Chiatovich Creek

Esmeralda County

I am not sure of the precise history of this settlement at Chiatovich Creek. I will definitely keep looking. When I find that history, it will be added. I do know that the Chiatovich name has been a prominent name in this part of Esmeralda County dating back to the 19th century. John Chiatovich is mentioned on several occasions in the Nevada history books. In 1895, a man named James Boone stabbed a Slavonian man named Antone Bacoch to death in Bob Robinson's store in Tule Canyon. Boone then fled the area. A $950.00 reward for the capture of Boone was put up. $200.00 of this reward was posted by John Chiatovich who was known as a patriarch of the Yugoslavs in the Silver Peak region. Legendary western gunfighter Jack Longstreet assisted in the tracking of Boone. Boone eventually made it to Stump Spring near Pahrump and then disappeared to the south He was eventually captured in Yavapai County. He stood trial in April of 1896 and was acquitted. In 1904, John Chiatovich filed claim in court to stop the piping of water from Rabbit Springs to Columbia (sister city of Goldfield). Chiatovich claimed to have possessed these water rights since 1886. He also claimed the loss of livestock over the water issue. I am unsure of how this case turned out. Further history shows John Chiatovich in Esmeralda County as early as the mid 1870's. Prior to that, he was a resident of Lander County as early as 1864. Another individual named S. Chiatovich was listed as an Esmeralda County miner in 1875 and a waiter in Virginia City in 1878. A.Z. Chiatovich was listed as an Esmeralda County merchant in 1875. The website linked below lists substantial early history of the Chiatovich name in Nevada.

https://www.croatia.org/crown/croatians/www.croatians.com/CLAN-CHIATOVICH-S.htm