The Central Nevada Museum, Tonopah, NV

Visit Notes: So far I have visited this museum (Fig. 01) on two occasions, once back on 10/25/2012 and more recently on 08/09/2013. It seems that each time I peruse its indoor displays and exhibits and wander the grounds, I find something new and learn a little more about what life was like in this 110 year old mining town. My favorite part of this museum are the extensive outdoor displays, which feature artifacts, small and large, from all over the area. This includes parts of a stamp mill from Manhattan, hoist cages, parts from military aircraft that crashed during Tonopah's years as a military base, buildings from various towns, and a nature walk featuring native plants and fauna.

Central Nevada Museum: The museum was founded in 1981 by the Central Nevada Historical Society and is operated under the direction of the Central Nevada Historical Society and Nye County. The Central Nevada Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of the history of Central Nevada in Nye and Esmeralda Counties as well as surrounding areas. All collections belong to the Central Nevada Historical Society. This free museum has a large variety of great exhibits. The indoor displays and exhibits feature Tonopah “Queen of the Silver Camps”, Goldfield “The Greatest Gold Camp Ever” and other boomtowns of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. They also include Native American artifacts, fossils, wildlife, mineral displays, art, mining in Central Nevada, railroads, ranch life, military artifacts and many photos of early ethnic groups and subjects showing everyday life in a mining boom camp. There is also a whole section with extensive information on the little known Tonopah Army Air Field that operated here between 1942 and 1945, and its contribution to the war effort. A training base for P-39 and B-39 crews, there were 110 young airmen were killed here while learning to fly during the early war years of WWII. By October, 1944, there were 66 B-24 aircraft available for the training program, and more than 1,264 officers and 5,273 enlisted men, in addition to a large number of civilians, assigned to the base. By September 15, 1945, shortly after fighting ended in the Pacific, just four aircraft remained at the airfield, and on October 15, the 442nd AAF Base Unit was discontinued. Click here for more pictures … Central Nevada Museum Exhibits.html.

There are numerous outdoor exhibits on the grounds surrounding the museum, including the observation tower from the Tonopah Army Air Field (TAAF), a 10-ton stamp mill, a double decker hoist cage (Fig. 02) from one of the old mines, an old west town featuring a row of miners’ shacks with plank sidewalks (Fig. 03), saloon, blacksmith shop, railroad yard with the SP railroad scale house (Fig. 04), out houses, early mining equipment, a 10-ton stamp mill, single operation ore cars (Fig. 05), the 1907 head frame from the Mustang Mine (Fig. 06), a fire house and hand drawn fire engine (and much more) in (Fig, 07).

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