Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad
The dawn of the 20th century witnessed a seismic shift in the economic and social landscape of southern and central Nevada, driven by the burgeoning mining booms at Tonopah, Goldfield, and Rhyolite. These burgeoning camps, teeming with promise and the allure of riches, quickly outstripped the capabilities of traditional mule teams and freighters to meet their ever-growing demands. This surge in activity acted as a potent catalyst, drawing railroads into this previously isolated region of Nevada for the first time. The enticing prospect of substantial profits from these newly established camps proved irresistible, sparking the creation of new rail lines. Fortuitously, the geographic alignment of these camps along a rough north-south axis further facilitated the development of a cohesive railroad network spanning Nevada.
The construction of such a railroad, however, represented a considerable financial undertaking. Initial traffic volumes in the early 1900s simply didn’t justify the construction of a single, unified line. Instead, the north-south route evolved organically, connected by a series of independent railroads built incrementally from one camp to another. By the time the Bullfrog boom gained significant momentum, this piecemeal approach was already well underway.
The Tonopah Railroad Company, recognizing the burgeoning potential, completed its line into Tonopah from the north in July 1904. This crucial link connected the mining camp with the broader transportation network via the Southern Pacific Railroad, utilizing the Nevada & California Railway and the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Within a year, as Tonopah and Goldfield firmly established themselves as reliable producers and Rhyolite appeared poised to follow suit, plans began to coalesce for extending these rail connections southward. The Tonopah Railroad underwent a transformation, becoming the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad in late 1905. Shortly thereafter, construction commenced, pushing the line south from Tonopah towards Goldfield, further solidifying the region’s connectivity.
The completion of a railroad line to Tonopah, strategically positioned halfway between Carson City and Las Vegas, marked the finalization of the northern connection. Meanwhile, the visionary entrepreneur Francis "Borax" Smith, renowned for his borax mining ventures, conceived a grand plan to construct a railroad that would link his borax mines, scattered across southern Nevada and southeastern California, to the wider world. The existing reliance on twenty-mule team borax wagons had become economically unsustainable. With Senator William Clark’s completion of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad in January 1905, Smith saw an opportunity to connect his mines to this vital artery in Las Vegas, giving rise to the formation of the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad.
However, a strategic maneuver by Clark disrupted Smith’s plans. Clark, driven by his own ambitions, decided to extend his railroad line into the northern gold camps. This decision effectively broke his previous agreement with Smith and led to the creation of a rival enterprise: the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad. Both railroads now fiercely competed to reach the lucrative Bullfrog District and extend their reach beyond to Goldfield and Tonopah, each vying to capitalize on the immense potential of the burgeoning mining camps.
Clark was the first to formally establish his enterprise. His engineers conducted a preliminary survey of the route from Las Vegas to Tonopah in early 1905, completing the survey by late February. The proposed line was designed to run north towards the Bullfrog District, but with a strategic detour that bypassed Rhyolite, instead opting to pass through Beatty. The route via Beatty offered a comparatively flat and smooth terrain, minimizing the substantial construction costs that would have been necessary to navigate the mountainous terrain into Rhyolite. After several months of intense negotiations with Borax Smith, who was forced to shift his operations from Las Vegas on the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake line to Ludlow, California, where he could connect with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, construction on both railroads commenced in the fall of 1905.
Almost concurrently, a third player entered the fray. John Brock, representing the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad, also recognized the immense potential of the Bullfrog District and announced the formation of yet another railroad company. This new venture was intended as a nominal extension of the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad, designed to extend its lines southward from Goldfield into the heart of the Bullfrog District. It quickly became apparent to all stakeholders that the railroad capable of completing its line first would hold a decisive advantage, sparking a fierce and relentless race for completion.
In January 1906, the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad laid its first rails north of Las Vegas, achieving a milestone of twenty-four miles of completed track by February. Rhyolite, initially enthusiastic about the prospect of being connected to three railroads, soon became apprehensive that linking at Beatty, a mere four miles away, would jeopardize its own prosperity. To prevent being relegated to a mere branch line, Rhyolite’s leaders initiated negotiations with the railroad, seeking to secure an extension of the main line directly through their town. In exchange, Rhyolite committed to securing the necessary property rights and right-of-way. Despite the significantly higher construction costs associated with this route – comparable to building the entire 115 miles from Las Vegas to Beatty – the railroad believed that the investment would ultimately prove worthwhile. Direct access would enable more mines to ship their ore without incurring the additional transportation costs to Beatty, thereby boosting freight profits. Furthermore, the railroad anticipated increased passenger traffic from individuals heading directly to Rhyolite rather than Beatty. Despite the need to attach extra engines to assist trains in climbing the steep grade from Beatty to Rhyolite, the railroad remained convinced that the decision was a sound one.
The Rhyolite Board of Trade put the proposal to a vote of the town’s citizens, who overwhelmingly approved the plan. The town formally announced that it would provide all necessary rights of way and property rights to the railroad, contingent upon the railroad guaranteeing that the route through Rhyolite would be a through route, not merely a branch line. The Las Vegas & Tonopah concurred, and the plans were formalized. Adding to the elation of the Bullfrog residents, the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad, which had recently incorporated to build south from Goldfield, also announced that its terminus would be in Rhyolite. This railroad, however, opted to avoid the hilly terrain between Beatty and Rhyolite. Instead, it planned to build to Beatty and then swing south around the hills, before hooking back north to enter Rhyolite from the south.
Construction on the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad proceeded at a rapid pace throughout the early part of 1906. By March, fifty-three miles of track had been laid, and graders were actively working eighty-four miles north of Las Vegas. To the southeast, Borax Smith’s Tonopah and Tidewater railroad was making slow progress out of Ludlow. However, it appeared increasingly likely that the Las Vegas & Tonopah would win the race to the Bullfrog District. By mid-June, the Las Vegas & Tonopah had completed its grade into Beatty, although the rails were still twenty-nine miles short of the town. The Tonopah and Tidewater had extended its rails 75 miles out from Ludlow, but the intense summer heat brought construction work to a temporary halt. In the meantime, the Bullfrog-Goldfield finally commenced work on its line on May 8, although initial progress was slow.
The Las Vegas & Tonopah surveyed and laid out its rail yards at Gold Center, which would serve as a central hub for making up trains and where northbound trains would pick up extra engines to negotiate the climb from Beatty to Rhyolite. The future grade was surveyed through Rhyolite, extending westward around the Bullfrog Hills, and then northward towards Mud Summit. This 16-mile stretch, known as the "high line," was expected to be the most challenging section of construction on the entire line between Las Vegas and Goldfield. After cresting the ridge at Mud Summit, the remaining sixty or so miles were relatively flat and smooth. The surveying of this line dispelled persistent rumors that the Las Vegas & Tonopah would terminate at Rhyolite and rely on the Bullfrog-Goldfield to handle northbound traffic.
Grading work on the "high line" between Beatty and Rhyolite commenced during August 1906, and the rails steadily crept up the already completed grade towards Beatty. On October 7, 1906, the first work train pulled into Gold Center on the completed tracks. Two weeks later, the railroad was completed as far as Beatty. Clark had emerged victorious in the race, entering the Bullfrog District a full six months ahead of his competitors. Beatty, in customary fashion, hosted a wild and grand Railroad Day Festival, and all Bullfrog residents joined in the celebration, marking their town’s long-awaited connection to the outside world.
In mid-November, work began on laying rails between Beatty and Rhyolite. On December 14, the first Las Vegas & Tonopah train arrived in Rhyolite. This marked the beginning of freight shipments of lumber, supplies, and mining equipment, significantly reducing the high freight rates previously charged by mule-team transports across the desert. Rhyolite quickly transformed from a tent city into a more permanent town, with over one hundred freight cars occupying the yard within a week. After some initial logistical adjustments, the Las Vegas & Tonopah extended its tracks through the town, but temporarily suspended further construction pending the completion of grading work in Goldfield.
In March 1907, regular Pullman service commenced between Los Angeles and Rhyolite, providing a new level of comfort and convenience for travelers. As grading around Goldfield progressed, Rhyolite solidified its position on the main railroad line. In April, the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad completed its line into Beatty, effectively completing the north-south rail line through Nevada. Although passengers still needed to change trains five times between Carson City and Las Vegas, they could now travel with greater speed and comfort.
By the end of May 1907, the grading of the Las Vegas & Tonopah line to Goldfield was nearing completion, and track-laying resumed. In June, the railroad gradually extended out of Rhyolite, around the Bullfrog Hills, and towards Goldfield. By mid-August, the rails were completed through the entire Bullfrog District and extended as far north as Bonnie Claire, approximately one-third of the way between Rhyolite and Goldfield. Construction continued despite the financial difficulties brought about by the Panic of 1907. On October 26, the ceremonial final spike was driven at Goldfield, marking the completion of the Las Vegas & Tonopah line. However, the atmosphere was subdued, and few citizens were in the mood to celebrate, given the prevailing economic anxieties.
Four days later, the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad entered Gold Center from the south and linked its tracks with the Bullfrog-Goldfield. Unsurprisingly, the two railroads soon announced plans for cooperation, creating two complete southern lines serving Goldfield and the Bullfrog District. Passengers and shippers now had multiple options for travel and transport. They could travel from Goldfield to Las Vegas via the Las Vegas & Tonopah, providing connections to the West Coast and the Rocky Mountains, or they could take the Bullfrog-Goldfield to Beatty and switch to the Tonopah & Tidewater for the journey to Ludlow, California, with similar east-west connections at the southern terminus. Although the Las Vegas & Tonopah was the first railroad to reach the district, the Tonopah & Tidewater immediately gained a competitive advantage due to its quicker and more economical connections to the West Coast. The Las Vegas & Tonopah countered this by advertising that its route went "all the way," sparing passengers the inconvenience of changing trains in Beatty.
With the race concluded, the competing railroads settled into the business of hauling supplies, equipment, and ore, hoping that the market would justify the substantial construction costs. The Las Vegas & Tonopah focused on improvements to its property, including the rail yards at Rhyolite and its passenger station, which was completed in June 1908. While passenger traffic ultimately failed to justify the construction of such a grand station, the company capitalized on the publicity generated by owning what was widely regarded as one of the showplaces of the southern Nevada desert.
Unfortunately, traffic volumes on all the railroads serving the Bullfrog District proved to be lower than anticipated. The district never achieved the production levels predicted during the boom years. The Las Vegas & Tonopah managed to turn a small profit during its first year of operation, but that proved to be its last profitable year. The decision to utilize the "high line" to access the mines of the Bullfrog Hills saddled the Las Vegas & Tonopah with higher operating expenses than its competitors. All northbound trains were required to stop at Beatty and add an extra engine to navigate the climb into Rhyolite. The ore production from the high line never reached the projected levels, leaving the railroad with high construction costs but without the anticipated profits from heavy ore shipments.
The Bullfrog-Goldfield and Tonopah & Tidewater railroads faced similar challenges. However, their shorter, cheaper routes to the West Coast allowed them to maintain higher shipping volumes than the Las Vegas & Tonopah. Borax Smith’s monopoly on ore shipments from his borax mines along the Tonopah & Tidewater significantly boosted its revenues. All the railroads also struggled with poor public relations. Following the initial railroad celebrations, miners and businessmen began to complain about high freight rates. As mines produced lower-grade ores, these rates felt increasingly exploitative. While the miners had a valid point – many operations were unprofitable – the Bullfrog District mines often needed free shipping to survive. Despite occasional rate reductions, discontent persisted, fueled by the perception that the railroads were reaping excessive profits. This sentiment resulted in heavy taxes on their properties. For instance, the Las Vegas & Tonopah paid Nye County nearly $11,942.70 in taxes by the end of 1907.
The decline of the Bullfrog railroads, particularly the Las Vegas & Tonopah, mirrored the downturn of the Bullfrog District itself. As mines closed, passenger and freight traffic dwindled, impacting supply demands. While Goldfield and Tonopah outlasted Rhyolite, they too began to experience declines by the 1910s. In 1911, the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad proposed selling its line to the Las Vegas & Tonopah, which would have provided a direct route across much of Nevada. Senator Clark expressed interest in the deal but became less focused on business after the tragic death of his son on the Titanic in April 1912, and the potential acquisition was eventually abandoned.
The situation deteriorated, and it became clear that the three competing lines would likely fail unless they were somehow consolidated. The smallest of the three, the Bullfrog-Goldfield, was the first to take action, but its attempt to sell itself to the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad fell through. The Las Vegas & Tonopah then stepped in, and the two railroads formulated plans to consolidate their lines. Since both roads had tracks running between Beatty and Goldfield, the decision was made to utilize each line’s best segments and abandon the remainder. Accordingly, the Las Vegas & Tonopah tracks would be used from Goldfield to a point just south of Bonnie Claire, where a shift would be made to the Bullfrog-Goldfield tracks from there south to Beatty. This move would reduce maintenance costs for both lines and enable the Las Vegas & Tonopah to avoid running its trains over the costly "high line" from Beatty through the Bullfrog Hills. Through service would run through Beatty, bypassing Rhyolite completely, although a short branch line would continue to serve the town. However, all the tracks west and north of Rhyolite, including the section of track that ran through the present boundaries of Death Valley National Monument, were abandoned.
The Railroad Commission of Nevada approved the plans, despite protests from Rhyolite citizens. The new combined route went into effect in June 1914. For the first time, the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad made a profit – ironically, much of it came from hauling ripped-up tracks and ties from its old roadbed north to Goldfield for salvage. However, the Las Vegas & Tonopah was not as fortunate and continued to operate at a loss. Service over the remaining portion of the "high line" from Beatty to Rhyolite was finally discontinued in 1916, and the rails were removed.
As the years passed, revenues and traffic on the Las Vegas & Tonopah continued to decline. Daily service between Las Vegas and Goldfield was maintained until February 1917, when tri-weekly service was substituted. Then, the problems brought about by World War I spelled the end of the line. Due to war shortages and efforts to economize, the Freight Traffic Committee of the U.S. Railroad Administration ordered that all perishable and merchandise traffic that formerly traveled via the Las Vegas & Tonopah would immediately be shipped only on the shorter Tonopah and Tidewater connections to the West Coast. In effect, the Las Vegas & Tonopah was restricted to hauling only ore, and there was very little ore to be hauled. For a brief period, the railroad was operated by the Railroad Administration. However, that body soon determined that the Las Vegas & Tonopah was "not considered essential or necessary to the uses of the Government" and was released.
By this point, the railroad’s essentiality to anyone was a moot question, and the end was imminent. The Las Vegas & Tonopah had lost money every year since 1908, but never enough to warrant abandoning its lines. Revenues now plunged drastically, and the road faced bankruptcy. During World War I, the high prices paid for scrap metal incentivized Clark to salvage as much of his railroad as possible. On September 18, 1918, he applied to the Railroad Commission of Nevada for permission to cease operations. On October 31, the last train pulled off the line, and the tracks were taken up and sold. With the demise of its line, the Las Vegas & Tonopah also abandoned its passenger station in Rhyolite, and one of the last surviving structures in that dying town entered the delinquent tax list.
Following the demise of the Las Vegas & Tonopah, the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad returned to its old partner, the Tonopah & Tidewater, and the two roads combined operations. For all practical purposes, the Tonopah & Tidewater operated the line for the entire distance from Ludlow to Goldfield. The Bullfrog-Goldfield had almost no rolling stock or engines left. Nevertheless, the railroad continued to operate as long as the Goldfield mines operated. As the 1910s gave way to the 1920s, those mines began to close down one after another, and revenues on the Bullfrog-Goldfield slowly and surely declined. Finally, in January 1928, that railroad was also abandoned.
Thus, the Tonopah & Tidewater, which had been the last railroad to reach the Bullfrog District, remained as the last and only railroad operating in the vicinity. As the gold mines in the region began to play out, the Tonopah & Tidewater relied more and more upon its borax mines in the vicinity for revenue. Other scattered clay, marble, and talc mines contributed enough freight to enable the railroad to operate feebly through the 1910s and 1920s. The road became a lifeline to the scattered population of the southern Nevada desert.
However, towards the latter part of the 1920s, the borax mines began to close, and the life of the Tonopah & Tidewater was threatened. The Borax Consolidated Company, the parent of the Tonopah & Tidewater, continued to operate the road at a loss, preserving the rails and stock in case of future need. Still, heavy losses year after year became too much for it to handle. In 1938, the Tonopah & Tidewater applied for permission to abandon its lines. Local patrons of the road appealed to their politicians, and approval of the abandonment was delayed for several years as means were sought to keep the line operating. But those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and on June 14, 1940, the Tonopah & Tidewater ceased operations. The railroad tracks were left in place for two years in hopes that the railroad could resume, but the need for scrap metal during World War II caused them to be salvaged in 1942 and 1943. The last Bullfrog district railroad had finally died.
The demise of the railroads did not end their influence upon the transportation history of southern Nevada. During the early days of highway construction in that state, the old roadbed of the Las Vegas & Tonopah was designated as part of the state highway system. When the construction of U.S. Route 95 between Las Vegas and Carson City began, the first major north-south highway through the state, the road was built along the old grade of the Las Vegas & Tonopah from Las Vegas to Beatty. Today, the traveler heading north out of Las Vegas towards Beatty and Carson City will travel along the same line that carried so much hope and optimism during the days of the Bullfrog boom.
Due to the use of the old Las Vegas & Tonopah grade as a base for Highway 95, all traces of the railroad bed have disappeared between Las Vegas and Beatty. However, the old "high line," which ran from Beatty into Rhyolite and then through the Bullfrog Hills to the north, is still visible to visitors. This portion of the road, which was the first part of the railroad to be abandoned in 1914, winds for twelve miles through Death Valley National Monument. For most of this distance, the old grade is visible against the desert floor and, with its cuts and fills, is in relatively good condition, considering the ravages of time and weather.
With a few exceptions, today’s visitor may walk or drive on the old roadbed from Rhyolite to the Original Bullfrog Mine, up through the cuts towards Mud Summit, north to Currie’s Wells, and on north out of the Monument’s boundaries. The walk is a haunting one; for a while, tracing the route on its lonely way across the desert landscape, one can almost hear the whistle and rumbles of trains gone by. Just north of Mud Summit, more concrete evidence of the past may be found in the ruins of an old section camp. Here, where the helper engines were dropped after the trains had climbed the grade up the "high line," may be found the site of several edifices that supported the railroad. Concrete foundations, a ground cistern, and what are probably the foundations of an old water tank mark the spot. While there is not enough left at the site to make it particularly significant in itself, its location along the railroad grade makes it worthy of protection.