Gemfield: A Place Rockhounds Can Really Dig

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Classic Book Tells the Story of Reno's Most Eccentric Millionaire

   In Jack Harpster’s book, “The Curious Life of Nevada’s LaVere Redfield: the Silver Dollar King,” readers learn about the bizarre and fascinating life of a man who has been described as one of Reno’s richest and most unusual residents.

   Published in 2014, the book tells the story of Redfield, who died in 1974, and who was known for residing in an iconic stone mansion at 370 Mount Rose Street.

   During his life, it appears Redfield was seriously interested in only a couple of things—the acquisition of as much land as he could buy, purchasing and hoarding as many silver dollars as he could obtain, gambling and not paying taxes.

   Born on October 29, 1897 in Ogden, Utah, Redfield experienced serious poverty as a child. His father died when he was young and his mother was forced to raise seven children alone.

   As a young man. Redfield moved to Idaho and worked a variety of entry-level jobs, including as a potato digger and in a department store, which is where he met and married a co-worker (Nell).

   In about 1921, the couple moved to Los Angeles, where Redfield became a securities broker. It was during this time that he began shrewdly buying and trading depressed and seemingly worthless stocks that he thought had a chance to rebound.

   His investments proved particularly insightful and he truly hit the jackpot, earning his first millions, in the years immediately following the 1929 stock market crash when he paid pennies for serious depressed stocks no one wanted and later sold them when they became valuable.

   By the early 1930s, he was buying real estate at tax sales as well as bankrupt oil companies.

   In 1935, when California was considering instituting a state income tax, Redfield decided to move to Reno, which, at the time, promoted itself as a shelter for the tax weary.

   Shortly after arriving in Reno, he and his wife purchased the big stone home on Mount Rose Street, which had originally been built in 1930 or 1931 by a family named Hill.

   Redfield lived there until his death and his wife continued to live in the home until she died in 1981. Since then, family members have continued to own the property.

   After Redfield settled in Reno he soon began purchasing land at tax sales, just as he had done in California, including huge tracts of land being sold by the Southern Pacific Railroad near Mount Rose and above Lake Tahoe. Eventually, he would own more than 55,000 acres in Washoe County.

   Perhaps because he had seen so many banks close during the Depression, Redfield distrusted financial institutions and had little use for government. He abhorred paying income taxes so much that he attempted to hide his earnings.

   However, in 1960, the government caught up with him and Redfield was convicted of tax evasion. He went to jail for 18 months.

   Additionally, perhaps because he grew up poor, he was unusually thrifty—he reportedly saved money by buying dented canned food at a discount at supermarkets and was often seen driving around town in an old pickup truck, dressed like a farmer.

   Additionally, because he didn’t want the government to know his actual worth, he took to keeping large amounts of cash and coins in his home. In the 1940s, he began buying bags of uncirculated silver dollars (many minted at the former Carson City Mint) and stashing them in his house.

   Over the years, Redfield’s primary hobby and vice was gambling. According to Harpster, he was a nearly nightly visitor to downtown Reno’s casinos for many years.

   At the time of his death, executors found 680 bags of silver coins and 407,000 Morgan and Pierce silver dollars (351,259 of them un-circulated and still in original U.S. Mint bags; each bag held 1,000 coins) hidden in places throughout his 15-room stone mansion.

   His net worth was estimated to be about $70 million.

   Not surprisingly, rumors of his cash hoard circulated throughout the community—Reno was still a fairly small town in the 1950s and 60s—and in 1952, and again in 1963, his home was robbed and burglars made off with a portion of his coin cache.

   In response, Redfield began hiding his silver dollars behind false walls in his basement.

   Following Redfield’s death, once his estate had found all of the silver dollars, they sold them to a coin auction house, which gradually released them to collectors (they were sold over several years to prevent dumping too many on the collector market at one time).

   In her later years, Nell Redfield became a well-respected philanthropist, donating part of her fortune to a number of local charities and helping to establish a community college branch in South Reno.

   Jack Harpster’s “The Curious Life of Nevada’s LaVere Redfield: the Silver Dollar King” remains in print and can be found on Amazon or in most local bookstores.

Warm Springs May Fade Away But Its Rich History Remains

 

Stone corral at Warm Springs

   Not much remains of the old settlement of Warm Springs, located about 50 miles east of Tonopah on U.S. 6, at the point where it intersects with Nevada State Route 375, the beginning of the famous Extraterrestrial Highway.

   The handful of ruins are all that have survived of this former stagecoach stop that traces its beginnings to the mid-1860s.

   Not surprisingly, the area’s natural hot springs are what attracted people originally to the area. Nevada historian Shawn Hall has written that the first non-Native American folks to stop at the site were probably freight wagons and stagecoaches traveling between Eureka and Elko, attracted by the springs.

   In about 1866, a small stone house was built adjacent to the bubbling hot springs. While this settlement didn’t amount to much more than a welcome rest stop for travelers passing through this remote part of the state, a general store and lodging house were erected at Warm Springs near the end of the 19th century.

   Apparently, this little way station managed to survive during the next couple of decades. In January 1924, Warm Springs gained a post office and Ethel Allred was named postmaster of this tiny oasis.

   That, however, served as Warm Springs’ peak. Less than five years later, in June 1929, the post office was closed forever.

   Since then, there have been a few short-lived developments in the area. Sometime in the 1970s, a saloon, café, gas station and RV park opened near the old settlement site but those businesses have been closed for a long time.

   Additionally, around that time someone constructed a nice, concrete swimming pool near the café. While the pool, surrounded by nice shade trees, still looks mighty inviting to anyone who stops, unfortunately it’s on private property, surrounded by a high, locked fence and no trespassing signs.

   The actual Warm Springs spring can be seen about a quarter of a mile uphill from the swimming pool. Scalding hot water pours from the ground into a manmade ditch that leads to the pool. Rivulets of hot water also trickle into marshy land around the pool.

   The site of the former settlement of Warm Springs, located a few yards away from the pool, contains a few ramshackle wooden buildings that appear to have once been part of the early 20th century incarnation of Warm Springs.

   Additionally, you can find the tumbled-down walls of an old stone corral and piles of scrap wood and metal that may be the remains of the old store and lodging house.

   About 60 miles southeast of Warm Springs via the E.T Highway is Rachel, the self-proclaimed heart of Nevada’s UFO country. The community borders the high security military base often called Area 51, which is rumored to be where the U.S. government allegedly stashes recovered alien space ships and other secrets.

   For more information about Warm Springs, go to: https://www.rachel-nevada.com/places/warmsprings.html.