Nevada's Stone Beehives

Scattered across Nevada are a handful of 19th century charcoal ovens that resemble nothing less than giant stone beehives. These stone or brick domes were once used to convert wood, often pinon pine, into charcoal that could be used in mining smelters.

Best known of the state’s charcoal kilns are the Ward Charcoal Ovens, 12 miles south of Ely. Here, you can find six 30-foot-high domes built in 1876 to produce charcoal for the smelters at the nearby mining camp of Ward.

Valuable ore was discovered in the foothills of Ward Mountain in 1872. Within three years, Ward had grown into the largest town in eastern Nevada, with a population of more than 1,000.

By 1877, Ward had boomed to 2,000 people and a city hall was under construction. The flush times, however, were short lived. Mining began to decline and within three years the town had only 250 residents.

Mining continued on and off for the next few decades—in fact, the area was reopened most recently in the 1980s and is currently being mined.

The charcoal ovens were built a few miles from the town. Using native rock, the builders constructed these unique cones that are about 30-feet high and 27-feet around at the base. When filled, each could contain some 35 cords of pinion pine stacked in layers.

The dome-shape allowed for the wood to be kindled easily and the heat was controlled by opening and closing small vents at the base of the ovens. The massive ovens were abandoned during the 1880s.

Over the next century, the intriguing stone buildings were used for a variety of purposes, including as stables and emergency lodging for wandering sheepherders and cowboys.

Local legend says that one oven even served as a bridal suite. According to the story, a gambler decided the oven was a perfect place for a wedding night. He had the walls whitewashed, hung curtains and installed appropriate sleeping accommodations.

The gambler and his fiance, however, apparently quarreled before the marriage -- perhaps over having to spend a night in a drafty old stone charcoal oven -- and cancelled the wedding.

Eventually, the ovens were acquired by the Nevada Division of State Parks, which oversees the site. Today, you can find the ovens, a handful of undeveloped campsites and beautiful surroundings.
While the Ward kilns are among the most accessible of the state's charcoal ovens to reach, there are a handful of others scattered around the state.

Another set of relatively accessible ovens can be found 14 miles north of Pioche. There, at a place called Bristol Well, are the remains of three stone kilns, originally built in 1880.

The Bristol Well kilns were constructed of local shale and sandstone, which gives them a more rough appearance than those at Ward.

Silver and lead ore was discovered near Bristol Well in 1872. The camp developed slowly; by 1880, a five-stamp mill and smelter had been constructed, along with the three ovens. It wasn't until 1890 that Bristol Well had a post office and could boast 400 residents.

By the mid-1890s, however, the town was in decline, and had almost disappeared completely by 1905. Today, only the kilns remain.

Full or partial remains of kilns that can be found tucked away in remote corners of the state, include: a stone oven west of Eureka, overlooking the Diamond Valley; a couple of ovens near Panaca Summit, off State Route 319; and several that are near the mining town of Tybo, east of Tonopah.

Once Mighty Hamilton Fades Into the Desert

Crickets chirping in the tall grass that surrounds the weathered remains of a half-dozen brick and wooden buildings are the only permanent residents in the old Eastern Nevada mining town of Hamilton.

Once the largest city in White Pine County with more than 10,000 inhabitants, the ghost town of Hamilton is now little more than a memory.

The once thriving mining town is now home to only a handful of decaying buildings in the shadow of White Pine Mountain, adjacent to the mining district called, appropriately, Treasure Hill.

Hamilton is located 12 miles south of Highway 50 at a point about 35 miles west of Ely. To reach the townsite, follow the signs from the highway on a well-maintained dirt road.

Two of Hamilton's ruins at least provide some idea of the significance of the town. The tallest is the two-story J.B. Withington Hotel, erected in 1869.

Studying the ruins, you can imagine how it once looked, an impressive structure with several chimneys. Old photographs—some from as recently as the 1940s—show it was once a large edifice made of native sandstone with arched doors and windows.

Over the years, however, the outer walls began to decay (much of it collapsed during an earthquake in the late 1950s) so that today all that remains is a mound of sandstone and red brick.

A few hundred yards away you can find the arched brick front wall of what was once the Wells Fargo building. This leaning slab of molded red clay blocks somehow held together by scraps of wood and mortar likewise hints at a surprising quality of workmanship.

Exploring the scattered mounds of sagebrush and rubble, you can find foundations, stone walls and wooden studs of other buildings. They are spread across a fairly large area, providing an idea of the size of this town, which was also the original seat of White Pine County.

Additionally, the town has a fairly large cemetery, located to the north, which gives you a sense of the kind of place Hamilton was by telling you who once lived there.

Surrounding the remains, visitors will find the evidence of more recent mining operations, including rusted trailers on a hillside above the townsite, large metal buildings, pieces of equipment and the recognizable shallow pool of an abandoned leeching pond.

Hamilton's mineral resources were discovered in late 1867. In May 1868, a townsite was laid out at the base of Treasure Hill and named Cave City because of the presence of many caves in the area.

Within a short time, rich silver discoveries in the region sparked one of the most intense mining rushes in the state's history—it was called "White Pine Fever" in some newspapers—and thousands of people began pouring into the area.

Additionally, as the town began to develop, it was incorporated and its name was changed to honor W.H. Hamilton, one of the town's founders. By the spring of 1869, an estimated 10,000 people were living in Hamilton.

For the next few years, Hamilton boomed as the center of the White Pine Mining District, which also included the nearby communities of Shermantown, Eberhardt and Treasure City. The town had several stage lines, more than 100 saloons, 60 general stores, its own water company, a newspaper and dozens of other businesses.

Despite the fact a fine brick courthouse was constructed in Hamilton in 1870, the boom proved short-lived. The silver turned out to be generously spread across the surface but shallow. By 1871, the town began a rapid decline.

Two years later, a local merchant attempted to torch his business for insurance money and caused more than a half-million-dollars in damages to the business district.

By 1875, the town had been unincorporated and its population had shrunk to less than 500. Another fire, in 1885, destroyed the courthouse and nearly the rest of the town.
In 1887, the county seat was moved to Ely—but there were few people left to care.

In 1916, famed naturalist and writer John Muir passed through Hamilton and later wrote "a few years ago, the population of Hamilton is said to have been nearly eight thousand . . . Hamilton has now about one hundred inhabitants, most of whom are merely waiting in dreary inaction for something to turn up."

Surprisingly, the post office found enough business to stay open until 1931. Unfortunately, Hamilton's accessibility contributed to its demise. White Pine County residents tell of ghost town explorers and bottle hunters who nearly looted it out of existence during the 1950s.

A good source of information about Hamilton is Shawn Hall’s “Romancing Nevada’s Past, Ghost Towns and Historic Sites of Eureka, Lander and White Pine Counties,” available online and in local bookstores.

Colorful Calico Basin

One of the most accessible spots in Southern Nevada’s magnificent Red Rock Canyon is Calico Basin, located at the national conservation area’s eastern edge, near the ever-expanding metropolis of Las Vegas.

The basin is unique in that it’s one of the few places in Red Rock with privately owned homes. In fact, visitors drive through the neighborhood of about a dozen small ranches in order to reach the parking lot and trailhead.

Adjacent to the parking area is a small cluster of picnic tables, fire grills, trashcans and restrooms.

But the real treat can be found by strolling onto a wooden boardwalk that is accessed from the parking lot. Rebuilt in 2005, the developed trail gradually leads up the side of a hill to Red Springs.

Along the way, several interpretive displays describe the local flora and fauna as well as the history of the area.

At the top, there are actually three natural springs, Red Spring, Calico Spring and Ash Spring, which flow into a small saltgrass meadow in the center of the basin. Interestingly, the flow from Red Springs comes from inside a small cave in the sandstone walls above the meadow.

With rock walls protecting it on three sides, the meadow is, according to the Bureau of Land Management’s information, sheltered and moist—making it a perfect habitat for a variety of birds, animals and plants.

For example, the BLM notes that a handful of different kinds of trees can be found in the basin including cottonwood, ash, shrub live oak and honey mesquite.

The boardwalk encircles the springs and meadow, keeping visitors from trampling on the vegetation. Near the end of the trail, if you look closely, you can find the foundations of a ranch house that once stood in the meadow.

The basin also offers great views of the nearby Calico Hills. Hiking trails lead north from Calico Basin to the hills and other parts of the conservation area.

Since Red Rock Canyon encompasses 195,610 acres, there are plenty of other places to see in the recreational area. Without a doubt, it is one of Southern Nevada’s most scenic places with its dramatic banded limestone and sandstone cliffs and mountains.

The unique rock formations here were formed thousands of years ago when the earth was literally turned upside down.

Shifting landmasses caused the older strata of rock (limestone and shale) to actually become piled atop the younger deposits of red sandstone. Formations exposed in the Red Rock area record more than 500 million years of geologic history.

A good place to get an overview of the entire conservation area is at the Red Rock Visitors Center, operated by the BLM. Inside are excellent displays describing the geology, history, plant and animal life, archaeology and recreational opportunities available in the area.

To reach Calico Basin from downtown Las Vegas, head west on Charleston Boulevard for about 15 miles. About 1.5 miles before you reach the scenic road that leads to the Red Rock Visitors Center, you’ll spot the turnoff for Calico Basin. Follow the signs for about a mile through homes to reach the parking lot.

For more information about Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, contact the Bureau of Land Management, HCR 33, Box 5500, Las Vegas, NV 89124, 702-363-1921.

The Gravel Pit That Became a Lake

For more than quarter century, travelers heading west on Interstate 80 knew they had reached the city of Sparks when they passed a big gravel pit. Between 1968 and 1995, the Helms gravel pit, as it was called, provided millions of tons of rock for area road and construction projects.

In 1987, however, the pit, which had grown to more than 100 feet deep, was closed when Sparks officials discovered petroleum chemicals and solvents seeping into the hole. They traced the contamination to a massive spill at an oil tank farm located about a mile west.

As a result, the pit was designated a Toxic Superfund site and a major cleanup effort was undertaken. The city of Sparks took possession of the site in 1996, after tests showed that the groundwater in the pit was free of petrochemicals and other dangerous substances.

At that time, city officials proudly announced plans to convert the former gravel pit into a park and recreational pond using millions of dollars in fees and fines paid by those responsible for the contamination. The original idea was to fill the pit with water to a depth of approximately 30 feet, which, it was estimated, might take several years.

Then along came Mother Nature. In January 1997, the Reno-Sparks area experienced the highest recorded flooding in its history. The Truckee River overflowed its banks and an estimated one billion gallons of water poured into the hole. Overnight, the Sparks gravel pit had become Nevada’s newest body of water.

The unexpected lake, now called the Sparks Marina, is 100 feet deep and covers about 77 acres. Ironically, in order to keep the water at a constant, desirable level, every day the city pumps approximately 2.3 million gallons from the lake into the Truckee River.

While some sport fish have been introduced into the lake, including rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout, it may include other species that accidentally spilled into it during the 1997 flooding.

In the past decade, the city has developed the area around the lake, installing two public beaches, picnic areas, sand volleyball courts, bicycle and hiking trails and boat ramps. When the weather is nice, the marina grounds quickly fill with people.

The lake has also become a popular spot for casual sailing and kayaking as well as the site of several recent professional wakeboarding competitions. The latter is a surface water sport that involves riding atop a lightweight wakeboard (it resembles a small surfboard) that is pulled by a speedboat.

At the marina’s east edge, the city allowed development of a small condominium complex, where the homeowners have access to the lake via a small canal.

Additionally, the city approved a 1.35 million square foot retail, resort and dining complex, called the Legends at Sparks Marina, also on the east side of the marina.

Scheduled to open later this year, the first phase of the project will include a 250,000-square-foot Scheels sporting goods store, a dinosaur-themed restaurant, T. Rex, created by the founders of the Rainforest Café chain, the Saddle Ranch Chop House and Cantina Corona.

Additionally, the city has announced that Olympia Gaming will build a $500 million casino, resort and spa as part of the development. The project will eventually include 1,000 hotel rooms, convention space and a lakefront amphitheater.

Not too bad for a former gravel pit.

Virginia City's Spiritual Side

If you read some of the books about old mining towns you might think they all were rough and lawless places that had lots of saloons and gunfights but few churches or schools.

In Virginia City, however, the reality was much different. Nevada historian Ronald James notes the “sinful distractions of the Comstock were certainly no more prevalent than in any other place in the mining West.”

In fact, by the early 1860s Virginia City had grown into a fairly civilized community. In his book, “The Roar and the Silence, A History of Virginia City and the Comstock Lode,” James cites an 1865 report of the State Superintendent of Public Schools that indicates Storey County had no less than a dozen schools, including seven in Virginia City.

Additionally, Virginia City’s citizen’s built marvelous houses of worship. James says that the community’s first congregation was a Methodist group that formed in the late 1850s.

In 1861, the Methodists built Virginia City’s first church, a fine wooden, steepled structure located about a block west of the present-day St. Mary in the Mountains Catholic Church (corner of Taylor and E Streets). The Methodist congregation declined in the early 20th century and the church no longer exists.

Other congregations, however, have had more longevity. The Roman Catholic Church sent its first priest to Virginia City in 1860. While the first Catholic Church building, made of wood, was destroyed by heavy winds, a sturdier structure was soon built, which was named St. Mary in the Mountains.

In the 1870s, the Catholic congregation numbered between 3,000 and 5,000 and was the largest religious group on the Comstock.

There is even a legend surrounding the church that involves the Great Fire of 1875. According to the story, as the fire raced through Virginia City (it eventually destroyed more than 75 percent of the town), many of the Catholic parishioners fought to save the church by pouring water over it.

Mine owner John Mackay, a Catholic, however, was more concerned about the fire reaching his mine and spreading into the underground shafts. He allegedly told Father Patrick Manogue, leader of the church, that if the priest would permit the parishioners to save the mines, he would help rebuild the church.

Whatever the truth, the fire did destroy the church, which was rebuilt between 1875 and 1877. The replacement church—still standing—was an impressive two-story, Gothic Revival brick structure with rosewood balconies and stained glass windows.

Another of Virginia City’s churches is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, located one block northeast of St. Mary in the Mountains on the corner of F and Taylor Streets. Erected in 1876—an earlier church, erected in 1862, burned in the 1875 fire—St. Paul’s is entirely constructed of native pine.

St. Paul’s has arched ceiling beams and walls that are actually held together with wooden pegs. The original pews and wood-paneled walls are also nearly intact.

Virginia City’s third historic church is the Presbyterian Church on C Street, near the Firehouse. The Presbyterian Church, built in 1867, is the oldest in Virginia City and the only original church not to have burned during the 1875 fire.

The church was financed from money raised by selling mining stocks that had been donated to the congregation. Additionally, the church operated two stores, on either side of the building, which provided money for church activities.

The Presbyterian congregation peaked in the 1860s, with about 750 members. In the 1930s, the building had been converted into the Union Sunday School and then was closed due to its bad condition in 1947.

It has since been restored and is again used for religious services. If you get a chance to tour the church, be sure to check out the old organ; it still bears the burn marks from the great fire of 1875.

All three of Virginia City’s churches are open to the public during selected times (or during Sunday services). For more information, call the Virginia City Chamber of Commerce, 775-847-0311.

Escape to Historic Unionville

Old Unionville School

If you’re looking to get away from it all, there aren’t too many places more remote than the historic town of Unionville, home of the Old Pioneer Garden Country Inn.

The Old Pioneer is a rustic two-story stone inn located in a former wagon maker’s home that was originally built in the mid-19th century when Unionville was a thriving mining camp.

The Old Pioneer Garden Country Inn, which also includes a separate, renovated guesthouse, is owned by Lew and Mitzi Jones, who relocated to Unionville from Monterey, California in 1972.

During the past three decades, the two have transformed the ruins of two historic homes into a quaint bed and breakfast complex that is one of rural Nevada’s best-kept secrets.

The main inn, known as the Hadley House, has six modern rooms, one with a private bath. The smaller Ross House, located at the entrance to town, offers two rooms.

All of the inn’s facilities are comfortable and private—recent visitors have included Hollywood celebrities—and the Jones’ prepare some wonderful meals using fruits from their orchard and vegetables from their garden.

Rates range from $75-95 per night. For reservations, call 775-538-7585 or write Old Pioneer Garden, 2805 Unionville Rd., Unionville, NV 89418.

The town of Unionville was founded in the spring of 1861 as a mining camp named Dixie (most of the original miners were Southern).

Within a short time, however, more people had arrived in the booming camp, including many that identified with the northern side in the Civil War (raging at the time). Soon, the town’s name was changed to Unionville to reflect the majority’s politics.

Among the earliest arrivals in Unionville was a young Mark Twain, who later wrote about his experiences as a would-be prospector in the town.

Twain noted that he discovered a shiny piece of rock that he knew just had to be gold. His “delirious revel” quickly turned to embarrassment when a more experienced prospector revealed that his discovery was only granite and glittery mica.

“So vanished my dream. So melted my wealth away. So toppled my airy castle to the earth and left me stricken and forlorn,” he noted. “Moralizing, I observed, then, that ‘all that glitters is not gold.’”

Another tale about Unionville is that even though it was the first seat of Humboldt County, it wasn’t really built to last. Writer Stanley Paher has written that lumber shipped to the town was so bad that one newspaper reported that when it rained the county clerk stacked his papers into one corner of his office “where the rain didn’t come any thicker than it did outside.”

Despite the travails, Unionville managed to grow during 1862-63. During that time, it had nearly 1,000 residents and numerous businesses including ten stores, six hotels, nine saloons, a brewery and a newspaper.

The town experienced brief spurts of mining activity during the next decade before losing the county seat to Winnemucca in 1873. By 1880, the good years were behind Unionville, which slowly slipped into obscurity.

Fortunately, Unionville never completely disappeared. After mining ceased, the local economy shifted to ranching and agriculture and, in recent years, tourism.

The ruins of old Unionville can be found sprinkled throughout beautiful Buena Vista Canyon. Stone foundations and walls, a few intact wooden houses, tall cottonwoods, old barns and the picturesque old Unionville school (not open to the public) are among the historic survivors.

A small creek, which runs down the canyon and through the town, enhances the general sense of peacefulness found here.

Unionville is located in Northern Nevada, about half way between Lovelock and Winnemucca. To reach the town, travel east of Lovelock on Interstate 80 to the Mill City exit. Head south on State Route 400 for 17 miles, then drive west for three miles on a good dirt road.

A Glimpse of Early Las Vegas

It was tough living in Las Vegas in 1855. That’s the year that 30 Mormon missionaries from Utah established a small colony in the remote Las Vegas Valley.

Creating the settlement wasn’t an easy job. In addition to having no air conditioning or room service, colonists had to plant crops for food, erect their own places in which to live and cope with intolerably hot temperatures.

In fact, one colonist, George W. Bean later reported, “we started to clear off the land to plant the crops forthwith, but the heat was terrible.”

The purpose of the colony was to educate the native Paiutes about Christianity and to establish a halfway station between Utah and Southern California’s port cities. Las Vegas (which is Spanish for “the meadows,” was selected as the site because it was located on the Old Spanish Trail, had plenty of water from natural springs and abundant meadow grasses.

In addition to planting squash, melons, corn and other crops, colonists soon constructed an adobe fort. Each side of the enclosure, built adjacent to the Las Vegas Creek, was about 150 feet with taller towers or bastions at the northwest and southeast corners.

The Las Vegas Mission or, as it later became known, the Mormon Fort, managed to operate for about two years. In late 1855, a post office was established at the fort, which was named Bringhurst, after the mission’s leader, William Bringhurst.

In late 1856, however, differences in philosophy between Bringhurst, and other colonists resulted in its being abandoned. On February 23, 1857, Brigham Young, president of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church) officially terminated the mission.

The adobe buildings of the old fort were acquired in 1865 by Octavius Decatur Gass, a miner from El Dorado Canyon (south of Las Vegas). Gass incorporated parts of the fort into a larger ranch house compound and eventually built a store and blacksmith shop to serve travelers passing through the area, which became known as the Los Vegas Rancho.

Gass greatly expanded his land holdings in the Las Vegas Valley during the next few years but in doing so over-extended himself financially. In 1881, Archibald Stewart, who had loaned money to Gass, gained ownership of the property after Gass defaulted.

Three years later, Stewart was killed in a dispute with neighbors and his wife, Helen, assumed control of the rancho. She developed it as a way station for travelers, providing them with food and shelter.

In 1902, Mrs. Stewart sold the ranch to the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad (later part of the Union Pacific Railroad), which, in 1905, developed the property into the city of Las Vegas.

Today, the site of the Old Mormon Fort, located a few blocks from the center of downtown Las Vegas, is an historic state park. Over the years, all but one of the original fort buildings has disappeared. That structure has been changed considerably; in 1929, it was leased and renovated by the Bureau of Reclamation for use as a lab during the construction of Hoover Dam.

The rectangular adobe structure that still stands now houses a small museum featuring displays and exhibits detailing the fort’s history. Additionally, one of the rooms contains 19th century furnishings—not the originals—that show how the building was probably furnished near the turn of the 20th century.

Additionally, the park contains reconstructions of the fort’s north and south walls, one of the bastions, the corrals, and a replica of the Pioneer Garden, complete with various crops like those planted 150 years ago.

A segment of the Las Vegas Creek, which once flowed naturally through the property, has been re-created adjacent to the adobe building. The original spring that fed the creek was diverted in the early 20th century and the creek largely dried up.

In recent years, the state parks have also added a fine new visitor center. Inside, you can find a small gift shop as well as displays describing the natural history of Southern Nevada.

Rangers also offer guided walking tours on request. The site is also occasionally excavated by archaeology groups attempting to study the foundations of the original fort structures and later ranch buildings to get clues about living conditions, etc.

The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park is located at 500 East Washington Avenue in Las Vegas, adjacent to Cashman Field and across the street from the Sawyer State Office Building.

The park is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is a small admission charge of $3 for adults and $2 for children under 12. Under 6 free. For more information call 702-486-3511.