Old Sacramento Reveals the Capital City's Roots But With a Modern Flavor

   One of the best things about the Old Sacramento State Historic District in California’s Capital City is the history isn’t flat and static, like looking at an old map, but alive and present.

   That’s because Old Sacramento, while largely retaining its historic appearance and character, has managed to blend that past with more modern uses. The restored and reclaimed buildings may have originally been built in the mid-19th century, but the businesses inside each are contemporary.

   As a result, Old Sacramento has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Sacramento area, attracting more than five million visitors a year and offering fine restaurants, quaint bars, and plenty of shopping.

   Couple that with special events, like the annual Sacramento Music Festival and Gold Rush Days, as well as attractions like the California State Railroad Museum and the Sacramento History Museum, and there is a plenty to do in this reconstruction/recreation of the original Sacramento waterfront area.

   The city of Sacramento traces its beginnings to 1839, when entrepreneur John Sutter, arrived at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers. Offered a land grant for the area by the Mexican government that controlled most of the present-day state of California, Sutter built an imposing wooden and stucco fort (called Sutter’s Fort, naturally) and began making plans to establish a community around the fort.

   The discovery of gold in 1848 in the nearby Sierra foothills served as the stimulus for creating the city of Sacramento. While Sutter’s Fort was located a few miles from the Sacramento River, a commercial district soon cropped up near the river to serve those rushing into the area to get rich.

   Among the earliest merchants was Sam Brannan, who would eventually become the state’s first millionaire.

   Despite being a great location for trade and commerce, Sacramento’s waterfront district was prone to fires and, in 1850 and 1852, devastating floods. In response, in 1853, the fledgling city embarked on an ambitious project to raise its business district above the flood level.

   When the first attempt to build a foundation that would withstand flooding failed in 1862, the city dumped additional thousands of cubic yards of earth to raise the street level even more.

   Today, visitors can see the original level of the area beneath Old Sacramento’s boardwalks and in the building basements.

   During the first half of the 20th century, as the city of Sacramento expanded to the east, the original commercial district was neglected and began a slow decline. By the 1950s, the area was known as the worst skid row on the West Coast.

   In response, starting in the mid-1960s, the city of Sacramento began redeveloping the area and created the first historic district in the West. Eventually, an area encompassing 53 historic buildings spread over 28 acres were registered as a national and state historic landmark district.

   The concept was to create a kind of Williamsburg of the West with authentic-looking restored, preserved, and reconstructed structures. Today, that idea has sprouted with vendors dressed in period costumes and rides offered on horse-drawn carriages consistent with the 19th century.

   Among the noteworthy structures found today in Old Sacramento are:

   • The B.F. Hastings Building, built in 1852, which served as the western terminal for the Pony Express and was the first location of the California Supreme Court.

   • The Big Four House, originally three separate buildings erected between 1851-52, which served as the offices for the four individuals responsible for constructing the Central Pacific Railroad (Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker, known collectively as the “Big Four.”

   • The D.O. Mills Bank Building, built in 1852

   • Sacramento Engine Company No. 3, built in 1853, and the oldest standing firehouse in Sacramento.

   A good place to begin any exploration of Old Sacramento is the Sacramento Visitor’s Center at 1000 2nd Street in Old Sacramento (http://sachistorymuseum.org/sacramento-visitors-center/).

   To reach Old Sacramento, head west of Reno on Interstate 80 to Sacramento. Exit on J Street, then take 3rd Street to the Capitol Mall and Old Sacramento.

   For more information about Old Sacramento, go to: https://www.oldsacramento.com/.

Exploring California's Most Authentic Chinese Town: Locke

 

      Few places can claim a fascinating history like the tiny community of Locke, located about 30 miles south of Sacramento in the Sacramento Delta region.

   Founded in 1915, Locke is the only town in the U.S. built exclusively by the Chinese for Chinese. The community was established after Chinese residents in the nearby town of Walnut Grove lost their homes in a fire.

   A group of Chinese merchants led by a man named Lee Bing approached landowner George Locke to construct a settlement on his property. Locke, who had leased a few acres to other Chinese in 1912, agreed to lease ten to twelve acres of his pear orchard to the merchants (at that time Chinese could not legally own land in California).

   Chinese architects laid out a town with some 60 buildings, which was built over the next five years. It was originally called Lockeport, which was later shortened to Locke.

   During the 1920s and 30s, Locke thrived as a kind of wide-open town that was popular with local farm workers attracted by its gambling halls, saloons, opium dens and brothels as well as its more legitimate businesses like grocery stores, boarding houses, bakeries, herb shops and fish markets.

   By the 1940s, Locke reached its peak with an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 residents. Since then, the town has gradually faded as many of the younger Chinese began to move away. Today, about 100 people still live in Locke, although Chinese-Americans are no longer the majority.

   The streets of Locke are fascinating to explore. The aged wooden buildings are packed closely together with tiny passageways leading to hidden doorways. Be sure to check out the Locke Boarding House Museum, a unit of the California State Park system, which offers historical displays about the community.

   Other buildings worth exploring include the Locke Chinese School, built in 1915, was originally constructed by members of the Kao Ming Tong or Chinese Nationalist Party founded by Dr. Sun Yet Sen. Between 1926 and 1940, it was used as a school to teach the Chinese language to local children.

   From the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, it again served as a Chinese language, arts and culture school. Today, it is a museum open Friday (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) as well as Saturday and Sunday (11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). For more information about the school go to: http://www.locke-foundation.org/locke-museums/locke-chinese-school-museum/.

   In 1970, the entire town of Locke was added to the National Register of Historic Places and efforts have continued to find ways to preserve the unique but aging community.

   Perhaps ironically, the most popular restaurant in this Chinese town is Al's Place (or, as locals affectionately call it, "Al the Wop's"), which does not serve Chinese food. This cult restaurant is perhaps Locke's best-known establishment and serves up legendary steak sandwiches for lunch and steak and pasta dinners at night.

   The restaurant was Locke's first non-Chinese business and was founded by Al Adami, a local bootlegger who acquired the building in 1934. The place is reminiscent of many of Nevada's Basque restaurants in that customers are served several courses family-style at long communal tables and rarely go away hungry.

   For more information about Locke, go to: https://www.nps.gov/places/locke-historic-district.htm or https://sacramentovalley.org/stories/the-delta-town-of-locke-a-hidden-historic-gem/.

The Stokes' Family's Unusual Summer Castle

   One of the oddest structures in rural Nevada is the stone tower near Austin known as Stokes Castle. Built of native rock and wood, the tower is a three-story square-shaped building overlooking the Reese River Valley that was erected by wealthy businessman Anson Phelps Stokes for his son, John Graham Phelps Stokes (often referred to as J.G. Phelps Stokes), who was managing his mining and railroad operations in the area.

   The elder Stokes, part of the wealth Dodge Phelps clan, had made a fortune as an East Coast merchant and in banking, land development, mining and railroads. During that time, informally known as the Gilded Age, the Stokes family was part of the “Four Hundred,” a list of the cream of New York society.

   Befitting their wealth, the family owned a compound of three mansions (lived in by different family members) on Madison Avenue and 37th Street in Manhattan. The three brownstones were later purchased by banker J.P. Morgan.

   Anson Stokes first invested in Central Nevada with his acquisition of the unbuilt Nevada Central Railroad (NCRR) in 1879. Under Stokes guidance, the railroad, which ran between Battle Mountain and Austin, was completed in 1880.

   During the next few years, Anson Stokes and his son, J.G. Phelps Stokes invested heavily in mining properties in Austin and other parts of the state.

   Unfortunately for the NCRR, Austin’s silver production began to decline within a few years after the railroad line opened. By 1887, most the mines closed, although there were periodic revivals in later years.

   Despite the declining profitability of the NCRR, J.G. Phelps Stokes assumed the role of president of the railroad in 1898.

   A year earlier was when Anson Stokes decided to build the structure that would be known as Stokes Castle. In April 1897, work began on grading a 2,900-foot-long road to the site of the castle, on a flat part of the mountain overlooking the Reese River Valley.

   According to records, work on the building started in late April and completed in mid-June. The structure, originally only two-stories, was built using some 800-tons of locally-quarried granite and mortar.

   Construction was largely done by a local master stonemason named John C. Worley, who also worked on St. George’s Episcopal Church in Austin (completed in 1878) and the main house of the O’Toole Ranch in the Reese River Valley (in about 1904).

   Upon visiting the castle for the first time in late June 1897, Anson Stokes decided to add a third story to the structure, which was completed shortly after. Each story in the castle was a single room with a fireplace and small windows.

   Wooden balconies supported by iron railroad supports were constructed on the second and third floors and an awning was stretched over the roof. Entry was via a single doorway on the first floor.

   Stokes, who designed the tower himself, based it on a painting of a tower in the Roman Campagna (the countryside around Rome) that hung in the library of his New York home.

   By all accounts, Anson Stokes built the castle as a summer home for his son to use when visiting the area. J.G. Phelps Stokes and a handful of his friends apparently only stayed at the castle on a handful of occasions in late 1897 and 1898.

   Unfortunately for the Stokes family, in 1898, they discovered that one of their Nevada business associates had embezzled $300,000 from them, which caused them to sell off their Austin mining properties including the castle.

   From the turn of the century until the 1950s, the castle was largely neglected. In the late 1950s, apparently a Las Vegas promoter attempted to purchase the structure to move it to Las Vegas but those plans were foiled when a prominent local rancher/political figure, Molly Flagg Knudtsen (she was the first female member of the University of Nevada Board of Regents) purchased it so it would remain in place and be preserved.

   In 2003, Stokes Castle was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is currently owned and maintained by an Austin-area resident. While the tower itself is fenced-off, visitors today can still visit to admire the workmanship and enjoy the fantastic views.

   For more information about Stokes Castle, go to: https://travelnevada.com/historical-interests/stokes-castle/.

The Amargosa Valley Sand Dunes are a World of Their Own

   It’s easy to see why the Amargosa Dunes might seem like they’re located at the end of the world. Lying about 100 miles north of Las Vegas, the barren sandy mound of sand, which is more than a mile and a half long, appears at first glance to be almost devoid of life.

   But, like many places in Nevada, that initial impression doesn’t reveal the whole story.

   The Amargosa Dunes, in fact, are one of Nevada’s most unique ecosystems. The area, also known as Big Dune, rises to more than 300 feet at its highest point. And, like Sand Mountain near Fallon and Crescent Dunes near Tonopah, Big Dune “sings.”

   Scientists believe there are only about 30 dunes in the world that emit sound—and Nevada has three such locations. The noise, which some have compared to the low rumbling of an aircraft engine, is produced when the grains rub against each other, usually when cascading down the dune or in response to wind (it can also manifest as a loud booming noise).

   Big Dune is also home to four rare species of beetles, including the Giuliani’s Big Dune Scarab Beetle, the Large Aegialian Scarab Beetle, the Rulien’s Miloderes Weevil and the Big Dune Aphodius Scarab Beetle. To survive, the beetles rely on sand (which they burrow into) and native vegetation, which includes creosote bush, sandpaper plant, prickly poppy and astragalus. 

   The entire site, which spreads over about five miles (the sand dunes are consistently migrating) is known as the Amargosa Big Dune Recreation Area and is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

   Big Dune is also considered a sacred place for the Southern Paiute and Numic-speaking people that lived in the Mojave Desert, and is the subject of several of their legends.

   The origins of Big Dune can be traced to the presence of the Amargosa River in the region (which actually flows underground and under the dune today). Wind would blow excess small rock particles from a bend in the river, which over a great amount of time began to form into a mound.

   Archaeological evidence indicates that humans have been in the region for more than 10,000 years. The first non-native visitors to reach the valley most likely occurred in the 1830s, when, according to historian Richard Lingenfelter, eastern California horse thieves used it as a shortcut to link to the Old Spanish Trail.

   During the mid-to-late 1900s, the Amargosa area was largely a place traveled through by wagon trains (including an infamous 1849 party that named nearby Death Valley), prospectors, and surveying teams.

   During the late 19th century, Amargosa was largely the domain of small cattle operations (particularly in the Ash Meadows area). The first nearby settlements began to appear in the early 20th century following the completion of the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad and the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad.

   More recently, Big Dune has become a popular recreation site for off-road vehicles. Because of the presence of the rare beetle species, drivers are encouraged to stick to established routes.

   Big Dune lies at the northern part of Amargosa Valley, about 10 miles south of Beatty. Turn south at the Amargosa Farm sign and continue for about 2.5 miles. There is a parking turnout here where you can park and avoid getting stuck in the sand. Bring water and food (and sunscreen!) because the area has no services in the immediate area.

   For more information, go to: www.blm.gov/visit/big-dune-0 or https://travelnevada.com/off-roading/amargosa-big-dune/.

Exploring Pyramid Lake's Tufa Formations

  One of the aspects that helps to make Pyramid Lake so special is its tufa rock formations. In fact, the lake’s namesake 500-foot high Pyramid Rock is made of the material.

  The 125,000-acre lake, located 33 miles north of Reno, has long been a sacred place for the native Northern Paiute people, who have inhabited its shores for tens of thousands of years. The lake is the central part of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribes Reservation.

  According to tribal histories, the distinctive pyramid rock at the lake’s southeastern shore represents the spearhead of the Great Father, who thrust it upward to ward off a long drought.

  But the pyramid-shaped mound is only one of a number of unusual stone shapes formed from tufa rock, which is a reminder of the area’s volcanic origins. Tufa rock, in fact, is created when calcium-filled springs gurgle up through salty, carbonate water. The chemical bonding of the two results in the creation of a limestone-like substance.

  Formations, such as those found around Pyramid Lake, are the result of a build-up of this tufa material while it is underwater. Once the water recedes and exposes the formations, they cease to grow.

  As if to put an accent on its fiery, geological roots, boiling water from natural hot springs pour from cracks in the pyramid at an estimated rate of two hundred gallons per minute. Additionally, hot springs around the lake (not open to the public) are another reflection of the area’s geothermal origin.

  The pyramid isn't the only unusual formation found on the southeast end of the lake. Nearly adjacent to the triangular rock, on the shore, are an extensive series of tufa forms that truly give the lake an otherworldly ambience.

  These include several tufa "bubbles," which are giant mushroom-shaped rocks that are hollow in the center, as if they collapsed when exposed to air.

  Additionally, just south of the bubble formations is "Great Stone Mother and Basket," a remarkable tufa rock mound that resembles a hooded Indian woman seated with an open basket lying next to her.

  One legend about the "Stone Mother" is that she was so filled with remorse when some of her children were driven away by her more-evil siblings, that she began to cry and filled the lake with her tears. Her basket remains empty, awaiting their return.

  The tufa formations on the eastern shore of Pyramid Lake, such as Stone Mother and the tufa bubbles, are closed to the public due to past vandalism and concerns about environmental degradation. But they can be viewed from a distance.

  A few of the tufa rocks that are open to the public include Popcorn Rock at the lake’s southern tip and Indian Head Rock on the southwestern shore.

  The lake is a popular recreation area for fishing, boating, jet-skiing, swimming, picnicking and camping. All of those activities require a tribal permit, so make certain to pick one up at the Ranger Station in Sutcliffe (https://pyramidlake.us/permits).

  A good place to learn about Pyramid Lake and the Paiute people is the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum and Visitors Center, located at 709 State Street in Nixon, just south of the lake. The museum is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

  For more information about Pyramid Lake go to http://www.pyramidlake.us/.

Permanent Wave Society Brings Amusing Art to Great Basin Visitors

  Anyone traveling on State Route 488, the road that leads from the tiny eastern Nevada town of Baker to Great Basin National Park, will quickly notice something peculiar along the way.

  In several spots beside the fence along the road are rustic forms of art, some with identifying signs. These unusual pieces are the work of a handful of local artisans who, collectively, are known as the Permanent Wave Society.

  

  The dozen or so displays—most built using discarded materials or junk—range from the ridiculous to the sublime. Many, such as the rusting hulk of a 1930s automobile called “Horse with No Name,” have tongue-in-cheek titles.

  The inspiration for this outdoor gallery was the late “Doc” Sherman, a Baker resident, who, in about 1997, attached an old glove to a fence post, where it appeared to wave to passing cars—hence the society’s name.

  “There was a fence post . . . there was the glove . . . and one thing led to another,” Sherman told Nevada writer/historian David W. Toll several years ago. “If you could put them all over the country you’d eliminate road rage. Everyone would be smiling, even on the LA freeways.”

  The project was said to be therapeutic for Sherman, who had been partially paralyzed by a stroke, but still desired to follow his artistic muse.

  Sherman soon added additional creations and was joined by other Baker residents, many of which were (and are) working artists. They, in turn, created their own works along the fence posts.

  Now known—with tongue-in-cheek—as “Post Impression Art,” the works include:

  • “Too Tall Tommy,” a faux gravesite that features two mannequin legs, gird with cowboy boots, protruding from the grave.

  • “Barb and Bob Wire,” two human-like stick figures made of barbed wire and wearing clothes.

  • “Anywhere But Here,” an unusual human-like figure made using a variety of plastic pipes and sporting a discarded George Forman Mean Lean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine for a head.

  • A visual pun—a wooden figure of a man who appears to be scrubbing a 2,000-pound weight. Its title is “Washington.”

  • A striking celestial painting with punched out round holes (not sure what it all means, but the holes allow the wind to pass through so the painting doesn’t get knocked over).

  • Several alien-like figures, including one sitting in a wheel chair and wearing a pith helmet.

  At one time there were more examples of this whimsical artwork along the road but in 2016, the Nevada Department of Transportation removed some of the larger pieces that were closer to the roadway because they were within the highway’s legal “clear zone,” an unobstructed area just off the pavement where a motorist can pull over.

  Despite the action, several of the works remain and continue to amuse passing drivers.

  Of course, the main attraction in the area is Great Basin National Park, which boasts Lehman Caves, groves of ancient Bristlecone Pines, and spectacular scenery. The town of Baker had gained a reputation in recent years for its dining, boasting four quality eateries including Sugar, Salt, and Malt, 487 Grill, Sandra’s Mexican Food and the Great Basin Café.

  For more information about the Permanent Wave Society, go to: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/permanent-wave-society. For more information about Baker and Great Basin National Park, go to: https://travelnevada.com/cities/baker/.

More Frontier Fake News! Historic Tall Tales About Walker Lake's Giant Sea Serpents

 

   The idea that giant monster serpents reside in the waters of Walker Lake is an old one. One of the earliest mentions of some kind of strange Loch Ness-type creature plying the waters of Walker Lake appeared in the Walker Lake Bulletin in August 1883.

   Beneath the headline, “The Sea Serpent in Walker Lake,” the paper noted that “in former times” the native Paiute people traditionally suspended their dead on pliable willow boughs that were placed on the lake’s shoreline.

   However, after the settlement of the town of Hawthorne by white settlers, the dead began to mysteriously disappear. “It was thought to be the work of the encroaching and barbarous pale faces,” the article noted.

   But about a year ago, two tribal members were fishing at the north end of Walker Lake when they “were startled at seeing an immense sea serpent, with the regulation saucer-shaped eyes and barrel-shaped head, rising out of the water, and after lashing its tail in sport until the water for miles around was turned into a sea of seething foam, suddenly, with a loud hissing sound, disappear.”

   The story continued that the next morning another group of Paiutes camping in the forest at the end of the lake were unexpectedly awakened by a “horrible, soul-shrinking screech.” The members of the party looked out into the lake and witnessed two large serpent-like creatures apparently fighting over the body of a deceased child who had been placed on boughs along the lake.

   The creatures fought for some time and when it ended, one of them was badly injured and the other snatched the body and disappeared into the lake. The wounded creature tried to crawl away but was killed by the arrows of the Paiutes.

   The native people then took the remains and gave them to a man named Charley Kimball, a local businessman who owned several enterprises including a saloon (The Capitol) and a local cabinet of curiosities or oddities museum. It added that because the serpents appear to enjoy consuming the dead, the Paiutes would in the future burn or bury their deceased.

   As for Kimball, the story said he turned down an offer from a rival businessman for the serpent’s skeleton, which, it claimed “measures just exactly seventy-nine feet, seven inches in length.” It concluded by nothing that Kimball was going to head out to Walker Lake with a pair of local Paiutes to try to capture the other serpent.

   Sightings of the Walker Lake sea serpents seemed to fade away for several decades before resurfacing in 1907. In a newspaper story that appeared in the Sacramento Bee in July (as well as in several other papers around the country), a Goldfield miner named Dan Cornelison claimed that he and a companion, John McCorry, were fishing in the lake when they sighted a “monster sea serpent” near the north shore.

   Cornelison said he initially thought the object was a capsized boat but upon rowing closer he saw it was a creature that measured about thirty feet in length and six-feet across the back.

   The story also cited a third man, named Peters, who said he had come upon the creature “reposing in shallow water near the shore and on being aroused disappeared in deeper water.”

   About a month later, in August 1907, the Reno Reveille reported that the president of Stanford University, David Star Jordan, who was considered the foremost expert on prehistoric fish, would be mounting an expedition to try to capture the mysterious creature in order to present it to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

   While nothing apparently came of this, the sea monster was back in the news two years later with additional sightings that were reported in the Reno Evening Gazette.

   In 1914, however, the Gazette published an article about Alf McCarthy, brother of Dennis McCarthy, onetime owner of Virginia City’s Territorial Enterprise and the longtime owner of the Walker River Bulletin, that appeared to blow the lid off the sea serpent sightings.

   In the story, Frank J. Kinghorn, a former Assembly member from Mineral County and friend of McCarthy’s said, “Alf McCarthy is the greatest bunch of contradiction ever assembled in a human frame.

   “As publisher of facts and reputed facts, he is absolutely truthful and fearless,” Kinghorn continued. “As the originator of the Walker Lake sea serpent story, he is the most colossal faker that ever crossed the pike.”

   Not wanting to let the story—regardless of whether it was true or not—go away, in 1918 the Gazette shared a story from the Tonopah Daily Times claiming the serpent had been seen again.

   “Every once in a while, some fisherman or Indian tells a tale of having seen the monster, until it has now become the stock yarn of the natives of the vicinity,” the Gazette added. “The best fire-water legends have it that there is a subterranean channel from Walker Lake to the ocean through which this monster travels to throw scares into unfortunate fishermen.”

   More than a decade later, in August 1929, the Nevada State Journal added its own skepticism to the story. In a short article about prohibition agents raiding a brewery in Hawthorne, the paper said with more than a little snideness, “To see the serpent now one will have to carry his own vision-inducing liquids with him when visiting the lake.”

   Harsh.