All Around Nevada

Carson City Mint (Nevada State Museum)

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:20:58 +0000

Click on the doorway to enter and view the coin press.
Treasury architect Alfred Mullett designed the U.S. Mint in Carson City, which opened in 1869. Locating a mint in a remote location was extraordinary, but justified by the Comstock’s large deposits of gold and silver. Opposite the coin press is a vintage vault. Iron shutters provided security, barring potential thieves drawn to the millions of dollars in gold and silver that passed through the facility. The last coinage was stamped at the Carson City Mint in 1893. The Mint building reopened as the Nevada State Museum in October 1941. (Ron James)

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Moonlite Bunny Ranch

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 06:03:28 +0000

Known on late-night HBO’s reality television series as the Cathouse, the Moonlight Bunny Ranch is located at 69 Moonlite Road in the small community of Mound House, east of Carson City. This establishment is one of four in the tiny town, where the only other major industry is lead shot manufacturing. Brothels have been winked at in Nevada for 150 years; the institutions have been legal and regulated since 1971 in a number of Nevada counties.

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Rhyolite’s Last Supper

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:53:01 +0000

Just beyond the edge of the ghostly walls of the abandoned mining town of Rhyolite, which itself totters on the edge of Nevada and California, sits the Goldwell Open Air Museum. The centerpiece of this outdoor sculpture garden is The Last Supper, created by Belgian artist Albert Szukalski (1945 – 2000) in 1984. Other artworks created by some of his Belgian colleagues stand nearby in perfect harmony with the desert environment.

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Central Nevada Museum

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:47:37 +0000

Tonopah’s Central Nevada Museum, founded in 1981 by the Central Nevada Historical Society, features an outdoor exhibit which includes an old west town where visitors can explore miners’ cabins, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, the railroad yard. There is also a display of early mining equipment, with a 10 stamp mill, ore cars, and other equipment. Inside the museum, exhibits focus upon Tonopah’s role as “Queen of the Silver Camps”, as well as other central Nevada boomtowns. There are also exhibits on the area’s Native American and natural history.

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Bucket of Blood

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:05:56 +0000

The Bucket of Blood, with its live music, authentic bar, and elaborate decor, is frequently voted the best rural saloon in Nevada. It is an excellent example of a business founded in the 1930s that evolved in response to growing tourism. The McBride family opened the wall that originally separated two distinct one-bit saloons, creating a broader space. They then filled the saloon with antique lamps and pictures to attract visitors. The saloon was mentioned in an episode of TV’s Bonanza, and it responded with “Cartwright-era” decor. (Ronald M. James)

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Territorial Enterprise

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:32:51 +0000

Established in Genoa in 1858, the Territorial Enterprise was to become one of the most important newspapers in the early American West, with its reporters counted among the best journalists (and liars) in the country. The paper moved to Virginia City in 1860, employing the aspiring writer Samuel Clemens from 1861-1864. A painting of Mark Twain is located in this panorama next to a desk purported to be his, but it is unlikely that the desk could have survived the great fire of 1875. This “Mark Twain Museum” is located in the second Territorial Enterprise building in Virginia City, erected immediately after the fire.

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Micca House Hotel

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:12:05 +0000

Alfonso Pasquale, a native of the Italian Piedmont region, settled in Paradise Valley in 1883. In 1902 he bought an adobe store on Cottonwood creek in town, and expanded it into the Micca House hotel, named for his village in Italy. The hotel was a favorite gathering place for the Italian American community. Deserted today, it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
From Paradise Valley, Nevada, The People And Buildings Of An American Place
Howard Wight Marshall

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Sagebrush and Rust

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:44:28 +0000

Seen in the sagebrush: an old car, rusted past the point of recovery as an antique, adds a human accent to the landscape.

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Mina Motel

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:48:59 +0000

The Silver King Cafe and Motel sits on U.S. Rt. 95 in the tiny hamlet of Mina (pop. 200) in Mineral County. The town was built 1n 1905 for the narrow-gauge Nevada & California Railway, whose trains were so slow that passengers could shoot small game from the seats, step off to retrieve their targets, and then hop back on the still-moving train.

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Remnant of Emigrant Trail

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:59:41 +0000

Opened in 1845, the Dog Valley portion of the Emigrant Trail led California-bound pioneers from Reno to Truckee. It remained the main wagon route until 1925. In 1846 an estimated 500 wagons made it safely through this route. That figure, of course, does not include the Donner Party, which became mired in deep snow at Donner Lake. Only half their number survived to be rescued the following year. Remnants of the trail can be seen in this panorama. Another remnant of the trail survives in the Hidden Valley area south of Reno.

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