Bullfrog: Another of Nevada's more colorful mining towns

Few Nevada mining towns had as colorful a name as Bullfrog. But the story on how the town came by its unusual name isn't quite so certain. Historians note there are at least two versions of how the town came to be named.

According to one story, after gold was discovered in the region in August 1904 by two miners, Ernest L. Cross and Frank "Shorty" Harris, Harris thought that the ore, which was speckled green, resembled a bullfrog - hence the name.

The other version, apparently advanced by Cross, was that the name was derived from an old song that Cross always sang, which included the line: "The bullfrog on the bank and the bullfrog in the pool."

Whatever the origins, within a short time after Cross and Harris made their discovery, a genuine mining boom began in the area. The two had taken their ore samples to the larger mining town of Goldfield, 75 miles north, to have them tested and word soon spread.

Within months, tents and wooden shanties were erected throughout the area. An early photograph shows dozens of white tents spread all over the valley, with little apparent planning or design.

Eventually, a few town sites were established in the vicinity, including one camp called Amargosa City. In early 1905, the entire town of Amargosa City was moved to a flat area below the adjacent mining town of Rhyolite and renamed Bullfrog.

For a short time, Rhyolite and Bullfrog were competitors. In fact, by early 1906, Bullfrog had more than 1,000 people, a couple of hotels, a water system, a bank, a post office, a growing residential district and a small business district.

But Rhyolite would eventually surpass Bullfrog. According to historian and photographer, Nell Murbarger, a man named Pete Busch was the first to envision Rhyolite as a new metropolis in the desert, and aggressively promoted his idea to outside investors.

His efforts bore fruit as many eastern investors, who had missed the Tonopah and Goldfield mining booms, poured money into Rhyolite. At its peak in 1906-07, Rhyolite had more than 6,000 residents, an elaborate train depot and dozens of businesses.

While its sister city thrived, Bullfrog began to decline. Many businesses, sensing greater opportunity just up the wash, relocated to Rhyolite.

In 1907, when a national financial panic stopped the flow of money to Rhyolite, Bullfrog was also affected. By 1909, the mines closed and the former boomtown began its slide into oblivion. The Bullfrog post office shut down in May 1909 and most of its businesses moved away.

A visit to the site of Bullfrog reveals only a couple of foundations, a few stone walls and the remains of a vintage automobile. Fortunately, someone has been kind enough to place hand-painted signs on a few of the former locations of the buildings, although it's amusing to look at an empty patch of sagebrush and weeds marked "Bullfrog Bank."

Other signs indicate the former site of the general store and other establishments.

An interesting side note is that the name, Bullfrog, has not completely disappeared into the pages of history. In the 1980s, the Nevada Legislature created a new county, which it named "Bullfrog County."

The purpose of Bullfrog County, located in the vicinity of the Yucca Mountain range, (not too far from the historical Bullfrog mining district), was to allow the state to tax - at a high rate - the federal government should it succeed in placing a high-level nuclear dump site at Yucca Mountain.

Alas, this Bullfrog's existence was even more fleeting than the original, as law creating it was soon tossed by the courts.

Bullfrog is located about a mile west of the ghost town of Rhyolite. To reach the site, travel south on Highway 95 to Beatty, then head four miles west on State Route 374 to Rhyolite. The remains of Bullfrog are located adjacent to a large red barn-shaped antique business, directly west of the entrance to Rhyolite.

Richard Moreno is the author of "Backyard Travels in Northern Nevada" and "The Roadside History of Nevada" which are available at local bookstores.