Featured Article
St Thomas, Nevada.
History article and photo's !
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to the full article.
W ith instructions from Brigham Young, St Thomas was plotted in 1864 to be a Mormon Settlement. The townsite was built for the purpose of commerce and supply's, figuring that emigration would soon move toward the town having navigable waters of the Colorado river at hand. The intentions of the Mormon settlement was to be a direct connection to Salt Lake City, this made St Thomas one of the more important settlements of those to follow over the next four years.
T he townsite had seventy-five families from northern Utah under the leadership of Thomas Smith. The town was situated at an altitude of 800 feet above see level at the mouth of a mountain gorge near the Muddy River, surrounded by dry sandstone hills. By 1867 inhabitants totaled 500 which was to be its peak
Of greatest prosperity. The streets and irrigation ditches were to be covered by some 20,000 cottonwood trees.
S urrounding towns would soon be Overton, some seven miles northwest of St Thomas, St Joseph is eleven miles northwest, Junctionville is twenty-five miles southward, and thirty-five miles to the northwest is Bunkerville.
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My last Screen Saver was number 21 last month.,
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Book Reviews
S
eptember's book was Precious Dust by Paula Mitchell Marks. This is the book to cover all Gold Rushes
from the Georgia 1829 rush all the way to the Klondike. A fairly large book with great detail about the gold
events as well as the people that were drawn into them. To learn what our history is all about you would have to include the
Golden west and the attraction that brought thousands to make the trip of their life, seeking their fortune.
If you want to understand a little about our history, this book I would say is a must.
Local News in Vegas!
T he weather is still holding out as always. Hot today and Hot
tomorrow. The fires have all died down and the hiway traffic still sucks. Oh, if I could only retire and find me a little cabin out in the middle of nowhere.
Everything is growing so fast it is hard to keep up. The houses have all gone up in price, mine has almost doubled, and ever one was happy. Then the
property taxes tripled as well and we have not gained a dam thing. Gas has jumped up to a few pennies short of three dollars. Other than that it is the
same old thing, just another day in in City.
If the gas keeps going up I will have to buy a mule
for outings.
Bob and Brenda's Sponsored Sites!!!!!
One of the best on Missouri History sites that I have found. Kathy has done a real good job
and has put a great amount of effort in this site! Legends of America !
T he best Las Vegas Information site on the web! If you want to know whats what and who is where then there is only one site to see! VegasDuSoleil.com !
Their 2006 Las Vegas Calendars are selling like Hot Cakes. They also have 2 exciting Las Vegas Mini Signs, plus Elvis Gifts are currently available for purchase at: www.vegasdusoleil.com ! or www.vegasinthesun.com !.
Now the best Nevada site on the Web, hands down has to be my Dearest of Friends Donna and Al Frederick. There is NOTHING about
White Pine County that you can not find there! Accessgenealogy.com !
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Trip Log
Sept 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 2005
Among all the historical and mining sites, I thought it was time to get a little Nevada Heritage. The Paiute, or
Walker River Paiute to be accurate. We also had research to do on the Bodie and Benton railroad article, basically, I needed
photos.
Day one was mainly just getting there. Brenda and I run up the back way using 394 out of Bishop, heading north. First
stop was to be June Lake where one of the old Bodie flat cars is on display. After we finally found it, it was off to Mono Mills
on the south side of Mono Lake. There is not much left of the mill except a little wood and a monument. On the way back to 394, Brenda saw the south tufas in Mono Lake. So we had to drive down to the parking lot and walk down to the lake. They are kinda cool if you have not seen them before. I will post a Mono Lake page with the photos I took. By this time it was starting
to get well into the afternoon. Brenda was getting tired, so we decided to spend the night in Hawthorne. I really enjoyed our three night stay
at the Sand and Sage Motel. If we had more money, more often, I think I would motel it rather than camp. Maybe I am just getting old, no,
that can't be it.
Day two, with great weather we headed out around 11:00 am. Todays priority was to meet Professor Straka at Bodie at 1:00 PM
and get photos of the Bodie and Benton depot on the hill above Bodie. Then we were to do a little research and see if we could find
out anything about what was left of the railroad. We started out after Tom's arrival for the museum to get new photos of the old horse
drawn hearse's, and then take the mill tour for renewed photos. I found out that if you want to get up to the Depot you have to get a guided tour,
and they were only on Sundays. So we wondered around town taking pictures of some of the old buildings, and what was inside as well. This took us about three hours or so before we headed out the north end of town to find the Gray Mill. It was located over the ridge to the east of Bodie. There
I found the first two stamp set that I have ever seen. The old mill had a set of five and a set of two still inside. From here it was a short drive
up the old back road to where we could see the depot, about a half mile above. The wind was blowing a little and the sun was now in the wrong place
to get any good shots of it, but I got a few anyway. Well all of the walking got the best of Brenda, so we took Tom back to his car and drove
over to Hawthrone to kick back and spend the night. Tom had made plans to stay down at Mammoth for that night. While we were at the museum,
we found out that the Mono Mill had a turn table for the engines right below the mill, actually the map drawn for us showed it acroos from
the mill, anyway it was a good starting point.
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Trip Logs
Day three, we were to meet at the junction of 120 and 394 at 9:00 am, found the grave of the unknown prospector. We pushed Brenda
a little too much the day before, so she decided to spend the day in the room and it would be Tom and I for this trip. The first thing on the agenda was to find the turntable. Well, after a little hike, we found the turntable north of the mill, at the mouth of the ravine right beside the railroad bed. We also found
an older man who had a book with a map, he was planning on driving around the backside of Mono Lake. Now this was not on my agenda, but we
started to follow the rail bed and see how far we could get. Have you ever spent a whole day exploring and not travel any distance. We did follow the bed, and we spent a lot of time looking for the Lime Kiln that was a siding. It got hot and we got tired, both of us headed for Hawthrone. Plan was to continue our search tomorrow for the Kiln, I figured we just walked by it.
Day four, after breakfast we headed back to Mono Lake. This time we started at the Ore Car Monument on 167. We drove down a ways and then started a foot search. We thought if we could not find it by the time we hit Warm Springs, we would take the other lake road back up to check down closer to the lake. There is a lot of sand and dunes between 167 and Warm Springs, and the road back was long gone. So we drove the same way back up to the Hiway, and then headed for the information center at Lee Vining. After talking to several experts, we found one that knew what we were talking about. He found a map, for $9.95, that had the Lime Kiln on it. Yep, it is on the other side of 167, north of Warm Springs. Rather than take the Wood Canyon county road, that branched off and went right to it, I decided to take a shortcut. After about two to three hours, and four or so miles, we finally found the Lime Kiln and I got some really good photos. I did not know at that time how close we were to the upper trestle, or we would have made the drive up. We did find the lower trestle on the other side of the lake below the mill. There is nothing left of it, just the ravine it went across. The afternoon was getting late and I was getting sunburned, so we called it a day and went to Fallen for the night.
Day five, Tom got out early and headed to Schurz to the Festival. Brenda and I got there about 10:30 just before the parade. Today we were to learn as much as we could about the Blessing of the Pine Nut and Festival, for our article. The Festival is in four parts, I will provide more details on my site, but for the best part it is the parade, powwow, Stick Games, and the evening Blessing of the Pine Nut Dance. They also sponsor the rodeo that takes place at the same time, the third weekend in September every year. This was the 75 Annual Festival. I don't remember when Brenda and I have had so much fun in one day. Watching the Professor as he joined in the Blessing Dance eagerly that night was the best part. Sorry Tom, I had to mention it. I got a lot of photos witch I will post some soon. The Festival is free and they provide a free lunch as well. The food was awesome I thought, I really like the Indian bread they sold at the stands. We made a day of it and left around 11:00 PM I think. Tom headed back to fallen for the night, he was going up to Eureka the next day exploring. Brenda and I drove back to Hawthrone for the night and came back the next day for the rodeo. The rodeo started at noon and lasted about four hours. After that we started our drive back to Vegas, arriving at around ten that night.
I would have to say, this has to be the best week long trip we have made in the last five years. Brenda had a ball, and we didn't have to deal with all of the camping gear. I finally took home around 1100 photos, it will take me a bit to go through them all before posting. Brenda says we are going again next year!
| Personal Notes |
After a year of dealing with specialist, Brenda finally fired the
doctor. Now, maybe we can get something done. She has been back and forth every week, and now has gone back to the doctor who did her
neck surgery. As of yesterday, it sounds like he may get the job done real soon. It now sounds like she will not be able to make the trip in September as planned.
If Wesley go's, it will be easier to camp rather than stay in motels. I hope before the next issue is due, she will be on her feet again. This is beginning
to sound like a broken record, but to all the family and friends that keep e-mailing me, she is up more and looking forward to getting this over with. Brenda still wants to make an Ely trip this year as soon as possible.
Upcoming Plans, UPDATED
Well, as soon as we get the vacation in September over
with it will be back to the plans, I hope!
Plan A, some how this fall, before it get too cold, Brenda want to
go and stay in Ely for two to three days. I have more vacation than I will use this year. I will have to carry a week over for 2006. There is so much
we have not got to in White Pine County. I still want to run up to Eureka and check out the Diamond Range.
Plan B, I just found out a couple of weeks ago, That we have been
all around the Bristol Wells Cemetery. The first Sunday I get free, it's back to Pioche. I want to find the charcoal kiln ruins up on Bennett Pass road above the
airport at Panaca as well. I have a couple of site on the old maps to explore while we are up there as well.
Plan C, a one day run over to Death Valley and explore some of the old
gold camps. I want to find the cemetery at Skidoo while we are in the area.
Plan D, looking forward to having a great Christmas to end the year right. Like
with a wife running around the house making life miserable for me, like in the old days.
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