Jarbidge, Nevada: History and Description
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Jarbidge
Population: 14Elevation: 8500 feet
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Jarbidge is the most isolated of all Nevada’s prominent mining ghosts, and
it occupies the most beautiful setting. A visit here is a must for the
Complete Nevada Traveler, but you’ll drive 102 miles north from Elko,
only 55 them on pavement. Be sure you want to make this trip, and then
outfit yourself for the wild. Water, food, shovel, jack,
chains, blankets–all of it. Then take Nevada 225 north to 4-1/2 miles
beyond North Fork where a dirt road leads east. At the turnoff to Cole
Canyon and the North Fork Campground, turn east. 48 miles of dirt road
later you’ll be in Jarbidge.
A gold strike in 1909 prompted a rush the following spring when reports of
the region’s spectacular richness appeared in the press. Some 1,500 miners
reached the deep canyon to stake claims on the snowdrifts covering the
ground as deep as 18 feet, but when the snow melted it exposed the
exaggeration of the newspaper reports, and most of the claims melted away
with the snow.
Further discoveries were made in 1910, however, and by the
end of the year, Jarbidge was a long, narrow community of several hundred
residents connected by stagecoach with its nearest neighbor, Rogerson,
Idaho, some 65 miles away. The population rose to about 1,200 the
following year and then began a fluctuating decline which continued despite
the large scale mining which commenced in 1918, when the Guggenheim
interests acquired the Jarbidge mines, and lasted until 1932. A dozen
permanent residents remain at Jarbidge, which has a store, a gas pump, two
bars, a post office and the very welcome (and welcoming) Outdoor Inn.
The last stagecoach robbery in the West took place at the outskirts of
Jarbidge during a December blizzard in 1916.
The Jarbidge River, splashing through the canyon in which the town is
wedged, eventually squirms its way to the Snake, the Columbia and the sea.
The wilderness area to the east is as God and nature made it. One July
visitor counted more than 60 varieties of wildflowers in bloom on the way
to Jarbidge and in the tightly woven maze of mountain canyons.
Come during bow and arrow hunting season, when Jarbidge is filled with
deerstalkers. During the day they flit silently through the wilderness on
their deadly business, but after sundown they are merrier than Robin’s men
as they fill Jarbidge’s remaining saloons with loud talk and laughter.
Winter comes early to this isolated place, and it stays a long, long time.
You’ll never regret checking with the Sheriff’s Office in Elko about road
conditions before you set out.
Jarbidge
Calendar of Annual Events
MAY
Memorial Day Weekend Barbecue702-488-2311
JULY
Discover Jarbidge Days702-488-2311
OCTOBER
Oktoberfest702-488-2311
Welcome to Jarbidge
These businesses are pleased to serve you
Hotel and Restaurant
OUTDOOR INN
Downtown. 702-488-3211. Come enjoy our historical mining town and rustic mountains.–the entrance to Jarbidge Wilderness Area. The Outdoor Inn has a full restaurant, featuring home-coooked meals, and adjacent bar and laundromat. Our rustic hotel has ten comfortable rooms, plus three new furnished 1-bedroom apartments, available by day or week.
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Nevada Travel Pages
David W. Toll
Nevadaca