A Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad train takes on water and fuel at Millers, NV, winter, 1933. "The winter of '33 was one of the most severe recorded in central Nevada up to that time. Snow isolated many outlying communities for weeks at a time and temperatures dropped to the -30s. On a number of occasions the trains were marooned in the snow drifts between Millers, Tonopah and Goldfield and had to be dug out by hand."
Montezuma was the site of extensive mining activity from the 1860s-1880s but was dormant in the early 1900s when the Goldfield strike was made. According to the information painted on the front of the "Road House" of the "Montezuma Trading Company", the traveler or prospector could purchase "Wines & Liquors, Tobacco, Miners Supplies, Hay & Grain, and Groceries" at the store. Montezuma was located in the Montezuma Mountains seven miles west of Goldfield and was experiencing a resurgence precipitated by the discoveries at Goldfield.