Austin's Historical Society Museum Shares Town's Past

 

   Among Nevada’s 19th century mining towns, Austin has perhaps the most colorful past—and a very cool local museum that helps to tell the town’s story.

   Located about 110 miles east of Fallon on U.S. 50, Austin was founded in 1862 following the discovery of large silver deposits in the area. Within a few years, Austin had an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 residents along with several substantial churches and a thriving business district.

   Over the decades, Austin experienced many ups and downs, which were tied to the state of its silver mining industry. By the mid-20th century, the community’s mining heyday was over and the town’s population began to decline. Today, only about 200 people still call Austin home.

   But that doesn’t mean Austin is ready to completely fade away. Local folks, in fact, have pursued a number of projects designed to attract visitors and keep the town alive.

   For example, for many years a local group has worked to restore the historic former St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, built in 1866, as a cultural and arts center.

   Additionally, a few years ago the community acquired the former National Forest Service office in Austin and converted the building into the Austin Historical Society Museum.

   Opened in 2006, the museum at 180 Main Street is filled with artifacts related to Austin’s past. Open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the free museum contains a large collection of historic photographs as well as informative displays.

   For instance, there’s a display about the Nevada Central Railroad—which once ran between Austin and Battle Mountain—that includes photographs, documents, rail equipment and other related items.

   Several other exhibits are devoted to the area’s Native Americans and features several hand-woven baskets and containers as well as stone implements, such as grinding stones, used by prehistoric people in the region.

   One room is filled with a variety of antiques related to the town’s history, including a hand-cranked telephone, vintage typewriters, cash registers, scales, school desks, bottles and mining and ranch equipment.

   Nearby is a 19th century, hand-operated printing press used for many years by the local Reese River Reveille newspaper as well as a display containing pages from the newspaper, which operated locally from 1863 to 1993.

   There are also exhibits of antique home furnishings and a fine 19th century pump organ on loan from St. George’s Episcopal Church in Austin, which is still an active congregation in Austin.

   One of the museum’s most interesting items is an old blackjack table that was once owned and used by Clara Williams, a longtime Austin saloon owner, who was once featured in the Los Angeles Times (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-25-mn-16066-story.html).

   Renowned for many years for being Nevada’s oldest blackjack dealer, Williams, who died in 1987, dealt cards at the table until she was more than 80 years old.

   The museum also has a nice research library with ledgers, photo albums and books related to local history.

   For more information about the museum, go to www.austinmuseumnevada.com.

Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge Teems With Life

 

   Years ago, when I visited the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge for the first time, a staff member told me to keep my eyes open because even though it might look like nothing is out there, I was actually surrounded by wildlife.

   He was so right.

   Located about 15 miles northeast of Fallon, the 163,000-acre refuge is, in fact, home to hundreds of migrating bird species and other wildlife.

   Perched on the southern edge of the Carson Sink, adjacent to the Stillwater Range, the refuge is a collection of shallow lakes, canals and marshes that play host to a wide variety of plant, bird and animal life.

   Stillwater traces its beginnings to prehistoric Lake Lahontan, a gigantic body of water created by melting glaciers that filled the valleys of Western Nevada about 12,000 years ago.

   Over the centuries, as the climate changed and grew warmer, the lake gradually receded. The Stillwater Marsh is one of the remnants of the ancient lake.

   In more recent times, the marsh was home to the Toidikadi or Cattail-Eater Paiutes, who for many centuries hunted and fished in the area. The first non-Native Americans, arriving in Western Nevada in the mid-19th century, describe deep-water marshlands filled with abundant birds and fish.

   Construction of the Newlands Project in the early 20th century, however, diverted much of the Carson River water that once flowed into the marshes. In the 1940s, the federal government became so concerned that Stillwater might cease to exist that it began managing the flow of water to the marshes to ensure their survival.

   The Stillwater Refuge complex encompasses not only the Stillwater Marsh but also a smaller sanctuary to the north called the Fallon Refuge, and the Anaho Island Refuge, located at Pyramid Lake, north of Reno.

   First time visitors to Stillwater should stop at the refuge headquarters at the entrance to pick up useful information brochures and to ask for advice on how best to view the area.

   Just beyond the headquarters is an elevated platform that offers prime views of Stillwater Point Reservoir, an adjacent shallow body of water lined with tall, thick tule reeds and grasses. From the platform, visitors can see several dozen birds flitting around in the reservoir, ranging from egrets to terns.

   A marked, gravel Automobile Tour Loop takes visitors from the elevated platform to the Foxtail and Upper Foxtail lakes. Along the way, visitors can spot more birds, with the type depending on the season. For example, in the summer it’s easy to encounter Ruddy ducks, Herons, Marsh wrens, grebes and egrets—as well as swimming muskrats.

   The refuge is home to more than 280 different bird species and an estimated quarter-million waterfowl pass through the area annually.

   Another good place to stop off the loop drive and enjoy the environment is Foxtail Lake, where a boardwalk takes visitors through clusters of cattails and high grasses to the edge of the lake and offers great views.

   The refuge also offers two areas where overnight parking and camping are allowed, the Lead Lake Road-Center Road Intersection and on East Division at Nutgrass Road (check with the headquarters for details), but no campfires.

   The best time of year to see the most species of birds is spring, when the marshlands are the wettest because of winter snowmelt, and the birds are migrating.

   Additionally, guided tours for groups are available with advance notice. For more information, contact the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, 13303 Stillwater Road, Fallon, 775-423-5128 or go to: www.fws.gov/refuge/stillwater.

ET Highway Continues to Fascinate Visitors

  Not too long ago, I was reading the Atlas Obscura website (a great source for stories about weird places) and stumbled onto a feature about traveling on Nevada State Route 375, the Extraterrestrial or ET Highway.

  The piece provided background on how that 98-mile stretch of road gained its name and other attractions in the area (to read it go to: www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nevada-extraterrestrial-highway-geology-science-archaeology).

  It also made me think about how the route and the adjacent Area 51 have continued to capture our collective interest. You could almost say that one would have to have been kidnapped by aliens to not know about all the hype that has surrounded that part of Nevada over the past few decades.

  That stretch of highway, between Warm Springs and Alamo, and including the hamlet of Rachel, gained its moniker in 1995, when state officials officially designated it as the Extraterrestrial Highway in order to capitalize on the public fascination with Area 51, a top-secret military installation.

  For years, some have believed that the U.S. government has conducted mysterious research at Area 51, including, allegedly, some involving recovered aliens and/or alien aircraft. This notion has been reinforced in pop culture via television shows like “The X-Files” and film such as “Independence Day.”

  Part of what keeps Area 51 so fascinating is the fact that the U.S. government insisted for many years that it didn’t exist. Because nature abhors a vacuum—and people love mysteries—stories about what actually goes on there have proliferated over the decades.

  It was all this speculation about the base, said, in some accounts, to be where the U.S. government hides captured flying saucers—as well as stories of alien encounters near Rachel that spurred creation of the tongue-in-cheek ET Highway by the Nevada Department of Transportation.

  Additionally, for many years state tourism officials encouraged travelers—earthly and otherwise—to head out on Route 375 in search of a close encounter of their own.

  I’ve been out to Rachel a couple of times and must admit that other than a couple of old Chevy trucks, a few dinged-up trailers, a noteworthy roadside diner and miles of sagebrush there’s not much to see over the 98 miles.

  Highlight of most visits is a trip to “Little A’Le’Inn” in Rachel, a local diner that serves such concoctions as an Alien Burger with secretions (cheese on your burger). The place also has a gift shop well stocked with alien-related merchandise such as key chains, coffee mugs and t-shirts.

  Most folks in Rachel take all the fuss with a wink and a half-smile. The “Little A ‘Le’Inn,” which appeared in a 2011 Simon Pegg comedy about an alien, called “Paul,” maintains a small library of UFO-related books as well as a virtual gallery of grainy black-and-white photographs allegedly depicting alien spacecraft.

  Perhaps because of its sparse population and remoteness—the town has fewer than 100 residents—it is easier to believe there might be something out there in those vast night skies.

  Are those the blinking lights of a passing airplane or something more? Is that a shiny weather balloon or, perhaps, the glint of metal from a UFO?

  Who knows?

  For more information about the ET Highway, go to: https://travelnevada.com/road-trips/extraterrestrial-highway/.

Nevada's Best Views Found On Its Official Scenic Byways

Valley of Fire Scenic Byway

  Nevada is a diverse state with a wide variety of scenery. One of the best ways to view all the various landscapes and views is by traveling the state’s 17 official scenic byways.

  The Nevada Scenic Byways program was created in the 1980s by the Nevada Legislature, which wanted to draw attention to specific drives that are noteworthy because of their extraordinary visual attributes.

  The designated byways, which include routes that are part of the federal All-American Road and National Scenic Byway programs, range from the 12-mile Angel Lake Road/State Route 231, located south of Wells, to an 8-mile section of the Las Vegas Strip.

  The Angel Lake road, which climbs into the East Humboldt Range, winds its way through picturesque groves of piñon pine, mountain mahogany and quaking aspen before ending at beautiful Angel Lake.

  The Las Vegas Strip stretch includes both the southern end of the Strip, between Russell and Sahara Avenue, which encompasses many of the city’s most spectacular resorts, and a northern part, between Sahara Avenue and Washington Avenue, which takes in some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

  Other roads on the Nevada Scenic Byway list include:

  • State Routes 445/446/447 — A 30-mile route that offers breathtaking views of starkly beautiful Pyramid Lake, including many intriguing tufa rock formations.

  • State Route 431 (the Mount Rose Highway)—This 22.2-mile route climbs up Mt. Rose Summit to the 8,911-foot pass, then descends into the Tahoe Basin, and affords a wonderful first view of Lake Tahoe.

  • Lamoille Canyon Road—Winding through the steep walls of Lamoille Canyon, which is south of Elko, this 12.5-mile byway passes through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the state.

  • Baker Road—This 11.6-mile hunk of highway begins at the junction of U.S. 50 and U.S. 6 and ends at the Nevada/Utah boundary. Along the way, you can catch fabulous views of the eastern face of the Snake Mountain Range, including Wheeler Peak.

  • Lehman Caves Road—For 5.4 miles on this route, you can drive from the small town of Baker to the entrance to Great Basin National Park, anticipating the park’s attractions, which include Lehman Caves, a series of underground passages filled with fascinating limestone formations. Be sure to look for the unusual folk art constructed by local artists on the fence posts adjacent to the road.

  • U.S. 93 (between the junction with State Route 318 and Majors Junction)—This is not only the longest scenic byway in the state at 148.8 miles but also was the first. The route passes through some of the most wide-open country in Nevada as well as several historic Eastern Nevada communities including Pioche, Caliente and Panaca. It’s also leads to five Nevada state parks, including Cathedral Gorge, Kershaw-Ryan and Echo Canyon.

  • U.S. 50/U.S. 6/ U.S. 93 (south of Ely to the Nevada/Utah border)—This 63-miles of pavement parallels and crosses through the Schell Creek Range before skirting the north edge of the Snake Range. It passes by Cave Lake State Park, the Ward Charcoal Ovens Historic Monument and Great Basin National Park—a trifecta of scenic and historic places not to be missed.

  • Red Rock Canyon Road/State Route 159—This 8.8-mile road loops through the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is located about 20 miles from Las Vegas. It offers marvelous views of multi-colored rock formations as well as unique wildlife and plants.

  • Valley of Fire Road—This scenic byway begins at the west entrance to Valley of Fire State Park and ends at the park’s eastern entrance. Along the way, visitors can view bright red sandstone arches, cliffs and pillars as well as prehistoric Native American petroglyphs and spectacular geological treasures such as the White Domes.

  • State Routes 156/157/158—These three mountain roads meander through the scenic Mount Charleston area. Only an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, they comprise a loop that climbs from the valley floor and deep into the mountain. Visitors can sometimes glimpse golden eagles, owls, prairie falcons, and other species. And it’s usually at least 20 degrees cooler than Las Vegas.

  • U.S. 50 (between Carson City and the California state line)—This 21.5-mile portion of the highway offers panoramic views of Lake Tahoe and passes through the tunnels at Cave Rock and by some of the state’s most stunning scenery.

  • U.S. 50 and Nevada State Route 28 (between the junction of U.S. 50 and the California/Nevada border)—This 16-mile road follows Lake Tahoe’s eastern shore and provides plenty of reasons to see why writer Mark Twain once described the lake as “the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”

  For more information about Nevada’s Scenic Byways, go to: www.dot.nv.gov/travel-info/travel-nevada/scenic-byways.

The Ignominious Story Behind Virginia City's Loring Cut

Virginia City's Loring Cut

   While much of Virginia City’s 19TH and early 20th century mining activity was underground, one of the most ambitious efforts to extract previous minerals from the region using open pit mine techniques was attempted in the early 1930s by mining engineer William J. Loring.

   In 1933, Loring partnered with a California mining syndicate to lease a half-mile of once-productive Comstock Lode property that included the workings of the Chollar, Potosi, Savage and Hale & Norcross mines. Their plan was to recover enough low-grade ore near the surface to make the endeavor financially successful.

   For some context, this all happened at a time when mining experts believed that silver and gold ore was still to be found in Virginia City, especially if newer mining technologies were employed.

   The Loring group decided to use a relatively new concept, flotation, which involved crushing ore and using wetting agents (such as cyanide) to separate and concentrate the mineral content, which could then be extracted. The process is similar to how open pit mines operate even today.

   Initially, the syndicate planned to mine underground, as had traditionally been done on the Comstock. The restarting of mining in the region was lauded in local newspapers as the beginning of a “new era” on the Comstock.

   But after about 16 months, the group found that mining underground did not produce sufficient ore and decided to develop a large open pit mine. By May 1934, massive amounts of dirt and rock were being crushed and a large hole began to take shape at the south end of Virginia City, across from the Fourth Ward School.

   Despite the increased amount of earth-moving, the whole operation did not prove as profitable as Loring, who was in charge of the effort, had previously promised. Additionally, the primary mining company backing the project became embroiled in a stock scandal so money began to dry up.

   Loring also faced a third challenge—the pit, carved into the side of Mt. Davidson, suffered several large landslides that carried both ore and waste into the pit, meaning it became increasingly expensive to once again separate out the valuable dirt from the waste dirt.

   By 1937, Loring’s mining effort was losing vast amounts of money and, on June 1, 1938, the company ceased operations. After kicking about Virginia City for a number of years, the broke and disappointed Loring ended up living in Tonopah, where he died in 1952 at the age of 84.

   As for what became known as the Loring Cut or Loring Pit, it passed through several owners during the next several decades without anyone actually working the mine. In the 1970s and early 1980s, it was revived as an open pit mining operation by the United Mining Corporation (UMC) but did not prove productive.

   In the 2015 “Mining Journal History,” historian Ron Limbaugh wrote that the chief geologist for UMC estimated that some 419,000 tons of low-grade ore remained on the surface of the site in the dumps, tailings and the pit itself. Since that time, however, according to Limbaugh, “anything resembling ore has been buried by landslides and reclamation efforts.”

   Today, visitors to the historic Fourth Ward School often wander across the street (after looking both ways!) to a make-shift wooden platform filled with old mining equipment, an English telephone booth, and a rusted truck to look out into the cut. Adjacent is a 300-foot deep mining ventilation shaft (with a sturdy metal covering to keep onlookers from falling in) that was apparently dug in 1970. A wooden plaque explains the story of the ventilation shaft but makes no mention of Loring’s folly.

Old Dayton Schoolhouse Continues to Educate Visitors

 

   It’s perhaps appropriate that the place that once educated the historic mining town of Dayton’s young people—the old Schoolhouse, built in 1865—continues to play a similar role in educating visitors about the community’s history as the Dayton Museum.

   The museum, which opened in 1991, contains display describing Dayton’s origins and a number of the “firsts” believed to have occurred in the community. For example, some history books claim Dayton was the site of the state’s first marriage and first dance.

   Of course, Dayton is arguably Nevada’s earliest settlement and traces its roots to the late 1840s, when gold was discovered in adjacent Gold Canyon. A small group of miners began working the canyon, including James “Old Virginny” Finney, namesake for Virginia City (he’s buried in the Dayton cemetery).

   In addition to hosting prospectors, Dayton soon became an important stop on the Emigrant Trail for travelers heading to California. This traffic, in fact, was the impetus for the opening of an early Nevada trading post, known as Hall’s Station, after owner Spafford Hall. It was one of the first businesses established in the area.

   In 1861, the settlement officially became known as Dayton, after surveyor John Day, who plated the community.

   Among its residents in those days was a fairly large population of Chinese, who were brought to the region to build a two-mile water ditch from the mouth of the Carson River Canyon to Gold Canyon. The Chinese also reworked placer gold tailings left behind by other miners.

   The museum also has a display describing the Pony Express, which passed through Dayton during its days of operation in 1860-61, and a collection of Chinese artifacts left behind by those early inhabitants.

   One display case contains a variety of 19th century measuring devices including household scales, a drug store box scale and a merchant scale while another exhibits the Bertha Scott clothing collection, a nice assortment of 19th century women’s clothes including high-topped, lace-up shoes.

   One of early Dayton’s prominent citizens was John D. Winters, who maintained a ranch outside of town. A large collection of saddles, brands and ranching equipment from his spread is on display.

   Wandering through the schoolhouse, which is the second oldest stone school building in the state and oldest schoolhouse in the state of Nevada that is still at its original location, you can also spot desks and classroom items once used in it.

   The building served as a school until 1959, then was the Dayton Senior Center for many years.

   Since Dayton also was the first seat of Lyon County, it is also appropriate that the museum has exhibits containing such items as the roll top desk of longtime Sheriff Perry Randall.

   Another prominent former Daytonite (an exhibit is devoted to him) was Adolph Sutro, the man responsible for building Sutro Tunnel. In the 1860s, Sutro constructed a four-mile tunnel into Mount Davidson from near Dayton in order to drain and ventilate the Comstock mines. The tunnel (which still exists and is currently being restored) is considered one of the engineering marvels of the 19th century.

   The region’s Native Americans are the subject of another exhibit, which contains dozens of arrowheads and spear points, several hand-woven baskets and a selection of grinding stones.

   A second room in the school features the paintings of Alice Cardelli and Fannie Gore Hazlett. The latter, who moved to Dayton in 1862, was quite an adventurer—she rode in an airplane when she was 82 years old.

   Outside the school are a handful of historic items including an old wooden wagon, a turn-of-the-century McCormick harvester and a couple of outhouses.

   The Dayton Museum is located at 135 Shady Lane in Dayton. It is open Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. There is no admission fee but donations are welcome.

   For more information, contact the Dayton Museum, 775-246-6316, or go to www.daytonnvhistory.org.

Murals Illustrate Ely's Rich History

 

Ely's Murals

    In Ely, Nevada, the building walls tell stories.

   Over the past two and a half decades, more than two-dozen building walls in the former copper mining town have been turned into works of art. Each now boasts a mural that tells a piece of the history of eastern Nevada.

   The effort to turn blank walls into artwork began in 1999, when a local business owner, the late Norm Goeringer, owner of the Hotel Nevada and several other Ely properties, hired well-known Nevada cowboy artist Larry Bute of Fallon to paint a giant mural titled, “Cattle Drive,” on the side of his building on the corner of Aultman and 4th streets.

   The giant full-color image depicts both a Nevada Northern Railway locomotive (which was headquartered in East Ely) and a cattle drive.

   Several other business owners liked the idea and a handful commissioned Bute to paint additional murals on their buildings. Eventually, a non-profit group formed, called the Ely Renaissance Society, which began raising money to transform empty walls into huge murals.

   Supporters of the mural project point to the town of Chemainus, British Columbia, as inspiration for the effort. There, more than 30 murals have been painted on local buildings and have helped revitalize a decaying lumber town.

   Similarly, Ely has experienced considerable economic turmoil as its once thriving copper mining industry faded in the 1980s and 1990s. The murals are a way to help Ely attract attention and visitors.

   In 2004, the town even hosted the Global Mural Conference, which brought about 100 mural artists and community arts and culture experts to town for several days of meetings and workshops.

   Wandering the streets of Ely, visitors can easily spot the town’s signature murals, which now number 28. In fact, the community has even developed a walking tour map and an audio tour, which can be found at www.whitepinemainstreet.com/ely-mural-and-arts-audio-tour/.

   While Larry Bute painted a handful of the murals, other artists have also contributed, including Wei Luan, Paul Ygartua, Don and Jared Gray and Colin Williams as well as Ely artists Chris Kreider and Don Cates.

   A walking tour of the murals is like leafing through the community’s photo album. The first mural commissioned by the Ely Renaissance Society, dedicated in 2000, is a patriotic scene showing an early 20th century Fourth of July celebration.

   Titled “4th of July Celebration,” the mural can be found on a building at 2000 Aultman Street.

   At 201 High Street, you can find another Bute painting, entitled “The Blacksmith Shop.” This image is a re-creation of an old-time blacksmith shop and faces the spot where an actual blacksmith shop was once located.

   A few of the other murals on the tour include:

   • “United By Our Children”—Located on a building at the corner of Aultman and Great Basin Boulevard, this mural by Paul Ygartua depicts local children representing the various ethnic groups that have settled over the years in the Ely area.

   • “Liberty Pit”—On the right corner of Aultman and 4th streets, this painting by Wei Luan is an historic interpretation of the Liberty Pit, a copper mine. The workers in the portrait represent various ethnic groups that came to Ely to work in the mines.

   • “Charcoal Ovens and Railroad Murals”—This pair of murals at 595 Aultman by Chris Krieder recognizes the efforts of the Italian workers who built the Ward Charcoal Ovens and laid the tracks for the Nevada Northern Railway.

   • “Basque Mural”—Painted on the side of the Cruise-In Car Wash at 1603 Aultman, this mural by Don and Jared Gray shows a Basque sheepherder, his horse, sheep camp on wheels and sheep herd. The mural represents the region’s rich Basque heritage.

   • “Cherry Creek Hot Springs”—The west side of the Economy Drug Store at 696 Aultman features this mural by Wei Luan, which depicts the former gold mining town of Cherry Creek and a well-known hot springs resort that was once there.

   • “Ghost Signage Mural”—Perhaps one of the most unusual murals is this historic collage of signs at 740 Aultman that have been restored by painter Paul Ygartua. Over the years, the wall had been painted and repainted with advertisements for different businesses. Ygartua created a ghostly effect by restoring all of the various signs atop each other.

   It all adds up to a community that’s proud of its history and heritage and eager to make sure neither are forgotten.

Washoe County Ghost Town of Flanigan Melts Into Memory

Site of the town of Flanigan (Photo courtesy of Foobar)

  Not much remains of the old railroad hamlet of Flanigan. Once a bustling little stop on the Western Pacific Railroad (WP) line, the site of the town has been largely reclaimed by the desert.

  Located at the eastern end of Honey Lake Valley, about five miles from the Nevada-California border, Flanigan was established in 1909 by the railroad as a station where passengers could be picked up and local farmers and ranchers could ship freight.

  The community’s name honored a prominent Reno businessman and former Nevada state senator named Patrick L. Flanigan, who had permitted the WP tracks to pass through the large cattle ranch he owned in the valley.

  According to Nevada historian Eric Moody, who authored, “Flanigan: Anatomy of a Railroad Ghost Town,” the station, however, was only active sporadically. Moody said was apparently used between November 1910 and March 1911, and again for a short time in 1919-20.

  Additionally, railroad maintenance staff were stationed in Flanigan from about the time of World War I to the 1950s.

  “Except for those periods when the station was active, freight and passenger trains stopped at Flanigan infrequently and then only when flagged,” Moody wrote.

  Interestingly, the station owes more of its existence to a later development, the construction in 1912-13 by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) of the Fernley & Lassen branch line, which crossed the Western Pacific tracks at Flanigan.

  As a result of this intersection of two railroads, Flanigan gained several railroad structures including a signal maintainer house, two bunk houses, a tool house, and a 24-foot-high signal tower. The latter was important because it alerted trains from both railroads of any impending traffic.

  The SP also assigned a railroad agent/signal operator, which provided a permanent presence in the community, and a telegraph operator.

  According to Moody, after the railroads were established, Flanigan entered its next phase, as a real estate promotion. Because of its location near Honey Lake, which had water, the fact there was rail service, and the growing development of irrigation projects in the region, land speculators began buying up local ranches, including around the railroad property at Flanigan.

  Soon, a townsite was plated at Flanigan. The plans indicated it would be a transportation hub for the burgeoning agricultural district that was to develop. The town itself would encompass some 30 blocks with more than 900 lots. There would be a school and library as well as two-block commercial district.

  Developers Charles A. Ross and George L. Warnken, of Oakland, California, began advertising lots for sale in local newspapers.

  Moody said that the promotors began drilling wells for water but hid the fact that despite their public statements that good water had been discovered, drilling did not produce drinkable water (there was too much saline in the water). In later years, the town would survive on water brought in by the railroad.

  Despite any drawbacks, apparently land sales were brisk, especially by buyers from California (who presumably had never visited the place).

  On November 13, 1913, the Reno Evening Gazette even speculated that “Reno may soon have a rival for the honor of being the metropolis of Nevada in the new and thriving town of Flanigan.”

  In December 1913, Flanigan saw the opening of the two-story, 12-room Hotel Flanigan, a symbol of the community’s progress. A post office opened in February 1914 and later that year, construction was completed on a school house.

  Moody said the town saw its longest period of stability from about the start of World War I until the early 1920s, when the demand for rail services peaked and the population reached about 200 people.

  Except for a period in the mid-1920s, when there was a tiny, short-lived oil boom, and some activity related to the development of military facilities in Herlong, Flanigan began a long, slow descent into irrelevancy. 

  By the 1950s, the town’s residents largely consisted of railroad employees and their families, who helped keep the school, post office, and a general store operating. In 1959, however, the Southern Pacific closed shop in Flanigan and demolished many of its buildings. This was soon followed by the Western Pacific’s abandonment of the town.

  The post office closed in March 1961 and a fire destroyed the general store (which now had the post office and served as the community center) in January 1969. A short time later, the school closed and the building was moved to another community.

  Today, if you wander the site, you’ll find the concrete foundations for several of the former buildings (all standing structures are now gone) as the sand, sagebrush and grasses have reclaimed the land.

  For more information, try to find a copy of Eric Moody’s excellent “Flanigan: Anatomy of a Railroad Ghost Town,” which was published in 1985. The book is out-of-print but may be found in local libraries. Additionally, it has been scanned for reading online at https://archive.org/details/flanigan0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up.

  Another source of good information on Flanigan is the Nevada Expeditions website, www.nvexpeditions.com/washoe/flanigan.php.

 

Comstock Firemen's Museum is Hot Commodity in Virginia City

Comstock Firemen's Museum in Virginia City (courtesy of Sydney Martinez/Travel Nevada)

  With all the various attractions in the historic Nevada mining town of Virginia City, it’s easy to overlook one of the most unique—the Comstock Firemen’s Museum.

  Located on the town’s main street at 125 South C Street, the museum is also free, although donations are much appreciated.

  The museum, which was established in 1979 by Virginia City’s volunteer fire department, is exactly what the name says, a repository of 19th century Comstock region firefighting equipment, uniforms, and vehicles, all accented by displays containing historic photographs and information.

  Part of the reason that Virginia City acquired such an impressive array of then-state-of-the-art firefighting equipment was because of the impact deadly fires had on the community in the late 19th century.

  The worst conflagration occurred with the Great Fire of 1875, which resulted in the burning of the majority of the city and millions of dollars in damage.

  As a result, the museum contains a number of unusual firefighting gear including fire grenades (a glass bottle or orb usually containing liquid to extinguish a fire, such as salt water) and vintage rope life-nets, used to catch a person leaping from a burning building.

  Additionally, the museum boasts Nevada’s oldest and longest-serving fire apparatus, an 1839 Christian Hight four-wheel hand-drawn hose carriage as well as an 1856 Lysander Button & Co. hand-drawn, hand-pumped fire engine and several two-wheeled hand-drawn hose carts from the early 1870s.

  Other historic equipment on display include an 1877 Kimball & Co. horse-drawn hose carriage, an 1879 steam-powered fire engine, and an 1880 hand-drawn, hand-pumped fire engine.

  Some of the historic equipment on display have appeared in movies, including “In Old Chicago,” released in 1937, “The Santa Fe Trail,” released in 1940, and “The Man Behind the Gun,” which came out in 1953.

  Displays around the tightly-packed museum spotlight various firefighting tools, uniform shirts, leather belts and helmets, emergency lights and sirens, vintage fire extinguishers, a host of nozzle tips, hose adaptors and fittings, and uniform insignia.

  The museum is housed in an historic brick structure, erected in 1876 (right after the Great Fire) that previously housed a broker’s business, a meat market, a saloon and a brewery. It also was home of the Storey County Fire Department from 1930 until the 1960s.

  A good overview of the museum can be found on the Virginia City Tourism Commission’s website, which has an audio tour of the facility (listen at: https://visitvirginiacitynv.com/firehouse-museum-audio-tour/).

  The Comstock Firemen’s Museum, also known as the Nevada State Firemen’s Museum/Liberty Engine Company No. 1, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from May to October, and on weekends (weather permitting) during November and December. For more information, go to http://www.comstockfiremuseum.com.

Carson City's Kit Carson Trail Continues to Thrive

  In 1993, Candy Duncan, former executive director of the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Mary Walker, former Carson City finance and redevelopment director, decided Carson City needed its own version of Boston’s famous Freedom Trail.

  Walker had visited Boston’s trail and thought the idea of a walking tour to historic sites, all linked by some kind of visible line or trail, could work in Nevada’s Capital City.

  After hearing the concept, Duncan was immediately on board and began working out the details with her staff. The result was the Kit Carson Trail, a walking/driving tour of nearly 50 of Carson City’s most historic locations.

  A bright blue line was painted on the sidewalks in front of each property so someone following the 2.5-mile-long trail could easily move from one site to the next.

  Carson City officials also developed a colorful, oversized brochure/map describing the trail and including illustrations and a brief history of each property. Interestingly, a copy of this original walking tour guide recently appeared on eBay with an asking price of $26.51!

  Duncan and Walker also reached out to others, including a local writer/performer named Mary Bennett, to offer daytime “ghost walks.” These walks would be tours of the trail led by a guide (or guides) in period costume. These tours proved extremely popular, especially around Nevada Day, which always occurs near Halloween.

  Over the past three decades-plus, Bennett has taken on a more prominent role in the production of the ghost walks. These days, she, often joined by family members and actors from Reno’s Brüka Theatre, lead regular evening “spirit-led” walking tours of the trail.

  For anyone interested in one of her guided tours, go to the Carson City Ghost Walk website, http://carsoncityghostwalk.com/. Tickets, which cost $15 in advance ($20 at the door) are available at http://www.purplepass.com/carsoncityghostwalk.

  After the trail had been around for several decades, city officials decided to forego the painted blue line, which was expensive to maintain, and replaced it with replica stone carriage markers noting the locations.

  They also developed an interactive audio guide, which can be accessed on a smart phone at https://visitcarsoncity.com/kit-carson-trail-self-guided-tour/, or using a QR code found on the website.

  The city also created a useful downloadable trail map (https://visitcarsoncity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/KitCarsonTrailMap_2022_Final.pdf). The map is definitely worth checking out as it offers an overview graphic of the various historic places and short descriptions and addresses.

  As for what a visitor might find along the trail, the historic landmarks include the Nevada State Museum (formerly the Carson City Mint), built in the 1860s, the former homes of several past Nevada governors, a large number of elegant Victorian mansions built by prominent local merchants in the 19th century and the Orion Clemens House, once owned by writer Mark Twain’s brother (who was an occasional guest).

  The complete list of historic sites on the trail, with their back stories, can be viewed at https://visitcarsoncity.com/attractions/details-on-kit-carson-trail/. Additionally, an informative video of the tour can be found at https://visitcarsoncity.com/attractions/kit-carson-trail/.

Austin's Venerable Reese River Reveille Returns

 

  A lot of things make Austin’s historic Reese River Reveille newspaper special.

  For one, it holds the record for once being the “oldest continuously published newspaper” in the state, appearing from 1863 to 1993.

  For another, it was generally recognized as the second-most famous newspaper in the state, after Virginia City’s Territorial Enterprise, in the 19th century.

  And lastly, from 1873 to 1878, the Reveille was edited by one of the most noteworthy frontier journalists in early Nevada, Fred Hart.

  In fact, it was during Hart’s tenure that the Reveille published the accounts of the “Sazarac Lying Club,” a social organization that conducted regular meetings during which members tried to outwit each other by telling the biggest lies.

  The rub was that Hart had made-up the club and wrote all the regular dispatches about the meetings, which, of course, never took place.

  It is with all of that in mind that in 2018, Reno historian Eric Moody, who served as curator of manuscripts for the Nevada Historical Society for 30 years, decided to resurrect the Reveille.

  In a Reno News and Review interview that year, Moody said that he acquired the trade name of the newspaper a few years earlier after being told it was available. At the time, he was publishing a magazine, Nevada in the West, which focused on Nevada history.

  “We had to do something to keep the trade name alive,” he said. “So, we came up with reviving the Reveille as a tourist-oriented publication, just twice a year now, maybe a little more often later on.”

  Moody’s revived Reveille, which he continues to produce twice annually (June and December), is a kind of magazine/newsletter offering a mix of articles spotlighting historic sites, buildings and people in and around Austin, as well as current special events and happenings in the community.

  The publication is sold in local motels, restaurants and shops in Austin or is available by subscription for $5 per year. Anyone interested can send a check to Nevada in the West Publishing, 846 Victorian Avenue, Suite 24H, Sparks, NV 89431, or call 775-762-3924.

  One of the best aspects of the publication are the contributions by several well-known Nevada historians including Stanley Paher, author of the definitive work, “Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Nevada,” the late Phillip I. Earl, who was curator of history at the Nevada Historical Society for 26 years, Jeff Kintop, former Nevada State Archivist and, of course, Moody, who had written several Nevada history books himself.

  The most recent edition (Jan.-June 2023) includes a nice story on 19th century gunfights in Austin’s famed International Hotel, written by Robert W. Ellison, author of “Territorial Lawmen of Nevada” and other works, who is another regular contributor.

  Issues also include short items reprinted from past issues of the Reveille, photos of historic buildings still found in Austin, and a scattering of contemporary advertising by local merchants including an art gallery, several bed & breakfasts, motels and restaurants, rock shops (Austin is famous for its turquoise) and a trading post.

  It’s definitely worth checking out.

Whatever Happened to Harrah's Auto World?

Harrah's Auto Collection in the 1970s

   Most customers in the Home Depot on Summit Ridge Court on the west side of Reno have no idea that if things had gone a little bit differently, they might be standing inside a giant pyramid structure housing one of the world’s largest and most impressive vintage automobile collections.

   That site on the edge of the Biggest Little City was once earmarked to be home of a multi-million-dollar auto museum/hotel-casino complex/amusement park that was to be known as Harrah’s Auto World.

   The project was the brainchild of the legendary Northern Nevada casino-hotel boss, William “Bill” Harrah, who, in addition to owning large resorts at Reno and Lake Tahoe, had an extraordinary collection of vintage automobiles that, at its peak, numbered some 1,400 cars (the number varies according to the source).

   Harrah was born in 1911 in South Pasadena, California. His father, John Harrah, was a politically-connected attorney, who, after losing nearly all his money in the stock market crash in 1929, opened a small gambling parlor that offered a type of Bingo known as “the Reno game.”

   After learning the ins and outs of the game, Bill Harrah purchased the rights to the business from his father. He continued operating the game in spite of regular harassment from local law enforcement.

   In 1937, Harrah decided to relocate to Reno, where he could operate his Bingo franchise openly and without fear of being shut down by police. Within a few years, he had moved into table games and slots, and, by the late 1940s he was one of the city’s most successful casino operators.

   Starting in 1948, Harrah began collecting vintage automobiles (as well as to indulge his love of airplanes and hydroplanes). His first acquisition was a 1911 Maxwell, which Harrah originally believed was a 1907 edition. In the process of restoring the Maxwell, he discovered it had been cobbled together with parts from several autos, which only made him more determined to become an expert on antique car restoration.

   Between 1948 and 1978, Harrah acquired some 1,400 cars and had a staff of more than 70 to maintain and restore his collection of vehicles. By some estimates, he spent more than $40 million into his cars.

   By the early 1960s, Harrah began leasing a complex of former ice storage buildings in the industrial area of Sparks, and displaying his car collection. A visit to the collection at that time was an almost mind-numbing experience, with hundreds of cars lined up inside the massive buildings.

   Harrah was a completist, often acquiring every year’s model of a particular automobile brand, including Franklins (a now defunct car company that operated from 1902-1934), Fords, and others.

   In the early 1970s, Harrah purchased 360 acres on the southwest and southeast corners of McCarran Boulevard and I-80, to serve as the site of a massive museum-hotel-casino complex that could house his auto collection. He hired famed hotel architect Martin Stern Jr., who had designed the International Hotel (now called Resorts World Las Vegas/Las Vegas Hilton) in Las Vegas, to draft plans for his homage to his cars.

   Stern’s designs, which can be viewed on the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Special Collections website (https://www.library.unlv.edu/whats_new_in_special_collections/2017/03/collection-highlight-martin-stern-jrs-architectural-vision), depict a sprawling compound with a giant replica of an old hot air balloon, a high-rise hotel-casino, and a large, modern museum structure with a giant geodesic dome in the center.

   A description on the website notes that the museum would consist of several “galleries of numerous time pockets” that would be filled with cars, naval ships, various types of aircraft, and even a dirigible. The concept was to show the evolution of transportation in America.

   The designs even evolved over time, with early schematics showing a sort of 1960s version of modernism and later ones showing a massive pyramid structure housing all the galleries. Running around the buildings would be a vintage steam train.

   In his book, Playing the Cards that are Dealt, former Harrah Corporation chairperson Meade Dixon said that at one point in the mid-1970s the company’s board of directors authorized spending $45 million (more than $181 million in today’s dollars) to construct the project.

   But Harrah’s Auto World was not to be.

   In June 1978, Harrah entered the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to have surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm (he’d has a similar operation in 1972 without complications). This time, however, he died during the operation.

   In the aftermath, Harrah’s wife and heirs decided to sell the company and the massive auto collection, which had been purchased through the corporation. During the next few years, the new owner, Holiday Inns, is said to have recouped its entire investment by auctioning and selling the cars.

   Fortunately, about 175 vehicles, including the 1911 Maxwell and many one-of-a-kind models, were donated by Holiday Inns to the William F. Harrah Foundation, which had been formed to build a museum in Reno to house the remaining cars.

   The group was able to raise funds for the museum, which opened in 1989. Today, it displays about 200 cars (those from the Harrah’s collection and others that have been donated) and is one of the premier automobile history facilities in the country.

   As for the Auto World site, Holiday Inns sold the land, which was developed for other commercial reasons (such as a Home Depot). The $45 million set aside to build the museum was redirected to finance a major expansion of Harrah’s Reno resort in 1977.

   In March 2020, Harrah’s Reno closed its doors for good. The property was sold and is currently being renovated into a mixed-use property, known as Reno City Center, with retail shops, office space and about 530 apartments.

Visiting the White Hoodoos of Remote McCann Canyon

 

  McCann Canyon in the Monitor Range of Central Nevada isn’t particularly well known and doesn’t get many visitors in spite of its spectacular beauty.

  No doubt the reason is because the canyon, which boasts beautiful snowy-white rock hoodoos (which are defined as a tall, thin spire of rock) are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, miles from any community.

  To reach it, you have to head about 20 miles southeast of the ghost town of Belmont, on the eastern side of the Monitor Valley, via a graded dirt road.

  And since there aren’t any road signs indicating how to reach the canyon, it’s a good idea to consult a good road atlas such as the Nevada Road & Recreation Atlas by Benchmark Maps. Visitors looking for the canyon should have a four-wheel drive vehicle.

  After driving across the Monitor Valley from Belmont, you turn onto a fairly well-maintained dirt road that led southeast into the Monitor Range. The route takes you by a handful of remote but picturesque ranches before the road narrows and begins to climb into the mountains.

  The chalky white hills of McCann Canyon can’t be seen until after driving about a dozen miles through forests of scruffy piñon and juniper trees on a windy dirt road.

  Just below the canyon, a more rugged dirt track branches off from the main road and toward the small side canyon containing the formations. Here, the trees reluctantly part to allow vehicles to pass.

  The road becomes nearly impassable about a mile or so into the canyon, so it’s best to continue on foot to the back end of the canyon, which contains a large but impressive white cluster of jagged outcroppings and cone-shaped rock pillars.

  On the canyon sides are coffee-colored cliffs, some with small caves that look as if they had been created by a giant ice cream scooper. Ahead, the pointed mounds of rough, chalky stone resemble large anthills.

  Near the back of the canyon is a steep hill of loose, sediment—like walking up a huge sand dune—and at the top a visitor is afforded a good overview of the canyon’s alabaster formations.

  From here, the view of the McCann hoodoos is incredible. Some look like massive shark teeth while others have rounded tops. The stone sculptures were created by erosion, as wind and water wore away softer rock and left behind these magnificent monoliths.

  Up close, the rock towers seem to be made of different kinds of rocks, with some rough to the touch, feeling like badly mixed concrete.

  Some of the spires are topped with knobs or flat blocks, while others are pointed and sharp. Look long enough and it’s easy to imagine faces in the stone or animal shapes. Some are etched with horizontal lines—perhaps indicating a water line or a different layer of stone—while others have diagonal lines, as if twisted like a wet dishrag by some kind of powerful geological force.

  One of the most interesting aspects of the canyon is the lack of rusted cans, broken glass bottles, plastic wrappers or discarded gun shells—items too often found in remote, beautiful places in Nevada.

  In fact, there is only the ghostly white spires and near-total silence, interrupted occasionally by a squawking bird.

  This is the real Nevada.

The Place Where Levi's Jeans Were Born

  Many visitors to downtown Reno barely notice the small plaque in front of 211 N. Virginia Street.

  However, the sign, erected in 2006, commemorates one of the most important inventions ever made in the Biggest Little City in the World—Levi’s blue jeans.

  It is located in front of the former location of Jacob W. Davis’ tailor shop and residence. Davis was born Jacob Youphes in Latvia in 1831. He emigrated to America when he was 23 years old (which is when he changed his name) and became a journeyman tailor working in New York, Maine and Northern California.

  In 1868, he came to Reno, where he was initially employed as a laborer helping to build the Reno Brewing Company brewery. About a year later, he opened his own tailor shop, and began making horse blankets, tents and wagon covers for the surveyors and teamsters working on the Central Pacific Railroad.

  In his work, he generally utilized a sturdy, off-white No. 7 Duck cloth and a nine-inch blue denim cloth, both sold to him by a San Francisco manufacturer named Levi Strauss.

  In late 1870, a woman came into his shop to ask Davis to make a special pair of pants for her husband, who was a wood-cutter. She explained that he was far too large for any of the available ready-made clothing—reportedly he had a 56-inch waist—and he needed extra-sturdy pants that wouldn’t rip when he was working.

  She said he was too sick to come to the shop to be measured so she had tied knots in a piece of string to indicate his enormous waist and inseam size.

  Davis decided to try making a giant pair of pants for the gentleman using the thick, ten-ounce No. 7 Duck cloth that he usually used for making tents. His background as a maker of horse blankets provided him with an inventive solution for how to bind the seams and pockets—incorporate copper rivets at the stress points.

  Within a short time, word had spread about Davis’ “waist overalls,” which were tough and dependable. Charging $3 a pair, Davis reportedly sold more than 200 pairs in the next year and a half.

  Recognizing he needed a business partner, in 1872 Davis approached Strauss and asked him for help in applying for a patent for his popular pants. Along the way, he also decided to primarily use the blue cotton twill, which was manufactured in France and called “serge de Nimes,” which was later shortened to “denim.”

  On May 20, 1873, the U.S. Patent Office granted the two an official patent for the denim pants with the copper rivets. That same year, Davis began sewing a double orange threaded stitched design onto the back pocket of the jeans to distinguish them from those made by competitors. This feature was trademarked and remains a distinctive feature of all Levi jeans.  

  Once the patent had been granted, Davis sold his Reno tailor shop and relocated to San Francisco to become the production manager for Strauss’ new denim pants manufacturing plant. He continued in that role until his death in 1908.

  Today, approximately 1.25 billion pairs of Levi’s blue jeans are sold around the world each year.

Historic Palisade Knew How to Entertain

Road to Palisade, Nevada

  More than a century before Las Vegas discovered the value of giant LED domes (the Sphere) or massive Ferris wheels (the Holy Roller Las Vegas Strip Observation Wheel), the town of Palisade discovered that entertainment was the best way to put a place on the map.

  According to legend, however, Palisade-style entertainment involved a gruesomely realistic shoot-out that was held just about every time a train stopped in the town.

  For several years during the early 1870s, all passing Central Pacific Railroad trains made a brief stop in the tiny hamlet of Palisade (located about 40 miles west of Elko) for water and wood.

  When passengers disembarked to stretch their legs, they suddenly encountered a crowd of angry, armed thugs. A realistic-looking fight would ensue and the rough-looking toughs would pull out their revolvers and begin to shoot at each other.

  As the terrified passengers scampered back onto the train, they looked back to see bodies lying on the street in what appeared to be bright red pools of blood.

  As the train pulled out, a band of “Indians” suddenly appeared and joined the fracas, resulting in a few more hideous deaths. However, once the train departed, the “dead” miraculously rose from the street and retired to the nearby saloons. 

  The attack was all show. The shooters fired blanks and the blood was from a local slaughterhouse.

  Since that time, things have greatly quieted down in Palisade. In fact, if you stand in the cemetery that overlooks the former site of the town, just about the only thing you hear is the rushing waters of the nearby Humboldt River and the wind whistling through the steep canyon walls for which the area was named.

  In the 1870s and 1880s, Palisade was an important railroad stop, at one time serving three different rail lines, including the Central Pacific, the Eureka and Palisade and the Western Pacific.

  The Central Pacific Railroad established the town in 1870. Within a few years, it grew to more than 300 residents and competed with Elko and Carlin as a major rail shipping point serving the booming mining camps of Mineral Hill, Eureka and Hamilton.

  In 1875, the Eureka and Palisade Railroad was completed, which connected the town to the productive mines of Eureka, located about 90 miles to the south.

  The Eureka and Palisade also located its operating headquarters, a depot (shared with the Central Pacific), repair shops and a large ore transfer dock in the community.

  For the next 55 years, the narrow gauge rail line transported millions of dollars in ore from the Eureka area, transferring it at Palisade to the Central Pacific (later Southern Pacific) and, after 1910, Western Pacific lines.

  By the mid-1880s, the community included saloons, a handful of stores and businesses, hotels, a school and several churches.

  As so often happened to towns dependent on mining, Palisade experienced a slow decline, which started in the late 1880s due to the decreasing productivity of Eureka's mines.

  In 1910, a major flood swept through the small canyon, destroying a large portion of the town and damaging the train tracks (they were rebuilt). A few years later, fire accelerated the town's demise so that by the time the Eureka and Palisade Railroad ceased operations in 1938, Palisade was already a ghost town.

  Driving over the hill that drops into Palisade Canyon, the first things you see are a handful of mobile homes on the opposite hillside.

  On closer look, however, you can find the remains of about ten structures in the thick sagebrush and tall grass just above the river’s shore. Most are simply the ruins of crude miner's shacks with concrete and brick walls and, in many cases, collapsed wooden and sod roofs.

  Wandering through the line-up of partial buildings and foundations, you find other reminders of the town, including the rusted hulk of an old car and other metal scraps. On a hillside above the former main part of the town, you can also spot two tall walls of what must have been an impressive structure.

  The cemetery tells the most about Palisade. Still in remarkably good condition because it is maintained by descendents of the town's first residents, the burial ground contains both substantial marble monuments as well as some fine examples of wooden markers.

  Of course, as with any Nevada ghost town, be careful not to touch or disturb anything—most of the community is private property.

  In addition to the historic remains of the town, the other reason to visit Palisade is the scenery. The area takes its name from the dramatic cliffs located directly east of the town.

  The Humboldt Palisades, as the cliffs are called, were named for similar cliffs on the Hudson River in New York. A dirt road parallel to the train tracks leads into the 12-mile-long canyon.

  Palisade is located in Northeastern Nevada, about 11 miles south of Carlin. To reach it, travel 9.5 miles south on State Route 278, then 1.5 miles on a marked dirt road.

Nothing Trivial About Reno's History

 

  For a city its size, Reno has been associated with a remarkable number of fascinating stories, celebrities and facts. Few cities can claim to have been featured in so many classic songs (the aptly-named “Reno” by Bruce Springsteen and “All the Way to Reno” by R.E.M.), films (“The Misfits,” starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe) and books (“The Motel Life,” by Reno-born author, Willy Vlautin).

  With that in mind, the following are a handful of celebrity trivia questions and answers related to the Biggest Little City in the World:

  Q: What former Miss Nevada starred in a popular 1960s TV show set on a deserted island with a group of wacky castaways?

  A: The actress was Dawn Wells, who played “Mary Ann” on the show “Gilligan's Island.” Wells, born in Reno on October 18, 1938, was Miss Nevada in 1959. She died on December 30, 2020 of COVID-related causes and was buried in Reno’s Mountain View Cemetery.

   Q: What famous 1910 boxing match, the first to be billed as “The Fight of Century,” took place on the corner of Fourth and Toana streets in Reno?

   A: This bout pitted John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, the first black world heavyweight boxing champion, against James J. “Jim” Jeffries, the former undefeated heavyweight champion seeking to regain the title he had voluntary vacated in 1904. The fight gained national attention because of its racial overtones. Johnson easily defeated Jeffries in a 15-round bout (scheduled to last 45 rounds) on July 4, 1910.

  Q: What Baseball Hall-of-Fame pitcher was married to the daughter of Nevada's lone Congressman in 1914?

  A: Walter “Big Train” Johnson was the ballplayer. Johnson, who pitched for the Washington Senators from 1907 to 1927 and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, married Hazel Lee Roberts, daughter of Congressman Edwin Ewing Roberts of Reno, on June 24, 1914.

  Q: What former member of Britain's House of Lords was born in Reno, Nevada?

  A: The Nevada-born Lord was Garret Graham Wellesley, the seventh “Earl Cowley.” Wellesley's father, Christian Arthur Wellesley, moved to Nevada in the 1930s to obtain a divorce (not available at the time in England). The senior Lord Wellesley enjoyed Northern Nevada and, after obtaining his divorce, built an 18th century-style English estate at the south end of Washoe Valley. He remarried to a Reno woman, Mary Elsie May, and they had two children, both born in Reno: Garret and a younger brother, Tim. In the mid-1970s, Garret Wellesley, then living in San Francisco, inherited his father's title, which included the family seat in Britain's House of Lords. He relocated to England, where he resided until his death in 2016.

   Q: What U.S. military hero is the namesake for the city of Reno?

   A: While some believe Reno is named after Major Marcus Reno, who was General George Custer’s second-in-command at the Battle of Little Big Horn (and who many blamed for Custer’s defeat), the city was actually named for General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed during the Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain, Maryland, in 1862. The name was bestowed on the railroad settlement previously known as Lake’s Crossing, by Charles Crocker, superintendent of the Central Pacific Railroad and his partners.

   Q: What famous Johnny Cash song included the line: “But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die?”

   A: The song was “Folsom Prison Blues,” which Cash recorded in 1956. In a later Rolling Stone interview, Cash said he wrote the line after envisioning “the worst reason . . . for killing another person.”

Snowshoe Thompson Skis into the Record Books

 

   It’s hard to believe that skiing in the Sierra Nevada range wasn’t actually a “thing” until the mid-19th century.

   It wasn’t until a Norwegian immigrant named Jon Torsteinson Rui arrived in the west in the mid-1850s that most people had even given thought to strapping on wooden boards in order to glide down a snow-covered hill.

   Rui—who is better known as John “Snowshoe” Thompson—introduced skiing to Northern California and Nevada. Prior to his arrival in the region, no one had ever thought about doing such a thing.

   Thompson was born in Norway in 1827. His family immigrated to America when he was ten years old and settled in the Midwest. In 1851, however, John joined the thousands of people heading to California to mine for gold.

   After several fruitless years of mining in the Sierra, he settled in the Sacramento area and began to farm. He heard about a lucrative postal service contract to carry mail from Placerville, California, to Genoa, a tiny hamlet in what was then the Utah Territory.

   He also had a plan for how to carry the mail—he would create a pair of long, wooden skis, which were called snowshoes in his day, like those he’d used as a child while living in Norway. He applied for the job using the name, John A. Thompson, because he felt his real name was unpronounceable to most non-Norwegians.

   Worried he wouldn't be hired unless he proved himself eager for the work, he showed up carrying his pair of handmade, 25-pound oak skis, which were ten feet long and an inch-and-a-half thick. History doesn't tell us if he impressed the postmaster, but he got the job, mostly because he was the only applicant.

   Thompson made his first trip (it was 90 miles each way) over the mountains on January 3, 1856. He took three days to reach Placerville and made the return trip in an amazing 48 hours. Word of his accomplishment traveled fast and within a short time, Thompson became a Nevada legend.

   Most incredible was the fact that Thompson often carried a pack loaded with 80 to 100 pounds of mail and assorted packages (he even carried, over several trips, much of the machinery and printing equipment used to produce Virginia City's famous Territorial Enterprise newspaper).

   According to Lake Tahoe weather historian Mark McLaughlin, one of Nevada’s most important mining discoveries owes much to Thompson. In June of 1859, Thompson was given an ore sample by two miners, Peter O’Riley and Pat McLaughlin, who wanted it assayed in Placerville.

   Thompson carried the bluish rock to Professor W. Frank Stewart, a Placerville geologist, who analyzed it and declared that it contained some of the richest silver content he’d ever seen. Stewart asked Thompson to take the sample to Sacramento for additional analysis.

   The second assay supported Stewart’s conclusions. The two miners had discovered the fabulous Comstock Lode in Virginia City.

   For nearly two decades, Thompson delivered the mail in small towns throughout the Sierra and gave new meaning to that cliché about mailmen making their rounds regardless of rain or sleet or snow.

   Interestingly, Thompson was rarely paid for his services. In 1874, he petitioned the U.S. Congress for back pay but was turned down—despite traveling all the way to Washington D.C. to make his appeal.

   Over the years, Thompson spread the word about his “Norwegian snowshoes.” He taught dozens of people how to glide across the snow and almost singlehandedly introduced skiing to the region.

   Thompson died in 1876 and is buried in the quiet Genoa cemetery, which is located 15 miles southwest of Carson City via U.S. 395 and Jack’s Valley Road. The gravesite is located at the rear of the cemetery, under large shade trees.

   Today, visitors can pay their respects to the father of Sierra Nevada skiing and view his unique tombstone, featuring the image of a pair of wooden skies carved into the white marble.

   Additionally, two bronze plaque—one placed during the 1960 Olympics at Lake Tahoe by the Norwegian National Ski Team—commemorate his importance to the sport of skiing and the development of the west.

Big Moments in Nevada Gambling Industry History

  

  While gambling has been legal in Nevada since March 19, 1931, it took time for the industry to evolve into the state’s economic engine. The following are some of the watershed events that helped to shape the nature of gaming in Nevada: 

 • 1931 – This year the Pair-O-Dice Club became the first casino to open on U.S. 91, the future Las Vegas Strip. The nightclub was purchased in 1939 by Guy McAfee, a former Los Angeles police captain and vice squad chief, who renamed it the 91 Club. McAfee also began referring to U.S. 91 as the “Las Vegas Strip” after the famous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. In 1941, the 91 Club was sold to Texas theater-chain owner R.E. Griffith, who a year later replaced it with the New Frontier resort, the second hotel-casino erected on the Strip (the first was the El Ranch Vegas, which opened in 1941).

 • Late 1930s - Harolds Club, which opened in 1936 in downtown Reno, introduced female card dealers and became the first Nevada casino to encourage women to patronize casinos. Harold S. Smith, son of Harolds Club founder Raymond I. “Pappy” Smith, recalled in his book, I Want to Quit Winners, that “one day as Daddy stood near the doorway, a woman came in, took two or three hesitant steps toward the first game and stopped short. ‘There are no women here!’ She almost shrieked as she fled. Out of that episode, Daddy got the idea of lady dealers at our tables.”

  •1941 - The Nevada State Legislature legalized racing wires. That same year, mobsters Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Jack Dragma opened an office of the Trans-America Service in Las Vegas to supply horseracing information to bookies throughout the country. Nevada’s legal racing wires eventually evolved into the state’s legal sports books.

  •1944 - Harvey and Llewellyn Gross opened the Wagon Wheel, a rustic cafe and service station on the Nevada-California border at Stateline, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. Two years later the Grosses added blackjack tables and slot machines, and the Wagon Wheel became the first major casino at South Tahoe.

  •1946 – Benjamin Siegel opened the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, the first modern high-rise resort on the Las Vegas Strip. In his book, Viva Vegas, architectural historian Alan Hess noted that the 105-room, four-story resort “broke Las Vegas out of the public relations mold of a western town of modern splendor and set it on its way to being a mirror of the spectrum of American popular culture.”

  •1958 - When it opened, the Stardust Hotel boasted the largest sign on the Las Vegas Strip at 216 feet long. The sign launched the era of bigger and brighter hotel-casino signs.

  •1959 - Soon after the Nevada State Legislature created the five-member Nevada Gaming Commission to license and regulate all gaming in the state, the Gaming Commission began compiling its “List of Excluded Persons,” also known as the “Black Book.” The document listed people with undesirable reputations, including those with ties to organized crime, who were not allowed in Nevada’s casinos. Any property ignoring the list would lose its gaming license. In 1963, the commission stripped singer Frank Sinatra of his gaming license at the Cal-Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe and the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas because he had allowed Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana to stay at the Cal-Neva.

  •1966 - Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes arrived at the Desert Inn, which he purchased after the management of the Las Vegas hotel tried to have him evicted. During the next four years, Hughes bought the Frontier, Silver Slipper, Landmark, Sands, and Castaways in Las Vegas and Harolds Club in Reno as well as Sky Haven Airport in North Las Vegas, Alamo Airways terminal west of Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, Air West airline, a Las Vegas television station, and hundreds of mining claims around the state. Hughes’ presence also led the Nevada State Legislature to pass the Corporate Gaming Act, which allowed corporate ownership of casinos in the state.

  •1986 - International Game Technology created Megabucks, an electronically linked network of slot machines that share a large, progressive jackpot. IGT, which is based in Reno, paid out its first Megabucks jackpot, $4.9 million in 1987.

  •1989 - The $700 million Mirage, which offered a faux volcano, dolphin aquarium, white tiger habitat, and domed tropical atrium, opened on the Las Vegas Strip. The 3,000-room hotel-casino ushered in the era of giant, fantasy-themed megaresorts.

  •2010 to the present – The past decade and a half has seen a consolidation of the state’s biggest hotel-casino companies into even larger corporations.

Tiny McDermitt Has a Big Story

 

  Motorists on U.S. 95, heading north of Winnemucca, pass through the small enclave of McDermitt before crossing into the state of Oregon. With a population of about 95 and only a handful of businesses, the community is easy to overlook.

  But, like many rural Nevada towns, there is far more to the story of McDermitt than meets the eye.

  The settlement traces its beginnings to the establishment in the mid-1860s of a stagecoach station near the townsite that was called Quinn River Station because it was on adjacent to the East Fork of the Quinn (also known as Queen) River.

  It was a time of growing tensions between the native Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone people, who had lived in the area for thousands of years, and newly-arrived white settlers. In response, in April 1865 a military cavalry detachment was assigned to Quinn River Station to protect the stagecoach line, which ran between Silver City, Idaho and Winnemucca.

  Commanding the station (as well as Fort Churchill) was Lt. Colonel Charles McDermit (only one “t”). McDermit spent much of his tenure trying to deal with what became known as the Snake War.

  In late April, McDermit and a company of troops under his command departed Fort Churchill to put down any tribal hostilities. During the next few months, McDermit and his troops had several encounters with the Natives. Not surprisingly, his better-armed troops succeeded in capturing and killing many of their adversaries.

  On August 7, 1865, McDermit and his company reached the Quinn River Valley. About a half-mile from the camp, McDermit, riding ahead of his troops, was shot and killed by a Native warrior lying in ambush.

  McDermit’s body was taken back to Fort Churchill, where he was interred with full military honors (his body, along with 44 other men who died serving at Fort Churchill where later moved to Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City).

  Shortly after McDermit’s death, the military decided to establish a full-fledged fort at Quinn River Camp #33 (the previous name), which was renamed Fort McDermit in his honor. About this time, the name gained a second “t,” apparently due to a spelling mistake by a military clerk.

  During the next few years, the new fort gained a 600 by 285-foot parade ground, three buildings for officers, a barracks, a three-room hospital, supply rooms, and stables. All of the post structures were single-story adobe buildings.

  Fort McDermitt remained active for the next 24 years, making it the long active Army fort in the state. Troops from the fort participated in a number of violent encounters with Natives over the years, including the Bannock War and the Modoc War.

  In 1889, the fort was turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which adapted it for use as an Indian school on the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation. The school would remain open until 1957, when Humboldt County schools were integrated.

  The town of McDermitt, which developed about five miles from the fort, was apparently first known by the descriptive name, Dugout. The town, which eventually took its name from the fort, largely served to support the fort.

  Over time, however, McDermitt became a sort of mini-hub for local farms and ranches and, following the discovery of mercury in 1924, several mines that began operating in the area.

  The largest mine for many years was the Cordero Mercury Mine, which operated more or less continuously until 1992. According to some mining historians, the mines were among the most profitable mercury mines in the nation from 1933 to 1989.

  Since the closing of the mines, McDermitt has slowly declined. One of the oldest businesses, the White Horse Inn, opened in 1915 and operated until the 1990s.

  One of its unique aspects is that the building was erected on the boundary between Nevada and Oregon, so part of it lies in Nevada while part is in Oregon (no sales tax on that side!).

  The two-story building, which has been partially restored over the years, once served as the town’s main lodging house and, it is rumored, served as a brothel for a while. Today the place is for sale.

  Other historic building still found in McDermitt include an abandoned old stone jail built in 1890 and several adobe and frame buildings at Fort McDermitt.

  McDermitt’s largest operating business is the Say When Casino and there are two motels, several bars, and a couple of gas stations (one with a Subway sandwich shop). The town’s biggest events are the Indian Rodeo in June and the Twin State Stampede in July.

  For more information about McDermitt, go to: https://cowboycountry.com/mcdermitt.

Reno Once Had Its Own Coney Island Amusement Park

 

  In the early 20th century, South Brooklyn wasn’t the only place with a Coney Island Amusement Park. Surprisingly, it was Reno that once boasted its own, admittedly smaller, version of the famous east coast carnival and amusement park.

  Located on the boundary between Reno and Sparks, this Biggest Little amusement park traces its roots to 1905, when a local brewery manager named Otto Benschuetz purchased the three-acre site, then known as Asylum Crossing because of its proximity to the Nevada Insane Asylum.

  While local newspapers speculated that he was planning to build a new brewing facility on the property, instead he opted to construct a park, which he named Wieland’s Park, after the brewing company that employed him (John Wieland Brewing Company of San Francisco).

  In July 1905, the new park opened for business. It boasted gardens with lush trees and shrubs, covered picnic areas, a bandstand, and strings of electric lights that gave the place an enchanting appearance.

  Four years later, Benschuetz decided to expand and rebrand the park. Now called Coney Island, after the famed New York area theme park, it offered a children’s playground, dance pavilion, a bar, and a new centerpiece, an artificial lake.

  The lake was the big attraction. In addition to being stocked with trout, it had a gasoline boat launch and offered boat rentals. Lake events included boat races and competitive swimming exhibitions.

  According to the Reno Historical website, Benschuetz died in 1912, which marked the beginning of the end of the park. By 1913, the park was sold and, according to Reno historian Patty Cafferata, the family-themed attractions began to fade away. Apparently the site became an open air park with a bar and dance hall (in the former pavilion).

  The arrival of prohibition meant the bar was closed in 1918.

   By 1924, part of the site had been transformed into the Coney Island Auto Park, which offered cottages with showers, kitchenettes, a gas station, a restaurant, camping spots, groceries, auto supplies and a barber shop to motorists traveling on the Lincoln Highway (now known as Interstate 80).

  In 1927, the former pavilion/dance hall burned down. It was rebuilt immediately only to be destroyed once again in another fire in 1930. A motel and restaurant, later built on the site of the hall, were torn down in the early 1970s during construction of Interstate 80.

  The neighborhood around the auto park became known as the Coney Island area and, by the mid-20s, was home to the Coney Island Tamale Factory, owned by Sparks businessman Ralph Galletti, as well as the Coney Island Dairy, owned by John Casale.

  Today, the tamale factory, still owned by the Galletti family, has transformed into the Coney Island Bar and Restaurant, a popular Sparks eatery at 2644 Prater Way.

  The Coney Island Dairy site is now home to Casale’s Half-Way Club (still owned by the Casale family), a restaurant at 2501 East Fourth Street, that has served Italian food to Reno-Sparks residents for more than 70 years.

  For more information about northern Nevada’s Coney Island, go to the Reno Historical website, https://renohistorical.org/items/show/88.