Gilbert lies about 1.5 miles from Millers, Nevada. It is located at the base of the Monte Cristo Range. The Gilbert Brothers had been prospecting there for years without success. They were just about ready to give up, but decided to give it one last try. And they placed a claim and named it “The Last Hope.”
In November of 1924 they found high grade ore and the Last Hope became their best hope. News, of course, spread through the prospecting community and other who placed claims nearby also found gold. Within two months the hills surrounding the area were blackened with energetic prospectors. The discover of a $50,000 outcropping in February started the rush to Gilbert! Big trucks loaded with houses, lumber, supplies and machinery began arriving. New buildings were erected as fast as materials would arrive and that man and tool could put them together. Autos came and went as leasers scoured the nearby hills for their fortune. The Gilbert Record began providing high-grade publicity with its first issue on February 21st. A series of winter snow storms put a damper on the prospecting and mining in March, but in April Los Angeles financiers began to arrive and to put serious money into the camp. As Spring settled in the rush to Gilbert grew hotter. Soon 400 people had set up tents and electricity had arrived in the camp. Four restaurants, barbers, bakeries, saloons, et al were up and running. All told about 40 businesses set up shop before the summer heat arrived. Since this was the age of the automobile access to the camp was fairly easy and residents of Tonopah would often come out to check up on this burgeoning camp. Through 1926 Gilbert basked in glory. But, alas, like most Nevada camps 1927 saw the town and mines begin to decline. In 1929 the post office was closed and the town that only had 60 residents left, quickly dwindled to a handful. Since Mr. Shamberger never had the opportunity to write about Gilbert, I used Stanley Paher’s research on Gilbert to tell its story. |
So, why were these two photographs of Gilbert in the Shamberger family archives. The not on the small photo holds the key. They back identifies the two men as Charles Hendel and Harry Henry. If you pick up the Story of Weepah by Shamberger, Charles Hendel is all over that book. He actually accompanied Shamberger on one of his trips to Weepah to identify places and tell stories.
Charles was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Nevada in 1904 to work in construction. This would most likely be with the Newlands Project or, perhaps, railroad building. He served in the United States Navy during World War I. In 1913 he returned to Nevada and settled in Smith Valley. He became the first postmaster [from his store] in Simpson on November 13, 1913. He held this position until November 27, 1920. In the 1920’s he roamed around western mining camps: Gilbert, Rochester, Millers, Bisbee and Tombstone (the last two in Arizona). His most notable stay was probably in Weepah where he ran a general store and was the communities only post master from April 8, 1927 to July 2, 1929. He was one of the last to leave Weepah. From there he became a civil contractor with the United States Navy being stationed in Hawthorne (be sure to see his photographs of early the Hawthorne Naval Base in the “Story of Hawthorne.”) He would serve as Nevada Assemblyman from 1943 to 1949 and was noted for his passion to bring water to Nevada from the Pacific Northwest. He spent time in California and Oregon during this period. He retired in 1946 and built Mark Twain Camp. It was a combination Boy Scout Camp and fire lookout. He was instrumental in getting highway 359 paved from Hawthorne to Mono County. Mark Twain Camp is just inside the Nevada border on this highway. 1. “Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps” by Paher 2. “Toiyabe Patrol: Five U.S. Forest Service Summers East of the High Sierra” by Joslin 3. Nevada State Journal 4. United States Postmaster Book |