Gold Hill

Gold Hill is located on Gold Hill Wash. Gold Hill is a town that has come close to death and been revived many times. Gold Hill started with the arrival of California gold prospectors who first found riches on the hill in the form of copper, silver, lead, tungsten, arsenic, and bismuth. Established officially in 1892, Gold Hill was mostly a tent city that all but died at the turn of the century. The first world war breathed new life into Gold Hill with the rising demand for copper and arsenic. Several of Gold Hills mines were re-opened, but moving the ore was slow due to the lack of a railroad. The transportation problem was solved in 1917 when the Deep Creek Railroad arrived from Wendover. With the solid foundation of a rail system and a high demand produced by war the town boomed with a population of 3000. As is the way with all boom towns, the high demand for ore ceased and the town shriveled up in the desert heat. The last train from Wendover chugged out in 1938, and the tracks were removed in 1940. Gold Hill seemed to be a dead town until the second world war shook it back to life in the mid 1940's. This time arsenic was in demand again along with tungsten, idle mines began production and electricity was brought to the town. This boom lasted only a short time as the government ordered all the mines to stop production two years later. Gold Hill was once again abandoned by all but a few hardy citizens.