Ruth, Nevada

Ruth, Nevada
Census-designated place

Street Scene in Ruth, Nevada
Ruth

Location within the state of Nevada

Coordinates: 39°16′42″N 114°59′18″W / 39.27833°N 114.98833°WCoordinates: 39°16′42″N 114°59′18″W / 39.27833°N 114.98833°W
Country United States
State Nevada
County White Pine
Area
 • Total 0.3 sq mi (0.9 km2)
 • Land 0.3 sq mi (0.9 km2)
 • Water 0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation 6,880 ft (2,100 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 440
 • Density 1,300/sq mi (490/km2)
Time zone Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes 89319
FIPS code 32-63800
GNIS feature ID 0845643

Ruth is a small town in White Pine County, Nevada, that was founded in 1903. It is a census-designated place, with a population in 2010 of 440.[1]

Ruth was built as a company town for the adjacent Robinson Mine, a large open-pit copper mine, which is still in operation as of 2012.

History

A panorama of Ruth, circa 1912

Ruth began as a settlement for workers of the White Pine Copper Company in 1903. It derived its name from the Ruth mining claim which was named for Ruth McDonald, daughter of the original owner of the mining claim.[2]

With the opening Nevada Northern Railway in the year 1906 copper production began to boom. By 1910 the settlement was already established a small distance from the first site. Ruth was a company town for the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company: the houses belonged to the mine and the city and were administered by them. Saloons and bordellos were not permitted in the company town but were plentiful in the neighboring community of Riepetown.

A mine explosion in Ruth on July 12, 1912, killed ten people.[3]

In 1919 Ruth was the site of a labor dispute when 150 copper miners walked out demanding higher wages. Although some claimed the strike was instigated by the Industrial Workers of the World the leaders were actually from the Western Federation of Miners.[4]

At the beginning of the Great Depression, Ruth had almost 2,300 inhabitants.[5]

Nevada Consolidated Copper Co. was taken over by Kennecott Copper Corporation in 1933.[3]

Ruth ceased being a company town in 1955 when the houses were sold to the John W. Galbreath Company. Occupants were given the opportunity to purchase the homes they had been renting. Around this time the town was moved two miles north to make way for expansion of the Deep Ruth mine.[3]

In 1978 Kennecott closed the mines in Ruth[6] and the town went into decline. The elementary school closed in 1986 and remains boarded up as of June 2011.

BHP reopened the mine in 1996. From 1996 to 1999, the BHP Nevada Railroad was based here. The mine closed again in 1999.

Quadra FNX Mining reopened the Robinson Mine in 2004, and it is still in full production as of 2012.

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum maintains some track in the area.

Ruth is the inspiration for the Stephen King novel Desperation.[7]

A panorama of Ruth in 2014

Notable persons

Charles H. Russell, 20th governor of Nevada, worked briefly in Ruth ca. 1927.

Former U.S. Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, who represented the state of Maryland, was born in Ruth.[8]

Climate

Ruth experiences a semi-arid climate with hot summers and cold winters, typical of most small towns in the Great Basin. Due to Ruth's substantial elevation and aridity, the Diurnal temperature variation is large. Nights are cool, even in the summer, and frosts can occur any time of the year, although rare in summer months. Daytime highs in the winter tend to be a few degrees above freezing, but nights can be bitterly cold.

Climate data for Ruth, Nevada (Elevation 6,880ft)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 62
(17)		 68
(20)		 75
(24)		 80
(27)		 88
(31)		 93
(34)		 100
(38)		 96
(36)		 92
(33)		 86
(30)		 80
(27)		 64
(18)		 100
(38)
Average high °F (°C) 37.8
(3.2)		 40.6
(4.8)		 46.9
(8.3)		 53.9
(12.2)		 64.2
(17.9)		 74.9
(23.8)		 84.0
(28.9)		 82.1
(27.8)		 73.6
(23.1)		 61.7
(16.5)		 47.5
(8.6)		 38.5
(3.6)		 58.8
(14.9)
Average low °F (°C) 6.3
(−14.3)		 11.0
(−11.7)		 18.0
(−7.8)		 23.6
(−4.7)		 31.3
(−0.4)		 38.8
(3.8)		 45.9
(7.7)		 44.5
(6.9)		 34.4
(1.3)		 24.7
(−4.1)		 15.5
(−9.2)		 6.7
(−14.1)		 25.1
(−3.8)
Record low °F (°C) −30
(−34)		 −31
(−35)		 −19
(−28)		 −12
(−24)		 5
(−15)		 18
(−8)		 18
(−8)		 22
(−6)		 12
(−11)		 −5
(−21)		 −22
(−30)		 −34
(−37)		 −34
(−37)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 0.91
(23.1)		 1.06
(26.9)		 0.96
(24.4)		 1.40
(35.6)		 1.22
(31)		 1.10
(27.9)		 0.89
(22.6)		 0.95
(24.1)		 0.83
(21.1)		 1.04
(26.4)		 0.82
(20.8)		 0.95
(24.1)		 12.14
(308.4)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 10.8
(27.4)		 11.2
(28.4)		 7.9
(20.1)		 6.8
(17.3)		 2.0
(5.1)		 0.3
(0.8)		 0.0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0.1
(0.3)		 2.8
(7.1)		 5.3
(13.5)		 10.8
(27.4)		 58.0
(147.3)
Source: The Western Regional Climate Center[9]

References

  1. ↑ "American FactFinder". U.S. Bureau of the Census.
  2. ↑ Elliott, Russell (1966). Nevada's twentieth-century mining boom: Tonopah, Goldfield, Ely. Reno: University of Nevada Press. p. 344. ISBN 0-87417-133-4.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Elliott, Russell (1990). Growing up in a company town: A family in the copper camp of McGill, Nevada. Reno: Nevada Historical Society. p. 200.
  4. ↑ Elliott, Russell (1961). Radical labor in the Nevada mining booms: 1900-1920. Carson City, NV: State Printing Office.
  5. ↑ Nevada Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration (1991 (reprint of 1940 ed.)). The WPA Guide to 1930s Nevada. University of Nevada Press. p. 315. ISBN 0-87417-170-9. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ↑ Hulse, James (2004). The Silver state: Nevada's heritage reinterpreted. 3rd ed. Reno: University of Nevada Press. p. 375. ISBN 0-87417-592-5.
  7. ↑ "Desperation". StephenKing.com.
  8. ↑ "Bentley, Helen Delich". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 06-02-2011. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ↑ "Seasonal Temperature and Precipitation Information". Western Regional Climate Center. Retrieved April 6, 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ruth, Nevada.