This small spring, first used by Anasazi and Paiute people, also sustained the caravan that pioneered a pack route now known as the Old Spanish Trail. En route to Los Angeles from Santa Fe, trader Antonio Armijo, 60 men and 100 mules camped here on January 11, 1830. The spring was named for miner Joe Good, who watered cattle here in the 1860's.
The spring was artesian, promising adequate water for a mill and town if wells were drilled. Increasing mining activity in the 1860's and 1870's led to the formation of the Yellow Pine Mining District in 1882. In 1886 A.G. Campbell, Jonas Taylor and William Smith built the first permanent structure, a stone building still standing north of State Route 161. The 1893 discovery of the Keystone gold deposit brought many prospectors to the area. During the same time Sam Yount was operating a store in the stone building which stands south of State Route 161. On April 6, 1899 mail service was established and the Post Office changed the town's name to Goodsprings.
The Yellow Pine Mining Company, established in 1901, soon became the biggest lead and zinc mine in Nevada. In 1911 the mine built a narrow-gauge railroad connecting the mine to the mill in Goodsprings, four miles away, and continuing seven miles to the main line at Jean. The demand for minerals during WWI and the new railroad connection fueled Goodsprings' biggest growth, with the population reaching over 800. By 1917 when America entered the war, the town had a new expanded school and its own newspaper. George Fayle built a first-class hotel, general store, bar and caf?'. Fayle served as a County Commissioner from 1912 until his death during the 1918 flu epidemic. Goodsprings' economic decline began after WWI but mining activity never stopped and the mining claims still produce a wide variety of minerals.
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