Silver Peak: Never A Ghost Town

Silver Peak: Never A Ghost Town, is the story of a small mining community in west-central Nevada. As with many towns tied to mining, it has suffered the booms and busts that are inherent in the industry, but the difference with Silver Peak is that it has weathered them all and stood its ground in the desert.
    Approaches to studying history vary, and one of the most exciting aspects of this book is its use of sources: archaeological discoveries, archival records, and oral history interviews. This unique combination offers something more than a list of events, names, and dates. Information on Silver Peak's earliest history was drawn from newspapers, legal documents, letters, business files, and archaeological reports. More recent history, from the 1930s onward, really comes alive in the oral histories that were conducted for this project. Chroniclers recounted not only the serious business of mining and keeping a town afloat but also humorous stories about community life at the place they fondly referred to as "The Peak."
    This combination of sources provides a vast array of information on Silver Peak and addresses some of the following questions: Why did Silver Peak survive when other Nevada mining towns did not? What role was played by investors, individuals, families, and advances in technology? How was Silver Peak alike or different from other mining communities? The resulting story is told in this engaging look at a community that has met its challenges head on and has remained vibrant-and never a ghost town.

Silver Peak: Never A Ghost Town, by Victoria Ford. Reno: UNOHP, 2002. (306 pages, 93 illustrations, $19.95)


(For the complete oral history transcripts on which this book is based, visit our catalog and look at #183, Silver Peak: At Work, At Home, and At Play.)