Gold Butte, Nevada facts for kids
Gold Butte is the name of a ghost town and a mountain peak in Clark County, Nevada. Both the town and the mountain are part of the Gold Butte National Monument. This special area is looked after by the Bureau of Land Management.
Gold Butte, the mountain, stands tall at 5,013 feet (1,528 m) (about 1,528 meters). It rises 1,280 feet (390 m) (about 390 meters) above the old town of Gold Butte. This peak is found within the Virgin Mountains. Its name likely comes from the Gold Butte Mining District, where people once searched for gold.
History of Gold Butte
The area known as Gold Butte, Nevada is part of the Gold Butte mining district. This district stretches south of Gold Butte. It goes from the Nevada-Arizona state line in the east to the Virgin River (which is now part of Lake Mead) in the west.
In 1873, a man named Daniel Bonelli found mica in this area. Then, in 1905, gold was discovered! This led to a big rush of people to Gold Butte between 1905 and 1906. The settlement quickly grew. It had a post office, a hotel, a stable for horses, a store, and homes for the miners.
However, the total amount of valuable minerals found in the Gold Butte district was not very high, only about $75,000 worth. People prospected and did small-scale mining for gold, mica, magnesite, copper, and zinc. But they never found any really large deposits. By December 1910, most of the mining had stopped. The town was then abandoned.
Today, not much is left at the old town site. You can find a few old building foundations, two graves, and several old mine shafts.
Gold Butte National Monument
The Bundy standoff was a disagreement that happened in spring 2014. It was about land use in the Gold Butte area. This dispute was between the Bureau of Land Management and Cliven Bundy, a local rancher. It had been going on for about 20 years.
United States Senator Harry Reid (who lived from 1939 to 2021) was from Nevada. He worked with local business leaders and groups that protect nature. They all wanted to make Gold Butte and the land around it into a National Conservation Area.
On December 28, 2016, President Barack Obama officially created the Gold Butte National Monument. This action helped protect the public lands surrounding Gold Butte for everyone to enjoy.
