Also known as National City, Bristol City and Tempest throughout its history, Bristol Nevada is a ghost town in Lincoln County, Nevada. Bristol is located about 14 miles north of Pioche. The town site is in a sagebrush basin with the silver mines located on the cedar-pinion-juniper covered hillsides.
Mormon prospectors discovered silver in the western face of the Bristol Mountains. These early efforts organizes as National City in 1871. A small smelter was constructed, however it was used sparingly. Until 1978 the Hillside Mine brought new interest and development into the area. Renewed optimism saw the smelter repaired and a 12 stamp mill was constructed to process the ore.
By 1882 Bristol had five stores, eight saloons, two hotels with restaurants attached. The town also had three stables, a lodging house, express office, printing office, two barbershops, butcher, laundry, shoemaker, blacksmith shop, and post office. Bristol became the central trading location, undoubtedly fueled by gold and whiskey. Seven hundred miners worked the nearby hills. The budding town saw the founding of the Star brewery to keep the thirst of the men down. The brewery even hired a female bartender, who it is said, served brinks like the greek goddess Hebe.
C. V. Gilmer, of this city, has just marketed a carload of ore from the property of the Iron and Silver Consolidated company is Bristol District, Lincoln county, Nevada. The ore is high grade as it runs 30 per cent in copper besides carrying values in silver. At the present time Chicago people are negotiating for the purchase of this mine.
Salt Lake Mining Review, 1899-04-29 Mining Brevities
The town, like many others saw its populations dwindled by 1884. There was a revival of sorts in the 1890s. The town joined with the nearby town of Jackrabbit and constructed a two miles area tramway. This tramway linked the two small towns. This tramway delivered ore from Bristol to Jackrabbit, where the ore was loaded on train cars. The tailroad delievered the ore to the smelters in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The paper of record for the town was the Bristol Times. The post offices operated on and off between October 15, 1878 and February 15, 1950.
The webiste ForgottenNevada.org is a wonderful resource and claims the site is currently closed from access.
Exploring Abandoned Mines and Usual Places did a cool video of Bristol.