The Manhattan district was active long before the town of Manhattan was formed. The initial discovery of silver ore was in 1866, but by 1869, things were slowing down and before the year was over, the district was totally abandoned.   Manhattan district remained silent until major new discoveries were made in 1905. The town sprang up almost overnight when four cowpunchers traveling from Belmont through Manhattan Gulch discovered ore that assayed as much as $3,000 a ton. Initially, a tent city of 500 formed at the mouth of Manhattan Gulch. Prospectors discovered a new ledge which assayed as high as $10,000 a ton, focusing even more interest on Manhattan. Soon, the gulch was filled with saloons, hotels, assay offices, and a few schools.

   The post office opened in December, 1905, and by that time, the town had three banks, a Wells Fargo office, three newspapers, 75 frame buildings, and a population of 1,000.   The San Francisco earthquake of April, 1906, shook Manhattan as much as it did San Francisco. San Francisco financiers, who withdrew their support to rebuild San Francisco, backed much of the mining activity in Manhattan. Manhattan’s banks closed and the population dropped to a few hundred.  

   Despite this setback, many businesses remained open and continued to operate, but even the new ore discoveries in September, 1906, and June, 1907, barely kept the town alive. The town’s perseverance paid off again in 1909, when rich placer deposits were discovered on the edge of Big Smoky Valley, a few miles below Manhattan.  

   The poster on the bandstand (see photo at left) touts the 1909 Tug-of-War between the Manhattan and Round Mountain miners, with a purse of $150 to  the winning team – a huge amount of money in that day and age!       

During Manhattan’s lengthy ore production period many different mining companies were active in the district, and the total value of ore mined in the district is well over $12 million.   Today the only businesses still active are the post office, 2 bars, the motel, and the historic 1906 church, which was moved to Manhattan from nearby Belmont, but the remaining residents are friendly and the area is rich in history.