Learn the Fascinating Stories About Western Nevada's Historic Ranches

The old Huffaker Mansion, now a private business, was built in 1881.

   While mining was the main economic engine for early Nevada, agriculture was an equally important one. In fact, during the state’s pioneer era, a number of large ranches and farms were established in parts of the state where water was available and the soil was good for growing things.

   This sometimes-overlooked aspect of the state’s past is finally given its due in a book written by Nevada historian Holly Walton-Buchanan titled, “Land of the Buckaroo” Historic Ranches of Western Nevada.”

   First published in 2013 by Reno publisher Jack Bacon (with a second edition in 2020), this handsome and lavishly-illustrated 192-page publication tells the stories of the first ranches to pop up in the western portion of the state and their important ways they supported the state’s silver mines, especially in the Virginia City area, as well as the transcontinental railroad built through Reno.

   In the book’s prologue, Walton-Buchanan, author of the excellent book, “Historic Houses and Buildings of Reno,” describes the life of a Nevada buckaroo as well as the various breeds of cattle that have been raised in the state. She includes a section on the rise of sheep ranches, the types of horses commonly used, and the buckaroo’s tools-of-the-trade.

   Chapter one is devoted to the development of ranching in the Carson Valley area in the 1850s. In this section, Walton-Buchanan insightfully interweaves the story of Nevada’s statehood with the rise of these ranches by pioneers such as Heinrich Dangberg, August Dressler, and others.

   In the next chapter, she shifts her focus to the Truckee Meadows region and the creation of ranches by early settlers such as Peleg and Joshua Brown and Louis Damonte. Remnants of their once-large holdings, including Peleg Brown’s original house built in 1864, can still be found in south Reno.

   The origins of familiar Reno place/street names, such as Huffaker and Holcomb, also began with ranches in the southern part of the Truckee Meadows, and that story is told in Chapter three. For instance, rancher Granville Huffaker established a successful operation in the early 1860s, known as Huffaker Station.

   His brick and stone ranch house, built in 1881, is still standing while the first Huffaker School, a one-room schoolhouse built in 1868, has been relocated to Reno’s Bartley Ranch Park, but has been restored to near original condition.

   Other chapters describe the golden age of ranching in western Nevada, a period that lasted from the 1860s to the end of the 19th century, as well as a handful of other prominent spreads such as the Peckham Ranch, the Callahan Ranch, the Wheeler Ranch, the Sparks Ranch, and Caughlin Ranch.

   The book’s penultimate chapter focuses on the rise (and eventual fall) of ranches established by Italian-American settlers in the late 19th century, including those owned by the Capurro, Casazza and Avansino families.

   In her epilogue, Walton-Buchanan brings the story up-to-date, explaining how the Truckee Meadows ranches largely ended up becoming today’s housing tracts, shopping centers and industrial parks.

   “Those wishing to visit the pockets of ranching activity that persist along the base of the Sierra Nevada will find the majority of today’s ranching activity in Carson Valley,” she notes, before closing with a quote from the late Bob Capurro, a member of one of the old-time ranching families in Reno: “This town was just so beautiful—it was green as far across the valley as you could see. Those were the days.”

   Fortunately, Walton-Buchanan’s book exists to remind us of that time.

    “Land of the Buckaroo” Historic Ranches of Western Nevada,” by Holly Walton-Buchanan can still be found in used bookstores, such as AbeBooks and, occasionally, a copy will show up at Grassroots Books in Reno.

Visiting Sparks' Marvelous One-Room School House

 

  Visitors to Sparks sometimes wonder why there’s an old one-room schoolhouse near Victorian Square? The reason is simple: it’s the oldest remaining school building in the state and it was originally located in Glendale, a small settlement that is now part of Sparks.

  Known as the Glendale School, the structure was built in 1864 and was used continuously until 1958, meaning it was used as a school longer than any other building in the state.

  Another key fact is that one of its alums was Nevada’s U.S. Senator Patrick McCarran, who served in the Senate from 1933 to 1954.

  Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the school is a gabled, one-story wooden structure that was the first educational institution in the Truckee Meadows. According to the nomination form, the school, which cost $1,466, opened in April 1864 and attracted four students.

  In addition to being used for classes, the building also served as an early community center, hosting dances, meetings and other social functions. At the time the school closed in the 1950s it only had 18 students.

  Interestingly, the school was built before the town of Glendale had been established. Prior to 1866, the area was known as Stone and Gates Crossing.

  The crossing traces its beginnings to 1857, when a trading post was erected to serve emigrants crossing Nevada to reach California. In 1860, a bridge was built over the Truckee River at the site and a small settlement formed.

  By 1866, when the settlement changed its name to Glendale, it had grown to include couple of stores, a blacksmith shop, several saloons, a small hotel, and, of course, the school.

  In 1868, Glendale residents thought that the Central Pacific Railroad might locate its main facilities in their hamlet. Their hopes were dashed, however, when the railroad’s surveyors showed up immediately after the Truckee had overflowed its banks and found water in many of the buildings.

  Instead, the railroad chose to establish the town of Reno as the site of its operations and by 1869 many of Glendale’s businesses relocated to the newer community.

  In 1976, the abandoned school building was moved from its original location to a site adjacent to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center at the south end of Reno. There it remained (adjacent to the relocated Lake Mansion) until 1993, when it was relocated to the Victorian Square district in downtown Sparks.

  The school building, which has been restored to its early 20th century appearance, is open for tours (conducted by reservation, which can be made with the Sparks Heritage Museum).

  Adjacent to the Glendale School is Locomotive No. 8, built in 1907 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The ten-wheeler was one of the last steam engines to operate on the Southern Pacific line and was retired in 1954.

  Attached to the engine are two historic Southern Pacific train cars, including a 1911 Pullman Car, said to have been used in 1948 by President Harry Truman on the successful whistle-stop campaign that helped get him reelected.

  The park also includes a replica of the original Sparks train depot (it’s about 25-percent smaller than the original), which was built in 1975 from the original plans.

  The city of Sparks was established in 1905, following relocation of the Southern Pacific Railroad's main division point from Wadsworth to Sparks. The railroad rerouted its tracks along the eastern Truckee River corridor to eliminate several dangerous curves and grades.

  The railroad originally looked at Reno for its new shops, but went east because of cheaper land. A passenger station and freight yard opened in 1905.

  The town began to develop around the railroad’s facilities. Many railroad employees who had worked in Wadsworth were sold lots in the new community and moved their homes to Sparks.

  The new town was originally called “East Reno” for a short time, then “Harriman,” after E.H. Harriman, owner of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Finally, in April 1904, Harriman decided to name the community in honor of Nevada’s then-popular Governor John Sparks.

  The historic Glendale School is located at 905 Victorian Avenue in downtown Sparks.

New Book Explores the Fascinating History of UNR

   On the cusp of Nevada’s birthday on October 31, there is a new book that recounts the rich history of the University of Nevada, Reno. Titled, “The University of Nevada, 1874-2024: 150 Years of Excellence,” the book traces the story of the university from its earliest days in Elko to the present.

   Written by John Trent, a longtime Nevada journalist and senior editor of News & Features at UNR, the 9.5-inch by 9.5-inch coffee table-style book is lavishly illustrated with historic and contemporary photos.

   In the Introduction, Trent explains how the university was initially located in Elko, but struggled because of its remote location. In 1885, the state legislature voted to move the school to Reno, where it continued to face challenges.

   However, Trent notes, the hiring of Hannah K. Clapp, a lifelong educator, as the university’s first faculty member helped the college to begin to realize its potential. Clapp, who held a number of positions during her 14-year tenure, was responsible for greatly expanding the university’s library (to include more than 11,000 books).

   Over five chapters, Trent describes a number of the university’s high points, which include the invaluable financial support of Clarence Mackay, son of one of the Comstock’s most successful mine owners, in the university’s early period to the contributions of various faculty members and students.

   Relying on oral histories and interviews, Trent also shares tales about ground-breaking athletes such as Marion Motley, who later helped break the color barrier in professional football, and Colin Kaepernick, who many consider the greatest quarterback to ever play at UNR.

   The book includes a section on the student activism of the 1960s and 70s, when the university was the site of anti-Vietnam War protests, sit-ins, and the fire-bombing of two campus buildings in 1970.

   Trent also describes the challenges faced by faculty member Ben Hazard, who, after accepting a teaching position at UNR as its first black professor, encountered housing discrimination. His experience was cited as one of the reasons for Nevada’s adoption of an open housing law in 1971.

   Later chapters detail the university’s enormous growth as it added new programs, such as a medical school and a college of engineering. Other efforts to boost enrollment were the result of the state adopting the Millennium Scholarship for high-achieving high school students, which helped reduce the cost of a college education for many Nevada students.

   In 2019, the university attained the status of being an R1 institution, meaning it was ranked as one of the top research universities in the nation.

   Among the most recent changes at the university was the acquisition in 2022 of the former Sierra Nevada College at Lake Tahoe, which was repurposed as the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. The new satellite campus permitted the university to augment its research efforts in the Tahoe Basin and build stronger connections to the Lake Tahoe community, according to Trent.

   “The University of Nevada, 1874-2024: 150 Years of Excellence,” by John Trent was published by the University of Nevada Press and is available on its website (https://unpress.nevada.edu/) or in local bookstores or online book retailers, such as Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Goldfield Hotel is a Silent Witness to a Community's Rich Past

   The rise and fall of the Goldfield Hotel could be seen as a reflection of the city’s own story. The hotel was built in 1907-08 during the height of the mining town’s boom times and its long, slow demise has paralleled the area’s decline.

   Standing four stories tall, the hotel, which is in the center of the community, was designed by a Reno architect named George Holesworth, a partner in the prestigious firm of Curtis and Holesworth, which had also designed Morrill Hall on the University of Nevada, Reno campus and the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah.

   Construction of the $250,000 (about $8.7 million in today’s dollars) Neo-Classical-influenced structure took more than a year due to a delay caused by a labor dispute.

   Historian Patty Cafferata, who has written about the hotel, said the first floor was built using granite imported from Rocklin, California and the building incorporated many of the newest amenities, including steam heat and an electric elevator.

   The 150-room hotel’s lobby was paneled in dark mahogany wood and three iron pillars in the room were outfitted with cushy, circular black leather buttoned banquettes. According to Cafferata, it cost more than $40,000 to furnish the hotel.

   From the street level, the brick and stone hotel rose 56 feet in height and was 170-feet long on one side (Columbia Street) and 100 feet in depth along Crook Avenue. Above the first floor, the hotel takes a “U” shape with a central area flanked by two wings.

   The hotel’s original owners were two successful early Goldfield miners, Granville Hayes and M.J. Monette (known collectively as the Hayes-Monette Syndicate) who had struck it rich with their leased Mohawk No. 2 mine. But in 1908, banker George Wingfield, partnered with U.S. Senator George Nixon, formed the Goldfield Consolidated Mine Company, which swept up all the producing mines in the district.

   In addition to owning all of the district’s mines, Wingfield also gained financial control of many other prominent businesses in the region, including the John S. Cook and Company Bank, Tonopah’s Mizpah Hotel, the Tonopah Banking Corporation, and the new Goldfield Hotel.

   The opening of the Goldfield Hotel was a call for celebration. Its “soft” opening on January 15, 1908, included a lavish party for some 650 guests. The official opening in June 1908 included special Pullman train cars that transported visitors from San Francisco.

   In its earliest years, the hotel was apparently profitable. However, as the area’s mines began to fade, so did the appeal of such a grand hotel. By 1911, it was starting to lose money. After 1917, Wingfield began leasing it to others to operate. In 1923, shortly after a fire destroyed nearly all of Goldfield, Wingfield sold it to Elko hotelier Newton Crumley.

   Crumley, who would later own the Commercial Hotel in Elko (with son, Newton Crumley, Jr.) in turn sold it in 1925 to Joseph Basile, Jr., who was the first of a long line of owners who came and went during the next two decades. The last time the hotel actually had paying customers was in September 1945.

   In subsequent years, the hotel has passed through the hands of additional owners, many of whom announced plans to restore it to its original glory—and even started work on it— but none ever completed the monumental job.

   Today, the hotel remains boarded up—a reminder of Goldfield’s better times. In recent years, the old hotel, which is allegedly haunted, has been featured in several ghost hunter-type programs. In 2022, the property was listed for sale at a cool $4.9 million.

   For more information, go to: http://www.goldfieldhistoricalsociety.com/goldfield-hotel/. Patty Cafferata’s book on the hotel is titled, “The Goldfield Hotel, Gem of the Desert” and it can be found in bookstores or online book vendors.

Visiting Goldfield's Unusual International Car Forest of the Last Church

   Perhaps the most unexpected aspect regarding Goldfield’s International Car Forest of the Last Church is that the massive art installation, consisting of some three dozen upturned cars planted in the desert, was created to break a world record.

   The forest was the brainchild of two men, Chad Sorg and Mike Rippie, who, in 2002, decided to “plant” cars on 80-acres of vacant land owned by Rippie that bordered U.S. 95.

   Both Sorg, a Reno artist, and Rippie, a longtime resident of Goldfield, were familiar with famous car-art installations, like the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, which consists of 10 Cadillacs buried nose down in the ground, and Nebraska’s Carhenge, a similar art piece, which has 38 vehicles.

   Rippie wanted to set a new world’s record for most upturned cars used in an artwork (it’s actually listed that way by Guinness Book of World Records) by having even more vehicles and knew he could do it since he owned more than 40 cars, trucks, and buses.

   Between 2002 and 2012, the two used a backhoe and lots of elbow grease to make the art project/attraction/world record site a reality. In some cases, the vehicles were planted nose in the ground while in others, several cars were stacked on top of each other.

   Perhaps most impressively, the two managed to plant several buses, including one that on a hill that rises high over the car-littered landscape.

   The two also hoped that people would come to the site and express themselves artistically by spray painting the cars. The result are some pretty crazy and imaginative designs, such as a Picasso-esque face of a cat painted on the hood of an upright car.

   At the entrance to the forest is a small structure with a large sign identifying the place. Another placard informs visitors they are entering at their own risk and warns to not climb on the vehicles because it isn’t safe.

   Continuing on the dirt road for a short distance, you can drop into a ravine containing the bulk of the vehicles or drive to a rise above the ravine where a bus and several other vehicles are perched.

   Visitors can basically wander around for as long as they want, taking photos and reveling in the place’s weirdness. There is no admission charge although the attraction’s website notes it is a legal non-profit and accepts donations.

   Since the car forest was created, the site has become a popular attraction for travelers on U.S. 95, appearing in features in magazines and newspapers from all over the country.

   According to an article about the car forest that appeared in ROUTE magazine, Rippie and Sorg eventually had a falling out. Rippie continues to live in Goldfield but the site is now owned and overseen by Sharon Artlip, owner of a Goldfield rock shop.

   A nice video of the International Car Forest was produced a couple of years ago by the excellent Wild Nevada television program. Here’s a link to the segment about the car forest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0JcPAUML_E.

   For more information about the International Car Forest of the Last Church, go to:  https://internationalcarforestofthelastchurch.com/ or check out the Travel Nevada information about the site at: https://travelnevada.com/arts-culture/international-car-forest-of-the-last-church/.

Goldfield's History Comes Alive at the Town Cemetery

  The historic Goldfield Cemetery, located just north of the Central Nevada mining community, has some good friends.

  Unlike some old mining town cemeteries that have been ignored or have fallen into disrepair, Goldfield’s graveyard has been well-maintained and protected by residents and supporters over the years. Representatives of the local historical society have even placed small metal plaques on many of the crosses and markers giving short information about the deceased.

  The result is a cemetery that isn’t a mystery, but rather is a place where you can learn about the individuals buried there and, in learning their cause of death, get a glimpse into their lives and the time when they resided in Goldfield.

  The town, which now has a population of about 230 people, was once was the largest city in Nevada with some 20,000 residents. Gold was discovered in the region in 1902 and within a short time a vast boomtown had been constructed around the mines.

  The community experienced its heyday from about 1903 to 1910, after which the mines became less productive. The largest mining company closed its operations in 1919 and four years later a fire caused by an exploding liquor still destroyed much of the town. 

  In its early years, the town’s cemetery was located in the downtown, adjacent to the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Depot. Deciding the location was not the best first impression the city wanted to make for any visitors disembarking from the train, in 1908, all of the bodies were exhumed (about 70 at that time) and relocated to the present site.

  According to local lore, the group that took on the task of moving the dead became known as the “Official Ghouls.”

  While considered one big cemetery, the Goldfield graveyard consists of more than a half-dozen smaller burial grounds that cater to various religious groups and fraternal organizations.

  Thus, there is a general area but also designated places for Catholics, Protestants, Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias, the Moose Lodge, and even members of the International Workers of the World labor organization. On the southwestern edge is a Potter’s Field.

  If you respectfully stroll through the cemetery you’ll be able to find out about such luminaries as:

  • Count Constantine de Podhorsky, a Polish nobleman turned mine promoter who was shot and killed while eating in a French restaurant on March 21, 1907 by a man who claimed the count had seduced his wife.

  • Thomas and Lucy Heslip, who both died tragically in August 1909. According to records, Lucy Heslip was sitting on her porch with two female friends one evening when a man named Patrick “Pegleg” Casey, who was drunk, came by to attempt to shoot her friend, Mrs. Alice Mann, for rejecting his advances. Casey shot Mann, injuring her, then fatally shot Lucy Helslip. He apparently tried to kill himself but failed. Upon learning his wife had been killed, Thomas Heslip decided he couldn’t live without her and killed himself the following day by ingesting cyanide.

  • The unknown man who died from eating paste. While it seems like a hoax, apparently on July 14, 1908 a man died from eating too much library paste. A doctor concluded that the man was starving and in bad physical condition when he wolfed down an entire jar of paste. The only identifying property on the man was a letter from a man named Ross. He is buried in the Potter’s Field.

  • Perhaps the strangest death—yes, even weirder than dying from eating paste—occurred on March 17, 1918 when local gravedigger and cemetery sexton John F. Meagher died while digging a grave. Meagher encountered a large boulder while digging and decided to load it with blasting powder to break it up. After lighting the fuse, he accidentally fell into the grave he was digging. As he scrambled to get out, the explosion went off and killed him. He was discovered the next day lying in the grave, which, ironically, became his final resting place.

  For more information about Goldfield’s wonderful cemetery, go to: http://www.goldfieldhistoricalsociety.com/goldfield-cemetery-stories/.

Gemfield: A Place Rockhounds Can Really Dig

  There are a couple of things that make Gemfield, an area located about four miles north of Goldfield in central Nevada, a special place for rockhounds. The primary one is that Gemfield has been described as the largest deposit of gemstone quality chalcedony in U.S.

  Additionally, at Gemfield, visitors will find no less than six different types of chalcedony, which is a fine-grained native silica quartz stone. And, even more amazing, the site is free to enter and there is only a $1 per pound fee, which you pay on the honor system.

  Getting out to Gemfield is relatively easy. You head south of Tonopah on U.S. 95, then, just before you reach Goldfield, you turn on a pretty-good dirt road that is marked with a Gemfield sign. Drive for about three miles into the foothills and you’ll reach a large sign board beneath a Joshua tree. The sign board displays rough maps showing the locations of the half-dozen different sites nearby where you can hunt for the different colors of chalcedony.

  “This mine produces gem quality chalcedony consisting of Bullseye, Multiflow, Dendritic, and Banded picture rock patterns, as well as agates, jaspers, Opalite, and more,’ the sign states. “Colors range from green, which when polished rivals jade, to the deep reds of carnelian.”

  The dig sites are on a claim on Bureau of Land Management land, so be respectful of the area.

  As you head out to Gemfield, there are a couple of things to bring with you. Since there is absolutely no shade (except near the Joshua tree), make sure to pack plenty of water and wear a hat and sunscreen.

  Also, it’s best to have a bucket in which to put your rock finds, a squirt bottle with water for cleaning the rocks to see the patterns and a geologist’s hammer or rock pick.

  Lastly, have patience. Rockhounding is an activity that involves carefully and slowly chipping at rocks so as not to damage any good finds. It’s a bit like fishing and requires sticking with it and taking your time.

  During a recent visit, we followed the directions to the various chalcedony dig sites and tried our hand at several. The sites are located in spots within a half-mile or less of the sign, so there are lots of places to check out. When you get to one, it essentially looks like a mound of broken rocks. Sometimes there are larger boulders/stones and small trenches. This is where it happens.

  One of our favorites was the site marked for Bullseye Chalcedony. Here we found a number of beautifully stripped and banded stones. In some cases the bands are red-brown against a white or tan background.

  Other mounds yielded stones that were light purple (lilac), faintly green, red, and blue tones. We’re not hard-core rock people, but we picked up a couple of pounds and looked forward to washing them off and taking up a relative’s offer of using his rock tumbler on a couple of the stones to see what they look like when they’re shiny and polished.

  There is a website for Gemfield that provides some information, at http://www.gemfieldnv.com/. Additionally, the state of Nevada’s Travel Nevada website offers additional useful tips and information at https://travelnevada.com/rockhounding-mining/gemfield/.