Nevada Town Mines Earp Family Legend

Tom Gorman’s wonderful July 7 article on Goldfield, Nev., “Now-Busted City Awaits Next Strike,” prompts me to point out an interesting historical tidbit that might help stimulate new interest and growth in that Western town.

Wyatt Earp’s older brother, Virgil, arrived in Goldfield in the summer of 1904 to seek his share of the gold being mined around there. No luck. So, to quote from the Tonapah Sun (Feb. 5, 1905): “Virgil Earp, a brother of Wyatt and one of the famous family of gunologists, is acting as deputy sheriff (bouncer) in the National Club, Goldfield. Virge is a mild-looking individual and to outward view presents none of the characteristics that have made the family name a familiar one in the West and in all the bonanza camps of the country from Mexico to Alaska.”

Virgil died of pneumonia in Goldfield on Oct. 19, 1905, in the hospital next to the Miners’ Hall (now the Goldfield Consolidated Mines Co. building). Incidentally, Wyatt opened his Northern Saloon in Tonapah in 1902. A picture of it, with his name on the sign, appears in just about every book written about him.

Truman Rex Fisher

Azusa