The Loneliest Schoolhouse in Nevada

   It’s difficult to imagine what a typical school day might have been like for the students studying in the old-room school house located in the remote settlement of Elgin, Nevada.

   Tucked into Lincoln County’s Meadow Valley Wash in eastern Nevada, the Elgin area was first settled by ranchers in the 1870s. In 1880, a man named James Bradshaw homesteaded a ranch at the lower end of nearby Rainbow Canyon.

   Initially, the small ranches strung along the wash had little need for a school because there were not many children. But that changed after 1903, when the Salt Lake, San Pedro and Los Angeles Railroad built its line through Rainbow Canyon.

   According to the Nevada Division of State Parks (NSP), the railroad established small communities about every five miles along the route, known as “sidings,” where the train could stop to pick up freight or passengers. At many of these sidings, a small depot with various services was built.

   The presence of the railroad brought more people to the region and, eventually, more children, including in the area that became known as Elgin.

   By the late 19th century, the closest school to Elgin was in Panaca, which was 36 miles north. In 1903, a school was established near Kershaw Canyon, but that was also too far for those residing in the lower Rainbow Canyon/Meadow Valley Wash area.

   Two years later, a school was built in Caliente and the Meadow Valley School District was formed. Elgin residents coalesced to start their own school and in the early years the students met in an outbuilding on a ranch.

   In 1921, the district finally had sufficient funds to build a schoolhouse in Elgin and James Bradshaw donated seven acres of his ranch for the building. His son, Rueben, built a one-room, wooden schoolhouse, which opened a year later.

   Two years later, the school was expanded when a small apartment was added to the rear of the building to provide lodging for a teacher. According to the NSP, “after this, finding teachers was never a problem, since the teacher was well paid and housing was provided—but every few years a new teacher would have to be recruited since the young female teachers often  married local ranchers’ sons.”

   Despite its small size, the Elgin Schoolhouse, which housed students for grades one through eight, remained in use until 1967, when the school district finally acquired buses to transport children in the district to schools in Caliente and Panaca.

   After that, the schoolhouse converted to private ownership of the Bradshaw family and, eventually, was turned into a private residence for a family member.

   By the 1980s, the school building was vacant and beginning to deteriorate. In 1998, the Bradshaw family restored the old schoolhouse and offered it to the Nevada Division of State Parks in 2005.

   In July of that year, the school and surrounding area, including vintage playground equipment, was designated an official Nevada State Historic Site, which it remains today.

   Visitors to the site will also find an historic Union Pacific caboose on display. Inside, the school still boasts antique desks, books and chalkboards. The site is open to the public on the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is a $3 admission fee. For more information, go to: https://parks.nv.gov/parks/elgin-schoolhouse.

Carson City-Based Writer Stephen H. Provost Has Found His Muse in Nevada

 

   Stephen H. Provost is a prolific writer. Very prolific. A former newspaper reporter and editor in California, Provost, who now resides in Carson City with his wife, Sharon (who is also a writer and editor), has written or co-written at least 50 books, most of which are published through his Capital City-based company, Dragon Crown Books.

   His works span various genres from travel-history and biographical non-fiction to horror, science-fiction, and fantasy in the fiction realm. He and his wife are also two of the hardest-working publishers in the state, who sell their books at dozens of festivals, craft fairs, conferences, and author events throughout Nevada and California.

   Provost’s non-fiction Nevada books include “America’s Loneliest Road: U.S. 50 and the Lincoln Highway in Nevada” and “Victory Road: U.S. 40 and the Victory Highway in Nevada and the West” as well as several books about historic communities (“Carson City Century” and “Goldfield Century”).

   He has also written a pair of book about Virginia City, “The Comstock Chronicles: Sagebrush, Silver, and the Rise of Virginia City,” “Virginia City Then & Now,” as well as several focusing on Mark Twain’s time in that community, “Mark Twain’s Nevada: Samuel Clemens in the Silver State” and “The Adventures of Mark Twain in Nevada” (a children’s book).

   The Silver State has also been the setting for several short story collections and anthologies he has published, including, “Nevada Nightmare’s Eve: Tales Mined from the Depths of Horror,” “Nevada Nightmares Vol. 1 and Vol. 2,” “The ACES Anthology 2023: Stories and Poems from Northern Nevada,” and “The ACES Anthology 2024: Tales from Northern Nevada.”

   The latter four anthologies are collections of short stories containing not only his work and that of his wife but of more than a dozen other Nevada writers such as Bill Brown, Michael Falciani, Janice Oberding, Ken Sutherland, Angela Laverghetta and, in the interest of being completely transparent, several of my short stories.

   In other words, Provost has found Nevada to be fertile ground for his writing.

   For example, in one of his more recent works, the “Comstock Chronicles,” released in late 2024, Provost retraces the story of Virginia City chronologically, incorporating factual and anecdotal history in a way that makes reading the information both fun and enlightening.

   He writes in an engaging style that avoids being dry or boring and incorporates historic images, including photos and from period newspapers, to illustrate the many stories he shares.

   Another of his Nevada non-fiction books, “Goldfield Century,” offers a similar chronological summary of the history of the one-time “Queen of the Mining Camps.” Again, he deftly weaves historic details with fun and entertaining ghost stories, legends and local folklore.

   His “America’s Loneliest Road” book begins at the Utah state line at Baker, Nevada, and tells the story of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental highway, which roughly paralleled U.S. 50 across Nevada.

   He shares the various details of the route, including historic accounts and reports of what was needed to make the journey, and describes the historic communities through which the Loneliest Road travels, such as Ely, Eureka, Austin, and Fallon.

   The Provost family (both Stephen and Sharon) of books can be found for sale on Amazon or through the more than four dozen bookstores listed on his company website, https://www.dragoncrownbooks.com/bookshops.

   For more information, go to: https://www.stephenhprovost.com/.

The Pre-Gilded Age Comes Alive at Virginia City's Mackay Mansion

 Virginia City’s version of the Gilded Age (actually pre-Gilded Age) can be viewed at the historic Mackay Mansion. Built in 1860 by George Hearst, a mining millionaire who made his fortune by being one of the first successful prospectors to work the Comstock Lode after the initial discovery in 1859, the three-story, brick building was one of the community’s finest structures.

   Hearst, who went on to establish one of the world’s largest newspaper and magazine empires, originally constructed the impressive building to serve as a combination office-private residence for his Gould & Savage Silver Mining Company.

   After Hearst moved on to other endeavors, John Mackay acquired the mine as well as the home-office. Mackay was one of Virginia City’s so-called Silver Kings, a quartet of Irish-American investors who became extremely wealthy from investing in Comstock mines in the 1870s.

   Mackay and partner James Fair moved into the house following the Great Fire of 1875, which destroyed nearly all of Virginia City including Mackay’s primary residence.

   Fair soon relocated to other quarters but Mackay, who enjoyed Virginia City, lived in the house whenever he was in town (his wife, who didn’t care much for life in a mining community, spent much of her time living in Europe).

   Mackay, who earned an estimated $100 million from his mining properties in Virginia City, lived on and off in the house until the 1880s, when his mines began to play out. He eventually moved to England, where he pursued other business interests including laying the first transcontinental telegraph cable between Europe and America.

   The Victorian mansion had several owners over the next few decades and  has been fairly well maintained over the years. Even today, the home offers a remarkable glimpse into Virginia City’s rich and colorful past.

   Inside, the mansion still has elegant crystal and silver chandeliers, French tapestries, Belgian carpets and mirrors sparkling with diamond dust—all appropriate for the home of a Silver King.

   During one of the guided tours of the mansion, which are available throughout the year, visitors enter through the former mining office, which still has the original office vault—who knows how many ounces of silver and gold were once stored there—and displays of 19th century Comstock mining artifacts.

   From the office, the tour passes through a small entryway and heads into the elegant Grand Parlor. This substantial room is filled with original Victorian furnishings such as an overstuffed sofa, marble tables and rich velvet draperies.

   An ornate fireplace of English oak begs for a cozy fire, while a 19th century James Broadwood & Sons piano, imported from London, seems to be waiting for someone to sit and play.

   From the parlor, the tour heads up unique Italian hanging stairs to the former bedrooms (since the house is built on a hill, you actually entered on the second floor).

   The bedrooms are decorated in Victorian style, with Mackay’s mahogany desk, his marble-topped chest of drawers and simple but elegant bed. Adjacent is Fair’s former room, which contains elaborately carved marble and oak furnishings.

   Perhaps the most interesting upstairs room is the commode, which still offers a lead tub, encased in carved mahogany.

   The ground floor of the house contains the Silver Room, which is a dining area that contains a large silver chandelier as well as a massive carved English oak table and chairs (seating for at least a dozen people), an elegant fireplace and beautiful wooden trim.

   Beyond the Silver Room is the kitchen and pantry, which are still filled with Mackay’s fine china, which dates to the 1870s.

   In addition to the historic house visitors can wander the grounds of the mansion. Its lush, green gardens are popular for weddings.

   The Mackay Mansion is located at 129 South D Street in Virginia City. Guided tours of the fabulous home are offered throughout the year (Sunday and Saturday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. during the winter; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday/10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday during the summer). There is an admission charge. For more information, go to: https://www.therealmackaymansion.com/tours or call 775-847-0156.

Once-Famous Celebrities Who Have Found Their Final Resting Places in Nevada

Muhammad Ali Knocking Out Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship.

   As home to plenty of well-known entertainers and sports figures, it is no surprise that through the years Nevada has been the final resting place for a number of deceased celebrities.

   In fact, the web site, findagrave.com, lists some 79 “somewhat famous” individuals who have been laid to rest in the Silver State.

   The list ranges from easily recognizable names like actor Tony Curtis, who died in 2010 and is buried in Henderson’s Palm Memorial Park, to once-famous but now nearly forgotten folks such as notorious baseball pitcher Robert “Bo” Belinsky.

   The latter was a promising fire-baller, who threw a no-hit game his rookie year in 1962, but ultimately became more famous for his womanizing and drinking than for his pitching (his career record was 28-51 when he retired after only 8 years). Belinsky, who died in 2001, is interred in Davis Memorial Park in Las Vegas.

   Other deceased celebrities (many of whom have grown more obscure with the passage of time) that are buried in Nevada include:

   • Actress Reno Browne (born Josephine Ruth Clarke in Reno in 1921), who in the late 1940s was a successful western movie actress. Brown, who also performed under the name Reno Blair, was married for a time to cowboy actor Lash LaRue and appeared in 14 western films in the 1940s and 50s. She apparently broke into movies as an extra in several films shot in the Reno area, then moved to Hollywood and worked as a trick rider and stuntwoman. In the late 1940s, she was the star of a short-lived radio program, “Reno Rides the Range,” and, in the early 1950s, had her own comic book (it lasted 3 issues). She retired to Reno, where she died in 1991 and is buried.

   • Tennis star Ricardo “Pancho” Gonzales (1928-1995), who is also buried at Palm Memorial Park. Gonzales won consecutive U.S. Championships in 1947-48 and was one of the most dominant men’s tennis players during the 1950s and early 60s. For many years, he worked as a tennis coach at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

   • Actor and director Jules Irving (1924-1979), who directed one of the first major TV mini-series, “Rich Man, Poor Man,” is buried in the Masonic Memorial Gardens in Reno. Irving was co-founder and co-director of the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop and later artistic director of the Lincoln Center’s Repertory Theater and experimental forum.

   • Boxer Charles “Sonny” Liston (1932-1970), who was World Heavyweight Champion from 1962 to 1964, is interred at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas (planes taking off and landing at McCarran Airport fly overhead). Liston, who had a professional boxing record of 50-4, lost his crown to Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali).

   • Pop singer Guy Mitchell (1927-1999), whose real name was Albert Cernak), had 40 hit records in the 1950s, including million sellers like “My Heart Cries for You,” “The Roving Kind” and “Heartaches by the Number.” His career tapered off in the 1960s with the rise of rock-n-roll but he continued to perform around the world and in Las Vegas. Mitchell died of complications during surgery in 1999 and was cremated at the Palm Mortuary in downtown Las Vegas.

   • “Colonel” Tom Parker (1909-1997), Elvis’ controversial manager and promoter, is buried at Palm Memorial Park in Las Vegas. Parker moved to Las Vegas in the early 1970s, living for many years in a suite of rooms at the Las Vegas Hilton. In 1985, he moved into Country Club Towers and continued to work as an entertainment consultant for the Hilton until his death.

   • Comedian and actor Redd Foxx (1922-1991), whose real name was John Elroy Sanford, starred in the 1970s hit TV show, “Sanford and Son.” Foxx was also laid to rest at Palm Memorial in Las Vegas. In the 1950s and 60s, Foxx became a successful but controversial comedian, who tested the limits when it came to off-color content. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he appeared in Las Vegas showrooms as well as several TV programs and films and died while rehearsing for a new show.

   • Western performer Cuba Island Crutchfield (1891-1969), who toured around the world with Buffalo Bill Cody’s western shows in the early 20th century, is buried in Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City. Crutchfield was recognized as one of the world’s greatest trick ropers—his trademark routine was to spin a 100-foot lasso around the entire cast of the western show—and appeared alongside Annie Oakley, Harry Houdini and Will Rogers. The latter, in fact, was said to be a distant cousin. Crutchfield moved to Reno in 1927 and retired to a life of ranching.

 

Big Boots and Giant Sheep Help Highlight Community Arts Throughout Nevada

   Since 1999, when a Chicago businessman helped create the popular “Cows on Parade” public art project in the Windy City (which itself was based on an earlier public art effort in Zurich, Switzerland), dozens of cities across America have concocted similar public art installations involving various fiber glass animal statues.

   For example, Milwaukee had “Beasties” (whimsical four-legged creatures created by a local artist), while Racine, Wisconsin had bears, Macomb, Illinois had bulldogs, Atlanta had dolphins, Salt Lake City had bison and Seattle had pigs. Typically, the large statues are painted or decorated by local artists who are sponsored by local businesses.

   The craze has also inspired a number of Nevada communities to develop their own animals on parade public art projects, with the best-known ones being the “Counting Sheep” project sponsored by Reno’s Artown in 2005, and Elko’s “Centennial Boots” public art installation created for that community’s 100th anniversary in 2017.

   “Counting Sheep” involved 25 fiberglass bighorn sheep that were painted by Nevada-based artists and placed around Reno for a limited time. One of the statues, “Nevada Lambscape,” was painted by Lake Tahoe landscape artist Phyllis Shafer. The work, which remains on permanent display in the McKinley Arts & Culture Center in Reno, depicts the wide Nevada landscape across the body of the sheep with legs covered with sagebrush.

   Other sheep that were on display included artist Tim Guthrie’s “Dirty Harry Downwinder,” a bighorn sheep with an atomic mushroom cloud exploding from its back, Zoltan Janvary’s “False Idol,” with its gambling imagery serving as a warning for those who worship winning, and Darcie Park’s “Rodeo Ram,” a bighorn sheep hobby horse complete with a saddle and American flag blanket.

   Elko’s “Centennial Boots” project is ongoing, with new boots appearing periodically in the northeastern Nevada city (there are now about 50). The boots, in fact, are so popular that the city developed a “Boot Walk Map,” which pinpoints the locations of some 36 of the 110-pound, six-foot tall cowboy boots.

   Each of the shoes is made of polyurethane resin and decorated by a local artist. For example, one depicts a Central Pacific train steaming through the Ruby Mountains, while another in front of the Star Hotel is a tribute to the hotel’s rich Basque roots and history.

   The boots can be found in front of the Elko Public Library, the Great Basin College, various government offices, and dozens of businesses. Since each tells a part of the Elko story, they serve as a kind of community-wide scavenger hunt for those who seek them out.

   Among the highlights are artist Inga Ojala’s boot displaying a trout-filled stream rushing down the Rubies, flanked by a mountain goat and a bighorn sheep (in front of the LP Insurance Building) and a boot painted with a guitar and banjo, created by Tuscarora artist Sidne Teske with a realistic spur crafted by metal sculptor Susan Church (in front of the Western Folklife Center).

   One of the most unique is a boot painted by Elko architect Catherine Wines and her sister-in-law, Heather, who created “Starry Elko Night,” a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” In Wines’ version, the Elko skyline has replaced Saint-Remy-de-Provence, but the original’s psychedelic overtones remain.

   For more information about Elko’s Centennial Boots go to: https://everythingelko.com/centennial-boots/. For information about Reno’s “Counting Sheep” project, check out the Reno News and Review’s 2005 story about it at: https://renonr.com/2005/07/07/counting-rams/.

The Real Story of the Earp Bros in Nevada

Virgil Earp

   The recent death of Nevada historian/long-time Nevada State Archivist Guy Louis Rocha made me recall one of his books, “The Earps’ Last Frontier: Wyatt and Virgil Earp in the Nevada Mining Camps 1902-1905,” which he co-wrote with Jeffrey M. Kintop.

   Published in 1989, this slim volume remains one of the definitive historical works on the short time that the two Earp brothers spent in the mining towns of Tonopah and Goldfield.

   According to Kintop and Rocha, in January 1902, Wyatt Earp, fresh from Alaska’s mining boom, arrived in Tonopah with his wife, Josie. Within a few months, he and a partner had opened the Northern Saloon, and Earp also worked as a teamster for the Tonopah Mining Company, hauling ore and supplies.

   For a very short time, he may have served as an appointed deputy U.S. Marshal in Tonopah, mostly serving papers to defendants in federal court cases—but he never engaged with any shootouts with or pistol-whipping of desperados, like he had done in Dodge City, Kansas, and Tombstone, Arizona.

   In the late summer of 1903, the always restless Earp and his wife decided to leave Tonopah. He sold his investments and headed to Los Angeles to live. The two, however, returned several times to prospect around Silver Peak and other parts of Esmeralda County.

   And that was about it for Wyatt Earp in Nevada.

   As for Virgil Earp, Wyatt’s older brother, he and his wife, Allie, arrived in Goldfield sometime in the latter part of 1904. Down on his luck and nearly broke, he took a job as deputy sheriff of Esmeralda County and also provided security at the National Club.

   Sadly, a few months after settling in Goldfield, Virgil Earp contracted a bad case of pneumonia, which he was unable to shake. On October 19, 1905, Virgil Earp died in Goldfield at age 62. At the request of his daughter, his remains were sent to Portland, Oregon, and he was buried at the Riverview Cemetery.

   It is believed that Wyatt and Josie Earp may have visited Virgil and Allie in Goldfield sometime during the summer of 1904, but there is no official record of such a visit.

   According to Rocha’s research, “As for Wyatt Earp, there is no end to the list of things he didn’t do in Goldfield. He didn’t tend bar there, he didn’t own a hotel or saloon there, and in fact he didn’t do much of anything there.”

   In total, the two Earp brothers spent about eight and eleven months, respectively, in Nevada—hardly enough time to accomplish everything that has been attributed to them.

   Still, the apocryphal stories about Wyatt Earp in Tonopah make for fun reading. For instance, one of the most often repeated stories involves him coming to the rescue of Tonopah attorney Tasker Oddie, who later served as Nevada’s Governor and U.S. Senator.

   In the tale, claim jumpers were digging a shaft on land owned by Oddie’s clients. In order to stop the men from continuing, the unarmed Oddie jumped into the hole. The men allegedly pulled their guns on Oddie and ordered him to leave.

   At that moment, Wyatt Earp and his saloon partner, Al Martin, came along in a wagon. The famous former lawman, who sometimes worked for Oddie, quickly sized up the situation and jumped into the hole beside his friend.

   When the claim jumpers asked who he thought he was, Earp reportedly said, “I’m Wyatt Earp,” then pointed at Martin, who had a shotgun aimed at the mine thieves. The men lowered their guns and quickly scrambled out of the hole—but not before following Earp’s orders to replace the mine location stakes they’d knocked over.

   The great Nevada mythmakers, Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, wrote about a remarkably similar episode occurring on a train ride. Allegedly, union thugs decided to shoot Oddie, who worked for the mining companies.

   “A walrus mustached individual in a slouch hat and neat dark suit who was lounging in the smoking room overheard two characters in an adjacent compartment planning to shoot Oddie through the partition as soon as the train got under way,” Beebe and Clegg wrote.

   “Unceremoniously, he kicked open the door of their bedroom and told them the project was ill-advised and they had better leave the train while the going was good. To their inquiry as to just who the hell he thought he was, the answer was simply, ‘Wyatt Earp.’ The assassins left.”

   It was, most likely, yet another example of the adage stated in the classic 1962 western film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” In it, a newspaper editor tells a young reporter, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Ghost Town Aficionado Tami Force Shares Her Experiences in New Book

   For more than 25 years, Tami Force has explored Nevada and Eastern California’s ghost towns and historic sites. In 2020, the Douglas County resident began sharing her discoveries on a website, Nevada Ghost Towns & Beyond (https://nvtami.com/), which has grown into an enormously popular place for ghost town information.

   Now, she’s collected some of her best stories and photos in a pair of new books, In the Shadow of the Eastern Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Northern Region and In the Glow of the Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Southern Region.

   In Shadow of the Eastern Sierra, Force writes about more than 70 historic sites and places in Lassen County, including Peter Lassen’s Grave and Doyle, as well as at Lake Tahoe, and in Washoe County, Carson City, Douglas County, and Alpine County.

   In the Glow of the Sierra, Force turns her attention to more than 80 ghost towns, mines, wagon trails, and rail lines that can be found in the area between Mono County and Kern County.

   Each entry is lavishly illustrated with high-quality photos, some of which are full-page images. Additionally, Force provides useful historical information about each featured place.

   A large part of what makes Force’s books stand out is the fact that she profiles many of the more obscure spots; the places you might drive through but not really know their historic significance. For example, travelers to Amador County might not know the entire story about Maiden’s Grave, where two separate sites have been marked with that name, but no one knows for sure which is correct.

   In Carson City, there’s an unusual historic spot known as Ormsby Poor Farm Cemetery, where, beginning in the 1860s, down-and-out residents could work on the farm in exchange for room and board and a small salary. The farm remained open for more than a century, only closing in 1965.

   As part of the poor farm, a small cemetery was established in a grove of trees. Today, it’s still there, surrounded by a metal fence, next to the Carson City fairgrounds.

   In addition to the wonderful photographs, the books contain maps of the various locations.

   For anyone wanting to follow Force’s frequent travels throughout the state (which were the basis for her books), be sure to check out her Nevada Ghost Towns and Beyond website.

   There, you can find descriptions and photos of more than 800 ghost towns and historic sites throughout Nevada, eastern California, Utah and Arizona, organized by county. Also, be sure to sign up for her newsletter, which keeps followers abreast of her most recent journeys.

   In the Shadow of the Eastern Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Northern Region and In the Glow of the Sierra: Ghost Towns and Historical Sites in the Eastern Sierra-Southern Region are available directly from Force on her website (at a 15 percent discount), in many Nevada bookstores, or from Amazon and many other online retailers.

   Both books come in hardcover (retail price of $65, not counting the discount) and softcover editions (retail price of $45, not including the discount).