Author: mstolicny

I came across this historic jewel! It’s a postcard from Mina Nevada going to Denver Colorado. And it was send 117 years ago!

It travelled by Mina & Keeler R.P.O. – Railroad Post Office. That was the historic narrow gauge railroad that operated in Mina Nevada in early 20th century.

I tried to read carefully what the postcard says. And I hope I got it right. But maybe not. If you see that I made a mistake, please let me know.

This postcard I believe if I read those names correctly was send by gentleman named Leonard Ruler to Miss Glea Woodruff. And it was send on February 27th 1909!

Here is the content of this postcard:

2/27/09

Hello how are you

I’m having a fine

Time here, I heard

Grace Anstonmuj she’s

Mother of a fine baby

Have you heard about

It. From Leonard Ruler.

I think Leonard was a miner from Denver who misses his family, living temporarily in Mina Nevada or maybe a post office worker or police officer. Who knows.

Now it makes me think who was the baby? Baby born most likely in the beginning of the year of 1909! Maybe that person who grew up from the baby to adult had no idea that he or she had this tiny little connection to this beautiful town of Mina Nevada. And maybe she had more than tiny connection to it. Who knows. Maybe we will find out eventually……….

I believe this photo of a train standing inside Mina Nevada Roundhouse is from the beginnings of this roundhouses story and its history. It is still being build here.

The Roundhouse will eventually be build to this form and size:

So it seams like the roundhouse in Mina was expanded to its final shape overtime. It is a nice little detail about Mina Roundhouses history.

Here is a detail of that first photo:

I believe that little house on left side below is still standing today. I am quite positive it is the same house I’ve seen when visiting this part on Mina. It’s been used like a shed now. But it used to be small little house. At least that is my limited observation. And it is so great to still see part of Mina’s past and history today!

Mina Nevada postcard

Now I’m a proud owner of this beautiful postcard from Mina Nevada. I just bought it. And it is the same one I already have. But with a different story to tell.

Postcard is addressed to Widen, West Virginia and it’s coming from a dad from Mina Nevada. And it was shipped on April 10. 1944.

If you do a search and find Widen, West Virginia on a map, you’ll see that this town is very rural and very small. It is actually smaller than Mina, NV is today!

The Widen population today is 109 people! Mina has 136 people. Median income for Widen today is $22000 and for Mina it is almost double – $43000.

After a little bit of wrestling with the handwriting, this is what to postcard says:

Sunday Morning

Was glad to hear about your trip. Would love to be home this morning. Windy here. Snowed and rained some last night. I was invited to East service today but I’ll have to do some writing to Boulder City and call Tonopah about the coal for Winter. I can see you all going to Church, it’s noon there now 9 o’clock here.

Love, Dad

It is a a beautiful tiny story in history of this beautiful little town of Mina Nevada. Where long time in the past people would come to American West in search of better tomorrow. And with that, they had to sacrifice being away from the family, missing them, thinking of them and writing them, like this dad from Widen, West Virginia.

I came across this postcard from old days of Mina Nevada. This one is from 1941 and it looks like it just rained when the photo was taken.

And here is the detail from the previous image. It’s the Cafe Mina! I heard – Cafe Mina mentioned here and there and I was always interested where it was located. And now we know where!

I love this image! It makes me wander if this was the spot to meet friends for morning coffee in Mina. I can imagine people sitting, drinking their morning coffee chatting and reading newspapers. It was most likely packed with people in the heydays of this beautiful mining town.

I received a beautiful and very interesting letter from Michelle. Michelles connections to Mina Nevada are very interesting. And I am very thankful to her for sending me this letter and sharing with us all a little bit of history of this beautiful town and its connection to her and hers family history.

Thank you Michelle!

Enjoy this beautiful story from Mina Nevada from Michelle’s perspective!

I visited Mina Nevada in the summer of 2018. And I fell in love with this small town immediately! Here are few more photos from my trip here.

On this cool vintage Stopover bar matchbox cover we can see destinations and mileage to them from Mina Nevada.

Mileage from Mina West and South

Bishop – 87 Bakersfield – 320 Los Angeles – 343

East

Tonopah – 67 Ely – 235 Wendover – 355

Wells – 374 Salt Lake – 493

North & West

Hawthorne – 33 Yerington – 91 Fallon – 106

Carson – 247 and now – 154

Reno – 278 and now 183

San Francisco – 412

I double checked these mileages and they are almost all pretty much matching today’s mileages. But Reno and Carson which is Carson City is much less miles now. And this is most likely due to highway 95 not existing at that time in mid 20th century.

So now you can drive from Mina to Carson City, NV and cover distance of 154 miles and it will take you about 2.5 hours. And the distance to Reno, NV is 183 miles and it will take about 2 hours and 40 minutes. That highway 95 build saved us about 100 miles of commute to these cities!

Mina Nevada is a beautiful and very interesting small town with rich mining history. And even though some destinations are far, it is a spectacularly beautiful road trip from each side of country and it is well worth taking. I’ve done it and drove from Oakland California and it was the most beautiful one day road trip I ever took.

Mina Nevada used to be booming mining town in the good old days when mining was number one industry in America.

And with all the resources Mina Nevada area had, miners came to prospect and work. There became a need for new services that would serve the Mina’s population.

The Huddleston Photo Company took care of the photo taking and photo making needs in this beautiful forgotten town.

And one of the services that it provided was making postcards of the local area and busy life in Mina Nevada. So when a young miner wanted to send a greetings to his mom or girlfriend he would go to Huddleston Photo Company and buy a beautiful postcard. And that’s what people living and working in Mina Nevada did! So cool!

This is one of my favorite photos of Mina Nevada history. You can tell that this town was so alive in the old and gold times of mining and railroad domination.Trains were coming in and out of town carrying people and resources.

Mina Nevada was well known and it was the destination for miners, travelers and adventure seekers. And perhaps that stayed with this now almost forgotten town. The adventure seekers are still coming in and exploring the town of Mina and its history. And of course many are off roading in near by mountains and enjoying the stunning outdoors adventures.

People will always look for unusual places and things to admire. And Mina Nevada town is so special and unusual. And that draws people to explore it and enjoy its unusual beauty and history.