Historic Columbia Offers Fun Look at Old California

One of the most picturesque of Eastern California’s 19th century mining camps is Columbia, once called the “Gem of the Southern Mines.”

Located off historic Highway 49, Columbia was one of hundreds of small enclaves that cropped up in the Mother Lode region during the Gold Rush of the early 1850s.

Columbia was founded in 1850 by Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth, who found placer gold in the area. The spot became known as Hildreth's Diggings, then later was called American Camp, before becoming Columbia.

During its productive mining years, roughly 1850 to 1870, the area mines produced more than $87 million in gold, making it one of the richest gold strikes in the state.

Like most western mining towns, Columbia was originally a tent city—within a month of the discovery of gold it boasted 5,000 residents. By the mid-1850s, Columbia had more than 15,000 residents and was the largest town in the gold country's southern mining region.

Just as Virginia City nearly burned to the ground in 1875, Columbia had its share of disastrous fires in its early years. In 1857, following the second fire in three years, Columbia was again rebuilt of brick and stone with wrought-iron doors and window shutters to prevent future fires.

Columbia began to decline after its mines ceased to produce in the 1870s. Within a few decades, the empty buildings outnumbered those in use. Also like Virginia City, Columbia was never completely abandoned and over the years claimed at least a handful of residents.

Fortunately for Columbia, the California state park system acquired the crumbling town in 1945 and began to restore many of its buildings. Today, you can walk its hard-packed dirt streets, wander by more than three dozen restored and renovated historic structures and get a true feeling for life in the mid-19th century.

The state park system has peopled Columbia with the kind of businesses you would likely find in an 1860s town. There are saloons serving beer, a working blacksmith shop, the oldest barbershop in California, stagecoach rides and a photography studio offering old-fashioned sepia-tone photos.

During the summer months, the restored Fallon House Theater (originally the Fallon Hotel), built in 1860 offers plays performed by the visiting repertory company. The town has a rich theatrical history with many famous frontier-era performers having appeared there, including Lola Montez and Lotta Crabtree.

Perhaps the oldest and most famous building in Columbia is the 1858 Wells Fargo Express Building, a two-story brick structure that features the classic iron shutters and lacework balcony so prominent in Columbia's architecture. Inside, you can find the offices have been restored with authentic period furniture including the huge gold scales that history tells us measured some $55 million in gold dust.

Additionally, you can find an excellent museum describing the area's past and a schoolhouse, built in 1861, that was one of the state's first public schools.

The museum features informative displays describing the town history and showing how various buildings have been restored. The school has been faithfully restored with desks, seats, a pump organ and period books.

Other interesting historic sites include D.O. Mills Bank Building, built in 1854; the Cheap Cash Store, built in 1854, and the Livery Stable, which houses several old-time wagons.

Stagecoach rides are offered from the front of the Wells Fargo Office. For a nominal price, you can take a 15-minute ride through the town.

In addition to the town, visitors can also tour the 1855 Columbia cemetery, located behind the schoolhouse, or wander along a one-mile nature trail, which starts at the schoolhouse.

Columbia is located about three-and-a-half hours west of Fallon via U.S. Highway 50, Highway 49 and Parrotts Ferry Road. For more information contact Columbia State Historic Park, 209-588-9128, or go to www.parks.ca.gov.

‘Til Death Do Us Part—or Not

A dark-haired woman, perhaps in her early 30s, strolls through the glass and bronze double doors of the majestic Washoe County Courthouse. She pauses next to one of the massive columns that support the courthouse’s portico and then leans over to plant a kiss on the pillar.

She heads north toward the Riverside Hotel, where she had spent the previous six weeks dreaming of the moment she would finally be free. She pulls off her wedding ring and then throws it as hard as she can into the river. She is about to begin her new life.

Or at least that’s how it happened in the famous Reno legends.

From about 1920 to the early 1950s, Reno was the Divorce Capital of America. Between 1929 and 1939, some 32,000 marriages were dissolved in the Biggest Little City in the World. A Reno divorce was known as “Taking the Cure” or getting a “Reno-vation.”

Fortunately, a handful of places still remain in Reno with ties to that period. The most obvious symbol of a Reno divorce is the Washoe County Courthouse, where so many divorces were granted and on whose pillars so many kisses were allegedly planted. The courthouse, completed in 1911, was designed by famed Nevada architect Frederick J. DeLongchamps in a Classical Revival style.

Another longtime divorce industry landmark is the Riverside Hotel, erected in 1927 by Reno powerbroker George Wingfield. Built with wealthy divorce-seekers in mind, it had 40 corner suites with refrigerators, kitchens and connecting rooms for children and servants (it also had 60 smaller, single rooms for guests of more modest means).

Other structures still found in Reno that were connected to the divorce trade include:

• The El Cortez Hotel (239 W. Second St.), which opened in 1931. Designed by the Reno firm of George Ferris and Son, it was the tallest building in the city when it was completed. It quickly became a popular place for divorce-seekers to stay; business was so good that it was expanded a year after it opened.

• The Nystrom House (333 Ralston) was a Gothic Revival style home built in 1875 for Washoe County Clerk John Shoemaker. It served in the 1920s as a boardinghouse for Reno’s divorce trade.

• The Glass Gallery/Dow House (935 Jones Street) was built in 1907-08 by Lisle Jamison. By the early 1930s, the lovely Colonial Revival/Queen Anne style home had become a popular rooming house for divorce seekers.

• The Twaddle Mansion (485 W. Fifth Street) was built in 1905 for local rancher Ebenezer “Eben” Twaddle. The elegant house boasts fluted posts with Ionic caps, which support a frieze and pediment. Starting in the early 1930s, it, too, became housing for divorce-seekers.

Additionally, in the 1930s a thriving “Dude Ranch” business bloomed in rustic areas around Reno, including Washoe Valley’s famous Flying M E Ranch and the Pyramid Lake Ranch. While many had private cabins for divorcees (60 to 70 percent of which were women) waiting out their six weeks, others consisted of large ranch houses with dining rooms and living quarters shared by guests.

Closer to Reno, the Frey Ranch (1140 West Peckham Lane) was built in 1870 by Enoch Morrill and, after it was sold in the 1890s, was owned by Joseph Frey and his family. In the 1920s and 30s, the ranch, which includes a Folk Victorian main house, was used as a dude ranch for divorcees seeking the “Reno cure” (as a divorce was called in those days).

Reno’s divorce trade peaked in 1946, when 19,000 divorces were granted. By the 1960s, Reno was no longer America’s divorce capital, having been eclipsed by much larger Las Vegas, and ultimately done in by looser divorce requirements in many other states.

Still, it was a good ride while it lasted.

Clark County Museum Showcases the Las Vegas Story

The Las Vegas area has been many things in the past century-and-half—a Mormon outpost, a ranch, a railroad town, a suburb of Hoover Dam, a bedroom community for the atomic bomb test site, and, of course, an adult playground.

Fortunately, there’s the Clark County Museum, a place dedicated to preserving and telling all that rich and colorful history. Wandering through the museum, it’s easy to envision all the various pieces of the Las Vegas story.

Following the displays chronologically, you learn that the Vegas tale began long before the arrival of white settlers with the establishment of the Mormon Fort in 1855. Originally, prehistoric Native Americans populated the Las Vegas Valley.

Often known as the Anasazi, these early residents left a few reminders, some of which are on display, including hand axes, arrowheads, tools and petroglyphs (rock writings).

To help tell each part of the story, sensors triggered by your movement cue audio recordings that bring alive the dozen or so exhibits. For example, Native American chants and drums begin while viewing a diorama recreation of a Southern Paiute encampment.

You also can read about the period of exploration and settlement, including visits through the region by Jedediah Smith and John C. Fremont in the early 19th century. The display includes an 1840s flintlock musket, maps and farming tools.

Another exhibit describes the attempts to develop commercial mining operations in the area, including the Potosi mine (worked in the 1850s) and the nearby mining camp of Searchlight (about 90 miles south of Las Vegas). A mineshaft filled with antique mining equipment helps illustrate this period.

A pioneer life display (accented by steamboat sounds) tells about the efforts to operate steamboats on the Colorado River, and settlements in the southeast part of the state.

Nearby, a fun exhibit (highlighted by cricket sounds) recreates the tent city of Las Vegas at the turn of the century, when the Union Pacific Railroad was auctioning lots to encourage development of a railroad town.

Photos and artifacts talk of the legalization of gambling in 1931, the first casinos, the building of Hoover Dam, the arrival of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and development of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1940s, and entertainers who performed in the hotels.

An exhibit on the 1950s, shows the financial impact of the establishment of the Nevada Test Site (where the nation tested atomic and nuclear weapons).

Of course, there’s a lot more spread over the museum’s 20 acres. Adjacent is the restored Boulder City Depot, built in 1931. Inside, you can find some fine railroad artifacts.

A Union Pacific caboose and railcar, restored to working condition, are parked adjacent to the depot, giving the place the appearance of still being in use.

Adjacent to the depot, is Heritage Street, a row of restored historic homes and buildings representing various eras in Southern Nevada's past. About a half-dozen buildings have been moved to Heritage Street and returned to original condition with period furnishings. Entering any of the structures triggers an audio self-guided tour.

The oldest building is the Giles/Barcus House, a home originally built in the mining town of Goldfield in 1905 and moved to Las Vegas in the early 1950s. It served as a residence and, later, a retail store.

Nearby is the Beckley House, built in 1912 by Will Beckley, a pioneer Las Vegas businessman. The California-style bungalow is representative of the type of homes common in Las Vegas during the first few decades of this century.

The adjacent Henderson Townsite House is representative of the kind of “company town” homes constructed in the 1940s to house workers at the giant Basic Magnesium plant in Henderson (which was originally named “Basic,” after the facility).

Another historic building is the Tudor-style Heritage/P.J. Goumond House, which was built in 1931 by one of Southern Nevada’s gaming pioneers. There is also a replica of a 19th century newspaper office, complete with authentic turn-of-the-century newspaper presses and equipment.

The museum has an interpretive trail that winds through displays of antique mining equipment, a prehistoric Paiute camp and buildings moved from several Nevada ghost towns, including a few from Tuscarora (located north of Elko).

The Clark County Museum is located 10 miles southeast of downtown Las Vegas, at 1830 South Boulder Highway in Henderson. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $1.50 for adults and $1 for children and seniors. For more information go to www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/parks/museum/Pages/museum.aspx.

What's a Wabuska?

Visitors to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City are often puzzled by the name—Wabuska—on the yellow depot sitting near the front of the facility.

While it may sound like some kind of sausage, once upon a time there was a town called Wabuska, which was an important junction for the Carson & Colorado (and later Southern Pacific) Railroad.

The depot is one of the few reminders of this town with the unusual name. In the 1980s, so little remained of Wabuska that its depot was moved to the museum and restored.

The community’s story began in the early 1870s, when a small settlement and freight station popped up near the northern end of the Mason Valley. In 1874, a post office was established in the tiny hamlet under the name, Wabuska, which is Washo for “white grass.”

The town experienced a bit of a boom in 1881 when it became the location of a Carson & Colorado Railroad station. Along with gaining a railroad, the town saw construction of a small general store and hotel, where rail workers could take meals.

The station was built by railroad agent Edward Lovejoy, who perhaps more than anyone who ever lived in Wabuska, earns the town a place in Nevada history.

Lovejoy was the only son of one of the 19th century’s most famous abolitionists, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who was the first white person to die for the anti-slavery cause.

Additionally, the younger Lovejoy was a friend of Sam Davis, colorful editor of the Carson Appeal. Davis created a fictitious newspaper, the Wabuska Mangler, and named Lovejoy as its editor.

From 1889 until Lovejoy’s death in 1891, Davis frequently poked fun at his friend in print, quoting from fictional editorials allegedly written by Lovejoy and concocting a feud between the two newspapers.

Wabuska’s high point occurred after 1900, when the Carson & Colorado was absorbed by the Southern Pacific Railroad and the town became an essential junction for central and southern Nevada mining camps.

In 1911, the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad was completed, connecting the railroad line at Wabuska to several new copper mines near Yerington. For the next few years, Wabuska boomed and soon had a large railroad station, a school, grocery stores, saloons and nearly 60 families.

Additionally, the town benefited from the construction of two large copper smelters at Thompson, located only a few miles north. Ore processed at Thompson was transported through Wabuska.

The copper industry slumped in the early 1920s and Wabuska began to shrink. By the 1950s, the town consisted of a half dozen houses and a two-story grocery store and bar.
Today, while the train still passes through the area, Wabuska has nearly disappeared.

Wandering the former site of Wabuska, you can see how the place earned its name. The soil is layered with a white alkaline crust and there are thickets of yellow-brown sagebrush and greasewood.

Behind the grocery store, just beyond a decaying truck, are the ruins of three or four homes. One appears to have at least partially burned down while the others seem to be victims of abandonment and neglect.

Pushing through the thick underbrush, you can find a few brick walls, concrete foundations, old stoves, nails, wood scraps, wires and the other remnants of civilization. A partially collapsed barn—now little more than a frail skeleton of warped, worn boards and chicken wire—peeks out of the sagebrush, behind one of the more intact houses.

In a few places, beware of what appear to be outhouse, septic tank or well openings, where the wooden coverings have rotted away, leaving only holes.

Wabuska has become another Nevada shadow town—still more than a memory but less than what it was once.

The site of Wabuska is located about 40 miles southwest of Fallon via U.S. 50 and Alternate U.S. 95. The nearest town is Yerington, located 11 miles south.

The Fabulous Valley of Fire

The late afternoon sun casts a mutating light on the Valley of Fire’s sandstone cliffs and boulders. Rocks that were benign oranges and browns earlier in the day gradually assume more dramatic shades, becoming angry and red.

The sun reshapes the rocks. Sandstone that an hour before—under bright light—seemed to be nothing more than pitted rock takes on new appearances.

A giant rock arch becomes a massive elephant. A sandstone bowl formed by rain becomes a bottomless pit, and a perfect hiding place for a renegade Indian. Stone towers along the road are transformed into huge icons resembling the pillars at Stonehenge.

At this time of day, it is easy to see why Valley of Fire was designated as Nevada’s first state park more than 60 years ago. The park, located on the banks of Lake Mead, is truly one of the most unique Nevada desert landscapes.

The special sandstone designs found in the area were formed from great shifting sand dunes found more than 150 million years ago. The sand eventually turned to stone, which over the years has been sculpted by the wind and rain into a wide variety of evocative shapes.

For example, at one place the rocks have been eroded in such a way as to form a giant archway that when viewed from the right angle looks just like a giant elephant with four thick legs and a wide trunk (hence its name, “Elephant Rock”).

Not surprisingly, the area has long held fascination for man. Archeological evidence indicates that many prehistoric people were attracted to the valley. Among the earliest inhabitants were the Basketmaker people and the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearly Moapa Valley.

Proof of their presence in the valley can be found among the many petroglyphs (which are prehistoric Indian rock writings) on the valley walls.

Petroglyph Canyon, north of the visitor center, is lined with glyphs of a different sort, such as kachina figures (considered a rare image), drawings of dancers holding hands, footprints and curved lines.

The canyon trail leads to another landmark, Mouse’s Tank, a large rock catchment called a “tinaja.” This particular catch basin provided a regular source of water for birds, animals and, at the turn of the century, an outlaw Indian (named Mouse) who hid in the area.

Additionally, at Atlatl Rock you’ll find a large collection of petroglyphs carved high on the side of a stone formation. Metal walkways lead to the carvings, which include an atlatl, an ancient spear-throwing stick, as well as bighorn sheep and a variety of other symbols.

The visitor center (open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) is a good place to begin a tour. In addition to being the only place to find a water fountain in the park, the center offers exhibits about the geology and animal life of the region, including the rare and protected desert tortoise.

The center also has good information about desert flora and fauna. Because of its location, the Valley of Fire is one of the best places in the state to watch wildflowers bloom. In late March and early April, depending on rainfall, the park roads offer good places to spot the springtime blooms of desert marigold, indigobush and desert mallow.

There are plenty of places to explore in the park. Near the entrance from State Route 169, you can find the Cabins, which were sandstone structures built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The buildings are now part of a picnic area.

Additionally, you can view the Seven Sisters—seven huge sandstone towers that also serve as a picnic area or follow interpretive trails through a forest of petrified stumps that are more than 200 million years old. The park also has several interesting landmarks, including the Beehives, which are round sandstone formations that resemble their namesakes, and the White Domes.

At Rainbow Vista and Fire Canyon, both north of the visitor center via a paved road and a short hike, you can find two excellent sites from which to photograph the park.
The Valley of Fire also has two campgrounds (both just off the main road, west of the visitors center) with 73 campsites. The sites are equipped with shaded tables, BBQ grills, water and restrooms. There is also a recreational vehicle dump station near the campgrounds.

The Valley of Fire State Park is located about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. To reach it, travel south to Las Vegas on U.S. Highway 95. From Las Vegas, travel east on Interstate 15 to State Route 40. Head east for 24 miles to the park. For more information, go to http://www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm.

Belleville's Brief, Colorful History

Belleville: "Beautiful City"

In 1877, it would have cost you seven bucks for a whole year’s subscription to the Belleville Times.

Unfortunately, the newspaper didn’t last a whole year.

That, in a nutshell, is the story of Belleville, a once thriving mining camp located about 53 miles southeast of Hawthorne. And like its newspaper, Belleville wasn’t particularly long-lived.

According to ghost town historian Stanley Paher, the community of Belleville was established in 1873 following construction of a stamp mill on the site to process ore from mines in nearby Candelaria.

In December 1874, a post office was opened in the settlement, which derived its name from the mill, owned by the Northern Belle Mining and Milling Company (Belleville is French for “beautiful city.”

A second mill was opened above the town in 1876. By then, Belleville had grown to house about 400 residents and had several hotels, restaurants and saloons as well as blacksmith shops and stables.

Paher also notes that the town, which became a kind of playground for Candelaria’s miners, had an amateur magicians’ club, a jockey club offering horse-racing, and a newsstand that sold papers from throughout the country.

In fact, because of its proximity to the booming mining town of Candelaria, located about six miles south, Belleville continued to grow, adding a couple hundred more people during the next two years. It was during this period that the Belleville Times began publishing.

In 1882, Belleville seemed well on its way to permanency when the Carson and Colorado Railroad reached the town, linking it by rail to other communities.

The town’s optimism, however, proved premature as later that year the Northern Belle Company built a 27-mile water pipeline from the White Mountains. The pipe meant that Candelaria could begin processing its ore closer to where it was mined, thereby eliminating the need for Belleville.

The end came rather quickly and by 1894, Belleville’s population had so dwindled that the post office was closed. Eventually, the mills were dismantled and Belleville was abandoned. There was a brief revival in the area between 1915-1918 (during that time the post office was reopened) but there has been no activity since.

Today, little remains of Belleville. To reach the site, travel about 40 miles south of Hawthorne on U.S. 95, then continue west on Nevada State Route 360 for 11 miles. An historic marker indicates the site of the community, which is south of the highway.

Wandering the site, which is adjacent to a dirt road that leads to Candelaria (now also abandoned), you can find plenty of rusted metal scraps, a few weathered pieces of wood and lots of field mice hiding in tufts of wild grass.

There are also large and impressive stone and brick foundations tucked into the hillsides, remnants of the mills that once operated in Belleville. Depressions in the ground indicate the former cellars of several homes and buildings that once stood in the area.

As for the Belleville Times, after it ceased publishing in June of 1878, it was sold to a man who relocated all of its press equipment to the mining camp of Aurora.
I guess that if you’d purchased that one-year subscription to the Belleville Times you would have had to move to keep getting your paper.

Goldfield Walking Tour - Part 3

Finishing up with our walking tour of Goldfield, we head off the main boulevard (Crook Street/U.S. 95) and wander the side streets of this historic mining town, which is located about 240 miles south of Reno via U.S. 95.

For example, on the corner of Ramsey and Euclid avenues is the former Goldfield High School, built in 1907. Sadly, the school has been vacant since the 1940s and has deteriorated in recent decades (although efforts have been made to stabilize the building).

The school is a two-story stone and brick Georgian Revival-style building that sits atop a half-story full basement, which makes it seem even larger. The entrance is enhanced by wide wooden steps leading into an elegant archway and vestibule. During the town’s boom, the high school accommodated more than 400 students.

Down the street, at 206 E. Ramsey Avenue, is the Southern Nevada Consolidated Telephone-Telegraph Building, once part of the town’s commercial district. Constructed in 1906, the building is a one-story, stone structure, which has a full basement containing much of the phone company’s original wiring and relays.

The building is significant because the Southern Nevada Consolidated developed the first communications systems in Goldfield. It extended its telephone and telegraph lines from Tonopah to Goldfield in 1904.

By 1907, when Goldfield was teeming with more than 20,000 people, the phone company was bursting with activity as it tried to keep up with the demand for communications services (records indicate revenues in excess of $250,000 in 1906).

The town began its long decline after 1913, but the phone company managed to survive for another five decades before finally closing its doors. Today, it is in fairly good shape (it was used as an apartment for a number of years) and is one of only seven commercial or public buildings made of stone that are still standing.

Adjacent to the phone company building is the Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company Building, also known as the Nixon and Wingfield Block.

This three-story stone structure is probably the third-most impressive building in Goldfield (after the Goldfield Hotel and the Esmeralda County Courthouse). Built in 1907, this was the nerve center of the Goldfield mining empire of Senator George Nixon and financier George Wingfield.

Nixon and Wingfield dominated Goldfield’s mining industry during its early boom period. By 1907, they had purchased controlling interest in nearly all of the productive mines in the district.

A year later, Wingfield acquired Nixon’s share in the company and virtually ruled the town’s mines until 1932, when he suffered financial setbacks as a result of the Great Depression.

Directly next door to the Goldfield Consolidated Building is the Curtis and Ish Building, also erected in 1907. The Curtis and Ish is a three-story concrete and stone structure that utilizes a Neo-Classical Revival style.

The impressive commercial building was constructed by two successful Goldfield businessmen, Loren B. Curtis and Marvin E. Ish.

Curtis was owner of the Nevada Power, Mining and Milling Company, which supplied electrical power to Goldfield and Tonopah. Ish and his brother were mine developers, who made nearly $1 million from the Mohawk Mine (later acquired by Wingfield).

Across the street from the Goldfield Consolidated Building is the less auspicious Elks Building, built in 1925. This was one of the last substantial structures erected in the town, having been built on the foundations of the former Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad Building, which was destroyed by fire in 1923.

A couple of ruins worth noting are the former sites of the Montezuma Club and Sideboard Saloon.

The Montezuma Club (on Columbia Street) was once the most influential and powerful social institution in the town’s history. Its members included the richest and most successful businessmen in Goldfield.

The original structure, which was three-stories high and one of the largest buildings in town, was destroyed during the 1923 fire. Today, all that remains is a shallow pit, stone foundations and the original cornerstone, which is inscribed: “Montezuma Club - July 1907.”

The Sideboard Saloon ruins are noteworthy because of the unusual 12-foot, round, stone arch—once the entrance—that stands in an empty field. The original building was erected in 1907 but destroyed in the 1923 fire.

The last building of significance is the Santa Fe Saloon, built in 1905. This modest wooden drinking establishment is located well outside of the main commercial portion of Goldfield but adjacent to the town’s mining fields.

The Santa Fe is one of a handful of businesses that have managed to stay open in Goldfield for the past century. It’s a classic frontier-style saloon with a wooden false front and sidewalk.

Inside, it boasts a century-old backbar, uneven floors and plenty of authentic, old Goldfield character (or characters, depending on who’s there).

For more information about Goldfield, contact the Goldfield Chamber of Commerce, 165 Crook Ave., P.O. Box 204, Goldfield, NV 89013, 775-485-3560, http://www.accessesmeralda.com/Goldfield_Demo.htm.