For Sale: A Four-Corners Nevada Town, Gold Mine

Nearly half a century ago, a roadside truck stop opened on a lonely stretch of gravel road in the Big Smokey Valley of central Nevada.

It was called Carver’s, after proprietors Jean and Gerald Carver, and over the years a mini-mall, laundry, motel and car wash sprang up, and a gold mine opened.

A little more than 20 years ago, the state recognized the crook in the road with a dot on the map. And now, the whole kit and caboodle is for sale at an asking price of $1.98 million.

The truck stop is now a seven-table cafe and bar, boasting slot machines and the town’s only blackjack table. Greg and Sue Scott own it and a convenience store-deli, the car wash and the laundry across the street.

All those businesses are part of the deal, as is a 200-acre gold mine 35 miles southwest of town, co-owned by real estate agent Bill Kohlmoos, and the Jumping Jack Motel, owned by Kenny Berg and his wife, Bobbie.

The businesses also might be sold individually.

“I don’t particularly want to (sell), but I would,” Scott said. “They thought it would be more impressive to sell the whole town.”

Berg said he is looking forward to some uninterrupted sleep.

“We’re just a little bit burned out on the bell ringing in the middle of the night,” he said.

Jean Carver, now Jean Carver Duhme, supports the sale: “I think it’s marvelous. If everybody wants to take it easy and loaf, it’s a good idea. I like it.”

She first came to the valley, about 230 miles southeast of Reno, with her first husband in 1943.

“I fell in love with this valley the minute I saw it,” she said, recalling unobstructed mountain views, a few ranches and endless sagebrush.

When the state began surveying for a highway in 1947, “I decided I wanted a restaurant on that highway when they put it in,” said Duhme, 78.

So the couple traded $100 worth of hay for an old building and hauled it from Round Mountain. With the purchase of another old building for $50, they were in business.

She continued to operate the truck stop after her husband died and sold it in 1976 to her son, Gary, who later sold it to the Scotts. About 300 people live in the town now.

Even those who want to sell will probably remain in the valley. They don’t have dreams of big city life. They just want to do something else.

“I’m not so sure we’d go anywhere,” said Sue Scott. “It’s a very special valley. I feel we’re out here for a purpose. I just don’t know what it is yet.”