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Mazuma, Nevada was a small mining town in Pershing County, Nevada where eight
people were killed in a flash flood on July 11, 1912.
Mazuma was founded
in 1907 and a post office was established on August 28, 1907. The name "Mazuma"
is derived from a Yiddish slang word for money: m'zumon. Other sources indicate
that m'zumon means "the ready necessary".
Just after 5pm on July 12,
1912, a 10-foot (3.0 m) wall of water was observed upstream from Mazuma at the
Seven Troughs Canyon. The Seven Troughs Cyanide Plant was destroyed, releasing
dozens of gallons of cyanide into the flood. A phone call was made, but due to
the electrified atmosphere, the only word that could be heard at Mazuma was
"water." The warning was not received in time, the 20-foot (6.1 m) high,
150-foot (46 m) wide flash flood hit Mazuma and killed almost a tenth of the
population. Over the following weeks, relief efforts included visits by doctors
and nurses from as far as Reno. A statewide relief fund was set up. In addition,
a relief fund was set up by the San Francisco Examiner, where William Randolph
Hearst personally donated $100.
Postmistress Maude Ruddell was killed in
the flood when the post office collapsed on her while she was attempting to save
the money. The post office formally moved from Mazuma to Seven Troughs on
November 30, 1912.
The Mazuma Hills Mill, located upstream of Mazuma,
burned down 13 days after the flood, though the Darby Mill located southwest of
Mazuma, operated from 1909 until it was dismantled in 1918
Mazuma, Nevada in 1910 and 2017
Some bar and saloon tokens have a tragic tale to tell. One such token in my
collection is from the Nevada ghost town Mazuma Nevada. It is as follows:
Mazuma Flood of July 11, 1912
📷
Ruins Of The Mazuma Hotel 1912
From
the Lovelock Review-Miner July 12, 1912.
"Yesterday afternoon, at about five
o’clock, the town of Mazuma (northeast of Reno) was devastated, eight people
were drowned and nine more injured, many fatally, and a property loss estimated
at nearly $200,000 by a cloud burst that swept down, unheralded, upon the
mountain town. The known dead are:
Edna Russell (a typo, actually Maude Edna
Ruddell), Postmistress at Mazuma;
Three children of Wm. Kehoe, all aged under
seven;
M.C. Whalen, a miner, aged 35;
Mrs. Floyd Foncannon, drowned in
Burnt Canyon six miles north of Seven Troughs canyon.
Those injured so far as
can be learned at time of going to press are:
John Trenchard, merchant,
probably fatally;
Mrs. Trenchard, badly cut and bruised, may recover.
Mrs.
Kehoe, cut about head and face, bruised about body, may die;
Mrs. O’Hanlan,
badly injured, may recover.
——————
Today the first witnesses of the flood
conductions and who talked to the survivors returned to town. Among them was
Drs. Russell and West, H.J. Murriah, J.T. Goodlin, H.S. Riddle, Jack and Will
Borland and W.H. Copper.
One and all they tell a thrilling story of the
flood. When the water reached Mazuma, it was 20 feet high and 150 feet wide. The
downpour was general in the Seven Troughs Range, in which the towns of Mazuma
and Seven Troughs are located. The fact that one woman was drowned in Burnt
Canyon and that Stone House Canyon was thoroughly gutted, show that the cloud
burst extended over a distance of ten miles.
In Seven Troughs Canyon, just
before the flood came, there was a heavy down pour of rain, which was followed
by heavy rumbling sounds and almost complete darkness. The main of water had
fallen in the drainage area of the Seven Troughs Canyon and it gradually
converged into the narrow canyon walls. It reached momentous proportion and
became irresistible, sweeping all before it, toying with large two story
buildings as though they were chips of wood, overturning everything that came in
its road. For ten minutes, it raged, a mighty torrent, while the frightened
people gazed on it, helpless on the hillside.
The only warning the people of
Mazuma had that the flood was upon them was the attempt that clerk Stevens of
the Preston store of Seven Troughs made to telephone Mr. Preston at Mazuma. The
electrified atmosphere caused the telephone to work improperly and all that Mr.
Preston could understand was the word water. It was only a few seconds later
that heard the roar and beheld the flood. John Trenchard had just remarked to
his wife that it looked like it was going to rain as he started for the front
door of the store."
Davis (1913) wrote" "Mills were built at Mazuma and Seven
Troughs, the latter by the Seven Troughs-Coalition mining company of which L. A.
Friedman is President and General Manager, and the former by the Nevada-Darby
Mining and Milling Company. July 17th 1912, the towns of this district were
devastated by a great water-spout, washing away buildings, mills, people, and
leaving a path of desolation and suffering in its wake. Nine were killed
outright, three others succumbed to wounds, and several were severely injured in
the flood, and the property loss was estimated at a quarter million dollars. The
district has never fully recovered from this great disaster, though work has
been steadily prosecuted on most of the mines and the mills have been repaired
and in operation."
I have posted a photo of the saloon/bar token from my
collection and photos of the town.
Mazuma Mill
Ruins of Mazuma
Hotel
Mazuma Nevada
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