We Visited: 10/6/2001
From Fallon take Highway 50 East for 50.5 miles; east of Old Highway 50 (SR 722) for 7.3 miles.
"Eastgate" is a ranch, a station, a mining camp, a geological feature, and a mining district.
Paher's book notes that in the 1870's there was a small station located
here, built from local rock from a quarry roughly three miles west of here, and a small vegetable farm servicing local
travellers. The plat of East Gate City was filed with the Churchill County Recorder's
Office on May 22, 1906.
Shamberger's "The Story of Fariview" mentions Eastgate:
"Already, said he, 'there are more than 500 people at East Gate and there is a continuous stream of people going in. New businesses are being erected in a night, and an air of prosperity pervades everything.' There are two saloons there, one restaurant, with several more projected, a butcher shop, and a general merchandise store will soon be in operation... Over two hundred and fifty lots have been sold, the corner lots bringing $100, while the inside lots brought $50 each."
Well, OK, if you say so. By September the natives were pretty restless.
AN EXODUS FROM EASTGATE
PEOPLE ANGERED WITH TOWNSITE OWNERS
Start New Town Called Cripple Creek, Whither They Flock in a Body,
According to a report that conies from Fairview, the people living in Eastgate have declared war on the men that control that townsite and have begun moving by wholesale to a new townsite called Cripple Creek, two miles northeast. This is done to destroy the interests of the men owning Eastgate, who are charged with having pursued selfish tactics injurious to the community. The first day two-thirds. of the population is said to have loaded tents, cabins and personal effects upon wagons and trekked across the desert to Cripple Creek, which is now celebrating its birth. The removal recalls the time that the people of the Bullfrog country slaughtered the town of Bonanza. In a single night they deserted the town-site and located at Bullfrog. Bullfrog became distasteful to them a little later and then they moved almost in a body to Rhyolite. Rhyolite is according the camp of the district.
The Ramsey Hegira.
The same thing was attempted in the Ramsey district a few months ago with only partial success. Two town-sites were being promoted and the one that was getting the short end of the lot sale offered everyone on the rival tract a free lot if he would relocate. A number took advantage of the offer and changed habitation in a day. At Eastgate the original townsite is alleged to have suffered quite a loss, but the promoters say the change is temporary and that it will be but a matter of time until the first settlers return. The new town of Cripple Creek, where he Eastgate inhabitants are invited to live, is in a country where excellent ore is being found. It has been surveyed by Engineer Charles Saunders and the new residents are receiving free lots.
-Reno Evening Gazette, September 25, 1906
Story - DENIED!
DENIES STORY FROM EASTGATE
BREN SMITH SAYS EXODUS IS A MYTH
Camp is as Lively as Ever and Has Only Lost Three Families to Cripple Creek,
B. B. Smith, who is interested in Eastgate, one of the bonanza camps of Churchill county, denies the report which comes to Reno to the effect that the residents of Eastgate are moving out in a body on account of hostility toward the owners of the original townsite. Mr. Smith says: "I have just returned from Eastgate and to my certain knowledge only three families have left the camp. This shows how it has been depopulated. The town-site of Cripple Creek, to which place the people of Eastgate are alleged to have removed, is located over the mountain northeast of Eastgate. It was surveyed and laid out by the man who is promoting it and is near to several prospects that have been recently opened. "The exodus from Eastgate is a myth. The people are still there and the camp is as busy as ever. It is the closest point to the principal mines of the district, being located centrally in the big ore zone."
.-Reno Evening Gazette, September 26, 1906
Where this took place exactly, we're not too sure. But we suspect the town of Eastgate was a small camp situated close to what was later being referred to at the Monarch Gold Ledge Mine.
Basically, there are two mines around here to be concerned with. One is the Buffalo Hump situated about 10 and a half miles SW (158°) and the other is the Double Eagle Mine, located about 2.8 miles due south. The Double Eagle has been known by many names.
PROPERTY NAME: Double Eagle mine
OTHER NAMES: Gold Ledge mine. Gold Ledge group, Gold Northern mine, Williams
Gold-Silver mine
MINING DISTRICT: Eastgate
COUNTY: Churchill
MINERAL COMMODITY : gold, silver
QUAD SHEET: Eastgate
PRODUCTION: small
HISTORY: Discovered by E. W. Baker in 1906; worked intermittently by individuals
and small companies; Monarch Gold Ledge Mining Co. erected 50TPD mill in 1934
DEVELOPMENT: several shafts and adits, cuts on surface, remains of hoist in
place on upper, inclined shaft
EXAMINER: J. V. Tingley
DATE VISITED: April 10, 1989
-NBMG Bulletin 83; USBM IC 7093
In 1932, they were calling it the Monarch Gold Ledge mine.
MONARCH GOLD LEDGE WILL BUILD PLANT TO GENERATE ELECTRIC POWER FOR MINE
Complete mine equipment and installation of an electric power plant at the property of the monarch Gold Ledge Mines at Eastgate is to start at once and be rushed to completion before inclement weather arrives, said Charles E. Basso, president of the company. A mill site has been selected about three miles below camp, where an abundance of water is assured. The central power plant will be built at the mill site, which is but a few hundred feet from the oiled Lincoln Highway. The plant will consist of a 100 h.p. Diesel engine, direct connected with an electric generator, and power will be conveyed over a transmission line.
-Nevada State Journal, October 10, 1932
Vanderberg had this to say about the Double Eagle:
The Gold Ledge Group is situated on a mountain spur off the west side of the Desatoya Range. It can be reached by automobile over an unimproved desert road 5 miles in length, which leaves the Lincoln Highway about 1 mile west of Eastgate. The last 2 miles of the road is in a narrow, steep canyon with a number of sharp turns. First locations in this area were made by E. W. Baker in 1906. The Gold Ledge property has been worked intermittently by individuals and small companies. In 1934 the property was operated for a short time by the Monarch Gold Ledge Mining Co., which erected a 50-ton amalgamation concentration mill several miles northwest of the mine, but it was unsuccessful; the mill equipment was sold in 1939. About $20,000 in shipping ore has been produced. Development consists of an adit 350 feet in length along the ledge, an inclined shaft 200 feet in depth with levels at 150 and 200 feet below the surface, a vertical shaft 110 feet deep, and other workings, totaling about 1,500 feet. Mining equipment includes a 7 by 6-inch Sullivan air compressor, belt-driven by an automobile engine; a West Coast, 5-horsepower, gasoline geared hoist; rock drills and other mining tools; a blacksmith shop; and camp accommodations for a crew of four men. Although there is no water at the mine, it can be obtained in Eastgate Wash, several miles northwest of the mine. In 1939 the property was being worked by Schweis with a crew of two men. In 1938 he shipped about 100 tons of ore, averaging approximately $30 per ton, to the Dayton custom mill at Silver City, Nev. The truck haul to the Dayton mill, a distance of about 160 miles over hard-surfaced roads, cost $5 per ton and milling was $4 per ton. The shipper was paid for 90 percent of the assay value of the ore.
-Mines of Churchill and Mineral Counties, William O. Vanderberg, 1939
The Buffalo Hump was further away. The location was sometimes referred to as, simply, Buffalo.
Buffalo Hump Group
The Buffalo Hump group of six unpatented claims, owned by W. H. Schweis is in the Desatoya Range about 14 miles by road southeast of Eastgate. It can be reached by automobile over a short road that leaves the Ione Road 10 miles south of the Lincoln Highway. The property was discovered by Thomas Wilson and Robert North some years ago, and although considerable prospecting has been done, the only production has been several carloads of shipping ore. In the first part of 1939 the property was inactive. Development consists of several adits, the longest 400 feet and subsidiary workings such as drifts crosscuts, and raises, totaling about 1,500 feet. Equipment on the property includes tools for hand-mining, blacksmith shop, and camp accommodations for a crew of several men. Free gold and a little silver occur in an area said to be about 100 feet wide and 200 feet long in a zone of fractured and altered rhyolite.
-Mines of Churchill and Mineral Counties, William O. Vanderberg, 1939
Senator Williams of Churchill county has refused an offer of $40,000 cash for this Golden Gate group of claims at Eastgate.
-Yerington Times, April 28, 1906
Think a good thought.
SAYS EASTGATE IS A WONDER
VALUES ARE GOLD, CAMP GROWING FAST
Sam Rosenthal Returns Home After a Three Months' Stay in the Hills.
Sam Rosenthal, who has been mining for three months in the Northumberland district in Nye county, returned to Reno last evening, wearing a full beard and looking like a patriarch. On the way hack to Reno he visited the Churchill county camps where he remained for two weeks. With his associates he had located a group of claims at East Gate several months ago and he believes these, with the Northumberland property will pay big returns. "I believe East Gate will soon be as big as Fairview," he said this morning. "It has the mines to make it."
-Reno Evening Gazette, May 26, 1906
Meanwhile, Senator Williams was improving the Ranch.
Eastgate Ranch To Be Improved.
E. J. Robinson and A. E. Hammond returned home Friday from Eastgate, in the extreme eastern portion of this county, sixty-two miles distant from Fallon, where they completed the carpenter work on the George B. Williams home. All that remains now to be done towards completing this handsome home are a few finishing touches which are being applied by the painters and decorators. The Williams home, when completed, will be one of the handsomest and most unique country homes in the state of Nevada, and will have cost in the neighborhood of $6,000. [$180,550 in 2021 dollars] In all, there are ten looms upstairs and down and every modern convenience has been installed. Matchless mountain spring water has been piped into the house, which is built almost entirely of a peculiar white stone found nearby. The stone is porous and light and at the same time strong and when built into walls requires no interior plastering as the pure white makes an excellent background for the rooms. The Eastgate ranch is delightfully situated and is slightly higher than Fallon. There is an immense acreage of land susceptible to cultivation, which Mr. Williams will put into crops as soon as water can be piped so that it will he available for irrigation. Within a year or so, if present plans carry, several hundred acres of new lands will be raising alfalfa and grain. The latter crop is said to do extraordinarily well there and the wheat product of this year now on the ranch has attained a prodigious size, according to those who have seen it. As time goes along and this valley develops, the Williams ranch at East-gate must increase in value, for in years to come it will always be a stopping place for stock driven from the North-eastern ranges to this county for feeding. Already the Williams bands of sheep and herds of cattle find it a very convenient place for winter feeding.
-Churchill County Standard, August 12, 1909
His mines changed hands several times over the years.
EASTGATE MINES MAY BE SOLD
Negotiations In Progress for the Purchase of the Williams Groups.
A party of San Francisco capitalists, with their mining engineer, arrived in Fallon today (Thursday) and left immediately by auto for Eastgate, where they will look into the merits of the mining claims owned by the Williams Gold Mining Company. Negotiations have been in progress for several weeks looking to a transfer of the Eastgate properties and should the deal be closed, it is given out that a forty-stamp quartz mill will be installed during the present season. A large amount of development work has been accomplished by the present owners; sufficient it is said to demonstrate valuable ore bodies. Some three years ago when Eastgate was in a fair way to have a boom, Senator Williams proposed to start active exploitation of the Williams Company's properties, but his proposal of a wage scale was turned down by the miner's union. At that time, it is said, he proposed to fix a scale of $4 per day of eight hours work, which was promptly turned down, and $4.50 to $7 per day was demanded, which prompted curtailment of work, and active development was never attempted. It is given out that the parties who are now negotiating for the purchase of the properties will seek to actively exploit the Eastgate district, in which event this town would benefit immeasurably. Experts on mining affairs have always regarded Eastgate, as a most promising field for gold mining, and it was highly unfortunate that the arbitrary stand of the miners was taken. Senator Williams, who is the principal owner of the group now being negotiated for, was one of the organizers of Gold Bill miner's union in 1880, at which time the scale was placed at $4 per day for rock work, and later when he was a member of the state senate, he voted steadfastly for the passage of the eight hour law.
-Churchill County Standard, March 24, 1910
Still some action at Buffalo, but the mine just wasn't enough to be very profitable.
Buffalo the Scene of Activity
Buffalo, the camp twelve miles beyond Eastgate, is the scene of considerable activity these days. John Stoddard, a Goldfield mining man and capitalist, is installing much mining machinery and equipment, and is preparing to work his holdings in the district on an extensive scale with the advent of cool weather. Ben James, a mining engineer in Mr. Stoddard's employ, passed through Fallon Monday on his way to Buffalo, where he will do some work.
-Churchill County Standard, July 26, 1911
Eastgate found itself on the Lincoln Highway, before US 50 was routed north again past Cold Springs. As a result, it served travelers with food, water, lodging, and fuel. The highway, now U.S. 50, was re-routed in 1966, although the original high over Carroll Summit stayed open.
We left Eureka at 4 p. m., and darkness overtaking us in the desert we made camp one hundred and fifty-six miles from Elko, and retired early, tired and worn, wondering what this frightfully lonely, sandy, dusty country was ever
created for. The next morning we started off at a lively pace for Austin, which we reached at 10:05, and after filling with gasoline and oil were away for Eastgate, which we reached at 4:00 p. m. We ran through this beautiful ranch with its fine stone buildings and sheds, alfalfa and orchards, through a mighty pass gate in the mountains, then on again over the trackless waste. Eastgate, I should have told you, is owned by Mr. Williams, who owns some forty thousand head of sheep which he winters here. His brother, who lives at Alpine, about fifteen miles north, also has, we were told, sixty thousand head of sheep and a fine ranch house. We soon discovered that we were lost, and not wishing to lose time we went on and on trying to find a way across the mountains, where we knew our road should be, but each time a mountain range blocked our passage. To our dismay our radiator had sprung a leak and we were obliged to use the contents of our two water bags, holding two gallons of water, to keep our engine cool. Finally we turned back after climbing a mountain on foot, following a signboard which said: "Water 5c per
head; 25c per barrel, 1 '/2 miles straight up the Canyon." On reaching there we found the camp deserted and no water. We knew there was no water for a hundred miles ahead and for thirty-five miles behind. As we were returning we met Mr. Peck driving the Midland 40 Road Maker, who was also lost. He was returning from San Francisco, after having marked out a roadway from Moline, III., to San Francisco. He had also made the same mistake that we had, leaving Eastgate by the wrong road and had followed our tracks to where we met. Fortunately, we were able to direct each other, and after a council decided it was wise to return to Eastgate for water, where we had a good supper and a good bed and enjoyed the company of Mr. Peck and his wife, who are charming people.
-The story of an automobile trip from Lincoln, Nebraska to Los Angeles, California, via San Francisco. Marlay, Paul H. 1912
Eastgate was the objective point for that night, where after a very hearty meal, made possible by the exercise of the day, we turned in and enjoyed an unusually good night's sleep. At Eastgate was a wonderful example of the results of irrigation, for situated in the desert as it is, it boasts of a very fine truck garden, where are raised vegetables of all kinds, and surrounded by large shade trees,make it a veritable oasis in the desert, by which
name it is known.
-Rambles on Overland Trails, Thomas O'Shaugnessy, 1915
EASTGATE (Williams* Ranch)
Ely Reno Control Station, Ranch House.
214.3 133.5 Alt. 5,291 feet. Churchill County. Meals, lodging, gas, oil, drinking water, radiator water, camp site. A fine
place to camp. Fair to Good Gravel.
-Complete Official Road Guide to the Lincoln Highway
Eastgate's remote location-- 55 miles from Fallon and 57 miles from Austin-- meant sometimes it was the scene of some criminal activity.
YESTERDAY
Gold Basin's Discoverer Dies On Way to Fallon With Companions
Mining Men Have Quarrel Over Properties They Have Just Inspected.
FALLON - Robert"Bob" Johnston, a Nevada mining man, who shot and fatally wounded Frank Wilson, reputed discoverer of Gold Basin, during the course of a quarrel at Eastgate yesterday afternoon, is in the custody of Sheriff Crane here. Johnston surrendered himself to the Sheriff a few hours after the tragedy. Wilson died near Frenchman's Station while bring brought back to Fallon by two companions, Howard Riddle of Reno and George Luhrs, a Los Angeles mining man, who witnessed the shooting.
[UPDATE]
Frank Wilson, who died following an altercation with R. C. Johnston at Eastgate yesterday, come to his death from a self-inflicted wound, according to the findings of the coroner's jury this afternoon. Examination of Wilsons overalls showed the ejected shell from an automatic pistol in the right front pocket, and a hole in the pocket and the rear of the leg of the overalls. There was no hole in the front of the garment.
-Reno Evening Gazette, November 25, 1925
MONEY FROM BANK RECOVERED WHEN MAN THROWS IT AWAY
Officers from Fallon Meet Clarence Beal and Open Fire Upon Him
Shot Three Times, Accused Bandit May Die, Hospital Attendants Report
Shot three times as he attempted to escape from a posse of Lander and Churchill county officers, Clarence Beal is in the hospital at Fallon awaiting the filing of charges, if he lives, accusing him of robbing the Lander County Bank last week. The theft of a truck owned by Stanley Williams at Eastgate brought about the capture of Beal. Early this morning, Vernon Penrose, son of the warden of the state prison, heard Real attempting to steal his touring car at Eastgate. The car was locked and Beal had pushed it into the road and attempted to connect the ignition wires. Leaving the Penrose car, Beal then secured the Williams truck and started west over the Lincoln highway. Penrose telephoned Sheriff Jim Smith of Fallon and Deputy Sheriff R. W. Vannoy of the same place and then, with Williams, followed Beal in another car. Eastgate men caught up with Beal at Four-Mlle flat, twenty miles east of Fallon, and when Beal refused to halt, Penrose and Williams opened fire. A bullet entered Beal's arm, the shock forcing him to twist the steering wheel of the truck, sending it into a ditch. Beal leaped from the truck and ran across the flat as the officers continued to fire. Another shot hit him in the hand and a third bullet struck him in the leg. As he fell, he threw his wallet away. It contained the loot from the bank, the officers said when they recovered it. Deputy Penrose said Beal admitted to him that he was the robber of the Austin hank. Sheriff Smith and Deputy Vannoy arrived on the scene just after Beal was caught. Taken to Fallon, it. was said by physicians that Beal is in a serious condition and may die. He has lost considerable blood and it is believed his weakened system will not survive the shock. His arm is to be amputated, the hospital reported.
-Reno Evening Gazette, June 8, 1933
HOLD-UPSTAGED AT EASTGATE STATION
FALLON, Nev.. Feb. 28. (Special) —Peace officers in Nevada and nearby states are searching today for two young men who late Monday night held up and robbed A. R. MacDonald at Eastgate Station, fifty-six miles east of Fallon. after binding the man's hands and feet. They escaped with $100 in cash and a quantity of merchandise. A car, registered in Battle Mountain and used by the gunmen, was found abandoned in Fallon yesterday morning along with a quantity of the stolen merchandise. At the time the hold-up was reported to Sheriff Ralph Vannoy of Fallon by Highway Maintenance Foreman Coleman of Eastgate, who telephoned from Camp Westgate, it was believed the men were afoot. Discovery of the car and merchandise, coupled with information received following the hold-up, definitely linked the two men with the automobile. That the men had been in the vicinity of Eastgate for several hours was revealed by a Reno newspaper man, who encountered the pair at Salt Wells station, seventeen miles east of Fallon at 8 p. m. Sunday. At that time the men entered the station, their actions aroused his suspicion. He remained at the station until after they had departed. He was later able to add to the partial description of the men given by MacDonald. MacDonald was freed from his bonds by "Shorty" Whitney, ranch hand living in an adjoining dwelling and who informed Coleman of the hold-up. Sheriff Vannoy, notified of the robbery shortly before midnight; drove to Eastgate, stopping one car en route but finding no trace of the men. He is checking on the ownership of the abandoned car to establish whether or not it had been stolen.
-Reno Evening Gazette, February 28, 1940
Well, nailed one of you anyway.
EASTGATE ROBBER SUSPECT PLEADS GUILTY
FALLON. Nev., March 8. (Special) —Gerald Hayes who confessed to the robbery of the Eastgate station on the Lincoln highway Monday night, February 26, was sentenced to from five to eight years in the Nevada state penitentiary by Judge Clark J. Guild in district court today. Hayes was arrested for the robbery Saturday and confessed to a part in the crime to Sheriff Ralph Vannoy of Churchill county Sunday, the officer said. Hayes waived his preliminary hearing yesterday and entered a plea of guilty in district court today. The Nevada state prison station wagon en route from Las Vegas to Carson City, stopped at Fallon while sentence was pronounced on Hayes. and transported him to the capital this afternoon. Hayes maintained under questioning that he knew nothing of his accomplice in the robbery other than his first name which he said was "Frank." The Eastgate station was held up by two men, the attendant, A. R. MacDonald was bound, and $100 and merchandise was taken.
-Reno Evening Gazette, March 5, 1940
Some times, you just have to forget about the sheep.
Sheepman Quits To Come Here to See Big Battle
That there is real interest among the Basque residents of Nevada in the approaching battle on July 4 of Paulino Uzcudun and Max Baer is shown by the following story from Eastgate: As the Hiskey stage drove Into Eastgate two days ago on its way into Reno a big sheepherder boarded it for Reno. The landlord at Eastgate explained to the stage driver: "He's got a good job for all summer, but he wants to see that Basque fight, so he quit his job and is going to Reno. I told him he had three weeks, but he wants to be on the ground in plenty of time. We just couldn't keep him here."
-Reno Evening Gazette, June 11, 1931
Baer lost in a points decision after 20 rounds.
With the re-routing of the highway and the decline of mining operations in the area, Eastgate gave up its job as a station, mining camp, and mining center, and returned to being a ranch and a geographic feature.
What's Good Enough For Wells Fargo Is Good Enough for Nevada Motorists
One of Nevada's major east-west highways is being re-routed to follow the Wells Fargo Stage trail of a century ago. About half of the 112 miles of U. S. 50 between Fallon and Austin will be moved north from the Eastgate area and rejoin the existing route near Railroad Pass. The move will allow traffic to avoid the climb over Carroll Summit, altitude 7,452 feet, and instead move through New Pass and around Mount Airy where the highest elevation will be around 6,400 feet. The existing grades to Carroll Summit are eight and nine per cent, a state highway department official said, while the
steepest grade on the new route Is planned for three per cent. Part of the new route was followed by the Pony Express in 1860 and it later was the route which the stagecoaches used. The present highway was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The first contract for the new section, 54-miles overall, was let to Dodge Construction Co. of Fallon for excavation work on 16.6 miles northeast of Frenchmans. Total cost of the highway re-location project is expected to be just under $4-million and completion is set for late 1966.
-Reno Evening Gazette, November 24, 1964
The store and outbuildings are, of course, closed and no longer used as such. The house is lived in, so don't go peeking in the windows.
Bunny Corkill writes: "My family owned Eastgate Ranch from 1938-1962. ...They [the "ruins" in the photo [in the album accessible below] were small rooms with roofs. One was our meat house. They were constructed so they were very cool inside. At night the meat was hung outside to get cold, wrapped in canvas and hung back in the room to keep cool duing the day. Another room was for storage and another housed the "light plant" - generator. During the time that Don Nonella owned the ranch there was a fire that burned off the roof. Originally there was a huge barn with the roof made from large poles and willows and mud.... the same kind of roof as on the meat house. It breaks my heart to see the place in such disarray. The store has been closed since Highway 50 was re-routed through Cold Springs.