Sodaville began in the year of 1881 and was a railroading town. I have to say in all my adventures to ghost towns this place gets a 10 out of 10 for strangeness. Back in the day all the freight for Tonopah was unloaded. It was an important town as it resides between Reno and Tonopah that had a station on the Carson and Colorado Railroad.

The town did have a post office, jail which I was unable to locate, cemetery and your typical sites that every boom town once had. Today its been reduced to a mere few buildings, mill and a half of mile of debris scattered amongst the sage brush. The post office opened in October of 1882 and remained open to about March of 1917. The railroad that came through had its own weigh station for importing and exporting goods. Some of them went to other well known towns which today are also ghost towns while other trains went to Reno and Tonopah.

Sadly when Mina came into play in 1905 Sodaville began to dwindle. Mina Nevada just a mere four miles up the road took away everything that Sodaville stood for and let me explain why. The Southern Pacific railroaded offered to buy the big spring located at Pilots Peak. Sodaville had a plentiful supply of water this is what made it convenient as a railroad town. The railroad offered to buy it for $35,000 however the locals doubled the price to 70k. Thus the Southern Pacific Railroad decided to take their operations a few miles to the north drilling their own wells in Mina Nevada which had its own station. Thus Sodaville became a place where the railroad passed through but it no longer was an important railroad town since another was only miles away and served two railroads in its place.

This would lead to the towns demise sure there were hot springs and bathhouses but by 1915 only a few residents remained. Despite that fact Sodaville is a historical relic. For example some of the first Borax was refined here dating back to the days that the narrow gauged railroad was used. It also was the site where a famous gunfight occurred between Mike "Two Gun" Kennedy and a local miner named James Lund. Right downtown Main Street Lund killed Kennedy shooting him six times. Lund did not get hit even once and its a story still passed down through the generations.

One resident of Mina Nevada did put the use of the Sodaville Hot springs to farm lobsters or actually what they call the Australian Red Claw Crayfish. He would raise them in massive tanks in a greenhouse that stored water from the hot springs in Sodaville. People on Hwy. 95 would stop just to buy a batch. While others who wanted to eat at his restaurant could have them cooked four miles up the road in Mina Nevada. You will notice the sign "Lobster Crossing" in our relics section. You will also notice if you visit Mina Nevada you can see his boat shaped restaurant. Sadly the Dept. of Wildlife were concerned that the crawfish would get into the water system so they raided his farm shutting down his business.

The structures you see in our galleries is not entirely the original town site from the 1800's although a major portion of town the actually site is where the Mt. Diablo Silver Mill and Jail reside. We did not visit either which may give us the notion to return again and see what we can discover during a future exploration.

Before Sodaville met its demise in 1904 the Tonopah and Goldfield railroad was built in 1904 which did stop in town. It did not last to long and most of the structures you see today although they look much older they actually were built in the early 1900's. Despite there age they are over a century old and the plotted streets of the town still exist today.

In regards to the town being haunted there is no doubt in mind that its ghost of the past roam the towns mills, mines and houses. Despite that we had gotten some readings we also produced three really odd EVP's within the town. But when you put together its haunts with its strangeness this truly is an eerie place. For example near an old garage on a shelf is jars of feces. While in one of the homes someone had used American Flags as drapes. Every relic whether it is a horseshoe or a vase is what adds character to this town making it a true ghost town of uniqueness.

Copyright By
Lord Rick
Founder
Author, Producer, Talk Show Host and Investigator

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