Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Bill Kirchner
Taken: March 15, 2010
Caption: From Claim to Fame
Additional Description: On Kiosk about 30 feet north of Nipton Marker:

Two wagon trails crossed here in this wide desert valley, marking the spot where a town would take form in the 1870's. The settlement evolved over time with the ever-changing characters that lived and worked in the Ivanpah Valley.

On January 1, 1900, a gold seeker from Pennsylvania named S.D. Karns, staked perhaps the earliest claim in the area, calling it "Nippeno". The miners took up residence here at the crossroads, which became know as "Nippeno Camp." Soon, the town boasted a railroad station, hotel, and stage coach stop. English immigrant Harry Trehearne shepherded the town's development through the 1940's. After his death and the closing of the railroad station, the town went into decades of decline. In 1985, the Freeman family purchased the deserted town and restored it as a destination for tourist and a home for local miners.
Submitted: March 28, 2010, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona.
Database Locator Identification Number: p102667
File Size: 3.019 Megabytes

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