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In Mina Nevada there used to be a club where you could take your wife for a drink, nice dinner and dance all night long after! Its name was Hollywood Club!

How fun! How cool! Where are those kind of clubs today? Where can we go and have a great dinner and a drink and then dance for the rest of the evening?

Maybe it is time to bring these kind of small town clubs back. Maybe clubs like these would make small towns far far out there like Mina Nevada is popular again.

I don’t know exactly where Hollywood Club in Mina Nevada was. We can only guess. Or you can help me with that if you know and send me a message. But I am almost certain that, this club was booming with diners and dancers in the heydays of this beautiful small mining town!

Once upon a time in Mina Nevada was a salon named Francine’s Lucky Strike.

It was a gentleman’s place and I knew a very nice guy who lived next door to it. He was doing the maintenance work for this bar. And the owner, I believe it was a woman than would ask this gentleman how he wishes to get paid.

He would ask her, what does she mean how?

She would answer: “In cash or in services?” He told me that he would giggle, but he always took cash.

This gentleman is not alive anymore, but I was fortunate to be able to meet him and listen to his interesting stories. I really really miss him!

I found this interesting material from 1976 and it is the guide to Nevadas gentlemen’s places. There is also Mina Nevada own Lucky Strike bar.

Yes, this is also part of Mina Nevada towns history. Mina Nevada does not have any gentlemen’s place currently in town anymore. But like a true Wild West town, it did before!

I came across a very rare postcard from Mina Nevada. And it tells the story too. What a beautiful reminder of the past life in Mina Nevada and people who lived here and spend some time here.

I was able to successfully read about first 1/2 of this postcard to Mama. And than I stumbled a little. First part says:

“Dear Mama! Am sending you a picture of the place where me are (or am) living now. I have a crash on the house me hire the first one of this …………”

And that’s what this very carrying son or daughter was writing to hers or his mom in 1915. It was more than 100 years ago.

I believe these cottages are still standing in Mina Nevada. Or maybe I’m wrong. But if they are and someone lives in them, they certainly should see this postcard and know that each of these houses have a story to tell. A story from the beautiful booming past of this beautiful little town on the western frontier of USA – Mina Nevada.

Here is a very unique photo of Mina Nevadas Railroad Depot. I am so happy to found this one and post it on this website.

The beautiful snowy Pilot Mountain Range behind with the clear blue skies make this scenery in Mina Nevada unforgettable!

The Southern Pacific train just leaving Mina is a beauty too! AHHH the beautiful American Western scenery of the past!

Here is just another little piece of history from this beautiful forgotten western town of Mina Nevada. Bellow on the photo is the Reno & Mina R.P.O. on Registry dispatch receipt card with a stamped date from 1920! And it is going to Fallon, NV.

To tell the truth, it took me a while to find out what R.P.O. stands for. But eventually I did figure it out! There was a thriving shipping route place here in Mina Nevada. And it had name – Reno & Mina Railway Post Office. Just look at that cool stamp on that first photo! I love it!

As seen on this old map of gentleman’s saloons, Mina Nevada had its own bar and saloon. It’s name was Francine’s Lucky Strike Bar and Saloon.

I also know an interesting story from an older Mina, Nevada resident, very sweet and interesting gentleman, I spend lots of time on the phone with. But about that in the next coming post.

This is a returned letter from Silver Gulch Mining Company that used to operate in Mina Nevada. This one is from 1920! More than 100 years ago!

Yes Mina Nevada used to be a prominent mining town. Now it’s considered a ghost town. But considering the value of commodities increasing, I wander if brighter future lies ahead for this beautiful little town of Mina Nevada!

Mina Nevada was a home to salt miners too. Salt mining was happening not too far from Mina Nevada. Down few miles south on highway 95 is Rhodes Salt Marsh. Here is where the salt was mined.

Rhodes Nevada that is very close to Mina Nevada is a former rail station and Post Office on the Carson Colorado railway.

Based on Wikipedia:

Until 1862, salt was transported from San Francisco to Nevada at a cost of US$150 (equivalent to $4,071 in 2021)/ton.

In 1862, salt was mined in nearby Rhodes Salt Marsh and transported using imported camels at half that cost.

In 1863, salt was discovered at Sand Springs Marsh and found to be cheaper than salt from Rhodes Salt Marsh. In 1869, salt from Rhodes Salt Marsh was transported to Columbus, Nevada and Belmont. In 1874 and in 1882, one ton per day of borax was being produced.

The Post Office was called Rhodes from October 1893 until October 1907 and then Dea from October 1907 until May 1908.

In 1930, a sodium plant was built at Rhodes Marsh. By November 1932, Rhodes Marsh was producing one train car load per day and employing about 100 men.

In about 1934, Germany started shipping sodium sulphate as ballast, which caused the price to drop, making mining at Rhodes Marsh unprofitable. In 1948, mining of sodium sulphate resumed, with the output going to a Florida paper manufacturer. At that time, all 30 of the employees were residents of Mina, Nevada

And that’s how Mina Nevada lost it’s other 30 people. And kept slowly over time losing its population. But it looks like that trend is reversing now.

Here is the pieced out Mina Nevada map from June 1917 created by Royal & Queen Inc Cos.

Some of these buildings are still standing in Mina today. And it is so fun to point to them and say: “ This was a meat market before or Ice House.” “Here is the foundation that used to be Mina Railroad Depot. Or, “here is where the particular saloon was.”

Too bad I don’t have the map like this from the opposite side – west side of the railroad tracks where Mina Nevada Roundhouse used to stand or Francine’s Lucky Strike saloon used to be. Maybe sometime in the future I will find it. And I’m sure I will eventually and share it with you.

It’s so great to see this historic map from 1917 of what was where then in Mina Nevada. And it does really seam that it was a booming mining town then and had great community of people, shops, bars and saloons that served the miners and other western folks and dreamers.

Based on photos I see and their description I believe Mina Nevada had another railroad depot.

So this building on the photo above is a Railroad Depot in Mina Nevada. The photo was taken on June 1951.

We already have several photographs of the main Mina Railroad Depot. You can see it here and another one here. And it looks like this was the other one. At least it was called so.

It captures the Mina Nevada Railroad Depot with locomotive number 5259 which was called the Cow and locomotive 5502 which was called the Calf. These locomotives are standing on the Southern Pacific main line.

Cow and Calf! How cool and cute! My kids are going to love that!

I love this photo and it is so great to see the history of Mina Nevada and what was here on this spot in the past.