McGill Historical Images
Images from the personal collection of Keith and Earl McGill
Contents: Overview and History | About the Smelter and Mill Images | Tech
Overview and History
Founded in 1908, McGill was born as a company town. Initially called the Steptoe Valley Mining & Smelter Company, the company name was later changed to the Kennecott Copper Corporation/Company. KCC provided rudimentary homes for their employees as well as shops, entertainment and sporting opportunities for the children. The Nevada Northern Railway extended its route through McGill in 1908 which caused copper production to boom. At its peak in the 1930’s, McGill was home to over 3000 people. KCC recruited many immigrants to work at the mine, making McGill one of the most diverse towns in Nevada. As with most mining towns, McGill’s copper reserves were eventually depleted, causing the mine to close in 1983. After the mine closed, many residents moved away to find other work which caused the population to decline. Today, McGill’s population tops 830 residents. The nearby Ely prison has made McGill an attractive place to live for prison employees as well as retirees seeking the lifestyle the small town has to offer.
About the Smelter and Mill Images
Long-time McGill resident, Keith Gibson, has kindly contributed these historic and one-of-a-kind images for all to enjoy. In 1975 Keith’s father, Earl Gibson, was General Maintenance Foreman at the copper mine. Earl was told to take a five-foot high stack of 8 x 10 glossy photos to the dump and burn them. Thankfully, his did not follow instructions and instead took them home and hid them in his basement. After Earl passed away, Keith discovered the photos and realized their value. Most of them were facial photos of workers which were given to surviving relatives and the rest were digitized by Keith. These images will transport the viewer back to McGill’s “company-town” heyday - a time when the hard work and tenacity of its residents put the tiny town of McGill on the map.
Technical Credits - CollectionBuilder
This digital collection is built with CollectionBuilder, an open source framework for creating digital collection and exhibit websites that is developed by faculty librarians at the University of Idaho Library following the Lib-Static methodology.
The site started from the CollectionBuilder-GH template which utilizes the static website generator Jekyll and GitHub Pages to build and host digital collections and exhibits.