Silver City Guard Ambushes BiCentennial Wagon Train
by David Toll
b&w photos by Gary Elam (except as noted)
When it was announced that Nevada's Bicentennial Wagon Train would make its first stop at Silver City on its way to Valley Forge, local BiCentennial...
September Rides
by Curtis Fong, "the Guy from Tahoe"
Just because the kids are back in school and it’s September, it doesn’t mean that summer is over, and if you’re thinking of storing your camping gear or...
Dirt Road to the Top of Minnehaha Canyon
by Gage T. Smith "the Picon Guy"
Sometimes we tend to overlook what is right in our own back yard.
A few weeks ago, some of my buddies decided to do a ride in the Pine...
A Visit to Laughlin
Laughlin should have been named Fun City — no-one comes here on business unless they are in the fun business.
We come for the food, the drink, the easy-going atmosphere and the fishing in the...
A Visit to Aurora, June 1946
by David W. Toll
On a sunny summer day in 1946 I walked with my great-grandfather Harry Gorham down Pine Street in Aurora, looking then as you see it in this painting by Jeff Nicholson,...
Nevada State of Mind
by Richard Bangs
It feels like we’re driving to the edge of the world where the water falls off.
Infinity is just ahead. To the right are mountains that arc up from the basement of time....
Nevada’s Dirt Roads — Mina
by Gage T. Smith
See Map at bottom
I think everybody has an addiction of some sort. For some it's drugs, others are addicted to gaming and the like. My addiction (one of many) is what...
A Visit to Virginia City, Spring 2014
Is it a mistake for me to be your guide to Virginia City?
I know too much.
It's helpful to be able to point out that B Street was once Virginia City's Champs-Elysees. It's just a...
Sparks: A Town of Two Times
by Wendell Huffman
Sparks was created in the early 20th century as part of the Union Pacific Railroad’s modernization of the Central Pacific line across Nevada. The old division point at Wadsworth, where trains were...
Mark Twain’s First Letter
by Jim Reed
In signing his famous “letter from Carson City” on January 31, 1863, the man directing the pen morphed from Samuel Langhorne Clemens to Mark Twain with just a few wriggles of his...
Two Nevada Women in Paris’ ‘Belle Epoque’
"La Belle Epoque" in Paris Is defined as the period of social , economic, technological and political progress that took place from 1879-1914, and it's clear that our two Nevada girls contributed to it...
Boyhood Days in Winnemucca 1901-1910
by
James R. Chew
As a young boy, my family and I lived in Winnemucca's Chinatown on Baud Street. It had a population of about 400 Chinese, who were practically all railroad workers. Surprisingly, only four...
The McKeen Car, A Nevada Treasure
by Peter Barton
Administrator, Nevada Division of Museums and History
A little past Noon on Monday, May 9, 1910, a futuristic rail car rolled down the tracks along Washington Street in Carson City and eased up...
A Brief History of Lincoln County
By Dave Maxwell
Visit Lincoln County this summer. It’s worth it. Part of Nevada’s Silver Trails Territory, it definitely fits that description.
In 1849, during the great Western migration, a party from Kansas seeking a...
Tahoe Ski Guide – Where to Do It All in the Tahoe Basin
Where to Stay:Click Here for lodgings
One can obviously stay in the Tahoe Basin, however in any decent winter season there the Tahoe Basin tends to get completely booked. So note that Reno also offers...
The Famous Garcia World’s Fair Gold Medal Saddle from Elko
The book follows the journey of G.S. Garcia and J.M. Capriola, two legendary saddle makers in northeastern Nevada who made their living from the working cowboys and ranchers in the Great Basin. Entering into...
Mountain View Hotel, Pioche
The Mountain View Hotel of Old Pioche
by Dave Maxwell
Once as elegant a hotel as graced anywhere in the western states between San Francisco and Denver, the Mountain View Hotel in Pioche has fallen into...
NevadaGram #224 – The Mind Reader
by Harry M.Gorham
Due to the frenzy of speculation occasioned by the ore discovery in the Sierra Nevada, every stock quoted in the San Francisco exchange was quoted at ridiculous prices, and those who could...
Nevada’s Dead Towns
by John Muir (1875)
Nevada is one of the very youngest and wildest of the States; nevertheless it is already strewn with ruins that seem as gray and silent and time-worn as if the civilization...
Eulogy for a Gambler
The Funeral Oration for Riley Grannan
by Herman W. Knickerbocker
On April 3, 1908, a former Methodist minister faced a small audience crowded into a backroom dance hall in the booming mining town of Rawhide.
His name...
Corbett vs. Fitzsimmons, Carson City 1897
The dawn of battle day In Carson was all that could be desired by the several thousands of people who have traveled many miles to the snow-bound valley to see the great Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight.
Late...
Mark Twain’s Collar Buttons
by Dan De Quille
The Golden Era, December 6, 1863
If I had known that Mark Twain's shirts were all without collars I would never have gone into partnership with him in rooms. I should have...
The Horse Hunt That Spawned ‘The Misfits’
by Peter A. Kraemer
Here 's a photo (I assume by Gus Bundy) of A.J. "Joe"Liebling and Lucille Spectorsky with Lucius Beebe, Chuck Clegg and Katie Hilyard of "the Katies" in the doorway of the...
Three Nevada Gates
By El Picon
(Picon Drinkers of the American West)
There are three Gates east of Fallon. Lt. Simpson entered the area from the east and came down what he called Gibraltar Canyon, named for the large...
Finding Clemens Cove
One of the most memorable episodes in "Roughing It" recounts how young Sam Clemens hiked up to Lake Tahoe from Carson City.
He tells how he and his companion staked a timber claim and...
The Last Spike and the First Glimpse of the new Nevada Southern Railway
On Friday morning April 27 Robin and I visited Boulder City and the Nevada State Railroad Museum, home of the Nevada Southern Railway.
The little depot on Yucca Street was just coming to life when...
All (Dirt) Roads Lead to Picon
by Gage Smith
See my recipe for a Perfect Picon below
I am known to some as The Picon Guy. Now how can a guy like me be saddled with such a moniker? It all started...
A Visit to Battle Mountain During HPV Speed Challenge
We are in Battle Mountain for the World’s Fastest Human-Powered Speed Challenge, which is a contest to see whose bicycle can go fastest on five miles of straight, flat Highway 305 about 15 miles...
Horse Guts
by Squaw Tom Sanders
This story I want to tell you about happened in 1917. I worked at Mono Lake there. It was team days back then, and we was buildin' highways. We had rippers...
The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reintroduces Bighorn Sheep on Tribal Lands
by Kalen Goodluck/High Country News
The day began early for the crew of scientists, state and tribal officials — long before the sun rose across the snow-covered sagebrush. “How many are you going to give...
Under the Trampoline
by Squaw Tom Sanders
Well, I’m going to tell you a story about that happened in 1925. I lived in Fallon and it was the depression. Wages was only a dollar a day feeding cattle,...
Mark Twain Couldn’t Take a Joke
“There were many practical jokers in the new Territory. I don’t take pleasure in expressing this fact, for I liked those people; but what I am saying is true. I wish I could say...
DAYTON is in Virginia City
by Dennis Cassinelli
For many years, my family and I have lived in Dayton, Nevada, “Gateway to the Comstock.” This is where Nevada gold was first discovered in 1849 that ten years later, led to...
Legislators and Lobbyists Guide to Power Dining in Carson City
Urban safari: Observe Legislators and Lobbyists
At Work from a nearby table in Carson City
by Barry Smith
As 63 legislators and hundreds of lobbyists arrive in Carson City for the 2019 session of the Nevada Legislature,...
A Visit to Boulder City, February 2014
We are doing ourselves a big favor by visiting Boulder City in February. It is the perfect cure for a Comstock winter, if you’re not going to Belize. When we are snowed in and battling...
Thunder Mountain: A Monumental Undertaking
Dan Van Zant is determined to preserve and protect
a remarkable piece of Nevada history
Story and photos by Richard Menzies
A
Daniel Van Zant is a middle-aged desk jockey, who, when he’s not developing marketing strategies for...
Down the Dirt Road to Green Creek
A nice day outing with some spectacular scenery awaits you in the Green Creek area just inside California, or, as we say around here Far Western Nevada). Located a few miles south of the...
Skiing Elko’s SnoBowl
by Curtis Fong, "the Guy from Tahoe"
When skiers talk about skiing in Nevada, they bring up well know resorts such as Heavenly, Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe and Diamond Peak. but, no one ever mentions...
NevadaGram #161 Sesquicentennial Nevada Day
Nevada Day was very big this year, being the Sesquicentennial edition and all. The year-long effort to celebrate the milestone with events and activities around the state — more than 500 of them...
Betty’s Cards
Pick a Card from the Wall
by Sam Toll
I was born in Carson City Nevada in 1962 and grew up in Gold Hill. I spent my first 20 years on the Comstock Lode and at that time the...
