NevadaGram #209 – Christmas Trains, Secrets of the Picon, and the Guy from Tahoe Straps on his Skis

Editor’s Choice —

Melvin Dummar: The Man Howard Hughes Left Behind

by Shaun Astor

“I grew up in Fallon. There was an airport, where the Churchill County rodeo grounds are at,” Melvin Dummar, now 74 years old, recalls on a warm evening as the sun falls behind the Resting Spring Mountain Range to the west of his home in Pahrump. “I was 6, 7 years old, it was still open, and I would watch the planes. I wanted to fly.”

From its mining to the casinos that make up a portion of the state’s tapestry, Nevada’s past has been guided by the oscillations between boom and bust. Wealth can be made and lost at the flip of a card, the spin of a wheel, or the swing of a shovel. It may appear at a moment and disappear just as quickly.

This is the story of one man’s brush with fate that made history and almost destroyed his life.      Read More Here

Bikepacking Nevada’s backroads

Day Tour; Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park

by Kurstin Graham

Adventure Cycling has promoted Bike Your Park over the last three years to celebrate National Public Lands Day. I have promoted rides out of the Black Rock Desert and Dayton to Fort Churchill State Parks in years past.

This year I wanted to visit the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. I had been considering this park on the western slope of the Shoshone Range in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. I planned a ride from the historic Middlegate Station to our state park, then returning on gravel roads through the Ione Valley back to Middlegate. As the route was planned it was 90+ miles with over 5,000′ of climbing. As a group ride, open to all, this was a bit intimidating.            Read More Here

On the final days of “The Fellowship of Highway 95,” Lindsey Rickert and Francesca Berrini process what they experienced in Nevada.

Time was top of mind as Francesca Berrini and Lindsey Rickert began the final days of their week-long artistic adventure from Las Vegas to Reno up Nevada’s “Free-Range Art Highway”.

In continuation of the previous days’ journey into the mythical “unknown,” the women headed to Walker Lake to catch a glimpse of Cecil the Serpent, the elusive ‘sea monster’ said to reside in the lake. Read More Here

Five Years Ago in the NevadaGram — A Bad Day for Comstock Mining Inc.

The struggle over pit mining in the Virginia City National Historic Landmark has shifted south through Devil’s Gate from Storey into Lyon County.

At last month’s scheduled hearing before the Lyon County Planning Commission, Comstock Mining Inc asked for a continuance, saying it hadn’t had time to prepare. This time company CEO Corrado De Gasperis delivered the applicant’s response to the Planning Commission Staff Report just 30 minutes prior to the meeting, giving no-one time to prepare a reasoned response.

He was rebuked by two board members for introducing new and irrelevant material relating to the drawing of the town boundaries, materials requiring careful review, but allowing no time to do it. Commissioner Wahrenbrock mentioned CMI’s incompetence, Commission chairman Davies criticized Mr. De Gasperis’ manipulating and misleading the Planning Commissioners.

Read the whole thing here

Overheard at the El Capitan in Hawthorne: “Torture is designed to produce confessions, Ted, and it always works — confessions to anything you want.”

Ten Years Ago in the NevadaGram — Staying at the Hotel Nevada in Ely

Stayed at the Historic Hotel Nevada & Gambling Hall in Ely, got room #417, and consulted the Guest Book for my bedtime reading. Some excerpts:

7/6/02 “Wonderful room, great staff (except for Gary the 21 dealer)” 8/28/03 “We’ve been coming here for about 20 years picking pine nuts and garnets.” 11/27/03 “Awesome — He asked me to marry him! Great night!” 12/10/06 “Great place, great room – fun things. Mirror is placed very well too – why didn’t anyone tell us our butts were that big?” 12/13/06 “Love the large orange ape” 3/9/07 “Our favorite stop on the way to the races. Good food. Great bartender (Bad monkey!)” 12/01/07 “A year later and I’m still in love with that large orange ape.” 4/11/08 “We had to evict the monkey out of bed — wasn’t room for us all” . . . 5/20/08 “Next time we have to cover the big orange ape’s eyes — he likes to watch while we tested the bed” 5/30/08 “The room was great. Food was great. Always have a lot of fun here. Only bad thing was my husband was violated by the monkey.” 9/25/08 “Just Married 2 weeks ago. 3 years and Eric still loves that big orange ape” 10/21/08 “Another fun time in this great old hotel. We always stay at Hotel Nevada — our favorite hotel anywhere in the state. Love this room — even the giant chimpanzee”

Read the whole thing here

15 Years Ago in the NevadaGram — 2003 Governor’s Conference on Tourism

It wasn’t the Tourismic oratory that made this Conference exceptional, it was Deepak Chopra.

When I’d seen his name on the agenda I’d wondered what in the world he had to say to us about Tourism. The answer turned out to be: nothing.

He spoke instead about overthrowing the superstition of materialism, of the way the human mind exists in every cell of the body, and how coincidence is a glimpse of the universal mind. He delivered us into a realm of science-based spirituality, far more challenging than we had any right to expect, and light-years beyond interest in the bottom line.

One striking omission from the proceedings was any mention of Shar Peterson and the people of Battle Mountain who have performed a miracle of grace under pressure to transform the stunning “Armpit of America” insult by the Washington Post into a positive achievement. The Old Spice Festival in the Pit drew national attention, and Battle Mountain is way up on people’s ‘must-see’ lists not just because of the notoriety, but because of the cool way the folks there have dealt with all the hubbub. Claudine Williams‘ tribute was well deserved, but I think Shar Peterson should have got a medal — she was Nevada’s Travel Hero of 2003.       Read the whole thing here