After gold was discovered in the vicinity of Columbia Mountain in 1902, the town of Goldfield, NV, ranked as one of the largest and brightest mining towns in the West. In its boom year of 1906, the city’s mines produced $11 million worth of gold. A year later, in 1907, the mines generated close to $10,000.00 daily.
The earthquake-proof, four-story, 154-room Goldfield Hotel was built on top of an abandoned gold mine in 1908 for $500,000.00. As the best lodging between Denver and San Francisco, the hotel was known as “The Jewel in the Desert.”
When it opened in 1908, the hotel featured an Otis elevator that was then considered the most modern elevator of its kind west of the Mississippi. The Goldfield Hotel’s crystal chandeliers, elegant lobby with mahogany trim and black leather upholstery, gold-leafed ceilings, and gilded columns rivaled the best hotels in San Francisco.
In an era when few homes or businesses had phones or carpeting, the extravagant hotel featured a sophisticated switchboard and phone in every room. The meals were “exquisite European cuisine”, with oysters, quail and calamari. Customers came to dinner dressed in formal wear: black tie, tails, and ball gowns.
Once the largest city in Nevada, Goldfield was connected to the rest of the United States by five railroads and with Goldfield’s mines producing over $10,000.00 a day at their peak, the city’s five banks prospered. Goldfield even had several mining stock exchanges and three newspapers. As the city flourished, its leaders considered bringing in a streetcar to tour downtown.
But, when the mines dried up, the town lost its appeal and the once-splendid Goldfield Hotel went out of business in the 1920s. During World War II, the military took over and added some improvements including a grill to house to Army and Air Force wives whose husbands were stationed and training in the remote wilderness nearby.
At the end of the War, the Goldfield Hotel was again abandoned and boarded up. Then, in the 1980s, a wealthy new owner began investing millions of dollars in modernizing the hotel. His dream of opening the ancient “Gem in the Desert” in all its original splendor was shattered before completion. He forfeited the property to support property taxes. Vandals took most of the newly installed bathroom and light fixtures, eventually taking everything but the bare walls.
Today, the city of Goldfield is home to fewer than 300 residents, though it remains the county seat of Esmeralda County, which, with fewer than 1,000 residents, is Nevada’s least populous county. There is no gas station, no bank, no grocery store, let alone a newspaper, a far cry from when the city was known as the “Queen of the Camps” for its more than 25,000 inhabitants.
Forsaken Elizabeth’s Ghosts
With its glorious past, the ill-fated hotel remains the foremost symbol of Goldfield’s former glory. But what contributes to its ghostly mood is the fact that much of the original ornate woodwork has been destroyed by vandals. All the vintage accessories were stripped over the years by modern gold prospectors and sold.
Before the hotel was privately purchased at auction for back taxes in August 2003, the Goldfield Historical Society opened the hotel for special “ghost” tours several times a year. It became famous as one of the “Scariest Places on Earth” when the Fox network filmed a Halloween episode of the same name that aired in October 2001.
During filming, crew members reportedly observed a ghostly presence in the hallways. Feeling uneasy, a crew member left, refusing to re-enter. Orbs (hazy ghost-like objects) were subsequently seen in several of the photographs taken inside, including my own photographs.
Since around 1910, room 109 has been considered haunted. Legend has it that this room is haunted by a prostitute named Elizabeth, who, while she was pregnant, was chained to the room’s radiator by the hotel’s original owner, George Winfield.
Winfield was so angry when he found out that Elizabeth was pregnant; he denied his freedom to leave. Once his child was born, it was torn from their arms and thrown away. He dumped on the edge of the abandoned gold mine on which the hotel was built.
With Elizabeth’s son available, Winfield left the young woman to die and for days cried out for mercy. Rescue never came, she found herself alone and abandoned. Fearing Winfield’s authority, the hotel employees were afraid to come to Elizabeth’s rescue, and the hotel guests were unable to hear her due to the room’s insulation and the thickness of the walls.
Psychics who have visited Room 109 say Elizabeth was left to die there or was murdered soon after. Her spirit is trapped inside the modest room that she overlooks a brick side wall of the hotel. On dark and dreary nights, passers-by and nearby residents hear the baby crying.
On the first floor, George Winfield’s presence has been felt near the foyer stairwell. People inspecting the hotel have periodically found the smell of cigarette smoke and ash, and an electrician once discovered fresh ash inside a fuse box that hadn’t been opened in more than 50 years. The ghost hunters on the third floor have also detected high psychic energy.
Many who enter room 109 find it cooler than the other rooms and feel a presence in the room. The age discoloration on the wall where the radiator is located appears to have the outline of a human form. Cameras have been known to malfunction inside this room.
Other ghosts have reportedly been observed in the hallways and on the lobby stairwell. Sometimes the doors slam shut and mysterious smells linger. Clairvoyants who have come to examine the building say that the Goldfield Hotel is located between several portals or gateways to the other world.
During the annual Esmeralda County land auction in August 2003, the Goldfield Hotel sold for $360,000. The new owner was said to have plans to renovate the bottom two floors of the four-story hotel and open it to the public. To date, the hotel remains empty and boarded up.
Goldfield is located in the corridor between Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, on US Highway 95.
