Esmeralda County Repository Oversight Program
The history of Esmeralda County is closely linked with its mineral wealth, particularly gold. Gold ore was discovered in Goldfield in December, 1902, causing the area to boom furiously from 1903 to 1918. The mining camp (Goldfield) began as a tent town, but by 1903, Goldfield Mining District boomed and the cycle of prosperity so great that carpenters worked twenty-four hours a day to provide housing to between 25,000 and 30,000 people. By resolution on October 20, 1903, the mining camp was officially named Goldfield.
