Jiggs
Few towns have had as many names as Jiggs. W.M. Kennedy settled in the valley in 1866, which he named 'Mound Valley' after a mound near his homestead. By the end of the decade, the boom at Hamilton led to several toll and stage roads being established across Mound Valley from places north such as Elko. Hooten's Station operated near the future site of Jiggs, and the first post office (called Cottonwood) operated nearby at the Porter Ranch for eight months.
By the mid-1870s, ranching took hold in Mound Valley and a new post office opened in 1874. Known now as Dry Creek, the post office was at the ranch and station of Henry Porch for five years. In 1879, the office moved to Hooten's Station where it was renamed Mound Valley, operating until 1881. Three years later, telegraph operator Valley Paddock successfully petitioned to get it reopened under his mother's maiden name: Skelton. Meanwhile, John Jesse Hylton began purchasing land and building a ranching empire. In 1900 he opened a general store in Skelton, which by this time also boasted a hotel, community hall, school, and population of nearly 40. Hylton also brought telephone service to town by forming the Elko Southern Telephone Company, and in 1911 Skelton was renamed in his honor.
In 1912, Mr. & Mrs. Albert Hankins bought up the businesses in town except for the Hylton & Hanna General Merchandise. He built a fine new brick hotel in 1916, but the passage of prohibition two years later hampered his businesses. That year also marked the town's final name change when it became 'Jiggs', presumably named for the character in the comic strip "Bringing Up Father". The Hylton & Hanna Store burned the next year, and Elko's growth as a trade center led to Jiggs's diminished importance. Other original buildings have either burned or been torn down, the school was later used as the post office. Nevertheless, electricity arrived in 1963. The post office closed on December 15, 1975, but took another five years to officially be listed as closed. Little Jiggs still sports a bar, and the handsome hotel built by Hankins is one of only five standing buildings in the county on the National Register of Historic Places.
