Ione, Nevada: The Silver Town That Refused to Die

Tucked into a high valley at the foot of the Shoshone Range in Nye County, central Nevada, Ione began in 1863 as a rush of silver prospectors and, by the spring of 1864, had grown into a camp of a hundred-odd buildings and roughly six hundred people. For a short time it was the most important town in a brand-new county — the first seat of Nye County — and then, within a few years, richer strikes at Belmont drew the miners and the courthouse away.

What makes Ione worth telling is what happened next: very little, and then a little more, again and again for a century and a half. Ione never emptied out. It has been called “the town that refused to die,” and today it is a near-ghost town with a handful of residents and a scatter of surviving buildings. We have leaned on the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office marker and on Nevada ghost-town references, and where those sources differ on a date or a number we say so rather than choose quietly.

A Silver Strike in Ione Valley

The valley was not empty when the miners arrived. The Nevada state historical marker for Ione notes that Native people had lived in Ione Valley for some five thousand years, and that Shoshone and Northern Paiute people later made use of the country. The silver rush that followed in 1863 was one more chapter in a very long human story here, though it was by far the loudest.

The discovery is credited to a prospector named P. A. Havens (sometimes spelled Haven), who found silver in the Shoshone Range. One ghost-town account puts the first strike in April 1863 and says Havens came after having no luck at the Comstock; other references date the establishment of the settlement itself to November 1863. Accounts differ on the exact month, and the safe summary is simply “1863.” If you want the larger story of the silver rush that sent men fanning out across the Great Basin, we have told it in our piece on Virginia City and the Comstock Lode.

Ione was, in the words of one summary, a “trade and milling center” rather than a mining camp proper. Most of the digging took place nearby, around the camps of Union and Grantsville in the Union Mining District, while Ione supplied the stores, the saloons and — crucially — the mills. A five-stamp Pioneer Mill opened in 1865, and the larger Knickerbocker mill, reported to have cost about $130,000, followed; together they are said to have worked ore from Ione and the surrounding districts for most of a decade. The town is said to have taken its name from the heroine of Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii, the choice of a well-read miner, though one source admits the reason for the choice is unclear.

Ione as County Seat

Nye County was carved out of the young Nevada Territory's vast central country in 1864, and Ione was named its first county seat. The county's creation is generally dated to February 16, 1864, though some town histories describe the county as organized in January or April of that year; the creation of the county and its formal organization are easy to blur together, which may account for some of the difference. The Nevada marker puts it plainly: in 1864, Ione City was the first county seat of the newly created Nye County.

Several accounts add that the territorial government provided $800 for a first courthouse, described as a modest wooden structure. By the spring of 1864 Ione is reported to have had a post office, more than one hundred buildings and a population of about 600; one source gives “over 500,” a reminder that boomtown head-counts were always approximate. For a sense of how many such camps rose and fell in these years, see our piece on the silver camp of Aurora, far to the west near the California line.

The county seat did not stay. Richer silver strikes at Belmont, some fifty miles to the southeast, pulled miners away beginning around 1865. The marker says that Belmont became the seat “by 1867,” and several references date the formal transfer to February 1867. The seat then stayed at Belmont until 1905, when it moved to Tonopah, where it remains. Ione's time as the seat of government had lasted roughly three years.

The Town That Refused to Die

Losing the courthouse hurt, but it did not end the town. By 1868 the population had fallen below about 200 (one source says 175), and by 1880 only about 25 people are reported to have remained. Western Mining History describes Ione as largely deserted in the early 1880s — and also notes that it never became completely abandoned. That is the heart of the nickname.

The revivals came in waves. In 1896 a new ten-stamp mill was built, and the population is said to have climbed to about 70. The following year the New York investor A. Phelps Stokes — the same Stokes behind Austin's well-known Stokes Castle — bought a majority of the mining and milling interests. The boom ended when the price of silver fell sharply in July 1898. Around 1912 attention turned to cinnabar, the ore of mercury, and a brief rush brought the population back to perhaps 100 before it ended in 1914. Quicksilver production nearby carried on into the 1930s. One account adds that when the post office at neighboring Berlin closed in 1918, Ione's reopened.

The post office finally closed for good on April 30, 1959, which is the date most often used to mark Ione's slide into “ghost town” status. The population was recorded as 40 in 1940. One reference mentions a small gold-mining revival in the early 1980s, and another says that in the 1970s a single owner, Hugh Marshall, bought most of the townsite and many square miles around it; both appear in only one source each, so we offer them as “by one account.”

What Remains Today

Ione sits on Nevada's rural Highway 844 route, roughly 23 miles east of Gabbs, in the same high-desert country as Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, whose preserved mining town of Berlin was founded in 1897 and largely abandoned after about 1911. Ione's own population is usually given as around 41, though more recent accounts suggest even fewer year-round residents. It is, in the phrase one travel source uses, a “living ghost town.”

Surviving buildings include historic wooden and stone cabins, a corral and the Ore House Saloon, which is dated to 1864. Foundations of the 1865 Pioneer Mill were reported visible as of 2013, and mercury retorts from the cinnabar years survive nearby. A barn-like wooden structure is sometimes identified as the original county courthouse; some travel sources state flatly that the courthouse still stands, while a more careful account says only that it “possibly” does, so we would treat that attribution as unconfirmed. Much of the land and many of the buildings are privately owned, and this is history told from the record, not an invitation to wander through anyone's property.

At a Glance: Ione, Nevada

• Ione is in Nye County, Nevada, in Ione Valley at the foot of the Shoshone Range, near Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park.
• Silver was discovered in 1863, credited to prospector P. A. Havens; sources differ on whether the strike was in April or the settlement was established in November.
• Ione served mainly as a milling and trade center for the Union Mining District, with the Pioneer Mill (1865) and the Knickerbocker mill.
• By spring 1864 it had more than 100 buildings and roughly 600 residents, and it was named the first county seat of Nye County in 1864.
• The county seat moved to Belmont in 1867 (later to Tonopah in 1905); Ione's population fell to under 200 by 1868 and to about 25 by 1880.
• Revivals followed in 1896–1898 (silver and gold milling), 1912–1914 (cinnabar and mercury), and into the 1930s; the post office closed April 30, 1959.
• Today Ione is a near-ghost town of roughly 41 or fewer residents, with the Ore House Saloon and other early buildings still standing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Ione really the first county seat of Nye County?

Yes. The Nevada state historical marker states that in 1864 Ione City was the first county seat of the newly created Nye County. The seat moved to Belmont by 1867 and to Tonopah in 1905.

Why is Ione called “the town that refused to die”?

Because it was never completely abandoned. After the county seat left in 1867 and the population shrank to a few dozen, new mills, a gold boom in the 1890s and a mercury rush around 1912 kept bringing people back, and a small community has lived there ever since, even after the post office closed in 1959.

Is Ione a ghost town?

It is better described as a near-ghost town or “living ghost town.” Sources give a population of around 41 or fewer, with early buildings such as the Ore House Saloon still standing, much of it privately owned.

How is Ione connected to Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park?

They are neighbors in the same stretch of central Nevada. Berlin was a gold-mining town founded in 1897 and largely abandoned about 1911, and one account says its mine supplied ore to Ione's mill. Berlin's post office closing in 1918 is also said to have coincided with Ione's reopening.

Conclusion

Ione is a quieter story than the great Nevada boomtowns, and in some ways a more durable one. It rose in a year, held a county's government for about three, and then spent the next century and a half proving that a place can lose almost everything and still be lived in. The silver is long gone; the saloon, the mill foundations and the stubborn handful of residents are what the record keeps.

We are always talking about Nevada's back-country history at The Eclection, and you can meet us in person at the Reno Antique Faire. To bring a piece of the old silver era home, explore our curated collection at The Eclection.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study, these are reliable, non-commercial starting points:

• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — articles on Nevada history, people, and places.
• Nevada Historical Society — the state museum and research library for Nevada history.
• Nevada State Parks: Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park — the preserved mining town and fossil site near Ione.
• Nevada State Historic Preservation Office — the Ione historical marker (No. 159).

Hero photograph: buildings in Ione, Nevada, by Famartin, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.