Manhattan

Overview

A gold camp that kept a few people

Manhattan sits in a gulch on the west side of the Toquima Range, at the end of State Route 377 above Big Smoky Valley. Silver prospectors organized a district here in 1867 and left within a few years. In the spring of 1905 John Humphrey, out looking for cattle, picked up gold-bearing rock beside the old road to Belmont, and the rush that followed filled the gulch with tents. By December there were 75 frame buildings and about 800 people. Travel Nevada and a placard quoted by Wikipedia put the boom at 4,000.

The San Francisco earthquake of April 1906 nearly emptied the town, because San Francisco money had paid for much of it, and the Panic of 1907 closed one of its banks. Manhattan kept coming back. Leasers worked the lode mines, hydraulic placer mining began in 1909, and a floating dredge chewed its way up Manhattan Gulch in the late 1930s and 1940s. The state marker puts the district's output at over $10 million. Open pits below town produced about 236,000 ounces of gold between 1974 and 1990.

People never left entirely. Wikipedia gives a population of 124 in 2005, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal counted about 125 permanent residents plus seasonal ones with second homes in 2007 and about 50 in 2011. Travel Nevada calls it a living ghost town; the Review-Journal counts it among Nevada's surviving ghost towns, kept alive by small populations. Both labels fit. Occupied houses and the post office stand alongside a roofless stone bank, empty false-front stores, old shafts and mine dumps. A YouTuber who drove through in spring 2026 found the bar and motel closed and saw no one about. And the mining isn't over. In October 2026 Scorpio Gold reported drilling across the district and said it is looking at reopening the Goldwedge mine underground.

Video

A spring 2026 drive through Manhattan

On a cold, windy spring day the creator drives Main Street and the side streets from the car. The video passes Humphrey Park and its sign, the Emporium front of the Manhattan Bar, the school, the post office, the Manhattan Country Store, false-front buildings, headframes on the hills and the terraced pit walls beside the road. At the bank ruin he films the vault door through the open doorway. It ends on the graded dirt road over the hills toward Belmont. The narration's history follows Travel Nevada. It says Humphrey found gold on April Fools' Day 1905; McCracken says the April Fool claim was named for April 1 and the rich ore was found that June. Bar, motel and road details are as of the creator's visit.

Play “Manhattan Nevada is Rich in Silver and Gold History” from YouTube

Timeline

Boom, bust, dredge and drill

1. 1866–1867George Nicholl finds silver ore near Timber Mountain, about 16 miles southwest of Belmont, and the Manhattan Mining District is organized the next year.
2. 1869–1871Little work is done after 1869. George Wheeler's survey finds the district abandoned in 1871.
3. Spring 1905John C. Humphrey, a rancher's son looking for cattle, finds gold-bearing rock beside the old Belmont road. The claim is named the April Fool, for April 1, and the find sits on April Fool Hill in the middle of today's town.
4. Aug–Dec 1905About 500 people and 3,000 claims by August. A post office opens late in the year, and by December there are 75 frame buildings and about 800 people.
5. Apr 6, 1906Nye County Sheriff Thomas W. Logan is shot dead outside the Jewell, a Manhattan brothel. A Tonopah jury acquits the gambler Walter Barieau in July, after a defense by the young Pat McCarran.
6. Apr 1906The San Francisco earthquake cuts off the town's money. Within two weeks Manhattan is almost empty; one account counts about 100 people in May.
7. 1906The Nye and Ormsby County Bank builds the only stone building in Manhattan, at the corner of Main and 1st streets.
8. 1907The Panic closes the Manhattan branch of the Nye and Ormsby County Bank. Three 10-stamp mills are running.
9. 1908St. Stephen's, an 1874 Catholic church, is moved from Belmont and renamed the Sacred Heart Mission. Manhattan counts 368 registered voters.
10. 1909Hydraulic placer mining starts in Manhattan Gulch. The state marker counts 13 mines and 16 placers. Outside electric power arrives.
11. 1911The peak year for the lode mines, at just over 20,000 ounces of gold.
12. 1912The Manhattan School is built.
13. 1935–1941The Reliance Mine yields $1,077,939. The district's two biggest producers were the dredge and the White Caps mine.
14. 1938–1947A floating bucket-line dredge works its way up Manhattan Gulch. The state marker says dredging lasted 13 years from 1938; Robert McCracken's history has the dredge dismantled in 1947.
15. 1940The post office moves out of the old bank building, by McCracken's account.
16. 1974–1990Open pits just below town produce about 236,000 ounces of gold.
17. 1976The road in, now SR 377, is paved. Nye County takes ownership of the church.
18. 2021Scorpio Gold buys the Kinross Manhattan property, consolidating the district's old mines.
19. Oct 14, 2026Scorpio Gold reports 122 holes drilled in its second phase and says it is studying an underground restart at the Goldwedge mine.

April 1906

The shooting of Sheriff Logan

Thomas W. Logan had been sheriff of Nye County since 1899 and was, by every account, well liked. On April 6, 1906, he was at the Jewell, a brothel on Manhattan's Main Street run by May Briggs. Walter Barieau, who ran the craps table at the Monarch Saloon, was there too. Briggs said Barieau was drunk and hurt her wrist when she told him to leave, and that Logan came to help. Shots were fired through the front door and in the street. Logan was hit four times, beat Barieau senseless with his own gun, which a musician fetched from inside, and died before a doctor arrived.

At the trial in Tonopah that July, Barieau said a stranger in a nightshirt had attacked him and he fired in self-defense. One of his lawyers, the young Pat McCarran, turned the case against the dead sheriff by showing the gifts Logan had bought Briggs. After 17 hours the jury acquitted Barieau. McCarran went on to the Nevada Supreme Court and the US Senate. Logan's grave in the old Tonopah cemetery says he was "shot to death in front of the Jewell Saloon lower Main Street, Manhattan." This account follows Robert McCracken's 2008 history for Nye County, which draws on the Tonopah papers of 1906.

What's there

What's lived in, what's ruined

Lived in. Manhattan is a small town with residents, and most buildings with a roof are in use. The post office at 17 Main Street was open in October 2026, by the Postal Service's own locator. Houses, cabins and trailers line Main Street and the side streets, and the homes are private. The Manhattan Bar, which the Review-Journal dated to 1906, added a four-unit motel in 2004; McCracken dates the motel to about 2005. On a spring 2026 visit (video posted April 21, 2026) the bar and motel were closed, and the creator says the bar's Facebook page announced in October 2023 that it was temporarily closed and would reopen under new owners. He saw no other open business and no people. The Miner's Saloon and the Manhattan Country Store stood on Main Street in the 2014 photos; we found no current hours for either. The 1912 school held a library and museum in 2007, by McCracken's account, and the 2026 video calls it a library. A small park on Main Street, Humphrey Park, carries a sign for John C. Humphrey and April Fools' Day 1905.

The church. The little church on the hill above Main Street was built in Belmont in 1874 as St. Stephen's and moved here in 1908 as the Sacred Heart Mission. The Review-Journal gave 1906 in 2011. Its pews, altar and bell are gone, volunteers restored it in 1971, and the Catholic Church gave it to Nye County in 1976. The county still owned it in 2007. The 2026 video shows it from below, a small wooden church with a belfry and cross. We found no source on whether it opens to visitors.

Ruined. The Nye and Ormsby County Bank, a one-story building of dressed stone with its door set into the corner of Main and 1st streets, was built in 1906, the only stone building in town (Buildings of Nevada dates it about 1906 to 1907). It closed in 1907. It later housed the post office until 1940 and stood roofless in a 2006 photo, with its vault door still in place. The April 2026 video films the same vault door through the open doorway. A photographer who photographed the bank on May 18, 2026 reported that its front wall collapsed three days later, around May 21; we have found no other report of it yet. Travel Nevada says going in is dangerous and the safe can be seen from the street. Farther along Main Street stand abandoned false-front wooden buildings clad in clapboard and corrugated metal, which the architectural guide Buildings of Nevada describes, and which still stood in the 2014 photos. We found no source on who owns them.

Mines and claims. The old workings are all around town. A 60- to 70-foot shaft on the April Fool claim sat behind the old post office in 2008. The open pits of the 1970s and 1980s lie at the lower, west end of town beside SR 377, and dredge tailings fill Manhattan Gulch below them. Old headframes stand on the hillsides, and the 2026 video passes the terraced pit walls and a fenced, signed area beside the road. This ground is still claimed. Scorpio Gold holds the Manhattan district, about 4,780 hectares including the Goldwedge mine and four old pits, and in October 2026 it had drill results pending and a sonic drilling program on the old heap leach, tailings pond and low-grade stockpile due to start that month. The Bureau of Land Management doesn't allow rock collecting on active mining claims, and Nevada's Division of Minerals warns that old shafts, adits and pits are unstable and hard to see. Stay on the roads.

What you can see legally. Main Street is the public road through town, and the bank ruin, the old storefronts and the church on the hillside above the old business district can be seen from it. Travel Nevada pointed visitors to the safe from the street; since the bank's front wall collapsed in May 2026, keep well back from it. The cemetery, which the old maps call Mount Moriah, lies west of town on the topographic sheets; we found no source on access to it. Side streets are graded or dirt; the 2026 creator found them fine for a passenger car in town.

The 1907 USGS sheet below shows Manhattan with its rival camps, Central, East Manhattan and North Manhattan. The 1962 sheet marks Mt. Moriah Cemetery and several workings as abandoned, and the 1971 sheet names the Nellie Gray mine to the west and the Big Four and Stray Dog mines on Gold Hill. By 1985 the map shows dredge tailings down Manhattan Gulch and East Manhattan as a site.

• Post office (open, 2026)
• Manhattan Bar and motel (closed, spring 2026)
• Humphrey Park
• Miner's Saloon
• Occupied homes
• Sacred Heart church (1874, moved 1908)
• Manhattan School (1912)
• Nye and Ormsby County Bank ruin
• False-front wooden buildings
• April Fool shaft
• Open pits and dredge tailings
• Mount Moriah cemetery

Historic maps

Manhattan on USGS maps, 1907–1985

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.

19071:250,00019561:250,00019621:250,00019711:24,00019851:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Tonopah is the nearest city. The route runs east on US 6, north up Big Smoky Valley on SR 376, and east on SR 377, which ends in town. From Las Vegas it's US 95 north through Beatty, Goldfield and Tonopah first. State historical marker No. 97, Manhattan, stands at the junction of SR 376 and SR 377.

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

Photos

Manhattan in photos

Main Street, looking west, July 2014The vault door in the bank ruin, July 2006An empty false-front building on Main Street, July 2014The "Manhattan Storage" building, July 2014Main Street, looking west past houses and old buildings, July 2014The post office, a small yellow building with a flagpole, July 2014The Miner's Saloon, July 2014The Manhattan Country Store, July 2014The Manhattan Bar, August 2007The gravel road from Belmont entering town from the east, July 2014The town sign, July 2006Henry Dodge's mercantile store, 1906

Visitor reports

Been to Manhattan?

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.

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Nearby

Other sites near Manhattan

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

• Belmont11.4 mi E · Nye
• Round Mountain11.8 mi N · Nye
• Millett33.4 mi N · Nye
• Tonopah33.7 mi S · Nye
• Grantsville34.2 mi NW · Nye
• Millers34.7 mi SW · Esmeralda
• Archer34.7 mi S · Nye
• Berlin37.2 mi NW · Nye

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Manhattan": fact sheet fields (county, road, post office opening, remains, the 1905 population figures).
2. Wikipedia, "Manhattan, Nevada", retrieved October 2026: coordinates (GNIS), elevation, 1867 and 1871, the bank built in 1906 as the town's only stone building, the 4,000 figure from the bank placard, the 2005 population of 124, the two bars, climate.
3. Robert D. McCracken, Manhattan: The Land of Heart's Desire (Nye County Press, 2008), read on the Nye County History site: the 1866 and 1905 discoveries, 1905 growth, the earthquake and Panic, the mines and mills, production figures, the dredge, the church, the Logan shooting, and the 2007 photo tour (school, bank as post office until 1940, motel, pits).
4. Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, marker No. 97, "Manhattan, The Pine Tree Camp": April Fool Hill, the 1905 post office, 13 mines and 16 placers, hydraulic placering from 1909, dredging from 1938, over $10 million produced.
5. Nevada Historic Markers, No. 97: the marker's location at the SR 376 and SR 377 junction.
6. SAH Archipedia, "Main Street (NV 377)", from Julie Nicoletta's Buildings of Nevada: the bank's construction (about 1906 to 1907) and corner entrance, the ruined and abandoned false-front buildings.
7. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Belmont, Manhattan offer ghost town experience off the beaten track", August 12, 2007: about 125 permanent residents plus seasonal ones, the church moved in 1908, Manhattan among the surviving ghost towns.
8. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Visiting three ghosts in Central Nevada", August 21, 2011: about 50 residents, most buildings in ruins, the post office, church, Miner's Saloon and Manhattan Bar, the motel added in 2004, the paved and graded roads.
9. Travel Nevada, "Manhattan Ghost Town" (undated), read October 2026: "living ghost town", about 125 residents, the bank ruin dangerous to enter with its safe visible from the street, the church, the Manhattan Bar & Motel.
10. USPS Find Locations, ZIP 89022, checked October 22, 2026: the Manhattan post office at 17 Main St, retail hours.
11. Scorpio Gold news release, October 14, 2026 (Newsfile release 318846, as reprinted): Phase Two drilling, the possible underground restart at Goldwedge, the planned sonic drilling, the 4,780-hectare district bought from Kinross in 2021, about 700,000 oz of historic production.
12. Mining.com, "Scorpio Gold to acquire Manhattan property claims in Nevada", from The Northern Miner (undated online; first printed July 20, year not given): the Reliance mine and the east and west pits, 236,000 oz produced in 1974–1990.
13. Bureau of Land Management, "Rockhounding on Public Lands": no collecting on active mining claims.
14. Nevada Division of Minerals, Abandoned Mine Lands: the hazards of old shafts, adits and pits.
15. Wikipedia, "Nevada State Route 377": length, route and 1976 paving.
16. 10 Minutes to Explore, "Manhattan Nevada is Rich in Silver and Gold History", YouTube, posted April 21, 2026: a spring visit; the bar and motel closed, no open businesses or people seen, Humphrey Park, the school as a library, the church, the bank's vault door, the pits, the end of the pavement and the 16-mile road to Belmont (the video on this page).
17. r/GhostTowns, "Manhattan, Nevada. (OC)", a visitor's own photo of the Nye and Ormsby County Bank dated May 18, 2026, posted about July 2026: captioned three days before the bank's front wall collapsed, so around May 21, 2026.
18. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Main Street, looking west, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The vault door in the bank ruin, July 2006: Vivaverdi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
• An empty false-front building on Main Street, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The "Manhattan Storage" building, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Main Street, looking west past houses and old buildings, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The post office, a small yellow building with a flagpole, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Miner's Saloon, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Manhattan Country Store, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Manhattan Bar, August 2007: Pgarlandd, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The gravel road from Belmont entering town from the east, July 2014: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The town sign, July 2006: Viva-Verdi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Henry Dodge's mercantile store, 1906: E. W. Smith, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• 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 1907, 1:250,000; Tonopah 1956, 1:250,000; Tonopah 1962, 1:250,000; Manhattan 1971, 1:24,000; Ione Valley 1985, 1:100,000.