The Sweetest Tour in Las Vegas: The Ethel M Chocolate Factory

 

   There is definitely chocolate in the air at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory in Southern Nevada.

   That’s because the factory is where they make some of the world’s most beloved chocolates. Ethel M is the upscale candy brand of the Mars family, which is better known for its sweet products like M & M's, Mars Bars and Snickers.

   When Ethel M Chocolates first appeared in the 1980s, they were somewhat unique because they were filled with liqueur creams, including Amaretto, Bourbon and Creme de Menthe. The alcohol-flavored fillings were an interesting gimmick, but the candy gained its most rabid fans because of the quality of the chocolate.

   That’s when the company opened the Ethel M Chocolate Factory, which is its version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory—but without the weird “Oompa-Loompas.” Tucked in the industrial section of Henderson in Southern Nevada, it’s a candy manufacturing facility that offers free tours and samples.

   During a short self-guided tour of the state-of-the-art candy plant—which is on display behind large glass windows—a recorded message explains that Ethel M uses a special formula to make its gourmet chocolate.

   According to the tour, Ethel M Chocolates are technically a milk chocolate although the company incorporates many of the characteristics and flavors associated with dark chocolate. This process results in a richer, more flavorful chocolate.

   Behind the windows, visitors can see the many machines that mold, shape, fill and prepare each chocolate. There is something hypnotic about watching hundreds of little, round chocolates marching on a conveyor belt.

   Over the years, while the liqueur chocolates have continued to be popular, Ethel M has broadened its product line to include other items, such as white chocolate, chocolate coins (sold in clever packages to resemble slot machines) and truffles.

   No surprise that the best part of the Ethel M Chocolate factory tour is the end when visitors are deposited in a gift shop and given a free chocolate. Picking one is difficult because there are so many types of chocolates but for those unable to make up their minds, there are always sampler boxes to take home.

   Additionally, the adjacent Cactus Garden Café offers delicious baked and chocolate-dipped treats, along with a variety of milkshakes and hot chocolate drinks.

   Outside of the factory, Ethel M has another attraction, a three-acre Botanical Cactus Garden exhibiting more than 350 different species of cactus, succulents and desert plants from the southwest and various deserts throughout the world.

   To a non-cactus expert, this place seems like a prickly Garden of Eden. You can find a wide variety of plants ranging from Beavertail and Purple Pancake Prickly Pears to Golden Barrels and Saguaros.

   A series of concrete pathways wind through the Botanical Cactus Garden. Interpretive signs provide details about each plant.

   Ethel M Chocolates and Botanical Cactus Garden is located seven miles from the Las Vegas Strip. Drive 5.5 miles east of the Strip on Tropicana Avenue to Mountain Vista. Turn right on Mountain Vista and drive 2 miles to Sunset Way (past the factory). Turn left at the traffic light into Green Valley Business Park, then left again on Cactus Garden Drive.

   The factory and gardens are open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.

   For more information, go to: https://www.ethelm.com/en-us/locations/henderson-flagship?srsltid=AfmBOorPh5t5JlVhZHG95fKnwBC_RS-3QaLZdC56ttwJnDhtNRECoQX9.

Lovelock Played an Important Role in the Settling of Nevada

 

The famed Round Courthouse in Lovelock, Nevada

   Sometimes it’s easy to overlook a place like Lovelock. It’s about halfway between Winnemucca and Reno, so many travelers on Interstate 80 pass by it on their way to somewhere else.

   But Lovelock is a community filled with rich history that deserves to be explored. Located about 90 miles east of Reno, the town traces its roots to the 1840s, when travelers on the Humboldt Trail (or Emigrant Trail) began stopping in the area for water and grass.

   Because of the great abundance of the latter, the region became known as Big Meadows and was an essential stop for travelers who needed to recharge before continuing south through the treacherous 40-Mile Desert.

   Additionally, in the 1850s and 60s, several significant mining discoveries were made in the area, including at Unionville and Rochester.

   In the 1860s, Englishman George Lovelock established a large ranching operation in the valley. In 1868, he gave 85 acres to the Central Pacific Railroad for a townsite, which was named in his honor. Originally called “Lovelock’s,” in the 1920s the name was shortened to simply, Lovelock.

  As mining dwindled, agriculture and ranching became more important. At the turn of the century, Lovelock was the location of the ranch of John G. Taylor, owner of one of the west’s great cattle empires. At one time, Taylor owned 60,000 head of sheep, 8,000 cattle, 130,000 acres of land and leased another half million acres.

  Additionally, the meadows proved ideal for growing crops such as barley, wheat, oats and alfalfa. The latter continues to be an important crop for local farmers.

   Wandering around the streets of Lovelock, which, sadly, contains many vacant lots and empty building, you’ll find a number of structures with history, including:

   • The Lovelock Depot, on the corner of Main Street and West Broadway Avenue, was constructed in 1880 by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The building is the only remaining example of a series of residential #2-style two-story depots erected through Nevada by the railroad. The building has been restored and is now owned by the city of Lovelock, which leases out space to commercial businesses.

   • The First National Bank Building (1905) in the former heart of Lovelock’s commercial district. It was originally the home of the First National Bank and the Lovelock Tribune newspaper.

   • The Lovelock Post Office on Dartmouth Avenue was built in 1937 and is considered a prime example of the Moderne architectural style. Inside, it boasts a large mural that the Smithsonian Institute has called one of the best representations of early Western art. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

   • The Pershing County Courthouse at the intersection of Main Street, Western Avenue and Central Avenue was constructed between 1919 and 1920. It has an unusual round design (one of only a handful of round courthouses ever built). Designed by famed Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps, it incorporates a Classical Revival style of architecture and was patterned after the Pantheon in Rome.

   • The Marzen House Museum, located west of the downtown off Cornell Avenue, was built in 1874 and is one of the area’s oldest homes. It was constructed by Colonel Joseph Marzen, owner of the Big Meadow Ranch, one of the region’s largest cattle operations. Restored in the 1980s, it now houses a fine local museum containing displays that tell the history of Lovelock. (For more info, go to: pershingcounty.net/community/marzen_house_museum/index.php)

   An excellent source of information about Lovelock and its history is the History of Lovelock (& Pershing County) Facebook group. It is a public group but you must request permission to join. To access it, go to: www.facebook.com/groups/lovelocknevada.

The Odd Life and Times of Elko's Robert F. Caudill (Better Known as 'Doby Doc')

 

Remnants of Doby Doc's collection of Nevada artifacts, such as these buildings, can still be found at the Clark County Heritage Museum in Henderson, Nevada.

   The late Nevada historian Howard Hickson once described Robert F. Caudill, the man typically known as “Doby Doc,” as “an honest to goodness died-in-the-wool Western character.”

   Hickson said many of Doc’s antics were legendary—and nearly unbelievable—and “a great deal of gray area” surrounded many of his activities, which usually had to do with the legal—and not quite so legal—acquisition of historic Nevada artifacts.

   As Hickson put it, Doc’s “philosophy boiled down to him getting away with thievery and not getting caught. That made it all okay. We’re not talking about simply everyday theft. We mean legendary stealing.”

   For example, sometime after the Eureka-Nevada Railway (formerly known as the Eureka and Palisade Railroad) closed down, Doc apparently decided the locomotive and rolling stock still sitting outside in the ghost town of Palisade, should have a new home. According to Hickson, he took all of it and transported it to his storage yard in Elko.

   Doc, who lived in Elko for nearly 40 years (from about 1906 until the late 1940s), was a pathological collector of historic stuff. His acquisitions ranged from clocks and smaller items to entire abandoned (and even not quite abandoned) buildings, trains, old mining ore carts, an entire schoolhouse (from North Dakota), and a Chinese Joss House.

   A February 18, 1962 editorial in the Nevada State Journal noted “For years Elko County residents scratched their heads as Doby Doc foraged for his Nevada memorabilia. Some though Doc must be a little off his beam, gathering all that junk. What good could it ever possibly be?”

   In 1947, Doc approached the city of Elko to request $50,000 to help him build a small replica of a mining town on the outskirts of the community. It would include much of the memorabilia he had collected over the years.

   The city’s response, not surprisingly given Doc’s reputation as a bit of a shady character—in addition his thieving, he had been once been a bootlegger—was to ignore the request.

   But shortly after, Doc was contracted by a new western-themed hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the Hotel Last Frontier, to bring all of his treasures south and set up a tourist attraction.

   Known as the Last Frontier Village, it was Las Vegas’ first theme park and incorporated many of his old buildings, railroad equipment (he now had three complete trains with rolling stock), wagons, ore carts, etc. along with newer, faux-old time western structures. Doc also added a few wooden Indian figures, folks dressed as miners and cowboys, and kiddie rides.

   From 1950 to the late 1950s, Las Frontier Village was a popular attraction, often highlighted by Doc’s presence. He would wander the grounds telling his tale tales and other stories.

   According to Hickson, when ownership of the Hotel Last Frontier changed, Doc had a disagreement with the new owners and decided to remove all of his items. Almost overnight, he trucked everything out of the village and put it in a cluster of warehouses he owned near the Las Vegas Airport.

   Over the next few years, Doc purchased a piece of the Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas, which became his new main interest. It’s said that parts of his vast collection were sold over the years. One of the old locomotives is believed to have become part of another Old West theme-park, Old Las Vegas on the Boulder Highway.

   Additionally, some of the buildings were moved to Boulder City to become part of Fort Lucinda, another Old West theme park that boasted llama rides, a 3-foot narrow gauge railroad and a wax museum. It closed in 1966 and became the Gold Strike casino.

   Fortunately, some of the old buildings, which included the former Tuscarora Jail, a toll cabin and a general store, were stable enough to be donated and relocated to the Clark County Heritage Museum in Henderson. They continue to be on display there in what has been described as a state of arrested decay.

   According to the 1962 Nevada State Journal editorial, the bulk of the collection—some 65 truckloads—was sold for $3 million to an entrepreneur developing an elaborate western-themed town at Apache Junction, Arizona.

   As for Doc, he lived out his days in Las Vegas, dying of pneumonia at the age of 90 in August 1979.