Cuprite began around late 1902 as a roadhouse for travelers coming to the copper district to the north. It gradually developed into a camp and a station on the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad in late 1906. Later, the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad and the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad leased the tracks and also used Cuprite as a station. When mining in the area dwindled by late 1910, so did Cuprite. When the BGRR route was abandoned in January 1928, rail service to Cuprite ended. The name was used interchangebly with the camp and the mining district.
Cuprite is a soft, heavy copper oxide mineral known for its deep crimson-red to brownish-red color.
Cuprite becomes a town!
The new town of Cuprite has just been laid off 14 miles south of Goldfield, on the wagon and automobile road to Bullfrog, now in the course of erection.
-The Central Nevadan, June 22, 1905
Cuprite is destroyed! But Cuprite comes back!
During the big wind storm Friday night of last week Cuprite, the new camp 12 miles south of Goldfield, was razed to the ground, but as the habitations were mostly tents it did not take long to get the little city back to its former conditions.
-Eureka Sentinel, July 29, 1905
By 1907, Cuprite could boast of a well, a hotel with a dining room, and a bar, among other necessities.
CUPRITE.
Cuprite, Goldfield’s nearest neighbor the Southward, 14 miles away on the line of the Goldfield-Bullfrog Railroad and within a mile of the Clark road, is a lively town at present. Ellsworth Oldt, half owner of the townsite and district recorder, was in Goldfield yesterday. He says that the town has every earmark of permanency and is one of the finest locations for a town in the State. Cuprite is situated within half a mile to two miles and a half of the best mining properties in the district. The artesian well which was sunk within the townsite limits to a depth of 510 feet by the railway company, has now 85 feet of water in the bore. Owing to personal disputes between the superintendent and foreman of the boring outfit, the work on the well was ordered stopped. The casing for 650 feet is still there and the management of the road declares that there will be another drill on the ground to complete the well at an early date. This, says Mr. Oldt, is authoritative from Manager Hedden. Mr. Oldt has just completed a hotel, equipped with dining room, bar and other accessories. It is one of the cosiest hostelries on the desert. Goldfield Review.
-Nevada State Journal, April 7, 1907
Railroad troubles.
TROUBLE BREWING DOWN IN CUPRITE
A telephone message from the Tonopah and Goldfield railroad, received by the sheriff's office early yesterday morning, stated that there was trouble brewing at Cuprite as a result of the striking sections hands in that district, and asked that a couple of deputies be sent there to preserve order. It was stated that there had been threats of violence against the new men brought in by the railroad company, and that guns had been drawn during the altercation.
A telephonic investigation by Sheriff Ingalls revealed the fact that the new section hands had been brought into the camp to take the place of the old ones, and that as they went to work the striking men had conversed with the new ones and finally induced them not to work, the new men saying they had been brought in without being given definite information as to their attitude towards the striking men and the conditions governing the strike. It was told Sheriff Ingalls over the telephone that there had been some little trouble at Bonnie Claire, which is in Nye county, and that there was fear of trouble spreading to Cuprite.—Goldfield Tribune.
-Tonopah Daily Bonanza, January 30, 1908
It's only 99 cents to take the train from Goldfield to Cuprite. That's $36.08 in 2025 dollars.
FREIGHTERS ARE KEPT QUITE BUSY
Freighting outfits that have not been earning much money for a year past are also busy. It is the repetition of Sodaville, when Tonopah was discovered, and again from the latter point when Goldfield came up for recognition as a camp. Later on Bullfrog and its many camps required stages, automobiles and freighting outfits. Just how many people leave here daily for the new camps is hard to estimate, as they are going in all kinds of conveyances. By rail to Cuprite the fare from Goldfield is 99 cents, and the stage fare to Hornsilver is $4 additional. The automobile ride is close to double that figure, with four machines for hire. A man who has been in the freighting and transportation business ever since Goldfield started, said last night: "Conservatively estimated, I should say there were now on an average daily leaving this city, ten two-horse, five fours and two eights. The charge for freight is at the rate of a cent a pound. I understand that a better rate is being made by the railway, and freighters from Cuprite." Water is $2 a barrel.
-Tonopah Daily Bonanza, May 21, 1908
Cuprite was already a railroad stop or station, but had not yet been designated a dispatching office. A dispatching office would be a designated location for coordinating train movements and transmitting train orders to crews, besides the usual frieght and passenger duties. Now, it's more important!
RAILROADS MAKE CHANGE
Owing to the heavy business with Hornsilver, The Las Vegas & Tonopah company has established a depot at Stonewall and the Tonopah and Tidewater has raised Cuprite to a dispatching office
-The Goldfield News and Weekly Tribune, June 6, 1908
Some typical "newpaper railroading" from 1909.
RAIL FROM CUPRITE TO SILVER PEAK
Clark Interests Projects Road Through Lida to Ubehebe
CUPRITE, Jan. 15.—Before many weeks surveyors will be in the field outlining a route for a railroad running from Cuprite through Lida to Silver Peak, according to an excellent authority. The prompt establishment of the system would inject new life into the camps mentioned, as well as Palmetto, Hornsilver, Gold Mountain and other districts. The line will be part of the Clark system, the policy of which has always been to boom and boost the southern section of Nevada and get action upon vast bodies of low grade rock that can not be handled at a profit by wagon. Senator Clark's son is heavily interested in the Silver Peak country, and he is reported to be one of the most enthusiastic backers of the new enterprise. Although the plans of the promoters are not announced, it is said that the proposed line will start at Stonewall, on the Clark road. It will then pass southerly into the Hornsilver country, the possibilities of which can scarcely be over-estimated. Hornsilver is shipping by wagon, both to Cuprite and Stonewall, but the haul of about 15 or 16 miles is costly. The northerly slope of the Gold Mountain country would be taken in, and thus stimulate lessees in that old territory. Lida would be the next point, lying about 15 miles almost west, and over a comparatively level stretch of country. Lida is a copper country and has vast deposits of ore that could be made to pay with railroad facilities. Then, the story goes, the road would run northerly into the Silver Peak section where gold, silver and lead ores are in abundance. This would involve a total of about 50 miles. It is also hinted that an extension will be run west of Lida to Palmetto, and thence into the Ubehebe country, where there is an immense tonnage of low-grade copper.
-Nevada State Journal, January 16, 1909
I'm blaming the cat.
CUPRITE OPERATOR FOUND DEAD AT HIS KEY(Special to The News.)
CUPRITE, Dec. 27.—M. E. Sheehan, the operator and station master for the Tonopah and Tidewater railway at Cuprite, was stricken with heart failure while sitting at his desk in the Cuprite station some time today. A freight train left Goldfield at noon, arriving at Cuprite about 1:30 o'clock. The operator did not appear when the freight rolled into Cuprite, and the conductor opened the office door, finding Sheehan sitting at his desk, beside the telegraph key, cold in death. There were no marks on the body, and the safe was intact, as well as the cash in the ticket drawer, dispelling any idea that the man had been killed by a robber. Superintendent Cahil of the railway, was on the northbound passenger and stopped at Cuprite to take charge of the body and office. The coroner of Esmeralda county was notified and will hold an inquest Tuesday. Sheehan was about thirty-five years of age, and unmarried. He was a man of fairly good health. Last night he was out hunting rabbits. Telegraphers all along the line had been trying to get him this morning and his death was not known until the freight train pulled in. When found his pet cat was lying upon his chest, as the body was tilted back somewhat. A pot of herb tea was also at his side showing that he was ill and was trying to doctor himself.
-The Goldfield News and Weekly Tribune, January 1, 1910
We know a roadhouse still operated at Cuprite in 1914, and we know it had a stove.
FINDS TREASURE IN AN OLD STOVE
ROADHOUSE PROPRIETOR LOCATES COIN IN RANGE GIVEN TO HIM.
Milton M. Detch, Goldfield booster and attorney, once owned a stove, a large kitchen range. He bought it, brand new, three years ago from James Crosby, who at that time conducted a general merchandise store here, and installed it in a house owned by him on South Euclid avenue, next to the residence of Attorney J. G. Thompson. Various tenants used the stove, but for some reason it was relegated to the yard in the rear of the house and subjected to the ravages of the elements for a long time. While out on an auto trip about three months ago, Detch stopped at the Cuprite roadhouse, south of Goldfield, and in the course of a conversation with Jack Gibbons, the proprietor, the latter happened to mention the fact that his range had worn out and he would be compelled to buy a new one. The remark immediately brought to the mind of the attorney the fact that he had a stove going to ruin in the back yard of his Euclid avenue house and he offered to give it to Gibbons. Gibbons called at the house in question less than sixty days ago and took the stove to his roadhouse. Mrs. Gibbons gave the new acquisition a trial but found that she could do no baking in the oven. With the aid of a small crowbar, Gibbons began an investigation of the stove immediately below the oven, thinking that soot had choked it up. Gibbons first brought to light a large china plate, then a burnt-out incandescent electric light globe and lastly a half-pound baking powder can containing eighteen $20 gold pieces. Gibbons came into Goldfield Monday and apprised Detch of the treasure he had found in the stove. Detch gasped for breath and when he finally recovered from the shock, said: "It's not my money. I have been accused of putting money into almost everything but never in a stove. It's your money Jack." Detch does not even venture a guess as to how the money came to be placed in the stove.
-The Goldfield News and Weekly Tribune, April 18,1914
Today, $360 1914 dollars would be worth about $12,000. Of course, the gold in those coins would have far more value, bringing about $72,000 today. A collector might get closer to $80,000.