NevadaGram #12 – August All Around Nevada, Love Note to Beatty and Cowboy Salt

August 1, 2002

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The new edition of The Complete Nevada Traveler is now at the printer. Getting it there took all our August traveling time, so this Trip Report is a melange of items from around the state, website discoveries and e-mails from site visitors.

Beauty is where you find it: Hollyhocks in Gabbs.

We receive two or three e-mails a day from our website visitors with questions about Nevada. Those we can’t answer ourselves we forward to the appropriate members of the Nevada Travel Network for expert response. Some questions are more interesting than others, but only this one one made me laugh out loud:

I am coming to Las Vegas and need to pick up some Cowboy Salt (whatever that is). Do you know where I can get some? Thanks for your time, Ken

I replied:

Ken,
Is this like a left-handed monkey wrench or a bucket of steam?
I’ve never heard of ‘cowboy salt’ I’m sorry to say.
In fact, if you find some I’d very much like to know what it is.

And three days later I got my laugh:

I do believe I have been HAD!!! although PAYBACKS will be issued!!
I will get even with the guy at work for BOTH of us! I just returned from Las Vegas and was laughed right outta the store…(Mike will pay for that!). Thanks again and have a great day…Ken

Beatty will celebrate its centennial in 2004.

Here’s another e-mail, a love-note to Beatty: Just wanted you to know that I’ve visited Beatty 5 times in the past 10 years and I just love it! I would very much like to move to the west — I love the desert, especially Death Valley — and everybody is so friendly in Beatty. I would consider moving there, but I’m leery about finding employment and now this Yucca Mountain controversy. Besides tourism, what are the major jobs? Can you send me some info. about living there?

I can’t imagine having Death Valley in my backyard. I travel a good deal, but I have never encountered such beauty as this national park. I tell everybody I know who is going to Vegas to head a little further west and see the Valley and to definitely stay in Beatty. I really really enjoy your town!!

C. A.
Duquesne, PA

21st Century Wagon Train, Tonopah-bound.

Dennis and Sonja Blazewick of Luning will lead a

wagon train October 13 – 19, and you’re invited to ride along. “This is by no means a commercial venture. We travel around with our covered wagon and mule team, and anyone who has a wagon and is self-sufficient is welcome to travel with us. We are not outfitters. Those who go must be able to take care of themselves and provide all their own gear and food. The only charge is for hay for the animals. Outriders are most welcome and encouraged to be a part of our trips but the same applies to them, they must be able to take care of themselves and carry their own gear. All the outriders who have participated so far have brought a pack animal to carry their gear. We go different places at different times of the year, often scheduled to take advantage of the desert in bloom or the wildlife and wild horse migrations. We are originally from California, and we have discovered since moving to Nevada that you certainly don’t have to have green to have beautiful.”

Looking East toward Reno, 1868 and 1997.

Lawrence K. Hersh of Fernley has published The Central Pacific Railroad Across Nevada 1868 & 1997, a set of 108 comparative photographs taken in 1868 by Alfred A. Hart as the railroad was built and in 1997 as Hersh retraced Hart’s route. “I have spent the last three and a half years traveling across Nevada to rephotograph the original locations of Hart’s photos. I can recall the feelings that overwhelmed me when I found myself at the same if not the exact spot of Alfred A. Hart, liken to a euphoric state of mind. Perhaps this book will bring enjoyment to the many who cannot venture to these areas.”

A heart-rending moment from “The Yellow Jacket Fire”.

The Gold Hill Hotel, a short distance downcanyon from Virginia City, is well-known as the state’s first hotel (est. 1859), and has emerged in recent years as one of its finest restaurants, presided over by Chef Marc Rickey. Now the proprietors have formed The Gold Hill Theater Troupe to perform After Dinner Theater in the Great Room of the old Hotel. Based, sometimes (very) loosely, on the colorful history of the Comstock Lode, these productions are flavorsome and entertaining. Two new plays will be presented on Wednesday and Thursday evenings beginning October 2nd. “Julia”, staged on Wednesdays, presents an astonishing version of the murder of Julia Bulette, and “Blackmail and Murder on the Comstock Load” is performed on Thursdays. It’s lots of fun, and there are dinner specials and room packages available.

These pool rats loved their Las Vegas visit as much as the adults did. Thrill rides, family-friendly shows, a Lake Mead Cruise, a ball game at Cashman Field — there’s a lot here for kids, including an on-line Kids Guide to Las Vegas.

Now that the Armpit excitement is dying down, Battle Mountain is returning to its roots by hosting the 1st Annual Chukar Tournament and Feed on November 9th. Over $15,000 in prizes, and each hunter in the tournament (limited to 300) will receive a free ticket for the 2003 four-wheeler ATV. Prizes will be awarded for the three heaviest bag limits (cleaned birds only) and many additional raffles.Details here or by calling 775-635-1112.

Overheard at the Ore House Saloon in Ione: “Young lady, when you drink as much as I do you have to start early.”

David W. Toll

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