Donna Frederick © January 1999
From Ely, take U.S. 50 west for 64.5 miles, exit right on Nevada 892 and follow this good road for 33 miles to Cold Creek.
Cold Creek flows from the eastern slope of the Diamond Range into Gilson Valley. A ranch and settlement was established on the creek in the mid-1870s. Cold Creek is one of the many long-lived Newark Valley ranches.
A school was active at Cold Creek for many years. A post office served the settlement from April 7, 1879 until March 28, 1913 and was the mail distribution point for several of the ranches in the valley. Shawn Hall, Romancing Nevada’s Past, Ghost Towns and Historic Sites of Eureka, Lander, and White Pine Counties, states that during the mining boom at nearby Joy, Cold Creek was known as Cupperville. There is no mention in the newspaper files in the White Pine County Library, or other sources, on Cupperville other that what Shawn Hall wrote. A map from the Palma Isaacs Collection, on file with the White Pine Historical Society, shows Cupperville located just above Cold Creek. On March 28, 1913, the name of the post office changed to Simonsen. This post office served the area until May 15, 1936. Cold Creek is private property and continues to be an active ranch.
