Ghost Town Aficionado Tami Force Shares Her Experiences in New Book

   For more than 25 years, Tami Force has explored Nevada and Eastern California’s ghost towns and historic sites. In 2020, the Douglas County resident began sharing her discoveries on a website, Nevada Ghost Towns & Beyond (https://nvtami.com/), which has grown into an enormously popular place for ghost town information.

   Now, she’s collected some of her best stories and photos in a pair of new books, In the Shadow of the Eastern Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Northern Region and In the Glow of the Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Southern Region.

   In Shadow of the Eastern Sierra, Force writes about more than 70 historic sites and places in Lassen County, including Peter Lassen’s Grave and Doyle, as well as at Lake Tahoe, and in Washoe County, Carson City, Douglas County, and Alpine County.

   In the Glow of the Sierra, Force turns her attention to more than 80 ghost towns, mines, wagon trails, and rail lines that can be found in the area between Mono County and Kern County.

   Each entry is lavishly illustrated with high-quality photos, some of which are full-page images. Additionally, Force provides useful historical information about each featured place.

   A large part of what makes Force’s books stand out is the fact that she profiles many of the more obscure spots; the places you might drive through but not really know their historic significance. For example, travelers to Amador County might not know the entire story about Maiden’s Grave, where two separate sites have been marked with that name, but no one knows for sure which is correct.

   In Carson City, there’s an unusual historic spot known as Ormsby Poor Farm Cemetery, where, beginning in the 1860s, down-and-out residents could work on the farm in exchange for room and board and a small salary. The farm remained open for more than a century, only closing in 1965.

   As part of the poor farm, a small cemetery was established in a grove of trees. Today, it’s still there, surrounded by a metal fence, next to the Carson City fairgrounds.

   In addition to the wonderful photographs, the books contain maps of the various locations.

   For anyone wanting to follow Force’s frequent travels throughout the state (which were the basis for her books), be sure to check out her Nevada Ghost Towns and Beyond website.

   There, you can find descriptions and photos of more than 800 ghost towns and historic sites throughout Nevada, eastern California, Utah and Arizona, organized by county. Also, be sure to sign up for her newsletter, which keeps followers abreast of her most recent journeys.

   In the Shadow of the Eastern Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Northern Region and In the Glow of the Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Southern Region are available directly from Force on her website (at a 15 percent discount), in many Nevada bookstores, or from Amazon and many other online retailers.

   Both books come in hardcover (retail price of $65, not counting the discount) and softcover editions (retail price of $45, not including the discount).

Remembering a Nevada Icon: Guy Louis Rocha

 

I think the first time I met Guy Rocha was shortly after I had gone to work for the Nevada Commission on Tourism in the mid-1980s. I don’t recall why or how I encountered him—probably checking some Nevada history detail—but he made an immediate impression.

He was passionate about Nevada history and, to me, a little bit intimidating. Later, as I got to know him better, I realized he was committed to just getting Nevada historical information right.

Over the years, I made it a habit to drop by his office at the Nevada State Library to just shoot the breeze. He always made time for me and I always came away having learned something new about the state.

I particularly enjoyed hitting him up when he was working on one of his popular Nevada Myth of the Month columns, because he loved sharing the latest historical information that he had just uncovered.

He called the tendency for some writers to conflate history with legend as “fake-lore” and refused to accept the idea that facts should not get in the way of a good story. 

Like many people who wrote about Nevada history, whenever I made a factual error, I would inevitably receive a firm but friendly phone call explaining how I had got it wrong. The calls could be lengthy—I recall being on the receiving end of more than one call during which Guy would use all the allotted time on the voice recording, then call back to continue with his thought, and then call back again and again to complete his message.

Guy also introduced me to a noon-time basketball group (of mostly state workers) that played for many years in the former Nevada State Children’s Home Gym in Carson City. The games were always competitive and occasionally intense, with Guy being among the most serious of players.

In his role as the Nevada State Archivist and Historian, Guy played an important role in making the Nevada State Archives relevant. I remember him once telling me that when he first began to work for the archives, he found many of the state’s oldest official documents stored haphazardly in a room in an old building beneath leaking water pipes that had already ruined some of them.

It was through his sincere and deep appreciation of the value of such documents that he, along with others, persuaded the Nevada Legislature and Executive Branch to fund the construction of the current Nevada State Library, with state-of-the art archival facilities for storing such important materials.

Because of his enormous contributions to telling Nevada’s history factually and correctly, Guy was inducted into the Nevada Press Association’s Hall of Fame in 2025.

In 2005, I moved away from Nevada and, over the past two decades, kind of lost touch with Guy. I would still see his name in the newspapers—usually being quoted in a story setting the record straight on some historical matter.

In 2009, Guy retired from his position at the archives after an amazing 32 years in public service. At his retirement ceremony, Nevada Appeal writer Kirk Caraway shared what Guy said was his motto: “We are entitled to own opinions, but not our own facts. In turn, we are entitled to our opinion of the facts, but not entitled to our own facts based on our opinions.”

It was advice that is sorely needed these days.

Guy died on September 18, 2025 at the age of 73. Appropriately, his life and achievements were marked by a Celebration of Life event at the Nevada State Library and Archives on October 31—Nevada’s 161^st birthday.

The Story of Nevada's Historic Railroads

J.W. Bowker at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City

  Few book projects have remained as relevant over the years as David Myrick’s splendid three-volume series, “Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California.”

  The first two volumes were originally released in 1962 and 1963, respectively, while the third was released in 2007.

  The first two books were once difficult to find, commanding premium prices in rare book stores. Fortunately, in 1992, the two volumes were reprinted by the University of Nevada Press, with the third volume added a decade and a half later. All three remain available from the University of Nevada Press.

  Together, the books contain the history of some 69 railroads, both large and small, that have operated in the Silver State. Indeed, after perusing just the first two books, you can’t help but feel that nearly every mining town in Nevada must have had a railroad at some point.

  Of special note are the 500-plus rare, vintage photographs of the various railroad equipment, buildings and affiliated communities—an invaluable photographic record of the industrial development of the state.

  Fortunately for readers, the late Myrick (he passed away in 2011), a noted railroad historian, isn’t content to merely tell the dry facts and figures behind each of these railroads. Rather, he weaves that information into the appropriate historical context, showing how each railroad was a reflection of the rapid growth and, later, decline of these mining towns.

  For those interested in exploring Nevada, the books are also a valuable resource when it comes to trying to retrace the locations and routes of these ancient railways. Detailed maps included with each railroad section show the original route, including names of stations and stops.

  Additionally, the end sheets of each volume include a map of the state and eastern California showing the location of all of the railroads featured in the books. The final section of Volume 2 contains an updated locomotive roster.

  Flipping through the pages, you quickly are impressed by the amount of wood and rail that once crossed this state. And, if you’ve ever had a chance to wander across Nevada, you can't help but be incredulous of the number of towns, which today are either ghost towns or mere shadows of their past glory, that once boasted major rail lines.

  For instance, the Eureka and Palisade Railroad once connected the mining metropolis of Eureka, in central Nevada, to the Central Pacific Railroad line (and later, the Southern Pacific, and Western Pacific lines) at Palisade (near Carlin in northeastern Nevada).

  Built from 1873 to 1875, the E & P experienced its greatest success during its first decade when Eureka mines were booming and the town's population topped 9,000.

  Today, a persistent railroad history buff, utilizing Myrick’s work, can find vestiges of the former E & P line (abandoned in 1938), by following State Route 278, north from Eureka, which parallels the rail bed and passes through many of the former stops.

  Perhaps the last remaining locomotive from the E & P, an 1875 Baldwin narrow gauge engine called the Number 4 (also named the "Eureka"), was sold in 1940 to Warner Brothers studios and appeared in several movies. A few years ago, it was restored by a private collector from Las Vegas and is occasionally displayed at western rail fairs.

  Myrick's series offer the fascinating stories of dozens of other railways ranging from the well-known, such as the Virginia & Truckee, to the obscure, like the Nevada Short Line, which once connected Rochester to Oreana.

  All remain essential reading for anyone interested in the rich history of Nevada’s railroads.

  To order copies of the three volumes, go to https://unpress.nevada.edu/.

The Company Town that Survived the Company: McGill, Nevada

McGill Club

  The small community of McGill, located about 12 miles north of Ely in eastern Nevada, was originally a ranch established in 1872, by a man named John Cowger. About 14 years later, he sold his holdings to William Neil McGill, who, along with former Nevada Governor Jewett Adams, operated one of the state’s largest livestock operations.

  In 1906, with the development of large copper mines in Ruth and the building of the Nevada Northern Railway, the McGill Ranch area was chosen to be the site of a massive smelter for the mining company as well as for constructing large tailings ponds. The new railroad, which reached McGill in 1908, would connect the mines to the smelter.

  Within about three years, McGill had grown into a bustling small community, with 2,200 men working at the smelter. Dozens of homes and businesses soon sprang up. To provide housing for its workers, the company built modest wooden homes for them—hence the identical, cookie-cutter appearance of many of the small, older houses found in McGill.

  By the 1920s, McGill had grown to rival nearby Ely as the largest town in White Pine County. Even a disastrous fire in 1922, which destroyed much of the smelting complex, didn't slow McGill, which peaked in 1930 when the town had more than 3,000 residents.

  The unusually long life of the Ruth/Ely area's copper mines contributed to McGill's longevity. For much of the next fifty years, McGill maintained a relatively steady population of about 2,000 people, most working for the smelter.

  One of the somewhat unique aspects about McGill was that it was a regulated company town, so many of the types of businesses that might have cropped up near a mining town, such as saloons, gambling joints, and other industries, were established in smaller settlements beyond the town limits.

  The town managed to thrive, with things remaining fairly static, until the 1950s, when the mines in Ruth ceased to be as productive. By 1983, the smelter had closed and it was demolished—including its once iconic massive brick smoke stack—in 1993.

  During its more than 70-year mining boom, McGill acquired many community amenities, including churches, a newspaper, a movie theater, a large brick school and a municipal swimming pool—actually an Olympic-size, old-fashioned watering hole.

  Additionally, as a result of the mining company's aggressive recruitment of new immigrants, McGill became one of Nevada's most ethnically diverse communities. Large numbers of Greeks, Irish, Slavs and other newcomers to the America found their way to McGill to work at the smelter.

  Yet despite the loss of its primary industry, McGill never completely faded into ghost town status. Some residents found work in the larger community of Ely and, after construction of the Ely State Prison, it became a bedroom community for prison workers. Today about 1,000 people still call McGill home.

  The town’s downtown business district remains a mix of shuttered buildings and hardy survivors, including the McGill Drug Store Museum at 11 Fourth Street (U.S. 93), which offers a snapshot into the town’s life. The drug store opened in 1915 and operated continuously until 1979.

  Gerald and Elsa Culbert owned the store from 1950 until it was closed following Gerald’s death. In 1995, the Culbert children donated the drug store, which still contained its complete inventory on the shelves, to Ely’s White Pine County Museum for preservation and display.

  These days, visitors can tour this fully intact, 20th century, small town drug store, which still has an operating soda fountain. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, go to: https://travelnevada.com/museums/mcgill-drugstore-museum/.

  Another fun place to check out is the McGill Club, a local watering hole that has been in the town for decades. In addition to a beautiful wooden backbar, it serves as community hub. Also, check out the amazing display with photos of every McGill resident who ever served in the Armed Forces.

  For more information about McGill, go to: https://www.whitepinechamber.com/p/16/mcgill-nevada.

Discover Virginia City's Architectural Gems

Storey County Courthouse

  One of the best things about visiting Virginia City is admiring the 19th century architecture scattered throughout the city. Wandering the community is a chance for a visitor to view more than a dozen elegant structures built in a variety of architectural styles.

  Fortunately, the community’s tourism authority, Visit Virginia City, aided by a grant from the state promotional agency, Travel Nevada, recently released a Architectural Walking Tour brochure that can guide visitors to 16 sites in the city.

  A fun aspect of the brochure is the use of QR codes that lead the user to an audio tour of the featured buildings and sites (two of the locations are building sites where the original structures no longer exist).

  The tour begins, appropriately, with the Fourth Ward School, one of Virginia City’s most iconic buildings. Constructed in 1876 the Second Empire style, the four-story schoolhouse is the last of its kind still standing in the U.S.

  Next up is the Savage Mansion, also constructed in the Second Empire style, which was built in 1861 to serve as a residence for a mining superintendent and mine office. That’s followed by the similarly spectacular Hearst/Mackay Mansion, erected in 1860, which served a similar purpose for mining magnate George Hearst and, later, mining millionaire John Mackay. It boasts a Colonial style with Victorian flourishes.

  Other noteworthy buildings included on the tour include:

  • Storey County Courthouse, built in 1875 and rebuilt in 1876, which boasts an elaborate Italianate style with Baroque influences. The oldest continuously operating court house in the state, this building is graced with a statue of Justice that is not blindfolded like most other representations.

  • Territorial Enterprise Building, constructed in 1876, was the home of Nevada’s first newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise. Among those who worked at the Enterprise was a young Mark Twain as well as other notable writers such as Dan DeQuille and Alf Doten. The architecture of the structure is frontier style with Corinthian Capital Pillars.

  • King-McBride Mansion was originally built in 1870, burned during the Great Fire of 1875, and was rebuilt the next year. Also constructed in the Italianate style but with Greek Revival influences, this elegant house was first owned by banker George Anson King, who ran the Nevada Bank of San Francisco and was a director on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

  • Graves (the Castle) Mansion, constructed in 1868, is another of the city’s most recognizable buildings. It was built by Robert Graves, superintendent of the Empire Mine, who had a love for French chateau architecture. As the brochure points out, the mansion’s signature mansard roof and dormers are outstanding examples of the Second Empire style.

  • Miner’s Union Hall, erected in 1876, was originally a single-story wooden building that also burned during the 1875 fire. Its replacement, the current building, was constructed in the Baroque style. The first floor of the structure housed the union hall while the second floor was used as a library. That library, opened in 1877, was the only public library in Virginia City for many years (patrons paid 50-cents per month to use it).

  To obtain a copy of the new brochure, contact www.VisitVirginiaCityNV.com. The entire brochure can also be accessed online at: https://visitvirginiacitynv.com/architectural-walking-tour/.

The Time the Sundance Kid Robbed A Train Near Humboldt House

 

Harry (The Sundance Kid) Longabaugh and Etta Place

     If you’re driving on Interstate 80 about 35 miles southwest of Winnemucca you might notice a sign indicating something called “Humboldt House.” If you look fast, you might be able to see a few older trees and a handful of buildings, but not much activity.

     But about 150 years ago, Humboldt House, also called Humboldt Station, was a pretty happening place. Established in 1866 as a stagecoach stop, it soon became an important stop on the Central Pacific Railroad after that line was completed in 1869.

     From the early 1870s until 1900, Humboldt House grew into a small settlement with a hotel that catered to railroad travelers. It became known as one of the best places to eat on the rail line.

     It was that very same railroad line, in fact, that brought a small group of outlaws to Nevada on July 14, 1898. At about 2:30 a.m., two men stopped the Central Pacific Railroad’s east-bound passenger train No. 1 at a spot about one-mile east of the Humboldt House.

     According to Winnemucca’s Silver State newspaper, the train was operating at a high rate of speed “when two masked robbers, one armed with a Winchester and the other with a revolver, leaped over the tender of the engine and covered Engineer (Philip) Wickland and Fireman McDermott with their weapons and demanded that they stop the train immediately.”

     After Wickland brought the train to a stop, he and McDermott were ordered to climb down from the locomotive and escort the armed men to the Wells Fargo express car. Once there, Wickland was instructed to tell the guard inside the car to open the door.

     The guard, whose last name was Hughes, shouted he wasn’t going to comply and extinguished the lights inside car. He grabbed a rifle and prepared to protect whatever valuables were inside the car’s safe.

     One of the would-be thieves then put a small stick of dynamite under the door, lit it, and reportedly said, “I guess that will fetch him.”

     Following an explosion, which demolished a part of the railcar door, the robbers called to the messenger to come out and “be a good fellow.” This time he did so and one of the thieves climbed in the car with more dynamite, which he used to successfully blow open the safe.

     After collecting any valuables from the safe, the robbers led the railroad employees a little way away from the train, then, according to Hughes, “shook hands with us and saying adios disappeared in the darkness.”

     Hughes later described the two men with one being of medium height with a reddish beard and hair, while the other was shorter and very dark. “They were both cool and seemed to know what they were about,” he told the newspaper. A third man, who remained unseen, apparently was in the shadows, holding their horses.

     So who were these train robbers? The following day, the Silver State reported that the thieves had gotten away with between $20,000 and $26,000 or, it noted, it could have been as little as $9,000. Later reports further downgraded the robbery, saying the pair only stole $450.

     Regardless, a train robbery is still a train robbery, and law enforcement immediately began searching for the culprits. A posse was formed and followed the horse tracks of the thieves but then disbanded when it became apparent the robbers had too great a head-start.

     Authorities quickly arrested two men they thought were responsible but they were found not guilty after a short trial.

     Soon, however, the Pinkerton Detective Agency settled onto new suspects: members of the notorious Wild Bunch Gang, who had been seen in the Humboldt County area in the days before the robbery.

     According to Donna B. Ernst, author of “The Sundance Kid: The Life of Harry Alonzo Longabaugh,” the Sundance Kid had a distant cousin, a bartender named Seth Longabough, living in Eureka, Nevada, so he regularly visited him in the late 1890s.

     The Pinkerton Agency soon decided the three men responsible for the robbery were Wild Bunch members Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, George “Flat Nose” Curry, and the Sundance Kid.

     In his book, “He Rode With Butch and Sundance: The Story of Harvey ‘Kid Curry’ Logan,” author Mark T. Smokov wrote that the three men met up at Robbers Roost in Utah before heading to Nevada. According to the Pinkertons, they spent a couple days scouting the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks near Winnemucca planning their robbery.

     In the end, none of the suspected hold-up men was ever prosecuted for the crime. Logan would later kill himself after being cornered by a posse for a different crime in 1904. Flat Nose Curry would die in 1900 after being shot by a sheriff while rustling cattle. And the Sundance Kid is believed to have been killed, with his partner-in-crime, Butch Cassidy, during a shootout with federal police in Bolivia in 1908.

Artist and Writer Sydney Martinez Shares Her Love for Nevada in New Book

   It’s pretty clear that Sydney Martinez has a special relationship with the state of Nevada. As the former lead writer/photographer for Travel Nevada, the state’s tourism promotion agency, she spent about a decade traveling and photographing nearly every community in the state.

   That experience not only instilled in her a deep appreciation of the Silver State, but a thirst to explore as many as possible of the thousands of dirt roads, trails, and paths that spread across the wide Nevada landscape.

   For the past several years, Martinez, who graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a degree in journalism and minor in photography, has scratched that Nevada itch, traveling all over the state with her husband, Jonathan, and faithful dog, Elko.

   Many of their adventures have appeared on her blog, FindingNevadaWild.com, as well as on her periodic Legends of Lost Nevada podcast.

   Most recently, however, the enterprising Martinez, who is also a gifted jewelry designer (under the brand name Song Dog Silver, also sold on her website) has expanded her reach into a new venture, a beautifully-illustrated hardcover book titled “Finding Nevada Wild: The Terrain, Culture, and People of the Most Mysterious State in the West.”

   Published by Schiffer Publishing, the 320-page book is a visual treat with hundreds (or so it seems) of color photographs enhanced by Martinez’s enthusiastic prose.

   The book is not so much a guide book—although there is useful how-to information about being properly prepared before traveling on the state’s remote backroads—as it is a celebration of all the things that Martinez loves about Nevada.

   For instance, a chapter titled, “Sounds from the Sage,” addresses the beauty in heading out into the state’s wide-open landscapes and simply listening.

    “Just like the way you can see millions of stars amid true darkness, being out in Nevada’s isolated terrain affords some of the darkest, quietest experiences a person can have in the lower 48 states,” she writes. “There, you can really hear the way the world sounds.”

   Another chapter, “Hot Water,” seems to be a topic close to Martinez’s heart. She writes that searching for hot springs in the state’s outback is where she began her love affair with Nevada. “This is the place where it all started—where I found myself, and Nevada found me,” she says.

   Her chapter, “Great Drives,” is particularly fun, describing spectacular paved-road journeys, such as those through Lamoille Canyon near Elko, Rainbow Canyon in Lincoln County and the Valley of Fire Scenic Byway near Overton.

   She also describes several more rustic drives on roads that aren’t paved, such as the one leading to the Walker River State Recreation Area in Lyon County, the trip up Kingston Canyon in the middle of the state and the drive through the Monitor Valley, also in the center of the state.

   Other roads less traveled that she spotlights include Success Loop near Ely, High Rock Canyon in northern Washoe County, and the Lunar Crater Backcountry Byway.

   Martinez also takes the reader on her journeys through Nevada’s many colorful, rustic, and memorable rural bars that includes a section on the origins of the Picon Punch (with a recipe). Among the water holes captured by her lens and prose are the various Owl Clubs, the Jiggs Bar, the Overland Hotel and Saloon in Pioche, and the Outdoor Inn & Red Dog Saloon in Jarbidge.

   Several of Nevada’s most photogenic ghost towns get the Martinez treatment as do rural hotels/motels (in the chapter, “Great Stays”). The book nears the finish line with a chapter on the state’s best places to enjoy Dark Skies and a chapter on geology and rockhounding, which is a particular passion of hers.

   The concluding chapter, “Nevadans & Other Wily Wonders,” features some of the colorful people she has encountered over the years as well as brief descriptions of several petroglyph and pictograph sites she has discovered, rural art galleries, and other “wonders.”

   “Finding Nevada Wild: The Terrain, Culture, and People of the Most Mysterious State in the West,” by Sydney Martinez is available from Amazon and other online retailers as well as at Nevada bookstores. It can also be ordered on her website, which is www.findingnevadawild.com.