Backyard Traveler by Rich Moreno

Caliente Hangs on to its Railroad Roots

2011-08-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

Modern Caliente probably wouldn’t exist without the railroad. Its biggest building is an old railroad depot, its business district parallels railroad tracks, not the highway, and then there’s the town’s iconic, “Company Row,” more than a dozen nearly identical wooden houses built by the railroad for its workers.

Despite the overwhelming influence of its railroad, Caliente actually started out as a ranching area. In the early 1860s, two escaped slaves, Ike and Dow Barton, began ranching in the Meadow Valley Wash and Clover Wash region of Eastern Nevada.

A few years later, the brothers sold their holdings to Charles and William Culverwell, who owned a cattle and hay operation that primarily served the nearby mining camps of Pioche and Delamar.

The area’s character changed in 1901 with the construction of the Salt Lake rail route, which served the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad.

Regular service didn’t begin until 1905, but prior to that Caliente served as a division point and supply hub for workers building the route south through the Meadow Valley Wash. An engine terminal and sidetracks were constructed at Caliente, which provided long-term employment opportunities and boosted the town's economy.

In 1901, a post office was established in the area and a town was surveyed, which was named Caliente (the Spanish word for hot) because of the area’s natural hot springs.

Driving through Caliente, it is still possible to find places that reflect the town’s rail roots. Foremost is the large Union Pacific Railroad Depot in the center of town. This classic, two-story Mission-style building was constructed in 1923 by the railroad and originally housed a hotel, restaurant, telegraph office, and train station.

Over the years, the depot has been used as city hall, office space, an art gallery, library, community center, and school.

East on Clover Street (the main street) from the depot is Caliente’s business district, which contains many buildings dating to the late 1920s.

Gottfredson’s store, in the middle of the district, is one of the town’s oldest commercial structures, having been built in 1907 as a bank and hotel by Charles Culverwell.

At the eastern edge of the downtown (on Clover near Denton streets), visitors will find the Richards Railroad Hotel, a two story building constructed in about 1910 to house railroad workers. Adjacent are the Underhill home, a two-story stone house that was once a saloon, and the Underhill General Merchandise Store, a classic false front building. Both were built in 1905.

On the other side of the tracks (north) is the Cornelius/Scott Hotel, a three-story stucco structure built in 1928. In its heyday, the hotel hosted many dignitaries, including President Herbert Hoover.

Across U.S. 93 from the Cornelius/Scott Hotel is Caliente’s classic row of railroad homes. Here you can find some of the best-preserved examples of the cookie-cutter company housing built by the railroad in 1905.

If you wander a bit through the blocks north of the hotel, you can find the Caliente Stone School (corner of Culverwell and Market streets), which is considered an excellent example of the “Classic Box” style of architecture from the early 1900s. The school, now a church, was built in 1905.

The Caliente Elementary School, across Market Street from the Stone School, is a streamlined stucco structure with Art Deco overtones, which was built in 1922, after the earlier school became too small.

Caliente is located about three-and-a-half-hours north of Las Vegas via U.S. Highway 93. For more information, go to http://www.lincolncountynevada.com/Lincoln-County-Nevada-Caliente.html.

Site of the 'Fight of the Century'

2011-08-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

The spot where the “Fight of the Century” took place doesn’t look like much today.

On the southeast corner of Fourth and Toana streets in an industrial section of Reno is a battered metal sign in the shape of Nevada. The sign marks the spot where heavyweight champion John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, a black man, and former champ James J. “Jim” Jeffries, who was white, battled for 15 rounds on a hot July day in 1910.

The sign stands in front of a shabby, wire metal fence with thin wooden slats, which surrounds a storage yard filled with RVs and other vehicles. Printed on the marker are the words: “On this site on July 4, 1910, Reno hosted ‘The Fight of the Century,’ a heavyweight championship boxing match between John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, the black title holder, and James J. “Jim” Jeffries, a former champion seeking to regain the title he had vacated in 1904.”

The site is largely forgotten—overlooked by most of the drivers racing by on Fourth Street—although there were a few ceremonies commemorating it a few years ago on the 100th anniversary of the fight.

But the locale continues to resonate in historical terms. The fight itself was controversial—it was billed as a battle between the races—and in its time was seen as a metaphor for the state of early 20th century race relations.

In fact, in 2004 famed filmmaker Ken Burns produced a four-hour documentary for public television, “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” which included photos and commentary about the bout.

Johnson had become the first-ever black world heavyweight-boxing champion when he vanquished Canadian Tommy Burns in 1908. Not surprisingly, almost immediately after his victory there were calls by a number of prominent white religious and political figures for a “Great White Hope” to come forward and reclaim the title for the white race.

For the next two years, the outspoken Johnson battered a succession of so-called “Great White Hopes” who sought to defeat him.

In 1910, boxing promoters managed to persuade Jim Jeffries, a former heavyweight champion who had retired undefeated six years earlier, to step forward and fight Johnson. In accepting the bout, Jeffries noted, “I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro.”

Jeffries, however, was in no shape to fight the better-conditioned Johnson. The former champ, who had hung his gloves to farm alfalfa in Burbank, California, was about 100 pounds overweight and 35 years old.

On the day of the fight, in a makeshift wooden arena in Reno, Johnson was in his prime—32 years old and a trim 206 pounds—while Jeffries weighed-in at 227 pounds; he’d had to drop 70 pounds.

The fight itself was heavily promoted as a battle between the races. For weeks prior to the event, newspapers throughout the world published stories focusing on nearly every nuance of the bout, which was the first to ever be hailed as “The Fight of the Century” (a claim now used for nearly every championship fight).

Boxing entrepreneur George Lewis “Tex” Rickard, a former Goldfield saloon owner, had set up the match by offering $50,000 to each fighter for the film rights, a signing bonus of $10,000 and a $101,000 purse (winner would get two-thirds). In 1897, Nevada legalized prize fighting, which was considered violent and uncivilized in most states.

Rickard had entered the fight business in 1906, when he promoted a world lightweight boxing championship bout in Goldfield between Oscar “Battling” Nelson, a white boxer, and Joe Gans, a black fighter. Gans had won that contest in the 42nd round after Nelson was disqualified for landing a low blow.

Once the fight began, the two men pounded on each other for 15 rounds (the fight was scheduled to go 45 rounds) before Johnson, who was so much faster and stronger than Jeffries that he appeared to be playing with his opponent, twice knocked down the former champ.

At the second knock-down, Jeffries’ second jumped into the ring, ending the fight before the fading former title-holder could be knocked out.

Later, Jeffries acknowledged, “I could never have whipped Johnson at my best. I couldn’t hit him. No, I couldn’t have reached him in 1,000 years.” Johnson’s win ignited celebrations among his jubilant black fans around the country. However, in some cities, the merriment evolved into rioting between blacks and whites.

The bout, which drew about 20,000 fans, was a boost to Reno’s image and economy. Rickard would go on to promote many other fights, including many with heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey.

In 1925, he built the third Madison Square Garden in New York, and three years later built Boston Madison Square Garden (later shortened to Boston Garden).

As for Jeffries, he retired again for good while the flamboyant and controversial Johnson continued boxing. In 1915, another “Great White Hope,” Jess Willard, defeated Johnson in Havana, Cuba. He died in a car accident in 1946.

Elko's Northeastern Nevada Museum

2011-08-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

In Elko, you can hang with a bush pig or cruise by a white rhinoceros. The two exotic creatures are part of the wild animal exhibit in the Wanamaker Wing of Elko’s excellent Northeastern Nevada Museum.

The Wanamaker Wing, a substantial addition to the museum, opened in 1999 and was a gift of V.H. “Jack” Wanamaker, a wealthy Southern California businessman who was also a big game hunter during the mid-20th century (before most people were aware of the concept of an endangered species).

Wanamaker owned a chain of carpet stores and the mounted animals were featured regularly in advertisements promoting his businesses.

From the size of the animal collection displayed at the museum, Wanamaker was a passionate hunter who managed to track species from all over the world.

When you enter the wing, you immediately encounter a large giraffe, towering over the entrance. Nearby is an impressive Siberian tiger, displayed with a peacock, black buck antelope and other species in a re-creation of their natural environment.

The next display contains a Maxwell’s duiker (a type of miniature antelope) as well as a blue duiker, a large bongo (a hooved, horse creature) and an African bush pig (which looks just like it sounds). Nearby is another diorama displaying bush duikers (Wanamaker had a thing for duikers), a bontebok, western gazelles, and a white rhinoceros.

Another exhibit shows a virtual mountain of bighorn and Rocky Mountain sheep. More than a dozen sheep, many with trophy horns, have been posed on a re-creation of a steep mountain peak, like you’d find in Nevada.

The Wanamaker Wing also contains a second floor and a basement display area. The former is used to display the museum’s permanent art collection as well as traveling or rotating shows (during my visit, the show displayed artwork by local school children).

The basement room is a continuation of the Wanamaker collection and includes dozens of mounted heads of various animals. There, you’ll find several huge elk heads as well as red deer from New Zealand and Elands from Zimbabwe.

Of course, the Wanamaker Wing isn’t the only thing to see at the museum. Walking into the main section, you spot the large Spring Creek Mastodon exhibit, which describes the discovery near Elko in 1994 of the fossilized bones of a 2 million-year-old mastodon.

The massive bones represent the only documented mastodon find in the Great Basin region.
Nearby is a display of Nevada bird species and animals, including wigeons, grebes, herons, moles, chipmunks and mice.

One display case contains a denim tuxedo coat—and tells the story behind it. The jacket is one of two created in 1951 for singer Bing Crosby and Elko’s mayor, David Dotta.

Apparently, Crosby, who owned a large ranch near Elko, had been on a hunting trip in another state, where he was denied service in a restaurant because of his grubby appearance. In response, Dotta arranged for the making of the Levi tuxedos so that the singer could always have appropriate formal wear no matter where he was or what he was doing.

Other artifacts in the museum include a 1917 crank telephone, a fluorescent minerals display, mining equipment, an exhibit on regional newspapers in the 19th century, a re-creation of a dry goods store and cases devoted to prehistoric rock art carvings and Shoshone baskets.

One particularly interesting display contains the Sheriff Joseph C. Harris collection, a menagerie of pistols, rifles, brass knuckles and other instruments of crime confiscated by the former head lawman of Elko County.

One very bizarre artifact is a pair of wooden, cow-hoof shoes. They were made in the 1930s by an ingenious cattle rustler, Crazy Tex, who strapped them on, then led cattle off the range to his awaiting vehicle. The shoes left behind no footprints, stumping law enforcement officials. He was finally caught in the act while wearing the clever cow-shoes.

The Northeastern Nevada Museum is located at 1515 Idaho Street in Elko. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to http://www.museumelko.org.

Elko's Sherman Station: Clever Historic Adaptive Reuse

2011-08-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

When you visit Elko’s Chamber of Commerce, you can’t help but think that a stagecoach just might pull up at any moment. That’s because the chamber is housed in a 100-plus-year-old former stagecoach stop known as Sherman Station.

Completing the image is the fact the two-story structure, which sits in a shaded park near the center of Elko, is made of two-foot-thick bristlecone pine logs.

In 1997, the station and four other wooden structures were relocated to Elko from a Huntington Valley ranch about 60 miles south. The five buildings, which were restored to their original condition, are part of a visitor center and historic complex now open to the public.

Inside the main station building, visitors can view a re-creation of an early 1900s parlor, which contains original artifacts and antiques that belonged to the Walther family, the station’s original owners.

Additionally, the 4,800 square-foot log ranch house has a meeting room and events center as well as a gift shop and chamber offices.

Adjacent to the house is the restored log stable, which once housed stagecoach teams, and is now leased to a company offering horse-drawn carriage rides of Elko.

Other historic wooden buildings on the premises include the Blacksmith Shop (now a specialty shop selling leather goods and other crafts), the Creamery (now a cowboy wear shop), and the Schoolhouse (now a museum).

Sherman Station traces its beginnings to the early 20th century, when rancher Valentine Walther erected the log house on his property on Sherman Creek in Huntington Valley.

Walther and his wife, Sophie, had homesteaded 600 acres in about 1875. According to the Elko Chamber’s information, the Walthers lived in two covered wagons during their first few years in the valley before building a small log cabin.

Somehow the two managed to raise 12 children in the cabin (eight girls and four boys). In 1895, Sophie was killed in a carriage accident.

Shortly after her death, Valentine Walther and a friend, Nick Scott, began construction of the two-story log house. Apparently, it took three years to cut and haul the dense bristlecone pine logs from the Ruby Mountains, another three years to trim and shape them and a year to assemble the logs into a house.

Finished in 1903, the ranch house also served as a post office (called Sherman) as well as a stagecoach stop (on the line heading south to the mining town of Hamilton) and community center.
At the time of its construction, it was considered the largest log house in the state.

For many years, Walther operated what was considered one of the best orchards in the state, raising cherries, plums, apricots and apples. Several of his original trees still stand on the former site of the station.

The Walthers owned the ranch and log buildings until about the 1920s—family members still live in the Elko area. Several later owners lived in the big house until the 1970s, when it ceased to be used.

In 1995, Peter and Kathy Scheidemann donated the historic structures to the Elko Chamber, which was able to obtain grants to pay for moving them to Elko. The restored buildings opened in 1999.

Sherman Station is located on the corner of 14th and Idaho streets in Elko. It is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, go to www.elkonevada.com.

Check Out Kershaw-Ryan in Eastern Nevada

2011-04-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

It’s probably a good thing that Kershaw-Ryan State Park is located in remote Lincoln County because that allows it to remain one of the unspoiled gems in the state park system.

Kershaw-Ryan is small—only 264 acres—so it could easily be overwhelmed by too much attention. Additionally, as several friends have told me, part of what they find attractive is the fact that you can go there and feel like you’ve discovered something not everyone else knows about.

Despite the fact that Kershaw-Ryan is little known, especially in Western Nevada, it is one of the oldest state parks. The park encompasses Kershaw Canyon, which was named for Samuel and Hannah Kershaw, who homesteaded the area in the 1870s.

The Kershaws took advantage of the presence of natural springs in the canyon to plant a variety of fruits and other crops—a few of their century-old apple trees can still be found in the canyon.

From 1892 to 1904, a post office and a small settlement were located near the canyon. In 1904, the Kershaws sold their holdings to James Ryan of Caliente.

In 1926, the Ryan family donated about 40 acres of the canyon, which was then known as Kershaw Gardens, to Nevada for use as a state park. In June of that year, Kershaw-Ryan was opened to the public.

The park was enlarged by exchange of lands between the state of Nevada and the federal government. Additionally, in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps developed picnic sites and a small pond at the park.

When the state formally created the Nevada State Park system in 1935, Kershaw-Ryan joined Valley of Fire, Cathedral Gorge and Beaver Dam as the state’s first official state parks. During the next few years, a campground, covered group use area, water system, restrooms and trails were developed at Kershaw-Ryan.

In 1938, a state parks booklet described the park as “a beautiful, natural recreational area with unusual scenic cliffs which have eroded through time by rain and wind.”

The steep cliffs of Kershaw Canyon, in fact, are impressive—layers of colored stone that are similar to the namesake walls of nearby Rainbow Canyon.

Both Kershaw and Rainbow canyons were created by water that carved deep crevices in the bedrock. Until about 10,000 years ago, large lakes covered the nearby Meadow Valley Wash area. Uplifting and changes in the climate eventually drained the lakes, leaving behind the colorful canyons.

According to the park’s web site, Kershaw-Ryan is home to four different plant communities including riparian species like willows, dogwood, and cottonwoods, which grow on the cool, damp canyon floor, as well as desert shrub plants, like sagebrush and rabbitbrush, which grow just outside the canyon.

A substantial number of animals, reptiles and migrating birds are attracted to the canyon because of the presence of water and vegetation, so it’s not unusual to spot deer, mountain lions, and coyotes.

Over the years, Kershaw-Ryan has been the site of several flash floods, including major flooding in 1984 that destroyed nearly all of the park’s developed facilities. As a result of the flood damage, the park was not able to reopen until 1997, when a new picnic area, restrooms, and trails were built.

There are three developed, fairly easy hiking trails in the park including the one-mile-long Canyon Overlook Trail (which offers the best views of the cliffs), Horsespring Trail (a half-mile route) and Rattlesnake Canyon Trail, which is about a half mile.

Kershaw-Ryan State Park is located three miles south of Caliente via U.S. 93 and State Route 317. The park is open year-round, although it can be cold (elevations at the park range from 4,312 feet to 5,080 feet) in the winter months.

The park has day use picnic sites as well as two group use areas. It also has a 15-unit campground with restrooms, coin-operated showers and an RV dump station.

For more information, go to http://parks.nv.gov/kr.htm.

Cool Story About the New Book on Carson City

2011-04-05T15:37:00.001-07:00

The McDonough Voice in Macomb, IL, where I live, had a nice story about my latest Nevada book. Check it out at http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/newsnow/x481350268/Moreno-pens-Nevada-travel-book.

Success Loop Road Near Ely is Satisfying Drive

2011-03-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

When it comes to scenic drives, few roads in the Silver State can compare to Success Loop Road, a little-known route near Ely that passes through the Schell Creek Range in Eastern Nevada.

The 65-mile drive is best accessed via Cave Lake State Park, which is located about 15 miles southeast of Ely via U.S. 93. After heading south of Ely for about eight miles, turn right on a marked, paved road (this is Success Loop Road) and continue for another seven miles to the park.

After turning onto Success Loop, you notice that it gradually begins to rise above the surrounding sagebrush carpeted landscape. Ahead are expressive limestone formations that stand like elegant sentinels at the entrance to the lake.

Continue through a narrow canyon that leads to the lake, which is actually a 32-acre reservoir. The dark emerald lake is situated in a scenic niche in the mountains, surrounded by forests of pinon and juniper.

Above the lake is a small yawning cave—the lake’s namesake—and ridges of rough, crumbling granite peaks weathered by countless centuries of icy winters and hot summers.

The recreation area offers a variety of activities with two developed campgrounds (Elk Flat Campground and Lake View Campground) offering showers, restrooms, a dump station, picnic areas and a dock for small fishing boats.

The lake is extremely popular for fishing and regularly stocked with brown and rainbow trout—the state record brown trout was caught in the lake several years ago.

A five-mile hiking trail begins near the entrance to the recreation area and affords a pleasant opportunity to wander through the trees, enjoying the beautiful scenery and peaceful surroundings.

For those wanting a more backcountry experience, Success Loop Road continues above the lake and heads deeper into the mountain range. The road in not paved past the campground area but it is a seasonally maintained gravel road that is accessible by most high clearance vehicles. The route is best to travel in the summer and fall months.

Back in here, you will also find a number of undeveloped but usable campsites along several small creeks. The sites are part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest so there is an overnight fee.

Continuing on the drive, you climb through forests of fir and pine trees as well as groves of white-barked quaking aspen. Above, you can see the marvelous carved, bowl-shaped cirques carved into the Schell Range.

In the spring and summer the surrounding mountains become filled with colorful wildflowers (mostly lupine and mule-ears) and, occasionally, your vehicle will disturb what appear to be clouds of butterflies that take flight as you pass by. The area is also home to herds of deer and elk, so keep your eyes open during the drive.

Success Loop continues for about another 30 miles, with the best part being the first 15 miles or so. If you follow it all the way, the road winds through the mountains and across a few hidden valleys before dropping back to U.S. Highway 93 a few miles north of the tiny community of McGill or about 17 miles north of Ely.

For more information about Cave Lake and Success Loop Road contact the Nevada Division of State Parks, P.O. Box 761, Ely, NV 89301, 775-867-3001 or go to www.parks.nv.gov/cl.htm.

New Books Tells Carson City's Story

2011-03-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

While hundreds of books about Nevada history have been published over the years, only a few have focused on Carson City. Recently, I completed “A Short History of Carson City,” which was my attempt to add something new to the capital city’s story.

Published by the University of Nevada Press, the book traces the history of Carson City from its beginning as a trading post in the Eagle Valley in 1851 to the present. Along the way, readers learn about some of the larger-than-life characters associated with the community, such as Abraham Curry, the man generally credited with founding Carson City, and writer Mark Twain, who spent a few years in the capital.

The book outlines the development of the community as it evolved from a dusty outpost on the edge of the Eastern Sierra range into one of the state’s most important cities and host of the state capital.

While the Washoe people had long lived in the region, the first white settlers arrived in about 1851. A group set up a trading post in the area north of Carson Valley, which they named Eagle Valley, and began catering to travelers heading to California. Within a short time, others settled in the valley, including Dr. Benjamin L. King and Jacob Rose.

But Carson City didn’t really become Carson City until the spring of 1858 when Abraham Curry, John J. Musser, Francis M. Proctor and, a little later, Benjamin F. Green, decided to purchase approximately 865 acres in the valley, which they planned to develop into a community.

Years later, Proctor acknowledged that he had come up with the name, Carson City. He said it was named after the Carson River, which flows through the south end of the valley. The river, in turn, had been named in honor of the famed scout Christopher “Kit” Carson, who led some of the earliest expeditions into the land that would become Nevada.

The group hired a surveyor to layout lots and streets, and once they had their blueprint for a town, began selling lots. Curry set aside a four-acre chunk of land in the center of the planned community for a public square or, he hoped, as the site for territorial government buildings. It would turn out to be a prescient decision.

Within a short time, a business district began to form in the center of the settlement around Curry’s public square. To the east of the budding community were sandstone deposits, which provided building material for many of the community’s buildings.
In 1861, Curry, who became the most prominent of Carson City’s founders, built a two-story stone hotel near the quarry, which he named the Warm Spring Hotel because of the presence of natural hot springs in the area.

An energetic promoter, Curry also lobbied hard for Carson City to become the capital of the newly organized Nevada Territory. To sweeten the pot, he allowed his hotel to host meetings of the territorial legislature at no cost. In response, one of the first acts of the legislators was to designate Carson City as the territorial capital.

Later, when Nevada statehood was granted in 1864, it was only natural and logical that the state capital also be located in Carson City. Curry donated the four-acre plot of land in the center of the community to the new state for a future capital building.

The book also traces the development of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which was headquartered in Carson City, as well as the development of the community’s most significant landmarks ranging from the State Capitol building to the many historic homes on the city’s west side.

The middle chapters describe the region’s ups and downs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the state’s mining industry slumped, as well as the community’s slow but steady march from a sleepy hamlet that prided itself on being America’s smallest capital city (in the 1920s and 30s) to modern, medium-sized American city.

Later chapters cover more recent developments such as the growth of new commercial enterprises on the city’s south end, the rebirth of the V & T Railroad and the development of the Carson City Bypass.

“A Short History of Carson City,” retails for $21.95 and is published by the University of Nevada Press. It is available from local bookstores as well as from the UN Press at www.unpress.nevada.edu.

Where to Find Out about Lyon County's Rich History

2011-02-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

The Lyon County Museum might best be described as the region’s attic. Where else could a visitor find a portrait made of human hair or a seven-million-year-old mastodon tusk or a couple of intact early 20th century schoolhouses?

Located in the peaceful town of Yerington, the Lyon County Museum is also one of rural Nevada’s most comprehensive regional museums.

The main portion of the museum is housed inside the former Mason Community Church, a Baptist house of worship that was built in 1911 and used as a church until 1930. It was later relocated from the Mason Valley to Yerington and has served as the museum’s quarters since 1978.

Once inside the museum, the first impression is that nearly every space is filled with something. Display cases line the floor of the building and nearly every wall contains some type of exhibit.

The museum is devoted to telling the story of Lyon County and does a good job of fulfilling that task. For instance, mining was long a mainstay of the regional economy and the museum has an Anaconda Room containing displays describing the substantial copper mining that happened in the county.

In addition to historic mining photos (the copper mine at nearby Weed Heights was active from 1932 to 1978), there are rock samples showing native copper, malachite, and other minerals from local mines.

Another wall display shows handmade quilts, some from the late 1800s, when the region was first settled. The museum also tells about the area’s Native Americans and exhibits a handful of ornate baskets, cradleboards and arrowheads.

Wandering through the room, you can spot displays devoted to the history of gambling in the area (there is a wooden roulette wheel and a Mills nickel slot machine) as well as vintage toys and firearms.

There are also reconstructions of a 19th century sitting room with an 1860s organ and a 19th century Grand Piano (and Eilley Orrum Bowers’ original rocker, which once was in the Bowers Mansion) as well as a re-creation of an early 20th century kitchen.

You can also find “Mac’s Barber Shop,” a re-creation of a 20th century men’s barber shop, the telephone switchboard once used in the nearby Smith and Mason valleys and a railroading exhibit with historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad and Nevada Copper Belt Railroad artifacts.

If you look on one of the walls, you’ll see the museum’s most unique item——a picture of flowers that was handmade of human hair. Scottish-born Margaret Nichol, a Smith Valley pioneer, created the hirsute heirloom in 1860.

Outside of the main building are a half-dozen other historic structures from around the county that have been relocated and now serve as additional display space.

For instance, the former East Walker School, a classic one-room school has been moved to the museum grounds and set up as it once was with desks, wall-size chalkboard, wood stove and books. In this building, visitors are invited to ring the old school bell.

Another building on the grounds in the former Thompson school, originally located in the mining town of Thompson. Inside, visitors can find vintage medical equipment and newspaper machinery.

Adjacent is the former Gallager School Building, constructed in 1880, which was used as a school until 1941. Inside, exhibits describe the region’s natural history and include displays of antelope, chukar, muskrats and other local species.

The museum’s oldest artifact can also be found here—a 7.5 million-year-old mastodon tusk discovered in the Smith Valley.

Next to that is the Country Store, once a residence in Yerington, which has been set up to resemble a turn-of-the-century general store, complete with old time scales, counters, cash register, tins, and other period products.

One of the most popular exhibits for children at the museum is the model railroad display, built by the Yerington Model Railroad Club. And for those wanting to see the real thing, the museum houses the restored Engine #6 from the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, which once ran in the area.

The Lyon County Museum is located at 215 South Main Street in Yerington. It’s open Thursday through Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is by donation. For more information, call 775-463-6576 or go to www.yerington.net.

New Review of a Classic Book

2011-02-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

The www.examiner.com/reno web site recently ran the following review of a photo book that I co-authored several years ago with photographer Larry Prosor. The book, "Endless Nevada," was a blast to work on. Larry, who lived at Lake Tahoe for many years (he now resides in New Zealand) provided amazing photos while I contributed seven or eight essays about various aspects of the Silver State. It's still available from the publisher, Stephens Press, on amazon.com and in Nevada bookstores.

Nevada photography books - Endless Nevada, A Photo Essay

* By Stan White
* January 27, 2011

Endless Nevada, A Photo Essay, is more than the sum of its parts. With outstanding photographs by Larry Prosor and narrative by Richard Moreno, you'll find this to be an engaging trip through corners of Nevada most people don't see. Included in the journey is a history of the places pictured, giving the reader context with which to enjoy the scenes. I find this type of format in a picture book particularly interesting. Larry Prosor is a self-taught photographer who has learned the craft through many years of field experience. Richard Moreno is the former publisher of Nevada Magazine.

Nevada Magazine Celebrates 75 Years

2011-01-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

It probably never struck the folks who started Nevada Magazine back in 1936 that they might be creating a publication that would be around three-quarters of a century later.

The magazine, originally called Nevada Highways and Parks, was the brainchild of Fred Greulich, the publicity director for the Nevada Department of Highways, and his boss, Robert A. Allen, the Nevada State Highway Engineer. In the first issue, Greulich wrote that the purpose of the publication was to promote Nevada’s then-spanking new paved highways and its state parks.

For its first decade or so, Nevada Highways and Parks was a 20-page, black-and-white publication that contained no advertising and was distributed free to anyone interested in visiting the state. During most of those years, Greulich wrote the entire issue, which would often focus on a single topic, such as Virginia City or ranching in Nevada.

Over the years, however, the publication evolved. Starting in the late 1940s, the issues began featuring color photographs and, starting in the 1950s, a broader mixture of story topics.

In 1955, Greulich was replaced by Don Bowers, who gradually transformed the publication into more of a consumer magazine with subscriptions, newsstand sales and advertising. In the 1980s, C.J. Hadley became editor and gave the magazine a distinctive voice and personality.

Since then, the magazine has grown and changed with the times, becoming a slick, award-winning publication that does an exemplary job of spotlighting the people, places, events and history of the Silver State.

On the occasion of the magazine’s 75th birthday, the current magazine staff, which includes its publisher, Janet Geary, as well as Editor Matt Brown and Associate Editor Charlie Johnston, has lovingly produced a high-quality, 192-page collection of two dozen of some of the best stories that have appeared in Nevada Magazine over the past eight decades.

A particularly fun aspect of the issue is that it also includes images of the covers of every issue of Nevada Magazine since 1936—and there have been some classic ones over the years (check out the ‘bucking bronc’ cover from May 1937 and the atomic bomb/mushroom cloud cover of June-December 1953).

The issue is divided by decades. For example, the first reprinted story from May 1936 is an un-credited but Greulich-penned piece about the then-new Boulder Dam (the name wasn’t changed to Hoover Dam until 1947).

Other noteworthy articles included in the special edition include Lillian N. Ninnis’ “They Stayed Chinese,” a Winter 1967 story about how the Chinese came to Nevada and the West in the 1860s and their lasting impact on the region, and the late Guy Shipler’s story, “The Man Who Bought Nevada: The Shadow Emperor,” a story about eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes’ involvement in Southern Nevada’s development.

Fun stories from the 1980s and 1990s include longtime Nevada Magazine contributor David W. Toll’s “The Last Stagecoach Robbery,” about a famous crime that occurred in the remote Northern Nevada outpost of Jarbidge, and Martin Griffith’s piece, “What’s Nevada’s Oldest Town,” which recounts the controversy among some historians about whether Genoa or Dayton should be considered the state’s oldest settlement (you read it and decide for yourself!).

In the interest of full disclosure, the issue includes two stories that I wrote during the time I worked as the publisher of Nevada Magazine from 1992-2006.

Nicely accenting the reprinted articles are historic photos, which are often juxtaposed with contemporary shots of the same subjects. This special edition is a ‘must-have’ for anyone interested in Nevada’s history or in the longest-running magazine devoted to profiling the state.

The 75th Anniversary Edition of Nevada Magazine costs $19.95 and is available for order via the Nevada Magazine web site (www.nevadamagazine.com).

Gold Rush History Found in Auburn

2010-12-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

When it comes to California gold rush history, the city of Auburn has an impressive pedigree. Precious ore was discovered below the town site in May 1848, making it among the earliest gold discoveries in California.

Located about 35 miles east of Sacramento, Auburn is one of the best-preserved Sierra Nevada foothills mining towns.

When you visit Auburn, one of the first things you notice is how it seems to hang on a mountainside. The town was built in levels—the area at the base of the mountain is the oldest section, with the newer areas built higher up.

The original tent town was erected near the first gold strikes in the bottom of a ravine below where the freeway is located today. Like many of these temporary towns, a disastrous fire destroyed the original town and the site was abandoned as the city crept up the hillside.

Gold was uncovered by Frenchman Claude Chana, a miner who was a friend of James Marshall, the man who discovered gold at nearby Sutter's Fort and triggered the California Gold Rush.

Chana and his companions decided to try their luck panning on the river and found three gold nuggets. Within a few months, a shantytown called North Fork Dry Diggins (and later Wood’s Dry Diggins) had grown up in the ravine. Eventually, more than $75 million was reclaimed from the riverbed and surrounding hillsides.

The lowest level of Auburn is called Old Town and is the most historic part of the community (most of it is registered as a national historic landmark). Streets lined with the authentic western false fronts of a frontier town veer off in various directions in the old section, following the original miners' trails.

Walking Auburn's streets is a chance to study classic old west architecture. Over on one street is a row of two-story shops lined up like dominos. Steps lead by the fronts of the stores which are all chock full of curios and antiques ranging from vintage furniture to old toys and magazines.

Other streets boast atmospheric saloons, candy stores and restaurants. One particularly impressive building is the Bernhard House, which was built in 1851. The house is furnished with period Victorian furniture and is part of a larger museum (called the Bernhard Museum Complex). It’s located at 291 Auburn-Folsom Road. Admission is free.

The Gold Country Museum is another excellent small museum which is located at 1273 High St., Gold Country Fairgrounds. Inside, you will find some informative displays about the Gold Rush era, Indian objects, the role of the Chinese in the local mining operations and many old photographs. The museum is open daily from 11-4.

A local landmark is the four-story red and white Hook and Ladder Company Firehouse. Built in 1893, the firehouse is actually a tall, narrow tower of a building capped by an interesting cupola. Inside is a vintage fire truck that was California’s first motorized fire engine, and adjacent is a small park with picnic tables.

Of course, the building you first notice in Auburn is the stately domed Placer County Courthouse that sites atop a nearby hill and overlooks the town. Constructed in 1894, the courthouse was constructed of local materials.

Inside the courthouse is the Placer County Museum, housed on the first floor. Visitors to the museum will find an overview of the county’s history and an Indian art gallery. Additionally, several of the original offices have been restored to their 19th century appearances.

Down the street from the courthouse is the Pioneer Methodist Church, built in 1858 and one of the oldest structures in the town. The U.S. Post Office in Auburn is also considered the oldest in California.

The Auburn Chamber of Commerce offers a free walking tour of the town every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The tour begins at the Courthouse at 101 Maple Street and runs about an hour.

Auburn is located about 120 miles west of Reno on Interstate 80. For more information, go to http://www.placer.ca.gov/.

Comstock Spirit Survives in Virginia City's Saloons

2010-12-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

“The saloonkeeper held a shade higher rank than any other member of society.” – “Roughing It” by Mark Twain

“There are in Virginia City about one hundred saloons, all of which have their customers.” – “The Big Bonanza” by Dan De Quille

Barkeeps and saloons have long held a special place in the history of Nevada. It’s been said that the first business to open in every 19th century mining town in the state was a saloon.

Naturally, the Queen of Nevada's mining camps, Virginia City, was no different. If Dan DeQuille’s estimate regarding the number of saloons in Virginia City in the mid-1870s is remotely accurate—and according to some sources, it’s a bit conservative—that would mean there was roughly one saloon for every 200 people.

While that’s certainly not the highest concentration of saloons in the state—at its peak, the mining town of Goldfield was estimated to have one bar for every 132 residents—it is an indication that saloons were common on the Comstock.

These days, there aren’t a hundred saloons in Virginia City, but there are several that have bloodlines that stretch back to the Comstock’s colorful past.

Most of the Comstock’s saloons can be found on C Street, the town’s main artery and business district (also called State Route 341).

While each serves basically the same kinds of refreshments, what makes them unique is their ambiance and, in some cases, quirky gimmicks to make you want to visit. These can range from an allegedly deadly card table to a mural made of thousands of silver dollars.

Among the oldest and most colorful is the Delta Saloon, said to have been in operation since 1876. The Delta, at 18 South C Street, is the largest bar in town and a bit boisterous with its rows of clanking slot machines. But it has a comfortable honky-tonk atmosphere with wood-paneled walls, Victorian lamps and a nice brass bar.

A visit to the Delta should also include a visit to the famed Suicide Table, a 19th century faro table (a card game) that allegedly was responsible for the deaths of several men. Apparently, the deceased were unlucky gamblers who lost heavily while playing at the table and committed suicide.

Across the street from the Delta is the Bucket of Blood Saloon. The Bucket of Blood, which claims to also date back to about 1876, features live music as well as a great view of nearby Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Dayton Valley.

Up the street is the venerable Silver Queen which is notable for its wall-size painting of woman whose dress is composed of 3,261 silver dollars (with a couple of dozen gold coins for a belt). The Queen also offers slot machines, an upstairs dance hall and a wedding chapel (where entertainers Toni Tennelle and the Captain were married).

An entirely different experience can be found at the Ponderosa Saloon, located in the former Bank of California building at 106 South C Street. In addition to the usual libations, the Ponderosa is the only bar to offer a mine tour. A shaft has been dug from the rear of the building that leads to a portion of one of the old Comstock mines.

Another Virginia City establishment with an historic pedigree is the Old Washoe Club. This old time saloon, said to have been built in 1875, traces its origins to a Virginia City drinking society whose members were millionaires. The club, at 112 South C Street, has an unusual spiral staircase, listed as the world's longest circular stairs without a supporting pole.

There are, of course, a dozen or so other Virginia City saloons, each with some type of claim to fame, so feel free to check them out.

For more information about Virginia City’s classic saloons contact the Virginia City Chamber of Commerce, www.virginiacity.com.

Silver State Makes a Lasting Literary Impression

2010-12-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Over the years, a variety of writers, some famous and others not so well known, have spent time in the Silver State and departed affected by the experience.

While Mark Twain is perhaps the best known of these literary lights who was changed by staying here for awhile, there are others who have been equally touched by a close encounter with the broad expanses of Nevada.

Twain, who spent about two years in the state in the early 1860s, wrote a book about his Nevada experiences, “Roughing It,” which was published in 1872. The writer poked fun at many aspects of the state and in particularly the inhospitable nature of parts of Nevada.

For instance, he wrote, “some people are malicious enough to think that if the devil were set at liberty and told to confine himself to Nevada Territory, that he would come here and look around, while, and then get homesick and go back to hell again.”

Even the first history book written about Nevada noted that the state wasn’t quite like any other place. The Thompson & West’s History of Nevada, published in 1881, noted, “Nature was in her eccentric mood when forming this region, and turned out some strange results from the store-house of time.”

More than a century later, a couple of other writers spent time in the southern half of the state and were equally amused by what they saw. Blackjack players and authors Lance Humble and Carl Cooper described Las Vegas as looking “like somebody took one of Lberace’s jackets and made a city out of it.”

However journalist Chuck Palahnuik viewed the glittery city and came up with a slightly different take: “Las Vegas looks the way you’d imagine heaven must look at night.”

In the mid-20th century, it was Reno—not Las Vegas—that fascinated many writers. For instance, in 1945, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, author of “The Oxbow Incident,” penned “City of Trembling Leaves”about his adopted hometown. In it he wrote affectionately about downtown Reno and noted, “The trees of the Wingfield Park-Court Street region dispense an air of antique melancholy. You become sad and old as you walk under these trees, even on a bright, winter day when all the leaves are gone and the branches make only narrow shadows across homes covered with sunlight.”

Of course, not everything written about Nevada has focused on Las Vegas and Reno. Nevada writer David Toll, author of “The Complete Nevada Traveler,” has spent decades exploring the state’s byways and backroads. In the 1976 edition of his book, he wrote “the mountains of Central Nevada are like sleeping women, sprawling languorously across every horizon.”

Similarly, Richard Lillard, author of “Desert Challenge,” wrote in 1942, “Seen by a Californian or a New Yorker, Nevada is unorthodox, impious, backward, and undeveloped, and yet hospitable, individualistic, romantic. It is the home state for extremes.”

In the late 19th and early 20th century, naturalist John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club, hiked through many of Nevada’s remote mountain ranges. In 1918, he wrote a book describing his travels, “Steep Trails.” In it, he noted, “Nevada is one of the very youngest and wildest of the states; nevertheless, it is already strewn with ruins that seem as gray and silent and time-worn as if the civilization to which they belonged had perished centuries ago.”

Later, another naturalist, Nevadan Sessions S. “Buck” Wheeler, who penned several books about the state, described what he liked most about the landscape: “It has a spectacular beauty—great, jagged mountains of banded limestone rising high above desert valleys; vast basins sparsely dotted with the green of the creosote bush and the silvery tint of the burrobush on the gray, desert soil; dry stream beds; Joshua trees; dunes of white sand; and endless, sunbright space. To some it is austere and frightening; to others it has a lonely grandeur, which is friendly and comforting.”

But when it comes to having the last word on the Silver State, few have ever said it as well as Carson City’s own Robert Laxalt. In his 1977 book, simply titled “Nevada,” Laxalt wrote: “It is in the hinterland that one finds the old heart of Nevada. The hinterland of Nevada is a country of far horizons broken only by mountain barriers lost in the haze of distance, and unexpected green valleys that break upon the traveler's eye with the breathstopping impact of a mirage.”

Is there anything more that could be said?

Strolling Winnemucca's Streets to Find the Town's History

2010-12-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

Shone House, Winnemucca

Many Nevada communities have discovered that visitors love to hear about a town’s history and folklore because it helps to make the place come alive.

One of the most popular ways that towns are telling their stories is with historical walking and driving tours that guide visitors through neighborhoods, pointing out commercial buildings, public structures and houses of historical significance.

Among the Nevada communities that have produced an historical walking tour guide in recent years is the central Nevada town of Winnemucca, located about two hours north of Fallon.

“Take A Walk Through History,” is the title of an informative walking tour guide brochure available for free from the Winnemucca Convention & Visitors (call 1-800-962-2638 to receive a copy).

The brochure offers a brief history of the community, which started out as a trading post on the Humboldt River in the early 1860s. In 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad helped establish a settlement there, which was named Winnemucca in honor of a local Paiute leader.

A well-designed map depicts the streets of downtown Winnemucca and traces a one-and-a-half to two-hour walking tour of the community’s most historic treasures.

The tour begins at George Nixon’s First National Bank (352 Bridge St.), which was the site of Winnemucca’s most famous bank robbery. It’s generally believed that in September 1900, members of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang robbed the bank—although the crime was never solved.

Other downtown structures on the tour include:

• The Turin Brown Mercantile (355 Bridge St.), which was built in 1898 by the Brown family and served as the town’s first hardware and home furnishing store. It has been restored in recent years and remains in use as a business.

• The Shone House, built in 1906. This quaint two-story wooden hotel escaped a disastrous fire that destroyed much of Upper Winnemucca in 1919.

• Humboldt County Courthouse (5th and Bridge St.), erected in 1921. The classical, pillared hall of justice was designed by noted Reno architect Frederick DeLongchamps.

• Winnemucca Fire House (5th and Bridge St.), which was completed in 1935. This sleek, streamlined structure—it has a very 1930s look—remains in use as the town’s fire house.

• Winnemucca Hotel (95 Bridge St.), which was erected in 1863 by Louis and Theopile Lay and Frank Baud. The hotel is the oldest structure in Winnemucca and is still in operation as a Basque hotel and restaurant.

• St. Paul’s Catholic Church (4th and Melarkey St.), constructed in 1924. This fabulous church boasts Old Spanish mission style architecture with Romanesque features.

From the commercial district, the walking tour heads into neighborhoods filled with historic homes. For instance, the Legarza Home (451 W. 2nd St.) was originally owned by local banker George Nixon (later an U.S. Senator from Nevada). Nixon sold the house in 1908 to prominent local sheep ranchers Juan and Florenzia Legarza, after whom it is named.

Nearby is the magnificent Reinhart Home (343 W. 2nd St.), which was constructed in 1909 for Simon Reinhart, part owner of the Winnemucca Bank and Trust Company. Built in a Greek Revival style, the house was one of the most impressive and expensive houses erected in the town at the time it was completed.

Across the street from the Reinhart Home is the two-story, bungalow-style Turin Brown Home (322 W. 2nd St.), which was constructed in 1913 by the owner of the town mercantile.

The W.C. Record Home (146 W. 2nd St.), which the brochure describes as having been built in the “Victorian, vernacular gothic revival-style,” was erected in 1874 and is one of Winnemucca’s oldest houses. Listed on the national register of historic places, the two-story house has largely retained its original appearance and is used by a commercial business today.

Around the corner from the Record Home is the Gables Guest House (124 Lay St.), which was completed in 1903 and originally used as a sanitarium. It served as the town’s main surgical hospital until the community opened its own hospital in 1908. Apparently, sometime during the next decade it was converted into an apartment house, which it remains today.

A few doors down is the Schmidt Home (82 Lay St.), a solid redbrick house built in 1911 by the Schmidt family, which operated a boarding house on Bridge Street. A fire destroyed the house’s second floor in 1969 but it was rebuilt as a one-story structure and today is home of a graphic arts studio.

In Winnemucca, there's history on nearly every street.

Historic Columbia Offers Fun Look at Old California

2010-11-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

One of the most picturesque of Eastern California’s 19th century mining camps is Columbia, once called the “Gem of the Southern Mines.”

Located off historic Highway 49, Columbia was one of hundreds of small enclaves that cropped up in the Mother Lode region during the Gold Rush of the early 1850s.

Columbia was founded in 1850 by Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth, who found placer gold in the area. The spot became known as Hildreth's Diggings, then later was called American Camp, before becoming Columbia.

During its productive mining years, roughly 1850 to 1870, the area mines produced more than $87 million in gold, making it one of the richest gold strikes in the state.

Like most western mining towns, Columbia was originally a tent city—within a month of the discovery of gold it boasted 5,000 residents. By the mid-1850s, Columbia had more than 15,000 residents and was the largest town in the gold country's southern mining region.

Just as Virginia City nearly burned to the ground in 1875, Columbia had its share of disastrous fires in its early years. In 1857, following the second fire in three years, Columbia was again rebuilt of brick and stone with wrought-iron doors and window shutters to prevent future fires.

Columbia began to decline after its mines ceased to produce in the 1870s. Within a few decades, the empty buildings outnumbered those in use. Also like Virginia City, Columbia was never completely abandoned and over the years claimed at least a handful of residents.

Fortunately for Columbia, the California state park system acquired the crumbling town in 1945 and began to restore many of its buildings. Today, you can walk its hard-packed dirt streets, wander by more than three dozen restored and renovated historic structures and get a true feeling for life in the mid-19th century.

The state park system has peopled Columbia with the kind of businesses you would likely find in an 1860s town. There are saloons serving beer, a working blacksmith shop, the oldest barbershop in California, stagecoach rides and a photography studio offering old-fashioned sepia-tone photos.

During the summer months, the restored Fallon House Theater (originally the Fallon Hotel), built in 1860 offers plays performed by the visiting repertory company. The town has a rich theatrical history with many famous frontier-era performers having appeared there, including Lola Montez and Lotta Crabtree.

Perhaps the oldest and most famous building in Columbia is the 1858 Wells Fargo Express Building, a two-story brick structure that features the classic iron shutters and lacework balcony so prominent in Columbia's architecture. Inside, you can find the offices have been restored with authentic period furniture including the huge gold scales that history tells us measured some $55 million in gold dust.

Additionally, you can find an excellent museum describing the area's past and a schoolhouse, built in 1861, that was one of the state's first public schools.

The museum features informative displays describing the town history and showing how various buildings have been restored. The school has been faithfully restored with desks, seats, a pump organ and period books.

Other interesting historic sites include D.O. Mills Bank Building, built in 1854; the Cheap Cash Store, built in 1854, and the Livery Stable, which houses several old-time wagons.

Stagecoach rides are offered from the front of the Wells Fargo Office. For a nominal price, you can take a 15-minute ride through the town.

In addition to the town, visitors can also tour the 1855 Columbia cemetery, located behind the schoolhouse, or wander along a one-mile nature trail, which starts at the schoolhouse.

Columbia is located about three-and-a-half hours west of Fallon via U.S. Highway 50, Highway 49 and Parrotts Ferry Road. For more information contact Columbia State Historic Park, 209-588-9128, or go to www.parks.ca.gov.

‘Til Death Do Us Part—or Not

2010-11-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

A dark-haired woman, perhaps in her early 30s, strolls through the glass and bronze double doors of the majestic Washoe County Courthouse. She pauses next to one of the massive columns that support the courthouse’s portico and then leans over to plant a kiss on the pillar.

She heads north toward the Riverside Hotel, where she had spent the previous six weeks dreaming of the moment she would finally be free. She pulls off her wedding ring and then throws it as hard as she can into the river. She is about to begin her new life.

Or at least that’s how it happened in the famous Reno legends.

From about 1920 to the early 1950s, Reno was the Divorce Capital of America. Between 1929 and 1939, some 32,000 marriages were dissolved in the Biggest Little City in the World. A Reno divorce was known as “Taking the Cure” or getting a “Reno-vation.”

Fortunately, a handful of places still remain in Reno with ties to that period. The most obvious symbol of a Reno divorce is the Washoe County Courthouse, where so many divorces were granted and on whose pillars so many kisses were allegedly planted. The courthouse, completed in 1911, was designed by famed Nevada architect Frederick J. DeLongchamps in a Classical Revival style.

Another longtime divorce industry landmark is the Riverside Hotel, erected in 1927 by Reno powerbroker George Wingfield. Built with wealthy divorce-seekers in mind, it had 40 corner suites with refrigerators, kitchens and connecting rooms for children and servants (it also had 60 smaller, single rooms for guests of more modest means).

Other structures still found in Reno that were connected to the divorce trade include:

• The El Cortez Hotel (239 W. Second St.), which opened in 1931. Designed by the Reno firm of George Ferris and Son, it was the tallest building in the city when it was completed. It quickly became a popular place for divorce-seekers to stay; business was so good that it was expanded a year after it opened.

• The Nystrom House (333 Ralston) was a Gothic Revival style home built in 1875 for Washoe County Clerk John Shoemaker. It served in the 1920s as a boardinghouse for Reno’s divorce trade.

• The Glass Gallery/Dow House (935 Jones Street) was built in 1907-08 by Lisle Jamison. By the early 1930s, the lovely Colonial Revival/Queen Anne style home had become a popular rooming house for divorce seekers.

• The Twaddle Mansion (485 W. Fifth Street) was built in 1905 for local rancher Ebenezer “Eben” Twaddle. The elegant house boasts fluted posts with Ionic caps, which support a frieze and pediment. Starting in the early 1930s, it, too, became housing for divorce-seekers.

Additionally, in the 1930s a thriving “Dude Ranch” business bloomed in rustic areas around Reno, including Washoe Valley’s famous Flying M E Ranch and the Pyramid Lake Ranch. While many had private cabins for divorcees (60 to 70 percent of which were women) waiting out their six weeks, others consisted of large ranch houses with dining rooms and living quarters shared by guests.

Closer to Reno, the Frey Ranch (1140 West Peckham Lane) was built in 1870 by Enoch Morrill and, after it was sold in the 1890s, was owned by Joseph Frey and his family. In the 1920s and 30s, the ranch, which includes a Folk Victorian main house, was used as a dude ranch for divorcees seeking the “Reno cure” (as a divorce was called in those days).

Reno’s divorce trade peaked in 1946, when 19,000 divorces were granted. By the 1960s, Reno was no longer America’s divorce capital, having been eclipsed by much larger Las Vegas, and ultimately done in by looser divorce requirements in many other states.

Still, it was a good ride while it lasted.

Clark County Museum Showcases the Las Vegas Story

2010-09-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Las Vegas area has been many things in the past century-and-half—a Mormon outpost, a ranch, a railroad town, a suburb of Hoover Dam, a bedroom community for the atomic bomb test site, and, of course, an adult playground.

Fortunately, there’s the Clark County Museum, a place dedicated to preserving and telling all that rich and colorful history. Wandering through the museum, it’s easy to envision all the various pieces of the Las Vegas story.

Following the displays chronologically, you learn that the Vegas tale began long before the arrival of white settlers with the establishment of the Mormon Fort in 1855. Originally, prehistoric Native Americans populated the Las Vegas Valley.

Often known as the Anasazi, these early residents left a few reminders, some of which are on display, including hand axes, arrowheads, tools and petroglyphs (rock writings).

To help tell each part of the story, sensors triggered by your movement cue audio recordings that bring alive the dozen or so exhibits. For example, Native American chants and drums begin while viewing a diorama recreation of a Southern Paiute encampment.

You also can read about the period of exploration and settlement, including visits through the region by Jedediah Smith and John C. Fremont in the early 19th century. The display includes an 1840s flintlock musket, maps and farming tools.

Another exhibit describes the attempts to develop commercial mining operations in the area, including the Potosi mine (worked in the 1850s) and the nearby mining camp of Searchlight (about 90 miles south of Las Vegas). A mineshaft filled with antique mining equipment helps illustrate this period.

A pioneer life display (accented by steamboat sounds) tells about the efforts to operate steamboats on the Colorado River, and settlements in the southeast part of the state.

Nearby, a fun exhibit (highlighted by cricket sounds) recreates the tent city of Las Vegas at the turn of the century, when the Union Pacific Railroad was auctioning lots to encourage development of a railroad town.

Photos and artifacts talk of the legalization of gambling in 1931, the first casinos, the building of Hoover Dam, the arrival of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and development of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1940s, and entertainers who performed in the hotels.

An exhibit on the 1950s, shows the financial impact of the establishment of the Nevada Test Site (where the nation tested atomic and nuclear weapons).

Of course, there’s a lot more spread over the museum’s 20 acres. Adjacent is the restored Boulder City Depot, built in 1931. Inside, you can find some fine railroad artifacts.

A Union Pacific caboose and railcar, restored to working condition, are parked adjacent to the depot, giving the place the appearance of still being in use.

Adjacent to the depot, is Heritage Street, a row of restored historic homes and buildings representing various eras in Southern Nevada's past. About a half-dozen buildings have been moved to Heritage Street and returned to original condition with period furnishings. Entering any of the structures triggers an audio self-guided tour.

The oldest building is the Giles/Barcus House, a home originally built in the mining town of Goldfield in 1905 and moved to Las Vegas in the early 1950s. It served as a residence and, later, a retail store.

Nearby is the Beckley House, built in 1912 by Will Beckley, a pioneer Las Vegas businessman. The California-style bungalow is representative of the type of homes common in Las Vegas during the first few decades of this century.

The adjacent Henderson Townsite House is representative of the kind of “company town” homes constructed in the 1940s to house workers at the giant Basic Magnesium plant in Henderson (which was originally named “Basic,” after the facility).

Another historic building is the Tudor-style Heritage/P.J. Goumond House, which was built in 1931 by one of Southern Nevada’s gaming pioneers. There is also a replica of a 19th century newspaper office, complete with authentic turn-of-the-century newspaper presses and equipment.

The museum has an interpretive trail that winds through displays of antique mining equipment, a prehistoric Paiute camp and buildings moved from several Nevada ghost towns, including a few from Tuscarora (located north of Elko).

The Clark County Museum is located 10 miles southeast of downtown Las Vegas, at 1830 South Boulder Highway in Henderson. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $1.50 for adults and $1 for children and seniors. For more information go to www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/parks/museum/Pages/museum.aspx.

What's a Wabuska?

2010-08-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

Visitors to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City are often puzzled by the name—Wabuska—on the yellow depot sitting near the front of the facility.

While it may sound like some kind of sausage, once upon a time there was a town called Wabuska, which was an important junction for the Carson & Colorado (and later Southern Pacific) Railroad.

The depot is one of the few reminders of this town with the unusual name. In the 1980s, so little remained of Wabuska that its depot was moved to the museum and restored.

The community’s story began in the early 1870s, when a small settlement and freight station popped up near the northern end of the Mason Valley. In 1874, a post office was established in the tiny hamlet under the name, Wabuska, which is Washo for “white grass.”

The town experienced a bit of a boom in 1881 when it became the location of a Carson & Colorado Railroad station. Along with gaining a railroad, the town saw construction of a small general store and hotel, where rail workers could take meals.

The station was built by railroad agent Edward Lovejoy, who perhaps more than anyone who ever lived in Wabuska, earns the town a place in Nevada history.

Lovejoy was the only son of one of the 19th century’s most famous abolitionists, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who was the first white person to die for the anti-slavery cause.

Additionally, the younger Lovejoy was a friend of Sam Davis, colorful editor of the Carson Appeal. Davis created a fictitious newspaper, the Wabuska Mangler, and named Lovejoy as its editor.

From 1889 until Lovejoy’s death in 1891, Davis frequently poked fun at his friend in print, quoting from fictional editorials allegedly written by Lovejoy and concocting a feud between the two newspapers.

Wabuska’s high point occurred after 1900, when the Carson & Colorado was absorbed by the Southern Pacific Railroad and the town became an essential junction for central and southern Nevada mining camps.

In 1911, the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad was completed, connecting the railroad line at Wabuska to several new copper mines near Yerington. For the next few years, Wabuska boomed and soon had a large railroad station, a school, grocery stores, saloons and nearly 60 families.

Additionally, the town benefited from the construction of two large copper smelters at Thompson, located only a few miles north. Ore processed at Thompson was transported through Wabuska.

The copper industry slumped in the early 1920s and Wabuska began to shrink. By the 1950s, the town consisted of a half dozen houses and a two-story grocery store and bar.
Today, while the train still passes through the area, Wabuska has nearly disappeared.

Wandering the former site of Wabuska, you can see how the place earned its name. The soil is layered with a white alkaline crust and there are thickets of yellow-brown sagebrush and greasewood.

Behind the grocery store, just beyond a decaying truck, are the ruins of three or four homes. One appears to have at least partially burned down while the others seem to be victims of abandonment and neglect.

Pushing through the thick underbrush, you can find a few brick walls, concrete foundations, old stoves, nails, wood scraps, wires and the other remnants of civilization. A partially collapsed barn—now little more than a frail skeleton of warped, worn boards and chicken wire—peeks out of the sagebrush, behind one of the more intact houses.

In a few places, beware of what appear to be outhouse, septic tank or well openings, where the wooden coverings have rotted away, leaving only holes.

Wabuska has become another Nevada shadow town—still more than a memory but less than what it was once.

The site of Wabuska is located about 40 miles southwest of Fallon via U.S. 50 and Alternate U.S. 95. The nearest town is Yerington, located 11 miles south.

The Fabulous Valley of Fire

2010-07-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

The late afternoon sun casts a mutating light on the Valley of Fire’s sandstone cliffs and boulders. Rocks that were benign oranges and browns earlier in the day gradually assume more dramatic shades, becoming angry and red.

The sun reshapes the rocks. Sandstone that an hour before—under bright light—seemed to be nothing more than pitted rock takes on new appearances.

A giant rock arch becomes a massive elephant. A sandstone bowl formed by rain becomes a bottomless pit, and a perfect hiding place for a renegade Indian. Stone towers along the road are transformed into huge icons resembling the pillars at Stonehenge.

At this time of day, it is easy to see why Valley of Fire was designated as Nevada’s first state park more than 60 years ago. The park, located on the banks of Lake Mead, is truly one of the most unique Nevada desert landscapes.

The special sandstone designs found in the area were formed from great shifting sand dunes found more than 150 million years ago. The sand eventually turned to stone, which over the years has been sculpted by the wind and rain into a wide variety of evocative shapes.

For example, at one place the rocks have been eroded in such a way as to form a giant archway that when viewed from the right angle looks just like a giant elephant with four thick legs and a wide trunk (hence its name, “Elephant Rock”).

Not surprisingly, the area has long held fascination for man. Archeological evidence indicates that many prehistoric people were attracted to the valley. Among the earliest inhabitants were the Basketmaker people and the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearly Moapa Valley.

Proof of their presence in the valley can be found among the many petroglyphs (which are prehistoric Indian rock writings) on the valley walls.

Petroglyph Canyon, north of the visitor center, is lined with glyphs of a different sort, such as kachina figures (considered a rare image), drawings of dancers holding hands, footprints and curved lines.

The canyon trail leads to another landmark, Mouse’s Tank, a large rock catchment called a “tinaja.” This particular catch basin provided a regular source of water for birds, animals and, at the turn of the century, an outlaw Indian (named Mouse) who hid in the area.

Additionally, at Atlatl Rock you’ll find a large collection of petroglyphs carved high on the side of a stone formation. Metal walkways lead to the carvings, which include an atlatl, an ancient spear-throwing stick, as well as bighorn sheep and a variety of other symbols.

The visitor center (open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) is a good place to begin a tour. In addition to being the only place to find a water fountain in the park, the center offers exhibits about the geology and animal life of the region, including the rare and protected desert tortoise.

The center also has good information about desert flora and fauna. Because of its location, the Valley of Fire is one of the best places in the state to watch wildflowers bloom. In late March and early April, depending on rainfall, the park roads offer good places to spot the springtime blooms of desert marigold, indigobush and desert mallow.

There are plenty of places to explore in the park. Near the entrance from State Route 169, you can find the Cabins, which were sandstone structures built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The buildings are now part of a picnic area.

Additionally, you can view the Seven Sisters—seven huge sandstone towers that also serve as a picnic area or follow interpretive trails through a forest of petrified stumps that are more than 200 million years old. The park also has several interesting landmarks, including the Beehives, which are round sandstone formations that resemble their namesakes, and the White Domes.

At Rainbow Vista and Fire Canyon, both north of the visitor center via a paved road and a short hike, you can find two excellent sites from which to photograph the park.
The Valley of Fire also has two campgrounds (both just off the main road, west of the visitors center) with 73 campsites. The sites are equipped with shaded tables, BBQ grills, water and restrooms. There is also a recreational vehicle dump station near the campgrounds.

The Valley of Fire State Park is located about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. To reach it, travel south to Las Vegas on U.S. Highway 95. From Las Vegas, travel east on Interstate 15 to State Route 40. Head east for 24 miles to the park. For more information, go to http://www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm.

Belleville's Brief, Colorful History

2010-07-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

Belleville: "Beautiful City"

In 1877, it would have cost you seven bucks for a whole year’s subscription to the Belleville Times.

Unfortunately, the newspaper didn’t last a whole year.

That, in a nutshell, is the story of Belleville, a once thriving mining camp located about 53 miles southeast of Hawthorne. And like its newspaper, Belleville wasn’t particularly long-lived.

According to ghost town historian Stanley Paher, the community of Belleville was established in 1873 following construction of a stamp mill on the site to process ore from mines in nearby Candelaria.

In December 1874, a post office was opened in the settlement, which derived its name from the mill, owned by the Northern Belle Mining and Milling Company (Belleville is French for “beautiful city.”

A second mill was opened above the town in 1876. By then, Belleville had grown to house about 400 residents and had several hotels, restaurants and saloons as well as blacksmith shops and stables.

Paher also notes that the town, which became a kind of playground for Candelaria’s miners, had an amateur magicians’ club, a jockey club offering horse-racing, and a newsstand that sold papers from throughout the country.

In fact, because of its proximity to the booming mining town of Candelaria, located about six miles south, Belleville continued to grow, adding a couple hundred more people during the next two years. It was during this period that the Belleville Times began publishing.

In 1882, Belleville seemed well on its way to permanency when the Carson and Colorado Railroad reached the town, linking it by rail to other communities.

The town’s optimism, however, proved premature as later that year the Northern Belle Company built a 27-mile water pipeline from the White Mountains. The pipe meant that Candelaria could begin processing its ore closer to where it was mined, thereby eliminating the need for Belleville.

The end came rather quickly and by 1894, Belleville’s population had so dwindled that the post office was closed. Eventually, the mills were dismantled and Belleville was abandoned. There was a brief revival in the area between 1915-1918 (during that time the post office was reopened) but there has been no activity since.

Today, little remains of Belleville. To reach the site, travel about 40 miles south of Hawthorne on U.S. 95, then continue west on Nevada State Route 360 for 11 miles. An historic marker indicates the site of the community, which is south of the highway.

Wandering the site, which is adjacent to a dirt road that leads to Candelaria (now also abandoned), you can find plenty of rusted metal scraps, a few weathered pieces of wood and lots of field mice hiding in tufts of wild grass.

There are also large and impressive stone and brick foundations tucked into the hillsides, remnants of the mills that once operated in Belleville. Depressions in the ground indicate the former cellars of several homes and buildings that once stood in the area.

As for the Belleville Times, after it ceased publishing in June of 1878, it was sold to a man who relocated all of its press equipment to the mining camp of Aurora.
I guess that if you’d purchased that one-year subscription to the Belleville Times you would have had to move to keep getting your paper.

Goldfield Walking Tour - Part 3

2010-06-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

Finishing up with our walking tour of Goldfield, we head off the main boulevard (Crook Street/U.S. 95) and wander the side streets of this historic mining town, which is located about 240 miles south of Reno via U.S. 95.

For example, on the corner of Ramsey and Euclid avenues is the former Goldfield High School, built in 1907. Sadly, the school has been vacant since the 1940s and has deteriorated in recent decades (although efforts have been made to stabilize the building).

The school is a two-story stone and brick Georgian Revival-style building that sits atop a half-story full basement, which makes it seem even larger. The entrance is enhanced by wide wooden steps leading into an elegant archway and vestibule. During the town’s boom, the high school accommodated more than 400 students.

Down the street, at 206 E. Ramsey Avenue, is the Southern Nevada Consolidated Telephone-Telegraph Building, once part of the town’s commercial district. Constructed in 1906, the building is a one-story, stone structure, which has a full basement containing much of the phone company’s original wiring and relays.

The building is significant because the Southern Nevada Consolidated developed the first communications systems in Goldfield. It extended its telephone and telegraph lines from Tonopah to Goldfield in 1904.

By 1907, when Goldfield was teeming with more than 20,000 people, the phone company was bursting with activity as it tried to keep up with the demand for communications services (records indicate revenues in excess of $250,000 in 1906).

The town began its long decline after 1913, but the phone company managed to survive for another five decades before finally closing its doors. Today, it is in fairly good shape (it was used as an apartment for a number of years) and is one of only seven commercial or public buildings made of stone that are still standing.

Adjacent to the phone company building is the Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company Building, also known as the Nixon and Wingfield Block.

This three-story stone structure is probably the third-most impressive building in Goldfield (after the Goldfield Hotel and the Esmeralda County Courthouse). Built in 1907, this was the nerve center of the Goldfield mining empire of Senator George Nixon and financier George Wingfield.

Nixon and Wingfield dominated Goldfield’s mining industry during its early boom period. By 1907, they had purchased controlling interest in nearly all of the productive mines in the district.

A year later, Wingfield acquired Nixon’s share in the company and virtually ruled the town’s mines until 1932, when he suffered financial setbacks as a result of the Great Depression.

Directly next door to the Goldfield Consolidated Building is the Curtis and Ish Building, also erected in 1907. The Curtis and Ish is a three-story concrete and stone structure that utilizes a Neo-Classical Revival style.

The impressive commercial building was constructed by two successful Goldfield businessmen, Loren B. Curtis and Marvin E. Ish.

Curtis was owner of the Nevada Power, Mining and Milling Company, which supplied electrical power to Goldfield and Tonopah. Ish and his brother were mine developers, who made nearly $1 million from the Mohawk Mine (later acquired by Wingfield).

Across the street from the Goldfield Consolidated Building is the less auspicious Elks Building, built in 1925. This was one of the last substantial structures erected in the town, having been built on the foundations of the former Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad Building, which was destroyed by fire in 1923.

A couple of ruins worth noting are the former sites of the Montezuma Club and Sideboard Saloon.

The Montezuma Club (on Columbia Street) was once the most influential and powerful social institution in the town’s history. Its members included the richest and most successful businessmen in Goldfield.

The original structure, which was three-stories high and one of the largest buildings in town, was destroyed during the 1923 fire. Today, all that remains is a shallow pit, stone foundations and the original cornerstone, which is inscribed: “Montezuma Club - July 1907.”

The Sideboard Saloon ruins are noteworthy because of the unusual 12-foot, round, stone arch—once the entrance—that stands in an empty field. The original building was erected in 1907 but destroyed in the 1923 fire.

The last building of significance is the Santa Fe Saloon, built in 1905. This modest wooden drinking establishment is located well outside of the main commercial portion of Goldfield but adjacent to the town’s mining fields.

The Santa Fe is one of a handful of businesses that have managed to stay open in Goldfield for the past century. It’s a classic frontier-style saloon with a wooden false front and sidewalk.

Inside, it boasts a century-old backbar, uneven floors and plenty of authentic, old Goldfield character (or characters, depending on who’s there).

For more information about Goldfield, contact the Goldfield Chamber of Commerce, 165 Crook Ave., P.O. Box 204, Goldfield, NV 89013, 775-485-3560, http://www.accessesmeralda.com/Goldfield_Demo.htm.

Goldfield Walking Tour - Part 2

2010-06-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

This week, we’ll continue our walking tour of the mining town of Goldfield, once Nevada’s largest and most influential community.

Wandering the dusty streets, and seeing the dozens of building foundations and decaying, abandoned structures, it’s clear that Goldfield was once a substantial place.
Founded in 1902, it had more than 20,000 residents by 1907, then declined almost as rapidly as it rose.

Across the street from the magnificent Goldfield Hotel (on U.S. 95, which runs through the center of town) is the impressive Esmeralda County Courthouse. Built in 1907-08, this two-story, stone structure is perhaps the best-maintained building in town.

The courthouse, which is still in operation since Goldfield remains the seat of Esmeralda County, is an outstanding example of an early 20th century hall of justice.

The building’s exterior is composed of course, rockface stone. It has a tall, stepped parapet at the roofline above the entrance and notched walls at the four corners of the building—all of which give it a dramatic castle-like appearance.

Inside, the courthouse has finely crafted wood staircases, ornate light fixtures and expensive courtroom furnishings, including original Tiffany lamps.

The courthouse reflects the political muscle once exerted by Goldfield. When gold was first discovered in Goldfield, Hawthorne, located 125 miles north, was the Esmeralda County seat.

As Goldfield grew, its community leaders became unhappy with the expense and inconvenience of having to deal with such a distant county seat for business transactions. So, in 1907 Goldfield wrestled the seat away from Hawthorne (which later was able to regain its status as a county seat when Mineral County was created from part of Esmeralda County).

Adjacent to the courthouse is another of Goldfield’s better preserved survivors, the First M.E. Church of Goldfield. With architecture that echoes the courthouse, the church was built in 1912, just as Goldfield was beginning to slump.

The church is a single-story structure with an articulated, square bell tower that rises 30-feet. While its facing resembles the courthouse’s stonework, the church was constructed with rusticated blocks, which is concrete that is cut and molded to resemble stone.

Across Crook Street (U.S. 95) is the E.A. Byler house, which has the distinction of being one of the few bottle houses remaining in Nevada. This residence, built in 1905, was actually constructed of used beverage bottles that were covered with adobe. In places, some of the adobe plaster has worn off, exposing the bottles.

Continuing down Crook Street, there are several other significant structures to be seen, including the 1908 Goldfield Fire Station No. 1, still used as a fire station.

This simple, rectangular, two-story stone building was paid for by the people of Goldfield, who raised half its cost by donations (the county paid the rest) and erected it using donated land and labor.

Near the firehouse is the ornate G.L. “Tex” Rickard house, probably the finest of the original boomtown homes still to be found in Goldfield. The flamboyant house was built in 1906 by Rickard, co-owner of the Northern Saloon and promoter of the 1906 Gans-Nelson championship boxing match, held in Goldfield.

Rickard is one of the more interesting persons drawn to Goldfield during its boom. The publicity he generated for the Gans-Nelson fight catapulted Goldfield into the national consciousness as an up-and-coming mining community, which helped its mines attract eastern investors.

Rickard later built and managed the first Madison Square Garden in New York.

Another unusual house is the Charles S. Sprague home, a one and a half story structure located at the intersection of Crook and Sundog avenues (at the place where U.S. 95 turns sharply south).

The Sprague place, built in 1907, was one of Goldfield’s most substantial homes. Sprague was owner of the Goldfield News and a prominent Goldfield businessman, who served as Esmeralda County’s state senator during the 1920s.

The house has a steep, gabled roof that extends the length of the house and is noteworthy for its large size and unique design, which architectural historians describe as Craftsman Bungalow style. Over the years, it has been used a residence and commercial business, most recently as a restaurant.

Still more on Goldfield next time.

Goldfield Walking Tour - Part 1

2010-05-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Goldfield Hotel (Photo courtesy of Vivaverdi)

Years ago I stopped in the historic mining town of Goldfield when an elderly woman carrying a bag of groceries walked up to me as I climbed out my car and practically demanded that I give her a ride home.

Amused by her boldness, I consented and drove her to her house, which was an old, tumbled-down, stone building covered with a red, rolled asphalt roof.
“I live here during the summer,” she said, adding, “It’s the old brothel—come on , I’ll give you a tour.”

I followed her inside. She placed her paper sack on a wooden table near the door and began to describe her unusual house, which seemed to consist of a long hallway lined with doors on either side.

Customers entered through the front door, as we had, she said, paid their money to someone sitting behind a desk near the entrance, then went into the room of their favorite working girl, if she wasn’t already occupied. There were six small rooms, three on each side of the building. In addition to the hall door, each had an exterior door with window.

“Know why there are so many doors?” the old woman asked me. I shook my head. “It’s so that you could leave without any of the other customers inside seeing you. It was more private that way.”

She took me down the hall to a small room in the back of the building. She pointed up to a bucket on a hinge that was attached to a wooden beam in the roof. A rope hung down from the bucket. She explained that this was where the girls took showers.

We walked outside and she told me that the area around her brothel had once been Goldfield’s red light district, home of the town’s houses of prostitution, dance halls, and seedier saloons.

I don’t remember much else of what the old woman said that day but I thought of her recently when reading in Sally Zanjani’s book, “Goldfield,” that at one time 500 girls worked in the city’s red four-block light district.

Of course, Goldfield, which is located about 200 miles south of Fallon via U.S. 95, was much more than a large tenderloin section. At its peak in 1907, the town had a population of more than 20,000 and a developed area that covered more than 50 city blocks.

Wandering the streets of Goldfield, you can find that the ghosts still speak loudly.

They talk of better times—when Goldfield was the largest community in Nevada and the hub of the state’s political and economic power. And they murmur of bad breaks, like the tapped-out mines, fires and floods that hastened the city’s demise.

Goldfield traces its beginnings to two miners, Harry Stimler and William Marsh, and a Shoshone named Tom Fisherman. Just after the turn of the century, the latter apparently discovered gold in the mountains south of Tonopah. In 1902, he led Stimler and Marsh to his find and within months a small mining camp had developed.

The site was originally called “Grandpa,” supposedly because Marsh declared it was going to be the granddaddy of all mining camps. Interest in the camp was modest until 1903, when additional gold discoveries were uncovered. The following year, a townsite was plated, which was named Goldfield.

Goldfield boomed from 1905 until about 1910, when it entered an extended period of decline. Despite its relatively short time at the top, a great number of substantial buildings and homes were constructed in Goldfield.

A disastrous flood swept through the town in 1913, destroying dozens of buildings and accelerating the town’s depression. The coup de grace, however, was a major fire in 1923, which burned most of the town’s commercial district.

Today, Goldfield remains one of the most vivid reminders of Nevada’s early 20th century mining boom period. In spite of disasters, neglect and decay, more than 100 historic structures have survived more or less intact.

Walking its dirt streets (the only paved road is U.S. 95, which runs through the middle of the town), you can still find plenty of buildings that help tell Goldfield’s story.

Starting at the north end of town (driving on U.S. 95 from Tonopah), you pass Columbia Mountain (on the left), site of the area’s most significant gold discoveries. The first ore found there was apparently extremely rich—which helped generate the initial enthusiasm for Goldfield—but the deposits were not particularly deep, which is why the mines had such a limited life.

Just beyond the mountain, the highway curves east and enters the town, where it becomes known as Crook Street.

For a half mile or so, you pass other ruins and dilapidated structures on either side of the road before reaching the center of Goldfield, which you recognize because its the location of the town’s most significant survivor, the Goldfield Hotel.

Constructed in 1907-08, this massive four-story brick building rises 56 feet high and can be seen from miles away. The hotel was once the most luxurious in the entire state with an elevator, overstuffed, leather lobby chairs, crystal chandeliers and other elegant features.

The hotel was financed by one of Goldfield’s largest mining consortiums, the Hayes-Monette Syndicate, at a cost of more than $250,000. Shortly after is completion, it was sold to George Wingfield, who controlled most of Goldfield’s mines and was an influential political and business force in Nevada during the first quarter century.

While the hotel managed to stay open until the 1940s (and avoided serious damage during either the 1913 flood or 1923 fire), it has not operated for several decades. In the mid-1980s, the structure was partially restored by a San Francisco millionaire, who hoped to reopen it, but the work was never completed.

More on Goldfield next time.

Nevada's Most Historic Dams

2010-05-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

Bishop Creek Dam

Hoover Dam is easily Nevada’s most famous dam. But did you know there are others that are equally historic? In honor of Hoover Dam’s 75th birthday this year, I’d like to take a look at some of the Silver State’s most noteworthy and historic dams.

Bishop Creek Dam—Originally called the Metropolis Dam, this structure was built in 1912 to provide water to the farming community of Metropolis, 20 miles north of Wells. But downstream farmers won a lawsuit contesting the dam and it has never been used to its full potential. Fill in the dam included brick rubble from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. More recently, the state has begun work to replace this decaying concrete dam with an earth fill dam so this historic wedge will soon be gone.

Wild Horse Dam—There are actually two Wild Horse dams. The first one was built in 1937 to store water to irrigate hay meadows on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, 60 miles north of Elko. Poor construction rendered the dam unsafe, so in 1969, a second, larger dam was built upstream from the original. The first dam still stands beneath the waters of Wild Horse Reservoir.

Angel Lake—As dams go, the one creating Angel Lake, 12 miles south of Wells, is small, measuring a mere 15-feet across. Built in the 1880s, this dirt-and-rock barrier is one of the state’s oldest dams and creates a picturesque alpine lake.

Cave Lake—The earthen dam creating this scenic mountain lake is so low profile that most visitors don’t realize Cave Lake is a manmade reservoir. Nestled in Eastern Nevada’s Schell Creek Range, Cave Lake was created by a rancher in the 1920s and enlarged in 1961 by the Nevada Division of State Parks. A 27-pound, five-ounce brown trout, a state record, was caught here in 1984.

Davis Dam—With its blocky, angular design, this dirt-fill and concrete slab looks the way a dam ought to look. Located on the Colorado River, 67 miles downstream from Hoover Dam and a mile north of Laughlin, Davis Dam was constructed from 1946 to 1953 and created Lake Mohave.

Lahontan Dam—This impressive concrete, earth, and rock dam has distinctive design touches, such as an elegant archway and suspension bridge leading to an outlet tower. Constructed in 1911-15 as part of the Newlands Project, the dam captures water from the Truckee and Carson rivers, and then feeds it to nearby Fallon area farms.

Marlette Dam—Part of the oldest water system in Nevada, this dam was constructed on Marlette Lake in the 1860s by the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company. In 1877, a series of flumes and pipelines were built to carry Marlette’s water to Virginia City. The system was one of the engineering marvels of the 19th century, transporting water from high in the Sierra Nevada range, down 2,700 feet to Washoe Valley, across the valley, and back up 1,400 feet to Virginia City.

Tahoe City Dam—Sitting at the north end of Lake Tahoe, this dam is the spigot that pours water into the Truckee River, which provides nearly all the water for Northwestern Nevada. Built from 1909-1913, this 14-foot concrete sluiceway raised the level of Lake Tahoe by more than six feet—which translates into 732,000 acre feet of water—despite vehement opposition from shoreline property owners.

Derby Diversion Dam—This concrete dam is one of Western Nevada’s most controversial barriers. As part of the Newlands Project, it diverts Truckee River water to Lahontan Reservoir. The diversion helped turn Fallon into an agricultural center but also sparked nearly a century of legal squabbling over water rights. Derby is located 20 miles east of Reno.

Toast to a Ghost: The Story of Rawhide

2010-05-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that very little remains of the old Nevada mining town of Rawhide, the place refuses to fade away.

Perhaps it’s because of its colorful name—Rawhide—which conjures images of western false storefronts, saloons with swinging doors and old prospectors wandering the streets with their burros and pickaxes.

But while once upon a time Rawhide may have been able to boast all of those iconic features, it’s been a long time since anyone has been able to belly up to a bar in that community.

Rawhide trace its beginning to December 1906, when a miner named Jim Swanson is said to have found gold in the area, which is west of the Buckskin Mountains of central Nevada.

A few months later, Charles Holman and Charles McLeod joined Swanson in working the site. Holman, in fact, is credited with naming the town. Allegedly, he called it Rawhide as a play-on-words to indicate his dislike for a nearby mining camp called Buckskin, which had tossed him out.

McLeod and Holman staked several claims on a mound that became known as Hooligan Hill. Their holdings proved promising and they sold them to a larger mining operation for $20,000 plus 10 percent of the profits.

By the end of 1907, word about Rawhide’s riches had spread and it became a classic Nevada mining boomtown that swelled to about 7,000 people.

The rush to Rawhide attracted a number of well known—and notorious—Western figures including Bill “Swiftwater” Gates, who had made a fortune in the Alaska gold rush, as well as “Diamondfield” Jack Davis, who occasionally worked as an enforcer and strike-breaker for Goldfield’s mining boss, George Wingfield.

Additionally, among those early residents was George Graham Rice, a legendary conman who reportedly had embezzled about $100,000 from investors during the earlier Goldfield mining boom.

Other, more reputable arrivals included George “Tex” Rickard, who opened a bar in Rawhide called the Northern, and invested in several local mines.

Despite all the interest and feverish activity, Rawhide’s glory days were brief, less than a half dozen years. One of the town’s main challenges was a lack of a water source. The precious liquid had to be hauled in from a distant well and was sold at the incredible price of 5-cents per galloon.

Still, at its peak Rawhide had a telegraph and long distance telephone service as well as three banks, five newspapers, a half-dozen restaurants, several dozen shops and hotels, more than 30 saloons, a school and a thriving red light district known as Stingaree Gulch. It was also served by a daily automobile-stage with mail service from several surrounding communities.

In September 1908, however, tragedy struck the town when fire destroyed a third of a mile of local businesses and residences. While some of Rawhide was immediately rebuilt, the community didn’t entirely recover as mining revenues began to dip.

Less than a year later, the Rawhide boom was over. Most of the population moved on to other, more promising communities. By the 1920s, Rawhide was almost completely abandoned.

But while the town didn’t last very long, it did make an impression. In 1908, famous British romance novelist Elinor Glyn came to Rawhide to get the flavor of a real Western town for her books and wrote about her visit.

Rawhide also experienced several unsuccessful railroad-building attempts. The closest to becoming a reality was the Rawhide Western Railroad, which would have linked the town to the Nevada-California Railroad at Schurz.

With less than three miles of grading to be completed, the railroad line was abandoned after investors bailed following the 1908 fire.

Today, virtually nothing remains of old Rawhide. Modern mining operations can be seen in the area but there is little to mark the town beside a small cemetery. Even the original Rawhide Jail has been relocated to the city complex in Hawthorne.

A non-profit group, www.rawhidenevada.org, is working to develop a permanent historic display in Rawhide (funded by Kennecott Minerals) that will tell the history, geology and folklore of the community.

The former site of Rawhide is located about 55 miles southeast of Fallon via U.S. 50 (go about 30 miles), Nevada State Route 839 (turn right and continue another 10 miles) and about two miles of dirt roads. For additional information go to www.rawhidenevada.org.

Retracing Jack London in Northern California

2010-04-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

"I liked those hills up there. They were beautiful, as you see, and I wanted beauty . . . I bought beauty, and I was content with beauty." —Jack London

The picturesque valleys north of San Francisco have long fascinated and attracted writers. In fact, writer Jack London was so taken with the lush green hillsides, moss-covered charter oaks and serenity that he chose to live there.

Born in 1876 in Oakland, California, London discovered the Sonoma Valley in 1905 and purchased a 130-acre ranch in Glen Ellen, a village located about 10 miles west of Sonoma. He named the spread, Beauty Ranch.

Although only 29 years old at the time, London had already written "Call of the Wild" and "The Sea Wolf," and had become one of America’s most famous and successful writers. He soon began expanding and developing the ranch, which he envisioned as a model for a socialist, agrarian society.

At the same time, he also began work on "The Snark," his prize sailing ship that was to take he and wife Charmain on a seven year cruise around the world. The trip only lasted 27 months (although they made it to the South Pacific and Australia) after London began having health problems.

The Londons returned to the ranch, which Jack immediately began expanding (he ultimately owned 1,800 acres). He also began planning the "Wolf House," his massive grand home in the mountains.

From 1910 to 1913, London spent more than $80,000 (in pre-World War I dollars) designing and constructing this rustic palace. Unfortunately, on the day the Londons were to move into their dream castle, the building mysteriously caught on fire (the source of the fire has never been determined) and was destroyed.

The destruction of the house and the resulting financial setback were harsh blows to London. He continued to write and made small improvements to a small ranch house that he'd previously been living in on the ranch but planned to try to rebuild the Wolf House.

In 1916, however, despite being only 40 years old, London died of gastrointestinal uremic poisoning—a result of his rough and ready lifestyle, manic work habits, diet and heavy alcohol consumption. The Wolf House was never rebuilt.

Today, visitors can tour the impressive ruins of the Wolf House as well as his ranch house (he died while sleeping on the front porch there), a small museum and the grave sites of both London and his wife.

The latter is housed in a beautiful stone structure, called "The House of Happy Walls," built from 1916-22 by his widow. It served as her home for more than 30 years and it was her wish to have it made into a museum after her death.

Inside, visitors can find first editions of London's works, displays describing his adventures, historic photographs, personal artifacts and effects, furniture, manuscripts and can purchase books by and about London.

The former London property is all part of the Jack London State Historic Park, which encompasses about 1,400 acres of the Beauty Ranch and includes orchards, barns, the small farm house in which London died, silos, a manmade lake constructed by London and other ruins.

Interpretive trails lead through the park and up into the slopes of Sonoma Mountain and the surrounding countryside.

The Jack London State Historic Park is located at 2400 London Ranch Road, Glen Ellen, CA 95442. For more information call 707-938-5216 or go to www.parks.sonoma.net/JLPark.html.

Marvelous Markleeville

2010-04-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Markleeville, located 35 miles southwest of Carson City, is one of Eastern California’s most picturesque and historic small towns.

Its history is remarkably similar to that of many Nevada mining towns. In the mid-1860s, silver was discovered in the area and a number of small mining camps appeared almost overnight, including Silver Mountain City, Monitor and Markleeville.

By 1864, more than 5,000 people lived in the region, which was carved into a new county called Alpine. That year also turned out to be the historic peak in terms of population for the county, which is still among the least populated in California with only a few thousand residents.

As with most mining towns, the ore began to run out and by the mid-1870s, the population began a gradual decline. Silver Mountain City faded so quickly that Markleeville was named the county seat in 1875.

As mining declined, the lumber industry became more important. During the 1870s and 1880s, Alpine County became one of the major sources of wood for booming Virginia City. Records indicate that during one year more than a quarter-million cords of wood were cut and sent to the Comstock.

Today, Markleeville is a charming, quaint little town with a handful of historic buildings that show that things haven’t changed too much in the last century.

For example, the Alpine Hotel in the center of town has a friendly tavern and still offers a couple of rooms upstairs. There are also a few local businesses—the kind you usually only find in small mountain towns—like a bait shop and a general store.

Markleeville is also the location of the Alpine County Historical Complex, a museum that includes a collection of historic buildings that help tell the town’s story. The complex is open from Memorial Day through October.

Visitors to the museum will find the restored Webster School, a classic one-room schoolhouse built in 1882. The Webster School was used until 1929, and then allowed to fall into disrepair.

In the 1960s, it was stabilized and eventually restored to its original condition. Inside you can view an interesting photographic exhibit describing the restoration project.

In addition to the schoolhouse, the museum includes displays describing the area’s rich history. Exhibits include a re-creation of an old country store and a blacksmith shop, Washo Indian baskets, antique toys and dolls, and a pair of 19th century handmade, wooden skis that are similar to those used by famous Genoa resident John “Showshoe” Thompson.

The complex also includes the Old Log Jail, Alpine County’s original jail built from locally cut logs in 1875. The jail has two hand-riveted iron cells that were originally part of the Silver Mountain City jail before being relocated to Markleeville in the 1870s.

Located high in the Sierra Nevada, Markleeville is surrounded by alpine forests and beautiful mountain ranges. There are a number of campgrounds and hiking trails in the immediate area. Lists of both are also available at the Chamber of Commerce office.

Markleeville is located 35 miles southwest of Carson City via U.S. Highway 395 and Highway 88 and 89. For more information contact the Alpine County Chamber of Commerce, Box 265, Markleeville, CA 96120, 530-694-2475 or go to http://www.alpinecounty.com.

In the Footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson in California

2010-04-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

“Those lodes and pockets of earth, more precious than the precious ores, that yield inimitable fragrance and soft fire, who virtuous Bonanzas, where the soil has sublimated under sun and stars to something finer, and the wine is bottled poetry: these still lie undiscovered.”— Robert Louis Stevenson

The rich, green valleys north of San Francisco have long fascinated and attracted writers. In the 19th century, author Robert Louis Stevenson was so taken with the lush green hillsides, moss-covered charter oaks and serenity that he chose to live there for a time.

In particular, the picturesque Napa Valley region captivated the writer who would later pen such classics as “Treasure Island,” “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “A Child's Garden of Verses.”

In May 1880, Stevenson and his new bride, Fanny, homesteaded in an abandoned bunkhouse adjacent to an old quicksilver mine on the slopes of Mount St. Helena.

In poor health, Stevenson found the clean mountain air and sunshine helped him regain his strength. While his time in the bunkhouse was brief—only a few months—he was so impressed by his surroundings that he maintained notes about the people he met and the sights he experienced, which he later published in the form of the book, “Silverado Squatters.”

Part of the reason that Stevenson and his wife found themselves in California was because she was a divorced woman and Stevenson’s family did not approve of the marriage. Eventually, however, he gained his family’s approval of her and was able to return with her to his family in Scotland.

Over the years, a kind of Stevenson cult has cropped up in the Napa Valley, which, appropriately, commemorates his stay in the region. The former site of the bunkhouse, which is located about a mile up from Highway 29, as it winds around Mount St. Helena (at a point about eight miles northwest of the town of Calistoga), is now part of the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park.

The park is rustic, with no services. But visitors will find miles of hiking trails winding to the top of Mount St. Helena, which is the tallest peak in the area.

A shorter trail leads to the bunkhouse site, which is marked by a large, marble monument carved in the image of an open book. Writing on the tablet notes his stay in the area and includes a quote from “Silverado Squatters.”

Standing on the site, you sense that there is something almost religious about the spot. The sun peeks through the tall trees, a slight wind rustles the leaves, and you recognize the place from his description in “Squatters”: “A clean smell of trees, a smell of the earth at morning, hung in the air. Regularly, every day, there was a single bird, not singing, but awkwardly chirruping among the green madronas, and the sound was cheerful, natural and stirring . . . The freshness of these morning seasons remained with me far into the day.”

In addition to the state park, the quaint town of St. Helena, located about 18 miles east of the park via Highway 29 is home of the Silverado Museum, a facility devoted to Stevenson’s life. There, you will find more than 8,000 letters, manuscripts, first editions, historic photographs and other Stevenson memorabilia.

The Silverado Museum is located at 1490 Library Lane in St. Helena. For more information call 707-963-3757 or go to www.silveradomuseum.org.

Scenic Mono County

2010-03-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Crowds, Starbucks and traffic jams are just some of the things you won't find in California’s Mono County.

Instead, travelers passing through this part of Eastern California will find plenty of beautiful landscapes, interesting history, fascinating geology, friendly towns, fishing, hiking, camping and a host of other places to see and things to do.

To reach Mono County from Carson City, you just head south on Highway 395, through the Carson Valley, and into California. You cross into Mono County about an hour south of Carson City.

Mono County dates to about the same time that Nevada gained territorial status. The county was created in 1861 and was the first of the mining counties organized on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in California.

On a map, the county is long and narrow, averaging 108 miles in length and some 38 miles in width. It includes more than 3,000 square miles, wedged between the crest of the Sierra Nevada and the Nevada state line.

The focal point for the county is the community of Bridgeport, located about 85 miles south of Carson City. Bridgeport, which is the county seat, developed during the late 19th century and fortunately has retained many of the historic buildings and flavor of its early years.

Perhaps the most prominent landmark in Bridgeport is the county courthouse. Built in 1880, this three-story white wooden structure, which remains in use, features classic Italianate architecture and is topped with a square cupola and flagpole.

Behind the courthouse is the original jail, a simple square stone building constructed of native rock that was used from 1883 to 1964.

Slightly to the west of the jail is one of the best places to learn about the history of the area, the Mono County Museum (760-932-5281), housed in an old schoolhouse. The museum is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Inside this traditional white and green schoolhouse you will find an interesting array of artifacts including a fine collection of handmade baskets woven by local Paiutes, antique furniture, firearms, farming equipment and a great collection of historic photographs.

The latter displays include a large number of scenes of the nearby ghost town of Bodie, now a California state park.

Adjacent to the museum, visitors will also find a pleasant community park with picnic tables. Bridgeport also contains a number of businesses, such as gas stations, motels and restaurants, geared for the traveler.

The surrounding area is very beautiful as Bridgeport is located in a large valley surrounded by spectacular mountains. In fact, the mountains southeast of the town are the northern border of Yosemite National Park, certainly one of the most beautiful scenic areas in the world.

The eastern entrance to Yosemite, at Tioga Pass, is located about 30 miles southeast of Bridgeport via 395 and State Route 120. This road takes you through the Tuolumne Meadows and winds around to the magnificent Yosemite Valley in the heart of the park.
Directly north of the town is Bridgeport Lake, a popular reservoir that offers camping and fishing. There is also quality recreation available at the Twin Lakes, located about five miles southeast of Bridgeport.

The south end of Mono County includes a couple of well known skiing areas, Mammoth Lakes and June Lake as well as Crowley Lake, said to be one of the best trout fishing lakes in the Sierra.

A particularly scenic detour from Highway 395 is to take State Route 120 east to Benton (go opposite of 120 to Yosemite), then head south on U.S. Highway 6 to Bishop, where you reconnect with 395. This drive takes you through some remote but picturesque areas, including the Chalfant Valley.

For more information contact the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce, 760-932-7500 or go to http://www.bridgeportcalifornia.com/.

Manzanar Site Recalls World War II Internment

2010-03-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Looking at the vast, empty landscape of the Manzanar National Historic Site, it’s difficult to imagine that it was once the location of a veritable city containing more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans, who were forced to live there for three years.

The Manzanar Historic Site, located adjacent to U.S. 395, five miles south of Independence, California (about 4 hours south of Fallon), commemorates the war relocation center which was operated there from 1942 to 1945.

While little remains of the original buildings that were once spread across 6,000 acres in the shadows of the Sierra range, the site is considered to offer the best opportunities for interpretation of the WWII relocation program (there were nine similar camps in the U.S.).

The Manzanar camp was commissioned shortly after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. In early 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which called for people of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast (most of whom were American citizens) to be placed in relocation camps.

More than 110,000 Japanese-Americans, mostly Californians, were immediately moved to racetracks, fairgrounds and other makeshift detention centers in California before being transferred to the ten permanent detention centers (Manzanar was the first permanent camp).

Within months, the Manzanar camp had 10,000 residents who lived in rows of simple, wooden barracks surrounded by barbed wire fences, secured by guard towers.

Additionally, the site included gardens, orchards, ponds, auditorium, cemetery, reservoir, airport, sewage treatment plant and hospital complex.

The camp operated until late 1945, then the war ended and the last resident was released. Shortly after, the trailer-like barracks were sold at auction and removed from the site.

Today, the best-preserved building is the auditorium, a large, square, green building that is used as an Inyo County maintenance shop (it’s surrounded by yellow public works trucks and other equipment).

You can also find the stonework shells of the small, pagoda-style police post and sentry house, near the site’s entrance, as well as portions of other buildings. Most impressive are the stone and concrete walls of two buildings found southwest of the sentry house.

Poking through the overgrown sagebrush and grass, you can also find concrete steps that once led up to the barracks, portions of the water and sewer systems and remnants of rock gardens.

Wandering the site, try to imagine this was a bustling community that once contained rows of trees teeming with apples and pears (most of the trees are gone) and gardens overflowing with produce.

While today, the existence of the detention camps might seem an overreaction, it is best to view the unfortunate episode in the context of wartime.

Prior to its use as an internment camp, Manzanar was an early Owens Valley agricultural settlement (1910 to 1935), which is when many of the remaining handful of trees were originally planted, and a prehistoric home for centuries to native Paiutes and Shoshone tribes.

The Manzanar Historic site was established in March, 1992. In recent years, the National Park Service has installed interpretive signs and reconstructed one of the guard towers (there were once eight towers). You can also find an excellent display of Manzanar photos, recollections, drawings, paintings and artifacts at the fine Eastern California Museum in nearby Independence.

For more information, call 760-878-2194 ext. 2710 or go to http://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm.

The Perpetrators of Nevada's Best Hoaxes - Part 2

2010-02-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

Dan De Quille

As noted in part one, Nevada has had the dubious distinction of being the subject of a number of misguided scientific claims. There also have been hoaxes of a more deliberate kind, most concocted by 19th century Nevada newsmen.

One of the most famous tall tales was concocted by legendary Virginia City journalist William Wright, who worked at the Territorial Enterprise and wrote under the name, Dan De Quille.

In 1867, De Quille wrote of meeting a man from the Pahranagat area, located about two hours north of Las Vegas, who showed him a half dozen pebbles that were almost perfectly round. The man said that the rocks were “rolling stones,” which when spread out would gravitate together “like a bunch of eggs in a nest.”

De Quille described how the man would set the stones on a floor or table in a circle and the rocks would begin moving toward each other. He speculated that the stones probably rolled together because they were made of loadstone or magnetic iron ore.

The story was copied by newspapers all over the world and generated a flood of letters from people curious about the strange rolling stones. De Quille reported that P.T. Barnum wrote to offer $10,000 if the rocks could be coaxed into performing under a circus tent.

In 1879, De Quille finally tired of the story and wrote a short article in the Territorial Enterprise that exposed his duplicity. Bizarrely, many refused to believe the retraction.

De Quille crafted other, less famous hoaxes during his many years as a Comstock reporter as did one of his Territorial Enterprise co-workers, Samuel Clemens, who is more widely known by his nom de plume, Mark Twain.

One of Twain’s best-known hoaxes was the story of the petrified man. Angry with a Humboldt County coroner for some slight, he wrote a story about the coroner finding a petrified man who seemed at least 300 hundred years old.

He wrote that rather than leaving the man in peace, the coroner decided to summon a jury and conduct an inquest into the cause of death—even though the man was three centuries old.

The story was clearly satire, written with plenty of absurdities, yet many believed it and it was reprinted in papers throughout the world. Twain later wrote that he gained much secret pleasure in the fact that the coroner was inundated with mail from folks asking about the famed petrified man.

A hoax not created by a newsman but conceived by a commercial enterprise was the legend of the Maiden’s Grave. Promotional materials distributed by the Central Pacific Railroad told of a large cross on a hillside near Beowawe that commemorated Lucinda Duncan.

The story said that she was a courageous, young Missouri woman who grew sick and died while crossing Nevada by wagon in the mid-1860s.

Other evidence, including emigrant diaries, indicates that Lucinda Duncan was probably a 70-year-old grandmother who died in 1863 of a heart attack while traveling to California.

The big white cross is still there and people continue to repeat the much sexier story of the young maiden who died while traveling across the harsh Nevada landscape.

At the end of the classic western film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” a newspaper editor tells a young reporter that when the legend becomes fact—print the legend.

Ain’t that the truth.

Nevada has been Home to Many Strange Hoaxes - Part 1

2010-02-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Nevada was the site of the Garden of Eden or that giant, red headed Indians once hung out near Lovelock?

Over the years, Nevada has been the subject of a number of outlandish claims. Some of the bizarre pronouncements have been the result of honest scientific miscalculations while others have been the work of more misguided individuals.

In the 19th and early-20th century—when most of these claims were perpetrated—it was perhaps easier to convince people of their veracity because most folks knew so little about Nevada.

One of the most unusual claims was one made in the 1920s when a San Francisco newspaper announced that the Garden of Eden had been found in Nevada.

On August 17, 1924, the San Francisco Examiner reported on its front page that archaeologist Alan Le Baron had found the birthplace of mankind on a barren hilltop 30 miles south of Yerington.

For a week, the newspaper printed exclusive reports from the location that stated Nevada was the site of the creation of mankind. Proof, according to the paper, was the existence of rock art that appeared related to—and possibly predated—Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The articles referred to the site as the “Hill of a Thousand Tombs” and included photos of carvings depicting bighorn sheep, snakes, birds and other shapes.

Additionally, Le Baron claimed to have found the bones of elephants, lions and camels mingled with the petrified remnants of a million-year-old forest.

Other experts, however, studied the site and determined that the “hieroglyphics” were Native American petroglyphs. They concluded that Nevada was a nice place—but certainly not the Garden of Eden.

Another noteworthy hoax was the evidence showing that giants once lived near Carson City. Proof of this claim surfaced in the late 1870s, when inmates at the Nevada State Prison discovered footprints that some experts said were made by prehistoric giants.

The inmates had been cutting stone in the prison quarry when they found a large number fossils and a trail of large footprints in the rock.

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco sent a team of experts to study the site. While the group concluded that the intriguing prints were most likely made by animals about a million years ago, a few scientists reported that they believed the prints were made by a prehistoric race of giants.

They based their findings on the fact that the prints appeared to have been made by a two-legged creature wearing large wooden sandals. The prints were thought to be human because they curved like a human foot.

Other researchers studied the prints and came to a different view—the prints were made by a giant sloth. The controversy rages for nearly 50 years before paleontologist Chester Stock, who excavated the Rancho La Brea tar pits, studied the prints and said they were identical to sloth prints found at La Brea.

Yet another “Land of the Giants” theory gained notoriety during the 1920s and 30s when John T. Reid, a mining engineer and avid amateur anthropologist, found bones in the vicinity of Lovelock, which he told local newspapers were from a race of giant, redheaded Indians.

Reid had heard Paiute stories about tall, redheaded cannibals, said to have lived near Lovelock Cave, so when he found red-haired skeletons he assumed he’d discovered the remains of the legendary giants.

He measured the bones and calculated that when alive the people had been between seven-feet, seven-inches tall and nine-feet, six-inches.

The bones became lost for several decades—during which time the legend of the redheaded giants grew—before surfacing again in the late 1970s. An analysis showed that Reid had incorrectly measured the bones, which were actually from normal-sized people.

Additionally, the red hair was the result of discoloration caused by natural deterioration of the bodies as well as dyes used by Great Basin tribes during preparations for burials.

In other words, the bones were not of red haired giants.

More great Nevada hoaxes next time.

Beautiful Mono Lake

2010-01-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

There’s no place quite like Mono Lake.

With its strange tufa rock formations, volcanic cinder cones and ultra-saline waters filled with brine shrimp and brine flies, Mono Lake is unlike any other lake in the western U.S.

An excellent place to learn about Mono Lake is the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center near Lee Vining. The center, which opened a few years ago, contains many informative, interactive displays describing the unique features of the lake and the region.

For instance, the first exhibit, entitled “Who Lives Here,” shows models of the various animals and birds found at the lake. Interactive lights spotlight violet-green swallows, deer mice, California gulls, gebes, weasels, owls, squirrels, and phalaropes.

An adjacent display details how Mono Lake is fed—it receives about 7 inches of water annually—by five streams as well as freshwater springs, rain and snow. Another display describes how the lake’s famed tufa rock was formed and offers examples of the different types of tufa.

Other exhibits describe the Native Americans who once lived around the lake, who were known as the Kuzedika. A traditional Kuzedika bark house, made of poles, grass and juniper bark, has been reconstructed in the exhibit room.

Mono Lake is 2 1/2 times saltier than the Salton Sea and 1,000 times more alkali than the ocean, which gives it unusual qualities.

In fact, in 1872, Mark Twain wrote: “Its sluggish waters are so strong with alkali that if you only dip the most hopelessly soiled garment into them once or twice, and wring it out, it will be found as clean as if it had been through the ablest of washer woman's hands.”

More than 700,000 years old, Mono Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America. Originally formed by melting glaciers, the lake once measured five times its present size of about 60 square miles (at its peak the lake covered about 338 square miles and reached a depth of 900 feet).

In addition to having direct ties to the Ice Age, the lake has been the site of extensive volcanic activity, starting about 13,000 years ago, which helped shape its development.

For example, the rounded black hills to the south are remnants of giant, uplifted volcanic craters. At one, Panum Crater, easily accessible from Highway 120, you can hike to the dome and rim of a long-dead volcano.

The area’s volcanic heritage is also evident at Black Point, at the lake’s north end, which features large fissures you can walk through, and at various hot springs and steam vents found in the basin.

The lake’s trademark tufa formations, however, are its most impressive and unusual landmarks. At various places around the lake, you can find clusters of these towering calcium spires and plugs.

Tufa is formed when calcium-bearing freshwater springs bubble up through alkaline lake water that is rich with carbonates. When the two combine, limestone deposits form, which can over years grow into large towers.

Tufa formations can only grow within the lake. When the lake level falls and the tufa is exposed to air, it ceases to grow.

A number of interpretive trails lead to patches of tufa formations located around the lake. The most popular trails begin at the Visitor Center, near the Mono Lake County Park at the north end and from the South Tufa Area at Navy Beach (accessible from Highway 120).

The latter contains some of the largest and most impressive tufa. Dozens of the gnarled, knobbed, and rippled tufa towers line the southern lake shore.

Visitors can wander along the beach, wandering through the maze of formations, which, depending upon the light and your mood, can assume exotic and mysterious shapes.

While the lake appears dead, it is actually an alkali soup of unique lifeforms. Both the brine shrimp and brine flies flourish on its algae-laden waters.

Additionally, the lake is popular with many species of birds (who eat the shrimp and flies), including gulls, grebe and snowy plovers. In fact, 90 percent of the state of California’s population of California gulls is born at Mono Lake.

Swimming is permitted in the lake and, because it is so salty, you can float easily. However, rangers warn that you should keep the water out of your eyes or any cuts because it will sting.

Despite its unique qualities, it’s a miracle that Mono Lake continues to exist. In 1941, the City of Los Angeles began diverting water from four of the streams that feed the lake.

During the next few decades, the lake level dropped 40 feet and doubled in salinity. Fortunately, environmentalists and the city have worked out agreements protecting the flow of water to the lake that will help it regain some of its previous levels.

Mono Lake is located about two hours south of Carson City Fallon via U.S. 395. The Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the warmer months).

For more information, call 760-647-3044, http://www.monolake.org/visit/vc.

Pioche Retains Pioneer Charm

2010-01-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

The former mining camp of Pioche in eastern Nevada has aged gracefully.

The first settlers in Pioche were miners attracted in 1864 by the news of silver discoveries at Panacker Ledge on the northeast side of nearby Ely Mountain.

The camp was originally called Ely after John H. Ely, owner of one of the earliest stamp mills. In 1869, financier Francóis L.A. Pioche of San Francisco purchased most of the area’s mining claims and had a town laid-out, which was named for him.

The town boomed and by 1871, it had 7,000 residents and had taken the seat of Lincoln County from nearby Hiko. Because of its remote location, the town also gained a reputation for lawlessness.

In fact, several books claim that the town was so violent that 72 men were buried in the Pioche cemetery (found east of town) before anyone died of natural causes.

Pioche’s notoriety was perhaps permanently cemented—at least in legend—following the construction of the so-called “Million Dollar Courthouse.”

This two-story stone hall of justice gained its moniker because, it is said, over the years the building cost nearly $1 million due to mismanagement, corruption and cost overruns. Although the courhouse was built in 1872, it wasn’t paid off until 1937.

Wandering the streets of Pioche is an opportunity to see dozens of historic homes and buildings—many in use—that date to the last century.

For example, adjacent to the Million Dollar Courthouse is the Mountain View Hotel, built in 1895. Originally owned by the Ely Valley Mines to house its guests, the three-story wooden structure incorporates the early 1900 “Classic Box” style of architecture with the Shingle style. It awaits restoration.

Nearby is the St. John Masonic Lodge, a restored brick building, originally erected in 1873, that is one of the state's oldest fraternal chapter houses.

Across the street are the Pioche Livery Stable and Tin Fabrication Building, from the early 1870s, as well as the Pioche Fire House and the Amsden Building, both built in 1865.

Behind the firehouse, on Main Street, is the Orr Garage, a stone building from the early 1870s, believed to have once been a blacksmith shop, and the Brown/Thompson Opera House, built in 1873.

The opera house is noteworthy because of its classic revival architectural style and age—it is one of the oldest mining town opera houses remaining in the state.

South of the opera house on Main Street is Pioche's main commercial district, which contains a number of historic buildings including the Stockham House, at the south end of the district, built in 1866. Originally a boarding house, it houses the Francois L.A. Pioche Art Gallery.

The Lincoln County Museum on Main Street is housed in the A.S. Thompson building, built in 1900, It was originally a clothing and mercantile business. The museum contains a fine collection of 19th century mortician tools, several organs, and lots of mining artifacts.

Beyond the downtown core, Pioche has a handful of other historically significant structures, including the Pioche School, built in 1909. Except for the Caliente Depot, the school is the only Mission style building in Lincoln County. It is also the oldest continuously used school building in Nevada.

Of more recent vintage is the Overland Bar and Hotel, built in 1940. The club originally had a bowling alley in its basement and remains in use as a popular local restaurant and watering hole.

Another intriguing landmark in Pioche is an aerial tram system that runs over the mountain that overlooks the town. Constructed during a short mining boom in the 1930s, tram carried ore from mines on the hillsides south of town to the Godbe Mill and Smelter, the ruins of which are located just north of the community.

If you climb to the top of the hill overlooking the town, you can get a closer view of the tram, which still has ore carts suspended from its thick, rusted steel cable. Additionally, you will find an outstanding overview of the area.

Pioche is located three-and-a-half hours northeast of Las Vegas via Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 93. For more information, contact the Pioche Chamber of Commerce at www.piochenevada.com.

Ghost Town of Bodie, California Continues to Impress

2010-01-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the best thing that ever happened to Bodie is that everyone left.

The town, founded in 1859, was largely abandoned by the 1920s. Since a mining company owned most of the town site, caretakers protected the town for many decades, keeping it from being vandalized like a lot of other ghost towns.

As a result, Bodie is one of the West’s best-preserved 19th century mining towns.
Bodie traces its beginnings to the discovery of gold in the area by William (also known as Waterman) S. Bodey. Some say the difference between how his name is spelled and the name of the town was the result of an illiterate sign painter.

Within two decades, Bodie had grown to more than 10,000 residents. Along with the usual frontier town development, such as saloons (allegedly more than 65), churches, schools and union halls, the town also gained a reputation for lawlessness.

Murders were said to be so commonplace that the fire bell was used to toll the ages of the deceased as they were buried—and it rang frequently. There were also plenty of robberies, stage holdups and fights.

The town began to decline in the early part of the 20th century and was mostly abandoned (although the buildings were protected by caretakers). In 1962, it was acquired for preservation by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Visitors today will find a fairly extensive series of buildings and remains of old Bodie. Dozens of structures, ranging from homes to businesses still stand. Despite the large number of preserved structures, present-day Bodie represents only about 5 percent of the town at its peak.

Park rangers offer regular guided tours of the town. The tours are highly recommended because they are informative and provide an excellent overview of the community.

The tour begins in front of the Methodist Church, a classic weathered wooden frontier church with a small bell tower. The church was built in 1882 is the only house of worship still standing in Bodie (it apparently survived because it was restored in the 1920s and used until 1932).

Around the church, are a handful of residences, some used by the park rangers who live in the town all year. Each has an interesting story, such as the James S. Cain house, built by the town's largest lumber company magnate and landowner.

As you walk the streets—using the invaluable state park brochure that describes each building—you learn more about the community. You pass the Livery Stable, which once accommodated dozens of horses, then continue by the wooden Firehouse, which over the years survived numerous fires that destroyed much of the town, and the Bodie Miner's Union Hall, now a museum and gift shop.

Surrounding the town are other interesting survivors. To the south is the cemetery, which actually consisted of four separate burial grounds; one for the Masons, one for members of the miner's union, one private cemetery and one for the Chinese who lived in the area.

To the northeast are the substantial remains of the Standard Mill, which yielded nearly $15 million over a 25-year period and sparked a major rush to Bodie in 1878. The original mill burned in 1898 but was rebuilt the following year.

To the right of the mill was the residence of Theodore Hoover, brother of President Herbert Hoover. Years after he departed Bodie he became the director of the School of Mines at Stanford University.

The Standard wasn't Bodie's only mine. The total yield from the Bodie region over about 40 years was nearly $100 million.

Bodie is located about three hours south of Carson City via U.S. 395, then ten miles on a paved road and three miles on a maintained dirt road. The entrance road from U.S. 395 is well marked.

It is best visited during the summer months when the dirt road is dry. The park is open year-round, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. the rest of the year. For more information contact the Bodie State Historic Park, 760-647-6445, http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509.

Finding the 'Real Nevada'

2009-12-25T13:04:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, a Canadian writer asked me to take him on a trip to see “the real Nevada.” In particular, he wanted to see a ghost town and wild horses.

He also said he would like to meet someone who lived in a ghost town—although, of course, if someone lived there it wouldn’t be a ghost town—because he had always wondered what it would be like to live so far from the loud noises, traffic and crowds of cities.

We set out from Tonopah on a cool October morning, driving east on Highway 6, then north on state route 376, before turning northeast onto the road leading to Belmont. We passed no traffic that day; our only companions a handful of bleached, cotton-swab clouds floating overhead.

The land was wide and open, so much so that the writer remarked that he was working on a book about the Trans-Canadian Highway, of which he said the area reminded him.
“Sometimes, you can see wild horses out around here,” I said, eyes scanning the seemingly endless miles of empty, rolling hills. “But probably not today.”

Suddenly, a small herd of seven horses led by a beautiful white stallion, appeared from behind one of those hills and began pacing our vehicle.

"“Do you want me to stop so you can get a picture?” I asked.

“No, they'll be gone before I could shoot it. Let’s just keep driving. They’re very beautiful,” he said.

“I wish I could take credit for them,” I said as I silently thanked whatever higher power had produced these magnificent animals at the moment I needed them.

For another several minutes, we watched in silent admiration as the horses raced across the sagebrush. Then, they disappeared in a hidden creek bed and were gone.

A few minutes later, we reached the outskirts of Belmont. We spotted a stout red brick smokestack and decided to investigate. Parking the car, we walked through the sagebrush to the ruins of the Belmont-Monitor Mill.

As we gingerly stepped around and over the scattered chunks of wood and piles of what appeared to be crushed red bricks, I heard a slapping noise overhead.

I looked up into the cloudless blue sky and saw a bird flying overhead. I realized the source of the strange sound: it was so quiet and peaceful that you could hear the sound of a bird’s wings hitting the air.

We returned to the car and drove to the center of Belmont. Ahead, we could see buildings strung alongside the road and, behind them, other structures—some looking relatively new and others appearing to be very, very old.

We parked the car just west of the buildings and, as we climbed out, a man with a thick, gray beard, wearing a red-checked shirt with suspenders holding up a pair of baggy, gray pants, appeared from a small, green trailer.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. There was the strong smell of sagebrush about him—as if he’d just rolled in the stuff.

“We just wanted to do a little exploring and take a few pictures. We’re writers,” I explained.

“Well, okay, but just don’t touch anything,” he said gruffly, then disappeared into his trailer.

Careful to respect his wishes, we gingerly walked the main street. A handful of crumbling brick and wooden facades stood on either side of us. Most seemed ready to topple. North of the main street was the two-story brick Belmont Courthouse, built in 1876.

We circled the ruins, each shooting plenty of photos, entranced by the mood of the place.

After a time, we both started back to the car. There was a cemetery near the entrance to the town we wanted to visit. I turned the car around and started to head away from the main street when the old man, who appeared to be the town’s only resident, appeared from his trailer and waved for me to stop.

“Excuse me,” he said, after he walked over to my open window. “Could you please tell me what time it is?”

“It’s about four o'clock,” I answered.

He thanked me and turned to walk back to his trailer. I started to drive away, then saw him in the rearview mirror, again waving to get my attention. I backed the car to where he was standing.

“Excuse me,” he said. “Could you tell me what day it is?”

So I told him.

That’s when we both knew what it must be like to live so far away from loud noises, traffic, crowds—and, obviously, clocks.

Mysteries and Legends of Nevada News

2009-12-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

The Western Illinois University University Relations office put out a nice release on "Mysteries and Legends of Nevada." Check it out at: http://www.wiu.edu/newsrelease.sphp?release_id=7785.

Nevada's Bawdy Basque Carvings

2009-12-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

Bright sunlight filters through hundreds of towering, bare aspen trees. A soft wind shakes the rounded leaves, causing a few more to join the crunchy carpet of fallen plant debris covering the ground.

Then I see what I'm looking for and begin to chuckle. It's a crude, stick figure carving on one of the aspen of a man sitting before a piano on what appears to be a toilet seat. Carved above the foot-high image are the words: "E.M. 1932 . . . Playing the piano."

High above the east shore of Lake Tahoe, near Spooner Summit, is one of those unique places that make Nevada such a fascinating place to live. In this case, it's a grove of aspen trees in a high mountain meadow that once served as a summer range for Basque sheepherders and their flocks.

While not the only one found at the lake—in fact, aspen groves featuring Basque "graffiti" can be found in dozens of mountain ranges in the state—this particular place is one of the older and larger of these outdoor galleries.

The origin of these drawings has to do with the long stretches of time that Basque sheepherders spent alone, tending their flocks.

To pass the time, many would carve initials, dates and other messages in the white bark of the aspen trees. Naturally, like spray-painted graffiti on a building wall in a large city, some of these doodlings would pertain to what was on the mind of the artist.

Wandering through the Spooner aspen grove (as I'll call this area), it's possible to find dozens of carvings. While a few are rather ribald -- and reveal an excellent grasp of both male and female anatomy -- others offer more intriguing information, such as initials and dates going back seventy and eighty years.

My particular favorite, apparently also carved by the multi-talented "E.M.," depicts a man riding on a horse. Dated August 21, 1932, the drawing is detailed enough to reveal the hat and scarf on the man as well as a saddle, whip and reins.

Another interesting carving shows a fairly detailed representation of the flag of Spain, with the words, "Espana, June 25, 1939," followed by words that are difficult to decipher (possibly Basque or Spanish words). Still others simply show carvings of men in striped shirts with cowboy hats.

After weaving for a time through the thickly wooded grove, it becomes apparent that the trees are a veritable white bark chalkboard of designs, words and drawings. In a few cases, the trees have become so old (aspen live to be about 90 years) that the bark has grown around the carvings, making them impossible to read.

The Spooner grove, like others in the Sierra Nevada, were part of a cycle common among those raising sheep in Nevada. In the winter, the sheep would be kept in the desert valleys, which were warmer and more habitable than the higher elevations.

However, in the summer months, the sheepherders would move the flocks into the mountains to fatten on the thicker grasses found in the mountain meadows.

To reach the Spooner grove, travel west of Carson City on Highway 50. At the point where the road splits, heading north to Incline Village and south to Stateline, continue north for about a quarter-mile. Turn left just before the Spooner Summit Nevada Department of Transportation Maintenance Station and drive to the back of the facility.

There, you will find a paved road identified as Road 14N32. Follow the road for about three-quarters of a mile (it quickly becomes a dirt road). At that point, you reach a fork in the road and take the route to the right (you will pass a "1" painted on a tree about a fifth-of-a-mile from the fork).

From here, continue for about a mile, making sure you go left when you reach a second fork in the road (there are orange and black signs with arrows pointing to the left road).

About another quarter-of-a-mile from the second fork, you'll see a large lava rock formation to the right and the Spooner aspen grove on the left.

While the road is passable for vehicles with high clearance, a good way to visit is by hiking in the two miles from the maintenance station.

For more information, contact the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, 1536 S. Carson Street, Carson City, 775-882-2766.

The Fading Ruins of the Old Mining Town of Seven Troughs

2009-12-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

The site of Seven Troughs is evidence of the temporary nature of mining camps. With only a few stone foundations and a rusting headframe to mark its location, it won’t be long before it is completely unmarked.

Seven Troughs is located about 30 miles northwest of Lovelock. To reach the site, head directly north of central Lovelock on State Route 398 (North Meridian Road), then turn west on SR 399. Continue for 27 miles, following the signs.

Gold was discovered in the Seven Troughs Canyon in 1905 (the surrounding mountain range is also named Seven Troughs). Within two years, the area experienced a boom, which attracted several hundred miners.

The mines were considered reasonably remarkable, producing more than $100,000 per ton (in turn-of-the-century dollars). By 1908, a town had developed that included a post office, saloons, cafes, hotels, a school district, a water company and various shops.

Regular freight wagons carried supplies to and from the railroad station at Lovelock. In 1911, the "Kindergarten Mill," a 50-ton cyanide processing plant, was built at the east end of the town.

Photos from that time (several are featured in Stanley Paher's excellent book, "Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps") depict a substantial community of more than a dozen wooden commercial buildings, lining the canyon, with a handful of homes on the surrounding hillside.

The town prospered for nearly a decade, then began a rapid decline after 1918, when the ore was depleted. By the 1920s, Seven Troughs was abandoned.

Today, visitors must travel a fairly lonely road to reach the remains of Seven Troughs. After first driving about 12 miles on a paved highway (399), you must turn right (there's a sign indicating the way to Seven Troughs) onto a maintained dirt road.

Continue for about 10 miles across the wide expanse of the appropriately named Sage Valley. At this point, you will see a small cluster of buildings under some mature green trees. This is the site of Mazuma, another early 20th century mining town.

The homes and buildings are on private property please so don't disturb the residents.
The dirt road to Seven Troughs continues northwest from here (you'll find another sign). These last few miles are more rugged and a four-wheel drive vehicle is recommended.

You start passing some of the visible "trash" frequently found near these old mining camps, including an old safe, piles of rusted metal refuse and mounds of mineral tailings lining the canyon walls.

About two miles from Mazuma you reach the stone foundations of an old mill site, adjacent to the road. Scattered throughout the area are other fragments, including old wood, tin sheets, brown rusted metal hoops and other materials.

On a hillside, across a deep gully in the center of the canyon, is a rusted headframe, which, upon closer scrutiny, appears to be of more recent vintage (it doesn't, however, look to have been used in at least a few decades).

Next to the headframe is an old metal shack that appears to still contain a generator with cables leading into a vertical mine shaft. Naturally, be very careful when exploring any site, like this, that contains open mine shafts.

Farther up the canyon are a couple of mounds of weathered wood, which, from studying the old photos, seem to be the collapsed ruins of two old miner's shacks.

From the look of the canyon, it was probably fortunate Seven Troughs didn't develop into much of a permanent community. The terrain shows indications of having been scarred by flashfloods that have swept through the area over the years.

For more information about Seven Troughs, contact the Lovelock/Pershing County Chamber of Commerce, Box 821, Lovelock, NV 89419, 775-273-7213.

Visit Winnemucca's Humboldt County Museum

2009-11-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

People in Winnemucca like to say their town was the crossroads of early Nevada—-and they’re not wrong.

Winnemucca was founded in the late 1850s by a Frenchman named Joe Ginacca who settled on the banks of the Humboldt River and traded with pioneers heading west on the Emigrant Trail to California and Oregon.

Ginacca also operated a ferry service and transported wagons across the Humboldt. In time, the settlement became known as French Ford, after Ginacca.

By the mid-1860s, French Ford had a small hotel and a bridge over the river. The town began to grow rapidly after gold and silver were discovered in the region, at places like Unionville, and the settlement became the supply center for local mines.

In 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad reached the community, which was renamed Winnemucca in honor of a famous Paiute chief. The railroad brought additional jobs (switching crews were stationed in the town) and linked the town to the rest of the country.

While Unionville was named the first seat of Humboldt County in the mid-1860s, the mining camp’s decline resulted in the county seat being moved to Winnemucca in 1872.

One of the best places to learn about Winnemucca’s role in the development of Nevada is the Humboldt Historical Museum on Jungo Road, just north of downtown Winnemucca.

Established in the 1970s, the museum consists of several buildings housing exhibits detailing various aspects of the region’s history. It hosts nearly 8,000 visitors per year.

The museum’s centerpiece is the historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, a quaint whitewashed, one-room church built in 1907. The building—the oldest church in Winnemucca—is jammed with displays ranging from historic Native American objects to vintage furniture.

Wandering through the old church, you can find a large collection of arrowheads and spear points from the area, some more than 5,000 years old. Adjacent is a display describing the Lovelock Cave, an archaeological site that has yielded hundreds of prehistoric Indian artifacts including net fragments, shells and duck decoys made from tule reeds.

Other items displayed in the church include: a nice rock collection with petrified wood and fossils; a 19th century oak desk with an antique Remington typewriter, both of which were used by the railroad for more than 60 years; and a display about Edna Purviance, a silent movie star who hailed from Humboldt County.

One exhibit details the last Indian battle in the U.S., which occurred north of Winnemucca. The event occurred in January 1911 and involved a local Native American known as Shoshone Mike, who, with a handful of family members and friends, attempted to avoid living on an Indian reservation. After being unjustly accused of a crime, Shoshone Mike and most of his band were hunted down and killed during a shoot-out.

The former church altar now contains historic furniture such as an ornate, hand-carved chair made by a Chinese laborer who came to Winnemucca while working on construction of the railroad. It was built for the Episcopalian minister, who added elaborate tapestry cushioning.

Behind the church building is a modern brick structure that houses the museum’s vintage automobile collection. Among the vehicles on display is a red 1901 Merry Oldsmobile, the first auto in Humboldt County.

Other cars in the collection include a 1911 Fearless Cycle Car, a compact car made with a motorcycle engine, 1907 Schacht and a 1910 Brush truck. There is also a large black horse buggy, which dates to the 1860s. A large mural behind the autos depicts Winnemucca in 1912.

Other historical items on display include the first organ in Humboldt County, which was manufactured in the mid-1860s, and an antique Melodian, which was the first musical instrument in the old mining camp of Unionville.

The museum grounds also contain a picturesque 19th century grain shop, which was the first store in the community. Today, the wooden building, which has a classic frontier false front, houses the museum thrift shop.

The Humboldt County Historic Museum is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. (May through October). There is no admission charge but donations are accepted. For more information, call the museum at 775-623-2912.

Discover Burney Falls: the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'

2009-11-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

Nevada’s such a dry place that seeing a waterfall can be a novelty. And while Burney Falls is not in Nevada, it’s located close enough to Northern Nevada to make for an interesting day trip.

Burney Falls are the centerpiece of the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, 40 miles north of the Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The 900-acre park (with two miles of frontage along Burney Creek) is located about four hours north of Fallon via U.S. 50 and U.S. 395 to Susanville, then northwest on California State Routes 44 and 89.

Located on scenic Burney Creek, which is part of the Pit River water system, Burney Falls deserves being called the “eighth wonder of the world,” a title bestowed on it in the early 20th century by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Standing before the falls, you can’t help but be impressed by its beauty and power. Water falls 129 feet into a pool that is 22-feet deep. More than 100 million gallons of water flow over the falls daily. On sunlit mornings, rangers note that you can often see a small rainbow created by the fall’s mists.

It is easy to understand why the area’s earliest inhabitants, the Ilmawi tribe, believed the falls to be a sacred place. Native American historians note that the tribe, which considered things of beauty to have great power, used it as a place for meditation and visions.

A quarter-mile paved trail takes visitors from a parking area to the foot of the falls. Looking up into the magnificent waterfall, you realize it consists of not just one large flow but of several that pour over the top as well as out of the sides of the cliff.

The handful of smaller ribbons of water that seem to come out of the center of cliff are actually the flow of an underground stream exposed by erosion of the basalt rock face.

This interesting phenomena means that the falls never stop flowing. During most of the year, the water that flows over the top of the fall is snow melt from nearby mountains. In late summer, however, the creek bed will be bone dry about a half mile upstream but the falls will continue to have water because the stream bed is above this underground acquifer.

Like nearby Lassen National Park, Burney Falls State Park contains many volcanic features. The flat landscape of the park is the result of liquid lava-created plateaus. Additionally, the cliffs of the falls are formed of basalt, a volcanic byproduct.

In addition to the Native American inhabitants, the area was attractive to early European explorers, who trapped along the creek, then later attempted to farm the area. In the late 19th century, a pioneer settler, Issac Ray, built a lumber mill above the falls but that proved financially unsuccessful.

In the early part of this century, a number of hydroelectric dams were built on many branches of the Pit River system, including one that created nearby Lake Britton (the park includes the southern tip of the nine-mile long reservoir).

The falls, however, were saved in 1922 when Frank McArthur deeded them and the surrounding 160 acres to the people of California. He was concerned the beautiful falls might be destroyed for a hydroelectric project, as had occurred at nearby Fall River Mills.

In addition to the falls, the McArthur-Burney park offers developed campgrounds, fishing, picnic tables, boat launch (on Lake Britton), and five miles of hiking trails.
One of the latter takes you to the Pioneer Cemetery where some of the region’s earliest settlers were buried. Additionally, the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Canada to Mexico, passes the west side of the falls before heading to Lake Britton Dam and beyond.

There is a day use fee at the park. Campsite reservations are also available by calling 1-800-444-PARK. For more information contact the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, 24898 Hwy. 89, Burney, CA 96013, 530-335-2777.

Dayton's Buildings Say Much About the Community

2009-10-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

It’s been said that the old mining town of Dayton was the site of many Nevada firsts. It was reportedly the site of the state’s first marriage as well as its first recorded dance, which was apparently attended by nine girls or women—and 150 men.

The community traces its roots to the late 1840s, when gold was discovered in nearby Gold Canyon. A small group of miners began working the canyon, including James “Old Virginny” Finney, namesake for Virginia City, who is buried in the Dayton cemetery.

In addition to the prospectors, Dayton was a stop on the Emigrant Trail for travelers heading to California. An early trading post, known as Hall’s Station, after owner Spafford Hall, 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.

Several mills were eventually built near Dayton, which became a thriving ore-processing region for Comstock mines. Ruins of one of them, the Rock Point Mill, can be found near the entrance to the Dayton State Park, east of town.

In 1866 and 1870, fire destroyed many of Dayton’s original buildings. Yet despite disasters, calamities, neglect, and the effects of time, you can still wander the narrow streets of Dayton and find a number of historically important buildings that help tell the town’s story.

Begin your tour on Main Street in Dayton’s historic downtown. One of the first buildings you see is the Union Market. Built in the 1860s, this one-story stone structure was a butcher shop until the 1940s.

Adjacent is Daniels Millinery, originally a brewery built in the 1870s. Later used as a general store, this building, which has a wooden overhang, was also used until the 1940s.

Probably the most prominent building on the block is the Union Hotel. This two-story brick structure near the intersection of Main and Pike streets was built in 1870 on the site of an earlier hotel of the same name.

Next to the Union Hotel is a building known as “Dutch's Antiques.” This tiny one-story wooden storefront was built in the late 1870s or early 1880s, and has housed a number of businesses over the years, including a post office and a restaurant.

Adjacent, is the distinctive two-story wood frame Fox Hotel building. Built in 1889, this business operated until 1907.

One of the most impressive historic buildings in Dayton, located on Pike Street (a half-block from the intersection of Pike and Main) is the Odeon Hall. Built in 1870 on the site of two earlier halls, this two-story red brick landmark has appeared in several movies and is now a restaurant and saloon.

A half block east of Odeon Hall, is the former jail and firehouse, a brick structure built in 1870 to house a new fire engine purchased after the 1870 fire.

Nearby is the tiny St. Anne's Catholic Church, built in the late 19th century. Originally located in Yerington, this petite church was moved to Dayton in 1937.

Adjacent to the church is the former Dayton High School, now a community center. Built in 1918 on the site of the former county courthouse, which burned in 1909, the school's designers incorporated the courthouse’s foundations.

The former Dayton Public School, built in 1865, is one of the oldest public school buildings still standing in the state. This solid stone building, which still looks like an old school house, was used as a school until 1959 and is now home of the Dayton Historic Society Museum.

Directly south on Shady Lane is the Bluestone Building (it has the distinctive "Tahoe Beer" sign painted on the side). Built in the 1870s, this stone structure was originally constructed by a mining company that produced copper sulfide or "bluestone," which was used in processing gold and silver ore. Today, it has been restored into county offices.

If you continue driving a half-mile west on Cemetery Road (the Bluestone Building is on the corner of Cemetery and Shady), you reach the Dayton Cemetery. In addition to offering a beautiful view of the surrounding valley, the cemetery features historic porcelain markers on some of the graves of early Italian settlers.

For more information, contact the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, 775-246-7909, www.daytonnvchamber.org.

Explore Carson City's Overlooked East Side

2009-10-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

Historic State Printing Office, constructed in 1885-86, is on Carson City's East Side.

When the historic Kit Carson Trail on Carson City’s west side was created a few decades ago, it gave the mistaken impression that there wasn’t much history east of Carson Street.

Fortunately, a booklet produced a few years ago, entitled “The Charles W. Friend Trail, An ‘East Side’ Historical Driving Tour of Carson City, Nevada,” sets the record straight.

The book describes more than two dozen government buildings, commercial structures, houses, and sites that are as historic as any found on the other side of the Capital City.

The tour, developed by the Carson City Preservation Coalition, honors Charles W. Friend, who was Nevada’s first weatherman.

In 1875-76, Friend built the state’s first weather observatory, which included a six-inch refracting telescope, on what is now the eastern corner of Stewart and E. King streets.

Friend also built a house adjacent to the domed observatory (today, the site of both buildings is known as the Charles W. Friend Park). After 1887, Friend served as Nevada’s first state weather service director and worked with the Army Signal Corps to set up weather stations throughout the state.

The tour begins at the Nevada State Capitol, which is located on the eastern side of Carson Street. Built in 1870 of native sandstone, the capitol houses a number of exhibits including portraits of all of the state’s governors and a display describing the early history of the state.

Other significant east side sites noted in the book include:

• The Nevada State Printing Office at 100 North Stewart Street was erected in 1885-86. Now incorporated into the Nevada State Library and Archives Complex, the historic two-story building was constructed, like the State Capitol, of sandstone quarried at the Nevada State Prison. Today, it houses the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office and a changing art gallery.

• The Old Armory Building at 406 East Second Street was built in 1882. Originally owned by the Dangberg Land and Livestock Company, it served as the Nevada State National Guard Armory (hence the name) from 1905 to 1978.

• Fred Snyder House at 214 South Pratt Street, built in the 1920s, is one of Carson City’s most interesting homes. Constructed of multi-colored stones, it incorporates the style and architecture of the buildings constructed at the Stewart Indian School. Of course, that’s not surprising since its original owner was Fred Snyder, superintendent of the school from 1919 to 1934. Stone used in the house came from quarries throughout the state.

• Vansickle-Lynch House at 311 Pratt Street is a lovely country Victorian that was constructed in 1906 on the site of a horse race track. Over the years, it has had only two owners, both of which took great pride in the home’s upkeep.

• Leport-Toupin House at 503 East Telegraph is one of only three Second Empire-style homes built in Carson City. Constructed in 1879, it boasts a distinctive mansard roof and projecting dormer windows. Original owner, Alexander Leport, was a prominent early Carson City merchant.

• The Railroad Car House at 708 North Walsh Street is just what the name says. Underneath a number of additions and remodels is an 1872 Virginia & Truckee Railroad baggage and mail car. The car was moved to this site in 1938 and converted into a home for the railroad’s railmaster. It continues to serve as a family home.

• The Paul Laxalt State Building at 401 North Carson Street was erected in 1891. The four-story red-brick Victorian was Nevada’s first federal building, originally housing a post office, federal court offices, U.S. Land office and the U.S. Weather Bureau. Among it’s most prominent features is a three-faced clock in a 106-foot tower. Today, the building houses the Nevada Commission on Tourism and Nevada Magazine.

• The Goni House at 108 E. John Street was built in 1883 and originally located on Minnesota Street. In 1896, it was moved to this location by Emanuel Goni, a prominent Spanish Basque sheep rancher. Still owned by the Goni family, it has been used by commercial businesses in recent years.

Copies of “The Charles W. Friend Trail, An East Side Historical Driving Tour of Carson City, Nevada,” can be purchased for $2.95 from the Nevada State Legislature gift shop.

California Had Several Capitals Before Sacramento

2009-10-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

California took its time in deciding where to place its capitol. Before selecting Sacramento as its seat of government, California had a number of earlier capital cities.

For instance, while not technically ever designated the state capital, Monterey hosted the 1849 constitutional convention during which a state constitution was drafted and San Jose was selected as the capitol site.

San Jose held the distinction of being state capital for only two years, from November 13, 1849 to May 1, 1851. During that time, a two-story adobe hotel served as the capitol and two sessions of the state Legislature were held in the city.

Legislators, however, were not impressed with San Jose, which at the time was fairly small and had limited accommodations and services. In 1851, they voted to relocate the capitol to Vallejo.

Unfortunately, Vallejo was equally ill-equipped to serve the legislators—during the 1852 session a steam ship, Empire, served as a kind of floating hotel for many lawmakers. After holding portions of the Third and Fourth Sessions of the Legislature in Vallejo, in 1853 legislators voted to move the capitol to Benicia.

While Benicia, which had a grand new city hall building that doubled as the capitol, was an improvement over the previous capital cities, it was also too small for the growing machinery of state government. During the 1854 session, it was reported that “at least one hundred men had no place to sleep except barrooms of saloons.”

So legislators were relieved when a generous proposal to host the state capitol arrived from the city of Sacramento. The city offered free use of the Sacramento County Courthouse, rooms for state officers, fireproof vaults for records, free moving expenses, and free land for a future capitol building.

On February 25, 1854, Sacramento was officially selected as the state capital. During the next four months, the county courthouse served as the capitol.

On July 13, 1854, however, the courthouse was destroyed by fire. Within a short time, construction began on a new county courthouse, which was completed in January 1855.

This second courthouse served as the state capitol from 1855 to 1869 (with the exception of a four-month period in 1862, when the capitol was temporarily moved to San Francisco due to severe flooding in Sacramento).

Work on a permanent Capitol in Sacramento began in September 1860. Construction would take about 14 years because of funding problems and due to the fact that work had to cease during the wet winter months. Additionally, building materials were often scarce during the Civil War years (1860-65). Finally, in 1874, the Capitol building was completed at a cost of nearly $2.5 million.

Looking at it today, it’s easy to say that California’s State Capitol looks like a capitol. With its classic Roman Corinthian design, thick, granite foundation and 200-foot high golden cupola atop a dome, the building is a textbook image of a statehouse.

These days, the structure, which was restored from 1975-81, also serves as a kind of living history museum that offers an opportunity to learn a bit about our neighboring state.

Most of the building’s rooms, once offices for California state officials, have been lovingly restored with antique furnishings. The basement houses a small theater showing a film about the building of the Capitol, a tour office, historical exhibit rooms, gift shop and a restaurant.

The California State Capitol is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free guided tours are offered. The building is located between 10th and 12th streets and L and N streets in downtown Sacramento. For more information call 916-324-0333, www.capitolmuseum.ca.gov.

Ghost Town of Metropolis Continues to Fascinate

2009-10-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

In the fall of 2008, visitors to the town of Almere, Netherlands, found a remarkable sight in a grassy lot in the town center—an exact replica of the Lincoln School archway found in the ghost town of Metropolis.

Constructed of plywood and high resolution photographs printed on self-adhesive vinyl, the duplicate arch, called “Reclamation,” was the work of American artist Kristin Posehn, who prepared it for the Museum de Paviljoens.

In addition to the full-scale image of the decaying arch—which included chipped bricks, cracks and bullet holes—Posehn’s exhibit featured reprints of front pages of the Metropolis Chronicle, newspaper advertisements and promotional pamphlets.

It also had contemporary and historic photos of the town as well as copies of the original architect’s drawing of the Lincoln School. The Metropolis arch art project was displayed for about three months before being dismantled.

Posehn’s project just goes to show that the community of Metropolis continues to fascinate people. Unlike most Nevada ghost towns, Metropolis wasn’t a town built from the proceeds of gold or silver mines that went bust but rather was an early 20th century land promotion.

In 1909, the Pacific Reclamation Company and the Metropolis Land Improvement Company were formed by Harvey Pierce of Leominster, Massachusetts, to develop 40,000 acres located about 17 miles northwest of Wells, Nevada in Elko County.

Pierce and his staff crafted a promotional campaign that was long on hyperbole and, perhaps, short on total honesty. Posters and brochures were filled with extravagant claims about the area’s fabulously fertile soil, lengthy growing season and abundant water.

The company boasted that the new planned community would house 7,500 people and have convenient rail transportation. At least the part about the rail service turned out to be true.

To further enhance the project, Pacific Reclamation constructed the Bishop Creek Dam on a tributary of the Humboldt River to provide a reliable source of water to the farming community.

As new residents flocked the community, which by the end of 1911 had 700 people, the company laid out a town site and began construction of several buildings including a wooden Meeting Hall that also served as a church, theater and gymnasium (and later as a school) as well as the three-story, 50-room Metropolis Hotel.

Coinciding with the hotel’s opening was the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad eight-mile spur line between the town and the main rail line at nearby Tulasco.

In June of 1912, as the town was really starting to flower, the Pacific Reclamation Company received bad news. A group of downstream farmers in Lovelock had filed a lawsuit arguing that the company was illegally withholding water behind the Bishop Creek Dam that rightly belonged to them.

It turned out that Pacific Reclamation had neglected to file for proper water rights. A subsequent court decision sided with the Lovelock farmers and the company was ordered to lower the water levels behind the dam so that there was only enough to provide the town with water and to irrigate 4,000 acres.

The impact of the decision was devastating to Pacific Reclamation. The company went into receivership and the community lost its biggest developer and benefactor.

While the ornate Lincoln School, already under construction when the water rights issue flared up, was completed at a cost of $25,000, it was the last major construction project in the town. Before the year was over, the Metropolis Hotel had closed and the local newspaper had ceased publication.

And then came Mother Nature. In 1914, the region entered a prolonged drought, which, it turned out, was normal and typical for the area.

The dry conditions triggered twin disasters for the farmers: an invasion of wild jackrabbits that ate nearly all the crops coupled with an infestation of Mormon crickets, which are ravenous swarms of insects who eat everything, including paint on houses.

The dry spell continued for more than four years, which meant the rabbits and crickets returned every year.

By the early 1920s, only about 100 people still lived in Metropolis and the surrounding farms. The railroad gave up on the town in 1925 and ripped up the tracks.

In 1943, the magnificent Lincoln School was closed and three years later it was dismantled and the bricks sold off. All that remained was solid concrete floors and an elaborately decorated concrete arch entrance—the same one made famous in Posehn’s artwork halfway around the world.

Today, not much remains of Nevada’s first master-planned community. About a half dozen homesteads are still active in the area and trace their roots to the Metropolis development. There are also two cemeteries, one on a small hill east of the town center and a larger one west of the former site of the Lincoln School. Both are still tended by locals.

Finding Traces of the Mining Camp of Como

2009-09-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

The old mining camp of Como, located about 12 miles southeast of Dayton, is probably known more for who lived there than for anything that was actually done there.

Gold was discovered in the Pine Nut Mountains, the range directly south of Dayton, in about 1860. Within a short time, a small camp was established, called Palmyra, reportedly after the town of Palmyra, New York.

By 1864, Palmyra had a post office, several businesses, and an estimated 400 residents.
New discoveries about a half-mile away led to the development of another community, which became known as Como, and shifted attention away from Palmyra.

Palmyra’s post office closed in 1866, which pretty much marked the end of the community. Meanwhile, Como continued to grow and by 1864, it boasted a weekly newspaper, the Como Sentinel, as well as a steam-driven mill, a hotel, bars and a meeting hall. The newspaper, however, was short-lived, folding after 13 weeks.

One of Como’s most noteworthy residents arrived during this boom—Alf Doten. In June 1863, Doten sold his holdings in California and rode to Como to make his fortune in silver mining.

Doten didn’t stay long, only a few months, but he kept detailed journals of his time in Como, which serve as among the few records remaining of the town. Doten, in fact, was such a committed diarist that he ultimately filled more than 27 volumes with his reflections of daily life.

In September, Doten, who has also written for the Como Sentinel, accepted a job with one of Virginia City’s newspapers. It was there that he became friends with many of the Comstock’s leading journalists, including Dan DeQuille and Mark Twain.

Another former resident of Como was Captain Truckee, a Paiute leader who was a friend and associate of explorer John C. Frémont. He also served as a guide for several expeditions, including the 1844 Stevens-Townsend-Murphy emigrant wagon train.

It’s reported that in October 1860, Captain Truckee was bitten by a tarantula and died at Como. He is said to be buried on a mountain ridge outside of the townsite.

It turned out that Como's mines did not contain a great amount of ore and the mines began to close in 1864. The camp was able to briefly revive in 1879-81 and 1902-05.

Como, in fact, had its own post office during those revivals (it operated from December 30, 1879 to January 3, 1881, then was reopened from May 29, 1903 to February 28, 1905).

In the 1930s, optimistic investors constructed a large mill near Como, but it was soon abandoned due to a lack of viable ore. In subsequent years, there have been attempts to mine in the Como region but there are no current operations.

Today, little remains of Como besides a few stone foundations and the remnants of the various mining revivals. The drive to Como from Dayton definitely requires a high clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle as the road is extremely rocky in places.

The road to Como is accessed from Dayton Valley Road. Turn south on the dirt road just before Dayton High School. Ahead is the community water tank. Continue driving on the main dirt road (do not take any of the smaller branch roads) for about ten miles and you will reach Como and the former Como mining district.

After passing the Dayton High School you begin heading south into the Pine Nut mountains. Often, you can spot wild horses grazing in the range. About five miles from the start, the road grows steeper. If you stop to look back, you can get an outstanding view of the Dayton Valley.

You finally reach the earliest mining remains at about the eight-mile point. The first thing you notice is a large wheel perched atop the remains of a concrete and wooden structure. Scattered about are other abandoned mining trash such as storage tanks, pylons, beams and rusted pipes.

Here, you can also find two small ponds fed from a spring coming out of the remains of a collapsed mine. High grass and cattails surround these pools, which are shaded by large trees.

Around the site are the foundations of other buildings. Over there, a rusted iron broiler sits on the ground adjacent to the skeletal ruins of a tin and wooden two-story shed. Up on the hill is the rusted cylinder of a giant water tank.

Elusive mountain bluebirds flit from pinion to sagebrush. All about are the denuded mounds of mining tails; piles of dirt-bleached tan and white and devoid of all minerals and nutrients. There is an eerie stillness.

Hiking around the remains yielded a few surprises. Above the camp is the mouth of a mining tunnel. If you peek inside, you can see two tunnel branches, one heading east to a dead end, while the other gradually slopes down to the north and out of sight.

The rock walls of the shaft are soft and crumble with a bit of pressure—and serve as a reminder that it’s never a good idea to enter an abandoned mine shaft.

About a mile or so up the road are the remains of the townsite of Como. All that remains are a couple of rock walls and some stone foundations and cellars.

Reno's Famous Arches

2009-09-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Reno has a thing about arches.

For more than a century, the community has erected various arches over its main thoroughfares to commemorate special events or to promote an image.

Historian Phillip I. Earl has found photographs showing an arch built in 1899 atop the Virginia Street Bridge. The span commemorated Nevada troops returning from duty during the Spanish-American War.

In 1914, Reno erected an arch over Virginia Street, this time greeting visitors passing through the city on their way to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. A third arch was temporarily installed over the city’s main street in June 1920 to promote the Reno Rodeo.

In October 1926, a more substantial arch was constructed for an exposition celebrating the completion of the Lincoln and Victory highways, the nation’s first transcontinental roads. In addition to a welcome message about the roads, the arch also had the city’s name spelled in large letters.

This time, the arch wasn’t removed immediately after the event concluded. Instead, city leaders conducted a contest to select a slogan to be affixed to the sign.

The $100 prize attracted thousands of entries including one from a Sacramento man who suggested “The Biggest Little City in the World.” While not the most original suggestion—Earl notes that the slogan had been used several times before during boxing matches and promotional events—it was selected as the most appropriate entry.

In June 1929, the arch was renovated with the new slogan and illuminated. It was changed in 1934, when the city removed its famous slogan because some business folks thought it sounded obsolete. The arch was revamped again in 1935, when it was given a neon face lift and the slogan returned.

This version of the arch stood over Reno for the next 28 years. It appeared on postcards, in movies and books, and in a thousand tourist snapshots.

In the early 1960s, executives of the former Harolds Club casino spearheaded a drive to raise funds to build a new, more modern arch. The new one, erected in 1964, still contained the city’s slogan and name but was constructed of sleek plastic and steel.

In the meantime, the outdated, neon, 1930s arch was moved to Idlewild Park and later to Paradise Park on the Reno-Sparks border.

In 1987, the city felt a need to update its arch once again and replaced the 1960s version with the present arch. The current arch is contemporary, colorful and bright—and serves as the backdrop for many downtown Reno special events such as the New Year’s Eve celebration, which attracts thousands of visitors.

As for the 60s version of the arch, a few years ago it was given to the city of Willits, California. Today, it has been reconstructed with a new message that welcomes people to “Willits: Gateway to the Redwoods.”

As for the historic 1930s arch, it was removed from Paradise Park in the late 1980s and placed in storage while city leaders discussed its future. Despite discussions about putting it back on Virginia Street—making Reno a “city of arches”—it didn’t resurface until a few years ago, when the city allowed it to be used by a movie company, which wanted to re-create the Reno of the 1930s.

In more recent years, the venerable old arch, pictured above, was refurbished and relocated to a new home on Lake Street in front of the National Automobile Museum.

It looks pretty good there, too.

Tule Springs and Early Man

2009-09-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Tule reeds slowly wave in the gentle breeze. Large geese float on the calm waters of a spring-fed lake. It’s easy to see why early Nevadans would have been attracted to Tule Springs.

At Tule Springs, officially known as the Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs, archaeologists have discovered evidence of man having lived in the area about 10,000 years ago, making it one of the older sites of human habitation in the United States.

Floyd Lamb Park is located 10 miles northwest of Las Vegas, via U.S. Highway 95 and Durango Drive. The park is clearly marked from the highway.

Starting in 1933, archaeologists have uncovered fossil remains at Tule Springs that indicate that the water spot was once frequented by large mammals such as mammoths, bison, horses, camels and giant sloths.

In 1962, an extensive excavation revealed that humans used the site about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago, when the entire Southern Nevada region was much cooler and wetter than it is today.

Additionally, the evidence indicated that those early inhabitants were more advanced than scientists had thought. Scientists have found prehistoric hearths, fluted arrows, spear points, scrapers and charred animal bones.

The springs continued to be essential to the development of the west. Later evidence showed that about 7,000 years ago the region was populated by small groups of Desert Culture people, who survived on native vegetation and small game.

A horse-changing station developed at the springs in the early 20th century, servicing horse-drawn wagon and freight trains traveling between the mining camps to the north and the railroad station at Las Vegas.

In 1916, John H. Nay filed for the water rights of Tule Springs and within a few years was cultivating ten acres of land. About a decade later, Nay sold his small farm to Gilbert Hefner, who apparently did nothing with it for many years.

The more modern development at Tule Springs took place after Prosper Jacob Gourmond, a prominent Las Vegas businessman, acquired the site and converted it to a dude ranch for divorcees.

Gourmond offers a swimming pool, lake, tennis courts, shooting range, horseback riding, hayrides, dances and other entertainment to his clients. In addition to providing a place for women seeking a divorce, the ranch expanded to include a hundred acres of alfalfa, cattle, dairy cows and fruit orchards.

Many of the whitewash and green-trimmed ranch buildings of the former Tule Springs Ranch can still be found on the site.

In the 1960s, the ranch was purchased by the city of Las Vegas for a park and renamed in honor of a former state Senator who was one of the longest serving members of the Legislature. In 1977, it became a Nevada state park but was returned to city ownership in 2005.

The park encompasses more than 680 acres, which include nature trails, picnic tables, gazebos and lakes for fishing. Within the park, there is also a state arboretum and nursery.

Standing beside the large spring-fed lake in the center of the park, it's easy to appreciate how important the site must have been to Nevada's earliest inhabitants. The area is literally an oasis in the desert with its green lawns, lush tule reeds and mature trees.

Visitors will find picnic areas with tables and grills as well as fishing (Tule Lake is stocked with catfish during the summer and rainbow trout during the winter).

There is a day use fee for the park, which is open during daylight hours (no camping is allowed). For more information, contact Floyd Lamb Park, 9200 Tule Springs Road, Las Vegas, NV 89131, http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/TextOnly/Find/12095.htm.

Sutter's Fort: Where California Began

2009-09-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sutter's Fort (Photo by Lee Foster; Courtesy of Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau)

John Augustus Sutter, who is often called the father of California, might not recognize some of what he helped create—such as surfers, lowriders and Hollywood —but he would feel right at home in his old fort.

Still standing on a city block (2701 L Street) in the center of Sacramento, Sutter's Fort has the distinction of being the Capitol City's first building. Erected in 1841, the fort provides a special glimpse into the lifestyles of California's earliest settlers.

The adobe brick building has been carefully restored to most resemble its original appearance. The unfortunate reality is that the fort was allowed to deteriorate and, by the late 1850s, all that remained was the three story central building.

In 1890, the Native Sons of the Golden West purchased the site, and then donated it to the state of California. Reconstruction began in 1891 and in 1947 the fort became part of the California State Park System.

Today, the fort is worth a visit. Standing outside of the whitewashed fort, you view thick walls and small portals and begin to have a sense of how important this place must have been when California was an unknown land.

Once inside, an informative self-guided tour is available. As part of the admission fee, the park system loans visitors a unique plastic guide stick, which is a small, handheld radio that receives broadcast information about the fort at various, marked spots.

Along the way, you find out that John Sutter was born in Kandern in the Duchy of Baden, to Swiss-German parents in 1803. He married Annette Dubeld in 1826 and some time later opened a dry goods and drapery shop. While he did well for a time, the business soured and he traveled to America to escape his debtors, leaving his wife and five children behind.

In 1834, Sutter arrived in New York, then headed west. He stopped in various communities along the way, including Missouri and Kansas, but never seemed to settle. Anxious to reach California, he took a circuitous route, traveling first to Hawaii, then Alaska, before reaching his goal.

Sutter arrived in Yerba Buena (now known as San Francisco) in July 1839. He spent several weeks persuading the Spanish authorities to allow him to start a settlement in California's Central Valley.

In August of that year, Sutter finally received his permission and set out from Yerba Buena in three ships, traveling a waterway now called the Sacramento River. The party landed about a mile from the location of Sutter's Fort and made camp.

A year later, work began on the fort. The walls of the structure were 2.5-feet thick and from 15 to 18-feet high. The entire complex was 320-feet long, 150-feet wide and featured a three-story central building, which became Sutter's headquarters.

Sutter quickly gained a reputation as a gracious host. He welcomed new settlers to the area and, according to records, planned to create an independent financial empire supported by the abundance of crops that could be harvested in the region.

The Spanish Government accepted him as a naturalized citizen of Mexico in 1840 and he received a large land grant of nearly 50,000 acres (he also purchased Fort Ross near Mendocino from the Russian government that year). Later, the Spaniards gave him a second grant of nearly 100,000 acres.

However, in 1844, California became the site of the Bear Flag Revolt, an effort by U.S. citizens to take the state from the Spanish. Caught in the middle, Sutter lost control of the fort for a short time, and then eventually lost his lands.

Of course, the second major event of this period was the discovery of gold in California. Ironically, it was one of Sutter’s employees, James Marshall, who discovered gold on the nearby American River.

Recognizing that the influx of large numbers of gold-seekers might destroy his dreams for California, Sutter first attempted to keep the discovery a secret. But the news spread and, just has he feared, Sutter soon became locked into a struggle with homesteaders and claim-jumpers for control of his lands.

By 1849, Sutter's empire had unraveled. He was forced to sell the fort to pay his debts. In 1865, he and his wife (she had finally joined him in California in 1850) moved to Washington D.C. He would spend the rest of his life unsuccessfully trying to gain compensation from the U.S. Government for the loss of his property. He died in 1880.

In addition to providing background on Sutter, a guided tour of the fort takes you through the structure’s many rooms and chambers, most of which have been renovated in recent years.

Sutter's Fort State Historic Park is a three and a half hour drive from Fallon via U.S. Highway 50, then west on Interstate 80 to the N Street exit. Follow the signs to 2701 L Street in downtown Sacramento.

The fort is open daily, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children 6-17 and free for children 5 and under. For more information call 916-445-4422.

The Final Resting Place of the Enigmatic "Old Virginny"

2009-08-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

Few figures in Nevada history have been the subject of as many conflicting legends and stories as James Finney, better known as “Old Virginny.”

Part of the reason for different takes on the man often called the father of Virginia City is that actual details about his life are sketchy at best.

For example, even his real name is in dispute. In some accounts he is James Fennimore (or even, Fenimore) while in others he is named James Finney. Ronald M. James, author of “The Roar and the Silence,” perhaps the most definitive history of Virginia City, however, refers to him as James Finney.

What is known is that Finney was born in about 1817 in the state of Virginia—hence his nickname, “Old Virginny.” Little is known about his early years but apparently he headed to California during that state’s gold rush of 1849 and ended up in the Kern River area.

Comstock writer Dan DeQuille, who generally comingled facts with fanciful tales, later claimed that his name was originally Fennimore but he changed it to Finney after allegedly killing a man in California.

Wright also said that sometime in 1851, Finney crossed the Sierra Nevada to the Gold Canyon area near present-day Virginia City, where he began prospecting for gold.

However, another source, Mormon Station (modern day Genoa) founder John Reese, reported in his 1884 memoir that Finney was living in Gold Canyon when Reese passed through in 1850.

And Myron Angel’s 1881 “History of Nevada” said that Finney actually traveled to Nevada while working as a teamster for John Reese.

There appears to be a consensus that Finney resided in Gold Canyon during the decade between 1851 and 1861. It was during this time that he worked as a placer miner and encountered many of the other colorful figures in Virginia City’s past such as Henry Comstock, after whom the Comstock Lode is named.

In 1859, Finney moved up the canyon, which had become depleted of mineral wealth, along with a handful of other miners and began working a promising outcropping that was named “Gold Hill.” It’s thought have been the southern end of a rich silver vein that eventually would be known as the Comstock Lode.

A handful of accounts, mostly written years later, generally describe Finney as a well-liked and hardworking miner who was mostly likely illiterate and had a weakness for alcohol.

Ronald James noted that Finney “earned a reputation for having good nose for prospecting. All sources consistently support the idea that he was one of the first to recognized the mineral-bearing potential of the future Comstock Lode.”

But Finney is also often portrayed as a drunkard who didn’t appear to appreciate the magnitude of his discovery. In 1862, Henry DeGroot, a cartographer and writer, said Finney was “honest” but also “ignorant.”

DeGroot also reported that Finney sold his mining claim for an old horse, some blankets and a bottle of whiskey. This tale, which is probably not true, would go on to become accepted dogma with a number of other writers repeating variations of the same story.

An equally apocryphal story is the one about Finney’s naming of Virginia City. The popular Virginia City legend is that an inebriated Finney was stumbling down the town’s main street when he stumbled and broke a bottle of whiskey. According to the myth, he decided to use the occasion to “christen” the community “Virginia City” after his state of birth.

James, however, noted that the earliest source for that story was Dan DeQuille, who presented it in his 1876 book, “The Big Bonanza,” in which, he pointed out, “the author was equally capable of passing off legend as fact.”

James concluded, “Whether this happened or not, evidence clearly indicates that local miners decided in a meeting to name the community Virginia City.”

There are even differing accounts about his death in Dayton on June 20, 1861. In his “Myth of the Month” column, former Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha recounted several versions including one that pegged Finney’s death as happening on April 26, 1861, another that said he died in July 1861 and yet another placed the event in 1865.

The cause of his demise is generally said to have been from a fall from a horse, although the details vary. In one version, he was “thrown from a bucking mustang” while drunk, while another simply stated that he fell from a horse and fractured his skull.

Today, visitors can ponder all the stories about Finney while standing at his grave site, which is located in the historic Dayton cemetery. The spot is marked with an impressive stone marker describing his life that was erected by the Dayton Historic Society.

Take a Spin on Scheel's Big Wheel

2009-08-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

It’s no exaggeration to say that the Scheels store that recently opened in Sparks is a typical sporting goods place—on steroids.

Billed as the world’s largest sporting goods store, Scheels in Sparks is far more than just a place to pick up a new pair of running shorts or a soccer ball.

It combines a massive sporting goods retail operation with a full size, indoor Ferris Wheel, NASCAR simulators, a gourmet deli and fudge café, giant fish tanks, a mountain of mounted big game animals and several sports history displays thrown in for good measure.

And that doesn’t include the talking robotic replicas of 14 U.S. Presidents.

The store, located in the new Legends at Sparks Marina shopping complex, is part of a North Dakota-based company that operates about 20 similar sports businesses, mostly in the Midwest. The 248,000 square foot Sparks version is the biggest in the chain as well as the largest sporting goods store in the world.

It’s difficult not to be overwhelmed when entering the store. A giant glass and steel atrium in the center houses the 65-foot-tall Ferris Wheel, which dominates the building.

Originally built in 1921, the amusement ride was refurbished by Scheels and included in the store not only as a promotional tool but also as a tribute to the inventor of the Ferris Wheel, George Washington Gale Ferris, who grew up in Carson City.

Rides on the 16-car big wheel are only $1—and provide perhaps the best overview of the entire store, which is, after all, pretty massive.

Additionally, if you enter from the parking lot side of the store, you pass beneath two 16,000-gallon aquariums, one of which contains freshwater fish found in Nevada. Inside the giant clear tank swims dozens of catfish, sturgeon, largemouth bass, blue gill, crappie and red and green sunfish.

The other tank contains salt-water species such as rare Hawaiian Black Trigger fish, sharks and stingrays. Staff feed the fish in both tanks at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily.

The Walk of Presidents attraction, located around the atrium on the second floor, offers 14 motion-activated replicas of Presidents Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and others, who, in recorded voices, tell their stories. The Jefferson and Lincoln models also move while speaking.

The Wildlife Taxidermy Mountain, also on the second floor, is a 35-foot-tall, 800-square foot re-creation of a mountain peak that features more than 200 mounted animals that are found throughout Nevada including Bighorn sheep and mountain lions.

Perhaps the most fun attraction in the store is the NASCAR Simulator, where, for a separate price ($10 per driver), you can sit inside a full-size automobile/simulator and experience the thrill of driving the Daytona 500.

And if you need a break from walking around and checking out all of the stuff in Scheels, there’s Gramma Gina’s, a deli and fudge shop tucked inside the store. In addition to soups, salads and sandwiches, the restaurant offers an amazing array of Italian Gelato and the Scheels Fudge Factory, which sells more than 32 different flavors of fudge (I tried some—-it's quite delicious).

Of course, the main reason to hit Scheels is to shop and there is no shortage of name brand sporting goods spread throughout the place. The store is divided into 85 separate specialty shops selling items ranging from footwear to golf and ski equipment to hunting gear.

The Scheels company was founded in 1902 by Frederick A. Scheel, who opened a hardware store in Sabin, Minnesota (he later moved his headquarters to Fargo). In the mid-50s, he began selling sporting goods and, in 1972, added sports-related clothing. The chain’s first superstore opened in 1989 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Scheels in Sparks is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Early California History on Display in Sonoma

2009-08-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Few Northern California communities are as quaint, picturesque and historic as Sonoma, a town that traces its roots to 1823.

That was the year that a Spanish priest, Father Jose Altimira, founded Mission San Francisco Solano, the last and most northern of the 21 missions established in California.

In 1834, Mariano G. Vallejo arrived at the mission to oversee the establishment of a military outpost and small town. He laid out an eight-acre plaza, which remains the heart of the modern town of Sonoma.

Today the plaza—the largest town square in California—has more than 200 trees as well as a wide variety of shrubs, picnic tables and a rose garden.

In the middle of the oak-shaded plaza is the former Sonoma City Hall, an elegant Mission Revival style building constructed of local stone between 1906 and 1908. A unique feature of the building, which now serves a visitors center, is that all four sides are identical, apparently to please local merchants each of whom felt it should face his or her business.

The square is also home of a unique monument to California’s colorful history. Atop a massive boulder is a bronze figure holding the Bear Flag. The statue commemorates the short-lived Bear Flag Revolt, an independence movement that in 1846 claimed California as an independent republic.

For 25 days, Sonoma was the capital of this new republic, which was created from land previously controlled by Mexico. On July 7, 1846, an American naval ship captured the Mexican capital at Monterey and claimed the region for the United States.

Not surprisingly, the Bear Flag Party chose to join with the Americans and become part of the union. The monument marks the site where the Bear Flag, which is now the official flag of the state of California, was first raised.

Surrounding the Plaza is a mix of interesting historic buildings, each with a fascinating story.

For example, at the northeast corner of the plaza (114 East Spain St.) is Mission San Francisco Solano, an adobe structure erected in 1840. It is not the original mission, which was a wooden building erected in 1824 and replaced by the present one.

Fully restored, the mission is one of the finest examples of Spanish mission-style architecture complete with an early Indian Mission chapel and rooms containing exhibits that tell of life nearly a century and a half ago.

Nearby, you can find the old adobe Mexican Barracks (First Street East and East Spain Street), built in 1841, which is now a museum and part of a complex of buildings known as the Sonoma State Historic Park. Inside the barracks you can find informative exhibits describing the history of the area and a well-stocked gift shop.

Adjacent is the Casa Grande Indian Servants’ Quarters (20 East Spain St.), built in 1835. The two-story Monterey Colonial adobe building was once part of a larger complex, called Casa Grande, which was General Vallejo’s first home (he built his “Lachryma Montis” estate, west of town, in 1853).

The Hotel Annex (also at 20 East Spain St.) is a two-story blue and white building east of the servants’ quarters that was originally a one-story saloon located in front of the quarters. In 1903, it was moved to its present site and a second floor was added. Today it serves as park offices.

Many of the historic buildings around the plaza now house a variety of businesses including several excellent restaurants, the fabulous Basque Bakery, and the Sonoma Cheese Factory deli.

One of the most impressive downtown buildings is the Sebastiani Theatre (467 First St. East), built in 1933. Featuring a 72-foot tower and elaborate balustrades across the front, the theater was constructed by Samuele Sebastiani, founder of the Sebastiani Winery.

Note the hole in the tower, which was designed for a chime clock. The clock apparently was never installed because of concerns about noise.

The core area also houses several quality small museums such as the General Joseph Hooker House (also called the Vasquez House), an 1855 kit house (it was shipped to Sonoma from Sweden in numbered parts and reassembled), which is now home of the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation.

North of the plaza is Sonoma Valley Railroad Depot (Depot Park Museum), a replica of the original depot of the Sonoma Valley Railroad (the original was located on the same site but burned in the 1970s). The museum contains displays and records of the railroad as well as a handful of restored train cars.

Of course, Sonoma is also noted for its wines and the historic Sebastiani Winery is located only a few blocks from the Plaza. Here you can tour one of California’s largest and oldest family-owned wineries.

The region’s oldest winery, Buena Vista, is located about a mile and a half east of the Plaza. These cellars were founded in 1857 by Count Agoston Haraszthy, considered the father of California’s wine industry.

Sonoma is located 30 miles north of San Francisco (and about four-and-a-half hours west of Carson City). For more information, contact the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, 453 First St. East, Sonoma, CA 95476, 707-996-1090 or go to www.sonomavalley.com.

San Francisco's Most Beautiful Spot

2009-07-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

When most people think about San Francisco, they envision a cosmopolitan, urban place with majestic, tall buildings, culturally diverse neighborhoods and manmade landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower.

And they would certainly find all of that during a visit.

But the City by the Bay has another—more natural—side. Out on the northwestern edge of the city is the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes a starkly beautiful place known as Lands End.

Located near the Cliff House (at the end of Geary Street), Lands End is best experienced with a hike along the main Coastal Trail, which begins from a parking lot adjacent to the ruins of Sutro Baths. The mile-and-a half trail retraces the cliff top route of the long-gone Ferries and Cliff House Railroad.

The railroad, which once carried San Franciscans from the downtown to Sutro Baths and the wilds of Lands End, operated from 1888 to 1904, when it was largely replaced by the city’s electric trolley system.

The old rail-bed trail skirts Point Lobos and looks out over the entrance to the San Francisco Bay and, in the distance, the Golden Gate Bridge. It offers some of the city’s most spectacular views of the Marin Headlands (to the north), the bridge and the bay.

Bordering the trail are dozens of cypress and pine trees, many of which have been flattened and molded by the nearly constant ocean winds. Growing as high at 80-feet, the cypress and pine trees were transplanted from Monterey into the area in the late 19th century by city landscapers yet have become signature trees for the region.

Lands End is also home to a handful of birds and other wildlife that manage to survive in such an unusual environment. According to the National Park Service, as many as 140 species of birds, 41 mammals and 14 amphibians and reptiles can be found in the area.

Additionally, the area serves as a refueling stop for migrating warblers, grosbeaks and nuthatches, which, according to Ariel Rubissow, author of “Cliff House & Lands End: San Francisco’s Seaside Retreat,” use its forests to replenish their energy reserves before trying to cross the Golden Gate channel to reach the Marin headlands.

The park service also notes that Lands End is home to several endangered species including the California redlegged frog and the bumblebee scarab beetle.

From the trail and several overlooks you can see the crumbling, steep and unstable cliffs below as well as the treacherous rocks poking out of the bay waters that once seemed to reach out and snag the bows of passing ships.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the San Francisco headlands claimed dozens of ships. The remains of a handful can still be seen near Ocean Beach. Rubissow has written that before the invention of the fog horn, sea captains listened for the loud barks of the sea lions on nearby Seal Rock to guide them away from the rocks.

On higher ground above the Coastal Trail is a parallel track that can serve as a loop trail for those heading back to the parking lot at Sutro Baths. This second trail winds through West Fort Miley, the remnants of a military reservation that once served as part of the country’s seacoast defense system.

While little remains of the fortifications, hikers can still find old gun emplacements as well as a monument commemorating the USS San Francisco, which fought at Guadalcanal in 1942. Additionally, the area boasts picnic tables, grills and restrooms.

For more information about the Golden Gate National Recreation Area go to http://www.nps.gov/goga.

Northern California's Kentucky Mine Museum is Worth a Visit

2009-07-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Diffused sunlight streams in through a dusty window, providing just enough light to see. Huge support timbers—big enough to seem incapable of rotting—crisscross the ceiling. Large, oil-covered metal wheels, rods and pistons seem poised and ready to operate.

One of the most amazing things about the Kentucky Mill is that it almost looks like it could operate today. Restored in the mid-1970s, the mill is a remarkably intact example of an early 20th century stamp mill.

The Kentucky Mill is part of the Kentucky Mine/Sierra County Historical Park and Museum, located just north of the historic mining town of Sierra City. To reach it, go west of Reno on I-80 to Truckee. Turn north on Highway 89 and continue to Sattley. Turn west on Highway 49 to Sierra City.

Gold was first discovered in the vicinity of Sierra City in the early 1850s by miners following in the footsteps of explorers Jim Beckwourth and Major William Downie.

In 1853, the Kentucky Consolidated Mining Company was formed to develop the gold resources found north of Sierra City. In the 1860s, a five-stamp mill was built at the Kentucky, a hardrock mine, which was increased in size to ten stamps in 1888.

As with most mines, activity at the Kentucky Mine waxed and waned through the years. In 1920, after several decades of abandonment, Emil Loeffler of Sierra City made another attempt to work the Kentucky. Operating it as a kind of hobby, Loeffler and his son found sufficient ore to continue working the site for the next few years.

In 1928, the Loefflers decided to construct a new mill, using materials and equipment salvaged from other mines. The mine and mill, which took five years to build, operated until 1944, when, tragically, Adolph "Dutch" Loeffler, Emil's son, was killed in the mine. Despite the loss, the family sporadically operated the facility until 1953.

In the late 1960s, the Sierra County Historical Society embarked on an aggressive program to identify valuable historic resources in the region, with the idea of preserving the best.

Because of its good condition—the Loefflers had continued to maintain it over the years—the Kentucky Mine and Mill was selected as the first site for preservation.
In 1974, following the passage of a statewide bond for historic preservation projects, the county purchased the Kentucky from the Loeffler family, and began restoring the site, including the mill, mine tunnel, blacksmith shop and trestle.

Today, visitors will find one of the best preserved early 20th century mining mills in California. A picturesque high trestle, which still seems capable of carrying filled ore carts, connects the three-story mill to the mine on an adjacent hillside.

The mine site is interesting because the blacksmith shop was built at the mine's entrance. Ore carts ran on a track that passed through the middle of the shop. Next door to the mine/blacksmith shop is a restored miner's shack, filled with furnishings and other accoutrements typically used by an old sourdough.

Inside the mill, which you can see during an informative guided tour, you will find a Pelton wheel, an innovative air compressor system for dynamite drilling, and an impressive milling operation that included ominous ore crushers (the gears boast huge spiked teeth) and stamps.

Below the mill, you can tour a nice small museum, located inside of a replica of a 19th century hotel (the Bigelow House, which once stood in nearby Sierra City). The museum contains plenty of Sierra County artifacts, including a fine collection of historic photographs, mining certificates, a school desk, ancient quilts, a safe, piano, phonograph and other objects.

Additionally, in the summer the museum offers a concert series in an amphitheater built a few years ago. Concerts have included jazz, bluegrass, country, folk and classical artists from around the world.

Nearby Sierra City is also worthy of note. While avalanches flattened the town in 1852, 1888, and 1889, enough remains to hint at the town's rich mining history.

Several brick buildings have survived, including the 1871 Busch Building, once a Wells Fargo office, and reportedly the birthplace of The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus. This historic society/social club, founded by gold miners in 1857, was originally created as a parody of several brotherhood organizations, such as the Masons and Odd Fellows.

The Clampers faded toward the end of the century, but were restarted in 1931 by a San Francisco historian. The group continues to thrive and, in addition to being a rowdy drinking society, has erected hundreds of informative historic markers throughout the West.

Sierra City is also nestled below the magnificent Sierra Buttes, among the most beautiful mountains in Northern California.

For more information contact the Sierra County Park and Museum, P.O. Box 260, Sierra City, CA 96125, 530-862-1310, www.kentuckymine.org.

Tales of Unionville

2009-07-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

The mining town of Unionville is rich—but with stories, not silver or gold. In fact, it was famed writer Mark Twain who first dredged up a few tales about this once-promising 19th century mining camp.

Twain arrived in Unionville in the winter of1861 and promptly set out to make his fortune as a miner. In his classic book, “Roughing It,” he described early Unionville as consisting “of eleven cabins and a liberty pole. Six of the cabins were strung along one side of a deep canyon, and the other five faced them.”

He went on to write: “The rest of the landscape was made up of bleak mountain walls that rose so high into the sky from both sides of the canyon that the village was left, as it were, far down in the bottom of a crevice. It was always daylight on the mountain tops a long time before darkness lifted and revealed Unionville.”

After a short time in the mining town, Twain wrote that he discovered a shiny piece of rock that he knew had to be gold. His glee, which he called “a delirious revel,” turned to embarrassment when a more experienced prospector revealed his “find” was only granite and glittery mica.

“So vanished my dream. So melted my wealth away. So toppled my airy castle to the earth and left me stricken and forlorn,” he noted. “Moralizing, I observed, then, that ‘all that glitters is not gold.’”

Later, however, Twain made a more important discovery.

“We had learned the real secret of success in silver mining—which was not to mine the silver ourselves by the sweat of our brows and the labor of our hands, but to sell the ledges to the dull slaves of toil and let them do the mining!”

Of course, Twain’s stories aren’t the only ones told about Unionville. For instance, it began life in the spring of 1861 as a mining camp that was named Dixie by a group of miners who identified with the Confederacy—remember this was during the Civil War.

Soon, however, more people flocked to the boomtown. Most of the later residents were Union sympathizers and, after a brief political skirmish, the town’s name was finally changed to Unionville.

Another tale about Unionville is that even though it was the first seat of Humboldt County, it wasn’t really built to last.

Stanley Paher, author of several Nevada history books, has written that lumber shipped to the town was so bad that one newspaper reported that when it rained the county clerk stacked his papers into one corner of his office “where the rain didn’t come any thicker than it did outside.”

Despite the travails, Unionville managed to grow during 1862-63. During that time, it had nearly 1,000 residents and numerous businesses including ten stores, six hotels, nine saloons, a brewery and a newspaper.

The town experienced brief spurts of mining activity during the next decade before losing the county seat to Winnemucca in 1873. By 1880, the good years were behind Unionville, which slowly slipped into obscurity.

Fortunately, Unionville never completely disappeared. After mining ceased, the local economy shifted to ranching and agriculture and, in recent years, tourism.

In fact, the main thing happening in the town today is the Old Pioneer Garden Bed and Breakfast. The two-story bed and breakfast is located in a former wagon maker’s home (only the stone walls remain of the original building) and offers 11 rooms, six with private baths (775-538-7585 for reservations).

Additionally, there are other ruins of old Unionville sprinkled throughout beautiful Buena Vista Canyon, which is the site of the town. Stone walls and foundations, a few intact wooden houses, tall cottonwoods, old barns and a picturesque one-room school house (not open to the public) are among the historic survivors.

A small creek, which runs down the canyon and through the town, enhances the general sense of peacefulness found here.

And, of course, there are plenty of good stories.

Unionville is located about half-way between Lovelock and Winnemucca. To reach it, travel east of Lovelock on Interstate 80 to the Mill City exit. Head south on State Route 400 for about 15 miles, then drive west for three miles on a good dirt road.

What's Behind Some of Those I-80 Exit Names, Anyway?—Part 2

2009-06-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Continuing with our trip across Interstate 80—and the stories behind the names on the exit signs found along the route—the next stop is Imlay, located six miles northeast of Humboldt. Imlay was a former division point for the Southern Pacific Railroad and once served as an important stop for pioneers on the Emigrant Trail.

The area around Imlay was originally known as Lassen (or Lawson) Meadows and served as the turn off for those traveling north on the Applegate Trail to Oregon. It was also the only place with much grass and water before heading west to Big Meadows (Lovelock).

In 1908, the small hamlet of Imlay was founded by the railroad, which built a roundhouse and shops. A post office opened and the town soon had saloons, a hotel, a church and other services. The town, which grew to several hundred people, also served several local mining camps.

Imlay began to decline after the mines closed and the railroad removed its facilities. Today, about 100 people live in the community. Adjacent to Imlay is a large, strange, man-made mound of concrete, glass and scrap metal known as Thunder Mountain.

This unusual folk art creation was built in the 1960s and 1970s by a self-taught artist who called himself Chief Rolling Thunder Mountain. Today, it remains an interesting roadside oddity that is open to the public.

Four miles east of Imlay is the Mill City exit. While only a handful of houses and a few ruins remain, in the 1860s, this was the site of a mining town with several mills—hence the name. By 1868, the town had become a railroad connection for the nearby mining towns of Unionville and Dun Glen.

From Mill City, the Interstate passes through Winnemucca before hitting the next roadside stop, called Button Point. This site was named after Frank Button, who operated a large cattle ranch in the area in the 1870s. Today, a shaded rest stop offers one of the best views of the bends and bows found along the meandering Humboldt River.

Six miles farther is the Golconda exit. In 1868, the railroad opened a freight station here, which was named after a famous town in India noted for its diamonds (the name apparently signified that it was a place of great wealth).

In the early 20th century, a resort hotel and spa was erected to take advantage of natural hot springs in the area. The resort operated until 1961, when it was destroyed in a fire.

Continuing east, the next exit is Iron Point, a railroad siding built in the late 1870s (it still serves in that capacity for local mines). The name is derived from the reddish, iron-ore rocks found in the region. Iron Point also overlooks the Pumpernickel Valley—surely one of the most descriptive names on the Nevada map. The valley was named for a nearby bread loaf-shaped mountain.

Stone House, located about nine miles away, is the next nowhere exit and gained its name from a stone Overland Stage station, built in the 1870s, that was once located here.

About five miles from Stone House is Valmy, a tiny enclave named after a French battle site. It was said that the local tribes continually fought over springs in the area. In 1910, the railroad established a supply stop for its trains to re-water and re-fuel. Today, the town offers gas, food, and lodging to travelers on the interstate.

About six miles from Valmy is the Mote interchange. What you see is basically what there is to Mote. Nothing. Mote was originally a railroad siding and that’s all it’s ever been.

Next up is Battle Mountain, located 10 miles east of Mote. The community was established in 1867 by miners who found silver and gold in the region. The name is apparently derived from either the fact that Indians attacked a wagon train in the area or they raided a road crew—no one is exactly sure. In the late 1860s, the Central Pacific Railroad established a station at Battle Mountain.

About 13 miles from Battle Mountain is the Argenta exit, a railroad siding established in the 1860s. The name, derived from the Spanish word for silver, also applied to a nearby mining camp which was picked up and moved to Battle Mountain in 1870. Ten miles from Argenta is Dunphy, a rail siding named after a nearby ranch.

The next noteworthy exit is Beowawe, located 7 miles from Dunphy. Beowawe is the site of a once-famous cluster of geysers—including one that rose more than 30-feet-high.
Unfortunately, in the 1960s, the geysers ceased to erupt when a geothermal power plant was built nearby that diverted the underground hot water.

Ten miles from the Beowawe interchange is the Palisade exit. From here, travelers with four-wheel drive vehicles can head 10 miles south to the Palisades, a 12-mile canyon with spectacular rock cliffs split by the Humboldt River.

Additionally, you pass through the ruins of Palisade, a former railroad town on the river that served as the connecting point for the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Eureka and Palisade Railroad.

Ten miles east of the Palisade turn-off is the mining town of Carlin. Originally a railroad stop, Carlin was named after William Passmore Carlin, a famous Civil War officer (Union side). About seven miles from Carlin, you pass through the 1,900-foot Carlin Tunnels and head toward Elko. Along the way, take time to notice the magnificent stone pillars located next to the interstate. These unusual rock spires were formed by erosion.

From Elko, the interstate continues to the town of Wells and along the way passes a handful of other nearly forgotten exits, including: Halleck, named for Camp Halleck, a 1860s fort once located 12 miles south of the highway; Deeth, a small ranching community that was once a railroad station; and Oasis, a roadside stop named after a local ranch.

From Oasis, it’s a straight shot to Wendover, the last Nevada stop before entering Utah, which has its own share of forgotten or unusual exit sign names.

The Stories Behind I-80s Exit Sign Names - Part 1

2009-06-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

You’re driving on Interstate 80 and spot an exit sign for a place called Mote.

You wonder—what the heck is Mote? Or Toulon (pictured above)? Or Valmy? In fact, as you drive you notice that there are a bunch of names on exit signs along the interstate that identify places that don’t seem to amount to much.

Not surprisingly, there is a story behind nearly every one of those names (except, it seems, for Mote, which apparently is little more than one).

For instance, head east of Fernley and you can encounter one of the first of these phantom sidings, at the intersection marked Nightingale (about 17 miles from Fernley).

At first glance, it appears to consist of a small geothermal plant. But closer study indicates that in addition to being the location of a geothermal food processing facility, Nightingale was once a stop on the Emigrant Trail.

In the 1840s, emigrants discovered the hot springs located in this valley. Originally called “Boiling Springs,” the spot offered the only water within 20 miles (it was cooled and, despite being salty and brackish, used by early pioneers).

Later, the place was called Brady’s Hot Springs and became the location of a popular resort that featured a warm water swimming pool.

The name “Nightingale,” which is associated with the spot today, can be traced to a former mining town once located about 21 miles north. In 1917, tungsten deposits were discovered in the Nightingale Range to the north of I-80. A small camp named after the mountains cropped up at the site. but, after about a decade, faded away.

The Nightingale Range was named in honor of Captain Alanson W. Nightengill (the name was corrupted on state maps), the first State Controller and a survivor of the 1860 Pyramid Lake Indian War.

Twelve miles east is the exit sign for Jessup. While little is located there today, Jessup was another short-lived mining town, located 4 miles north of the present intersection with I-80.

Gold was discovered in Jessup in 1908, and within a few months nearly 300 people had settled in this remote camp. The boom was over by the end of 1909 and the town melted back into the desert.

Another 12 miles farther is the turn-off for Toulon. Unlike most other mining sites, the original mill is still standing here—it’s the large, two-story metal building adjacent to the railroad tracks.

Toulon, which appears to have been named for a French seaport (although why a spot in the desert is named after a seaport remains a mystery), was founded in 1917 following construction of a large mill to treat tungsten, gold and silver ore mined at Nightingale.

The mill was used sporadically over the years. The impressive ruins are located on private property and the owners are extremely protective of the site. Ask before stepping onto the property or take photos from the road.

The next orphan exit is located 14 miles east of Lovelock at Oreana. In the 1880s, the Southern Pacific Railroad developed a sidetrack and small station at this site.

In 1912, with the discovery of rich gold and silver deposits in nearby Rochester, Oreana boomed and soon had several stores, saloons, a large hotel and a depot. A year later, the Nevada Short Line Railway was built to connect Rochester with Oreana.

Rochester’s mines began to decline after 1917 and Oreana quietly slipped into obscurity. By the mid-1920s, its last businesses closed.

Today, foundations and a few wooden houses are the only survivors. Rochester, located 10 miles southeast, is a ghost town with several headframes, a decaying mill and a handful of other buildings.

Another 16 miles down the interstate brings you to the Humboldt exit. While today Humboldt seems to consist of a roadside rest stop, a few small ranches and a grove of huge poplars and cottonwoods, the site originally was a stagecoach stop.

In 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad built the Humboldt House there, which served as an inn and meal stop for train passengers traveling across Nevada.

The presence of good water allowed the railroad to develop a kind of oasis in the desert with shade trees, flower and vegetable gardens, and fruit orchards. The need for Humboldt House disappeared after the 1890s when the railroad introduced dining cars. The inn operated as a roadside stop for several more decades before closing in the 1940s.

More about other I-80 place names next time.

Gold Hill's Historic Treasures

2009-06-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

You know the train is coming to Gold Hill long before you see it. It lets out a loud, throaty whistle and a cloud of smoke appears over the hill above the community—the signal that the Virginia and Truckee train is beginning its descent into the historic mining town.

The locomotive stops near the old Gold Hill Depot for passengers to disembark. For most of the last 130 years, V&T trains have been dropping people off here.

The former mining town of Gold Hill shares a similar history with Virginia City. In the late 1850s, both were the location of gold and silver discoveries that became part of the fabulous Comstock Lode.

Historians believe that Gold Hill was established in about 1859, initially as little more than a few dozen miners camping under trees, in tents, and in crude shacks. But within a few years, Gold Hill rivaled Virginia City in size and population.

By the early 1870s, the town claimed 8,000 residents as well as one of the most well known newspapers in the state, "The Gold Hill News." It had schools, several fire companies, banks, churches, a post office, a town hall, and was an important stop on the V & T Railroad line, which eventually stretched from Virginia City to Reno.

As with Virginia City, Gold Hill’s decline began in the late 1870s when the mines were played out. By 1882, the newspaper had closed (it moved to Idaho), and the people gradually drifted away. By 1943, Gold Hill couldn’t support a post office.

While much of Gold Hill has disappeared over the years—the buildings were generally victims of fires, neglect, and removal—enough remains to offer an interesting historic walking tour of this once-thriving mining town.

The old V & T Depot, for example, still sits on a flat near the north end of the canyon. The wooden board and batten frame building, constructed in 1872, was used until the Virginia City portion of the V & T ceased operating in the late 1930s.

In recent years, the depot has been partially restored and serves as the ticket office for the revived V & T Railroad.

Down the canyon from the V & T Depot is the former Bank of California building, which dates back to 1862. The red brick and stone structure is one of the few surviving commercial buildings from Gold Hill’s early days.

The bank building was originally the home of the Gold Hill Bank, and then was purchased in 1873 by William Sharon to become part of his Bank of California. In 1879, the Bank of California moved to Virginia City and since then the building has housed a variety of businesses including a pool hall and art gallery.

Next door to the bank is the Gold Hill Hotel, the oldest hotel in the state. The original stone structure—the front part of the building—was constructed in 1859. The two-story wooden section, to the rear, is a newer addition built about two decades ago.

Up the hill from the hotel are the picturesque remains of the Yellow Jacket Mine incline shaft and headframe, built in 1937. The warped, wooden chutes leading down the hill once carried ore from the headframe at the shaft at the top.

Adjacent to the hotel is the Crown Point Mill, constructed when the area's mines were reworked in the 1930s. Built in 1935, the mill processed ore from the Yellow Jacket and Crown Point mines. The main buildings have been maintained over the years.

Across State Route 341 from the Crown Point Mill are the Lynch House, a white Victorian on the highway, and the Pink House, a very pink-colored Victorian on the hillside above, which was once a very fashionable neighborhood in Gold Hill.

The Lynch home was built in 1869 by a state legislator while the Pink House was constructed in the 1860s for a nephew of U.S. Senator John P. Jones, who served as Nevada’s Congressional representative from 1873 to 1903. Both are private residences.

Next door to the Lynch place are the green-colored stone foundations of the Rhode Island Mill. Dating to 1862, the mill was one of the first stamp mills in Gold Hill.
Of course, throughout Gold Hill you can still find a handful of long-abandoned mining shacks and ruins, which provide an idea of the modest existences of most of the town’s miner-residents.

Two significant headframes mark the southern boundary of Gold Hill and the next town downhill, which is Silver City. The first, an impressive metal skeleton on the hill above the road (there is a mine shaft at the base of the hill) is part of the New York Mine and was built in 1913.

The other, located about a quarter-mile south, is the Keystone headframe. This wooden structure, surrounded by a metal fence, was built in the late 19th century and is considered one of the best remaining examples of the type of mining equipment once common throughout the Comstock.

Gold Hill is located about 20 miles northeast of Carson City via U.S. Highway 50 and State Route 341.

For more information check out the Gold Hill Hotel’s web site at http://www.goldhillhotel.net/.

The Town Known as "The Widow Maker"

2009-05-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Once one of southeastern Nevada’s most prominent mining camps, Delamar has suffered as much abuse and neglect as any ghost town in the state.

The town’s story began in 1890-91, when farmers from the Pahranagat Valley in eastern Nevada uncovered gold in the area. By 1892, the Ferguson Mining District was established and miners from nearby Pioche began prospecting the area.

A year later, Captain John De Lamar of Montana acquired most of the principal claims in the district, which was renamed after him (although it was later changed slightly to Delamar).

De Lamar invested in the district, which between 1895 and 1900 was the most productive mining area in the state. A post office was opened in 1894 and within three years the camp had grown into a full-scale town with about 3,000 residents, shops, saloons, hotels, a hospital, churches and a newspaper, The De Lamar Lode, which continued publishing until 1906.

Delamar, however, soon gained notoriety as a very dangerous place to work. Water was scarce and the dry drilling techniques used to extract gold from the rock generated a fine silica dust (called the Delamar Dust) that resulted in silicosis, a painful and ultimately fatal lung disease.

In fact, many miners began referring to Delamar as “the Widow Maker” because of the high death rate.

Despite its deadly reputation, the town thrived because local mine owners paid exceptionally high wages for the time, $3 per day.

Additionally, by the late 1890s, Nevada was experiencing a statewide mining slump—Virginia City and Austin had ceased producing much ore while Tonopah and Goldfield were yet to be discovered—so many miners were eager for work.

Eventually, a water pipeline was installed to carry water from Meadow Valley Wash, located 12 miles north. The arrival of a reliable water source finally improved working conditions in the mines but not soon enough for those who were afflicted with lung disease.

About half of Delamar was destroyed by fire in 1900. The town was rebuilt but two years later De Lamar sensed the boom was over and sold his mining interests. New owners continued operations until about 1909.

During its decade-and-a-half of operations, Delamar generated more than $13 million in gold.

With its principal industry closed, Delamar began a quick decline. Although there were periodic revivals of the mines, the district proved to be played out.

Photographs from the 1950s show that Delamar still contained fairly substantial ruins up to that time. Local folks recall that until the 1960s, visitors to Delamar could still find a house with a piano and partial furnishings, as well as a saloon that contained liquor bottles that had been partially melted by fire.

But during the next two decades, souvenir-hunters discovered Delamar and hauled out nearly anything that could be removed. Even some of the headstones at the Delamar cemetery (which is still there, north of the town site) were taken.

Today, Delamar has been reduced to a handful of stone foundations and partial buildings peeking through the sagebrush. Below the town site are thick wooden beams that were once part of the local stamp mill.

The hillsides around the town are littered with tailing mounds and there is a large depression, which appears to have once been the site of considerable mining activity, which can be seen near the top of the mountain that overlooks the town.

Delamar is located about 28 miles southwest of Caliente via U.S. 93 and a marked, four-wheel drive gravel and dirt road. You drive about 15 miles on the dirt road, through a forest of Joshua trees, before reaching the site. The road is not recommended for passenger cars.

For more information, check out http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/delamar.html.

Exploring Historic East Ely

2009-05-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some of the most historic buildings still standing in the eastern Nevada town of Ely are found in a district known as East Ely.

Located directly east of the main part of Ely, East Ely largely owes its development to the Northern Nevada Railway, which had its maintenance yards and depot in that part of town.

The East Ely area includes all of the buildings along East 11th Street, which for many years as a kind of second commercial district for the community. During the railroad’s heyday, the several blocks on 11th Street, between the depot and Aultman Street, housed everything from banks to grocery stores to hotels.

The most prominent East Ely structure is the historic two-story sandstone Nevada Northern Railway depot, which was built in 1907. The handsome structure, on the north end of E. 11th Street, served as the main station and home office of the railroad, which operated between 1907 and 1981.

These days, the depot is the centerpiece of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum and Historic Railroad complex, which includes the maintenance buildings, rolling train equipment and tracks. Train rides are offered on selected weekends during the summer months.

Adjacent to the depot is the Nevada Northern’s former communications building, now used as museum and railroad offices, which was built in 1915. The two-story, brick, utilitarian structure once served the offices of the railroad’s superintendent, trainmaster, chief clerk and roadmaster.

On the opposite side of the depot is the wooden railroad freight and express building, which is believed to be the oldest structure in the complex (erected in about 1906).

Wandering up East 11th Street, you can still find other reminders of the area’s railroading past. For example, the elegant, shaded red brick home on the corner of 11th and A streets was built in 1937 for a former railroad official.

The former Nunnelly’s Ely City Grocery building at 2200 East 11th has, in recent years, been restored into a bed and breakfast called the Steptoe Valley Inn. The wooden structure was built in 1907 and originally served as a grocery store and saloon (a wall separated the two businesses). In later years, it was an apartment house and a single-family home.

The Bank of Ely building at 298 East 11th, built in 1907, is one of the most impressive survivors of East Ely’s glory days. The brick structure served as the Copper National Bank from 1910-1925 and was later home of the Ely Power and Light Company. More recently, it has been used as offices.

Other noteworthy East Ely buildings include:

• Former East Ely Post Office and White Pine News Office at the corner of D and East 11th. Built in 1907, the single-story brick structure was originally a saloon, then became the print shop for the White Pine News. From about 1912 to the 1950s, half the building was used as a post office.

• Gunn-Thompson Building at 1095 Avenue D. This large, two-story brick building was constructed in 1907 by George E. Gunn and William B. Thompson, who were prominent in the development of Ely’s copper industry. For many years, it served as mining company offices with apartments on the second floor.

• Miller’s Lincoln Highway Garage at 1120 Avenue C. This single-story rectangular structure, which has been remodeled many times over the years, can trace its roots to a small wooden building (since incorporated into the rest of the structure), which was erected in 1906. In 1925, E.R. Miller built a larger structure around the original building, which was used as a garage. In the 1940s, it was sold to the White Pine County School District.

The community of Ely was founded in the late 1800s, following the discovery of rich mineral deposits in the area. The first mining involved gold and silver but later, it was found that the region was flush with copper—which eventually became the most moneymaking mineral in the state.

For more information about Ely contact the White Pine Chamber of Commerce, 636 Aultman, Ely, NV 89301, 775-289-8877 or http://www.whitepinechamber.com/.

It was a Dog's Life in this Mining Camp

2009-05-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

With a name like Dogtown, it’s no wonder this Eastern California mining camp didn’t ever amount to much.

The unflattering moniker derived from the miners’ term for a primitive camp with few amenities—in other words, where you lived like a dog.

Dogtown is considered the first settlement or camp founded by prospectors working in the Eastern Sierra region. Established in about 1857, the camp’s initial residents were placer miners who began working a nearby creek (now known as Dogtown Creek).

According to historians, either Cord Norst or Leroy Vining was the first miner to find gold in the area and construct a basic rock hovel above the creek.

The discovery generated a bit of buzz among local miners and by 1858 more than 100 had settled in the camp and were scouring the region for little specs of gold color. Because of a lack of building materials in the area, most of their dwellings were little more than stone shacks.

Dogtown’s dog days came quickly. In July 1859, Cord Norst—who may or may not have founded Dogtown—was wandering a wash about 5 miles to the east and make a more substantial gold discovery.

Initial reports were that gold was just lying around on the ground for the taking. While this was no doubt an exaggeration, within a short time nearly everyone in Dogtown packed up and relocated to the more promising site, which was named Monoville because it overlooked Mono Lake.

Additionally, some miners began searching for the source of the gold that was being washed into Dogtown Creek and found that it was coming from Dunderberg Mountain, located to the west. Many moved onto the slopes of Dunderberg, where several mines soon developed.

Chinese miners moved into Dogtown after most of the previous inhabitants had moved to more productive mining districts. For the next ten years, the Chinese successfully reworked the large tailing piles left over from the earlier boom.

Meanwhile in Monoville, residents found that water was only available on a season basis, and built an 14-mile ditch to transport water from the East Walker River for hydraulic mining.

By late 1860, Monoville boasted more than three-dozen wooden houses, hotels, a post office, all those saloons and a population estimated at between 500 and 2,000 people. There was even talk of locating the Mono County seat in Monoville.

Monoville began to decline in 1861 with the discovery of significant silver and gold deposits in nearby Aurora and Bodie. The Monoville post office closed in April 1862 and within a short time nearly all the businesses had closed.

In the late 1870s and early 1880s, the diggings at both Dogtown and Monoville were reworked.

Today not much remains at either Dogtown or Monoville. The former site of Dogtown can be seen from U.S. 395 at a point six-tenths of-a-miles south of the turn-off to the ghost town of Bodie. A California Historic Marker indicates the site and provides a brief history of the community.

Exploring the Dogtown site, you can still find a handful of stone walls and depressions, which were part of the old dugout homes. The best ruins are along the cliff that is above Dogtown Creek.

At Monoville, which is one mile east of Conway Summit in Rattlesnake Gulch, the most prominent reminders of the area’s past are traces of the old water ditches and the deep scars of the hydraulic mining that once used to wash away the gold.

The easiest way to reach Monoville is to head east on a dirt road located about one mile north of the junction of U.S. 395 and State Route 167.

For more information about Dogtown or Monoville, check out “Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps and Ghost Towns,” by L. Burr Belden and Mary DeDecker and George Williams III’s “Guide to Bodie and Eastern Sierra Historic Sites.”

Discovering Sparks’ History

2009-05-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

The grand opening of the Legends at Sparks Marina shopping/dining/entertainment mega-complex this summer puts a spotlight on the former railroad town of Sparks, which celebrates its 105th birthday next year.

Legends is a $1.2 billion development that includes a hotel-casino and the region’s largest shopping mall with some 50 tenants including Scheels All Sports store (already open), Banana Republic factory store, Converse, Nike Factory Store, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and other vendors. The grand opening is scheduled for June 18.

As for the history of Sparks, the community was formally incorporated on March 15, 1905. The community, however, can trace its roots to a few years earlier when the Southern Pacific Railway Company decided to shorten and straighten its main line across Northern Nevada.

The railroad rerouted its tracks along the eastern Truckee River corridor to eliminate several dangerous curves and grades.

In about 1903, the railroad announced that as part of this realignment it would relocate its main division point in the region from Wadsworth to a site about four miles east of Reno. It originally looked at Reno for its new shops, but went east because of cheaper land.

To entice its workers to move to the new site, the railroad made a generous offer—a tract of land would be set aside adjacent to a new roundhouse and the railroad would give each employee clear title to a 50-foot by 140-foot lot. Additionally, the railroad offered to transport any existing house in Wadsworth to the new community at no charge.

Records show that in the summer of 1903, a drawing was conducted with employee names in one hat and lot number in another, and each was randomly awarded their lot. Some 67 lots changed title that day at a price of $1 per lot.

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

One hundred years ago, the new town was incorporated and during that same year saw the opening of a depot and freight yard. Additionally, in 1905, the community’s first school was built and a volunteer fire department was organized.

Over the past century, the railroad has become a less important part of the town’s economy but has remained an important symbol of the past. The Sparks High School athletic teams are called the “Railroaders” and the downtown’s “Victorian Square” development theme evokes the architecture and style of an earlier rail era.

The Sparks Bicentennial Railroad Park in center of the downtown boasts a couple of reminders of the city’s rail roots. One is Locomotive No. 8, built in 1907 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The ten-wheeler was one of the last steam engines to operate on the Southern Pacific line and was retired in 1954.

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

Ophir City Slowly Fades Away

2009-04-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Most motorists on U.S. 395 through Washoe Valley probably don’t even notice the crumbling stone and brick walls that appear to be melting into the mud and grass in an open field adjacent to the northwest edge of Washoe Lake.

But those walls, along with an historic marker located on a large boulder along the side of Old U.S. 395, are among the few reminders of once-thriving saw mill and quartz mill industries located in Washoe Valley.

In Nevada’s earliest days, the early 1860s, there were more than a dozen such mills erected in the valley to provide lumber for Virginia City’s booming mines and to reduce and process its rich ore. The mills had names like the New York, the Manhattan, the Buckeye, the Napa, the Alfred and the Ophir.

The walls beside 395 are the last vestiges of the Ophir Mill, a quartz mill and reduction works that was once one of the busiest in the valley. Befitting such a lucrative operation, the name, Ophir, is derived from the name of the legendary port where the fabulously wealthy King Solomon received his cargo of gold and other treasures.

“The largest quartz mill in this county, and, with the reduction works attached, the most extensive establishment in the (Nevada) Territory, is that of the Ophir Company, in Washoe Valley,” noted J. Wells Kelly, author of the “First Directory of Nevada Territory,” published in 1862.

“These immense works . . . give constant employment to about one hundred hands,” Kelly reported. “The buildings cover over an acre of ground, and the machinery and everything about them are of the most approved style and workmanship.”

Historical records indicate the mill was built in about 1861 and abandoned after about 1866, when Virginia City’s mine operators shifted their business to mills closer to home, such as along the Carson River near Empire City.

A small community, also named Ophir, cropped up in the flats to the east of the mill. By 1862, Ophir had a post office and several hundred residents; for a time it was the second largest town in Washoe County after nearby Washoe City, which had an estimated population of about 3,000.

Not surprisingly, the closing of the mill marked the beginning of the end for Ophir. By mid-1871, the post office had closed and most of the community’s residents had moved on to more profitable places.

Over time, the structures associated with Ophir have begun to disappear. In 1961—on the centennial of the founding of the community—the Nevada Sagebrush Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected the historic marker on the boulder adjacent to Old U.S. 395. Then-Governor Grant Sawyer dedicated the monument.

The site of Ophir was once again in the news on May 31, 1983, when it was nearly submerged by a 15-foot wall of mud that flowed down the southeast side of Slide Mountain. The slide was triggered when a snow-covered portion of Slide Mountain collapsed and crashed into Upper Price Lake.

According to news accounts at the time, the mud, water and debris formed a dam in the lake, which gave way and sent a wall of liquid muck into a lower lake, where it gained additional traction and spilled down the mountain and into Washoe Valley. One person was killed by the slide, which also destroyed seven homes and inundated numerous vehicles.

In recent years, neglect, weather and the elements have accelerated the collapse and disintegration of the two remaining stone and brick walls of the old Ophir Mill. Soon, all that will remain will be a pile of gray and red rubble.

Discovering the Owens Lake Story

2009-04-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

Looking out across the vast emptiness of the Owens Valley, it is hard to imagine that 70 years ago this place was the breadbasket of eastern California.

Now, where the wide (100 square miles) but shallow Owens Lake (50 feet at is deepest spot) once stood, you find miles of cracked, dry earth. Fields once ripe with fruits and vegetables are gone.

In 1904, the city of Los Angeles began pumping water from the Owens River and lake to supply its growing population. In 1907, the massive Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed, which begun sucking water from the valley and carrying it south.

By the 1920s, Los Angeles had purchased most of the hundreds of small farms that once thrived in the region. Within a few years, the once fertile Owens Valley began to resemble its emaciated neighbor to the east, Death Valley.

Today, in addition to servicing travelers on Highway 395, residents of the Owens Valley also mine the soft ores found in the alkaline sink that is Owens Lake.

The first explorer to see the lake and valley was John C. Fremont, who named it for Richard Owens, an associate, who never saw the area. By the 1860s, settlers had moved into the region, which had previously been inhabited by Paiute, Mojave and Shoshone tribes.

Rapid development of the region began in the late 1860s with the discovery of the Cerro Gordo silver mine, located in the mountains east of Owens Lake.

The many small farms and ranches in the valley found the mining communities in the mountains were a ready and willing buyer for their produce, hay and livestock.

In the early 1870s, Colonel Sherman Stevens constructed a flume on Cottonwood Creek, which rose high into the Sierra Nevada range, to the west of Owens Lake. Lumber from the Sierras was moved down the flume to a sawmill he built in the valley.

From the mill, Stevens moved his lumber, used to timber the mines and construct buildings, to a dock (called Stevens Wharf) that he built on the west side of Owens Lake. From there it was placed on one of two steamers and transported across the lake to a landing on the other side. Freight wagons carried the wood to the mines.

In addition to carrying lumber and supplies to the mines, Stevens also constructed a pair of large, adobe ovens to produce charcoal for the Cerro Gordo Mine.

The steamers, called the Molly Stevens and the Bessie Brady also carried ore from the mines across the lake to freight wagons that shipped it to Los Angeles (this mineral wealth contributed to that town’s rapid growth, which, ironically, would later have such a negative impact on the valley).

About the only survivors of this era are the two adobe charcoal ovens, constructed by Colonel Stevens in 1873. Neglect, time and the harsh surroundings have seriously damaged these mud beehives—which look a bit like giant hornet nests—but it’s still possible to get an idea of their size.

Large openings at the top allowed logs cut to a special size and width to be placed into the ovens, where they were slowly burned down to charcoal. Doors at the front allowed the charcoal to be removed.

Much of the front sides of both ovens has caved in over the years (the ovens were abandoned nearly a century ago), and one has to wonder if they’ll still be standing much longer, despite some modest attempts at preservation.

The Cottonwood Charcoal Ovens, a California Historic site, and Owens Lake, are located about 250 miles south of Carson City via Highway 395. The ovens are located about one mile from the highway via a graded dirt road that is signed.

For more information, contact the Eastern California Museum at 155 Grant Street in Independence (about 20 miles to the north of the charcoal ovens). The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 760-878-0258.

Among the items on display at the museum are the remains of the steamships, Molly Stevens and Bessie Brady, that once plied the waters of Owens Lake.

Where Vegas' Old Neon Signs Go to Rest

2009-04-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Neon defines Las Vegas. Glowing, brightly color tubes of gas shaped into words and images played a major role in creating the city’s splashy image.

Fortunately, while Las Vegas hasn’t done much over the years to preserve much of its history, it has treated many of its classic old neon signs a little better.

Several years ago, when the city created the electronic canopy known as the Fremont Street Experience in the downtown area, it also decided to display some of its most historic neon signs near the entrance to the Experience.

This cluster of vintage signs constitutes the Las Vegas Neon Museum. Of course, the primary reasons these signs aren’t entombed in a museum building are that some of quite large and were meant to be publicly displayed—they are signs after all.

The reason that so many of the city’s historic neon signs exist today is that the company that manufactured many of them, Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) maintained for many years a graveyard for signs in Las Vegas. There, literally dozens of old neon signs were stored.

About a decade ago, YESCO agreed to allow the signs to be refurbished for the Neon Museum, which was established in 1996. The first sign, installed on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street, was the Hacienda Horse and Rider, originally erected in 1967 at the Hacienda Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip (the hotel was blown up a few years ago).

Historically, the first neon signs in Las Vegas began to appear in the 1930s on Fremont Street. Initially, the signs were modest and merely advertised the various hotels and casinos.

But, as architectural historian Alan Hess noted in his book, “Viva Las Vegas,” “Twenty-five years later Fremont Street would take the neon city even further, turning signs into the architecture itself.”

In the past few years, several more historic neon signs have been refurbished and re-installed in downtown Las Vegas, including:

• Aladdin’s Lamp - This giant neon replica of an old-fashioned oil lamp was first lit in 1966 at the Aladdin Hotel. When that hotel was torn down in the 1990s, the sign was saved. In 1997, it was restored to its former glory and installed on the northwest corner of Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.

• The Flame - Originally installed in 1961, this neon sign in the shape of fire was perched for many years on the roof of the Flame Restaurant on Desert Inn Road.

• Andy Anderson - This cheerful milkman, the mascot for Anderson Dairy, first appeared in 1956 at the dairy located on Las Vegas Boulevard South. it was moved downtown to the Neon Museum in 1997.

• Chief Hotel Court - The oldest sign in the museum’s collection, this classic motor court sign boasts an Indian chief in full headdress and art deco-style lettering (including neon letters spelling out “Steamed Heat”). Originally erected in 1940, the sign was originally located on the hotel at 1201 E. Fremont Street.

• The Red Barn - This sign dates circa 1960. It was made by YESCO and installed on a bar of the same name at 1317 Tropicana Avenue. The bar burned to the ground but the sign was saved.

• Nevada Motel – This sign dates to about 1950 and was once located at 5th Street and Garces in Las Vegas. An important feature is the first appearance of the image known as "Vegas Vic.”

Additionally, on East Fremont, four new 40-foot-high retro neon signs of showgirl, red shoe, etc. that compliment the historic neon and are part of the city’s $5.5 million expansion of the downtown entertainment district.

Perhaps the coolest place to view old (and unrestored) neon is the Neon Boneyard, the storage area for the city’s signs that may one day be restored. There, surrounding the restored lobby of the historic La Concha Motel (saved and moved to the Boneyard to serve as a visitors center), are hundreds of old signs.

The Boneyard is located at the north end of Las Vegas Boulevard (821 Las Vegas Boulevard North) near Cashman Center. At the present time, it is only open by appointment.

Peeking through the fence, you can see the over-sized skeletons of many of Las Vegas’ most recognizable signs including the original Binion’s Horseshoe marquee, the high-heeled women’s shoe that once topped the Silver Slipper Casino and a curved Golden Nugget entrance sign.

For more information, go to the museum’s web site, www.neonmuseum.org/tour.

A Visit to Often Overlooked Golconda

2009-04-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

To most travelers on Interstate 80, Golconda is just a name on a sign you pass on the way from Winnemucca to Elko.

More knowledgeable road travelers might recognize the word as Indian (as in the country). Indeed, railroad officials named the town in honor of an ancient city in India.

Golconda is a small hamlet that despite its somewhat modest appearance has played a part in many of the important events essential to the development of the west and the founding of the state of Nevada.

The town of Golconda is located 16 miles east of Winnemucca, adjacent to Interstate 80.
The area was first noted in the reports of explorer Peter Skene Ogden, who, in 1828, passed through the region while tracing the course of the Humboldt River.

Later, when large numbers of wagons began crossing Nevada on their way to California, the place now called Golconda became a stop on the famed Emigrant Trail because of its natural hot springs. You can still find traces of this route north of the town.

The hot springs, in fact, have remained one of the aspects of Golconda that continue to make it unique.

In 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad established an ore shipping station near the hot springs to ship gold ore found in the Gold Run mining district, located 12 miles south. A small resort was constructed to provide weary transcontinental travelers with a place to relax.

In the latter part of the century, Golconda was notable because it became the starting point for an ambitious canal project that was to carry local water 90 miles to the mines at Mill City.

The canal eventually reached Winnemucca, but was abandoned before it was completed because it leaked more water than it carried.

In 1897, there was renewed mining activity at Adelaide, located about 11 miles south of Golconda, and a narrow gauge railroad was built (called the Golconda and Adelaide Railroad).

The town sprouted to more than 500 residents, including several hotels and a post office, but the excitement quickly subsided when, in 1899, the mine was closed and the railroad ceased operations.

About seven years later, the mines, mill and railroad reopened, but once again proved unprofitable and all were shut down for good by 1910.

In the late 1930s, a large chemical plant was constructed outside of the town to treat ore from new manganese-tungsten discoveries, but it was closed by the end of World War II and dismantled in the early 1950s.

Mining has continued, however, since the 1930s at the Getchell and, later, Pinson mines, located about 20 miles north of Golconda.

The original hot springs hotel, which became regionally famous in the early part of the century, burned in 1961.

Today, visitors will find Golconda to be a sleepy roadside hamlet.

On the corner of the main street (parallel to the interstate) and the road leading to the center of the town is one of those great-looking 1930s-style gas stations that once lined Highway 40 (predecessor to Interstate 80). Now part of a private residence, the station, which is in good condition, still boasts its old gas pump, which reportedly pumped its last ounce of octane in the 1970s.

The town also has a striking gray and white, red-roofed school house, boasting a classical Victorian architecture. The building, constructed just after the turn of the century, now serves as a community center.

Standing guard over the quiet community is the original railroad water tower, a large black cylinder on stilts.

Less than a mile west of the water tower, you can also find the remains of Golconda's famed hot springs: a large pond of warm water fed by a few of the 12 springs found in the area.

About four miles west of Golconda is Button Point, a highway rest area that also happens to be one of the best places to view the incredible winding of the Humboldt River. Here, you can look out for miles across a relatively undeveloped landscape and truly see what Nevada must have looked like to the early explorers and pioneers.

Carson City's Statues Help Tell Nevada's Story

2009-03-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

Most folks who visit Carson City never notice the sculptures arranged in the plaza between the State Capitol and the State Legislative Building. But that handful of bronzes spotlights several of the most significant people in Nevada’s past.

The three larger-than-life statues in the plaza depict a trio of 19th century historical figures including Abraham Curry, Adolph Sutro and Kit Carson.

The oldest of the works, dedicated in 1979, is the figure of Curry, the man considered the father of Carson City. It presents Curry, casually dressed in a shirt, pants and shoes, holding a rolled up blueprint that represents the plans for the city.

Sculpted by Robert Morrison, a longtime art professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, the work is also called “Man with a Vision.” In inscription on a bronze plaque on the concrete base of the statue notes Curry “accomplished more in his 15 year residence than most men hope to do in a lifetime.”

The Nevada Association of Realtors, which donated the statue to the state of Nevada, had it created to honor the man who laid out Carson City, donated the land for the state capital and built many of the city’s most prominent buildings, including the U.S. Mint and the V & T Railroad maintenance shops (now gone).

Nearby is a statue that is generally said to depict Adolph Sutro, the man who engineered and constructed Sutro Tunnel. The four-mile tunnel, which took nine years to build, is considered one of the major engineering achievements of the 19th century.

Sutro Tunnel, which stretched from near Dayton to beneath the Comstock mines, drained hot, sulfurous waters that made working underground so dangerous.

Crafted by Nevada sculptor Greg Melton, the work is officially called “Tribute to Nevada Miners” and depicts a bearded miner, based on Sutro, who stands holding a pick-axe over his head with both hands. He wears boots, pants and a shirt with rolled-up sleeves.

The bronze stands nearly 13-feet tall and was donated to the state of Nevada by the Nevada Mining Association on Nevada Day in 1983. A plaque on its base identifies it as: “Tribute to Nevada Miners, October 31, 1983, A gift from the Nevada Mining Industry to the State of Nevada in cooperation with the Nevada Mining Association.”

The third bronze on the plaza commemorates explorer and scout Christopher “Kit”Carson, an American scout and frontiersman who led the John C. Frémont Expedition in 1843-44 through the territory that became known as Nevada.

This work shows Carson in his buckskin garb riding a horse. In his glove right hand, he holds a hat while his gloved left hand grips a rifle and the horse’s reins. He is slightly bent over the horse as if looking for signs of a trail.

The statue, which is more than 8-feet-high, stands on a base inscribed with a plaque and two maps of Nevada showing the trails blazed by Carson.

The inscription on the Carson statue indicates: “1843-44, Kit Carson by Buckeye Blake, Commissioned by Truett and Eula Loftin.” The Loftins, former owners of the Ormsby House Casino in Carson City, donated the work to the state of Nevada in 1989.

The creator of the work, artist Buckeye Blake, was born in California but lived in Carson City as a boy during the late 1950s. He currently lives in Texas, where he maintains his studio.

Not all of Carson City’s statuary stands in the plaza, however. The most recent bronze is a representation of Native American author (she was the first Native American woman to write a book) and activist Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, which was placed inside the State Capitol in 2005.

This elegant bronze, which measures more than six-feet tall, shows Winnemucca with a shell-flower—her Paiute name is “Thocmentony” or Shell Flower—in one hand and a book in the other. She is garbed in traditional, fringed buckskin clothing and leather boots.

The statue, created by South Dakota sculptor Benjamin Victor, is a duplicate of one that stands in the United States Capitol, National Statuary Hall in Washington D.C. It was donated to the hall by the Nevada Women's History Project in 2005.

Nevada's Governors Didn't Always Have a Home

2009-03-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Nevadans have long disdained pomp and circumstance. This trait was particularly evident during the state’s first four decades, when lawmakers refused to provide funding to erect a home for the elected governors.

As a result, from 1864 to 1909, each of the state’s governors either built his own dwelling in Carson City or rented quarters.

While many of these “unofficial” governor’s mansions were quite nice—such as the one built on Mountain Street by Governor Reinhold Sadler, a wealthy businessman and rancher, who served from 1896-1903—the state did not have a formal “people’s house” for governors to live and entertain guests.

Finally, in 1907 State Assembly Bill 10, known as the “Mansion Bill” was passed by the Legislature. It directed the state to secure a site and build a permanent residence for Nevada’s governors and their families. The lawmakers appropriated $40,000 for building and furnishing the home.

Mrs. T.B. Rickey, who lived nearby, sold a site at 600 N. Mountain Street to the state for a token amount of $10 and Reno architect George A. Ferris (not related to G.W.G. Ferris, the man who invented the Ferris Wheel, who grew up on Carson City) was hired to design the house.

Ferris also designed the McKinley Park School in Reno and the former Civic Auditorium in Carson City (now home of the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada).

The architect developed plans for a two-story, 23-room home with a large grand entry area, a formal dining room, a pair of salons, a private den, upstairs bedrooms and a large kitchen area. A porch supported by fluted Ionic columns wraps around the second story.

The home’s exterior incorporated what historians describe as a Classical Revival style with Georgian and Jeffersonian motifs.

After soliciting bids, the state awarded a $22,700 contract to build the mansion. Construction began in 1908 and continued until early 1909.

The first chief executive to occupy the house was Acting Governor Denver S. Dickerson and his family. His wife, Una, gave birth to a daughter, June, in the mansion on September 2, 1909; she is the only child ever born in the mansion.

Governor Dickerson opened the mansion to the public for the first time on New Year’s Day, 1910—a precursor to the present tradition of opening the mansion to the public each Nevada Day.

The mansion has hosted 17 governors and their families since it opened. During the past century, the mansion has been renovated several times including a partial refurbishing in 1959, a more substantial remodeling in 1967 and a $5 million reconstruction in 1999-2000, which was funded by private donations.

During that $5 million remodeling, which was privately funded, a 6,608-square-foot addition was built north of the mansion, called the Nevada Room, with a commercial kitchen and meeting space for up to 300 people.

For more information about the mansion, pick up a copy of “State of Nevada: The Historical Governor's Mansion," produced in 2003 by former First Lady Dema Guinn.

Beautiful photos of the mansion’s interior and exterior, by Minden photographer Jay Aldrich, enhance text written by Robert Nylen, curator of history at the Nevada State Museum, and Guy Louis Rocha, the former Nevada State Archivist, who, respectively, describe the history of the mansion and the story behind the Nevada Day celebration.

Additionally, the book contains brief histories and portraits of every Nevada Governor and First Lady (up until former Governor Kenny Guinn).

Copies of the booklet can be purchased at the Nevada Legislative gift shop (http://www.leg.state.nv.us/giftshop/).

Finding the Last Remnants of Old Glendale

2009-03-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Not much remains of the 19th century town of Glendale. Once one of the Truckee Meadows most vibrant communities, Glendale has nearly faded away.

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

By the late 1860s, Glendale had a couple of stores, a blacksmith shop, several saloons, a small hotel, and a school.

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

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

The two best preserved survivors of the town, which was located near the intersection of McCarran Boulevard and South Stanford Avenue in Sparks, are an old barn still standing on the town site (an historical marker near the barn notes the town’s location) and the Glendale School.

The barn, still used, is a sturdy wooden structure with a rusted metal roof. The barn sits on private property so don’t trespass.

The Glendale School was built in 1864. In the 1970s, the building was moved to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center site in South Reno. A few years ago, however, it was moved to the Victorian Square in Sparks.

The school building is not only the oldest in the state, but is said to have the distinction of having been used as a school longer than any other in Nevada (until 1958). Its alumni include U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, once one of the state’s most powerful politicians.

The school, which is open for tours (check with the Sparks Heritage Museum for times), is part of the Sparks Heritage Museum and Bicentennial Park complex at the east end of Victorian Square. The museum and park celebrate Sparks’ rich railroad history.

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

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

The park also includes the original Sparks depot, now a visitors center, which blends nicely with downtown Sparks’ Victorian theme.

The city has also adopted other Victorian-style touches, including a large outdoor gazebo and partially covered theater, street lamp fixtures, kiosks, fences and benches.

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

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

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

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

For more information about Glendale, contact the Sparks Heritage Museum, 820 Victorian Avenue, Sparks, NV 89431, 775-355-1144.

Nevada's Roots Found in Six Mile Canyon

2009-03-04T06:34:00.000-08:00

If not for Six Mile Canyon and a scruffy pack of prospectors, Nevada might still be part of Utah.

Six Mile Canyon, along with nearby Gold Canyon, was the site of some of the state’s first mining efforts, and earliest encampments.

Six Mile Canyon is located directly east of Virginia City. To reach it, head southeast of Virginia City cemeteries on Mill Street, which becomes Six Mile Canyon Road. The road is paved through Virginia City, then becomes a maintained dirt road for 11 miles before connecting with Highway 50 at a point about four miles east of Dayton.

In 1859, Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin, two placer miners who had found promising outcroppings at the head of Six Mile Canyon, decided to enlarge a spring in order to generate more water for their placer (a type of gold-panning) operations. In the course of their digging, the two found an unusual crumbly, black rock laced with gold.

As word of the strike spread, Henry Comstock (namesake for the Comstock Lode), who had been working in the vicinity, claimed part ownership of O’Riley and McLaughlin’s claim. To avoid a dispute, the two agreed to include Comstock and his partner, Emanuel Penrod, in their operation.

O’Riley, McLaughlin and their new partners soon found that the black rock encasing the gold was difficult to remove. Since it appeared to have little value, it was discarded, but only after considerable effort.

B.A. Harrison, a ranch hand from the Truckee Meadows, however, took some of the black rock to an assayer in Placerville, who tested it and found it not only contained a value of $876 per ton in gold—but an astounding $3,000 per ton in silver.

It was this discovery, which all started in Six Mile Canyon, that sparked the “Rush to Washoe.” Within months, thousands of gold-seekers flocked to the region, which at that time was part of the Utah Territory.

Within a few short years, the massive influx of people resulted in the founding of Virginia City along with Gold Hill, Silver City, and other Comstock communities. These boomtowns provided much of the impetus for the creation of the state of Nevada in 1864.

People also spilled into Six Mile Canyon and, in the 1860s, a camp called Mount Pleasant and, later, Ophir, briefly flourished in the canyon. Several large mills, including the massive Gould & Curry, were built to handle the ore being produced by nearby mines. Additionally, homes were constructed along the road leading through the canyon.

Those mills were abandoned by the 1870s, but a large cyanide operation, called Butters Mill, was constructed in the canyon in 1902 to reprocess the huge tailing piles made during the earlier mining years.

Today, the ruins of Butters Mill highlight the trip through the canyon. Located just two miles southeast of Virginia City, the stone and concrete ruins are extensive, stretching up the hillside.

Walking through the impressive foundations and walls, it’s easy to imagine that this was once the site of the largest cyanide mill in the country. Old photos show a huge wooden structure that included a tram system to transport ore to the mill.

Butters Mill was abandoned in the late 1930s and Six Mile Canyon hasn’t experienced much action since that time (although a handful of small mining operations are occasionally active in the canyon).

The road continues through some large cottonwood trees and past abandoned tailing piles on the hillsides; obvious reminders of the area’s once-thriving mines.

Along the way, you pass famed Sugarloaf Mountain, the distinctive egg-shaped mound that you see when looking directly east of Virginia City. Adjacent to the road, you can see rolling hills covered with sagebrush and piñon pine trees.

At several places, there are beautiful rock cliffs covered with vivid, green lichen. In the spring, the area becomes a rich carpet of colorful wildflowers.

At about seven miles from Virginia City, the road drops out of the canyon (and the Flowery Mountain Range) and into the Carson Plains. Here, you pass through homes that have been built in the flat in recent years, before reaching U.S. 50.

The Tragic Path of the Pyramid Lake Indian War

2009-02-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

One of the seminal events in the shaping of pioneer Nevada was the Pyramid Lake Indian War of 1860. The conflict was the result of a volatile cocktail of ignorance, misunderstanding, anti-Indian sentiment, and miscalculation.

The roots of the war can be traced to the massive influx of white settlers through the region that would become Nevada after gold was discovered in California in 1849. The situation was exacerbated when large numbers of whites settled in the state following the discovery of silver in the Comstock area in 1859.

The new residents immediately began to take advantage of the area’s resources—digging holes to find the valuable ore, cutting down trees for fuel, damming streams, hunting available game and cultivating the land.

The problem, of course, was that these actions severely affected the quality of life for the region’s earlier inhabitants, the Washoe and Paiute tribes. For instance, the trees provided nuts that were an important food source.

The fact that natural resources are so limited in the harsh Great Basin region only served to heighten tensions between the settlers and the local peoples.

The actual battle was finally triggered in May 1860 after two Paiute women, who had gone hunting for pinenuts, were kidnapped and held at a place called Williams Station, located on the Carson River, near the present day Lahontan Reservoir.

The crime was discovered by local tribal members, who rode to the station to free the women. A skirmish ensued, during which four white traders were killed and the station was burned.

Despite the circumstances, word spread quickly that the Paiutes were on a rampage. Within days, the story had been so exaggerated and distorted that many Virginia City and Carson City residents believed that an army of Paiute warriors was heading their way to massacre them.

Three days after the Williams Station tragedy, a 105-member volunteer citizen militia had formed—led by Major William Ormsby of Carson City—and set out to seek revenge against the Paiutes.

The army was untrained, undisciplined and ill-equipped—but arrogantly confident they could easily defeat the Indians.

The motley group first headed east to Buckland’s Station (near present day Fort Churchill State Park), then seven miles to the site of Williams Station. After burying the dead, the group continued north to the present day site of Wadsworth.

On Saturday, May 12, the militia members awoke to find the ground covered with several inches of snow. Despite the weather, the group packed up and moved north along the Truckee River toward Pyramid Lake.

At a point about a half-mile north of present-day Nixon, the army spotted a cluster of Indians on a bluff above the river. The militia split into two groups, with about 30 men giving chase to the Indians.

Once atop the bluff, however, the smaller group found itself surrounded by warriors. After trading bullets, the militia members were driven back to the meadows below.
Meanwhile, another group of Paiute warriors circled to the south of the militia, effectively cutting off any possibility of retreat.

At this point, the trap—devised by the Paiute’s war chief, Numaga—was set. Militia members found themselves surrounded by warriors, mired in the muddy gulch. Despite repeated efforts to charge out of the gully, the volunteers were pinned down.

Two hours after the battle began, it was effectively over. Historical records indicate that about 75 of the 105 militia members, including Ormsby, were killed.

Following the disastrous May 12 encounter, a more formidable army of 800 white combatants gathered, which included trained soldiers. On June 2, 1860, this force engaged the Paiutes south of Nixon. This time, the army broke the Indian forces. The Paiutes suffered many casualties and scattered after the skirmish.

Within months a treaty was negotiated and the Pyramid Lake Indian War was over. The federal government responded to concerns about any future conflict by erecting a series of forts in Nevada, including Fort Churchill near Silver Springs (now a state park).

It's still possible to find the location of Nevada’s most famous war. The terrain, in fact, is the largely the same as described in historical records. The Truckee River winds through narrow, flat river bottomland—now largely used for ranching and recreation. Steep, eroded cliffs and hills rise above the river on both sides.

Standing on one of those hills, adjacent to State Route 446, it's easy to look down on the site and imagine how it unfolded. One can imagine the fear and anticipation felt by members of the volunteer army as they marched down the center of this gulch, searching for any movement in the deep shadows of the uneven cliffs and hills.

In other words, an ideal place for an ambush.

The Pyramid Lake Indian War site is located about a half mile north of the community of Nixon. An excellent resource booklet for anyone interested in exploring the sites of either of the Pyramid Lake battles is “The Pyramid Lake Indian War,” by John Townley. The 24-page guide, which is still in print, includes historical information as well as maps and instructions for finding the actual battlegrounds.

Additionally, “Sand in a Whirlwind” by Ferol Egan (University of Nevada Press) is an accurate historical retelling of the circumstances that led to the war.

Exploring the Old Carson River Road

2009-02-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

One of the most scenic drives or hikes in Western Nevada is a trek on the old Virginia and Truckee Railroad bed that runs parallel to the Carson River, just east of Carson City.

The best way to access the railroad bed is via Deer Run Road (located off U.S. 50 East). Drive about a quarter mile to a bridge, then turn left on the dirt road adjacent to the Carson River.

The road is fairly good, although a four-wheel-drive vehicle is necessary in a few places because of mud and large rocks. The road is also popular with mountain-bikers.

At the start, it takes a few twists and turns and passes a gravel plant. Just beyond the gravel business, turn left on a slightly rougher dirt road and you’ve reached the old V & T pathway.

Cottonwoods and thick foliage line the river, which has plenty of flow in the winter and spring. The road hugs the hillside above the water and affords several photogenic views, particularly of the rushing water and trees (which are beautiful in the fall when the cottonwoods are clothed in yellow leaves).

About a quarter-mile from the starting point, the road passes a small hill with an unusual concrete vault or room (it looks like a tunnel) built into its side.

Just around a curve from the hill, the road crosses a wide flat and to the left are the remains of an old mill. During the 1860s, several mills were constructed along the river to process ore from Virginia City’s mines.

The ruins consist of a few stone and concrete walls, some metal scraps and lots of trash of more recent vintage. The ground around the site is littered with broken glass and gun shells (it’s a popular local shooting range).

From this point, the road begins to slowly climb and the views become more spectacular. Below, the river winds through the narrowing canyon, which is lined with multi-colored cliffs.

In some spots, the walls are craggy and gray, covered with brilliant green lichen, while in other places they are painted in rich shades of red and brown.

There is the smell of damp sage in the air and the sounds of life accented by chattering birds and the rapidly rushing waters of the river.

The route grows more rutted and rocky as it continues its upward path, away from the river. Near the highest point, it enters an extremely narrow pass, which is partially blocked by large rocks. It is, however, passable if you’re careful.

From this point, the route turns north into Mound House passing through a housing subdivision before rejoining U.S. 50.

For those wanting to take a nice hike along the river, there is a portion of the old railroad bed that was actually a spur line, which can be accessed near Mound House.

This trail (which is not drivable) goes east along the river to the site of the historic Eureka Mill. Occasionally, the old bed has been washed away so it’s a bit like playing detective to follow the route.

Along the way, you can find the stone foundations of bridges that once spanned several wide gullies and evidence of wooden trestles that once jutted from the rock walls. In some places, the railroad bed was supported by carefully fitted, stone walls, which still look solid enough to use.

At the mill site, you can find a few stone and brick walls while the grounds are littered with rusted metal shards and pieces of brick.

And, of course, plenty of history.

The Last Few Traces of Old Washoe City

2009-02-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

Western Nevada has become so urbanized over the years, that it’s hard to believe there’s a sort of ghost town in Washoe Valley.

Granted it’s not as large as Bodie or Rhyolite, but hidden at the north end of the valley are a few remnants of a place called Washoe City, once the largest community in Washoe County.

In 1864 Washoe City was a thriving hamlet with more than 4,000 residents. It had several lawyers and doctors, shops, restaurants, saloons, stables, a newspaper—the Washoe Times—and a post office.

The town was so successful that when Nevada named a territory in 1861, Washoe City was named seat of the newly created Washoe County.

The town’s beginnings can be traced to the rich silver discoveries in the late 1850s in nearby Virginia City. Because the valley had abundant trees and water, it quickly became a major supplier of both to the Comstock mines.

By 1861, Washoe City emerged as the center of commerce for area sawmills and farms. The town also provided services for several quartz mills that were constructed in the area to reduce the ore mined in Virginia City.

Within a short time, dozens of freight wagons began traveling daily between Virginia City and Washoe City. The wagons would be filled with food and timber on the way up to the mines, then return brimming with ore to be milled.

In 1863, an impressive brick county courthouse and jail complex was constructed in Washoe City, which by then also had a one-room school, small hospital and two large meeting halls for the Masons and Odd Fellows.

Unfortunately for the town, the glory years were short-lived. In 1866, the infamous “Bank Crowd” assumed control over most of the Comstock mines and immediately shifted milling operations to company-owned facilities along the Carson River.

Additionally, timber companies had exhausted the supply of trees on the west side of Washoe Valley and had moved on to the thickly forested slopes around Lake Tahoe.

The result was that Washoe City’s quartz mills and sawmills were no longer needed.
The community’s decline accelerated after 1872 when the Virginia and Truckee Railroad was constructed and linked Virginia City to Reno. The train route passed through the center of Washoe City, but meant the end of the freight wagon business.

Not surprisingly, Washoe City’s troubles coincided with the rise of Reno. Founded in 1868 by the Central Pacific Railroad, the town quickly became Northwestern Nevada’s most important shipping terminus.

In mid-1868, Washoe City’s newspaper had pulled up and moved to Reno. Less than two years later, the citizens of the county—who now mostly lived in the Truckee Meadows—voted to relocate the county seat to Reno.

Washoe City supporters unsuccessfully appealed to the courts to overturn the election results, but in May 1871, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled the transfer was legal and appropriate.

Angry at the loss of the county seat, Washoe City residents, now down to 800, attempted to secede from Washoe County. They petitioned the Legislature to move Washoe Valley into Ormsby County, but the effort failed.

The town simply dwindled away during the next few decades. The courthouse was dismantled in 1873 (its bricks were reused in Carson City) while the magnificent two-story Masonic Hall was abandoned in 1888 and later collapsed. Ditto the Odd Fellows Hall.

Today, Washoe City is largely gone and forgotten. Perhaps the most substantial structure still standing is the stone and brick building adjacent to a real estate development at the north end of Washoe Valley. About two-thirds of this building is original (the brick wall on the north side is new).

The other significant survivor is the Washoe City cemetery, located adjacent to the Cattlemen’s restaurant on U.S. 395. Here, you can wander through a surprisingly large burial ground containing several dozen marble and wood tombstones.

For more information about Washoe City read “Boom Times in Old Washoe City, Nevada,” by the late Myra Sauer Ratay, which is available from the author’s family through a web site, http://www.ng-tek.com/genweb/grresearch/MyraBooks.html.

Ratay was also author of another book about Washoe Valley entitled, “Pioneers of the Ponderosa: How Washoe Valley Rescued the Comstock,” which is also available from the same web site.

Finding Forgotten Empire City

2009-01-27T06:24:00.000-08:00

During the early days of Nevada’s famous Comstock mining district, the Carson River was the nearest source of water, which could be used to operate the mills that processed the rich gold and silver ore.

In the late 1850s and 1860s, a seven-mile stretch of the river between Dayton and Carson City became a nearly continuous string of mining mills.

A small community, known as Empire City (also called Empire), cropped up directly east of Carson City. Empire City was the site of the first Carson River mill in 1859 and within a few years had nearly 700 residents.

In Empire City’s early years, silver ore was brought to the mills by wagon. However, with the completion of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in 1870, the mills had a direct rail link to Virginia City’s mines.

Empire City also benefited from a thriving lumber industry. Timber that was cut on the slopes around Lake Tahoe would be transported by flume to the Carson River and floated downstream to Empire City, where it was cut and milled before heading to the Comstock to be used in the mines.

One of the most successful of the early mills was “Gregory’s Mill,” which is said to have been the first steam-powered mills in the Western Utah Territory (Nevada had not yet been created).

Additionally, Empire was the site of a handful of quartz mining operations. A large steam and water-powered quartz mill, the Mexican Mill, was built near the community in 1861.

Empire began to fade after about 1878, when its mills started to close due to lack of business (by that time, Virginia City and the Comstock’s mines were becoming tapped out). By the early 1900s, all of the mills were silent and most of Empire’s residents had moved on.

An historic marker on U.S. 50, a few miles east of Carson City, commemorates the spot where Empire City was once located. While little remains today, records indicate that the community once had a business district that stretched three-quarters of a mile.

The last tangible evidence that Empire City once existed is a small cemetery located south of U.S. 50, above the historic marker. To reach it, turn onto Deer Run Road and take the first right on Sheep Road.

Directly behind the Waste Management facility (5560 Sheep Drive) is the site of a former concrete-manufacturing plant (only the foundation walls remain). Adjacent to the foundations is the entrance to the Empire Cemetery.

The old cemetery has dozens of well-maintained graves, many with substantial marble headstones and wrought iron fences. An estimated 200 people, most of which died in the late 19th century, are buried in the cemetery.

From the cemetery, it is also possible to get an excellent overview of the nearby Carson River, as it winds south of Carson City.

One of Empire City’s most famous residents was Edwin Ewing Roberts (generally known as E.E. Roberts), who later became Nevada’s U.S. Congressman (the state only had one congressional representative prior to the 1980s). Late in his life, Roberts also served as one of Reno’s most popular mayors.

E.E. Roberts came to Nevada in 1897 to witness the heavyweight-boxing match between Jim Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons. He liked what he saw, particularly the libertarian views of most of the state’s residents, and took a teaching position in Empire City.

Two years later, Roberts passed the Nevada State Bar and was elected district attorney of Ormsby County (of which Carson City was the county seat). Ten years later, Roberts was elected as Nevada’s representative to Congress, an office he held until 1918.

After practicing law for a number of years—he specialized in divorce cases—Roberts returned to politics in 1923 with his election as Reno’s mayor.

During his term, he scandalized the nation, and amused Renoites by calling for an end to prohibition and enthusiastically endorsing the state’s legalization of gambling in 1931. He died in office in 1933 and is buried in Reno.

Nevada Houses Many Fascinating Rock Art Sites

2009-01-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

Grimes Point Petroglyphs

Prehistoric rock art, which are known as petroglyphs, have long been a source of mystery to Nevada archaeologists and historians.

Carved into rock walls and boulders around the state by early Native Americans, these rock writings have never been deciphered—although there are plenty of theories as to their meaning.

Some hypothesize that the rock art had religious significance while others postulate that they were merely rock doodling.

A few years ago, archaeologist David S. Whitley has written a book, “A Guide to Rock Art Sites,” which suggests they are most likely related to sacred rituals and in some cases involved shamanism and vision quests.

Petroglyph designs often include human stick figures, animals, weapons, or geometric shapes, such as zigzag patterns, circles, or squiggles.

The following are a handful of the more accessible rock art sites found in the state:

Valley of Fire - Two impressive petroglyph sites can be found in Valley of Fire State Park, which is located about an hour northeast of Las Vegas via I-15 and State Route 169.

The rock art at Valley of Fire, which dates to about a thousand years old, is particularly vivid because the images are carved into red sandstone.

At Atlatl Rock, visitors can find plenty of rock art including carvings of bighorn sheep, footprints, lizards, human figures and the rock’s namesake, an engraving of a throwing stick or atlatl.

At the park’s Petroglyph Trail, also known as the Mouse Tank Petroglyphs, visitors can find large panels of rock art containing patterns, human figures and bighorn sheep.

Red Rock Canyon - Another good rock art site near Las Vegas is Willow Spring in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is located about 15 miles west of Las Vegas via West Charleston Road.

Here, visitors can find panels of red handprints, which Whitley says may have reflected the shaman’s belief that the rock was a passable barrier between the supernatural and real world—and they were reaching between worlds.

Another site at Rock Rock is at Red Spring. Here, visitors find a thick pattern of wavy lines and snaking patterns. Whitley believes the patterns are similar to those that appear on Indian blankets or in woven baskets.

Grapevine Canyon - The petroglyphs at Grapevine Canyon, located about 7 miles west of Laughlin via State Route 163 and Christmas Tree Pass Road, are among the most dense to be found in the state. The rock walls of the canyon are crammed with various images ranging from human figures to sheep to geometric patterns.

According to Whitley, Grapevine Canyon is located at the foot of “Spirit Mountain,” (today it is named Newberry Peak), a place that was among the most sacred to prehistoric dwellers.

The mountain plays an important role in one of the culture’s most significant creation stories, with the canyon serving as the site of a kind of house of spirits—hence all the rock art.

Grimes Point - Located 15 miles east of Fallon via U.S. 50, Grimes Point includes a mile-long interpretive trail that winds through a small forest of engraved boulders and rocks. Petroglyphs in this area date more than 7,000 years old and contain a variety of designs, which reflects the fact they were carved over several eras.

A series of signs describes the theories about the meaning of the rock art and points out the different types of carvings. For example, the oldest are believed to be the most simple, having a “pit and groove” pattern.

Later images include more complex designs such as a lizard, the sun, and deer.
A good source of information about petroglyphs is David S. Whitley’s “A Guide to Rock Art Sites, Southern California and Southern Nevada,” published by Mountain Press.

Dam Fine Place

2009-01-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hoover Dam may be 68 years old but it still manages to impress. Built in 1935, it remains one of the engineering marvels of the world.

The addition of a new welcome center several years ago has also made Hoover Dam even more inviting for visitors. The three-level, circular concrete structure does a good job of echoing the dam's original art deco design while introducing modern amenities.

The middle level is actually the entrance to the visitor center. After parking in the 400-car garage, you walk to an escalator that carries you down to the main lobby.
From here, you can either be seated in a modern theater to view an historical movie about the dam's construction or line-up for the guided dam tour.

Additionally, the lobby has a couple of exhibits including a wooden kayak used in 1921-22 during the survey to select the dam's location. Named "Marble," the boat was one of three used by the Southern California Edison Company and the U.S. Geological Survey to study the Green and Colorado rivers to find a suitable dam site.

The 18-foot boat is constructed of oak, spruce and cedar and was designed to carried whenever the surveyors reached shallow places in the rivers.

Other exhibits describe the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (created by water backed up by Hoover Dam) as well as construction artifacts and photographs.

The film is fascinating because it was made shortly after completion of the dam and includes historic footage of the construction. It was photographed in black and white, in a 1930s newsreel-style—which is fun to watch—although the narration is more contemporary.

Among the movie's highlights are scenes of workers riding high above the dam construction site on various platforms, footage of dynamite explosions during excavation of the site, and shots of water being diverted around the dam during construction.

Tours of the dam have changed from those offered during previous decades. Instead of lining up above the dam, standing adjacent to U.S. Highway 93 and awaiting an elevator, visitors are whisked from the lobby to the base of the dam in two, 50-passenger, high-speed elevators.

During the 25-minute tour, you can see the dam's massive hydroelectric generators, power transformers, transmission line towers and other equipment.

You also walk 300-feet into a tunnel carved in the canyon wall, through a construction tunnel built in the 1930s, to stand atop a 30-foot diameter pipe that is filled with water rushing into the generators.

Of course, other parts of the dam have thankfully remained unchanged. You can still stroll over the wonderful terrazzo tile floors, carefully handcrafted in Southwestern Native American designs and view sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen’s magnificent art deco bronze statues entitled “Winged Figures of the Republic.”

Hoover Dam is located about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas via U.S. 93. The visitor center is open daily (except Thanksgiving and Christmas) from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tickets for the Powerplant Tour (the basic tour) are: $11 for adults (17-61), $9 for seniors (over 62) and $9 for children (4-16). Children under 3 are free.

A more comprehensive two-hour Dam Tour is also available. Tickets are $30 per participant and it is not open to children under 8 or accessible to visitors with wheelchairs or crutches.

For more information contact the Bureau of Reclamation, 702-494-2517 or go to http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/index.html.

Picturesque and Peaceful Cave Lake

2009-01-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

While many people are familiar with the wonder of the Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada, few know there are other beautiful recreation areas in White Pine County.

For instance, one spot that combines impressive mountain scenery, camping opportunities and some of the best fishing in the state is Cave Lake State Recreation Area, located about 15 miles southeast of Ely.

To reach Cave Lake, head south of Ely on Highway 93 for about eight miles. Turn right on a marked, paved road and continue for seven miles to the recreation area. Cave Lake is located in the Schell Creek mountain range, the wall of rock that is directly east of Ely.

The road to the lake, called Success Loop Road, offers a hint of what's ahead. As you rise above the sagebrush carpet, you notice expressive limestone formations that stand like elegant sentinels at the entrance to the lake.

You continue through a narrow canyon that leads to the lake, actually a 32-acre reservoir. The dark emerald lake is situated in a scenic niche in the mountains, surrounded by forests of pinyon and juniper.

Above the lake is a small yawning cave—the namesake of the lake—and ridges of rough, crumbling granite peaks weathered by countless centuries of icy winters and hot summers.

The recreation area offers a variety of activities with 20 developed campsites, showers, restrooms, a dump station, picnic areas and a dock for small fishing boats.
The lake is extremely popular for fishing and regularly stocked with brown and rainbow trout—the locals point out that the state record brown trout was caught in the lake a few years ago.

A five-mile hiking trail begins near the entrance to the recreation area and affords a pleasant opportunity to wander through the trees, enjoying the beautiful scenery and peaceful surroundings.

For those wanting a more back country experience, Success Loop Road continues above the lake, deeper into the mountain range. While unpaved past this point, it is a maintained gravel road that is accessible by most cars.

Back in here, you find a number of undeveloped but usable campsites amidst some of the prettiest scenery in this part of Nevada. You pass small groves of white-barked quaking aspen and drive parallel to a small but picturesque stream.

Above the road is some genuinely breathtaking mountain scenery, including carved, bowl-shaped peaks that look like glacial cirques. As I admired the view, I couldn't help but think that someday the area would be part of some kind of larger state park or wilderness area.

Success Loop continues for about another 30 miles, with the best part being the first ten miles or so. If you follow it all the way, the road winds through the mountains and across a few hidden valleys before dropping back to U.S. Highway 93 near the tiny community of McGill.

For more information about Cave Lake contact the Nevada Division of State Parks, P.O. Box 761, Ely, NV 89301, 775-728-4467.

Desert Princess Highlights Lake Mead

2008-12-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

There are few better ways to see Lake Mead than from the decks of the Desert Princess, an old-fashioned paddlewheeler that offers excursions on the lake.

The 300-passenger, 110-foot Princess, which displaces 150 tons of water, has the distinction of being the largest vessel ever to ply the waters of Lake Mead, which it does year-round, several times a day (more often in the summer months).

With its three-decks, twin smoke stacks, rows of rear paddles and ornate design that was influenced by the classic riverboats of the Old South, the Princess is a noticeable contrast to Lake Mead’s stark but beautiful desert scenery.

While the Princess may have an old-time Mississippi riverboat look, it is actually only a decade old and is equipped with modern amenities.

A trip on the Princess is an opportunity to enjoy the full menu of Lake Mead’s unique land- and waterscapes. Cruises depart from the Lake Mead Cruises Landing, a 2,400-square foot dock located about ten miles east of Boulder City.

Gliding out of its slip, the paddlewheeler rides surprisingly smoothly for such as big boat. Powered by two propellers and the paddle array, the ship can reach a top speed of about 14 miles per hour.

The journey heads out into the heart of the lake, which is one the largest manmade reservoirs in the country with 500 miles of shore. Soon, the ship passes massive Fortification Hill, a flat mesa opposite the arena.

North is solitary Sentinel Island, while south are Big Boulder Island and Rock Island. The boat slides past both and slowly enters the mouth of Black Canyon.

Interestingly, Hoover Dam, which was originally called Boulder Dam, is located not in Boulder Canyon—that’s farther north—but in Black Canyon. As the sternwheeler continues up the canyon, it is pointed out that sometimes bighorn sheep can be seen walking along the steep cliffs.

Ahead, looms Hoover Dam. Arriving via the lake offers a different perspective on the dam. It’s a weird feeling floating near the dam and thinking that on the other side of the concrete wall is a drop of more than 700 feet.

In addition to offering a pleasant, smooth ride, the Princess was designed to meet the challenges of operating in the often-hot Southern Nevada climate. Two decks are enclosed and temperature-controlled, while the top deck promenade is open for those wanting to get some sun.

One and a half-hour, narrated Mid-day sightseeing cruises are scheduled daily at 12 noon and 2 p.m. (November 1 through March 31), then expand to four times a day in the summer.

The Princess also offers a three-hour Dinner/Dance Cruise for adults throughout the year. For more information call 702-293-6180, www.lakemeadcruises.com.