Farrell History
Farrell was established following gold discoveries in 1906. This location is about five miles north of the main portion of the Seven Troughs district, and was the site of a gold discovery in 1863. That earlier discovery didn't amount to much, but according to the book Nevada Ghost Towns & Mining Camps, there was a rock structure above the canyon dating back to the 1860s–likely the origin of the name Stonehouse Canyon.
Farrell peaked in 1907, with town lots selling for as much as $500. Seventy-five tents made up the bulk of the settlement, with two restaurants, two boarding houses, a lumberyard, two stables, and of course several saloons serving the growing population. A post office was established that year. Newspapers reported the discussion of a railroad connection to the town, but those plans were quickly abandoned.
A newspaper advertisement for Independence Day celebrations at Farrell announced a twenty-round boxing contest, a drilling contest, a tug of war between the residents of Farrell and Vernon, the Seven Troughs district baseball championship, and numerous other amusements like the "fat man's race" and the "high dive in the Farrell swimming pool." The advertsiment also stated that the town was now the second largest town in the district and that by January 1st it would have a population of 3,000.
Farrell never reached a population of 3,000 or anywhere near that number. Although new strikes were made in 1908, the mines in this part of the district declined much sooner than those to the south, and the town declined with them. By 1911 Farrell was mostly abandoned, and the post office closed. Not much was recorded about the town but the February 9, 1908 edition of theTonopah Daily Bonanza reported on an incident where the citizens ran some of the lawless element out of town:
Saloon Man Run Out of Farrell
SATURATED HIS BUILDING WITH OIL AND BURNED IT TO THE GROUND.
News reached here last night that serious trouble may occur at Farrell, one of the camps of the Seven Troughs district on account of an effort which the citizens are making to rid the town of bad characters.
Sheriff Lamb was telegraphed for and arrived last night and left at once for Farrell to take charge of the situation and bring about peaceable conditions.
Yesterday the citizens of Farrell ran a saloon man named Miller out of the camp and then saturated his saloon with oil and burned it. Miller has the reputation of being a gun fighter and his saloon was a resort for bad characters of the town. Besides Miller two others were conducted down the canyon, but they made resistance and a shooting was narrowly averted.
The feeling among the good citizens of Farrell is running high and they are determined to clean the town of the disreputable element. The tough characters will all be compelled to leave, with orders not to return or they will be given summary punishment.
Sheriff Lamb left for Farrell last night, having received a dispatch from Deputy Sheriff Cooper of Lovelock that the situation demanded the sheriff's immediate presence. The sheriff went to Lovelock on No. 9, the fast mail, having been given a permit to ride on that train. The sheriff is a fearless officer and he will doubtless straighten out matters at Farrell very quickly.
Nevada Mining Photos
A Collection of Nevada Mining Photos contains numerous examples of Nevada's best historic mining scenes.
Nevada Gold
Nevada has a total of 368 distinct gold districts. Of the of those, just 36 are major producers with production and/or reserves of over 1,000,000 ounces, 49 have production and/or reserves of over 100,000 ounces, with the rest having less than 100,000 ounces. Read more: Gold Districts of Nevada.
