Tonopah

It's All Mine

With less than 3,000 people Tonopah ought not to have such a big town look. You can credit silver mining as the primary cause. A map of all the shafts and tunnels would show you an underground that looks like swiss cheese. Over 1.5 million in silver bullion was produced in the early 1900s. The town went bust during the depression but not before the downtown developed the character it has. As an indicator of its return to better economic health, the Mizpah hotel, at right, has been restored and turned into a very nice boutique hotel.

A new boom is on in mining and construction. This jumble of RVs and manufactured housing is mostly for all the new workers drawn to the area. The housing units come fully furnished. Many of those staying here work on the construction of a new solar array collector about 15 miles north of town. Others work at the Tonopah Test Range where the Navy has developed the F-117. Renewed interest in both gold and silver also continues to draw interest and investors.

Where once there were miners, there were also cattle and dairymen to supply them. Though this barn is nearly 100 years old, the dry air of the desert has helped preserve it.

The provenance of this roadside structure is unknown but with lumber being scarce, masons found good work in Tonopah. The town also benefits today by being the half way point between Reno and Las Vegas. The town has also one of the best mining museums found in the West.

BOMBS AWAY

Hawthorne, Nevada

You are looking at dozens of the 2,427 ammunition and bomb bunkers spread out over 226 square miles of Northern Nevada desert at the Hawthorne Army Depot. Proclaimed as the "World's Largest Weapon Stockpile," the Depot also manufactures armaments. Rather scary but one of the missions of the base is to provide ammunition "to be used after the first 30 days of a major conflict."

If you got it, flaunt it. This is the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum located in town.

It doesn't hurt to have a little humor in dealing with such a serious subject. 

Someone has married up a conning tower to what was a torpedo and added a little paint.

This is such a vast place that a wide shot can't even give you a sense of the size of it all. The very first image at top is a small segment of this image and this wide shot is only part of what can be seen. My father spent some time here in training for his role as captain of a munitions company that deployed to in Europe during WW II. This base was the staging area for most all of the bombs, rockets and ammunition for the entire war effort.

Sadly the Depot was in the news recently. 7 Marines were killed during an explosion while in training this week.

American Evolution

FIRST CAME HORSES

Sand Station Ruins, US 50, Nevada

The Pony Express was established in 1860 and one of the 184 stations spread across the middle and western portions of the US was this stop.  All accounts have it that it was a poor excuse for stopping. Here is what famous explorer Sir Richard Burton had to say about the place in 1860: "The water near this vile hole was thick and stale with sulphury salts; it blistered the hands. The station house was no unfit object on such a scene, roofless and chairless, filthy and squalid, with a smoky fire in one corner, impure floor, the walls open to every wind, and the interior full of dust." William Cody, aka "Buffalo Bill" at age 15 rode to this Pony Express stop. By 1861, it was abandoned. For many years it lay covered in sand. 

THEN THEY WERE IRON

Electric Locomotive #13, Ely, Nevada

Less than ten years later, the continent was linked by the Iron Horse. The West, indeed the nation, became a spider web of rail lines by 1900. This old locomotive was parked pretty much for good at the Nevada Northern Railroad yard in Ely. Though this locomotive was inoperative, the NNR operates tourist trains throughout the year.

HOW MANY HORSEPOWER DID IT TAKE?

Homer In Ely, Nevada

It didn't take many horsepower to replace the horse or the train once roads began to probe the far reaches of our continent. When we arrived in town there were at least several dozen classic cars clustered in different parts of the city. The decal on "Homer" proclaims it to be a veteran of a 1997 cross country race.