Idaho's Shoshone Falls Remain a Sight to See

   Just over the Idaho-Nevada border, north of Jackpot, is Shoshone Falls, a waterfall that some have described as the “Niagara of the West.”

   The massive crescent-shaped falls are simply spectacular. Stretching about 1,000-feet across, with a spill of more than 200 feet, they are, in fact, a longer fall than Niagara.

   With the record rainfall in the west this year, the falls should be spectacular for much of this year. That’s not always the case, however, since the flow of the Snake River over the falls can be reduced in dry years or high water use times.

   The reason for Shoshone Falls’ seasonal fluctuation in flows is that during the summer and fall much of the river water is diverted to irrigate farms in the surrounding Magic Valley.

   While there was some discussion about designating the area a national park, the issue was settled in 1902 by a landmark court decision in favor of the irrigation interests.

   Starting in 1901, a giant vertical tunnel was constructed into the rock above the falls. A 500-watt power plant was constructed in 1905-07 to provide power for the nearby town of Twin Falls, Idaho.

   Despite the changes made to the Shoshone Falls ecosystem, a visit to the site is always worthwhile. The falls are part of the visually spectacular Snake River Canyon, a deep, winding chasm at the north edge of Twin Falls.

   While originally shaped by glacial and volcanic activity, many of the unusual geological formations found in the canyon region were created some 30,000 years ago by a massive flood known as the Bonneville Flood.

   Historians say that was when ancient Lake Bonneville, which once covered nearly all of northern Utah and parts of southern Idaho, spilled over its traditional boundaries, causing a wall of water—believed to be one cubic mile in size—to crash into the Snake River near what is now Pocatello.

   The incredible force of the water created the Snake River Canyon’s large depressions and picturesque cliffs—of which Shoshone Falls in the most impressive.

   Even in the months when the flow of the Snake River is lower, it’s worth visiting Shoshone Falls because more of the sheer cliff walls are exposed. During those times, you can usually view two large ribbons of water spilling over the worn yet expressive basalt walls.

   Shoshone Falls Park, adjacent to the falls, makes for a pleasant place for an afternoon picnic in the shadow of the cascading water. The park includes a fenced overlook that provides a splendid panoramic view of the area.

   In the wetter spring months, Shoshone Falls widens and smaller rivulets of water will erupt from the surrounding canyon walls, including around the Shoshone Falls Park area, to support the blossoming of a virtual paradise of greenery.

   Another place to catch a glimpse of the beauty of the Snake River Canyon is adjacent to the Twin Falls Visitor Center on Blue Lake Boulevard. From the parking lot, you can look out across the broad canyon. There is a small fee to visit the falls.

   Nearby Perrine Bridge is a manmade marvel, measuring 1,500-feet across and standing 486-feet above the Snake River. The present bridge, built in 1974, replaced an earlier version that was, at the time of its construction, the highest bridge in the world.

   Twin Falls is 43 miles north of Jackpot, Nevada, a booming gaming resort community located on U.S. 93 at the Nevada-Idaho border. For more information, go to www.visitidaho.org/attraction/natural-attractions/shoshone-falls/.

Fabulous Views Found on Old Donner Summit Route

 

   Weather permitting, a fun alternative to traveling on Interstate 80 over Donner Summit is to take the historic Old Donner Pass Road that parallels the interstate for about 11 miles.

   Instead of racing along on a modern, four-lane freeway, this drive is considerably more laid-back, as you wind through beautiful, wooded alpine scenery, enjoying marvelous views of craggy peaks and cliffs.

   Heading east toward Reno, you can jump onto the two-lane road at the turnoff at Soda Springs. After passing through some fairly developed areas filled with summer homes and roadside businesses, the road makes a slow climb to the Sugar Bowl Resort and Donner Ski Ranch areas.

   If you stop in the parking lot at Sugar Bowl, you can catch a great view of the natural bowl-shaped landscape that gives the resort its name. The two tallest peaks at each end of the bowl are Mount Lincoln and Mount Disney (the latter named after Walt Disney, the original developer of the Sugar Bowl Resort in 1939).

   A bit farther up the road, you can see the west portal of the Donner Summit Railroad Tunnel, a 1,659-foot-long passage that was constructed in 1867 for trains traveling through the mountains.

   The tunnel was used for about 130 years by the Central Pacific, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific and Amtrak trains. These days, the trains travel through adjacent snow sheds rather than the original tunnel.

   Also take note of the stone embankments below the train tracks, which were hand-built by Chinese laborers in the late 1860s.

   The road continues to 7,088-foot Donner Pass. If you pull over here, you can look out over the steep eastern face of the pass and see the glimmering jewel known as Donner Lake.

   Continuing east on the road, you wind downward to the very picturesque Donner Summit Rainbow Bridge. This reinforced concrete arch bridge was built in 1926 (and restored in 1996) and was originally part of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road in the U.S.

   But the story of Old Donner Pass Road even predates the Lincoln Highway. In 1844, the Murphy-Townsend-Stephens Party, one of the earliest emigrant wagon trains, blazed a trail through the area on its way to California.

   A later emigrant group, the tragic Donner Party, however, gave its name to the pass after it was trapped at the lake below during the winter of 1846-47.

   In 1864, a developed byway, known as the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road, was completed over the pass to serve the construction camps building the Central Pacific Railroad through the mountains.

   Historical records indicate the wagon road was abandoned after the railroad was finished but reconstructed as California State Highway 37 in 1909 then incorporated into the Lincoln Highway in 1913.

   The Old Donner Pass Road also was part of the Victory Highway in the early 1920s and, after 1925, part of U.S. Route 40—so, you can see, it has had many names and numbers in its long history.

   These days, while the interstate has taken away most of the auto traffic the road remains a special drive. The rugged rock cliffs surrounding the bridge are also popular with rock-climbers and hikers.

   From the bridge, it’s about six miles to Donner Lake, a scenic body of water that offers sailing, jet-skiing, boating, fishing and swimming. The road winds around the north side of the lake through a forest of condos and summer homes.

   At the east edge of the lake is the Donner Memorial State Park, which has a small museum commemorating the ill-fated Donner Party. A short nature hike from the museum leads to the site where the members of that group erected shelters and ends at the lakeshore.

   About a mile from the state park is the town of Truckee and where you can reconnect with the interstate and continue to Reno, about 30 miles east.

   For more information about Donner Summit and its rich history, go to the Donner Summit Historical Society website, www.donnersummithistoricalsociety.org.

Longtime Nevada Journalist Writes About His Hometown of Vallejo, California in New Book

 

View of Vallejo in 1852-53

  Brendan Riley really knows the city of Vallejo, California.

  Riley, the longtime Associated Press Capital Bureau Chief in Carson City, was born and raised in Vallejo, where his father was a legendary local newspaper editor and political figure, Wyman Riley, and his mother, Marjorie Riley, was also a journalist and writer.

  Following his retirement in 2009, Riley, a member of the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame, who spends part of his time in Genoa, Nevada, and part of it in Vallejo, turned his attention to his hometown and specifically its rich history.

  In 2017, he published his first book, “Lower Georgia Street: California’s Forgotten Barbary Coast,” about a once-notorious sailor district in Vallejo with a colorful and racy history.

  In the course of writing that book, Riley collected so much historical material about the city that he felt he had more to say on the subject. As a result, later that year he began writing a regular column, the Solano Chronicles, for the “Vallejo Times-Herald” newspaper.

  Recently, Riley collected the best of his columns for the past few years into another book, “Vanishing Vallejo: Random History Notes on a Colorful California Town.” In other words, a book begets a column that begets another book.

  “Vanishing Vallejo” offers a wonderful overview of the many interesting people, events, and places that define the city. Importantly, many of the entries focus on Mare Island, an historic shipyard that provided jobs for many in the community and remains an important part of the community’s identity.

  Riley divides his book chronologically, with entries organized by the year they were published. He begins his book, appropriately, with a short history of the city’s namesake, General Mariano Vallejo, who originally hoped to have the California state capital located in the community (it did have that distinction for a short time).

  Other items in the first chapter, collecting 2017 columns, include a profile of Admiral David Farragut, the first Mare Island Shipyard Commandant, a story about gangster George “Baby Face” Nelson’s time hiding out in Vallejo in the 1930s, and the impacts of Prohibition on the city (it was largely ignored).

  Subsequent chapters include stories about the time the future Duchess of Windsor spent in Vallejo in 1920, how ill-informed urban renewal efforts in the early 1970s unfortunately destroyed several landmark buildings in the city, the stories of sunken ships in Vallejo’s bay, and how famed novelist Ernest J. Gaines, who grew up in Vallejo, once haunted the city library for inspiration.

  Reading the book, one comes away with a new appreciation for the rich history of Vallejo, a city that often is overshadowed by its more famous neighbors, the Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley and San Francisco.

  For example, who knew that in 1918, actor Boris Karloff, who would later go on to great fame in films like “Frankenstein” and “The Bride of Frankenstein,” spent time in Vallejo as a struggling actor? Karloff, then in his early 30s, joined the acting troupe at Vallejo’s Airdome Theatre and performed in a number of plays until the theatre, like all public venues, was closed during the deadly influenza outbreak of 1917-18.

  Unable to work as an actor, Karloff worked as the nearby Sperry Flour Mill for about two months. In 1919, with the Vallejo acting company now defunct, Karloff joined a theater company in San Jose and, eventually, ended up in Hollywood, where he found much greater success.

  Brendan Riley’s “Vanishing Vallejo: Random History Notes on a Colorful California Town,” is published by America Through Time, an imprint of Foothill Media, working with Arcadia Publishing. It can be found in online bookstores, such as Bookshop.org, which pays a portion of its sales to local bookstores.

Calistoga's Francis House Somehow Defied the Odds

   When one tells the tale of an historic property, especially in fast-growing places like California and Nevada, the story typically ends with the destruction of the venerable old structure, which is inevitably replaced by something new and shiny.

   But there’s an old house in the quaint community of Calistoga, located at the north end of California’s famous Napa Valley, that somehow dodged a date with a wrecking ball to become an elegant and magnificent small hotel.

   Located at 1403 Myrtle Street, the historic John H. Francis House was built in 1886 in the classic Second Empire style of architecture (similar in appearance to Virginia City’s Savage Mansion, which was built in 1861). The house has the distinction of being the only stone residence built in that style in the Napa Valley.

   James H. Francis, who commissioned construction of the house, was a prominent Calistoga merchant (his brother, George, was owner of the Napa Register newspaper in the city of Napa).

   Francis had a mercantile store on the corner of Lincoln and Washington streets in the downtown area and owned several ranches, including one north of Calistoga on which there was a productive silver mine.

   His three-story mansion incorporated locally-quarried stone as well as curled redwood. When completed, it was arguably the most elegant and impressive single-family home in Calistoga.

   Following Francis’s death in 1891, the house was sold to Colonel Myron E. Billings, a Civil War veteran and justice of the U.S. Criminal Courts who had been appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Billings modified the house over the next several decades, installing electricity, hot and cold running water, and indoor bathrooms both upstairs and downstairs.

   In 1918, Billings died and the house was rented to a local nurse, Mabel Martin, who converted it into the Calistoga Hospital. According to author Jane Hodges Young, writing for North Bay Biz magazine, Martin married a local minister and widower, C.L. Peterson, and the two operated the hospital until the mid-1940s.

   During the next two decades, several additions were made to the building, which also was sold several times until closing in 1964. According to Young, in 1970, it was purchased by Donald J. Selvey, who apparently was a hoarder who did no maintenance or upkeep of the property and used it to store his cars and other junk.

   Despite being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the once-grand old house was essentially abandoned for more than 50 years, slowly decaying (the second floor and the stairs collapsed at one point). In 2015, it was listed as one of the ten most endangered historic properties in the county by Napa County Landmarks.

   In 2007, the property was purchased by Napa developer Neil Schafer, who announced plans to build a luxury resort on the property, but that fell by the wayside with the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Finally, tired of having such an eyesore and hazard in the middle of town, the city of Calistoga began discussing demolishing the house.

   In 2014, however, the crumbling ruin was acquired by Dina and Rich Dwyer of San Francisco, who spent three and a half years removing debris and lovingly rebuilding the house into a boutique hotel.

   Completed in 2018, the Francis House is now a beautiful, meticulously-restored, five-bedroom luxury inn with a swimming pool, tennis court and infrared sauna and salt room. Even if a night’s stay isn’t in your plans, the place is certainly worth checking out.

   For more information, go to https://thefrancishouse.com/.

Nevada State Route 722 is Truly a Lonely Road

 

Old U.S. 50, which just might be the real Loneliest Road in America

  If you want to find a road even lonelier than U.S. 50, which is officially called the Loneliest Road in America, than go no further than State Route 722, a paved highway that runs parallel to U.S. 50, that boasts even less traffic.

  Also known as the Carroll Summit Road or Old U.S. 50, SR 722 stretches between Eastgate and Austin, slightly south of U.S. 50.

  SR722 was, for many decades, part of U.S. 50. In the mid-1960s, however, state highway engineers realized that a more northern route avoided having to cross the high Desatoya Range, which can be treacherous to drive in the winter (and the road would often close).

  Once the new route of U.S. 50 opened, the old road continued to exist to service the handful of ranches and homesteads along the way. But few travel the 58-mile stretch of road unless they have to.

  And that’s too bad. SR 722 is actually very scenic and offers some wonderful views of wide-open Nevada landscapes.

  To access the route, head east on U.S. 50, past Fallon. Three miles east of Middlegate, travelers will find the turn off for State Route 722. The road slowly begins to climb as it heads toward craggy rock cliffs pocketed with small caves.

  An historic marker notes this is also the site of Wagon Jack Shelter, where prehistoric artifacts of the native Shoshone people, some dating back more than 1,500 years, have been found.

  The road passes through a narrow passageway in the rocks and an old stone house, which was once an Overland Stagecoach Station called Eastgate.

  The name was given to the area in 1859 by Captain James H. Simpson, who that year led an U.S. Army survey of Central Nevada. It reflected his observation that the shape of the terrain served as a natural pass or gateway into the surrounding valley.

  The highway continues to climb into the mountains, passing a small creek that has cut unusually deep channels in the soft ground. It passes a small rest area, just a picnic table under a few trees, before zigzagging through increasingly dense groves of pine trees.

  Soon, the steep climb ends at Carroll Summit, elevation 7,452 feet. This high pass, sometimes closed by snow, is a large part of the reason that U.S. 50 was relocated decades ago to lower ground to the north.

  The old highway now begins to gradually descend through the Desatoyas. Interesting, fractured rock cliffs, some of which resemble the formations found at California’s Devil’s Postpile, crop up occasionally.

  Along the way, travelers can view picturesque, small streams parallel to the road as well as a lush assortment of plant life, including large cottonwoods.

  Here and there, there are the ruins of historic ranches and other structures, such as the former Carroll Station, now little more than a little wooden frame house (it had been brought to the site from Lake Tahoe when the highway was built over the summit in 1924-25). The station once hosted a bar and a gas station.

  Up the road you can also see a couple of old stone buildings that are part of the Campbell Creek Ranch.

  At about 30 miles from the turnoff, the road crosses Smith Creek Valley, usually little more than a dry lakebed, before climbing over Railroad Pass (elevation 6,431 feet).

  To the south are the Shoshone Mountains, including North Shoshone Peak, which rises 10,313 feet. The air here is clean and fresh. In the spring, it’s often possible to see colorful fields of wildflowers.

  The route drifts south of the newer Highway 50 through the Reese River Valley. The view is gorgeous, with the snow-capped Toiyabe Mountains to the southeast and the broad Reese River Valley stretching out north and south for as far as you can see.

  The old highway crosses the Reese River, which during most years is more deserving of being called a creek. Ahead is Austin’s airport, a dirt landing strip with a windsock and a couple of small buildings.

  Throughout this valley, you can occasionally find cows wandering across the road and milling about the shoulders.

  About three miles west of Austin, State Route 722 re-merges with U.S. 50 and the side trip is over. You immediately miss the loneliness and almost want to turn around to do it again, just to see how things look from the other direction.

Cool Cars on Display at Don Laughlin's Classic Car Collection and Museum in Laughlin

 

Rare Muntz automobile in Don Laughlin's Car Collection Museum
 in Laughlin, NV (Photo courtesy of Travel Nevada/Sydney Martinez)

  Laughlin casino owner Don Laughlin enjoys old cars. In fact, he likes them so much that he’s collected dozens of them, many of which he displays in two showrooms at his Riverside Resort and Casino.

  The Laughlin Classic Car Collection includes more than 80 antique and collectible automobiles, many of which are owned by the casino magnate—who is the namesake for the Southern Nevada community of Laughlin—and some of which are on loan from other collectors.

  The Laughlin collection, however, is a bit different from car museums like Reno’s National Automobile Museum or the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan in that many of the autos on display are for sale.

  Indeed, as you enter either of the two exhibit areas at the Riverside you can pick up a copy of a newsletter that lists about 17 of the classic vehicles that you’re about to view, which you can take home for the right price.

  Additionally, Laughlin is continually rotating the cars on display—it’s said he has access to about 150 different vehicles—so you’ll find a different combination of cars each time you tour the collection.

  Laughlin’s two exhibit halls encompass more than 30,000 square feet and are climate controlled in order to preserve the valuable cars on display.

  The first exhibit space, located adjacent to the Riverside’s main valet entrance on the ground floor, serves as a kind of teaser for the collection. Here you can view a variety of desert racing machines—equipped to handle nearly any kind of desert terrain.

  The main showroom on the third floor of the resort’s South Tower is where you find the most valuable cars. In this hall, nearly 50 cars and motorcycles are jammed into nearly every available square foot.

  Wandering through the collection, you might spot cars ranging from a beautifully restored-to-factory-specifications 1930 Ford Model A to a cherry 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.

  Interpretive signs on many of the cars describe what’s special about them. For instance, the collection boasts a rare four-seat 1952 Muntz Jet. This sleek, red auto was the creation of a TV and electronics sales pitchman, who went by the name, “Madman” Muntz.

  In the early 1950s, Muntz decided to expand his business to include automobiles and developed the Muntz Jet, which incorporated a Cadillac engine.

  The streamlined car proved fairly popular—he sold 374 of them in less than a year. Unfortunately, he priced the vehicle at $5,500 each but his costs exceeded $6,500 apiece. Within a few months he had lost about $400,000 and was forced to shut down his operation and ceased production of the Muntz.

  Another car on display has an equally interesting story. Described on a sign as a 1937 Hudson 8 Boattail Speedster, this beautiful, aerodynamic vehicle was actually constructed in the 1980s from vintage Hudson parts.

  According to the display, despite its clearly 1930s appearance, the Hudson 8 was concocted by artist Gunner Lindstrom in 1984 as part of a series of drawings entitled “Hudson’s That Never Were.”

  Car collector Bill Albright was so impressed with the designs that he cobbled together a dead ringer for the never-made Hudson 8 using vintage Hudson parts and pieces.

  Many of the cars are just fascinating to look at. For instance, there’s a marvelous 1930s-era Cord, boasting shiny chrome pipes coming out of the hood, as well as a very elegant 1941 Hollywood Graham, which in addition to looking cool has a fast six cylinder, super-charged engine.

  One of the oldest cars in the collection is a beautifully-restored, bright yellow 1915 Ford Speedster, that looks ready to hit the road.

  Yet another intriguing car in the collection is a reproduction of a 1936 Auburn convertible. This powerful, chrome-accented roadster combines the classic styling of the original Auburn with modern amenities like power windows and air-conditioning.

  The first floor of the Laughlin Classic Car Collection is open Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.

  The larger third- floor exhibition hall is open Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free with a King of Clubs Players’ Card or $3 without the card.

  For more information, go to http://www.riversideresort.com/don-laughlins-classic-car-museum/.

Finding Pioneer George C. Yount in California

   It was while growing up in the small town of St. Helena, in the middle of California’s Napa Valley, that I first heard the name, George C. Yount. In our local history classes, we were told Young was the first non-Native American to settle in the valley and, later, the town of Yountville was named after him.

   Later, I discovered he was a famous mountain man, guide and fur trapper who had joined an expedition led by William Wolfskill that, in 1830, had traveled from Santa Fe, New Mexico to the Mission San Gabriel in Southern California—a route that became part of the Old Spanish Trail and later, the Santa Fe Trail.

   During its travels, the group decided to follow the Virgin and Colorado rivers, then continuing west along the Mojave River. This route, however, had them only touch parts of the territory that would eventually become the state of Nevada.

   After the group arrived in California, it splintered, with Yount heading north. Along the way, he trapped sea otters on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, and traveled up the California coast to Sonoma.

   It was there, in 1834, that he encountered General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the governor of Northern California. He offered his services as a carpenter to the general and in return Vallejo gave him the first land grant in the Napa Valley. He established a homestead, which he named Ranch Caymus.

   In the years after receiving the grant, Yount built a blockhouse in which to live and a grist mill. A few years later, in 1843, he received a second land grant, Rancho La Jota, on Howell Mountain north of Rancho Caymus, where he built a sawmill. With that grant, Yount owned a total of 16,341 acres in the Napa Valley.

   In 1855, Yount, who was famous for his hospitality to new settlers to the area, set aside land on which to establish a townsite, which was named Sebastopol, until it was discovered that another community in Sonoma County was already using that name. The town was later renamed Yountville in his honor.

   Yount was born in Burke County, North Carolina in 1794, but grew up in Missouri. He fought in the War of 1812 and in the Indian Wars, before embarking on the life of a mountain man. In 1818, Yount married Elizabeth (Eliza) Wilds, with whom he would have three children.

   The union was short-lived, however, with Yount more-or-less abandoning his family after deciding to pursue the life of a mountain man. She divorced him and later remarried.

   In 1855, Yount married a second time, to another woman named Elizabeth, and also called Eliza. By all accounts, Eliza was a shrewd businesswoman who helped her husband with legal matters, including fighting the many squatters who sought to homestead on his land.

   In October 1865, George Yount died in his home at the age of 71.

   It was with such knowledge in mind that I recently sought to find Yount’s final resting place. For years, I had driven around Yountville, seeing the signs for his grave, but never bothered to visit it.

   So, I followed the signs this time, which led me to the aptly-named George C. Yount Pioneer Cemetery and Ancient Indian Burial Grounds. Established in 1848 as a native burial-grounds, the cemetery at Jackson Street and Washington Street in Yountville is a peaceful cluster of new and old headstones monuments commemorating many of the area’s pioneer citizens. Adjacent is a large vineyard that spreads over a small hill.

   Yount’s grave is easy to find—again just follow the signs. It’s an impressive white marble obelisk on a carved base, surrounded by an elegant short, wrought-iron fence. Additionally, as you walk through the cemetery, which has some 949 graves, including members of the Wappo tribe, which predates Yount’s arrival, and Civil War veterans.

   For more information, go to the Napa County Historical Society’s page on Yount, https://napahistory.org/george-yount/.