Murals Illustrate Ely's Rich History

 

Ely's Murals

    In Ely, Nevada, the building walls tell stories.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   A few of the other murals on the tour include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Washoe County Ghost Town of Flanigan Melts Into Memory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Comstock Firemen's Museum is Hot Commodity in Virginia City

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carson City's Kit Carson Trail Continues to Thrive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Austin's Venerable Reese River Reveille Returns

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  It’s definitely worth checking out.

Whatever Happened to Harrah's Auto World?

Harrah's Auto Collection in the 1970s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   But Harrah’s Auto World was not to be.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visiting the White Hoodoos of Remote McCann Canyon

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  This is the real Nevada.