Mina

Mineral County

In 1905, the town of Mina was founded as a stop on the Nevada & California Railway. This railroad was owned by Southern Pacific. The site at Mina was picked when battles over land limited the options of the railroad company. The name Mina came from a railroad executive's daughter named Wilhelmina. A post office opened in late 1905. By 1906, the town had a newspaper called "Western Nevada Miner". The town continued to grow and the normal businesses soon opened. To include saloons, stores and hotels. Two trains were arriving from and departing to San Francisco twice weekly. the area surrounding Mina was also mineral rich for mining. By 1910, Mina had a population of 400 residents. After this point, mining and railroad activities in and around Mina began to decline. By the 1930's, Mina saw its newspaper fold and its southern railroad traffic from California cease. Today, Mina is still a sparsely populated town.

Nevada is famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) for two major firsts in American law enforcement and criminal justice. Jarbidge was the first place in America to obtain a murder conviction using palm print evidence. Mina was the first place in America to execute a convicted murderer by use of the gas chamber. In 1921, members of a Chinese Tong known as the Hop Sing sent Hughie Sing of Carson City and Gee Jon from San Francisco to Mina. They were acting on orders to kill a man named Tom Quong Kee who was allegedly a member of a rival Tong. Gee Jon shot him at his home in Mina. Jon and Sing were later convicted. Gee Jon was executed by gas chamber in Carson City in 1924.

Post Office: September 25, 1905 to February 10, 1911 (Esmeralda County); February 10, 1911 to Present (Mineral County).

Last Trip/ Road Conditions: Mina sits right on the side of Highway 95 between Tonopah and Hawthorne. Most of you have probably driven through it. I've driven through it repeatedly. I believe the photographs are from 2013.