13
• September 29, 1906 –  TRANSVAAL – Ore has been uncovered in two different crosscuts from the west drift at the Transvaal. Recent assays of the material gave returns of $5 and $15 respectively. On the Congo claim, 600 feet west of the Transvaal shaft, a new eight-foot vein has been discovered which gave an average assay value of $10, with a small streak running $66. D. C. Probasen has been placed in charge of development. The Goldfield News and Weekly Tribune • Goldfield, Nevada • 29 Sep 1906, Sat • Page 10

Mines

Gold and mercury.

Railroads

Unknown at this time.

Post Office

None.

View the list and history of Nevada Post Offices.

Newspaper

Transvaal Miner Apr 14, 1906

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The Population of Transvaal Nevada

Unknown at this time.

Elevation

Unknown at this time.

Location

Location mentions from resources:

• The district is located north of upper Beatty Wash, about 15 miles northeast of Beatty. 
• Transvaal lies north of Beatty Wash, just north of Yucca Mountain and southwest of Timber Mountain.

GPS Coordinates

37°1’0.08″ N -116°35’15.144″ E

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Photos and Videos

There are many newspaper articles on this mining district and below are a few until we take the time to go through them all and find out what has “nuggets” to share.

TRANSVAAL FIND EXPANDS SOUTHERN LIMIT OF CAMP

Pay ore was opened up this week on the property of the Transvaal Nevada Gold Mining company, and marks the extension of the productive belt of the camp over a vast area bounded by the Great Bend company’s holdings, three miles to the north of Goldfield, the Rochester estate, five miles east of Goldfield and the Transvaal acreage, 514 miles south of Goldfield.

The Transvaal people have 2 feet of $200 rock most of which shows a liberal sprinkling of free gold. Picked samples run well up toward the $1,000 mark. The ore breaks well and although but a few days have passed since the strike was made quite a large tonnage has been mined.

The ledge has an almost due north and south trend and is composed of a lime spar which is rapidly making into a hard, flinty quartz. It was tapped on its dip in the shaft at a depth of 30 feet and is to be followed down to the 30 foot level where a drift will be sent out along its course.

About a quarter of a mile south of the Transvaal holdings the Barry Gold Mines Corporation is preparing to develop the Potter group of claims which has the extension of the Transvaal ledge.

Fever Is Catching.

Under the above caption the Bullfrog Miner says:

Senator T. L. Oddie this morning wired cash to F. H. Luetzens with instructions to the latter gentleman to take an option on two claims on the north extension of the Transvaal. The claims have 300 feet of the Transvaal ledge.

F. O. Frazier, Owen Young and Tom Murphy on Thursday purchased three claims adjoining the Transvaal on the south from Chafey and Probasco. The showings on the Transvaal sold the ground, which has 3,000 feet of the ledge of that property. The purchase will be handled by the Transvaal Ex tension mining company, just organized.

Still another good-sized deal, as the result of the Transvaal strike, was made by Lawrence Guisti, who gave an option to W. C. Morris, of Montana-Tonopah fame, on a group of ten claims near the Transvaal.

Mr. Morris also bought the Raymond property, one and a half miles northeast of Beatty.

Beatty Strike is Sensational.

The strike made 15 miles northeast of Beatty, as mentioned in last Saturday’s Bonanza, is proving one of the greatest ever made in the Bullfrog district. Ore is being sacked at the grassroots and the lucky owners of the ground the Transvaal, are securing pannings of long strings of coarse gold from loose Burface dirt. For 200 feet the pay shoot has been opened up and the assays show that the ground is of phenomenal richness. For a surface showing 60 feet wide it eclipses anything heretofore discovered in the Bullfrog section.

Teams, burro outfits, saddle horses and men afoot have been streaming out to the strike all the past week, prospecting and locating the surrounding country. The ledge is being crosscut with a surface trench to ascertain its full width. Three leases have been let on the ground, one on the Remittance claim adjoining it on the east and one on the Regal on the north and one on the south end of the Transvaal. There is a regular network of veins on the ground. The pay shoot occurs in a big northeast and southwest fault fissure, a true fissure vein, where it is intersected by a number of cross faults. The main Transvaal vein runs up into the Eastern Contact ground on the north, and runs parallel to the big Cleaver vein on that property. It is also traced for several thousand feet to the south of the Transvaal Extension Mining company’s ground. There is also another big parallel northeast and southwest vein in the immediate neighborhood and numerous intersecting cross veins appear on the Eastern Contact and Transvaal Extension, as well on the Transvaal. Good values am’ pannings have already been found on the Eastern Contact, and traces of coarse gold have been found in the washes and on several other claims. The probability for opening up a chain of great mines in that section seems most wonderful. As it is, the Transvaal strike itself promises to be a maker of history in the gold producing world.

According to the Beatty Bullfrog MinerGeorgeJProbasco who made the strike is superintendent of the company. He and E. S. Chafey hold heavy interests. The other principal owners being J. C. McCormack, R. W. Gorrill and Bullfrog Investment Co. Messrs. Probasco and Chafey laid out a townsite this week and sold $12,000 worth of lota, the very first day they were put on the market. There are 500 people in the new camp already and buildings are going up in every direction.

Senator Oddie and F. J. Leutjens have bonded the properties adjoining the strike and have made a cash payment of 30,000 on them. It is rumored that the Transvaal ground has been bonded for $300,000 and that $30,000 has been paid down, but we are unable to at the present to confirm the truth of the report.

References Used

• Tingley, Joseph V., Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 47 – Mining Districts of Nevada, page 229
• Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Item 34
• Newspapers.com

Transvaal Nevada