Still trying to kill some time during the Pandemic, the Woman found us somewhere to go that was not too far away. Very near the border of Nevada and California is the historic town of Nipton, California.
Nipton was founded on February 9, 1905 along the newly constructed San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City Railroad. Gold strikes nearby spurred growth in the town as a supply depot to the mines. The population of Nipton also grew as it became a cattle loading station on the railroad.
We found there a post office, a hotel, a trading post, and a school, as well as a number of personal residences, most being trailers. We couldn’t find any information on what its peak population had been. We did learn that the town had a relatively vibrant business district into the 1940’s.
In 1985, the town was purchased by the Freeman family. Their intention was to develop it into a tourist destination as well as a home for local miners. The town’s population currently is estimated to be 15-20, although there appear to be twice that many trailer homes here – many must be abandoned. In 2017 the town was purchased by Arizona based American Green Inc., with the idea that it would be developed as a cannabis tourism destination. Sadly, the financing fell through and the ownership returned to the Freeman family.
The town remains for sale even as we speak. All businesses in the town have closed, mostly as a result of the Covid outbreak – the restaurant, hotel and trading post are all boarded up, so other than roam around and looking for any signage that might pop up, there was nothing to do here. Our one bonus was when we actually bumped into one of the local residents. He wasn’t wearing a mask, and didn’t really have much to say.
We hope to be talking to you soon.
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