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, an unincorporated community, is the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States. It is about 170 miles southeast of Carson City, along U.S. Route 95. The population was 440 at the 2000 census, almost half of the county's population, though for several years in the early 20th century Goldfield was the largest town in Nevada.
Goldfield was a boomtown in the first decade of the 20th century due to the discovery of gold — between 1903 and 1940, Goldfield's mines produced more than $86 million. While a small permanent population remains in Goldfield, it is largely a ghost town. Gold exploration still continues in and around the town today.
By 1904 the Goldfield district produced about 800 tons of ore, valued at $2,300,000, 30% of the state's production that year. This remarkable production caused Goldfield to grow rapidly, and it soon became the largest town in the state.
One prominent, or notorious, early Goldfield resident was George Graham Rice, a former forger, newspaperman, and racetrack tipster, turned mining stock promoter. The collapse of his Sullivan Trust Company and its associated mining stocks caused the failure of the Goldfield State Bank in 1907. Rice quickly left Goldfield, but continued to promote mining shares for another quarter-century.
Goldfield reached a peak population of about 30,000 people in 1906. In 1907 Goldfield became the county seat.
In addition to the mines, Goldfield was home to large reduction works. The gold output in 1907 was over $8.4 million; in 1908, about $4,880,000.
By the 1910 census, its population had declined to 4,838. By 1912, ore production had dropped to $5 million.
The largest mining company left town in 1919. In 1923 a fire destroyed most of the town's flammable buildings; some brick and stone buildings from before the fire remain including the old hotel and the high school.