Belmont

Overview

Queen of the Nye County camps

In October 1865 a Native American prospector found rich silver ore in the Toquima Range, and by the next year miners from Austin, Ione and other camps were building Belmont. Unlike most Nevada camps it had wood, water, rock and clay close at hand, so people built in brick and stone. In February 1867 the town took the Nye County seat from Ione. It had a bank, a school, a telegraph office, newspapers and six mills at its peak. Estimates of the population run from 2,000 to wild claims of 15,000; Wikipedia notes the whole county didn't reach 9,000 until 1980.

Many people left for the White Pine rush in 1868 and 1869, then new ore in 1873 brought them back, and in 1876 the county finished a handsome brick courthouse. The mines closed in 1887 after more than $15 million. By 1900 only a few residents were left, the last newspaper quit in 1901, and in 1905 Tonopah took the county seat.

The whole town has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. A few people live here, some in newer houses, and the courthouse has been stabilized and partly restored. Brick and stone ruins line the road, and the stacks and walls of three mills stand at the edges of town and in East Belmont.

Video

Inside the courthouse, then the self-guided tour

A visitor staying in Tonopah walks into the courthouse when a group there invites him in, past graffiti-covered walls, the old safe and the exhibits. Then he follows the Friends' self-guided tour map along Spring and Main streets, from the bank and the Philadelphia House to the Cosmopolitan's brick front, the replica church and the Combination Mill's chimney, and ends at the cemetery and the campground. He reminds viewers that all the buildings are private and not to trespass. The history in the narration comes from the town's markers and tour map; the timeline below follows our other sources where they differ.

Play “Belmont Nevada: Former Rowdy Mining Town to Living Ghost Town with an Historic Courthouse” from YouTube

Timeline

From silver strike to historic district

1. Oct 1865A Native American prospector finds rich silver ore in the Toquima Range. Miners pour in from Austin, Ione and other camps the next year.
2. Feb 1867Belmont takes the Nye County seat from Ione. The post office opens on April 10, and the Cosmopolitan opens on April 29.
3. 1867–68The Monitor-Belmont Mill is built, then the 40-stamp Combination Mill, at a cost of $225,000.
4. 1868–69Many residents leave for the White Pine rush.
5. 1873–74New ore bodies revive the mines. The Belmont Courier begins printing in February 1874.
6. 1874A vigilante mob overpowers the sheriff and lynches two prisoners, Charlie McIntyre and Jack Walker, in the jail.
7. 1876The brick courthouse is finished. Sources date it from 1867 to 1876; most give 1876.
8. 1887The mines close after producing more than $15 million.
9. Mar 2, 1901The Belmont Courier, the last newspaper, stops printing.
10. 1905The county seat moves to Tonopah.
11. 1911–1922The post office closes on May 31, 1911, reopens from September 27, 1915, and closes for good on August 31, 1922.
12. 1915–17The Cameron Mill in East Belmont, built of bricks from the old Combination Mill, runs for two years.
13. 1940The census counts 28 people.
14. 1972Belmont is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 13.
15. 1974Nye County deeds the courthouse to Nevada State Parks.
16. 2012–13Control of the courthouse passes back to Nye County; the Friends of the Belmont Courthouse look after it.
17. Oct 21, 2023Photos show the courthouse, Main Street, the Philadelphia House and the fallen Cosmopolitan.
18. Apr 2026A video posted April 18 shows the courthouse open, with a group there inviting the creator in, a saloon serving on Main Street and the Philadelphia House standing.

The courthouse

A county seat's brick courthouse

The two-story brick courthouse went up in 1875 and 1876, by the Friends' account, and served Nye County until 1905. Dates differ: one older account says it was finished in 1874, and a 2008 newspaper story says 1867. After the county seat left, the building stood open for decades and lost its doors, windows, moldings and the flooring of one office to scavengers. Nye County deeded it to Nevada State Parks in 1974, and the state stabilized it and, in 2007, spent more than $500,000 to strengthen it against earthquakes. In 2012 and 2013 control passed back to Nye County, and the Friends of the Belmont Courthouse, a volunteer group, have rebuilt the front steps, put in new windows in 2014 and set the old jail cells back in place behind the courthouse, where they hadn't stood since 1942. They are raising money to rebuild the jail's back wall.

A legend. A door frame on the first floor carries graffiti reading "Charlie Manson + family 1969." Belmont's last full-time resident in 1969 said the Manson family squatted in the courthouse for a while; another local said she ran them off with a shotgun. The state archivist told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2008 that the story can't be verified. Treat it as a story.

Wikipedia says the courthouse is open to the public. The Friends' website offers a self-guided tour guide and a video tour but lists no tour dates for 2026, and the newest event on its events page is from 2016.

What's left

What you'll see

Belmont Road becomes Main Street in town. Along it are the brick arches and stone walls of old buildings, the bank of about 1868, the Courier printing office of about 1870, and houses from the 1860s and 1870s. The Cosmopolitan, which opened on April 29, 1867, collapsed around 1980 after vandals damaged it. The Philadelphia House, the stone Combination Mining Company office of 1867, later ran for about 15 years as the Belmont Inn and the Monitor Inn and is now under restoration, by Wikipedia's account. The courthouse stands on the slope at the west end of the old town, just above the Main Street ruins, with the jail cells behind it. Wikipedia places it south of the townsite; the maps and photo locations put it to the west.

The 20-stamp Monitor-Belmont Mill of 1867 is in ruins near town. In East Belmont the large brick stack of the Combination Mill still stands, near the ruins of the Cameron Mill, built in 1915 from the Combination's bricks.

The 1956 and 1962 USGS sheets in the next section mark Belmont at the edge of Monitor Valley, with ruins marked just south of the name; the 1962 sheet labels it abandoned.

• Nye County courthouse (1876) and jail cells
• Cosmopolitan ruins (1867)
• Bank building (about 1868)
• Courier printing office (about 1870)
• Philadelphia House (1867)
• Brick and stone business ruins
• Monitor-Belmont Mill ruins (1867)
• Combination Mill stack (1868)
• Cameron Mill ruins (1915)

Historic maps

Belmont on USGS maps, 1956–1962

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19561:250,00019621:250,000

Map & directions

Getting there

From Tonopah, take US 6 east, then SR 376 north, then Belmont Road, about 46 miles in all. From Las Vegas it's about 256 miles: US 95 north to Tonopah, then the same roads.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Belmont in photos

The courthouse, October 2009Belmont in 1871, by Timothy O'SullivanThe Combination Mill in 1871Canfield's mill in 1871The courthouse from the east, July 2014Belmont from the slope above town, July 2014Brick arches of a ruined building, with autumn cottonwoods behindBrick arches and stone walls beside the road, July 2014Stone walls and a brick doorway beside the road, July 2014The Belmont Saloon, July 2014The wooden welcome sign at the entrance to town, July 2014"Pavement ends" and "minimum maintenance" signs on Main Street, July 2014The brick stack in East Belmont, May 2005

Visitor reports

Been to Belmont?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Belmont

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Nevada index.

• Manhattan11.4 mi W · Nye
• Round Mountain13.0 mi NW · Nye
• Tybo30.0 mi SE · Nye
• Millett33.4 mi NW · Nye
• Potts36.4 mi N · Nye
• San Juan40.5 mi NW · Nye
• Tonopah41.2 mi SW · Nye
• Grantsville41.4 mi NW · Nye

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Belmont": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains), its histories (October 1865, the 1874 lynching, the 4,000 estimate, $15 million, the Courier's end on March 2, 1901, newer homes, no fuel or food), and its reprint of Henry Brean's Las Vegas Review-Journal story of May 22, 2008 on the Manson graffiti and the courthouse's history.
2. Wikipedia, "Belmont, Nevada", revision of September 1, 2026: the 1865 strike, the 1867 county seat, 1887, 1905, post office years, population claims, 1940, the Philadelphia House, the transfer to Nye County in 2012.
3. Wikipedia, "Belmont Courthouse State Historic Park", read October 24, 2026: 1876, 1974, 2012, open to the public, Pine Creek Campground, elevation.
4. Friends of the Belmont Courthouse, official site, with its history and past events pages, read October 24, 2026: the 1875–76 construction, the 1867 county seat, the 1972 National Register listing, the 2013 transfer, restoration work, contact details, no 2026 tour dates. Its history page dates the silver find to October 1875, which conflicts with its own 1867 county-seat date; we follow the other sources.
5. Nevada Expeditions, "Belmont", with photos dated August 4, 2018 and October 21, 2023: post office dates, the 1866 rush, building materials, the White Pine exodus, 1873–74, 1887, the bank, Courier office, Cosmopolitan and Philadelphia House.
6. Nevada Expeditions, "Belmont Mills", with photos dated 2018 and September 3, 2023: the Monitor-Belmont, Combination and Cameron mills.
7. Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, July 30, 2014: the end-of-pavement signs on Main Street and the paved Belmont Road south of town.
8. Friends of the Belmont Courthouse, "Rebuilding the Belmont Jail", read October 24, 2026: the cells set back behind the courthouse, gone since December 1942, and the fund drive for the back wall.
9. 10 Minutes to Explore, "Belmont Nevada: Former Rowdy Mining Town to Living Ghost Town with an Historic Courthouse", YouTube, posted April 18, 2026: the video on this page; the courthouse open, with a group there inviting the creator in, the saloon open, the buildings standing on the tour route, the private-property reminder.
10. Belmont Road surface and the courthouse location: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Land: BLM national surface management map, queried October 24, 2026 (private land at the town point, national forest next to it). Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The courthouse, October 2009: Vivaverdi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
• Belmont in 1871, by Timothy O'Sullivan: Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The Combination Mill in 1871: Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Canfield's mill in 1871: Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The courthouse from the east, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Belmont from the slope above town, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Brick arches of a ruined building, with autumn cottonwoods behind: Vivaverdi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
• Brick arches and stone walls beside the road, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Stone walls and a brick doorway beside the road, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Belmont Saloon, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The wooden welcome sign at the entrance to town, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• "Pavement ends" and "minimum maintenance" signs on Main Street, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The brick stack in East Belmont, May 2005: QKC, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain). Historic sheets: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Tonopah 1956, 1:250,000; Tonopah 1962, 1:250,000.