Tasker Oddie and Hawthorne Nevada

     Tasker Lowndes Oddie (October 20, 1870 – February 17, 1950) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 12th Governor of Nevada and a United States Senator. He was a member of the Republican Party.  Although for most of his young life he was more of a miner than a politician. In December 1903, Oddie married Claire Gardner MacDonald, they divorced the following year in November 1904. In November 1916, he married Daisy Rendall MacKeigan and they were married until his death. Oddie had no children with either wife.

Tasker Oddie invested heavy in mining in Nevada and, although he never made any real money, was indirectly responsible for reigniting mining in Nevada at the end of Comstock era. In May of 1900 a miner named Jim Butler found a rock that looked like promising ore. Butler showed the ore to others but no one was interested. After returning to Tonopah, Butler showed the ore to Tasker, then a young lawyer from New York who just been elected Nye County District Attorney. Tasker had a friend in Austin, Walter Gayhart, that taught chemistry and they had him assay the ore and found it worth more than $200 a ton. Jim Butler staked his claim and a new mining boom began. Today, the third week in May, Tonopah celebrates Jim Butler Days and his discovery which led to the development of the Tonopah Mining District and put Tonopah “on the map”. 

For many years Tasker went back and forth between Austin and Ione on horse back until he invested in a car.  He would camp along the way if he could not get there in a day, which he mostly did. He did invest in the Lucky Boy Mines and Camp Ashby in Mineral County and many other places in Nevada like Austin and Ione. When he was campaigning for governor he went on the road with no money. He mailed out a lot of letters to people asking for support. While he was at Lucky Boy Mine he sawed off the back of his touring car to make it a flat bed for running supplies back and forth to the mine. He took that same car, loaded it up with food, blankets and tools and went on the campaign trail. He camped in the desert, cooked his own food and had just enough gas to get to the next town. He hoped to generate enough money to keep him going. At that time the roads in Nevada were very bad and bumpy. Oddie would stop and talk to anyone who would listen. He became well known and won the election.

 During his time as governor he was unmarried, so his mother took over his finances. She moved into the Governor’s Mansion along with his sisters and took over many duties that a governor’s wife would normally do.

Later in time, Oddie became a senator for Nevada. At one point his opponent was trying to sway the vote his way by buying alcohol and giving it away all over Mineral County Nevada. It did not work. Tasker Oddie won a second term in the senate.

 On July 2, 1926 the town of Hawthorne was gutted by fire destroying many businesses. On August 7^th, 1926 after an explosion of the Navy Base in New Jersey, Oddie wired the Secretary of Navy recommending Hawthorne for the new military base. Many agreed with this choice and the Naval installation was moved to Hawthorne, rejuvenating the town.

Tasker really was fond of central Nevada and lived a great deal of it in Belmont, Tonopah, Ione and Pine Creek Ranch which is north east of Tonopah. Today the ranch is privately owned and operated.

Tasker Oddie died on February17,1950 at the age of 79. He is buried at the Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City Nevada.

References

Book: Letters From The Nevada Frontier

By Tasker Oddie

Book: Sagebrush Statesman, Tasker Oddie of Nevada

By Loren Chan

Online: Tonopahminingpark.com