Legend has it that silver was discovered when a Pony Express horse kicked over a rock in 1862. By summer 1863, Austin and the surrounding Reese River Mining District had a population of more than 10,000. In 1864, the town became known as the location for a wager of a 50-lb sack of flour that raised over US$250,000 (more than $4 million in 2021); this event is depicted in
The $275,000 Sack of Flour (1962).
In 1875, the county granted $200,000 (over $3 million in 2021) to build a 92-mile railroad track, with a time limit of five years to finish the project. The Nevada Central Railroad wasn't even started until 4½ years later, after Anson Phelps Stokes (1838-1913; grandson of the founder of the Phelps Dodge Corporation and a partner in the mining company) came to town. The tracks came within 2 miles of the town limits with less than a day left before the deadline. An emergency meeting of the Austin Town Board extended the town limits by two miles and the last rails were laid just minutes before the deadline. However, by then the boom was almost over.
Currently, Austin is a "living ghost town," a well-preserved example of an early Nevada mining town; in 2020 it had a population of 167.