Silver was found in the hills surrounding what is now Pioche in the early 1860s, but conflict with the local Indian bands led the area to be abandoned soon thereafter. In 1868, San Francisco based land speculator François Louis Alfred Pioche purchased the mining claims and the surrounding area and founded a town he humbly named after himself. Within two years hundreds of miners had come to the mines of Pioche to find work, and it quickly gained a reputation as one of the roughest towns in the west. Signs around town will tell you that 72 men were killed in Pioche before the first citizen died of natural causes. Many of these men were buried in a “Boot Hill” cemetery outside of town. In 1872, Pioche became the county seat of the newly formed Lincoln County and a courthouse was commissioned for $88,000. Bonds were issued to cover the costs and then more bonds were issued to pay back the original bonds. This cycle continued until the state of Nevada devised a repayment plan in 1907 to help pay off the debt. The courthouse was finally paid off in 1938 to the tune of a million dollars, two years after the building was condemned. Next door to the courthouse is the old Mountain View Hotel, where Herbert Hoover apparently stayed when he visited Pioche. The old opera house and the 1937 Gem Theater are other distinct local landmarks. I loved my time in Pioche. In addition to these historic sites, the aerial tramway is such an eye-catching feature for the old mining town. I had a great breakfast with the locals at the counter of the Silver Café, and enjoyed a few beers at The Alamo Club and the Overland Saloon which also hosted a rousing round of Bingo when I was in town. I also absolutely loved their historic marker signs, each of which was topped with a unique design referencing the specific location (see some great examples below). To top it all off, Pioche has a free RV park for visitors to stay in while visiting. I had never heard of Pioche when I passed through, but I’m sure glad I stopped. This was my first visit but it won’t be my last. I hope you enjoy these photos from the old mining town of Pioche, Nevada - a once wild place in the heart of Lincoln County.
Hello Everyone!
It’s been a relatively mellow week out here on the road. Warm temperatures in southern Nevada have been very welcome and have not inspired me to move back into colder climates with any unnecessary speed. I hung around Las Vegas for an extra day to do some work on my van and then lingered in Boulder City longer than I expected. I did see a fascinating old mining town in the El Dorado Canyon near Nelson, Nevada, visited the Lost City Museum in Overton and finally made it out to the Valley of Fire which did not disappoint. I’m ending my week here in Mesquite, right on the border, as I plan to make my exit from the Silver State tomorrow. It’s not been the busiest week I’ve ever had, but sometimes that’s a good thing.
How can you not go visit a place with the motto “The Town That Refused to Die”? Ione has been on my list for quite some time and I’m glad I finally got there. It adds a little extra to the long detour to Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park which is just minutes up the road. Ione was founded after a silver strike in the area in 1863. Ione took it’s name from a California mining town and would be named the county seat of the newly created Nye County in 1864. The town’s population would peak at about 600 people, but many would leave when a strike was made in nearby Belmont. Belmont would become the county seat in 1867. Ione would have another small boom in 1897 when a new stamp mill was built and again in 1912 when cinnabar (an ore refined into elemental mercury) was discovered in the area. When that played out in the 1930s, the town’s population would dip to around 40. The post office closed in 1959 and yet the town persisted. There isn’t much to Ione these days - a boarded up saloon and a few old stores and mining era buildings. But there are some newer houses around as well and a population of 41 people who must really like to get away from it all. This is an end-of-the-road town, but one worth wandering through if you’re ever in the area. I hope you enjoy these photos from Ione, Nevada - The Town That Refused to Die.
Berlin was established as a mining town in 1897 by German prospectors who named the town after the city in their native homeland. It had a small decade-long boom cycle but declined quickly after the Panic of 1907. By 1911 Berlin was virtually a ghost town and would begin to deteriorate. The land was acquired by the State of Nevada in 1970 to become part of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. Since it was acquired, volunteers have stabilized the buildings and replaced the roofs and now it sits in a state of “arrested decay”. There are some great old buildings to see in Berlin, especially the massive stamp mill. I hope you enjoy these photos from the tiny old goldmining ghost town of Berlin, Nevada - definitely a cool place to see.
The Lincoln Highway was the original road-tripping route across the country. Dedicated on Halloween, 1913, the Lincoln Highway stretched 3,389 miles from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Square in San Francisco. It was really the first transcontinental route designed specifically for automobiles and became known as The Main Street Across America. The stretch of the Lincoln Highway that crossed Nevada was planned along a well-trodden path. This route had previously served as a stagecoach route, the main trail for the Pony Express and the transcontinental telegraph also ran along this path. Many years after the highway was built, in 1986, Life magazine called this stretch of road across Nevada “The Loneliest Road in America”, and that wasn’t meant as a compliment. Nevadans, however, loved it and set out to make it a state scenic byway, erecting signs, creating a passport and marketing it to outsiders as The Loneliest Road. It connects fascinating old mining towns like Austin, Ely and Eureka and passes by old Pony Express stations, vast expanses of desert and the ruins of Fort Churchill (now a state park). I’ve made this run across Nevada several times and always really enjoyed it. There’s a lot of history out there and some great bars along the way as well. I hope you enjoy these photos from my time traveling down Nevada’s section of Route 50, The Loneliest Road in America.
Hello Everyone! This week brought me down the east side of the great state of Nevada as I traveled from the old railroad town of Ely to fabulous Las Vegas. It’s another pretty desolate run with lots of wide open, beautiful desert to see. Nevada Route 93 is a great road and an easy one to cruise down with the windows down and the radio up. Tumbleweed blew across the road on more than one occasion. I also saw both a coyote and a roadrunner speed across the highway in front of me, but if the coyote was chasing the roadrunner, he was several hours behind. Perhaps an Acme brand rocket might help him catch up. I did stop through some cool little towns along the way and hiked in three really nice state parks as well, which were all nice to break up the ride. As I’ve been making my way south, I’ve been reading Reno’s Big Gamble by Alicia Barber which is an interesting look at the history of “The Biggest Little City in the World”. Two passages really stuck out though and made me smile so I thought I’d share them with you here. The first talks about how Nevada is right in between the Sierra Nevada Mountains, arguably the most beautiful part of California, and the incredible and diverse landscapes of Western Utah, longtime home of the Mormon Church. That leaves Nevada stuck in the desert “east of Eden and west of Zion”. The second quote stated that Nevada was “only fit for lizards and blizzards”. Both gave me a good chuckle. Nevada is a wonderful place but it takes some time here to understand that and the wide-open desert can be as daunting as it is beautiful. It’s hard not to imagine the emigrant parties toting all of their possessions with them in an old wagon starting off across the great unknown. The distances are much greater than they appear and I can only imagine what went through their heads as they struggled across a few miles at a time. Thankfully I move along at a much quicker pace. All in all, it’s been another great week on the road.
Virginia City, Nevada is one of the coolest Old West mining towns left in the country, and rightfully so as it was once the site of the biggest bonanza in the country’s history. Ten years after the California gold rush brought tens of thousands of people west to find their fortunes, Henry Comstock discovered gold at what would later be called Gold Canyon. The Comstock Lode would bring 25,000 people into the desolate Nevada hills and Virginia City would come to be known at “The Richest Place on Earth”. Because of the tremendous wealth in the area, huge hurdles would be overcome as the town grew, including piping in water from the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains and building a railroad up the steep grade to bring supplies in and out of town. Beautiful churches, mansions, schools and a gorgeous county courthouse were built, along with dozens of saloons, gambling halls and brothels. As a nod to the latter, you’ll notice that the statue of Justice on the courthouse isn’t blind, but instead holds a constant watch over the town. In total, over $400 million dollars worth of gold and silver came out of these hills, equivalent to several billion in today’s money. These riches would filter out of the hills and be responsible for the founding of Reno and for turning San Francisco into the beautiful city it is today. It also helped fund the Union cause during the Civil War, hastening the push for Nevada’s statehood. Nevada’s “Battle Born” motto and designation as the Silver State are both a direct result of the wealth of Virginia City. When the minerals played out, the population dwindled and major fires burned down a lot of what Virginia City once was. Today, nostalgia for the past brings in plenty of tourism and it’s well worth a visit. I hope you enjoy these photos from colorful, historic Virginia City, Nevada a town where the Old West lives on.
Genoa was first settled by Mormon pioneers in what was then the Mexican Territory of Alta California. Their settlement was known as Mormon Station and served as a roadhouse for westbound emigrants along the California Trail. After American annexation following the Mexican-American War, John Reese arrived and expanded the operation. Others soon settled in the area as well and the town started to grow. In 1856, the town was renamed after the Italian city of Genoa. The Genoa Bar was opened in 1853, making it Nevada’s oldest “thirst parlor”. Genoa was also home to Nevada’s first newspaper and served briefly as the capital city of the newly organized Nevada Territory. A beautiful brick house in town was built by “Lucky Bill” Thorington in 1855, but I guess his luck eventually ran out as he was the first man hanged in Nevada Territory. in 1919, Lillian Finnegan wanted to help the town purchase streetlights so she organized the Genoa Candy Dance to raise money, an event still held today over a century later to raise funds for the town. Genoa is a cool little place just a quick drive from Carson City and well worth a look if you’re ever in the area. I hope you enjoy these photos from Genoa, Nevada’s oldest town.
Originally home to the Northern Paiute people, the first non-native person to come through the valley was probably Peter Ogden of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who arrived in 1828. Settlers came to the valley in 1863 and after trouble with the Paiute, Fort Winfield Scott was built for protection. Perhaps because of that, the town that grew up there was originally named Scottsdale and helped supply the area’s mines. It was renamed Paradise City in 1869 and Paradise Valley much later.. The catholic church in town is a reminder of the area’s Italian and Basque heritage. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp in town (which is still there today). They were responsible for building the Hinkey Summit/Canyon Creek Road as well as several stone bridges and buildings in the area. Agriculture is the main economic driver in the region these days. Paradise Valley is perhaps best known as the hometown of actress Edna Purviance who appeared in almost 30 films with Charlie Chaplin.
While I came to photograph the cool, old buildings in town, there are some beautiful new homes around as well. The two churches were beautiful and well kept and the saloon looks like it gets quite lively at times. It seems like it would be a wonderful place to live if you wanted to get away from it all. Today, Paradise Valley is home to just over a hundred people. It’s not really close to anything, but if you ever get the chance, stop by and have a wander. You’ll be glad you did. I hope you enjoy these photos from Paradise Valley, Nevada - Humboldt County’s not quite ghost town.
Hello Everyone!
It’s been a week of old towns, dusty bars and wide-open spaces as I made my way across the great state of Nevada along U.S. Highway 50. U.S. 50 is also called the Lincoln Highway and was established in 1913 as the first transcontinental road for cars. Back in 1986, Life Magazine called the stretch of U.S. 50 that crosses Nevada “the loneliest road in America”, something the local communities out here wear as a badge of honor. It’s a fascinating stretch of road that runs along the old Pony Express trail, was once a storied stagecoach route and was where the first transcontinental telegraph crossed the state. For some reason the railroad chose the northern route across Nevada which is where Interstate 80 runs today. That has left this stretch of road far less traveled and far more interesting and the historic (and active) mining towns along the way are all worth a visit in their own right. It’s one of my favorite road trips in the country and one I’ve made several times over the years, but it was nice to take an extra day or two and not feel rushed in the crossing…
Hello Everyone! It’s been a lovely week here in the greater Lake Tahoe region. The weather has been cold, but also clear and sunny and hard to beat for the middle of January. I’ve spent most of the week catching up with old friends and taking it slow which has been really nice. I did get out for a day on the slopes in South Lake Tahoe while I was here which was awesome and a real treat. It’s about time for me to hit the road again and head out across Nevada, but it’s been a nice break here in the mountains among friends…
Hello Everyone! It’s been a cold week out here on the road with nighttime temperatures dipping into the single digits. While I’m always prepared for the cold and have plenty of warm clothes and blankets, it’s no fun getting out of bed in the morning. Thankfully it’s also been a week of catching up with old friends and tagging along with them on their adventures so my spirits have been high all week. I started my week in Winnemucca, made my way across the top of the state on Interstate 80 and am finishing my week here in Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World”.
