For a 20-year period prior to 1900, mining in Nevada fell into a slump that cast the entire state into a bleak depression and caused the loss of a third of the population. The picture brightened overnight following spectacular strikes in Tonopah and, shortly afterwards, in Goldfield. Gold ore was discovered there in December 1902 by two Nevada-born prospectors, Harry Stimler and Billy Marsh. From 1904 to 1918, Goldfield boomed furiously. The city had a railroad that connected into Las Vegas and a peak population of 20,000. Between 1903 and 1940, a total of $86,765,044 in metals was produced there.