NV Tour 2

Small Town Detours

(Twin Falls, Idaho)—Wells—East Ely—Pioche—Glendale; US 93. Idaho Line to Glendale, 460.4 m.

US 93, crossing eastern Nevada from north to south, is fairly straight, with easy grades. It passes through several long valleys be-

tween mountain ranges of various types and constantly changing colois. Near it are some of the most remarkable formations in America.

US 93 crosses the IDAHO LINE, 0 m.3 at a point 47 miles south of Twin Falls, and continues across rolling country. The old immigrant road, the Fort Hall Cut-Off used by many forty-niners, is separated from the highway by mountains, the road from Fort Hall, Idaho, following Goose Creek, and the modern highway a branch of Salmon River. About 43 miles south of the Idaho boundary US 93 crosses the early road, which followed Bishop Creek to a point just west of the present town of Wells*

Caleb Greenwood, that amazing frontiersman, is credited with being the first to have charted this course to California, though there is strong support for the contention that the honor should be given to Joseph Walker. Walker guided a group to California the year before Greenwood made his trek (1843). Although no record has yet been found to prove that Walker followed the Humboldt, it is highly improbable that he would have done anything else as he had used that route a number of years before. His train traveled through Owens Valley in California with the wagons, the first to cross the Sierras to California, Greenwood returned to waylay other immigrants on the Oregon Trail and induce them to cross to Sutter's Fort—where Sutter hoped to build up a Yankee colony to support him against the Mexicans —advertised the route, and made it a much traveled way between Fort Hall and Fort Sutter. Greenwood used the Truckee Canyon route over what became Donner Pass. Sutter's diary speaks of John Greenwood as the man he had employed to attract settlers to California; John was the name of Old Greenwood's son. Another enterprising man, Hastings (see Tour ia), had the same plans as Sutter for stimulating California immigration, but unfortunately chose a course that crossed the vast salt flats of Utah.

Through this area and westward along the Humboldt, Greenwood, who had lived among the Crow and understood the Indian viewpoint, negotiated with the tribes for safe passage, and by his wisdom avoided trouble. Later travelers were not as wise, shooting the natives with slight provocation, or without any, and holding their lives of no more worth than those of the jackrabbits along the way. Always a just man, Greenwood was as sternly set on doing his own son to death for the wanton murder of an Indian as he would have been had any other member of the train transgressed his orders. Young John had shot the Indian when the Greenwoods were guiding their second train to Fort Sutter. John escaped, riding ahead on an excellent animal, but fell in with a Mexican and was killed in a card dispute.

For approximately 30 miles the highway parallels the Salmon River, which flows north to the Snake and is one of the few Nevada streams to send waters into the ocean. The Salmon affords good trout fishing.

CONTACT, 15.5 m. (5,375 alt., 146 pop.), a trading center in a stock-raising area, was first a mining camp established in 1895. It was so named by miners because it is on the "contact" of limestone and granite,

US 93 crosses a broad valley west of Independence Range, in which are Thousand Spring and Rock Spring Creeks, along which the Fort Hall Cut-Off took its way. In spring and summer great herds range over this terrain. The vegetation is luxuriant and the forested mountains contrast with the stark beauty of ranges farther south.

WELLS, 67.7 m. (5,626 alt., 831 pop.), (see Tour ia), is at the junction with US 40 (see Tour la).

South of Wells US 93 passes through Clover Valley, a slightly more humid region along the East Humboldt Range. This valley was a favorite of eastern Nevada Indians. Along here are large ranches typical of those throughout the eastern part of the State. Many cattle graze on the hills and valley floor. Forming an So-mile crescent between Wells and Ely is one great valley, bearing different names. It is progressively more level toward the south and also more attractive.

East of the highway at 82,4 m. is a boggy area, where gravel pits dug during road construction revealed quantities of well-preserved teeth identified as belonging to huge prehistoric mammals that roamed this broad valley below the towering Ruby Mountains.

WARM CREEK RANCH is at 92 m. The ranch house, like all others in the valley, is far from the road. The ranch gives its name to a junction with Nev. n (see Tour la). Westward is a division of the Humboldt National Forest, and eastward is Spruce Mountain (11,041 alt.), a mining district in the East Humboldt Range.

The highway crosses a low divide, Goshute Pass, which was probably used by Fremont in 1844, when he swung south from his earlier camp at Flowery Lake to travel around the southern end of the Ruby Range. It is believed that Hastings took his train over it in 1846. The Donner party acting on his advice and trying to overtake him, also used it. Some historians gather from his notes that Bidwell crossed the route of the modern highway further north and used Secret Pass; but from his description of where he reached the Humboldt it seems more likely that he, too, crossed the valley at about this point in 1841,

The road now enters a broad and less productive valley, with Mount Taylor to the west, and the northernmost peaks of Antelope Range to the east.

CURRIE, 130 m. (5,885 alt., 52 pop.), named for an early settler, is a shipping point on the Nevada Northern Railroad for sheep and cattle men.

US 93 skirts Goshute Lake, a large dry alkali flat between the northern tip of the Egan and Schell Creek ranges.

At 146.8 m. is the junction with US 50 (see Tour Ja), with which US 93 unites between this point and East Ely (see Tour ja).

the southern junction with US 50 (see Tour ^a) and at a junction with US 6 (see Tour 6£).

The eastern section of US 6 unites with US 93 between East Ely and Conner's Station.

Southeast of EAST ELY, 0 m., US 93-6 passes between two divisions of the Nevada National Forest, first winding up a canyon of picturesque rock formations and then crossing low hills heavily timbered with juniper.

From the western end, 17.4 m., of CONNERS PASS (6,997 alt), is a far reaching view to the north; snow-capped WHEELER PEAK (13,058 alt.), the second highest in the State, is seen (L). The highway now descends a wooded canyon and enters the huge Spring Valley.

At 25 m.f by the southern junction with US 6 (see Tour 6a), is a gasoline station.

US 93 skirts the eastern base of the Schell Creek Range, crosses a low divide in Fortification Mountains, and heads due south across the broad Lake Valley floor, making a chalkline course as far as eye can reach. This grand valley is chiefly covered with sage and juniper, the latter occasionally in dense clusters close to the highway. Among the properties along here is GEYSER RANCH, 54 m.t one of the largest in eastern Nevada.

The highway now enters a region heavily wooded with juniper, passing between Wilson Creek Range (L) and the Ely Range (R). There is a noticeable change in topography: flat-topped mountains with abrupt eroded sides and deep canyons are more frequent. These cliffs are brighter in mineral coloring than those farther north. In summer the roadsides are yellow with waving wild sunflowers.

To climb up through PIOCHE, 108 m. (6,100 alt, 400 pop.), seat of Lincoln County, US 93 makes a wide S. The town, once center of one of the State's most important mining districts, has spread down from a narrow canyon high on the eastern side of the Highland Range. Dry Valley, a broad flood channel, lies below.

Paiutes led William Hamblin into the Pioche district in 1863. His discovery precipitated a boom and the Meadow Valley District was organized in 1864. But there was no real development until F. L. A. Pioche, a French banker from San Francisco, became interested. In all, the district has produced more than $40,000,000 worth of ore.

By 1870 the camp, far from administrative centers and the much traveled trails, was considered—and not without reason—the wildest and toughest camp in the West. Guns were the only law. They accounted for 75 deaths before anyone in the town died of natural causes. It was not only a matter of the badmen who came in to bully die town and shoot tie timid; according to pioneer yarn spinners, mine

owners imported thugs at the rate of 20 a day to fight one another*! encroachments. The cemetery on the lower hillside became the pride of Pioche; they told far and wide of its Murderers' Row, and more significantly of Boot's Row, where several dozen of the hired assassins were laid after they died with their boots on.

Old-timers were fond of recalling the days when nobody knew whether he would live to see the next morning. An arrival of 1871 was a young Illinois lawyer, William W. Bishop, who later defended John D. Lee in the notorious Mountain Meadows case in southern Utah. With him was his young bride. It happened that a deputy sheriff shot and killed three desperadoes on three different street corners while the bride was leaving the stage and entering the hotel. This display of frontier spirit was too much for the gentlewoman from Illinois; within a few minutes she was headed back toward civilization.

Another story often told is of two desperadoes convicted by public opinion of the wanton slaying of an aged prospector. They were forced to dig their own graves, and then were ordered to stand by the pits and be shot It was a tidy way, in the absence of courts, of dispatching an unpleasant job with dean hands.

During this early period a small smelter had been built to reduce the complex silver-gold, lead-zinc ores. Fire bricks for the smelter had been packed in from the construction camp of the uncompleted Central Pacific Railroad in the vicinity of Elko. The bricks had been made In Scotland and had journeyed by sailboat half way round the world to San Francisco. Bullion from the smelters went out on pack mules over the route to Elko.

Before a post office was established in 1870 mail was carried by private carrier at the rate of 25 cents a letter and then forwarded by coach from Hamilton to Elko. In 1871 when Pioche was credited with a population of around 2,000 people the frame shacks of the town were swept away by the usual fire, which also exploded 300 kegs of powder. The explosion raked the crowded street with debris, leaving 13 dead and 47 wounded. By 1874 there were 6,000 people, including gunmen, gamblers, dance hall girls, saloon keepers, and speculators, as well as prospectors, mine operators, miners, and business men.

During the Fourth of July celebration in 1876 the town bell was cracked by incessant ringing. Citizens thereupon decided they would have a bell worthy of their town and threw hundreds of dollars in silver into a molten mass, for their enthusiasm getting a bell that was long noted for its sweet and resonant tone.

Pioche, unlike many another camp, has had almost uninterrupted production of metals, and there are huge proven ore bodies still to be mined. The camp is still active—though socially far quieter than in the past—with several mines and plants operating. The cheap power now obtained from Boulder Dam is expected to make this town a leading lead and zinc producer.

Of interest is the OLD LINCOLN COUNTY COURTHOUSE, built of brick in the late 1870'* at a cost of more than a half a million—though

the actual cost of construction was only a fraction of that amount. Compound interest on bonds and refinancing had made it the most costly courthouse in Nevada—and it was condemned in 1933, three years before it was paid for. But in early days Lincoln County thought nothing of spending huge sums. If a sheriff made a journey of two or three hundred miles and turned in an expense account of $15,000, it was paid.

All around Pioche, and even on the dump at the foot of the town grow clouds of pink and white wild peas.

US 93 winds up from Pioche to cross the rolling foothills of the Highland Range toward a sage-covered plateau flanked by picturesque CATHEDRAL GORGE (R). This great chasm, deeply and beautifully eroded, has marked trails.

Right here 1 j». to an observation tower overlooking Upper Cathedral Gorge. It is particularly visited at sunset, when the coloring of the formations is dramatic.

Right here to CATHEDRAL GORGE STATE PARK AND GAME REFUGE (picnic grounds), 2 m. Pageants and Easter ceremonies are held in the park annually. The gorge is remarkable for its coloring and for the formations eroded by wind and rain in a soft chalky clay. Arches and spires are everywhere; at dusk in particular some of the formations resemble architects' models of European cathedrals, and of lower Manhattan's skyscrapers. One near the picnic ground looks like a huge and elaborate wedding cake. A stupendous mass, at about 3 m.f is especially remarkable for its purity of line, its great columns, and its innumerable spires. There are also many weird shapes, resembling contorted human figures and animals.

Left on this road to PANACA, 1 m., a small ranching center close to a low mesa with sides of curious green-grey. Founded in 1864 by Mormons led by Francis Lee, it is an excellent example of the results of Mormon pioneering. The town has the county high school, serving Pioche as well as smaller communities. The name is of Indian origin and refers to ore.

US 93 continues south down an immense flood channel, the Meadow Valley Wash, where the highway is built on an embankment to avoid the danger of spring inundations. In places rock clife arc near the route, with strange formations shaped by countless centuries of erosion; even today occasional cloudbursts change the contours. In this section an abrupt change in the type of vegetation is seen—at the division line between the sagebrush and creosote bush zones.

Left on this road to BEAVER DAM STATE PARK, 34,2 m. (camp sites), near the Utah line, at the edge of the Nevada National Forest. It is a hunting base and affords excellent fishing.

As the road nears Caliente it swerves west to avoid the narrower lower section of Meadow Valley Wa»h, where ioods are somotinwt

torrential. The Union Pacific tracts still run through the canyon southward though much money and engineering skill have been expended to prevent a repetition of the disaster of 1910? when more than 100 miles of track were carried away. Just as the highway enters a side canyon the long, low, modern LINCOLN COUNTY HOSPITAL (R) is seen in the shadow of cliffs some distance off the route.

Charming CALIENTE, 133.9 m. (4,398 alt., 1,696 pop.), is at the bottom of the narrow crooked side canyon. Its very wide main street is bisected by rails of the Union Pacific, for which it is a division point. Before the highway turns onto this main street it passes a long row of comfortable company houses, painted the familiar bright yellow, behind neat fences and very tall poplars. The stores, of cement block painted white or grey, have the air of prosperity inseparable from a community that has long had a steady source of moderate income. Conspicuous in the center of the main street, by the station, is the solid hotel owned by the railroad company.

Left at the lower end of town to KERSHAW CANYON-RYAN STATE PARK, 3.9 m. a popular camping and picnicking spot.

US 93 climbs quickly out of the canyon through the Highland Range and onto a rolling plateau between distant ranges, Joshua trees are seen here and there, increasing in number to the southward. The thick short branches rise above cacti and creosote bush. In the spring the Joshua tree with cream clusters of flowers is one of the loveliest things on the Nevada deserts. In this rolling country reptiles are occasionally seen, among them the deadly sidewinder, a small rattlesnake whose venom is extremely poisonous. It is seldom dangerous, however, unless cornered.

The highway reaches the upper end of Delamar Valley, which is one of the most striking in the State because of its broad clean sweep, its mountainous background, and its flora. The whole valley looks as if it were under cultivation, with crops in various stages of growth. One patch may be a foot in height, while next to it is another where the plants are no more than two or three inches high, suggesting that this crop was planted much later than the other. Close to the ranges eastward are forests of Joshua trees, whose large yellowish white flowers look like overgrown hyacinths. The obstinate Manly party of 1849, after breaking away from the experienced leader, Jefferson Hunt, to find a quicker route to California, followed the approximate course of US 93 across this valley, unknowingly laboring toward the tortures of Death Valley, far to the west.

Right-on this road, which runs across a gently rolling valley where Joshuas rapidly increase in number and size as the mountains are neared. In late spring the carpet flowers in this Joshua forest include pink sand verbena, white primrose, and several other flowers of a delicate pink and lavender. Following the line of the range are the great cables carrying power northward from Boulder Dam. Close to the foot of the mountain, 16 m. it a large enclosed cemetery,

reminder of early Delamar's reputation as a maker of widows; three months in the mines were sufficient to produce the fatal silicosis. The narrow road climbs steeply, curving up a bare slope, rounds a low peak and reveals DELAMAR, 18 OT., jammed half way up a shallow rocky canyon above enormous piles of light tan tailings. The discovery here, in the Ferguson District, was made in 1892 and the principal claim was purchased by Captain John De Lamar in the following year. By 1895 a barrel chlorination plant had been established. Until 1900 this camp was the principal gold producer of the generally inactive State, and operations were continued until 1909* There was some activity in 1920 and 1921, and in 1939 about 25 men were at work on small claims or on the tailings. Most of the houses and stores are now merely stone shells and the single narrow street is largely peopled by dogs and frisking children. But smoke rises from one of the mills below and tie residents are sure that the deposits will provide a comfortable living for some years to come. Total production of the Delamar Mine up to 1908 was estimated at twenty-five million dollars.

The Roman Catholic Parish of Pioche had been established in 1870 by the Reverend Lawrence Scanlan, but had irregular pastoral care. Father Scanlan became first Bishop of Salt Lake in 1891. Late in 1895, soon after the boom was on at Delamar, an urgent sick call came to Salt Lake from the camp. Since no other priest was available the bishop himself answered the plea, traveling by train, stage, and horseback to reach this remote spot Seeing the missionary field at hand he set about organizing a congregation and by Christinas had a small chapel and quarters for a priest erected. He stayed until April, preaching and celebrating mass*

Pahroc Valley, reached at 148 m., is another of the high valleys so typical of Nevada. It is remarkable for the evenness and uniformity with which it flows in a gentle slope southward for many miles. The plant life here is chiefly creosote bush, so thick and so strangely even in height that the whole floor looks as if it had been mowed. A few miles southward the creosote bush yields to greasewood and in springtime to sheets of wild flowers.

US 93 goes down a slope where piles of huge boulders are seen at intervals. Dotting the smooth expanse of brush, they look as though some neat giant had tidied up his dooryari Then the road turns south between the jagged Pahranagat Mountains on the east, and the Hiko Range on the west.

Right on this road across Pahranagat Valley to HIKO (Shoshone, White Man) 4 m. (3,681 alt., 29 pop.), the second seat of Lincoln County and founded as a mining camp with high expectations in 1866. But little ore was found here at the base of Hiko Range, and in 1871 the county seat was moved to the new boom town of Pioche. Deserted buildings that once housed several thousand people remain, though weather-beaten and tumbling into ruins.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, 177 m., once a stage-coach station, and the first seat of Lincoln County, is today only a ranch. The station was established during the brief flurry at Hiko. In contrast with the brush plain roundabout are green meadows and old cottonwood trees. Here US 93 goes southward through the fertile Pahranagat Valley, an extensive stock-raising district that had a grim early history. Once a mecca for horse thieves, it is said that at least one man has been shot and killed on every ranch, and that on a few several died violent deaths. As late as 1875 it was customary for horse thieves and rustler* operating in southern Nevada, Utah, and Arizona to drive their stolen

fcerds to the Pahranagat Valley for fattening. It is declared that at one time as many as 350 different brands were to be found in this region, a circumstance suggesting how widely the thieves had operated. Occasionally an attempt was made by law-abiding ranchers to rid the area of tie outlaws but their efforts were long in vain.

It is also told that one horse-thief was followed to the valley by owners of beasts he had stolen. Pleased to have reinforcements, the settlers quickly organized, caught the thief, and prepared to hang him in one of the ranch stables. A noose was placed around his neck, but as word of hoist away was given a double-barreled shotgun was thrust through the door and a voice commanded a halt. The vigilantes were forced to free the scoundrel, who thereupon joined the other "horse fatteners", and rode away to Hiko for a celebration. Their insolence so enraged the settlers that a permanent vigilance committee was formed, a branch of the 6oi's already operating further north. Whenever the settlers were successful in their raids, they too held celebrations, sometimes lasting two or three days.

Traveling westward with his wife and child in a poor outfit, a man named Hancock received aid in this valley from Billy Edmonson and Doc Engstrom. At night Hancock murdered his benefactors, stole their belongings, and continued to the coast. But ten years later, when he was imprisoned in California for another crime, his wife, long intimidated, told Lincoln County officials of the early murder. After serving ten years in California, Hancock was returned to Nevada, found guilty, and sentenced to hanging. Illustrating the casual spirit of the frontier is the tale that after being sentenced Hancock turned politely and said: "I thank you, gentlemen of the jury," to which the foreman responded, "You are entirely welcome."

The Pahranagat Valley is a long plain divided for 25 miles by a thread of green. It is largely owned by the Mormon church, which has divided the fertile areas into small ranches to be purchased by its homesteaders. The valley is walled in by bleak and denuded ranges with clearly marked strata, so tipped and faulted that some of the hills look as if they have been pushed over and now rest on their haunches. The color is striking. There are many warm springs in the valley and even in Indian days this was a popular year-round campsite where the natives produced melons, among other foodstuffs.

ALAMO, 189 m. (4,600 alt, 150 pop.), an old Mormon settlement, is a prosperous community in the valley. The cottonwoods for which it was named, and the tall poplars, make it a shady oasis during the summer heat. As usual in tiny Nevada communities, the school stands out above the scattered houses. The big yellow busses before the door during the winter week days are indication of how large an area the schoolhouse serves. Nothing is more surprising to easterners than a visit to one of the remote Nevada schools. The high standard of education is apparent after only a brief conversation with the staff. No colloquialisms arc heard and the lack of provincialism in interest is notable.

The highway skirts shallow Pahranagat and Maynard Lakes, where ducks, geese, and snipe are plentiful and draw sportsmen from considerable distances.

Passing COYOTE SPRINGS (L), 209 m., US 93 crosses low hills where the flora is chiefly cactus and mesquite. During springs when the plants are in full bloom this section is very beautiful For countless miles yellow flowers cover the lowlands, with brilliant red cactus blooms standing out conspicuously above the rest.

The rocky color-splashed flanks of the Sheep Range are westward, then the majestic Arrow Canyon Mountains, the sides of which have been deeply eroded. The Arrow Canyon Range, in which slender peaks alternate with flat-topped mesas, is one of the most rugged of the State. As the highway crosses a deeply eroded desert the Mormon Range is eastward across Muddy River Valley. The country through here looks as if an imprisoned cyclone had spent * century of frantic effort trying to get out of the mountains. The Moapa Indian Reservation is visible (R) below sandstone peaks.

Right on this road to the MOAPA VALLEY INDIAN AGENCY, 1.5 m., center of ranches where some 250 Paiute force a scanty living from the soil, aided by Federal grants. Here in the shade of numerous cotton woods on the banks of Muddy River are their cabins. Old Indian women arc occasionally seen squatting on the ground before doors, weaving baskets of reeds and grasses. Garbed in bright-colored clothes and usually barefoot, the women dry pumpkin seeds and deer meat in the fall for winter food. The younger men work in the fields on the small individual acreages.

MOAPA (R), 248 772. (1,700 alt., 200 pop.), is * Union Pacific station in a region where several gypsum plants operate. Until automobile trucking began, this place, now little but a water tank, freight station, small store, and small school, was a distributing and shipping point where dozens of mule teams were seen at all times. The little cafe is the sole survivor of several that did large businesses.

GLENDALE, 253 m. (4,453 alt., 27 pop.), is at the junction with US 91 (see Tour 30). Between Glendale and Las Vegas US 93 is united with US 91 (see Tour 3*2).