Beatty
(Center of the Gold Railroads
"Chicago of the West")

"Whoops! Missed this one on my first go! This marker needs to be relocated to the old train depot in town, or at the town's main intersection. As it stands now, it is easily missed. Looks like I need to arrange some phone calls when I get home ..." -- October 2009

SE corner of Main (US 95) and Amargosa Sts. -- Beatty

Nye
36.906170, -116.756080

Original Date Visited: 10/18/08
Signed: No

Beatty celebrates its rich railroad history with this fascinating mural!

Street View

Here's what you'll see!

Marker 173 at the south end of Beatty The fascinating rail tales to be found in Beatty! Marker 173 celebrates the rich history of four short-line railroads!

Exact Description:
Beatty was the center of three short-lived, so-called "gold" railroads that were spawned by the strikes of the early 1900's in Tonopah, Goldfield and Rhyolite.

"During 1906-'07 three railroads were built in this area. The Las Vegas and Tonopah built from Las Vegas through Beatty and Rhyolite to Goldfield. The Bullfrog Goldfield built south from Goldfield to Beatty and Rhyolite. The Tonopah and Tidewater built north from Ludlow, California to Gold Center and used the BG tracks from Gold Center to Beatty and Rhyolite until 1914."

Rancher M.M. Beatty drove the last spike here on April 18, 1907, marking the completion of the first and only north-south railroad system in the state.

Rails were torn up at Beatty beginning on July 18, 1942.

"From The Railroads of Nevada, Vol. I, by David F. Myrick, Courtesy of Howell-North Books."