In Focus Volume 8 No. 1

In Focus Volume 8 No. 1

1994-1995

Janet Bertaud
Alfred H. Cooke
Bunny Corkill
Carl F. Dodge
Eloise Chappell Enos
Catherine Fowler
Gregory M. Gedney,
W. Earl Givens
Marian Hennen LaVoy
Michon Maupin Mackedon
Jane Pieplow
Kara Lucas Pratt
William D. Rowley
Chris Sharp

Copyright Churchill County Museum Association

Published Journal, TIF, PDF and Text Files

CHURCHILL COUNTY
IN FOCUS
A Journal of
ARCHAEOLOGY ESSAYS FICTION FOLKLORE NATURAL HISTORY NATIVE AMERICAN
CULTURE NEVADA HISTORY OLD PHOTOGRAPHS POETRY
THE CHURCHILL COUNTY MUSEUM ASSOCIATION, FALLON, NEVADA
1994-1995
CHURCHILL COUNTY
MUSEUM-ASSOCIATION5 INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Glen Perazzo, Chairman
Mike Berney, Vice Chairman
Glenda Price, Secretary
Myrl Nygren, Treasurer
Kathy Albiston, Trustee
Harriet Allen, Trustee
Pat Boden, Trustee
Elmo Dericco, Trustee
Virgil Getto, Trustee
Don Johnson, Trustee
Diane Lowery, Trustee
Gwen Washburn, County Commissioner
EDITORIAL POLICY
IN FOCUS solicits articles or photographs of scholarly or popular interest dealing with the history and people of Churchill County and neighboring Nevada regions. Prospective contributors should send their work to the Editor, IN FOCUS, Churchill County Museum & Archives, 1050 South Maine, Fallon, NV 89406. Articles should be typed, double spaced, and sent to the museum. If the article is available on a computer disk, please contact the museum for further instructions.. Copyright Churchill County Museum Association, Inc., 1994. Manuscripts and photographs for each annual publication must be received by March 1 for consideration for that year's journal.
Authors of articles accepted for publication will receive three complimentary copies of the Journal.
IN FOCUS is published annually by the Churchill County Museum Association, Inc., a nonprofit Nevada corporation. A complimentary copy of IN FOCUS is sent to all members of the Museum Association.Membership dues are:
Seniors (60+) Student Individual Family
$ 10.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 Wagonmaster Pioneer Homesteader $ 50.00
100.00
200.00+
Membership application and dues should be sent to the Director, Churchill County Museum & Archives, 1050 South Maine Street, Fallon, NV 89406. Copies are also sold through the MUSEUM MERCANTILE shop, located in the Museum, by mail, and at several retail outlets.
The Editors of IN FOCUS and the Churchill County Association disclaim any responsibility for statements, of fact or opinion, made by the contributors.
POSTMASTER: Return postage guaranteed. Send address changes to Churchill County IN FOCUS, 1050 South Maine Street, Fallon, NV 89406.
Cover Photograph: Ernie Freeman (left), unidentified passengers and family dog prepare for a camping trip in the Nevada desert about 1900. See article on Mary Freeman, beginning on page 4. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
CHURCHILL COUNTY
IN FOCUS
ANNUAL JOURNAL OF THE CHURCHILL COUNTY MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
VOLUME #8 1994-1995 NUMBER # 1
Contents
SOFT FOCUS
The Editors' Comments Michon Mackedon and Jane Pieplow 1
SHADOW CATCHER
Mary Freeman, Pioneer Photographer Catherine S. Fowler 4
SHARP FOCUS
Transportation History:
A Nevada View of the Lincoln Highway W. Earl Givens 14
The Lincoln Highway: A Historical Tale Carl F. Dodge 33
Lahontan Valley Water History:
Francis G. Newlands and Churchill County in 1914
William D. Rowley 35
Dissolution of the Newlands Mirage Eloise Enos 45
Legal Update on Water Issues Michon Mackedon 51
PIONEER PORTRAITS
Helen Millward: An Oral History Marian H. LaVoy, Interviewer 56
The Cooke Family at Lahontan Dam, 1911-1918 Alfred H. Cooke 65
The Lucas Homestead Kara Lucas Pratt 71
CREATIVE FOCUS
Churchill County Women Poets Michon Mackedon 81
Where in the Oasis Am I? Bunny Corkill 93
STUDENT TERM PAPER
Earthquakes in Nevada Chris Sharp 109
SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE
Carson Points Along the Stillwater Slough: An Archaeological
Enigma Janet Bertaud and Greg Gedney 117
Change is the Only Constant: 10,000 Years of Life in the Lahontan
Basin Janet Bertaud 125
CONTRIBUTORS 133
SOFT FOCUS
The Editors' Comments
Michon Mackedon
Almost nine years have gone by since the first issue of In Focus was published in November 1987. Because many of our current readers are, no doubt, new to the valley and to this journal, a brief review of our own history and founding vision might be helpful.
In 1986, the former director/curator of the Churchill County Museum and Archives, Sharon Edaburn Taylor, approached me with an idea: she asked me to help her put together a collection of articles recording the events, people, and places that form the life and history of Lahontan Valley. It sounded so simple. I agreed, and we began to gather articles -- or write them ourselves -- edit, typeset, design a layout, and seek out printing bids for what piece-by-piece became the first issue of In Focus. We were both rather taken by the idea of the camera as guiding image for what we were attempting to do. We agreed that the publication should, like a camera, record events, people, and places from different angles. We liked the idea of the journal expressing, as a photographer often does, a personal point of view along with the image. We could foresee some articles "zooming in" on the small details of singular moments and others taking a panoramic approach to history or culture.
The camera idea took hold, and soon we named the sections of the journal in accordance with the overall theme: Shadow Catcher, a Native American term for the camera, was designed to showcase the work of a local photographer; Sharp Focus would contain highly focused or academic views of local historical or cultural topics; Pioneer Portraits was created to feature biography, autobiography, reminiscences, (and, now, oral histories); Scientific Perspective and Native American Perspective would provide space for their respective specialized approaches to subject matter; Creative Focus was reserved for the poet, the fiction writer, or the essayist who wishes to work in a less structured or more artistic mode than usually called for in journal writing. For the first four years of publication, In Focus wore a green cover imprinted with a drawing by Vic Williams of a 1945 Tower press camera.
Much has changed over the past nine years. The cover is no longer green, and now each new volume sports its own cover photograph. Sharon Taylor has moved on, but Jane Pieplow, her replacement as museum director/curator, has 1
2 Mackedon/Pieplow
enthusiastically embraced the production of In Focus, bringing new vision and considerable artistic and editorial talent. Fortunately, Bunny Corkill has remained on staff as researcher, assistant editor, and, I might add, backbone. Not only does she research articles for their historical accuracy, but she also contributes writings of her own. (See, in this issue, "Where in the Oasis Am I?") And, amazingly, she manages to keep track of article drafts, revisions, correspondence with authors, photographs, and the other assorted and miscellaneous scraps of paper that finally come together to make a journal!
I might add here a special plea. Also remaining on staff is our once state-of-the-art Amiga computer. However, it is no longer state-of-the-art. This 1994-95 edition has been slowly, very slowly, coaxed from the Amiga's geriatric memory and patiently reconstructed from the often unintelligible results of its flights of computer fancy. (Only Jane knows how!) A new desk top publishing unit would be a much appreciated gift from some sympathetic read-er/philanthropist.
In any event, we invite you to view the photographs in Shadow Catcher and elsewhere and read through the articles chosen to inform, challenge, and, at times, we hope, delight.
Editor's Comments 3
Jane Pieplow
As I prepared the artwork for this, my third volume of In Focus, I had a real feeling of accomplishment. Compliments from Museum Association members have always been an encouragement, but this year we also heard many positive comments about In Focus from university and museum professionals across the state.
Some of those compliments stem from the fact that we have a hard working staff that continually keeps on the lookout for possible articles! In this issue, Bunny Corkill is responsible for getting Alfred Cooke and Kara Pratt to write about their childhood memories here in Churchill County. Both individuals were shy about putting their experiences in writing, but with encouragement, they perservered. We are glad that they did! Their stories are quite charming and both authors gave us more information for our research files and photographic collection. We surely must have other long-time residents in the valley who could provide us with more stories about growing up in Churchill County. Please consider submitting them to the In Focus staff as we are already at work on next year's issue.
A brief word about photographer Mary Freeman, featured in our Shadow Catcher section. The Nevada Humanities Committee has awarded the museum $3,500 to use in creating a traveling exhibit of Mary's photographs. Read more about this exciting project on page 13.
SHADOW CATCHER
Mary Freeman, Photographer
Catherine S. Fowler
Figure 1: Mary Freeman on horseback. She appears to be wearing a split skirt, gathered just below the knee. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
4
Mary Freeman 5
The quality photographs that you will see on the next few pages are examples of the work of Mary Freeman (Figure 1), pioneer Stillwater photographer. Mary was the daughter of John W. and Hannah S. Freeman, early ranchers in the Stillwater area. She was born in 1875 in Woodland, California, where her father was a merchant. Mr. Freeman came to Nevada in 1887, becoming a partner of Charles Kaiser in the large ranch that Kaiser developed. Mary and her younger brother Ernie spent their summers on the ranch while they were teenagers and young adults and returned to the family home in Woodland each fall to continue in school. Mary graduated from Stanford University in 1897.
Although Mary's Stillwater photographs are not dated, it is likely that she (and friends) took most of them between about 1895 and 1910. Her subjects were her family (Figure 2) and friends, and also her homes and surroundings in Woodland and Stillwater (Figure 3). Among her girlhood friends was Florence Kent (Wallace) whose family were also prominent ranchers at Stillwater. Mary gave her friend a photo album containing the following prints as well as others, as a remembrance of their early days at Stillwater. In 1972, Florence Wallace permitted Margaret M. (Peg) Wheat to copy many of the photographs in the album, with Peg taking particular interest in the photographs of the Indian people at Stillwater. Peg had hoped to bring together a book about Mary Freeman and her photographs, but was never able to complete the work. The photo album is now the property of Mrs. Gerry Wallace of Fallon, who kindly lent it to the Churchill County Museum for copying. Peg Wheat's negatives from the album are in the Special Collections Department of the Getchell Library at the University of Nevada, Reno, along with many other items of the Wheat Collection.
Mary's photographs are of interest from several perspectives. First, they document a great deal about life on early Nevada ranches, including the stock being raised (cattle, sheep), the haying operations (Mr. Freeman raised alfalfa as well as grass hay) and the important role of Indian cowboys and ranch-hands in day-to-day operations (Figure 4). Mary's photographs show all of these aspects, including the use of derricks, horse-drawn rakes, large flatbed hay wagons, and the labor-intensive job of making small drying stacks of hay. They show Indian men on the hay crews, and working with cattle in the corrals (Figure 5). There are photographs of the types of cattle and sheep that were on her father's ranch.
Mary's photographs also document the early town of Stillwater, with views of Sanford's boarding house, the main street (Figure 6), the courthouse, her own home and that of Charlies Kaiser, and much more. The size of the trees and the general vegetation also provide clues as to how the town differed then from its appearance today. Cottonwood trees were common, often forming "living fences" around the fields. The size and number of hay stacks suggests very productive times for irrigated agriculture in the area.
Another important aspect of Mary's photographs is her effort to show that life was also fun -- not all work for everyone. She was not just documenting scenery,
6 Catherine S. Fowler
but also life, the life of a young girl with her brother and her friends. One would assume Mary was spared some of the work of a young person on a ranch near the turn of the century because of her wealth and position and she obviously enjoyed Nevada and her surroundings. She photographed picnics (Figure 7) and play, and people clowning or generally having a good time. Many of the Indian people she photographed are smiling and laughing (Figure 8), indicating that they took genuine pleasure in her company, and did not think of themselves merely as "subjects." Her photographs capture a human quality of life, and a casualness that is not easy to pose.
Lastly, Mary's photographs of Indian people at Stillwater are a definite part of her legacy. These were what first captured Peg Wheat's attention, and with good reason. Peg, author of Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes (1967), had worked for many years documenting the lifeways of the Stillwater Paiute people and others in northern Nevada. She saw in Mary's photographs excellent precursors to her own fine work, and felt that they were an invaluable record. These photographs show cattail houses (Figure 9) such as Wuzzie George and her husband, Jimmy, were later able to build for Peg to record. They show baskets being made (Figure 10), food being prepared on grinding stones, and general camp scenes. They show the types of transitions the Paiute people were experiencing at the time, transitions in clothing, housing, work, living conditions and locations, and more (Figures 11 and 12). Wuzzie George was raised in these very camps on the Freeman ranch, and her mother worked in the town of Stillwater. Mary's photographs provide the visual documentation of life described by Mrs. George from memory, along with places and times long gone. Although Mrs. George could not identify for Mrs. Wheat many of the people in the photographs, she recognized some, and certainly recognized the circumstances.
Thus, the photographs of a young woman documenting her days on her father's Stillwater ranch contribute knowledge to us all. Although we know little of the equipment she used, we do know that she did her own darkroom work, so that photography was more than a casual interest. When Mary's father died in 1906, her brother Ernie continued to manage the ranch. In 1909, he married Elizabeth Williams of Stillwater, daughter of W. W. Williams. In 1912, he suddenly became ill and went to San Francisco for treatment. He died there on June 22. Mary married John H. Crabbe, an attorney, and made her home in San Francisco. Little is known about this part of her life, or whether she continued her interest in photography. She died in San Francisco in 1943 at the age of 68.
REFERENCES CITED
Wheat, Margaret M. Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes. University of Nevada Press, Reno,
1967.
Mary Freeman 7
Figure 2: Mary and her family at their Woodland, California home. Left to right: Mary, her father John, mother Hannah and brother Ernest. Note the large photograph of a cattail house on the wall, undoubtedly one of Mary's. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Figure 3: The Freeman home at the ranch at Stillwater. (Churchill County Museum & Archi Photo Collection.)
8 Catherine S. Fowler
Figure 4: Unidentified Indian hands on the Freeman Ranch. The man to the right may have been shearing sheep, as bits of what may be wool are on his jacket and trousers. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Figure 5: Working cattle on the Freeman Ranch. Note the large hay stacks in the background. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Mary Freeman 9
Figure 6: Main Street Stillwater at the turn of the century. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Figure 7: Picnic in the Carson Desert. One couple came by buggy, the other on horseback (note the side saddle). Mary Freeman is in the center. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
10 Catherine S. Fowler
Figure 8: Women and young girls under a canvas sun shade. Note their smiles for the photographer. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Figure 9: A Paiute couple, tentatively identified as Jack Dalton and his wife, Ida, pose with their children in front of their large cattail house. Note the various types of baskets on and near the home. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Mary Freeman 11
Figure 10: This unidentified, elderly woman is working on either a twined burden basket or twined tray. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Colleciton.)
Figure11 : Laundry day. Indian women were employed at the Freeman Ranch for various household chores, such as washing clothes. Mattie Steve and her daughter Topsie (center) and Topsie' s friend Tootsie Bowser share a meal. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
12 Catherine S. Fowler
Figure 12: Unidentified man draped in rabbitskin blanket. He has a coyote skin quiver on his back, and is wearing coyote or bobcat skin boots. He may be a visitor, as his hair is in a "northern style." (Churchill County Museum & Archives P "to Collection)
Mary Freeman 13
Editor's note:
Catherine Fowler has used some of Mary Freeman's photographs in her recent book In the Shadow of Fox Peak, an Ethnography of the Cattail-Eater Northern Paiute People of Stillwater Marsh, published in 1992 by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and dedicated to Wuzzie George, Alice Steve and Margaret Wheat. Dr. Fowler has extensively studied the lifeways of the many generations of Cattail-eater peoples.
She outlines their subsistence system, social and political organizations, religion and world view, and many other aspects of their culture. The book is based primarily on conversations with Wuzzie George and Alice Steve, elders of the Cattail-eater group, who shared their lives and memories with several people over the years.
The appearance of Mary Freeman's photographs in Dr. Fowler's book marks the first time they had ever been published. Knowing that just a small portion of Mary's photographs could be shown in this year's In Focus article, the Museum's In Focus staff began to discuss the possibility of asking for a grant to mount a travelling exhibit of more of Mary's photographs. In addition to the exhibit, the request asked for funds to print a high-quality, black and white book of the photographs.
Thanks to the generosity of the Nevada Humanities Committee, this project has become a reality. By late fall of 1995, a travelling exhibit of Mary Freeman's images will be on display at the Churchill County Museum and after six months it will travel to other destinations across the state. The catalog will include essays from Dr. Catherine Fowler on the Cattail-eater clan; Dr. Doris Dwyer on the move many families made from the east to the west and from Dr. Richard Davies on the impact of the automobile on rural American towns.
Thanks are also due to Mrs. Jerry Wallace, who kindly made Mary's original photographs available to the museum for copying.
SHARP FOCUS
A Nevada View of
The Lincoln Highway
W. Earl Givens
The Lincoln Highway, in great degree, was a vital part of a new era in land transportation. The Highway, a massive undertaking in the early years of the 20th Century, became recognized as a demonstration of pioneering in improved hard-surface road building. But the dreamer of this undertaking, a man named Carl Fisher, already had a background of achievement by the time the coast-to-coast "rock road" plan was formulated.
Carl G. Fisher, born in 1873 at Greensburg, Indiana, started his business career as a newspaper sales boy. By the time our story starts he had organized and built the Indianapolis Speedway. His other commercial successes included roles in developing the efficiency of "modern" automobile tires, ignition systems, and carbide automobile headlights. These efforts resulted in his being chosen to head the Prest-O-Lite Company, which had been supplying lights for automobiles for twenty-five years. As a most active Vice President of the later-organized Lincoln Highway Association, "he conceived and promoted, with a liberal expenditure of time and money, the idea of a transcontinental highway" -- a dream which was to be realized in the completion of the Lincoln Highway.
Fisher recognized early on that two emerging movements -- automobiles and
14
The Lincoln Highway 15
improved roads -- supported each other. "It was impossible to separate these two factors; the automobile is worthless without the improved road [and the road] is of limited value without the automobile."(1)
Before roads were paved, sights like this were commonplace. Here a stranded motorist surveys his plight on the dreaded Four Mile Flat east of Fallon. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
As a result of his insight into the future of travel, Fisher invited leaders from the automotive industry to hear his plan to build a continuous coast-to-coast "rock" highway from New York to San Francisco. The dream was described to the automotive world at a dinner party in Indianapolis during September of 1912. The timing seemed especially right. His confidence was contagious as he laid out a multifaceted plan to enhance the utility of travel by road, to provide a
16 W. Earl Givens
widening potential for the fledgling automotive industry, and, as a by-product, to aid the forces of progress toward unification and coordination of the emerging nationwide "good roads movement."
From the late September 1912 meeting in Indianapolis arose both the scheme and the dream. Funds were raised, route planning for the most direct route was undertaken, and an idea was launched to link the highway thematically to Abraham Lincoln, thus emphasizing its role in knitting together the American people.
The proposed highway would cross more than 3,000 miles and 13 states, carrying motorists across the country to the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915. Fisher's undertaking included a plan to raise ten million dollars from public memberships, the automotive industry, and automotive-associated businesses. The first show of support for the plan came from Frank A. Seiberling, President of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, who provided a $300,000 "seed money" donation.
To facilitate the ambitious plan, Fisher, Seiberling, Henry Joy, and .other leaders in the automotive and highway construction industries formed the Lincoln Highway Association on July 1, 1913. "They had decided upon the name Lincoln Highway for their road and swiftly completed the legal formalities of incorporating as the Lincoln Highway Association." (2) While the publicly-stated goal of the venture was to facilitate coast-to-coast travel, members of the Lincoln Highway Association were well aware the establishment of a transcontinental highway would also promote automobile use and the purchase of auto products, thereby boosting the many cooperating industries.
The actions of the July meeting to form an association reflected their grasp of the potential of Fisher's idea to foster their own growth. The infant organization was given a boost by the prestige of the founding officers and directors. Henry Joy, President of Packard Motor Company, was elected President; Carl Fisher and Arthur Pardington, businessman and associate of Mr. Fisher, were elected Vice Presidents. Pardington had spent a great deal of effort in Long Island, New York, especially on establishing the Long Island Motor Parkway. Mr. Pardington also would serve as Association Secretary. (He, in fact, devoted full time to the Association as Secretary and General Manager until his death.) Emory W. Clark, President of the First National Bank of Detroit, was elected Treasurer. The organizational structure also called for an Executive Committee, chaired by the Association President and including the Secretary and five members from the Board of Directors.
Once the structure of the basic organization was established, the founders delineated the purpose of the Association:
To procure the establishment of a continuous improved highway from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all descriptions
without toll charges: such highway to be known in memory of
Abraham Lincoln, as 'Lincoln Highway.' (3)
The Lincoln Highway 17
The Association now had a named highway with termini at either end but no route in between. Further, they made a declaration designating the road toll free and open to all.
In the period following the organization of the Association and before the completion of all route studies, Carl Fisher remained adamant that no routes would be announced. A thorough investigation was begun, and assurance was put forth that the route would be as direct and straight as geography would allow. This principle was not to be compromised by the highway's wandering from city to city but rather it should be "as straight as a string."
Meanwhile, early in 1913, the Hoosier Motor Club at Indianapolis (at that time a city as important to the young automotive industry as were Detroit and Chicago) was planning its annual Four State Tour. The idea was suggested to make the 1913 tour a trip to the Pacific Coast. They persuaded Mr. Fisher to sponsor the trip. Word of the tour traveled like wildfire to the west, creating a great interest in the principles laid down by the emerging Lincoln Highway plan.
Fisher held fast to his belief that no routing would be considered until it had been investigated. This mandate, when coupled with the straight line, shortest distance philosophy, guided the Hoosier expedition. Much of the route followed was later incorporated into the final Lincoln Highway route plan.
Of special interest to Nevada was the reception arranged for the Hoosier expedition by Gael S. Hoag, an Ely mining and insurance businessman and a good roads advocate. In his capacity as organizer and secretary of the Nevada Division of the American Automobile Association, Hoag headed a delegation of eight cars from Ely to meet the expedition at Kearney's Ranch (Callao, Utah). Hoag's en-
A tourist approaches Nevada's first U.S. 50 sign at the east end of Ely in 1927. (W. Earl Givens Photo Collection.)
18 W. Earl Givens
tourage led the Hoosier Motor Club Tour from Callao via Ibapah to the state line and down the road that was later to be the Lincoln Highway and Nevada State Highway 2. At Ely the group was met by Nevada Governor Tasker L. Oddie, who traveled with Carl Fisher across the state. During the trip Governor Oddie "promised he would call a special session of the legislature, if need be, to act on any proposals the Lincoln Highway Association might put before it."(4)
The publicity generated by the Hoosier Motor Club tour had caught the imagination of enough state and county governments that the Lincoln Highway Association was given a place on the agenda of the Conference of Governors in Colorado Springs in August of 1913.
At the Conference of Governors, a route was finally presented. The plan connected existing turnpikes, county and farm roads, western wagon roads, and established trails that, according to Fisher's plan, would then be paved or improved and marked as a continuous road.
The officers and staff of the Lincoln Highway Association presented the Governors an illustrative and upbeat explanation of the Lincoln Highway development to date, explaining the financial arrangements. The Association described the highway as "nothing but a red line on a map."(5)
In a sense, the description was accurate, for west of Pittsburgh it lacked any semblance of a connected route, and in all its length, from coast to coast, there were but 650 miles of good macadam or stone road. Nor was there any paving on it outside the corporate limits of cities. To that extent it was merely a line, but that line stood for an objective toward which the Association proposed to work even if, as the directors believed, twenty years should be required for attainment.
As Fisher intended, the Association had carefully studied the announced routes, taking advantage of solid groundwork already in place. As explained by author Drake Hokanson:
... many sections of it had the backing of history and usage. Part of it,
the Ridge Road across Ohio, was an established travel route of the
Indians long before the white man came. Other parts, near Bedford,
Pennsylvania, followed surveys made by George Washington.
In eastern Pennsylvania, from Paoli to Lancaster, it followed the
Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike, constructed in 1792-94, which in turn was the successor of the old Conestoga Road that had its beginning in 1683. From Lancaster to the Susquehanna, it followed another old turnpike.
The New Jersey section was the Old Plank Road originally laid out by the Dutch settlers. Other sections followed the Overland Trail, the Pony Express Route, or the path of the 49-ers.
And in California, from near Lake Tahoe down through Placerville as far as Folsom, it traversed a road which in the 'sixties was regarded as the very acme of highway construction, the route of the Overland Stages.
The Lincoln Highway 19
The experience of generations had shown that these portions of the
Lincoln Highway were the easiest and most direct ways between their
several terminals. What the Association now had to do was to pro-
cure connections between these various sections and the improvement
of the entire route. (6)
"What we really had in mind," said Henry B. Joy, "was not to build a road but to procure the building of many roads, by educating the people. Beyond question we did bring about what is known as the Good Roads Movement in America. We knew that a real road across the country would have to come; our problem was to get steam behind the idea. "t7)
The governors were to fire the boiler for the first steam. While the state executives looked at the red line on the map, Messrs. Joy, Fisher and Pardington formally asked them to lead their people in support of the Lincoln Highway. They outlined the reasons for choosing the route shown and underscored the fallacy of acceding to local clamors for diversion from the red line on the map.
It was pointed out that a transcontinental highway that wound from large city to large city, from one wonder of nature to another, would constitute a devious and winding journey. The founding principle was to stimulate travel across the nation using the straightest course that geography and weather would allow. The announcement of the proposed alignment of the Lincoln Highway made at the National Governors' Conference was intended to crystallize sentiment on one complete road as a national example.
Mr. Pardington emphasized to the gathering that one significant achievement would best foster later activity and encouragement for other long all-weather roads. The time would then be appropriate for construction between significant terminal attractions. He pointed to other such examples as the Santa Fe Trail and the Old National Road.
The arguments were persuasive, and the road alignment presented to the Governors was very close to what became the actual route. There was one exception. The Colorado delegation to the Governors' Conference insisted on a line that the Association considered a major detour. It involved a circuitous diversion from Julesburg, Colorado to Denver, then back to Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is interesting to note that in spite of the Colorado-demanded sashay, the resulting proclamation of Governors (endorsing the Highway), while including the Colorado detour, left unchanged a debated alignment connecting Nebraska to Wyoming.
An endorsing resolution was then presented to the Conference requesting that 11... copies of these resolutions be sent to the President of the United States, to the Governor of each state, to the Members of the National Congress, and to the Members of the Legislature of each state. "(8
The route had been chosen, and the Association's statement finally reinforced Mr. Joy's policy of a road "as direct as practicable considering the limitations by Nature in the topography of the country."(9)
20 W. Earl Givens
The state of Nevada officially joined the effort on October 29, 1913, when Governor Tasker L. Oddie issued a Nevada Lincoln Highway Proclamation and forwarded his personal five dollar contribution to the Lincoln Highway Association Secretary, A. R. Pardington.
All the while, Association planning had been going forward; Mr. Carl Fisher had been strongly soliciting the automotive and road building communities for their support of a campaign to raise ten million dollars. The monies were earmarked to help local governments take part in improving the selected routes through their areas. The major contributers by the end of 1913 numbered over 50 companies and individuals. An additional list of financial supporters of the Association grew as time went by and included a stellar array of the top organizations and personalities among the automotive, road building, newspaper, and cement industries. Further support grew from allied good roads interests, including the League of American Wheelmen, state and national automobile associations, the National Good Roads Association; these were banded together under a general heading of "good roads activists," all of whom were in support of the efforts of the Lincoln Highway Association.
Fisher took advantage of every gimmick he could to futher his project. For example, one of the greatest engineering projects of the times, the completion of the highly publicized Panama Canal, was to be celebrated in the west coast port cities. The most auspicious celebration was the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, which was to be opened in the Spring of 1915. Fisher, the consummate promoter, realized the need for a tangible goal as a motivation to others to complete his dream highway. So, he aimed for the completion of the highway to provide nationwide automobile access to the Panama Pacific Exposition. His strategy was to underline the urgency in achieving, at least in a substantial degree, the coast-to-coast rock road.
Unfortunately, as the Fisher dream was beginning to take physical and fiscal form, the mechanism to make the dream reality was hampered by lack of organization among the road-planning entities of the states and counties along the way. Almost all road building that had been done to date was due to the efforts of the local towns and counties. As late as 1912, there were only two effective state highway offices in the nation and even they were short on engineering capabilities and maintenance experience. Almost universally, political agendas rather than traffic needs guided local efforts. What little road construction that reached beyond a few main streets within the town limits was not correlated very well with rural needs.
In 1912 the U.S. Agriculture Department, which operated the Office of Public Roads, was compelled by Congress to estimate the funds expended for roads because few states had highway offices and those that did had expenditure records ranging from pitiful to nonexistent. When the survey was completed it revealed that only 28 states had spent any money on new roads.
The Lincoln Highway 21
The Lincoln Highway officials recognized the lack of state highway financial and construction operations. Thus, they solved the problem by approaching a long string of counties across the twelve original states that fell within the alignment of the Lincoln Highway route plan.
The plan they had developed was to contact each county and appoint a local "good roads advocate" as one of the County Lincoln Highway Consuls. The Consuls provided leadership in crystallizing public support for the Lincoln Highway in their community or town and recruited other local consuls. State and district consuls were also appointed, resulting in three or four levels of organization among those local people who were enthusiastic about the Lincoln Highway.
The major achievement of structuring the national grassroots effort was accomplished by Henry Ostermann. He brought with him a background of railroad operation and equipment engineering which was followed by firsthand experience in the developing automotive business. He was added early on to the Association's staff as Field Secretary.
His duty was to contact wealthy citizens along the proposed route to induce them to subscribe funds. He traveled along the proposed highway, arousing interest in the Lincoln Highway plan, recruiting members to the Association and issuing annual Association membership certificates in return for a donation of five dollars. "It was not fully realized at that time that establishing Mr. Ostermann as Field Secretary was to provide one of the main driving forces for the organization in the days to come."(10)
He crossed the country many times, stopping often to call upon his camera to document both the problems and the achievements of the project. His incomparable dedication to the Association's goals earned him respect and admiration from all he encountered.
Ostermann's duties were manifold. Due to the lack of overall organization of the states and counties it fell to Ostermann to contact the responsible road operation entity in each county. His ongoing duty was to explain that the Association would help the town and counties with engineering advice and would organize and engender enthusiasm of the local citizens by recruiting the local and county consuls. He also helped acquire donated cement for the counties through an arrangement made by the Association with the Portland cement industry.
The growing scope and stature of the project soon caught the attention of citizens and the news media far and wide. The ideas incorporated by the Highway project had been popular for quite a time, and several organizations had been long time advocates of "good roads." The League of American Wheelman was joined in 1900 by the National Good Roads Association and the Automobile Club of America (later American Automobile Association) in efforts to get state and federal aid for road development and improvement.
There had, in fact, been plans as early as 1902 for a nationwide highway. The
22 W. Earl Givens
concept had been proposed by the fledgling American Automobile Association and its growing family of affiliated state automobile associations; but means of, and methods for, achieving such a goal were lacking because of the earlier-noted lack of fiscal support and lack of coordination between states and even between counties in the state. (In fact, even though Federal Aid for Roads was approved by Congress in 1916, it was not until after the World War in 1921 that much progress from Federal Aid was effected.) Thus, most roads connected farm and market. or nonulation centers within the counties.
Lincoln Highway, the scenic route through Nevada. Taken from the 1930 publication, Trail of Memories.
The Lincoln Highway 23
As the activities of the Association generated cooperation and enthusiasm along the route, the local and state citizenry came to realize that their ambitions could best be served by enthusiastically embracing the plans and funding provided by the Association. It became evident that grassroots local efforts were needed to secure a viable piece of a larger project.
While some lobbied and appealed for state and federal governmental support, the Lincoln Highway Association gathered private funds, befriended local road agencies with engineering help, and provided leadership in getting each to improve the mapped section through their county.
Typical of the early efforts were the activities of the State of Nevada and of particular interest, are the efforts of Churchill County.
Nevada, in the view of the Lincoln Highway development, presented a unique exercise in both topography and population density. Nevada was also unique in that it had the enthusiastic support of three of its leaders, who had early on embraced the Fisher and Joy dream.
The three were Nevada Governor Tasker L. Oddie, Mr. Gael Hoag of Ely, and Mr. I. H. Kent of Fallon. On the day of Governor Oddie's return from the Colorado Springs National Governors' Conference of 1913, he issued a Nevada Lincoln Highway Proclamation. He sent copies of the document to all the newspapers along the recently-announced path of the highway through Nevada. The copy of Governor Oddie's proclamation that went to Lincoln Highway Association headquarters in Detroit was accompanied by his personal check for Association membership. The Governor was a steadfast supporter of good roads in general and the Lincoln Highway project in particular and carried forward that enthusiasm when he represented Nevada in the U.S. Senate.
From Ely came Gael Hoag. At that time he was occupied with mining promotion and the fire insurance business. Schooled at the University of Michigan, he gained early exposure to the West as a newpaperman with Denver's Rocky Mountain News and later with the Cripple Creek Colorado Times Citizen. He attributed his awakening to highway interests to the New York to Paris Auto Race of 1908, much of which was run along a route in the U.S. that would later be developed as the Lincoln Highway. His interest in the highway problems led him to organize the Nevada State Automobile Association. He was the Nevada State Consul from the time he was recruited in 1913 until 1920, when he resigned the post to become Mr. Ostermann's successor as the Field Secretary of the Association.
I. H. Kent, a businessman and leader in the Churchill County Chamber of Commerce, was quickly appointed by State Consul Hoag to represent the Lincoln Highway interests in Churchill County. Kent almost immediately gathered an enthusiastic cadre of believers to help with the county and state interest in promoting the ideals of the Association, and he took action to accomplish the
24 W. Earl Givens
physical work required to build the highway in Churchill County and Fallon. He soon gained a statewide reputation as one who led the road improvement movement with a strong focus on the Lincoln Highway.
Consul Gael S. Hoag continued to organize the Nevada Association by recruiting local leaders. His Automobile Association efforts paid off, and he managed to choose the right people as his associates in the Lincoln Highway efforts. Consuls were put in place in twelve areas: local consuls at Austin, Carson City, Ely, Eureka, and two in Reno. Four county consuls were appointed in Lander County, White Pine County, Eureka County, and Churchill County.
In the meantime several important national decisions put three western states in continuing turmoil. The problems that developed were rooted in both political and population concerns amd revolved around competing proposals for an eastern Utah route.
The state government of Utah was happy to have the Lincoln Highway directed through Salt Lake City and made special efforts to bring the road that far; but there, the problems began. The line west of Salt Lake City followed, in general, the Pony Express Route as far as Schellbourne, in White Pine County, Nevada. However, the tourism advocates in Utah wanted tourists to turn south at Salt Lake City and work their way to Los Angeles by traveling the length of Utah, leaving tourist dollars along the way.
In 1913 and through most of the next twelve years, on-again-off-again negotiations were undertaken between the Lincoln Highway Association and the State of Utah, the State of Nevada, and even interests in California.
Finally, after the 1921 Federal Highway Act became operative, in May of 1923, the Bureau of Public Roads of the U.S. Agriculture Department agreed to a meeting with the Lincoln Highway Association and representatives of Nevada, Utah, and California interests. In Washington, at a meeting before which Agriculture Secretary Wallace presided, there gathered a galaxy of highway notables such as had seldom before been assembled. The subject before them was the building of a viable, all-season road across the salt flats from Salt Lake to Wen-dover, Utah, known as the "Liquid Highway."
The secretary "solved" the problem by proposing a plan by which the funds for the primary road program were to be allocated by the Bureau of Public Roads. The Bureau approved funds for the Salt Lake City/Wendover road, thus leaving the Salt Lake to Los Angeles route across Utah unfunded. The "War of the Liquid Highway" had been won by advocates of the direct route.
After two years of failure and three full scale attempts to keep the new Salt Lake/Wendover road from washing away with the seasonal spring rains, it was finally stabilized for all-weather traffic late in 1925. This affected the traffic density of the Lincoln Highway and resulted in a real need for Nevada to build a road between Schellbourne and Wendover. The new section of road was undertaken as soon as funding became available. It was completed in 1930 and was quickly adorned with Lincoln Highway red, white and blue signs.
The Lincoln Highway 25
The Lincoln Highway Association of Nevada produced a pamphlet in 1930 entitled The Trail of Memories and subtitled A Dream Come True. An interesting passage states, "Reaching from New York to San Francisco, the Lincoln Highway is 3,143 miles in length. It bisects the heart of the United States, serves 60% of the population and is directly available to 67% of the registered automobiles."
Another interesting local fact is that Nevada and California each had alternate routes of the Lincoln Highway, due to conditions over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In Nevada, the difficulty of crossing Donner Summit via Verdi and Truckee prompted the selection of an alternate route west beginning at Reno. The alternate traffic traveled through Carson City to the scenic Lake Tahoe route by way of Glenbrook and Lakeside near the State Line. This prompted California to also designate two versions of the highway -- one through Truckee and one south of Lake Tahoe through Placerville, both joining again at Stockton, California. In 1921 the Nevada Legislature added the section of Nevada State Route 2 to the Lincoln Highway between Leeteville Junction just west of Fallon and Carson City.
In the meantime, down through the years Fallon had become an activity center on the Lincoln Highway, both politically and socially. The hotels had become well-known among the travelers, as evidenced by the Overland Hotel's ad in the 1916 Lincoln Highway Association Guide claiming that they were "just an easy day's ride from Austin."(12) The Churchill County Eagle of the era is replete with stories of the growing parade of tourists, usually with names, points of origin and destination, and often with details of the various cars they were driving.
One of the highpoints in the Lincoln Highway plans for the Fallon area was reached on October 13, 1915. Association Vice President and Field Secretary Henry C. Ostermann spoke to a public gathering in Fallon. He also met with the Churchill County Council, I. H. Kent, and the various highway-related committees of the Churchill County Chamber of Commerce. While in town he stayed several days at the Overland Hotel. A five-vehicle convoy from the Association had earlier spent time in Fallon during their production of a coast-to-coast motion picture of America as seen from the Lincoln Highway.
The movie production made stops all along the route. The movie filming at Fallon turned out very well, showcasing the agriculture and commerce of the area. Upon completion, the film was shown continuously at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It was displayed in the Transportation Palace at the Lincoln Highway's Picture Mural Exhibit.
At the close of the Exposition, the film, on its way home to Detroit, was shown at many highway locations that had supported the film project. The three-hour tour picture was shown at the Rex Theater in Fallon on January 3, 1916. It was run to a packed house almost continuously from late morning until nearly midnight. School was adjourned at noon to allow the children to go to the theater, see the whole film, and still get home at the regular time.
26 W. Earl Givens
Maine Street, about 1920. Note J.W. Flood's Rex Theater, where the Fallon Theater is located today. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
What was playing at the Rex?
From the Churchill County Eagle:
January 29, 1916
"A Gentleman of Leisure" The Broadway Laughing Sensation in Five Acts featuring Wallace Eddinger, will be the Paramount Feature Attraction!
February 12, 1916
George Beban in "An Alien" showing views of New York. Every scene in the nine reels of this production as a whole is a work of art!
February 27, 1916
"The Sea Wolf" -- Jack London's Greatest Novel Filmatized in Seven Acts. A Photo Production That Stands High in the Annals of Notable Achievements in Motion Picture Art. Featuring Hobart Bosworth and an All-Star Cast. It is Noted as One of the Greatest Features Ever Produced.
March 11, 1916
"Pretty Mrs. Smith" -- Mrs. Smith was married three times and believed that all her husbands were dead, when, behold, they all showed up at the same time. If you want to take points on how she got out of it, go to the Rex tonight and see the moving pictures.
May 14, 1916
Mary Pickford in "The Dawn of To-
morrow."
The Lincoln Highway 27
This is the route of the Lincoln Highway as it made its way through Fallon: East on present-day Auction Road, east on West Williams Avenue, down Maine Street to Center Street, east on Center, south on East, east on Stillwater Avenue, around Courtesy Corner and south on Harrigan Road.
Frenchman Station in 191S. The site is approximately 30 miles east of Fallon and
is now part of the Naval Air Station's Dixie Valley bombing range. (W. Earl Givens Photo Collection.)
28 W. Earl Givens
Hoag and Bement check the map while Ostermann takes the picture on the Fallon Flats east of Fallon. (W. Earl Givens Photo Collection.)
At a later date, Fallon was favored with Association money that provided Churchill County with funds needed to weather-proof sections of the road on the Eight Mile Flat and the Four Mile Flat east of Fallon. Both the Fallon Flats and Frenchman Flat sections of the road were also Lincoln Highway Association assistance targets.
The Association moved to make good on their plans and promises to Churchill County. "To show good faith, they placed $20,000 in escrow in Nevada banks. "(12) However, legal difficulties interposed, and it was not for several years, until after a constitutional amendment had been adopted, that Nevada could accept the money.
By that time, much more was needed. "It developed that Nevada, once she swung into action, would be able to use considerably more than the $20,000 remaining in what was called the Willys-Overland Fund."(13) The directors asked several leaders in the automotive industry to talk the matter over with them. At this gathering, the Field Secretary was called upon to name the points at which he felt outside aid would be needed to bring the entire Lincoln Highway in Nevada up to the standard demanded by the traffic.
One by one the Field Secretary rattled them off, with mileages and other data. "What will it cost to take care of them all?" demanded W. C. Durant, President of the General Motors Corporation.
"A hundred thousand dollars," was the answer.
"All right, we'll take that," snapped the motor magnate. "What's the next order of business?"(14)
The Lincoln Highway 29
And so it came about that instead of Willys-Overland money being used in Nevada, the Association in 1919 offered the state a total. of $104,000, including the $100,000 General Motors Trust Fund. Nevada accepted and used during the ensuing six years $75,296.60. As a result of this contribution Nevada was able to construct 103.0 miles of road, costing $1,299,732.93.
The construction projects were:
1. Across the Fallon Flats, in Churchill County.
2. Across Frenchman Flat, in Churchill County.
3. Over Carroll Summit, in Lander and Churchill Counties.
4. Between the Eureka/White Pine
County line and the Devil's Gate, twelve miles west of Eureka.
Nearly $20,000 was returned to the General Motors Corporation.
In the summer of 1920, Field Secretary Henry Ostermann was killed in an auto rollover accident near T. a, Iowa. He had been, from the start of his tenure, a leading force in the organization. He had almost continuously toured the Highway back and forth, making countless friends and garnering untold admiration and respect from all he encountered. His loss was compounded in the Nevada scene when state good roads advocates also lost the close service and association with Gael Hoag, due to his appointment to Ostermann's position in the Lincoln Highway Association.
Nevada's loss, however, was, in retrospect, a true gain for the whole movement. Hoag remained on the As-
Churchill County Eagle
Fallon, Nevada
December 5, 1914
Wm. Eason, the well known hotel keeper of Austin, accompanied by George Lister, was here the past week, having made the run from Austin to Fallon, 117 miles, in 6 and one half hours.
July 3, 1915
AUTOS OVER LINCOLN HIG AY. May have warm meals, cold drinks anywhere along the road. Parties pass through Fallon everyday: the great transcontinental highway is now a much used rout! -- ill enjoy trip.
July 24, 1915
Many odd sights are furnished by travelers over the Lincoln Highway. About the latest seen in Fallon was a wicker cradle suspended from the cover of the auto for the baby to lie in. The baby sleeps in it at night and lies in it a number of times during the day as the auto speeds along. . . . As the auto drove up in front of the ice cream store the baby and its cradle proved the greatest attraction of the day.
January 1916
The high school closed at 2 o' clock Monday afternoon and the public school dismissed at noon to give the pupils a chance to attend the Lincoln Highway moving pictures.
30 W. Earl Givens
sociation staff, first as Field Secretary and later as General Secretary of the Association. In that position, he provided new and helpful services and acted to pull together all of the scattered segments of the Association.
Typical of his administrative action was the practice of having each state consul telegraph a road condition report to Detroit on Wednesday night each week. By Thursday morning a consolidated Lincoln Highway Condition Report went out by telegraph to approximately 1,500 newspapers situated along the Lincoln Highway. In the peak year, the Detroit office was handling between 1,400 and 1,500 pieces of mail each day with a staff of general manager, secretary, two stenographers, a cashier/bookkeeper, and a mailing clerk.
The Overland Hotel, on East Center, was across the street from the Fallon Garage. Both businesses catered to the Lincoln Highway traveler. A 1916 ad states: "The Overland Hotel, just an easy day's ride from Austin. Special attention given to tourists -- telephone connections from all stations." (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
As the Lincoln Highway Association continued its work, a federal roads program also began to take shape. Although the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 provided matching funds on a 50/50 basis, the diversion of public interest to World War I overshadowed the highway efforts and the full benefits of the 1916 Act were not realized.
The Federal Highway Act of 1921, however, continued to provide the matching funds and created the pattern for interstate planning incorporating each state's road plans. The Act specified that certain existing roads be qualified as federal assisted roads and must include "projects as will expedite the completion of an adequate and connected system of highways, interstate in character."(15)
The creation of the federally designated highways came with the 1925 Federal Aid Road Act. The many colorful highway and trail names were replaced by a numbering scheme. The Lincoln Highway was predominantly designated U.S. 30. However, in the Pacific Slope States the Lincoln Highway was variously designated as U.S. 40 and U.S. 50. The traverse across Nevada followed a line simi-
The Lincoln Highway 31
lar to the Pony Express trail. The Lincoln Highway had adopted this alignment as Nevada Route 2, much of which, under the 1925 Act, became U.S. 50.
Although the government mandated in the Highway Numbering Regulations that all non-government signs and markers be removed, the Lincoln Highway Association petitioned for and received permission to place concrete posts bearing the familiar red, white, and blue Lincoln logo along the route. Adorned with a small bronze medallion bearing Lincoln's likeness, 3,000 of these markers were ceremoniously planted along the route by Boy Scouts on September 1, 1928. The petition to place commemorative markers along the highway was the last official act of the Lincoln Highway Association. Ironically, the very highway system the Association helped create also rendered it unnecessary. After a last Board of Directors' meeting in late November, the organization formally ceased operations on December 31, 1927.
It is important to note the fact that the Lincoln Highway Association, among the many good roads promoters, was the only organization that provided direct funds and materials to any state.
During the summer of 1929, Gael Hoag left Detroit for his new home in Oakland, California, after the final business of the Association "was all tidied up.u(16)
The Lincoln Highway Association was reestablished in late 1992 to identify, preserve, interpret, and improve access by the general public to the extant remains of the Lincoln Highway and its associated sites. "The Lincoln Highway helped launch the federal highway system and to centralize control over the nation's arterial routes," commented Iowa State Historic Preservation Officer David Crosson. "The Lincoln Highway in ... each ... county reflects, in microcosm, the historical evolution of America's first transcontinental highway."(17)
32 W. Earl Givens
NOTES
1. Lincoln Highway Association. The Lincoln Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Transportation History. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1935, p. viii.
2. Hokanson, Drake. The Lincoln Highway: Main Street Across America. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1988, p. 11.
3. The Lincoln Highway, p. 44.
4. The Lincoln Highway, p. 40.
5. The Lincoln Highway, p. 56,57.
6. Ibid.
7. The Lincoln Highway, p. 64.
8. The Lincoln Highway, p. 301.
9. The Lincoln Highway Record, Item #100. University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, Transportation Archives Collection. Ann Arbor.
10. The Lincoln Highway, p. 294.
11. Lincoln Highway Association. The Complete Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway. Detroit: 1916, pp. 135, 145.
12. The Lincoln Highway Association of Nevada. The Trail of Memories. Ely: Ely Daily Times, ca.1930, p. 3.
13. The Complete Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway, p. 141.
14. Churchill County Museum archives, Fallon, Nevada.
15. Federal Highway Act of 1925, Preamble. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1925.
16. Hokanson, p. 113.
17. Ibid.
REFERENCE MATERIAL
Boland, Beth. National Park Service News Release, National Register Listing, 1992.
Churchill County Museum archives. Fallon, Nevada.
Givens, W. E. The Three Mile Picture Show. The Lincoln Highway Forum, Vol. 1, No. 4, pgs.
16-20.
Hokanson, Drake. The Lincoln Highway: Main Street Across America, Iowa City: University of
Iowa Press, 1988.
Lincoln Highway Association. The Complete Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway. Detroit:
1916.
Lincoln Highway Association, The Lincoln Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Trans-
portation History. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1935.
Lincoln Highway Society of Nevada. The Trail of Memories. Ely: The Ely Daily Times, ca 1930.
Lunz, Larry. The Lincoln Highway in Nevada. Carson City, (Unpublished study by Nevada Dept.
of Transportation) 1992.
Seely, Bruce E. Building the American Highway System. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
1987.
The Lincoln Highway Record. University of Michigan Special Collections, Transportation
Archives Collection. Ann Arbor.
Wixom, Charles. Pictorial History of Road Building. Washington, D.C.: American Road
Builders Assn., 1975.
The Lincoln Highway:
A Historical Tale
Carl F. Dodge
In 1920 the Carl and D. C. (Bob) Dodge families moved to Fallon from the Madeline Plains, near Ravendale, in Lassen County, California. They brought with them a sizable number of horses. For a few years these horses were used in baling hay from loose on-farm stacks in three large portable hay presses. These presses were powered by horses and produced big, five-wire bales. The bales were then transported by wagon teams to the railroad in Fallon for shipment to outside markets.
In 1923 the two Dodge brothers, utilizing their horses, started in the road construction business. They built some of the first improved roads in rural Clark County. Soon road contruction became mechanized and the days of the teams and scrapers and horse-drawn gang plows began to fade into history.
In 1932 the Nevada Department of Highways advertised a summer job to widen, elevate, and surface the Four and Eight Mile Flats, a portion of the Lincoln Highway between Salt Wells and Sand Mountain, in Churchill County. These flats are surfaced by highly saline clay which has an affinity for water and for that reason the soil is damp and spongy. This condition offered a distinct advantage to Dodge Bros. All of the other firms in Nevada had abandoned horses for mechanized equipment. Their trucks and crawler tractors pulling scrapers would mire down in the wet clay of this area.
Dodge Bros. still had their horses and related equipment. These horses were at the Island Ranch, which was purchased in 1928 from R. L. Douglass as a home for the horses. The company planned to do the job with the teams and Fresno scrapers. The hauls were short because the fill material was a direct borrow from each side of the existing roadbed.
By virtue of this combination of circumstances, Dodge Bros. was the low bidder and was awarded the contract. The word went out around the West, and the company rounded up a lot of their old teamsters to do the excavation work.
A headquarters was established at Salt Wells, then owned by John Petersen. He operated a gas station and a bar, and rented rooms for travellers.
I was seventeen years old and full of ambition and it was my summer vacation time. I pestered my dad and uncle until they agreed to let me be the timekeeper
33
34 Carl F. Dodge
on the job. John Peterson arranged an office space and sleeping quarters for me, me, and I lived at Salt Wells. I had a new Model B Ford Coupe for transportation and made daily trips to Fallon for supplies and small items that were needed.
My recollection is that there were about thirty of the four-horse teams hooked up to Fresno scrapers, which held about one cubic yard of material. It was a great sight to see these teams stretched out along the grade. The teamsters would get a scraper load on one side, pull it up onto the grade, dump the load, continue across the grade to pick up a load on the other side, and repeat the process. When the grade was finished, gravel was hauled in by truck to complete the surfacing.
To my knowledge, this was the last time teams and horse-drawn scrapers were used on a highway job in Nevada.
Constructing a road bed with a Fresno scraper one cubic yard at a time was a laborious job. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Francis G. Newlands and
Churchill County in 1914
William D. Rowley
Francis Griffith Newlands (1848-1917) (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
In the 1914 senatorial elections, Francis G. Newlands faced the most difficult survival battle of his career. Newlands, Congressman from Nevada beginning in 1893 and U.S. Senator since 1903, become identified with the western irrigation movement in the early 1890's. In the early twentieth century he campaigned for the passage of the National Reclamation Act of 1902, and the creation of the Truckee Carson Project in Churchill County followed. He was one of the first Western Democrats to support the candidacy of Woodrow Wilson for the Presidency and took satisfaction in seeing the Democratic presidential election victory in 1912. All of these efforts, including his support of prominent economic reform
35
36 William D. Rowley
legislation to regulate corporations, made Newlands a leading Western Progressive Democrat. He had a remarkable national record as a Senator from the small western state of Nevada. From this perspective Newland's 1914 reelection should have occurred without question. Yet, he barely won the contest. In particular, many of the voters in Churchill County turned away from the man who believed he had made the irrigation development of the county possible.
For Nevada, as for other states across the nation, the year 1914 was a high point of the political and social reform of the Progressive movement. On the national level Newlands had early taken up the causes of the Progressive movement. After the failure of the People's Party reform (Populism) and the Silver Party movement in the 1890's, reform took on a more sophisticated mantle among the urban professionals of the new and growing cities now dotting the nation by early century. It emphasized political reform in the terms of increasing the opportunities for direct democracy in politics, exerting more governmental regulation of the corporation and protecting the weaker members of the society, especially women, children and injured workmen. Reformers also believed that if they could protect weaker members of the society they could also protect people from their own weakness, i.e. excessive drink, gambling, prostitution. Finally an example of the new positive force that government could exert was to be found in its aid to western irrigation development as seen in Churchill County.
By 1914, reform, including the reclamation project in Fallon, had made considerable progress in Nevada.(1) More direct democracy existed with the popular elections of U.S. Senators, the use of the direct primary election to nominate party candidates, the approval of initiative and referendum measures, and the impending approval (in 1914) of women's suffrage in Nevada. Most notably in the field of economic regulation, the state legislature had approved the Public Service Commission in 1911 to oversee the rates charged by private monopolies providing public services in electricity, water, gas, telephones, and transportation. Nevada by this year also had embraced some of the morality legislation advocated by the reformers. In 1909, the legislature passed one of the strongest anti-gambling laws in the nation, and, in 1913, it struck a blow at the flourishing divorce trade in the state when it increased the residency requirement for a Nevada divorce from six months to one year. Newlands stood publicly for almost all of these reforms and privately supported women's suffrage in a state where men outnumbered women two-to-one. In addition Newlands was a well known proponent of national conservationism. The efficient conservation and use of natural resources was a part of the Progressive reform and particularly emphasized by such national figures as President Theodore Roosevelt and his Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, who headed up the new National Forest system.
Newlands was one of the prominent voices who emphasized that reclamation played a central role in the conservation movement. He said that reclamation was the highest form of conservationism because it turned the wastelands of the
Francis Newlands 37
desert into gardens of plenty, following the Biblical text that "the desert shall bloom as the rose." All of these reforms, from progressivism's broad social and political goals to conservationism's efforts to promote the use of resources while protecting them, involved a greater presence of government in Nevada. Sometimes that government brought money, jobs, and greater opportunity for farm building, as in the case of the Fallon irrigation project. But often times government, both on the state and national level, brought greater restrictions and rules governing how life should be conducted and how resources could be used.
Opening the gates at Derby Dam in 1907 was a ceremonial occasion. Representatives from several Western states participated in addition to Senator Newlands, who is fourth from left in this picture. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
By 1914 Nevadans began to understand the larger requirements that reform and conservationism demanded in a modern state. Nevada, too, had experienced the impact of federal conservation policies not only in terms of its reclamation project at Fallon, but also in the creation of national forests that began in the state after 1906. To Senator Newlands these restrictions were one of the signs that the state was modernizing and taking its proper place among the ranks of those states building for a greater future socially, economically, and politically. For others, however, the new rules represented a constriction of freedom and a more intrusive government, especially in terms of regulatory commissions. Some of the business community felt this, as did ranchers who saw much prime grazing land now coming under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service, its range regulations and grazing fees. Many of these ranchers had early on welcomed Forest Service jurisdiction because the Service tended to favor cattle outfits over propertyless sheep operations that merely used the public domain without owning a base ranch. Other aspects of reform drew further criticism from Nevadans. The "saloon cul-
38 William D. Rowley
ture" of this predominantly male state felt threatened by the impending drive for women's suffrage and the growing popularity of prohibition that women elsewhere seemed to support after gaining the vote. In fact, Nevada's powerful mining entrepreneur, banker, and livestock owner, George Wingfield, protested to Newlands in May of 1914: "As a citizen of Nevada I wish to enter my protest against the interference of the Federal Government with questions of prohibition and equal suffrage. It is a matter that should be left to each state and I do not believe the people of Nevada are in favor of either."(2)
The miners in the state were also at odds with the government. Nevada had experienced turbulent years of growth after the turn of the century with its twentieth century mining boom in the southern portion of the state and copper development in White Pine County. Tonopah, Goldfield, and Rhyolite experienced a gold and silver boom from 1901 to 1910. With 50,000 miners suddenly coming into a state that barely had 42,000 population by 1900, labor problems exploded. George Wingfield and the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company crushed the forces of union labor with the intervention of the U.S. Army in that community in December 1907. Both the Democratic and the Republican party acquiesced in the military presence and supported the establishment of a state police force to replace U.S. troops upon their withdrawal in February, 1908. The use of state troopers in McGill a few years later quelled another labor dispute. Much of union labor felt betrayed by the system -- a system that supported the companies and quickly called out troops to break strikes.
On yet another front, within the reclamation community in Fallon, there was growing dissatisfaction with the progressive government. The grand plans laid out by the Reclamation Service for the future of the project seemed to be stalled. There were problems with leveling the land and draining the soil of excessive water. Finally, the water did not seem to be available to irrigate the hundreds of thousands of acres originally projected by the Reclamation Service, and settlers resented the Service because of its demands for repayment of irrigation costs and imposed assessments to drain lands. Also the restrictions on the size of farms in the project drew criticism. According to the excess lands provision in the Reclamation Act no land holdings above 160 acres claimed by one owner could receive water from the project. Many settlers denounced this and agitated for placing the project under the management of the settlers themselves. This did not occur until 1926.(3)
These disaffections occurred at a time when the Socialist Party began to make an appeal to many who did not feel they were served by the two-party system. The following elections (1910-1914) saw a consistent increase in the Socialist vote. These votes came mostly from the ranks of the Democratic party. By 1912 Nevada ranked only behind Oklahoma in the percentage of its total votes given to the Socialist Party in the presidential election of that year.(4)
Francis Newlands 39
Clearly the reelection to the U.S. Senate of Democrat Newlands in 1914 would not be an easy task. Newland's old political allies urged him to come out to Nevada soon because the election would not be "any cinch for you." One Newlands backer estimated that the Socialist candidate Grant Miller had 5,500 Socialist votes at the outset and that the Republican enemies would play their strongest candidate against him. Others urged him to be in Nevada at least directly after the party primary in early September and to lend his support to the nomination of Emmett Boyle as the Democratic candidate for Governor. One supporter described Boyle to Newlands as "a clean, well-educated, progressive gentleman" who would immeasurably strengthen the Democratic ticket. This would make for a strong local ticket because a weak ticket would be "a menace to your reelection." The Boyle candidacy would be "progressive in every way" in contrast to the other Democratic candidate, Lem Allen, (of Churchill County) who opposed all the progressive commissions that had become a part of state government. Furthermore the state's Democratic Attorney General, George Thatcher, argued that Boyle's success was essential to Newland's victory in the election. Although Newlands had been able to build Democratic strength on the basis of the crumbling Silver Party after 1900 and on the votes from the newly arrived miners, the Socialists continued to make serious inroads. Newlands noted this in the close election of Senator Key Pittman in 1912 wherein Pittman won with a plurality of only 89 votes. In September before the November, 1914, elections Newlands said, "Our chief danger as far as the national candidates are concerned is the increasing size of the Socialist Party in this state." He noted that in the election of Senator Pittman the 2,740 Socialist votes came largely from Democratic ranks rather than from the Republicans. He concluded that "we can hardly afford to lose any adherents. "(s)
Newlands could not have been closer to the mark. The Nevada of 1914 saw few prospects for the renewal of the mining boom that had occurred in southern Nevada. These once flourishing communities, most notably Goldfield, were in sharp decline. The state was once again losing population. (The 1920 census would show a drop to 77,407 population down approximately 4,000 from the 1910 figure of 81,875.) With miners harboring resentments, farmers trying to establish themselves on reclamation homesteads, and ranchers looking for greater freedom of action on the range, the progressive career and record of Newlands came under severe attack not only by Republicans, but also, as he had predicted, by the new, strident voice of the Socialist Party in the state. The Republican candidate Sam Platt made his appeal against many of the progressive measures that Newlands argued were making Nevada into a "Modern Commonwealth." These included the new regulatory commissions, i.e. the Public Service Commission, the Tax Commission, and the Inspector of Mine Safety. Most ominously for the future of conservation in Nevada, the new Forest Service came under Republican attack for its expansion in the state, which sometimes came at the expense of
40 William D. Rowley
Looking west up the Carson River, the future site of Lahontan Dam. In the foreground, water spills from the Truckee Canal's temporary wooden chute. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
large ranching operations. Finally even Newland's reclamation policies were scorned in Churchill County where Socialists were showing surprising strength. The Socialists took the lead in criticizing Newlands as a rich land developer who had bought up lands and then sold them at profit to the government for the project.
There were other grounds for complaint. Settlers were critical of the original terms of the Reclamation Act. They were under obligation to pay back the cost of irrigating the lands, albeit without interest. Their difficulties in meeting the payments showed in the periodic extension of the repayment schedules. Payments, however, went to the Federal Government and not to their local community. Compounding these problems were criticisms of the management of the project by the head of the Reclamation Service, Frederick W. Newell. Newlands had been a longtime supporter of Newell in Washington during the crusade for national reclamation. Settlers became particularly critical of the 160 acre limitation clause in the original National Irrigation Act. This provision made it clear that no one who owned in excess of 160 acres in a project could receive water for those "excess lands." Newlands and others designed the restriction to prevent land monopolization -- the growth of large estates subsidized by government in the irrigation projects -- and to preserve the Jeffersonian ideal of giving Americans the opportunity to live upon the land as small yeoman farmers.
Francis Newlands 41
But many settlers objected. They charged that the Reclamation Service under the direction of Newell was an arrogant bureaucracy that pursued its own interest rather than protecting the welfare of settlers. They denounced the idea that their farms should simply produce "a living." They asked: "Will a national government ask that men abandon home, and friends, and go into another newer land, and upon a conquest of a virgin prairie, toil for its development for a mere living?" These restrictions flew in the face of "the pure and typical American, the man of pluck, of energy, of resources, and if you please, of speculative tendencies." While Newell tried to counter these arguments, he told Newlands, "every opportunity should be seized to educate the public along important lines." Still complaints appeared in local and national publications against "the bureaucracy, whose reign has become insufferable to the settler. "(6)
As if the complications on the project were not enough, the national Democratic policies backing a low tariff on imports created further problems for New-lands and the project. In the 1913 debate over the Democratic-backed Underwood Tariff, the Administration asked for the removal of tariffs on sugar and wool. Fallonites thought their future might lie with beet sugar production, for a new beet sugar processing plant had been completed in the community in 1911. Many homesteaders had bought stock in the company. Initially Newlands opposed lower tariffs on these items, but he eventually stayed with his party and voted for the low tariffs although he warned his party they risked losing senators west of the Missouri. Ultimately, however, it was the candidacy of Socialist Grant Miller for the senate seat that posed the gravest threat to Newlands' reelec-
tion. (7)
The Socialist campaign against Newlands moved swiftly. Their newspaper, The Socialist, described Newlands as an aging senator and painted his career in terms of treachery and betrayal. It charged that Newlands cooperated with the Southern Pacific Railroad and that, although he was due some credit for securing the Truckee and Carson irrigation project for Nevada, he had profited through his ownership of large tracts of land within the project. Newlands' position on his land holdings was straightforward. He had bought certain land and even reservoir sites to prevent their purchase by speculators who could have made the project financially impossible. What profits he did receive were only the normal receipt of interest on his money invested. All of his actions had been motivated with the public good in mind, but he could not be expected to lose money on investments that essentially protected lands and reservoir sites from the hands of "frenzied commercial interests."
In the campaign Newlands tried to stress the importance of his national and international vision as a Senator from Nevada. He declared to a Fallon audience, "If you want a representative at Washington to be serviceable to you, by all means make him serviceable to the country and to the world." He always emphasized that Nevada, because of his influence, was no longer "a controlled
42 William D. Rowley
state" -- controlled by political bosses employed by the railroad corporations. He believed that the Democratic Party had taken the best of the reform suggestions from the Populists and Socialists in sponsoring their particular brand of progressive reform. Besides the Socialists, Newlands faced the discontent of former political supporters in Fallon who believed they had been insufficiently rewarded by his patronage. All of this sharply cut the Newlands vote in Churchill County, where he believed his greatest strength should lie as a tribute to his campaign for reclamation. One man, who supported the Socialist candidate, later regretted it because his vote almost elected the Republican.(8)
To counter these attacks from both the Socialists and the Republicans, New-lands made good use of an editorial in The Commoner, the publication from Lincoln, Nebraska, of the then Secretary of State and champion of the silver cause in three Democratic presidential bids (1896, 1900, and 1908), William Jennings Bryan. Bryan recommended Newlands to the voters because of his service to the cause of progressivism, his support of the cause of irrigation in the West, and his role in creating the Federal Trade Commission Act, marking "a new epoch in the effective regulation of trusts." Bryan praised Newlands' advanced ideas on banking, his support of the eight hour law for railroad telegraphers, and his support for safety devices and employers' liability. He pointed out that Newlands had consistently opposed the movement of goods made by convict labor through interstate commerce to compete with the products of free labor. Bryan continued that:
Mr. Newlands belongs to that class of men who, having imagination
and the constructive faculty largely developed, are often in advance
of their times but he has had the good fortune to see many of his
ideas enacted into law and others on the highroad to enactment,
thus proving his claim to practical constructive statesmanship.
Bryan believed that Newland's national water policies were on the verge of enactment and noted that he had long stood for the scientific coordination of the work of river regulation and flood reduction, by putting the work upon a national, instead of local footing. The Commoner concluded,"The nation can not afford to lose the services of such a public servant."(9)
Newlands squeaked through the election: Final results showed Newlands with 8,078 votes to the Republican Platt's 8,038 votes, a forty vote plurality. Socialist Miller commanded an impressive 5,451 votes. The closeness of the vote and the belated report of favorable returns from Nye County led many of Newlands' friends to believe he had lost the election. Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, thinking Newlands defeated, called it discreditable that, "after twenty-two years of loyal and distinguished service, your people have failed to realize what honor you brought them." Fellow Democrat Senator Pittman at first thought the returns discouraging, but as the election day wore on he became more confident of a Newlands victory. He was happy to report that Nye County gave the senator
Francis Newlands 43
214 votes over the Republican candidate. Newlands was grateful to Pittman for getting out the vote in Nye County, his largest county plurality in the state. President Wilson's private secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty, telegraphed Newlands asking for news of the election because, "The president and I are deeply interested in your contest."(10)
After the election Newlands wrote a number of letters to his friends exhaustively analyzing the election and his near defeat. To President Wilson, he emphasized Republican treachery in the form of financing the Socialist campaign against him. He was referring to the efforts of prominent Republicans to ensure that Miller won a fee of $5,000 in a law suit against the Pittsburgh Silver Peak Mining Company at the outset of the campaign. The money was used to great effect in the fight. He also noted that the banking interests of the state, under the control of George Wingfield and his followers, opposed him. He believed they resented his final vote in favor of the Underwood Tariff. Particularly was New-lands disappointed in Churchill County. It was chief beneficiary of the Reclamation Act, "of which I was the author." But apparently the county forgot this fact "in resentment regarding free listing sugar as the beet sugar development was the main hope of that project." The county gave him only a seventeen vote plurality, but gave the Socialist candidate 2,500 votes: more than the vote for Socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Almost all of this increase came from Democratic ranks.(11)
To his longtime colleague, Senator C. S.Thomas of Colorado, Newlands said that he had "never known a more defamatory campaign upon the part of Republicans," and that Socialists conducted "an insinuating one with the entire fight con-
Water drips over the spillway at left while on the right horse teams work on the main part of the dam. This picture was taken in 1912, two years before the project was completed. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
44 William D. Rowley
centrated on myself." By this, he meant that they attacked his character, his wealth, and his commitment to the principles of reclamation and conservation. He concluded,"Altogether I am quite lucky to have gotten out of the woods at all." Indeed, the Socialist attacks on Newlands were acerbic, especially in the charge that Newlands had made enormous profits in the sale of land to the government in the irrigation project. They even charged that Newlands' ownership of land in the Fallon area caused the project to be located there instead of along the Humboldt. Newlands denied all and noted that engineers had for years looked favorably upon the Churchill County site for an irrigation project. The decision had not been based simply on his influence. The statements, based largely upon Socialist campaign rhetoric, persisted beyond the damage they did to Newlands' reelection effort in the 1914 campaign. In the years following, these Socialist broadsides became a part of the folk knowledge of the origins of the irrigation project in the Lahontan Valley.(12)
NOTES
1. John M. Townley, Turn This Water into Gold: The Story of the Newlands Project (Reno: Nevada Historical Society, 1977):27.
2. Wingfield to Newlands, May 6, 1914, Francis G. Newlands Papers, Sterling Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut [hereafter cited as Newlands MSS].
3. Townley, 52.
4. Political History of Nevada, ed. John Koontz, (Secretary of State Office: Carson City, Nevada, 1959):68.
5. J.F. Shaugnessy to Newlands, August 25, 1914; George B. Thatcher to Newlands, August 4, 1914; Newlands to Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of Interior, September 24, 1914, Newlands MSS.
6. G.L. Shumway, Executive Chairman American Federation, "Give Settlers a Free Hand," The Irrigation Age, 22 (March, 1907), 145; F.H. Newell, "Reclamation and Homemaking: Review of General Conditions in Reclamation Service." Scientific American (August 21, 1911); Newell to Newlands, January 24, 1910, Newlands MSS; "Congress Probes Reclamation Service," Irrigation Age, 29 (February, 914) 110,111,119.
7. Silver State (Winnemucca) June 28,1913; San Francisco Bulletin, April 28, 1913; Townley, 77; Newlands to President Wilson, November 11, 1914, Newlands MSS.
8. Newlands Speech at Fallon, October 5, 1914; F.G. Hough to James Finch, November 11, 1914: Hough to Newlands, November 22, 1914, Newlands MSS.
9. The Commoner, September, 1914; Newlands to Bryan, September 24, 1914, Newlands MSS.
10. Koontz, Political History of Nevada, 69; Franklin K. Lane to Newlands, November 5, 1914. Key Pittman to Newlands, November 4, 1914; Newlands to Pittman, November 11, 1914; Tumulty to Newlands, November 4, 1914, Newlands MSS.
11. Newlands to Wilson, November 11, 1914, Newlands MSS.
12. Newlands to C.S. Thomas, November 11, 1914; Socialist Broadside (typescript), 1914, Newlands MSS.
The Dissolution of the
Newlands Mirage
Eloise Enos
[Ed. note: Events surrounding the water issue change so much that this article, written in 1994, has already taken on a historical perspective.]
As Churchill County residents approach the twenty-first century, they face myriad possibilities. One particularly important decision concerns the future of agriculture in our community. Our choices will be influenced by external forces which may not consider our best interests. Part of the importance of the decisions rests in the fact that agriculture in Churchill County has not been just the livelihood, but the way of life, the very heart of our society.
Although agriculture no longer dominates the economy of Churchill County, it continues to shape the culture.
Marc Reisner, in Overtapped Oasis, states that most Westerners now live in cities and that cities use less water to earn more money than agriculture generates using the majority of the water. In spite of this, he also says:
Recognizing this as fact does not, however, mean that one undervalues
the economic or, perhaps more important, the social and cultural value
of agriculture.(')
The earliest white settlers engaged in some form of agriculture to support themselves and their families. Only a small percentage of the land could be cultivated; the desert land required irrigation from the Carson River. Farmers irrigated their lands through hard labor: first, they cleared the land and leveled it; then, they dug ditches from the river to their land; and finally, they had to form dirt mounds around small plots to keep the water on the crops.
Early in the history of Churchill County, farmers encountered a water supply diminished by upstream users. They realized that a reservoir could protect water needed for future use, but they couldn't finance their plans on a private or state level. When the federal government initiated surveys to determine sites for reclamation projects, Nevada ranked high on the list of prospective locations. Did the hard work and perseverance of local farmers convince the federal government to choose Churchill County for the very first reclamation project? The hydrologists and engineers surveyed the land and designed the systems which would re-route water from the Truckee River to Churchill County, but who made the decisions to take the water? Did they realize the consequences of these changes? The lead-
45
46 Eloise Enos
Lahontan Dam is under construction in this photograph, taken in 1912. Careful observation shows the cable that ran overhead, carrying equipment and supplies. The black "dot" in the sky near the center of the photo is a piece of equipment being transported on the cable. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
ers of the reclamation movement and other groups may have been more concerned with their self-interest than the viability of the plan.
Senator Francis Newlands touted the idea of a reclamation project in Nevada long before President [Theodore] Roosevelt signed it into law on June 17, 1902. Newlands saw the early survey reports and bought the land which those reports recommended for the construction of a reservoir. Aside from the financial benefits Newlands might realize from the project, the state coffers would increase from all the federal monies expended on the construction of canals, diversion dams, ditches, etc. Another bonus would be the increase of population in Nevada when these lands became available to the public. This could increase the political power of Nevada and Newlands.
The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Reclamation Service owed their livelihood and existence to such projects. Naturally, they encouraged the plan. In his book, Where The Bluebird Sings To The Lemonade Springs, Wallace Stegner observed:
But in the marginal zone between humid Midwest
and arid West it was easy to be deluded, for the difference
of just one inch in rainfall or a slight variation in
the seasonal distribution would make the difference
between success and failure. And delusion was promoted. (2)
Newlands Mirage 47
The U.S. Reclamation Service claimed that 400,000 acres could be irrigated in Churchill County and Western Nevada; they also estimated that the population of Fallon would reach 100,000 by 1920. Some advocates of homesteading in the arid regions of the West believed that the precipitation would increase once the fields had been plowed and planted. Not only did the early farmers find this theory false, but they also discovered that the majority of the land needed fertilization and functioned best if the first three years of crops were mulched back under the soil.
While USBR pamphlets boasted of excellent harvests to the prospective homesteaders, the early farmers experienced drainage problems, insufficient water for irrigation, and inadequate acreage to support a family. After leveling their fields through gruelling labor, the farmers watched the wind erode them. Project Engineer L. H. Taylor knew the extent of the drainage troubles, but refused to expend the money to construct deep, open drains which would prevent the alkali problems. Instead, he designed an inferior, cheaper system which proved ineffective.
Taylor continued his encouragement to prospective settlers, always assuring them of the fine agricultural potential of Churchill County. Inquiries arrived daily from the provinces of Canada, European countries, and all the states. Meanwhile, the farmers suffered insufficient water for irrigation in 1905-1906, then lost their crops to the flooding of 1907. The trust the homesteaders had for the federal lead-
Lake Lahontan left its mark on this valley long after water had evaporated from this great inland sea. Mineral deposits often prevented crops from growing much at all, especially if irrigration water was not plentiful. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
48 Eloise Enos
ers began eroding as fast as their land. Few settlers could have survived without the wages earned working on the construction of Lahontan Dam in 1911.
The completion of the dam allowed the agricultural situation to stabilize, but other problems arose over time. For example the government failed to negotiate an agreement with California about using Lake Tahoe as a reservoir. Finally the water users in the Newlands Project lost faith in the government's intentions and they formed a casual association to look out for their own interests. After twenty years of skirmishing, the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District assumed control from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1926.
Over the years, the original estimates about the amount of lands which might be cultivated with the aid of irrigation shrunk from 400,000 acres (in 1903) to 87,500 (in 1926). Each additional decade of the project brought new regulations, different problems, and alternate solutions. Other sites for additional water storage were proposed, then accepted or rejected. The upstream users competed for the limited flow of water down the Truckee. Although some farmers and ranchers have lost their lands, investments or their incentive to continue, others remain steadfast in their dedication to the agricultural community and the husbandry of the land. John Townley, in his book Turn This Water Into Gold, described this tenacity:
A successful homestead was often the result of a stubborn refusal to
give in to flood, drought, grasshoppers or poor market (3)
When local farmers and ranchers speak of their current situations, they echo similar sentiments. Bunny Corkill recognizes the slim prospects for agriculture in Nevada, but like Don Quixote, she and her peers continue to tilt at windmills. She believes that they must continue the fight, because they represent the first reclamation project in America. If the lawyers and the government succeed in dismantling this water project, they will find each successive attempt easier.
What rights do the citizens of Churchill County have to the waters of the Truckee and the Carson Rivers? They have the original promises and guarantees made by the U.S. Reclamation Service and the U.S. Government, but they must fight to enforce them. In the past, members of the Truckee Carson Irrigation District have pooled their finances and hired one advocate. Recently, some members decided that individual law suits may be more effective and have hired private lawyers in addition. The citizens of Churchill County have established other groups to protect their interests: Lahontan 2000, the Newlands Water Protective Association, and the Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance. They realize that the social and economic structure of Churchill County has changed and will continue to change. Local citizens want a hand in the decision making; they don't want their future imposed on them by outsiders.
Not only farmers and ranchers, but all citizens must consider the consequences of the curtailment of farming in our community. Irrigation replenishes the groundwater for wells and recharges the aquifer which supplies the city water. The reservoir for the irrigation water also serves as a popular recreation spot.
Newlands Mirage 49
The roadside markets, which sell fresh produce, attract customers from all over Northern Nevada.
Negotiations begin again this fall [1994] between eight representatives of the various groups who claim rights to the waters of the Truckee River. They will discuss Truckee River diversions, water right transfers and recoupment, the future of agriculture, preservation of the wetlands, water supplies for rural and urban users, water for recreation, and water for the protection of endangered species. Life continues to change for the farmers and ranchers in the Newlands Project.
Despite the outcome of negotiations, most of those involved believe in a few basic rules of fair play.
If certain farmers or ranchers decide to sell their lands, they should receive an equitable payment for their water rights. Also, those who continue in agriculture should benefit from their efficient use of water. Reisner commented on the present water laws:
... such rules may provide a disincentive to conservation. Water
salvaged through improved irrigation until transferred to another user is subject to loss through the literal language of most states' abandonment/foifeiture rules. (4)
Don't punish those who obey the rules and attempt to conserve water by giving them less water next time.
Another hindrance to good stewardship of the agricultural lands is the satellite mapping of irrigated lands. Not only do satellite maps dispute the original boundaries of water-righted land, but each successive map disagrees with the one which
A family seeks shade on their newly-settled farm. They have already planted cottonwood trees and tamarack bushes. Their garden plot appears to be thriving as well. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
50 Eloise Enos
preceded it. Technology can improve the practice of agriculture, but the results can only be as accurate as the human beings governing its uses.
The future of agriculture in Churchill County, Nevada, and perhaps, the entire West may be influenced by the decisions made in these upcoming negotiations. When representatives of involved interest groups sit at one table and face off under the direction of mediator, Gail Bingham, they will address the issues which have affected the Newlands Reclamation Project for over ninety years. Will the California/Nevada disputes over the Truckee River water be settled? Can the agricultural lands, the environment, and urban growth all be served? The chimera of turning the desert into a cornucopia had disintegrated, but the tangible achievements of the pioneers who established the agricultural community of Churchill County remain. The kaleidoscope of possibilities shifts endlessly.
This aerial view of Lahontan Dam shows water entering the reservoir via the Truckee Canal (lower center of photo). The Carson River is shown as it flows from the reservoir (top left). (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Albert Alcorn Photo Collection.)
NOTES
1. Reisner, Marc and Bates, Sarah. Overtapped Oasis. Washington: Island Press, 1990, p. 9.
2. Stegner, Wallace. Where The Bluebird Sings To The Lemonade Springs. New York: Penguin Group, 1993, p. 49.
3. Townley, John M. Turn This Water Into Gold. Reno: Nevada Historical Society, 1977, p. 43.
4. Reisner, p. 64.
The Courts and the Newlands Project
Michon Mackedon
The following is a brief overview of Truckee River and Carson River water rights litagation as it relates to the Newlands Project:
1902 Newlands Reclamation Act. Prior to 1902, private landowners perfected water rights to the Truckee and Carson Rivers in accordance with Nevada Law. In 1902, the Newlands Reclamation Act was passed, directing the Secretary of Interior to withdraw and reclaim through irrigation certain arid land in the West and then to restore those lands to entry pursuant to the homestead laws. The Secretary withdrew approximately 200,000 acres in western Nevada and designated them for irrigation by the Carson River and the diverted waters of the Truckee, thus creating the Newlands Project and beginning an era of litigation over the water rights to the two rivers.
TRUCKEE RIVER WATER RIGHTS LITIGATION
1908 Winters v. U.S., 207 U.S. 564 (1908) This case asserted the so called "implied reservation of water" doctrine on behalf of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation.
1913 U.S. v. Orr Water Ditch, et. al., Equity A 3. This Quiet Title Action was filed to establish the right of the federal government to use the waters of the Truckee River for the Newlands Project and the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. The government sought to claim 10,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) for the Newlands Project and 500 cfs for the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. The case was litigated for several years, during which a proposed decree was recommended by a Special Master, and a temporary restraining order issued to allow an experimental period to test the proposed decree. In 1934, settlement negotiations finalized the terms and resulted in the Truckee River Agreement (see below).
1924 Proposed Orr Ditch decree. A Special Master issued a report and proposed a decree awarding the Project 1,500 cfs, and the Reservation 58.7 cfs (based on 1859 priority).
51
52 Michon Mackedon
The Truckee River flows into the Newlands Project via a temporary wooden chute. By 1913, when this photograph was taken, the power house was nearing completion. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
1926 TCID entered into contract with U.S. to operate and maintain Newlands Project. TCID obligated self to repay original construction costs of the Project.
1934 Settlement negotiations to finalize Orr Ditch decree (proposed, as described above, in 1924.) The Bureau of Indian Affairs represented the rights of the Reservation, and the TCID represented the farmers of the Newlands Project. The resulting terms were basically those proposed by the Special Master in 1924.
1935 Truckee River Agreement signed by the above parties, reflecting settlement negotiations. The terms were finalized by decree of the District Court on September 8, 1944 in a document referred to as the Orr Ditch decree.
After the finalization of the Orr Ditch decree, there began a series of lawsuits filed by or joined by the Pyramid Lake Tribe attempting to modify the terms of the Orr Ditch decree. The cases can be broadly grouped into two categories: fishery litigation and reserved water rights litigation.
1951 Fishery litigation begins. As early as 1919, the Pyramid Lake Tribe had reported to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that silt buildup and the diversion of Truckee River water at Derby Dam had caused a noticeable drop in the level of Pyramid Lake and inhibited the spawning of trout. In 1951, the Tribe sued for damages to the fisheries under the Indian Claims Commission Act. (The
Water Issue Updates 53
condition was alleviated somewhat by restocking, and by the passage of the Washoe Project Act in 1956, providing storage of water for the recovery of the fish. In 1970, the addition of Stampede Reservoir further increased flows needed for fishery relief. Meanwhile, however, the cui-ui fish was added to the federal list of endangered species, and the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout placed on the threatened species list).
1973 The Indian Claims Commission found the government liable for damages to the Tribe's fishery. In 1975 a compromise settlement awarded $8,000,000 to the Tribe for those damages. The parties stipulated that the damages did not diminish any of the Tribe's water right or compensate for water rights; the award, in other words, reflected compensation for fishery damage alone.
1972 Meanwhile there began a series of cases based on the Winters Doctrine of implied reserved water rights for the Tribe. In 1972, the United States filed an action in the U.S. Supreme Court to assert federal reserved water rights in the Truckee for the Reservation and the fishery. This case was dismissed, but was followed by an action filed in Federal District Court, described below.
1973 U.S. v. Truckee-Carson Irrigation District et al., supra, 649 F.2d at 1289. This action sought to assert a federal reserved water right beyond that of the Orr Ditch decree, specifically a right to maintain the level of Pyramid Lake and the lower reaches of the Truckee River for fishing purposes.
1974 The tribe intervened in the above case as a party plaintiff, asserting the same rights. After a 43 day trial, the District Court held that the Orr Ditch decree had settled the matter, precluding the cause of action by the government and the tribe. The Court dismissed the claims. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that portion of the order dismissing the complaint as to TCID and held that the U.S. breached its responsibilities to the Tribe when it represented both the Project and the Tribe.
1982 After petitioning for writs of certiorari, the State of Nevada, the Tribe and the TCID were brought before the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of "whether the Government may partially undo the 1934 decree ..." Supreme Court (459 U.S. 904)
The United States Supreme Court held that the United States government and the Tribe were precluded from asserting reserved water rights, as that claim had been previously litigated in On Ditch. The Court concluded that the On Ditch litigation had been a comprehensive adjudication of Truckee River water rights. The Court further observed that to uphold claims to reallocate water would "do away with a half a century of decided case law relating to the Reclamation Act of 1902 and water rights in the public domain of the west."
In addition, the Court restated its analysis of the beneficial ownership of water rights in irrigation projects built pursuant to the Reclamation Act: "... the water rights become the property of the land owners, wholly distinct from the property rights of the government in the irrigation works ..." (Ickes v Fox).
54 Michon Mackedon
Therefore, the court reaffirmed that the Tribe was bound by the Orr Ditch decree and further reaffirmed that the TCID and Project farmers could rely on the decree, stating that it could "not ... be tolerated that, after the United States on behalf of its wards had invoked the jurisdiction of its court ... these wards should themselves be permitted to relitigate the question" (quoting Heckman v. United States, 1912) .
Lastly, the Court upheld the right of the parties (and non-parties) to rely on the Orr Ditch decree. The Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeals that Orr Ditch "was no garden- variety quiet title action." Rather, "it would be manifestly unjust ... not to permit subsequent appropriators to hold the Reservation to the claims it made in Orr Ditch. To allow differently would "make it impossible ever to quantify a reserved water right." The claims for reserved water rights for Pyramid Lake and fishery were thus barred.
1985 U.S. v. TCID, 107 F.R.D. 377 After a remand by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to the District Courts, 720 F.2d 622, the Tribe submitted a motion to amend its original complaint, this time 1) asserting an implied reserved water right in the unappropriated waters of the Truckee River for fishery purposes; 2) seeking to enjoin the State Engineer from infringing on the implied rights; 3) contending that the Truckee Canal is on Reservation land and constitutes a trespass; 4) seeking orders for the installation of fishways, fishladders and fish-screens on the dams and diversions of the Truckee River.
The court found several bases for denying the request to amend the complaint: 1) allowing amendment after some ten years of active litigation would be extraordinary; 2) the amendment prejudiced the defendants and would require extensive new discovery. Moreover, the change to asserting rights in unappropriated water would involve only a small number of defendents, forcing others to bear the cost of removing themselves from litigation in which they had no part; 3) the fish device claims were unrelated to water rights claims.
CARSON RIVER WATER RIGHTS LITIGATION
1925 U.S. v. Alpine Land and Reservoir Co. et al, 431 F.2d 763, 762 The United States commenced a Quiet Title Action to establish its water rights in the Carson River. A Special Master was appointed by the court and evidence was received between 1929 and 1940.
1949 A Temporary Decree was entered, followed by a second order in 1950; together the orders are referred to as the Temporary Decree.
1968 Pyramid Lake Tribe filed a motion to intervene, claiming rights in the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake and seeking adjudication of the relative rights of the parties to waters of the Carson and its tributaries. The motion was denied. Upon appeal, the ruling to dismiss the motion was upheld.
Water Issue Updates 55
1980 Alpine Decree. District Court decided that the water rights on the Newlands Project, covered by approved water rights contracts, are owned by the individual landowners in the Project. A priority date for the rights was established as July 2, 1902. District Court Judge Bruce Thompson developed, with the decree, procedural mechanisms for addressing changes in place of diversion, place of use and manner of use. Furthermore, noting that the State of Nevada gave the Nevada State Engineer the authority to address change applications, he decided that "all Nevada change applications will be directed to the State Engineer and will be governed by state law."
1983 Alpine decree appealed by United States to Ninth Circuit Court. U.S. contended the amount of water duty awarded to the Project farmers was too generous; that the Secretary of Interior, not the State Engineer should have authority over change application; and that no water duty for fishing should have been awarded for Lahontan reservoir. The Tribe, Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund appeared as amicus curiae, supporting the position of the U.S. Court of appeals upheld Judge Thompson, except as to the water duty for fishing, finding that water duty must be based upon the standard of beneficial use.
Present In 1993, the Tribe initiated petitions in regard to the Alpine and Orr Ditch decrees to have the courts declare that certain water rights (involving approximately 1,700 parcels of land) had been forfeited, were abandoned or were never perfected. (Of interest, although not directly related to the ongoing Alpine and Orr Ditch litigation, is a threat of suit by the Department of the Interior to "recoup" what they claim were losses through "excessive diversions" made in the past to water-righted property in the Newlands Project.)
PIONEER PORTRAITS
Helen Blair Millward: An Oral History
Excerpts from an oral history interview conducted
by Marian H. LaVoy
Helen Blair Millward is a vivacious woman ... small in stature, but a giant in mind and community action. Her pleasant home is filled with mementos showing a close relationship with her mother, Minnie P. Blair, and her late husband, Bill [Joseph Eugene Millward (1902-1993)]. This interview was recorded on the sunny side porch of her home [September 21, 1990] and she had photograph albums available to show all periods of her eventful life.
Helen was chosen as an interviewee because of her father's involvement with the Wingfield banks in the first three decades of the twentieth century and her mother's civic activities and business acumen in starting and managing the "Atlasta Turkey" operation, which made sales not only to local turkey raisers, but to people coast-to-coast as well as in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. The local
"Spudnut" franchise started with Helen and her mother and went on to years of success under the direction of Helen and Bill. It was her involvement with the
"Spudnut" that prompted Helen to enter and win a sandwich-making contest that
gave her the opportunity to be wined and dined in Europe at some of the finest restaurants. When Helen and Bill retired she moved on to such fields as astrono-
my, studying and tracking Monarch butterflies, identifying native plants, studying and identifying birds as well as pursuing other civic interests ... she is a person of many talents and a great lady.
In the following passages, taken from the oral interview, Helen discusses her marriage to Bill Millward and her experiences as restaurant owner.
56
Left to right: Minnie, Helen and "Bud" Blair about 1915. (Churchill County Archives & Museum Photo Collection.)
Millward 57
MEETING AND
MARRYING BILL:
I met Bill when I was going to the University of Nevada. Lucille Sanford, who was a Theta, about two years ahead of me in school, said, "I need some girls who want to make some money." So she explained that we would go up to Tahoe Tavern, at Lake Tahoe, and go in on the train on Saturday morning right to the dining room and serve breakfast to the people who would come in on this train, serve lunch and dinner that night, and we would serve breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day. We would go out on the train that night and spend that night in Truckee. They would have a room for us; then we would pick up the train in the morning and get back into Reno about 8:00 o'clock in the morning. The train was a special train that came from San Francisco. The Elks would have a weekend, and they would run this train from San Francisco on Friday night. They would all have a hilarious time all night and then come up [to Truckee] ... the train stayed there, but they stayed in the hotel. They would have their rooms and come down to eat and they would have a big dance on Saturday night. If there was snow, they would go out in the snow all day long but there didn't happen to be any snow that winter. It didn't snow until the day the season closed.
... Well, Bill had the orchestra. The orchestra would play for dinner music and dancing after dinner. Lucille had promised the orchestra she knew some cute girls and she'd bring them up and they could all have a date with these girls. Well, I don't think we got much sleep, because the boys had to play quite late and then we'd see them in between times in the daytime and then we'd leave that night, so we just barely got to meet them; that was all.
... Bill played drums and did some singing. That was the first winter when I was still in Reno. That summer Martha [Helen's roommate from college, Martha Williams] and I asked Mr. Mayhew [of Tahoe Tavern] if we could come back and work that summer. He said yes we could, but we'd have to work in the officers' dining room, which was for all the higher ups of the employees ... from the gift shop and the clerks, and so forth. I drew the orchestra to wait on, and did they ever give me a bad time.
After that I went up to Oregon to school and Bill and I wrote to each other during that time. Then I called him when I got back to Fallon and he said, "Come
Bill and Helen Millward. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
58 Helen Blair Millward
up! Mr. Mayhew says he can use you." So I went up and I worked and we got married there ... at Tahoe City. ... It was the first wedding Judge Bliss had ever performed. He was an elderly man. They had a pretty little home in Tahoe City. The Blisses were natives of Tahoe. ... We had hardly any money when we got married [February 24, 1930]. Bill had five dollars and he gave that to the judge and the judge gave me the five dollars for a wedding present. His wife was very embarrassed because she didn't realize we were going to be married there or she would have made a cake for us. Our best man was a man by the name of Harry Ogden. He was in the horse business. He used his horses to do road building, or in the winter time, he took his horses to Tahoe and they hauled the sleighs, the great big sleighs with all the seats with a lot of people in them. If the snow was right they'd have a moonlight trip to Truckee by sleigh. He had all these horses and then when the hay came in for the horses he would enlist the men from the band to unload the hay. It was always a special deal but there were gallon cans of alcohol in the hay! It was great drinking ... great drinking. They really put it away up there, and they mixed it with Mission Orange, a carbonated beverage.
... Then when we came back to the hotel, we went to somebody's room to have a farewell drink and Harry went with us. He kept singing "I know a secret I can't tell about two little peanuts in a shell." He just kept that up all night long and we all went down and had our final dinner. We all sat together and then we got on the train and went to Truckee.
... I wasn't going to tell my mother and father [about the marriage]. I was going back to school, and so Bill told them he was going to go to Reno with me, and we got off the train, and then we went over to the hotel and got a room.
... It was in the middle of the block. I think the only thing in the block was "speakeasys." When the "pro-his" would come to Truckee and padlock the joints you could walk down the street and count 32 padlocks. So, anyway, we got this room in this hotel.
... We stayed all night in Truckee, and when we went into the room there were no shades or curtains on the window. It overlooked the redlight district, and here were all the girls in the cold, either leaning out a window or sitting on a bannister of the porch.
... The next morning Bill took the train to San Francisco. He thought he had a job to go to, but by the time he got there it had blown up, so he went to work in Leighton's Cafeteria and his roommate, the saxophone player, couldn't get a job. Jobs were hard to come by, so he used to snitch a couple of hardboiled eggs when he got off work and stick them in his pocket and take them home for Matt [his roommate] to eat. They were really broke.
... I was at home maybe four or five days and I decided that I would tell my parents that I wasn't going to go back to school. So I told my mother and she took it pretty well, she wasn't too happy, but my father ... "My daughter, married to a musician!" That was terrible! Then he went down and he took his secretary,
Millward 59
Lois Maupin, into the vault and he told her first, and he said he couldn't understand what was wrong with me and why I had given up all this to marry a musician. He came home that night and he wouldn't speak to me. I don't think he spoke to me the next day and then he had to make a trip to Reno and I said, "Would you stop and pick up Martha and bring her down when you come down? If you don't bring Martha with you, I will be leaving. I will take the bus to San Francisco or Berkeley." He brought Martha home and it began to ease a little bit, then he finally wrote Bill a letter. I still have the letter, but he conceded, more or less, and things were smoothed over. Then Bill got a job on the boats going to Alaska in the summertime; they would go down to Los Angeles or San Diego and then come back up the coast to San Francisco, and then they would make a trip to Seattle and then back to San Francisco. So, I went down and stayed with some friends and when they came in I met him about midnight down on the waterfront at San Francisco, at Pier 18. These were the Alexander boats. It was the Amadorfi, and then he'd have a couple days' layover and then I would go back to my friends and he'd go down the other way and back.
DISCOVERING THE SPUDNUT:
Helen and Bill lived and worked in the Bay area for several years. Then, in the late 1940's they took a trip to Utah where she first tasted a Spudnut, a fried donut made from potato flour.
I thought it was the best thing I had ever eaten in my life. It was just fresh and I didn't really think I cared much for doughnuts unless they were some fried dough my mother made for me, but I wanted to take one home, so we went into Salt Lake and we couldn't find a Spudnut Shop open. We had gone in for dinner in the evening and I finally found a chocolate covered one at one store. I took it back to Fallon and my mother thought it was still pretty fair. By then I thought it was pretty awful, but I thought it would be a good business to go into. It was getting to be fall, probably in October, and I went back to California. I was looking at a location in downtown Fallon because we were gonna come up and go into business with the Spudnut franchise. It didn't develop so we decided to stay in San Francisco. My mother went to Salt Lake at Thanksgiving time and talked to the Peltons [the owners of the Spudnut franchise] because she wanted a franchise ... first she had to build the building. So she built the building and opened the shop. I came up and helped her. In the meantime we bought some property in Tahoe and I thought, "We won't stay in it in the wintertime; we'll come over here and help the folks; we'll get away from San Francisco." That was the plan, but it didn't quite work out. We bought property in San Francisco and stayed long enough to pay for it. Then we moved to Fallon.
On August 27th, 1949, the long-awaited Spudnut Shop opened. On that day the Blairs gave away 2,490 Spudnuts served with ice cream, coffee and other confections.
60 Helen Blair Millward
Minnie' s "Spudnut Shop" (site of the present-day Cock'N Bull restaurant) drew Fallon residents and out-of-town visitors for a bite to eat. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
... My mother started out with just spudnuts, coffee, soft ice cream and soda pop. They added a sandwich called the barbecue bun, and people meet me yet and say they sure would like to have a barbecue bun. It was a hamburger bun but it wasn't cut in two halves -- it was the whole bun and you made a slit in the bun with a knife and you put it on a toaster, slid it so it was toasted on both sides, and you wanted it nice and crisp and then you filled the pocket with hot barbecued beef ... we got a special spice, we ordered it out of Chicago ... we got it from the Spudnut first, but when I could see a chance to make another dime, I was usually the one that would cut off the supplier and go to the source -- eventually I was buying the spice in twenty case lots out of Chicago. That sandwich was very popular. We cooked the meat in the electric roaster and after it was done we added a little water and stirred in the spice, my mother always stirred in a little extra something or other that she thought made it taste better, and it sold for a quarter.
... That was basically what they served when she had the shop. Then after I came the teachers would come out and have a barbecue bun and a spudnut and I'd think, "Oh it's a shame," so I'd make a lemon pie and they'd all have a piece of lemon pie for their lunch besides their barbecue bun. Then I started making a tuna sandwich or a deviled egg sandwich. Then I decided I could make a "little special" for their lunch, so I would make a pasta dish or a casserole or I'd make them crab salad. I could make them a crab salad real easy. I got the most wonderful pound can of crab meat, Dungeness, just delicious, for $1.00 a can.
... The truck drivers came right from the very beginning. There were ammunition trucks going to Hawthorne. They could not stop in town but we were out of the city limits. They would stop for a spudnut and coffee. One morning, a truck
Millward 61
driver said, "I am sick and tired of eating a spudnut and coffee every morning for breakfast." And I said, "Do you want two fried eggs?" He said, "Yes." I said
"Watch the shop." I ran out to the henhouse behind the shop and grabbed two
eggs from under a hen. I ran to the house and got two slices of bread and popped them in the toaster and fried the two eggs and ran back to the shop and set it
down in front of the truck driver. He said, "Well, that is service!" He was tickled to death. Well, then I said, "We can put a little stove where this table is and we can fry eggs for people in the morning." So we bought a little stove and it had a grill on it.
... We were making what they called the "spudover" and we bought the fancy machine to roll the dough. We didn't have room in the shop for that machine so we put it on the back porch on a table over at the house, and I would take the frying screen over, which would hold twenty-eight turnovers, and I would take the dough and the can of fruit over. I would roll the dough and toss Mother the piece of dough, she would lay it on the cutting machine, put a spoon of fruit in it and turn the handle and we had a little half moon turnover. She would lay twenty-eight of those on the
"Mr. Spudnut" rides in a float prepared for the 1954 49er Day Parade. From left: Diane Evans and Ruby Linker (waitresses), Martha Phillips (Spudnut cook), Kerry and John Hannifan and Helen and Bill Millward. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Minnie Blair and Bill Millward hard at work in the "Spudnut Shop" about 1959. Note the sign to the right advertising their "Bar-B-Q Bun." (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
62 Helen Blair Millward
screen. I would grab the screen and run back to the shop, put four little wooden blocks on it to hold another screen on top of it so they wouldn't float, immerse them in the fryer and run home. It took seven minutes for them to fry and I could get back in time to take them out of the fryer.
... I was at the shop from about three o'clock or maybe five in the morning, after I took over. When we still had the little old shop, we got a stove. Then there was a group of duck hunters that used to come from Reno. They were doctors, and had a duck pond on the Sorensen Ranch. It was a private club. They always used to stop and buy spudnuts on their way back to Reno. One day they called me from Reno and asked me if I would open up and cook them breakfast at four o'clock the next morning and I said,"Yes." So at four o'clock the next morning I was over there and I had ham and bacon and eggs ready to cook for them. I cooked six or seven or eight breakfasts. I never got all ten of them at the one time as we only had nine stools and the little table that held four people. But, that started my duck hunter's breakfast.
WINNING THE NATIONAL SANDWICH CONTEST:
... I took a vacation in 1959 to Chicago -- really, it was just a chance to get away for three or four days but the shop could pay for it. I joined a restaurant association and went to their convention ... it was quite wonderful. I went by a display. This was the fourth year of the National Sandwich Contest. Here were these dismal looking creations that had been sitting there for a day or two. One prize winner had slashed a hot dog, threw it in the fryer, and it curled into a circle. It was served on a bun -- "a something dog." The lady that won used the famous sandwich that has corned beef and Thousand Island dressing and Swiss cheese on rye bread. I looked at all of them and thought I could do something better than that. I came home and I wrote for the entry blanks. I was going to make a sandwich that was cut like a cake and very fancy. I made it, but I also had a new oven and I wanted to try out my oven. I cooked a roast beef prime rib and I invited the teachers to come out. In Chicago I had had a roast beef cocktail made of thin sliced roast beef and sour cream and horseradish and I took my idea from that. I made it into a sandwich on rye bread. The teachers just loved it and they said, "It is better than that other one -- send them both in!" So I sent them both in and at five o'clock it was time for the mail and it had to be mailed. It was the last day. I said to my mother, "I've got the recipe typed. What'll I call the damn thing?" and she said "Atlasta Good Beef." [Minnie Blair's ranch was called Atlasta Ranch.]
Notified that she was one of three finalists, Helen went to New York for the final competition. The other two finalists were male professional chefs.
I thought I was going to lose. I was just heartsick because they weren't paying any attention to me and these two men, they were just gushing over them. I'm sure the name of my sandwich had a great deal of influence on my winning first prize.
Millward 63
When I received my award they had a big party. I was written up in New Yorker magazine. Anyway, I got a world of publicity all over the United States when I won the trip to Europe and $500.00 cash.
Bill and I took the trip and it was supposed to be for two weeks or fifteen days I think. I told them I'd take a couple of extra days and I would pay for it. First, we went to Copenhagen and we went to Oscar Davidson's restaurant and they gave me the most wonderful party in the world. That night some men called me at the hotel room, I had just come in -- it was about eleven o'clock and they wanted to take my picture. I came downstairs and they said, "Well, we want to take your picture with a sandwich." I said, "That's easy, maybe they'll get us two slices of bread from the kitchen and I'll just hold the two slices of bread and it will be a sandwich, if it's on a plate." They wouldn't let us in the kitchen. The kitchen was locked and the boys said, "Well, let's go to a nightclub." I took off in a Volkswagen with two men I had never seen in my life and we dashed around to two or three places. First I said, "Let's go to the hotel where I had dinner and introduced myself to the Chef." (I was supposed to make my presence known.) That kitchen was locked. We went to a nightclub and they kicked us out. Then we went to another nightclub and they consented. The boys promised me, "If they don't do it here then we'll just take you back to the hotel and just take your picture." They took us into the kitchen and we made a ham sandwich on white bread and I've got a picture of me holding it up to take a bite out of it.
Then from there we went to London and I appeared at a fair and they had a reception for me and then on to Paris where I was entertained. And Switzerland was very wonderful ... then I took the train from Switzerland to Italy. I wanted to go to Venice -- we really had a ball there. Then I had to go back to Germany to Munich and the Oktoberfest. I appeared there, and then I had to fly back to Copenhagen.
We met some Millwards going from Copenhagen to London and, by chance, they had made their reservations for their seat in May and we had made ours in September. I appeared at the airport first so they gave us their seats. When they came they just raised holy heck. They wanted these particular seats. So we got to meet them and he was very snooty. Our name was Millward and their name was Millward but they were very disdainful.
When we got to the airport in London I was met with a Rolls Royce with a chauffeur. I was to be met everywhere with a chauffeur and an American Express man. They had brought me a bouquet of flowers that was twenty-four inches long. I had all this attention, I had a Rolls Royce with a chauffeur, all these flowers and I'm sure the other Millwards must have wondered who in the heck I was. A British couple took us to dinner at Simpson's on the Strand and it's very famous for its roast beef served on the cart. I must have made a hit with them because the same people had taken all the previous winners there but this time they brought over the guest book and had me sign the guest book. So a "sandwich
64 Helen Blair Millward
queen" got her name in, along with all the movie actors and actresses and all the big shots that eat at the Strand.
Near the end of the trip, I had gone on a side trip which turned out to be delayed and they didn't get me back in time to confirm my reservation. I was sure messed up. Our plane to Copenhagen was late and I didn't know if I was going to get home or not ... by the time I got to Los Angeles I was exhausted. On the way home to Fallon they had to order codeine for me and put me to bed and calm me down -- but I had a ball.
... Later I returned to New York and was on a television program. They held me over for three days so I could appear on this program and then I went to San Francisco. I was able to see myself on television there and then I came to Reno and I was on the local television. I got back to Fallon and the shop was just loaded with flowers. You can't imagine! I got so much support from everybody at home and they were wonderful, just wonderful.
A copy of one of the "Spudnut' s" menus featuring Helen's "Atlasta Good Beef' sandwich. Note the 1950's price! (Churchill County Museum & Archives Collection.)
The Cooke Family at
Lahontan Dam, 1911-1918
Alfred H. Cooke
Alfred H. Cooke looks back over more than eight decades of his life and shares some intriguing glimpses of life at Lahontan as seen through the eyes of a child.
Joseph M. Cooke was of English parentage and Jennie L. Carrico was English and French. Joseph was born June 30, 1880, at Mount Idaho, a small mining town near Lewiston, Idaho, where his mother Emma was for some time postmistress. Mount Idaho is now a ghost town.
Jennie was born near Bentonville, Arkansas, January 8, 1888 and in 1905 moved by wagon train with her family to Lewiston, Idaho, where she met Joseph in early 1906. They were married at Asotin, Washington, April 21, 1906. To this union four children were born, each in a different location! The first two were born in construction camps: Edna in Yakima, Washington, April 26, 1907, and Alfred in Tieton, Washington on December 24, 1908. Dorothy was born on February 15,
Family friend Thomas O'Hara visits Lahontan about 1914. He holds Alfred while Edna is on the left and Dorothy sits in front. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
65
66 Alfred H. Cooke
1911, in Oakland, California, and Helen, the late bloomer, was born in Parma, Idaho, on August 6, 1920.
Joe, as he was always called, was a skilled machinist and electrician. He worked as a foreman for a large contracting firm which constructed dams and canals to irrigate the Yakima Valley, turning barren sagebrush land into the "Apple Capital Of The World." By 1910 the project was completed and Joe was assigned to a new job as foreman of a United States Reclamation Service project at Lahontan, Nevada. This project was called the Truckee-Carson Project. (Later changed to The Newlands Project.) The plans called for the construction of a large earthen dam on the Carson River, twelve miles west of Fallon. It would store around 300,000 acre feet of water for irrigation and flood control for the Lahontan Valley.
However, actual construction would not begin until mid 1911, so our family left Yakima in 1910 by boat and sailed from Seattle to San Francisco. Enroute, I, barely two years old, saw sea gulls flying and called them "chicken hawks" like the birds I had seen in the Yakima Valley. Joe went to work at the Rison Iron Works in Oakland until he was called to Lahontan in March of 1911.
Lahontan and Nevada was a whole new world for us Cookes. The wide open spaces, a nice river to fish in and hunt along but best of all, we enjoyed meeting and working with capable and friendly people.
My family was provided with a nice four room house, and it wasn't long before Jennie had a thriving vegetable garden, was raising chickens and had morning glories growing over the front porch. Later we had a Jersey cow named Fanny who we thought gave the world's richest milk, from which Jennie made butter, whipped cream and out-of-this-world ice cream! Jennie also did the milking of Fanny.
The landscaping around the Cooke home at Lahontan in 1913 made it a focal point of the community. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Cooke Family at Lahontan 67
Meanwhile, Joe was busy organizing the shops, machine and blacksmith, for use in construction and repair of the new dam. He was also in charge of installing the turbines and machinery for the newly built power house, which would provide electricity for the Valley below. The power plant was fed by waters carried by the man-made Truckee Canal, which began at the Derby Dam some thirty miles northwest.
By mid 1912 the dam was starting to take form, but in those days without the great earth movers of today, construction was much slower. They were still using Fresno scrapers powered by two mules driven by a man called a "mule skinner."
Leisure time was spent fishing and hunting along the Carson River. Joe built a large powerboat, which provided many happy hours of pleasure. The newly formed reservoir was ideal for duck and goose hunting too. The boat came in handy for these activities. Twelve inch rainbow trout were plentiful, as well as quail, cottontail rabbits, ducks and geese. I remember tagging along upstream by motorboat with Dad and seeing several coyotes running along the bank of the river, always curious. We ran into a small adobe hut, said to have been built by Kit Carson, not too many years before. The hut was later engulfed by the reservoir!
By 1912 there was an exciting social life emerging for the residents living near the dam site. Joe played the trombone in many band concerts, and we all enjoyed the box socials, Fourth of July celebrations and picnics.
Mother Cooke loved music of all kinds, so in 1914 we purchased, from Sherman Clay and Company in Reno, a beautiful new Du.O.Art electric player pi-anola and a number of rolls. Over and over she would play one of her favorite numbers, Alexander's Ragtime Band by Irving Berlin.
I loved trains. The Southern Pacific tracks were only a couple of blocks away from home, and every time I heard the trains coming I would excitedly run toward the oncoming freight and wave to the engineer and crew. On the dam site they had a number of "donkey" engines that were used in construction of the dam. Many times I would proudly ride in the cab with the engineer on their short runs.
My father, Joe, had an inventive mind. He had read in Ice and Refrigeration magazine that a small home refrigeration unit was impractical. Undaunted, he built, from scratch, a successful unit for our home in 1914, some ten years before any commercial units were marketed. Mother Cooke would fill a muffin pan with water, put it in the freezing compartment and soon we had "ice cubes," great for making ice cream!
Lahontan even had a public school for one year, 1916-1917. The USRS furnished a one room schoolhouse staffed by a young nineteen year old teacher, Helen Braun, who had come over from Gardnerville. She had three students -- Edna, Alfred and Dorothy Cooke! She taught three grades: first, second and third.
68 Alfred H. Cooke
My second grade report card stands as testimony that though I was tardy a number of times, I was never absent from school once during the year and was ranked number one in my class of one! Unfortunately, that was the only and last Lahontan school. Thereafter, we had to be driven to Fallon for our schooling. After a number of moves, I finally graduated from high school in Independence, Oregon, in 1927.
I went to Oakland, California in 1930 and worked for Safeway as a clerk and then as a store manager. In 1934 I went into business for myself, the start of a career spanning over thirty years as an independent grocer. Some twenty five years after I had attended the Lahontan school, Helen Braun, my second grade teacher, walked into my grocery store in Oakland. She had recently moved into the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I lost track of her after I sold the store in 1944.
Construction of the dam was completed in 1915. Joe then be-
came dam tender, overseeing the
daily operations and maintenance of the facility. Areas around La-
hontan boasted several names
over the years -- Lahontan Dam, Lahontan City and Bohunkville.
The latter was a small settlement
of Slavic workers called "Bo-hunks." They were very hard
workers. But to the Cooke family, just plain "Lahontan" was all we ever used.
For some time during World War I army troops patrolled the dam site day and night. Apparently, their mission was satisfactory, for no problems were ever reported. As a matter of fact, over the years very little crime or labor problems ever occurred at Lahontan.
Dad was an excellent photographer, among his many other talents. He was especially busy at the dam site during its various stages of construction, shooting pictures with his large camera. He did his own developing and printing. Also, he photographed the special social events and celebrations. Two of his pictures appeared years later in the Nevada Historical Society's "Historical Calendars." The first was of sister Dorothy "standing in" for the band concert given by the Lahontan Brass Band at their Basket Social. The picture was taken in 1912, when Dorothy was barely two years old. The other picture was of Joe and Jennie on the Indian motorcycle, taken in 1914. Dorothy's picture was in the 1988 calendar, and Joe and Jennie were featured in the 1990 issue.
"Bohunkville," the camp along the Carson River, away from Lahontan City. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Cooke Family at Lahontan 69
In 1916 we purchased a shiny new Overland automobile, our first car. We would drive to Fallon for our shopping needs. On Saturdays we just had to attend the Rex Theatre's two reel western mystery movie. (This was a serial.) Then one summer we gave the car a good workout by driving to Lake Tahoe via the Kingsbury Grade. We camped overnight on the lake shore. There were very few tourists at Lake Tahoe in those days.
Alfred's parents ride their Indian motorcycle in and around Lahontan City. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Dorothy "practices" as her father takes her picture. Note the misspelling of the word "Lahontan" on the bass drum. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
70 Alfred H. Cooke
In 1918 the Overland, driven by mother's brother George, carried us to Roseville, Idaho, where Joe was working for the USRS again. He continued with them for four years, the last two as master mechanic on the Black Canyon dam project on the Payette River near Payette, Idaho.
Earlier I mentioned mother's pianola. In late 1918 it was shipped by rail to Rosewell, Idaho, following our family's move. In 1923 the piano was shipped again, this time to Stockton, California, where Joe had gone into business with his brother Alfred. The venture did not work out so the family decided to return to Idaho. Unfortunately, we had no car, but soon the problem was solved when Sherman Clay and Company, took in trade for a 1921 Buick six touring car, mother's beloved piano. We loaded the family and our large dog into it and headed for Idaho via Nevada. It was a very long four day trip. No freeways then!
In 1926 Joe had become a partner of George Wood, who had been Joe's blacksmith at Lahontan. Their shop, the Independence Iron Works in Independence, Oregon, manufactured a number of items, but mainly automobile socket wrenches.
Years later, in 1936, Joe built and successfully marketed a small, gasoline-powered garden tractor, several years before they became available at Sears and other such stores.
Lahontan! All in all, we spent seven wonderful years there, so it was a sad day when we had to leave. The memories and pleasures we shared shall always be with us!
1936 photo shows Alfred's father Joe with his garden tractor prototype. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
The Lucas Homestead
Kara Lucas Pratt
One Saturday morning, before she was to embark upon a climb to Hidden Cave, an effervescent eighty-six year old Kara Lucas Pratt glided through the front door of the Churchill County Museum. In her boots and blue jeans, she belied her age. She was so impressed by the Museum, she has returned on several occasions. In this article she graciously reminisces about an era gone by.
My granddaughter and I walked into the Churchill County Museum early one morning in 1994. My mind was flooded with memories of my years spent near Fallon. In the "schoolroom," I looked up and met my mother's eyes gently looking down upon me. What a surprise! She proudly stood among her students at the Northam school. An all encompassing warmth surrounded me and I knew then that I wanted to tell her story, and mine.
I was born on November 16, 1908, in Grand Junction, Colorado. My youth was spent in the Stillwater, Northam and Soda Lake Districts of the "Oasis of Nevada."
Following my graduation from Churchill County High School in 1925 and the University of Nevada in 1929 I began a teaching career at Fernley, Nevada.
I was madly in love with Kenneth Pratt, a native of Butte, Montana, whom I met at the University of Nevada. We were married in September of 1929, and he cast his lot with J.C. Penney Co. We had resided in Reno eight years when he was promoted to manage the Woodland, California store. By now we had three little girls -- Kara Lee, Joyce and JoAnn. Ken was soon sent to Marysville, California. Here we added a fourth daughter, Sue Dee and a son, John, to our family.
I was on the "home front" while Ken served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After he was released from the Navy in 1948, he was sent to manage the store in Stockton where we have resided ever since.
My husband was a Catholic and I chose to be baptized into the church, along with our four girls, in 1938. This action changed the direction of my life to a spiritual seeking. I have since taught religion for a number of years.
In 1950 we purchased a cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains, forty miles west of Reno, near Graeagle, California. It has been an important part of our lives. Here we have found a special peace and happiness surrounded by our thirty grandchildren and thirty-two great-grandchildren. We all like to hike, fish and
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72 Kara Lucas Pratt
play golf, but most of all I love working and playing with the children! I have had summer camp with the children since 1955.
Ken died in 1983 -- we had a very happy fifty-four years together.
Memories! One gathers many memories in eighty-six years.
In 1913 Mama, Esther, Keith, Arthur, Blanche and I got off the train in Hazen, Nevada. I was five years old, but my story begins much earlier.
My mother, Daisy Draper Lucas, a fiercely independent woman, born in 1879 in Correctionville, Iowa, had an unusual start in life. She passed the Teacher's Exam in Correctionville when she was 15 years old. She wrote the number "17" on a slip of paper, and sat on it so she could answer the question of her age -"going on 17"!
She taught in a little one room schoolhouse in the country. She rode horseback to school and often spoke of how she had the children run around the school and clap their hands to get warm while she started the fire.
Daisy did high school studies at night and saved her money to go to college. She went all by herself to Iowa to enroll at Drake College. I always loved to hear her stories of those years. She was indignant when the young men sang the words, "Daisy, Daisy, I'm half crazy all for the love of you," because she wanted them to respect her for her intelligence. She fell in love with a handsome young professor and he proposed marriage. He accepted a professorship in the Philippine Islands. She thought that was irresponsible and broke their engagement. Amon! her souvenirs, she kept the "broken hearted" letter that he wrote to her when he returned her handkerchief and gloves. When I was beginning "to bloom," she
read it to me one day. I remembered thinking I never would have done that.
Daisy Draper Lucas at the turn of the century. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection)
The Lucas Homestead 73
Soon after the broken engagement, Mama got walking typhoid and her health broke down because "she had a broken heart." That was when she came west to Grand Junction, Colorado.
Here she married Louis Breeze, a widower who served as the Mesa County Recorder. He had two little girls -- Edith and Edna. Mama had a child by him named Esther. He died about 1905 when Esther was sixteen months old and left Mama with three little girls under the age of ten. She finished his term as County Recorder and then she was elected County Superintendent of Schools.
She met my father, Daniel Webster Lucas, a widower, twenty two years her senior, in Mesa, Colorado. D.W. had been born in 1857 in Springfield, Illinois. He had three children; a son, Reed and two daughters, Fern and Hazel. So, Mama immediately had a family of six children -- only one of whom was hers. Then came twins, Keith and Kara (me).
In Grand Junction, my father was often away from home with his cattle. He "ran" his cattle up on the Grand Mesa. I always loved to hear his stories about "roundups." He made good sourdough biscuits and I remember waking up in the morning and hearing him singing cowboy songs. When it was time to market the beef, he shipped his cattle to the Chicago stock yards by railroad. I have always believed he ran the cattle on free range.
My parents decided it would help if he were at home more, so they sold their home, their cattle and moved to a boom town, Hagerman, Idaho. Hagerman was considered a "boom town" because the railroad was being built near by. The thought was that the railroad would go through the town and the property would become very valuable. My folks invested all of their money in real estate. The railroad did not come through town and they lost everything! That was when D.W. Lucas left home one morning and didn't return.
During our stay in Idaho, my brother Arthur was born in Wendell in 1910 and my sister Blanche was born in Hagerman in 1912. After D.W. left, Daisy got a teaching position and left us with a motherly woman named Gramma Frost.
Mama's story to me was that she tried to contact D.W. by mail but her letters were returned unopened. Finally she found out the name of one of his friends who was traveling with him and my half brother, Reed. Through this friend, Fred Curlee, Daisy and D.W. agreed to meet again and to live together in Stillwater, Nevada.
Daniel Webster "D. W." Lucas as a young man. (Kara Lucas Pratt photo.)
74 Kara Lucas Pratt
By the time Mama finally caught up with him in Nevada, her step-children, Edna, Edith, Reed, Fern and Hazel, were gone from home!
Our adventure in Nevada began in 1913 when my mother brought us -- my half sister Esther, me and my twin brother Keith, Arthur and Blanche -- all the way from Twin Falls, Idaho, to join our father, Daniel Webster Lucas.
My first memory of this trip was sitting in a stagecoach across from a strange man. We sat there looking at him and he looked at us. We didn't talk. He had a moustache and I didn't dislike him nor was I afraid of him.
We got off the stagecoach in Fallon at the livery stable. There, my father harnessed his team of horses to a flatbed wagon and the seven of us headed east of Fallon to Stillwater. I knew we were going to our new home, and as we passed little ranch houses along the way I hoped with all my heart that ours would be painted. We came to the end of the road -- 3 miles north of Stillwater -- we came to the house and it wasn't painted!
I liked going for water, a quarter of a mile away, because we got to hunt for Indian beads and such treasures in the old adobe walls that we passed. Later, my father dug a well and we had a good cellar, dug in the ground with railroad ties covered by dirt for the roof. We hunted mushrooms in the straw and I tried hatching snake eggs. It was all an adventure.
My mother taught school in Stillwater. We had a horse named "Old Doll" that pulled a light buggy, with all of us in it, to school every day. I remember that we were living there when we got our first cow, a solid black one, and we had butter on our hot biscuits. We were there yet in 1914 -- because the U.S. Army took away two fine horses for use as cavalry mounts.
My father worked on the Freeman ranch and the neighbors that I remember were the Nygrens (they were Scandinavians and made delicious honey), the Freys, and the Kents.
I remember that first Fourth of July, because my brother Duane was born about that time, and my mother got the whole community together to celebrate Independence Day. She chose a place that had tall trees which we draped in red, white and blue bunting. My mother cooked a pan full of fried chicken mixed with rabbit. There was potato salad, homemade ice cream, cakes, cookies, etc. There were games, gunnysack races, and fire crackers. We had a wonderful time!
The next year my father took care of the baby, Duane, while Mama taught. Sometimes she took Duane to school with her. Mama sent Keith and me with milk that she pumped from her breast early every morning to the Charles Kent home. The milk was for the Kent baby, Ethel Katherine [McNeely] who was born September 2, 1915. The milk saved her life!
We moved to a little better house west of Stillwater, where we lived until Keith and I were in the third grade. I remember Mrs. Greenwood [Stillwater Postmistress], who ran a little store and sometimes when the snow was deep, and it was very cold, she had us stop by to drink hot chocolate and warm our hands.
The Lucas Homestead 75
It was the summer before I was in the fourth grade that we moved to Northam District and school, ten miles west of Fallon. Northam school was near Diversion Dam. We lived in a small building next to the schoolhouse. My mother liked teaching there. She had all eight grades in one room.
My brothers and I used to go with the little red wagon and get brush wood to use for our fires. We seemed to be fearless of scorpions and rattlesnakes. We used a pronged stick to hold the snake's head down while we killed it. We collected a bowl full of rattler's rattles.
The school was near the Carson River. The Ed Morgan family lived on the river where they had a fine orchard. Since three of the Morgan girls were in
Mama's school (Mabel [Cushman], Theo [Wightman] and Echo [Wood]), we
were personal friends of the Morgans. Mrs. Mary Morgan invited us to come and pick fruit in their orchard. Fruit was precious in that desert country, and my
mother "put it up." I especially remember that one day, because we were tired and thirsty, Mrs. Morgan, who had been raised in England, came out to the orchard and called, "Tea is ready, please to come." Those were her exact words and I remember them well. I was so delighted to hear a lady speak that way. It was fun.
Anti-German feeling was strong in those war years [World War I]. Mama's family left Germany to come to the U.S. to avoid conscription in the Prussian Army because her mother didn't believe in WAR. Grandmother taught us that the German people did not believe in war, that it was the leaders of the country that were war-like and that THEY should be on the front line and lead and be the first to be killed. One member of the schoolboard started circulating the rumor that Mama, Mrs. Lucas, was plotting to blow up La-hontan Dam!
One mid-day Keith and Arthur and I were out in the field and darkness spread out all over the land. We were scared and decided that the German Kaiser had conquered us and he caused the darkness to come. Later, mother explained the solar eclipse to us.
Another day we were out playing in the school yard and we saw an automobile turn onto our lane. We looked again, and there was father at the wheel of a brand new Ford. He wore a grin from ear to ear.
Kara's twin brother Keith. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
76 Kara Lucas Pratt
I remember Mama and Papa driving around the Lahontan Valley looking for a "piece" of land to homestead. My father knew that "river bottom" land was rich soil to grow crops in. They picked out their acreage, not too far from the "Leete" place. My half brother, Reed Lucas, came from Colorado to help build our house, a simple four room structure that they painted "ochre."
My father began right away to build a network of ditches and levees to bring the irrigation water to our place and to plant his crops. We were all excited to see the bare land that our father planted turn into lush green fields of alfalfa. He had twenty acres producing when it was discovered that the U.S. Government surveyors had made a "big mistake and our land was not irrigable"! The government officials decided that our property could not be irrigated by canals and ditches because of its terrain!
It was 1916-17 and our life was typical of families on frontier homesteads.
However, the next thing we knew, the government workers came with two big
tractors and pulled our house across the desert to 80 acres that Mama and Papa
had selected over by Soda Lake. It was sandy desert land -- we no longer had fertile river bottom land. My father had grown up on a farm in Illinois. Even though he had come west and built up a cattle herd in Colorado, he enjoyed farming. I remember his saying, "Not anyone can farm until he has learned how to plant and to make things grow." So here we were on stark desert sand about three miles from the main road to Fallon. There was no road to our new home. I can remember D.W. taking a team of horses and a tailboard and making a road out through the dry desert sand. Sometimes we got to ride on the tailboard. Lucas Road was straight as an arrow -- even to this day.
Again my father went about making ditches and levees to direct the water when it came to our place and keep it in check. We had a ditch rider named Mr. William Tell Marke. He rode along the canal banks in a horse and buggy to guard the water. D.W. would order the water, and the next day Keith, Arthur and I
would run across the desert to the main headgate and raise the gate by turning the
wheel a certain number of turns.
We all learned to swim in the canal -- it felt so good after running on the hot sand. Keith and Arthur could swim in the whirlpool where the water came under
Arthur Lucas poses in front of the family's board and batten home. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
The Lucas Homestead 77
the headgate. One day I decided I could swim there, too. I was sucked under and I panicked. Arthur swam to rescue me and we were going round and round and I held onto him for dear life. The only thing that saved us was Keith holding onto the headgate and reaching out to grab me by my red bandana headband!
After we moved to the Soda Lake district Mama drove the car to school. She taught in the Sheckler District and I think another one or two.
Those were hard times. A bad sand storm blew all the alfalfa seed away after my father had planted by hand. One time my brother, Keith, was out on the land when a sand storm came up and Mama went from the house calling and calling him.
The cottonwood trees and the Lombardy poplars we planted soon gave us shade. On hot summer days Mama would make lemonade and she and I would sit out under the trees on the grass and sew and read. We were the only ones out in that stark desert who had beautiful flowers. Mama loved flowers and she watered and cared for them and they grew. There were lilacs and roses and flowers that grew from seeds that she planted every year. Besides the cottonwood trees around the house, we had a orchard with every imaginable fruit and berry except for more tropical fruits like oranges, lemons, etc. The three Mulbery trees attracted many birds. Mama had a vegetable garden and she even won a first prize at the county fair. We truly had an "oasis" in the desert, the only one for miles and miles.
While we enjoyed our yard my father and brothers had to irrigate and work on the farm. Mama worried because Keith had to stay up all night to irrigate. As our farm became productive, we were able to grow enough alfalfa to feed the cows.
Wash day was made easier thanks to Keith's "contrivance." The kid powered grindstone provided the energy to run the washing machine. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
78 Kara Lucas Pratt
Because the land was sandy, it had to be fertilized every year. Fortunately, the dairy herd was able to recycle this alfalfa into manure for the fields.
The herd of thirty milk cows had to be milked twice a day. We did have a milking machine. A truck came every other day and hauled our cream to market. Papa fed the remaining skim milk to calves and pigs.
We had our share of uninvited pests on the farm. We had so many house flies that I was paid a penny for every one hundred that I swatted. Mama made a torch of rolled up newspaper and burned the flies that congregated outside, under the house eves, after dark. The mosquitoes were bad sometimes. She took old rags and dampened all but one corner of the cloth in a bowl of water. She would set fire to the corner and the cloth would smoulder and the smoke would drive the mosquitoes away. The pocket gophers were a menace to our irrigation system. We young ones used to drown them out of their burrows.
Because of the extremely sandy ground that would not hold moisture, families that settled farther north in the valley "silently packed their tents," and, like the Arabian Nights, disappeared.
Arthur and I used to herd the sheep out in the desert. I liked that, even on hot days. We got to take our lunch and we had a Grimm' Fairy Tale book. We sat under the greasewood and acted out the stories. Mama insisted on having the sheep, even though father was a cattleman and had no use for them.
When anyone was sick in our community, Mama always took them a beautiful bouquet of flowers. She was sad about not having pretty dishes and fine linen
The Lucas clan ready to board the bus for school. From left: Keith, Kara, Blanche, Arthur and Duane. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
The Lucas Homestead 79
and furniture. We never had an inside toilet or a bathtub. We pumped the water from the pump by the kitchen door and heated it on our wood and coal kitchen stove. We took our baths every Saturday night in a big galvanized tub in the kitchen, placing chairs around it and draping them with towels to give us some privacy.
Mama invested all of her salary in the farm and the dairy herd. She always said that she was going to give all of her children an education, even if she had to work her fingers to the bone.
Most of my education was in the Fallon schools. We took the bus into town. When I was in the eighth grade, Mama taught one year in Dayton, Nevada. She had me do my first year of high school at the same time. Keith and Arthur stayed home with Papa to help with the farm. I was then able to graduate from Churchill County High School in 1925 and Keith followed in 1926. Everyone of us, except Duane, graduated from the University of Nevada.
Mama got a position teaching at Anderson school, a one room schoolhouse a few miles south of Reno. As always she made good friends with the families there. Keith and I and my husband, Kenneth, and Esther were all living in Reno, so she was close to us. Papa liked the farm; he sold his dairy herd and went into the chicken raising business. He raised white leghoms and sold the eggs and was highly successful. I remember watching him "candle" the eggs as he sat in the cellar. Mama went home to Fallon on weekends. They retained fifteen acres or so under irrigation and they kept a few cows.
My mother and father stayed on the farm until it finally went dry. There was no one to do the irrigating after Keith and Arthur went to the University of Nevada.
In 1937, Ken, and I were living in Woodland, California when D.W. gave up the chicken business and came to spend the winter with us. He had to have a prostate operation early in 1938 and all he wanted was to have Mama with him. They depended upon each other. He died of a stroke shortly after the operation [1939].
After Papa's death, Daisy continued to teach for a long time. She was very troubled by my brother Duane, who was an alcoholic. It took years of his being in and out of the State Hospital before they discovered he was a manic depressive. At this time doctors did not know about the healing powers of lithium. Against all of her feelings, she took the doctor's advice and let them perform a lobotomy on Duane. He afterwards married and moved to Los Angeles.
Mama stayed on at the farm, keeping a few cows that she even let out on the range near Soda Lake. She "rode the range" in an old Chevy. I can so well remember her saying many times, that she would be so happy when she could sleep late in the morning. Finally when she had the choice, she still arose at the "crack of dawn." She was fiercely independent. From 1950 she took turns staying
80 Kara Lucas Pratt
with her children. She died in 1963 at age eighty-six and is buried next to Papa in the Fallon cemetery located at Rattlesnake Hill.
My twin brother, Keith, graduated from the University of Nevada in 1930. He also joined the J.C. Penney Co. in Reno. He and Kenneth Pratt were good friends. Keith lived with us until he married a University of Nevada girl, Maureen Stromer. After a long and severe illness, ("Regional Elitism"!) he became manager of the J.C. Penney Co. in Paso Robles, California. They had three sons -- Bob, Keith and Kenny. Keith died in 1970.
Arthur graduated from the University in about 1933. He taught school, including several years at Churchill County High School, until World War II when he joined the Navy. He married a nurse, Frances Jones, and he worked for the U.S. Unemployment Department in Reno. Their little girl Kathy died at the age of nine years. Their son Paul is employed in the park system in Reno and he lives with them.
Blanche has taught school all of her life. She now lives in Sunny Valley, Oregon, near her two children, Rayleen and Jack.
History records that education and teaching have always been an important part of our family. Mama would be so proud to know that her love for teaching has also been passed down to many of her great-grandchildren!
Memories! There are no longer any Lucas family members living in Lahontan Valley, but a paved Lucas Road bears our name and has opened the desert to settlement and visitors. This was my home and I am so happy that I got to visit it again!
CREATIVE FOCUS
Churchill County Women Poets
Michon Mackedon
In Tennessee Williams' great play, The Glass Menagerie, the narrator, Tom Wingfield, is fired from his job at Continental Shoe Company for scribbling poetry on the tops of shoe boxes. The firing of Tom was Tennessee Williams' way of contrasting the creative, but generally unappreciated, mind of the poet with the crass, profit-driven minds of the business world. But, even in the world outside theater, there are many writers like Tom who cannot resist the impulse to scribble -- on shoe boxes or elsewhere. For the poet, scribbling is a means to transform a fleeting insight or temporary state of mind into a thing of substance; it offers the chance to shape what Emily Dickinson refers to as the "white heat" of life into a "corporeal" object, the poem itself.
For the women poets presented on these following pages (all of them writing in Lahontan Valley, or close by, between about 1915 and 1960), poetry must have offered just such a chance to make something beautiful or satisfying or merely "theirs" from the experiences around them. In the words of Jan Montefieore, "Poetry is, primarily, the stuff of experience rendered into speech: a women's poems are the authentic speech of her life and being." (1)
A surprising number of women living on the farms and ranches and in the mining communities and small towns of west central Nevada wrote poetry, and a goodly number of their poems -- scribbled in scrapbooks, journals, letters, and diaries, or printed in newpapers or in little books published by small presses -- have survived to enter the Churchill County Museum archives.
For the most part, these poems are conventional in measure, rhyme, and imagery, most likely reflecting the kind of poetry read by and taught to them in their public school years and printed in the popular magazines of the time. The models upon which to base their own writings were the poems of English Romantic poets, like Wordsworth and Keats, or their American counterparts, like William Cullen Bryant and James Russell Lowell. There were few well-known women poets. Women's poetry in the 19th and early 20th centuries (with the notable exception of Emily Dickinson), was described by one critic as "maudlin emotion in iambic pentameter." (2) In any case, a woman (or man, for that matter) writing poetry outside professional academic circles in the years before World War II would have assumed that poetry followed certain rules: it rhymed; it was gov-
81
82 Michon Mackedon
Marie Genevieve Williams Hill (1908-1990) as a 1924 Churchill County High School graduate. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Nevada Night
by M. Genevieve Williams
A spell is cast upon your heart
By a clear and silvery moon,
That shines upon a desert land
Where night winds softly croon.
Silent stars gleam on her breast
Of sand so soft and white,
And changes every bush and twig
To unreal mystery of delight.
A coyote pauses on a crest,
The night birds softly call --
A campfire gleams on a lonely hill
And peace reigns over all.
When you behold this wonderland
In the dark that heralds morn,
Your heart goes out to the wind-swept space
And 'tis then your soul is born.
erred by a regular meter, and it employed some kind of even stanzaic structure. In the early years of 20th Century, and even much later, the more "modem," free form poetry of the American Walt Whitman was considered too shocking for most teachers to handle, and the experimental "modernist" poetry, brought about by the imagist movement of the 1920's, was not widely taught or read outside academic circles.
Despite the conventional nature of the poems presented here, they form a fascinating view of the efforts of their creators to make sense of their lives and the land around them. The land is the sandy desert, the purple mountains, or, in summer, the green fields of irrigated Lahontan Valley. In her book of poems by women of the prairie lands of Saskatchewan, author Edna Jacques observes that so many of the early women poets express love for their harsh and fruitless landscape, and she asks plaintively of "the next Generation" (of women poets):
Will they, too, love these
dear brown fields
And call them home ... and singP)
In this collection of poems, there is clearly a love of "dear brown fields" as well as an effort to sing the beauties of the desert. The desert is employed by many of them as almost a metaphor of their own being. Perhaps the silence of the desert or its ability to suddenly bloom from the dead brown of a cold winter brings the feeling of kinship. Or perhaps it is its ability to endure the frost and dearth of rain. For Genevieve Williams,
Women Poets 83
however, it is the desert's sensuality. The desert is a sensual female. Nevada at night is like a soft and seductive woman. "Silent stars gleam on her breast / Of sand so soft and white." The moon is like a lover, "A spell is cast upon your heart / By a clear and silvery moon" and even the winds are suitors who "softly croon."
Williams was the daughter of George Williams, a member of one of Churchill County's earliest and most successful families (Williams Avenue is named for the same family). She graduated from Churchill County High School in 1924, but during her earlier girlhood lived on the family's ranch at Eastgate, a place in eastern Churchill County where cottonwood trees meet pifion pines, with miles of desert to the west and miles of mountains to the east. There, on clear nights, you can see forever -- up into the Milky Way and out across the desert flats. Williams must have spent many a night with such a view as her only companion, but the poem speaks not of loneliness or isolation but of softness and comfort.
Edna Crew Williams also celebrates, in quite personal language, the basin and range around her. Edna Crew was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Crew, early settlers on the Newlands Irrigation Project at Fallon, Nevada. In 1923, she graduated from Churchill County High School. Her marriage to Gordon L. Williams took her to what her brother-in-law, Kelly Engle, described in his memoirs as an "old, rundown desert ranch near the early day mining camp of Unionville in Pershing County." Gordon and Edna, Engle tells us, "rehabilitated the old ranch, restocked it with their own cattle, worked over the adobe ranch house, pruned the neglected orchard, cleaned out the ditch conveying creek water to the lands and restored the premises as a veritable oasis in the desert valley." They called the ranch the Lazy Chair, and it served as inspiration for many of her poems. Williams, whom Engle called "this unspoiled and untutored girl ... certainly one of my most unforgettable people," clearly loved her life and her land.(4)
In Thunder Over the Range in Nevada, she traces the sudden arrival and departure of what has to be one of nature's most spectacular shows, the desert thunderstorm. The poem reveals an eye practiced in seeing the particular details of her place: "the buck brush and the sage"; the 'clobe flats and dry washes; the coyote, rabbits and squirrels. As does Genevieve Williams in Nevada Night,
Edna Crew Williams (1904-1991) in 1923. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
84 Michon Mackedon
Thunder Over the Range in Nevada by Edna Crew Williams
Thunder over the range in Nevada
The air is hazy blue.
Far across on the mountain tops
The sun is shining through.
A gentle breeze starts stirring
The buck brush and the sage,
And scattered drops start falling.
Soon the storm will rage.
Long streaks of jagged lightning
Flash bright across the sky,
And a lonely old coyote
Sends forth his mournful cry.
The swirling desert twisters
Climb high and higher still,
But they soon will all be settled
When `dobe flats begin to fill.
The wind is growing stronger,
The light is failing fast.
Rabbits and squirrels seeking shelter
Come scurrying past.
The clouds just seem to open,
The rain comes pouring down,
Beating the desert flowers
And soaking into the ground.
Every dry wash is running
Like a mad millrace now.
Faintly on the wind comes the lowing
Of a worried mother cow.
Suddenly the storm is over,
The sun comes shining through.
The clouds have shed their burden,
The sky again is blue.
Clean air fills the nostrils
With the smell of fresh washed land.
Believe me, city dwellers,
A storm o'er the range is grand.
Happiness
By Edna Crew Williams
Don't you feel sorry for me my dear,
Just 'cause I live way out here,
Far from highways, trains, shops and shows.
Things only money can buy, goodness knows.
My worldly goods wouldn't interest you
But, better than these, I'll just name a few.
First comes my family, two sweet little boys,
Sturdy small fellows who make lots of noise
And scatter their things all over the floor
For their daddy and me to stumble o'er.
A caress from one of those soft little hands
Is worth more than all the gold in the land.
Such peace and contentment, among other things,
That cannot be had by dictators and kings.
You have beautiful gowns and jewels to wear,
I have the desert moon and the stars to share.
The cool green grass, the old cottonwood trees,
The wild desert flowers that feed busy bees.
The old 'dobe house that has seen so much life
Within its thick walls, of gladness and strife.
The feel of the dough which I knead on the board,
The taste of churned butter, a rich golden hoard.
A shining red apple on the old apple tree,
Yellow pears, purple grapes, a wonder to see.
The cool desert breeze wafts down from the hills,
One breath and your lungs seem to fill
With the pungent aroma of juniper and sage
That has covered this land for many an age.
The awesome splendor of a desert born storm,
Lightning rends the clouds where rain is born.
The sting of its drops on the face and the hands,
Dust spurts arise as it freshens the land.
The warm sun shining on dark green leaves,
My life is made up of things like these.
So don't sorrow for me out here in the west,
I have the most priceless thing in the world --
Happiness!
Women Poets 85
Edna Williams here personally identifies with the desert; at the end of Thunder Over the Range in Nevada, she, like the land, is baptized clean, washed and renewed: "Clean air fills the nostrils / With the smell of fresh washed land." Also renewed is her confidence in her choice to live a rural life. There is triumph in the last two lines of the poem: "Believe me, city dwellers, / A storm o'er the range is grand."
That same triumph forms both the tone and subject matter of Happiness. The poem begins like a response to arrogant city folks, who voice pity and concern for a poor woman stuck in the boonies. We might surmise that Williams had met such attitudes more than once! "Don't you feel sorry for me my dear," she admonishes, "Just 'cause I live way out here, / Far from highways, trains, shops and shows. / Things only money can buy, goodness knows." There is a delightful self-confidence in her phrases, "my dear" and "goodness knows," as if she is, ironically, voicing pity and concern for a poor woman stuck in the city. She goes on to name her country blessings, "two sweet little boys," the "wild desert flowers," "old cottonwood trees," "the pungent aroma of juniper and sage." She also sings of her domestic life and labor, "The feel of dough which I knead on the board / The taste of churned butter, a rich golden hoard." The poet creates a unified image system contrasting the gold and jewels of the material world to the riches of her own world: "You have the beautiful gowns and jewels to wear, / I have the desert moon and the stars to share." She sustains a gentle, but prodding irony by using those adjectives normally associated with riches and jewels to describe her natural wealth. The butter is like a "golden hoard"; the warm sun is
"shining" on dark green leaves; the desert-born storm is a "splendor," and
"A caress from one of those soft little
hands / Is worth more than all the gold in the land." The last line of the poem
resolves the conflict of the two worlds with an image which springs from, but undercuts, the world of materialism: "I have the most priceless thing in the world ..."
Another theme common to the poetry of these women poets of western
Nevada is romantic love. The 1927
edition of Nevada Poems, published by The Nevada Federation of Wom-
en's Clubs, contains two love poems
by Genevieve Williams, both addressed to an absent lover. Waiting ex-
presses regret for a lover's quarrel: "I was wrong -- I left you in anger."
Waiting
By M. Genevieve Williams
I am lonely, Dear I miss you!
It may be the clouds or the rain, But the past is whirling before me And your eyes are haunting again.
I see them gleam in the firelight,
Those golden, tawny eyes,
Silent symbols of all I have missed;
My heart, so long dead, wakes and cries.
I stretch out my arms to the darkness,
And hopelessly call your name --
Yet the only answer I receive
Is the swirling beat of the rain.
I was wrong -- I left you in anger,
But I've suffered enough to atone,
Ever faithful to dream of you, Dear,
I am waiting out here -- alone.
86 Michon Mackedon
The strength of the poem lies in the imagery of ghostly haunting, captured by Williams in the phrase "the past is whirling before me." It is the eyes of her lover that haunt her, and she associates them with the firelight, "golden and tawny." The weather becomes a metaphor for her loss; it is stormy outside, and the "swirling beat of the rain" is associated with the "whirling past." Neither seems to offer any hope, however, and she ends the poem "waiting out here -- alone."
The poem Jade is similar in rhyme, meter and stanza form, but the tone is more original and ironic (I'm reminded by this poem of the work of Edna St. Vincent Millay). The first stanza moves quickly forward, as each line brings a new image of the poet's amorous past ("I loved"; "men whispered"; "I'd made a mockery"; "you prisoned"). Just as quickly, in the second stanza, we get a view of love dissolving, and her lover left "wondering there." The third stanza is playful and controlled. The poet taunts her lover with memories of the past, "as tight in your arms I'd cling." Then she drops the two final lines on him, crowing, Medusa-like. His heart, turned to unfeeling jade, will still serve (her) because Jade is "a pretty thing."
In other early poems, the themes of love and longing are often expressed in subdued but unmistakably erotic imagery. Prevailing notions of decorum would have diluted any urge to use openly sexual or "unladylike" language, but the poet will usually find the means, despite inhibitions, to privately express her desire. Poet Addie Wood Hallock, born in 1869 in Iowa, left behind over 200 poems when she died in Fallon in 1951. Many of them read like lessons on truth or ambition or achieving perfection and, although technically good, lack freshness. But when she turns to matters of the heart,
Jade
By M. Genevieve Williams
You forgot I had loved before.
That men whispered of my charms,
That I'd made a mockery of love
'Til you prisoned me in your arms.
Yet you could not hold me forever
With dreams that were brightly fair;
So I broke them all at love's next call
And left you wondering there.
Remember I made you happy, Love,
As tight in your arms I'd cling.
I've turned your heart to unfeeling jade?
Well -- jade is a pretty thing.
Prolific poet Addie Hallock (1869-1951) found beauty in her sometimes less-than-perfect surroundings. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
Women Poets 87
the poems ring true. One of her poems, dated December 11, 1933,
and entitled Purple Shadows is
"Dedicated to Katharine Hepburn and the new style of love and
lovers." In the poem, the coming
of "the Spirit of Night" is painted in erotic and sensual terms. Night
arrives "descending and slow."
The day then surrenders to "the night's gentle sway." The moon-
beams are personified as co-
conspirators in love, as they are "whispering a message, my dear
one, of you." The same image begins and ends the poem, that of "soft purple shadows" which "creep" over the hills. The poem is shiveringly romantic in its suggestion of creeping shadows and the Spirit of Night; its rhythm is the rhythm of love; and it's clearly addressed to a lover.
What we know of Addie Hallock is based on information about her written down for the family by her son, Cruz Venstrom, in the 1950's. She was raised in Iowa and Kansas, where she received her teaching credentials in 1891. She moved to Colorado to teach, and, in 1892, she married Otto Venstrom. For the next fifteen years, they made a series of moves from one small town to another across the state of Colorado, struggling to provide for a growing family (four children were born) by first, selling a line of patent medicine, then joining a Socialist farming colony, and in 1905, building and running a hotel in Nucla, Colorado. Sometime around 1907, a well driller from Minnesota named Francis R. Hallock, came to room with them, and in 1908, Haddie divorced Venstrom and married Hallock, "horrifying the town."
Mr. and Mrs. Hallock and the three surviving Venstrom children eventually ended up in Fallon, following the lure of the Newlands Project. Mr. Hallock homesteaded a piece of land "that would not grow beans" on Swingle Bench in 1917, and he, Addie and their son, Cruz, built a house there. Her two daughters later followed them to Churchill County: Vera, by then married to Eldor Boden, and Vesta, then married to Bill Mayfield. Vesta and Cruz both left Fallon in later years, but Vera Boden remained there, raising a family of eleven children.
Addie lived on the Swingle Bench farm until 1949. By then, Mr. Hallock had become very ill and had moved into town. After his death, she lived at various times with her three children, in Fallon; Klamath Falls, Oregon; and Berkeley, California. Throughout her life, she wrote poetry and was appointed a Poet Laureate of Nevada.
Purple Shadows
By Addie Wood Hallock
When the soft purple shadows creep over the hills
And the listening ear hears the murmuring rills,
The hues of the sunset fade out with the light,
Then descending and slow comes the Spirit of Night.
When the day has surrendered to night's gentle sway Come the thrills of the eventide, merry and gay. The silvery moonbeams from out heaven's blue Are whispering a message, my dear one, of you.
And now I can see by the light in your eyes That the message is true, the one that I prize. Love answered by love, life's cup ever fills, And the soft purple shadows creep over the hills.
88 Michon Mackedon
In light of her own experiences, the dedication of her Purple Shadows to
"Katharine Hepburn and the new style of love and lovers" seems to deliberately and self-confidently address her own "shocking" decisions. Her second marriage defied convention, but apparently brought her love. As a romantic but unfortunate footnote to her story, Addie's son, Cruz, said that her last wish was to buried "next to Mr. Hallock," but, unfortunately, cemetery ordinances passed in the interval between their deaths prevented that from occurring.
Another of Hallock's poems, War God gives us a further sense of an independent and strong-minded woman. The tone of the poem is one of outrage. In fact, the poem almost spits in contempt for "Old Mars! / The war god of the world." My copy of the poem is not dated, so the identity of the war in question is not clear, but Hallock's son Emil Cruz (Cruz), was born on January 8, 1899, and would have reached draft age during World War I. In any case, the poem alludes to an imminent and bloody war. The war god is "weaving a scarlet scare cloud." His "red, bloody hands are outreaching / For your youth and mine to destroy." The reference to "your youth and mine" seems personal, and the theme of maternal care carries forward to the plea in the last stanza, "Give back happy hearts to mothers." The poem is unified by two image
systems, both cynical of the politics of
war. The first paints Mars in terms of his thirst for blood; the second, in terms of his (and world leaders') thirst for power and money. Specific images point to the physical horrors of war: Mars has "red, bloody hands"; the "rivers run red"; he sees with "gory old eyes." But the political imagery is especially original and ironic. Mars sits in a "sumptuous palace." Here, the implication is that those who manage the wars are far above the masses who suffer from them. Mars cares not for the bloody rivers; instead "Profits swell his black heart with joy." The idea of the detached and powerful rich gaining even more -- at the expense of helpless youth -- informs the entire poem. Hallock also uses the imagery of back-door politics. Those in control are pictured behind closed doors in "councils of murders." They share "secrets" which prevent mankind from sharing in the storehouse of nature.
War God
By Addie Wood Hallock
Old Mars! The war god of the world
Now sits in his sumptous palace.
And he's weaving a scarlet scare cloud
With hatreds and greed and malice.
His red, bloody hands are outreaching For your youth and mine to destroy. When the rivers run red, what cares he? Profits swell his black heart with joy.
His gory old eyes are farseeing
To potentates, rulers and kings.
His ringmaster's whip at them cracks, They bow -- ever fearing those stings.
Crash doors to these councils of murder!
Their secrets fling wide on the air!
Only then can the storehouse of nature
Yield plenty for mankind to share.
Give back happy hearts to mothers;
Give peace to an anxious world;
The flag of freedom to nations,
And may it never be furled!
Women Poets 89
These poems of Addie Hallock, Genevieve Williams, and Edna Crew Williams transform private thoughts and emotions into written verse, and so are
usually classified as lyric poems. Another tradition, that of the narrative poem,
or ballad, is also present in the works of the women poets of Lahontan Valley. Narrative poetry has always been popular with Americans, who number among
their favorite poems, the English ballads of Rudyard Kipling, like The Ballad of
East and West and The Charge of the Light Brigade and the American ballads of Robert Service, like The Cremation of Sam Magee. Ballads are usually easy to
read and understand; the meter gallops along at a breathless pace, matching the action of the tale told. A local tale comes to life in this manner in Irene Bartlett Austin's Ballad of the Lone Tree. (Abbreviated here because of its length.)
The lone tree in question was some miles north of the Carson Sinks Pony Express Station. According to a legend, the rider had been advised to circle north as Indians had raided the station the night before. Austin colors the action of the story with landscape details that root it firmly in the Pony Express trails of Nevada -- from Kingsbury Grade to Carson town to Fort Churchill and on to the Carson sinks. And, it's full of the kind of images that have created the myth of the West: brave riders, eager ponies, sacks full of precious mail and savage Indians!
A variation of the the myth of the West, that of the strong and true cowboy, also finds its way into the local women's poems. The Old Broncho Catcher by Anna B. Mills would
Irene Bartlett Austin. (1917-1984) (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
The Lone Tree
By Irene Bartlett Austin
East and West the mail planes ply,
Dark dragonflies against the sky,
Or great winged birds in steady flight,
Spanning valley and mountain height.
Whir of an engine overhead,
And a pilot looks down on green fields spread
Where once the fires of an Indian band
Smoke-signalled a code across the land,
And staunch-hearted riders followed a trail
Over desolate wastes, to carry the mail.
At the edge of a town, where desert sands
Creep close against fields, the Lone Tree stands;
Sturdy and strong, and straight to the sky
Lifts its leafy crest, where the planes pass by.
Bare brown limbs through the winter's cold,
Silent tribute year after year,
To the loyal hand that planted it here.
Deep as it roots in the warm dark earth,
In the heart of the West keep this tale of its birth:
90 Michon Mackedon
This is the tale of the Pony Express
And of daring Emmet McCain,
Who rode the trail to Sand Springs
From Churchill, and back again.. .
Over the flats and beyond the hills,
Out into a land accursed,
Where the red man lurks, and follows, and kills.
And white men die of thirst.
Men of courage and men of might,
They who rode the Pony Express,
Dauntless to ride, and fearless to fight,
Through danger and distress.
Over the mountain from Placerville
"Pony Bob" came riding down,
Along Kingsbury grade, through the valley
below and on to Carson town.
Down the river and up the hill, And eastward toward the fort, Carrying safe in his saddlebags, Dispatches of grave import.
Along the river and over the ridge,
Along the river again,
Where Churchill marks the end of his run,
Is waiting Emmet McCain;
Waiting and ready and eager to go,
His pony pawing the dust;
"Indians out," the alarm had spread,
But a rider is true to his trust,
Nor falters a moment, nor thinks of fear,
When the time has come to go,
His duty fulfilled, if he be not killed,
By a dark and dreadful foe.. .
McCain is out from the walls at a dash,
And along the river's rim,
Holding a switch just freshly cut
From a sturdy cottonwood limb.. .
Alert he watches each rock and tree
Where a treacherous foe may hide,
With eye that's steady and hand that's ready
For the pistol at his side.. .
Then over the top of a distant ridge
A twisting spiral of blue:
Signal smoke, from Indian fires!
And the pony rider knew . . .
"They may follow me down, and kill me too,
But forward I'll keep on the trail,
I'll ride till death and the end to make
My station with the mail" . . .
Over the marshy ground he sped,
no enemy was in sight,
but he knew too well that the foe was near,
then out of a gulch to the right,
A dozen braves to their ponies sprang,
A dozen men to one!
And down they came with a wild war whoop --
The game was all but done.. .
[Emmet] dropped his pouch in a marshy hole,
His pony's hoofs trampled the rim,
And to mark the spot he thrust deep in the
Earth, the whip from the cottonwood limb.
Then facing about to meet the foe
With pistol and hunting knife
He took full toll to pay the price,
Of a pony rider's life.
The rest of the tale? -- just a brave man dies,
The death that a brave man must,
A gallant fight, then overcome,
But the rider was true to his trust.
And the courage and valor that filled his heart
And saved the government mail
Are thrilling today in this tale of the tree
That grew from that mark by the trail.
At the desert's edge the Lone Tree stood
Sturdy and strong-limbed cottonwood
Valiant and tall and straight to the sky
Lifted leafy limbs where the planes go by.
Silent tribute for many a year
To the loyal hand that planted it here
Deep as its roots in the warm dark earth
In the lore of the West keep this tale
of its birth.
Women Poets 91
please a contemporary audience at the Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering, as would Addie Wood Hallock's Old Cowboy! Good Night! They both romanticize the cowboy, using the kind of imagery which sold Zane Grey novels and brought popularity to John Wayne movies, but the poems
are, nevertheless,
charming examples of "cowboy poetry."
The poems collected here will not reach the pages of anthologies of
American literature;
they did not bring fame or fortune to their
Anna Bailey Mills (1872-1951). (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
The Old Broncho Catcher
By Anna B. Mills
They have made him a children's plaything,
To answer their humblest need,
With blanket in place of a saddle,
And a whip to hasten his speed.
For him who has carried a saddle
All burnished with silver and gold,
When roused by the voice of his master,
A Mexican bit could scarce hold.
With the breath of the hills around him
And the wide flat under his feet,
The hoofs of the fleeing mustangs
Made a music won'rously sweet.
Through the rock-hewn wash of the foothills
His quarry fled madly, in vain!
As sure was the hand on the lasso,
And strong as the hand on his rein.
His ear knows the lariat's whistle,
His feet know the brace for the bold,
And the jerk on his tightened rawhide
Has many a mustang rolled.
But his dark browed master is sleeping
Low under the plumes of the sage;
The voice is now quiet forever
That wakened his wild hunting rage.
So they make him the children's plaything.
The fire in his eye burns low;
No more will the mustang fear him
Or his strangling lariat know.
92 Michon Mackedon
authors. They will not be read by many other than you, faithful readers of In Focus. But they are, nonetheless, priceless, for they tell us over and over again what it is to be alive to the experiences around us. I believe that it is common for members of each new generation to think that we are the first to truly feel exhilaration or pain or desire or to see the particulars of the land around us. We find it hard, for example, to see our grandmothers as lovers or rebels or poets. But the poems tell us the truth: these women loved deeply and thought clearly and observed the life around them; they found great pleasure in language; and they knew sacred moments and saved them in words.
Old Cowboy! Good-night!
By Addie Wood Hallock
A graybeard so old and lean and so frail
Sits dreaming again of the longhorns' trail
That led to the North from the Texas plain,
And he's leading the herds of the longhorns again.
Chorus:
Oh happy-go-lucky and carefree were we!
As life was a gamble -- so gamblers we'd be.
We lived in the saddle, we slept on the ground.
The end of the story? Oh! Just a loose mound.
The cowboys blazed trails through the buffalo lands.
That covered the Kansas and Cimmaron lands.
These bellowing hordes were the redmen's supply;
To save them and keep them he'd fight hard or die.
The end of the drive was the cowboy's delight,
With gay painted girls to dance thru the night;
His roll in his pocket, his time all his own
To drink, fight and gamble or losses bemoan.
Again on the trail to the southland to ride.
His horses and saddles were true joy and pride.
With eyes growing dimmer, but memory bright --
The darkness is falling -- Old Cowboy -- Goodnight!
NOTES
1. Montefiere, Jan. Feminism and Identity in Women's Writing. London: Pandora Press, 1987, p 3.
2. Trusky, Tom, ed. Women Poets of the West: An Anthology 1850-1950. Boise State University: Ahsahta Press, 1978, p. xi.
3. Jacques, Edna. Prairie Born, Prairie Bred. Saskatoon, Sask.: Prairie Books, 1979, p. 84.
4. Engle, Kelly. Collected papers (unpublished). Churchill County Museum & Archives, Fallon, Nevada.
Where in the Oasis Am I?
Bunny Corkill
As the sacred, whispering sands of Sand Mountain have shifted and changed, so has the population of Lahontan Valley.
Most of the "old timers" are gone -- few left progeny. The original settlers, lured here by dreams of building an "oasis in the desert," have been replaced ten fold by a more mobile and urbanized population. The "newcomers" came seeking opportunities not afforded the earlier residents. Sadly, much of our citizenry has very little knowledge of this Valley's history and why certain names have persisted. Names such as the Bench, the Beach, Lahontan and the Sinks resound through my mind. I think it might be fun to take an armchair trip around the county and see how these places got their names!
Before the mid 1950's and the official naming of county roads for identification purposes, regions of the Valley had been divided into "districts." Districts were political and geographical areas with legal and recorded descriptions used for determining school attendance, voting precincts, homemakers' social club groupings and irrigation water ordering regions. Today these invisible boundaries are more flexible and denote general localities.
This gazetteer records documented facts as well as folklore and tradition handed down from generation to generation. Let us begin our journey upon the crest of the Fernley, Nevada overpass!
I recall reading an atlas with a particularly beautiful description of the land that lay around us:
Somberly magnificent and infinitely moody, Nevada is a high, arid land lying mostly in the Great Basin, with a few seared valleys sloping off toward the unfriendly Colorado River. Mountains march across this land: they rise as tall peaks, shining with snow or hazed with blue; they lift as ocherous ridges stained angry purple and fiery black by some age old agony of earth. Valleys awesome in their emptiness roll away under dark junipers and velvety sage ...
In the north the serried ranges pull apart grudgingly to enable the Humboldt River to make its long, perverse passage west across Nevada -- a fact of geography momentous for American history. The Humboldt, like the bright streams that sparkle down from the Sierra, must waste its waters at last in the shallow bottoms of the western reaches of the Great Basin, where astringently salty lakes, brack
93
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Oasis 95
ish marshes, and muddy playas give the land another character. Though condemned to perish in a 'sink' , the Humboldt was water flowing in the direction taken by the course of empire, and as much as the mountains it dominated Nevada's history.(')
A glance to our left! What? Is it a mirage? No, it is the famous silhouettes of the horse and ram on Black Butte near Hazen welcoming us to Churchill County and Lahontan Valley! They stand as silent sentries over the Sadmat archaeological site. These pebble mounds, boulder cairns and other rock features are among the county's most fascinating mysteries.
The county itself encompasses an area of 4,883 square miles spread out from the Hazen Hill to the pass in the Desatoya Mountains at Carroll Summit. Churchill County was named for Brigadier General Sylvester Churchill, a Mexican War hero who was Inspector General of the U.S. Army in 1861. (2) The county was created November 25, 1861, from Utah Territory. By 1864, when Nevada was admitted to the Union, the county's borders had been changed many times. The first county seat was established at Buckland's Station (November 29,1861), which is now in Lyon County. In February 1864, when Churchill County became a distinct organization, the seat was moved to La Plata, a small silver mining district on the east side of the Stillwater Range. In October, 1864, a house was purchased from Anton Kaufman to be used as a courthouse. After the mining activities ceased, the seat was moved into Stillwater (October 22, 1867).
At the turn of the century, State Senator Warren Williams, who had purchased Mike Fallon's ranch in 1902, introduced a bill in the 1903 legislature moving the seat from Stillwater. The bill was signed by Governor John Sparks on March 5, 1903, and on January 4, 1904, Fallon was officially named the county seat.
Legend tells that the Stillwater courthouse was moved to Fallon in the middle of the night as loyal Stillwater residents followed in hot pursuit. But the building which housed the official papers was not moved. In fact, in 1922 the Stillwater courthouse was purchased by Mr. Albert Weishaupt and the wood used to build his home (3775 Lawrence Lane). The present Churchill County courthouse on Williams Avenue was built on the site in 1903, designed by Ben Leon and constructed by W.B. Wyrick.
The name Lahontan is about all that remains of a much wetter region, mostly covered by a 20,000 year old, 900 feet deep prehistoric lake extending over 8,400
Hazen Butte as seen from Highway 50. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
96 Bunny Corkill
square miles. At one time the area supported mammoths. The water lines along the hills where the waves once splashed and the dusty alkali shadows that swirl above the fossil beds tell of the former presence of aquatic life. Lahontan Lake, Valley and Dam are the namesakes of Third Baron de Lahontan, Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, a French nobleman who neither saw nor knew of these features. (3) His name was the suggestion of Clarence King, geologist, mining engineer and explorer, who organized and led the Fortieth Parallel Survey across the northern Great Basin in the late 1860's.
HAZEN
What is this before our eyes? The "H" monogram on Black Butte, that knot on the end of a string of hills called the Hot Springs Mountains? It stands proudly for Hazen, the home of Agnes Severs and her little store, which housed a post office from 1904 to 1979. Hazen was first settled in 1869 and was named for William Babcock Hazen, an American army officer and aide to William Tecumseh Sherman. Hazen was a typical rip-roaring western town at the turn of the century. It had a section house for workers on the railroad and was the dumping ground for the most dangerous and vicious element of humanity on the Pacific Coast. Eventually the roundhouse was moved to Sparks, and the hotels and Rural Standard school (1918-1956) melted into the surrounding volcanic ash.
As they stepped from the train at Hazen, many early settlers, seeing the harsh reality of their new home, truly believed the "H" stood for Hell!
A few miles east, Bench Road leads up to a plateau surrounded by sloughs ... named Swingle Bench.
SWINGLE BENCH
Because of its elevation, the Bench could not be used for agrarian purposes until Derby Dam and the Truckee Canal of the Newland's Project were completed, since all waters delivered to the area must be carried by the Canal.
On April 20, 1907, Clarence Grant and Susanna Jenkins Swingle of Manhattan, Kansas, filed on an eighty acre farm unit. By 1916, Clarence had become
A bountiful harvest of Hearts-O-Gold cantaloupes on its way to market circa 1918. (Churchill County Museum & Photo Collection.)
Oasis 97
known as the "Father of the Hearts-O-Gold Cantaloupes." With the decline of the industry, he sold his property and moved to Berkeley, California, in December 1924. On July 23, 1926, the South Carman, Pennsylvania, native died in an automobile accident in Oakland, California.
Across from the Bench turn off and north of U.S. 50 Alt. is the site of the Ma-hala Slough railroad siding and shipping sheds once used by local farmers for shipping cantaloupes. The exact origin of the word Mahala is unknown though some believe it is derived from the Paiute word, Mahales, meaning women. The "morning side" of the Bench boasts bountiful apple orchards which became famous in their own right under the care of the Fulkerson family (1914-1990).
NORTHAM DISTRICT
Historic Pioneer Way gently parallels the meandering Carson River westward to Northam District.
Edmund (1862-1936) and Magdalena (1858-1941) Dietz came west from Indianapolis in 1908. They originally homesteaded in Hazen on a forty acre tract, which became known as the Gamble ranch. In June of 1908 they purchased the Kaiser-Spooner ranch (13777 Carson Highway). Through an old Indianapolis friendship with the United States Vice President, Charles W. Fairbanks (Theodore Roosevelt's administration), Edmund soon secured the establishment of a post office (1908-1928) on his ranch. Although the post office was named Northeim after his birthplace in Germany, through usage, the name became contracted to Northam. (4) Edmund was the first chairman of the TCID Board of Directors, organized in 1918, and served in this capacity for four years.
Edmund and Magdalena's daughter,
Bertha Magdalena Jesch, mother of ten and former Fallon resident, celebrated her 106th birthday on March 2, 1995, in Reno, Nevada, surrounded by four generations of her family. Her death occurred on April 30, 1995.
Carson River neighborhood children attended the concrete block Northam school, nestled among the trees in a crook in the road, from 1915 through 1947.
Edmund and Magdalena Dietz on their wedding day in 1884. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
98 Bunny Corkill
RAGTOWN/LEETEVILLE
Emigrants on the infamous Forty Mile Desert met the Carson River at Rag-town.
Two reasons are assigned for the origin of the novel name of this town. One is that it was originally composed of cloth houses built by traders from California, who, leaving in the fall, left their ragged shelters to flutter in the wind. According to another authority, the emigrants, on reaching it, hastened to divest themselves of their ragged garments, and plunge into the cooling waters of the Carson. Long, scattered piles of rags daily adorned the banks of that stream. (5)
Asa Kenyon (1830-1884) is credited with having founded this Valley's first permanent settlement in 1854. Upon his arrival he found two hundred people, but they all left by fall. A post office was established and conducted business from 1864-1867. It was activated again in 1884 and closed in 1887. Kenyon died in 1884 and his wife, Catherine Haggerty (1834-1899), continued the business until she sold the station on July 7, 1894, for five hundred dollars to Canadian natives James (1830-1917) and Esther Maria (1861-1914) Leete. (6) Their ranch was one of the best pieces of farmland on the Carson River. Slowly the area became known as Leeteville, and mail continued to be dispersed from this location (1895-1907).
North of the emigrant station, a New York-based Leete, Benjamin Franklin (1831-1927), came to Churchill County in 1869, where he discovered and operated the Eagle Salt Works for many years. The salt from his mines was used in the reduction of silver on the Comstock. He lived well into his ninety-fifth year as a most respected resident of Reno.
SODA LAKE
Portions of Soda Lake District were settled by homesteaders after canals in the Newlands Project permitted the delivery of water to the desert lands. Unfortunately, the soil was so sandy that many of the early settlers gave up in despair and retreated. Today, advanced agricultural methods have once again opened the area to several commercial
gardening enterprises.
The district received its name from its proximity
to Big Soda and Little Soda Lakes. Natural deposits of soda were discovered in
1855 and the production of soda began in 1868 at Little Soda and in 1875 at Big
Soda Lake and its evaporating ponds, about 1900. (Churchill
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Soda. Lawsuits were initiated by the mine owners after irrigation waters seeped into the lake and covered the establishment. Today the lakes are frequently used by recreational underwater enthusiasts looking for "buried treasures."
ST. CLAIR
From earliest days, the term St. Clair was used to denote most of the prime ranch area in the southern half of Lahontan Valley.
James St. Clair (1837-1879) was born January 29, 1837, in Jessamine County, Kentucky. In the early 1860's he and wife, Matilda (1839-1870), came to Nevada and settled in Churchill County, where he engaged in the stock raising business. On this property located near present day McLean Road, James established a store and post office in April of 1865:
An Act of [the Nevada legislature] , February 20, 1864, empowered James A. St. Clair and J. J. McClellan to maintain a toll bridge across Old River, at a point known as the Upper Sink crossing; no other bridge or ferry to be allowed within half a mile either way. (7)
Mr. Hill purchased the ranch and store in 1866. The ranch was sold to Henry Theelan in 1873 and the post office moved south to the Lem Allen property (3705 Bass Road) where it functioned until about 1907.
Interested in politics, in 1864 St. Clair attended the first county Democratic convention. It took place at Stillwater and was held on a woodpile belonging to a stage driver known as "Big Ned" Caltron. The only other person in attendance was W.C. Grimes, the District Attorney, who had walked the fifteen miles from La Plata to attend. After a number of recesses taken from time to time to allow the delegates to wet their whistles, the convention called for the nomination of an assemblyman. Amidst profound and breathless silence, Mr. Grimes arose to his feet and, in a speech that is still ringing through the wilds near Stillwater, placed Hon. J. St. Clair in nomination. Mr. St. Clair was made the unanimous choice of the convention and being called upon for a speech expressed himself as deeply moved by the honor conferred upon him and that if elected he would fill the office to the best of his ability. (8)
St. Clair was the only Democrat in the 1864 legislature. (9) After the close of the session he remained in Carson City until 1867, when he returned to Churchill County. In 1871 he was appointed deputy warden of the state prison and again moved to Carson where he soon became city street inspector. He remained there until his death on May 30, 1879, in San Francisco. (10)
SHECKLER
Daniel Lincoln Sheckler (1870-1930) was born April 07, 1870, in Iowa. He arrived in Lahontan Valley near the turn of the century, and took up a homestead on March 03, 1906, in the district that would bear his name (5200 Shedder Road). It was not until 1916 that he could apply for water rights on his farm, which in time would grow to 160 acres." At one time his brother, William "Will" Grant, owned a portion of this homestead. A second brother, Benjamin
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Arthur, was Fallon's "boot and shoe man [who] will repair your leather footwear and make it as good as new -- all work guaranteed." (12)
During all of his life here, Sheckler made a gallant fight against tuberculosis. He contracted the ailment while employed as foreman in the railroad machine shops in Atchison, Kansas. Concerned by his own lack of health, he, for many years, made an effort to secure a movement toward pure and wholesome foods. This was done through circular letters and articles which he published from time to time. (13)
In 1905 he took as his bride a teacher named Nina Bindewald (1885-1930). She would become this county's first newspaper correspondent with her column in The Fallon Eagle. Two children, Eva Mary and Daniel Alfred were born to this union. When his health failed, the family moved to Banning, California, where Dan died March 14, 1930.
LONE TREE
In the southwest corner of Lahontan Valley, Lone Tree District ambles out into the desert where there is still space for jackrabbits to run and Indian rice grass to wave. A sandy area, it was very difficult to get farms well established there and many an alfalfa crop was chewed to the ground overnight by pesky rabbits.
Legend tells that in 1860 a Pony Express rider named Emmet McCain was being chased from the Carson Sinks area by a dozen Indian braves. [Ed. note: The Ballad of Lone Tree is published herein, p. 87.] Determined that he would not lose the mail, he dropped his pouch in a marshy hole and to mark the spot he thrust a cottonwood switch he had been using as a whip deeply into the ground hoping that a fellow rider would find the hidden treasure. Racing on, he was soon overcome. The switch grew into a beautiful cottonwood tree near the intersection of Allen Road and Lone Tree Road. The Lone Tree Ranch was purchased by C. E. Bartlett in 1907. This tale had been told to him by Lem Allen who came to the valley in 1863. For 80 years the "lone tree" stood as a monument to young McCain until it had to be cut down in the 1930's for safety reasons. (14)
Did a student at the Lone Tree school (1918-1956) find the pouch or does the once-marshy spot still hold the letters that never reached their destination?
ISLAND
Before the waters of the south branch of the Carson River reach their burial grounds in the Sinks they spread out over the southern end of Lahontan Valley. When the first settlers arrived here, native grasses, tules, and sloughs flourished around two islands whose elevation allowed them to become homestead sites known as Big Island and Little Island Ranches. Cattle and wild hogs grazed the tules and grass each summer and then, come autumn, the refuse was burned off in preparation for the coming year. Later, tons of wild hay would be harvested off of these places. Developed by William S. Bailey, the ranches later belonged to the Douglass, Renfro, Dodge and Frey families, among others.
Robert L. Douglass inherited the property from his wealthy uncle, Joseph McCune Douglass of Virginia City fame. In 1906 Robert announced his intentions
Oasis 101
of increasing his grain acreage for the year of 1907 to 2,500 acres. He was to have the largest grain ranch in the state of Nevada. At this same time Douglass took delivery on the first combined header harvester ever brought into the county. It was a House Haines and was ordered through the Burchell Hardware Company at a cost of $2,000. The machine required 36 head of horses to operate it and had the capacity for harvesting 35 acres per day.
By 1909 R. L. became this valley's first subdivider when the Douglass Island Colony offered up 12,000 acres for sale: Land with vested water right $75.00 per acre and land without water. $20.00. (15)
During the summer of 1909 the Douglass family had a chapel constructed about a quarter of a mile west of the Schurz Highway which they gave to the residents of the Island District. The people of the district furnished the building with an organ, lights, dishes and silverware. The chapel was used as a church, community meeting place as well for a schoolhouse before the regular school was built. (16) (In 1952 the skeletal remains of the edifice were
removed to the George Dalton ranch.) The new Island school, built in 1912, burned to the ground on December 23, 1953.
The Robert Douglass (m. Eleanor M. Ernst) family relocated from their Victorian home in Fallon at 10 South Carson Street, to the Douglass Ranch mansion
upon its completion in 1918. The home was built of hollow burned tile; had 12 rooms, a full basement and was originally steam-heated and served with light and water from individual plants installed by the then Senator Douglass. In 1944 the
Douglass/Frey home. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
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home and 800 acres were sold to Charles P. Frey and, in time for its 75th year [1993], had been elegantly restored by Charley and Debbie Frey [1045 Dodge Lane]. (17)
Over the years the original Island ranch has continued to be divided. The acreage owned by Dodge Brothers has retained the descriptive name of "Dodge Island Ranch" [455 Dodge Lane].
CARSON LAKE
On June 5, 1859, James H. Simpson recorded:
We are encamped at the head of the outlet from Carson Lake into the sink of Carson, where our only fuel is dry rush. This outlet is about 50 feet wide and 3 or 4 feet deep, and voids the lake rapidly into its sink, which is some 10 or 15 miles to the northeast of us. The water is of a rather whitish, milky cast, and though not very lively, is yet quite good. The Carson River to the northwest, where it empties into the lake, can be seen quite distinctly, marked out by its line of green cottonwoods.
The name of the river and lake was given by Colonel Fremont, in compliment to Kit Carson, one of his celebrated guides.
The alluvial bottom about Carson Lake is quite extensive and rich, as the luxuriant growth of rushes shows, and could I think, be easily irrigated. The only drawback to its being unexceptionable for cultivation in every part is its being somewhat alkaline in places, particularly toward its southern portion. Curlew, pelican, and ducks, and other aquatic birds frequent the locality and the lake is filled with fish. A number of Pi-utes (sic), some two dozen, live near our camp, and I notice they have piles offish lying about drying, principally chubs and mullet. They catch them with a seine. Their habitation consists of flimsy sheds, made of rushes, which screen them from the sun and wind. They present a better ap-
Aerial view of the Carson Lake and surrounding Lahontan Valley agricultural land. (Norman Saake photo.)
Oasis 103
pearance than the Diggers we have seen, both in respect to clothing and features. Indeed, they act as if they had been in contact with civilization, and had to some degree been improved by it. The decoy ducks they use on the lake to attract the live ducks are perfect in form and fabric, and I have obtained a couple for the Smithsonian Institution.
This valley of Carson Lake presents at sunset a very pretty landscape. It lies very level, and on every side, at a considerable distance, with intervals between, are very pretty blue mountains lying along the horizon, giving variety to the picture. The air this afternoon has been also very soft and balmy, having a tranquilizing effect on the senses and inducing one to drink in with delight what lies before him. (18)
Carson Lake Pasture is now the home of the Greenhead Hunting Club and Fleischmann bird watching towers. Wildlife and cattle have mutually benefited from their co-habitation of this area for generations. In studies it has been proven that the main food supplies for shallow water birds, such as those who inhabit the Lake, are grubs and maggots that live in cattle manure. (19) Local cattlemen pay grazing fees to the Truckee Carson Irrigation District for the feed consumed by the cattle and for the upkeep of the pasture facilities.
BEACH
The Beach District contained some of the first lands to be developed by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). The terrain at the northeast edge of Carson Lake was as level as any in the valley, so government crews were sent there to put in ditches and smooth out humps. Unfortunately, the soil was very saline and the farmers were required to reimburse the BOR for the improvements, so most of the original settlers met financial disaster. As the alkali leaches from the farms and ranches upstream the saline levels continue to rise. Today much of the district is under the flight pattern of NAS Fallon. The only success story in the district involved early settlers Percy and Lydia Schaffer who frugally managed to "hang on" for more than seventy years (1918-1991).
Beach District residents enjoyed their own elementary school from 19231939, when the school consolidated with Con B and all students were bussed into town.
SMART
Smart District centers around the Drumm Lane/Lazy Heart area. Sylvester Bentley "Vet" Smart (1863-1943) lived for 55 years on his 640 acre ranch. The brother of Callie Smart Ferguson (1859-1947) and husband of Annie Marker (1875-193 8), he served his community as County Commissioner. At the time of his death, he was one of the few surviving early day residents who had declined to sign over his vested water rights to the irrigation district when the Newlands Project was constructed. His property was served by the old Carson River right, which gave the owner rights only to water in the river and not to water stored behind Lahontan Dam. The Smart District school on Lazy Heart Lane was consolidated into Union.
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UNION
Union District covers an area east of Schurz Highway, north of Berney Road, south of Wildes Road and west of Testolin Road. It derived its name from a major educational event in 1914 when the Wightman, Smart and Wildes schools were joined in the first consolidation of rural schools. The "new" Union school building was located on the northwest corner of Union Lane and Harrigan Road. It served for many years as a community center after the classes were moved into town. Gradually and mysteriously the lumber from the building was appropriated into the neighborhood.
WILDES
North and east of Union lies Wildes District. Dexter Asa Wildes (18661918) was a homesteader in the area as well as a local building contractor. His brother, Mark (1874-1918), married Grace Wightman Ferguson (1875-1941), and served as Mayor of Fallon. In 1916 he was elected Sheriff-Assessor of Churchill County. During May of 1918 he became the victim of a tragic World War I related murder -- the recipient of a bullet from the gun of draft evader, Paul Walters. Mark died on May 23, 1918, in Lovelock and during the 1990's has been enshrined in state and national law enforcement memorials.
STILLWATER
Stillwater was named by the Indians because of the huge sinks of tranquil water that were the end of the line for the drainage waters from the branches of the Carson River.
The Overland Stage Company included the town in its run in 1862. The first white settler, J. C. Scott, came in the fall of 1862. He was followed the next spring by W. H. Dowd and Moses Job, for whom the Churchill County landmark, Job's Peak, was named. The town was granted a post office in 1865 and soon became Churchill's third county seat.
Charles Kent (1881-1948) dug a well in 1919 in order to obtain water for his cattle and found extremely hot water. During the 1920's the district enjoyed an exploratory "oil boom." Instead of oil, a hot water geyser reaching 30 feet erupted into the sky. (20) By the 1990's these artesian waters would be channeled into a geothermal power plant.
1920's oil boom hopes evaporate into the Stillwater sky. (Churchill County Archives & Photo Collection.)
Oasis 105
The Stillwater Wildlife Management Refuge for wetland habitat was created in 1948. Millions of dollars have been spent in the area by the Federal Fish and Wildlife under the guise of helping the birds. In reality much of the natural wetlands were diked and food supplies diminished. Today federal moneys, a reported ten million dollars, have been appropriated to purchase more water for the region. Nature Conservancy sources admit that about one-fourth of the money has been spent for the actual purchase of water, while the other three-fourths of the money has gone into appraisals of properties and administration.
The Stillwater Indian Reservation adjoins the reserve.
Stillwater's lush fields and abundant crops attest to the untiring efforts of Stillwater's pioneer ranchers, and their descendants, who met the desert's challenge with dedication and determination. (21) Depending upon the outcome of the legal battles over Lahontan Valley's irrigation waters, the area's name may soon change to "Mo'water" or "No-water"!
HARMON
Harmon District encompasses an area east of Fallon along Highway 50 from Crook Road to Graham Lane.
William (1835-1920) and Eliza Jane Peugh (1836-1916) Harmon came west in 1862 with her sisters and their families: the Lem (Sarah) Aliens and Jackson (Elizabeth) Fergusons. After a brief stay here, they immigrated to California. Their son William A. (1866-1950) was born in Santa Rosa. The family moved back to Nevada in 1880 and took up several ranches east of Fallon.
Eliza became the county's foremost mid-wife and served as nurse and doctor to most of the valley.
William A. was married on March 29, 1893 at Stillwater to Inez Adelia Sanford (1873-1949). He was a most public spirited gentleman and served as county commissioner for 26 years and served for 30 years as a board member of
the Truckee Carson Irrigation District. Will and Inez's home, which is located at 2234 Browns Lane, has been tastefully restored.
The Harmon District school flourished from 1906-1957 and presently serves as a community center.
W. A. Harmon' s ranch home has changed little through time. Today it still stands as a Harmon District landmark. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
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OLD RIVER
Old River District lies east of the Lovelock Highway and encompasses lands north of Fallon from Mount Toyeh to the Carson Sinks.
The north branch of the Carson River, known as Old River, wanders for many miles out through sand dunes and sloughs. This proximity to a plentiful water supply opened the area to settlement early on.
In 1861 James W. Richards (1856-1916) journeyed through this valley on his way to California. The memory of the rich soil along the Carson river impelled him to return to Churchill County and on April 3, 1862, he located on Old River. In the early days he was a telegraph operator and postmaster at Stillwater. He used to manipulate the ticker on the old overland telegraph line that ran from Carson down the river past Fort Churchill to a point near Lahontan where it swung off to the south crossing the valley to Sand Springs and Austin. A branch line went to Stillwater.
Richards served as County Recorder from 1869-1875 and then transferred to County Clerk until 1880 when he was elected to serve in the Nevada State Assembly. He was the pioneer merchant of Fallon, closing out his store in 1907 and then serving as County Treasurer for six years.
At one time Richards told that there were 15 ranches on Old River and the water was kept coming down that stream by a large lumber dam in the river above the Theelan ranch. Folklore chronicles that the dam was blown up when fanners in more southern parts of the valley needed water. (22)
By 1864 John (1826-1907) and Delia Thompson (1827-1903) Brown had homesteaded 660 acres next to Richards. Although the lands flooded each year abundant crops were harvested from the fertile land and freighted out to the mining camps.
JIM'S TOWN
Residents of St. Clair frequently needed to travel to Stillwater on legal business. Old River folks plodded south on their way to Lem Allen's store to get supplies and mail. Stillwater residents made their way to Dayton or Wadsworth to purchase necessities. They all met at a dusty crossroads (present-day downtown Fallon) and in 1894 Jim Richards, entrepreneur, established a store on the spot. In fact, Native Americans are credited with naming his little place "Jim's Town". The closing of his store in 1907 prompted an article in the Churchill Standard noting his perseverance ... "the pioneer merchant ... has dispensed calico and bacon in this section since the earliest recollection of the oldest inhabitant." Jim Richards passed away on July 4, 1916, in Berkeley, California.
1896 found Michael (1848-1924) and Eliza Bruner (1853-1933) Fallon trading a fruit ranch in Forestville, California, for an alfalfa ranch in Nevada. On July 24, 1896, a post office was established on their property. The Fallons sold the business and ranch to Warren Williams in 1902 and moved on, leaving only the name as their legacy.
Oasis 107
Jim Richards, on the right, proudly stands before his store which was located on the southeast corner of Williams and Maine. This building served as a store, an office, and finally the print shop for the Fallon Eagle. It was razed in 1936. (Nevada Historical Society.)
NEW RIVER TOWNSHIP
Waters from the Sierras flowed into the county by way of Carson River and Old River. During the devastating flood of 1862 the town of Fallon and the central section of the valley were inundated. In order to drain away the water, Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, caused a new channel to be created through the lowlands of community. This channel was named New River and portions of it can still be seen beside Mountain View and east of Maine Street near the north side of Tolas Road.
New River Township was created by the Churchill County Commissioners on January 1, 1894, to include New River and the Hot Springs precincts. F.V. Harmon was appointed the first Justice of the Peace of the new precinct. Today our Justice of the Peace still represents New River Township.
Our trip has taken us full circle. As the population expands out over our valley, new names are intermingling with the old. They, too, will find their place in history!
NOTES
1. Rand McNally' s Pioneer Atlas of the American West. p. 47. USA. Rand McNally, 1956.
2. Henley, David C. "Who was this man for whom Churchill County was named?" Lahontan Valley News/Fallon Eagle Standard. p 1. March 23, 1988.
3. Henley, David C. "Who is this man Lahontan and where did he come from?" Lahontan Val-
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ley News/Fallon Eagle Standard. p 1. May 3,1990.
4. The Fallon Eagle. August 2, 1941. 3:3.
5. Thompson and West. History of Nevada, 1881. p 365.
6. Churchill County Book of Estates. Filed April 6, 1894.
7. Thompson and West. History of Nevada, 1881. p 361.
8. Churchill County Standard. Saturday, October 22, 1904.
9. Swackhamer, Wm.D., Secretary of State. Political History of Nevada 1986. p. 191. Carson City, Nevada.
10. Carson Morning Appeal. Saturday, May 31, 1879.
11. Currie, Charlene. Personal interview March, 1995.
12. The Fallon Eagle, February, 1918.
13. Fallon Standard, March 19, 1930. p 2:4.
14. Myles, Myrtle T. "The Lone Tree And Other Nevada Ballads." 1972 The Pony Express In Nevada, Bureau of Land Management. NSO PUB. 6 Rev 1981.
15. Sisson Photo. Douglass Island Colony. Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.
16. Fallon Standard. January 5, 1952. 1:2,3,4.
17. Douglass-Frey families' open house invitation. May 1, 1993.
18. Simpson, Captain J.H. "Report of Explorations Across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah in 1859." Vintage Nevada Series. UNR Press. Reno, Nevada 1983. pp 84-86.
19. Glimp, Hudson. University of Nevada Veterinary Medicine Department. Personal Interview 1994.
20. deBraga, Marcia. "Some Laughs, Some Tears: Stillwater History." Nevada State Journal. Monday, July 29, 1963. 10:1 8.
21. Stillwater Historic Marker sponsored by the Reno Chapter Daughters of the American Colonists.
22. Churchill County Eagle. May 22, 1915.
The circle completed -- all roads lead home -- Fallon, Nevada! (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
STUDENT TERM PAPER
Earthquakes in Nevada
Chris Sharp
[Ed. note: The following article on Nevada earthquakes was written by Western Nevada Community College student, Chris Sharp, in response to an assignment to write a research paper for his freshman English class. Chris's article reflects the objectives of the assignment: to develop a statement about his topic and support that statement (Chris chose to support the point of view that earthquakes have been a threat and still pose a threat to residents of the state); to consult at least eight sources (Chris worked primarily with newspapers held in the Churchill County Museum archives); to document the sources of his information, using Modern Language Association (MLA) stylesheet; and to piece together the parts of the paper with clear transitions. For those not familiar with MLA style, the parentheses contain either the last name of the author consulted or a few key words from the title of the article consulted (if no author is cited), plus the page number of the source from which the information is quoted or paraphrased. The material in parentheses is cross referenced to the Works Consulted list which follows the article.]
Since records have been kept, the State of Nevada has shown a high incidence of earthquake activity. In fact, during the last 150 years, Nevada has been rated as one of the top three states for earthquakes, along with Alaska and California. "Between 200 to 500 quakes measuring at least 3.0 on the Richter scale have hit the area in the past six years" ("Will the Big One" 1). Although many of Nevada's past earthquakes were not located in highly populated areas, damage to nearby cities still occurred. The past effects of these earthquakes could provide us with answers to future concerns we may face in Nevada.
Nevada's most active earthquake years were 1852, 1872, 1915, 1932-33 and 1954. The first recorded earthquake in Nevada was the 1852 quake by Pyramid Lake. It was reported by the Paiute Indians who lived near the Pyramid Lake, who said, "Great cracks opened from which water spouted 100 feet in the air" ("Earthquake Epicenter" 1).
Then on October 2, 1915, near Winnemucca, a crack in the earth opened, described later by Margaret Wheat as "rising to a height of eight feet in the earth on one side; the other way rising to some three feet" (Kent 1). As an earthquake it
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110 Chris Sharp
Tourists examine the 30 foot drop after the October 2, 1915 earthquake near Winnemucca, Nevada. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
ranked 7.6 on the Richter scale and hit just south of Winnemucca. But the most active year was 1954.
In 1954, Nevada was hit with a series of three severe earthquakes that were located at Rainbow Mountain, Fairview Peak and Dixie Valley. The nearest community to all three was Fallon, Nevada.
The first of the three earthquakes occurred on July 6, 1954. At 4:15 a.m, Fallon experienced a major earthquake registering 6.6 on the Richter scale. The fault was located along the Stillwater Mountain Range. A series of over 40 earthquakes, centered in the Fallon area, followed; the biggest measured at 5.50 at Berkeley, California (Source 7). Margaret Wheat, who helped gather information with the Coast and Geodetic Survey, reported, "The July earthquake effected [sic] a 20 to 24 mile stretch running from Salt Wells to a point north of the Stillwater
Earthquake damage on the south side of a bridge in Stillwater. Note man standing in the newly opened fissure. (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
Earthquakes 111
Wildlife Management Area and was caused by a major break in the bedrock, at the base of the Stillwater Range, 15 miles beneath the surface" (Stevenson 3). The extent of the damage in the Fallon area was so great that President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared Churchill County a disaster area.
The Stillwater District, located east of Fallon, was the hardest hit, as it was close to the earthquake center. Broken chimneys, dishes, lamps and other items were reported by many. Mrs. Earl Wise tried to turn off a gas tank that had shaken loose and badly burned her face in the process. A "longtime landmark" across from the Stillwater Store, "the old adobe house," was laid flat by the quake. The fields of Hammie Kent's ranch "were raised up and others dropped down" ("Intense Earthquake" 1).
Near Stillwater, the Harmon District experienced gushing water coming from the Gilbert Testolin farm. "The road near there sunk several inches, leaving a wavy surface," and several large cracks in the ground ("Fallon Rebuilds" 5). Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cress suffered the loss of their adobe home and were forced to sleep outside.
Six miles south of Fallon, in the Lone Tree area, Mrs. B. C. Johnson told reporters, "Beginning at a point some 200 yards from Ralph Davis' home, the canal banks, roadways and fields cracked, sunk and upheaved. Water from the canal splashed almost as high as the telephone poles and geysers sprouted from fields" ("Fallon Rebuilds" 5).
Then, on August 23, 1954, at 10:52 p.m., the Fallon area was hit by a second earthquake. This quake ranked 7.0 on the Richter scale and, again,
caused damage in the Fallon area.
Small "mud volcanoes" erupted in the West End School yard and one of the school's buildings had to be completely replaced. Superintendent Herb Chiara observed, "Located on a sandy area over which the channel of the Old River passed many years ago, the building was jarred heavily, its roof dislocated, large cracks opening in its walls and parts of its floor displaced by as much as 3 or 4 inches" ("Monday's Big" 4).
"Mud volcanoes" in the yard of West End School. (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
112 Chris Sharp
The Stillwater area, east of Fallon, was closest to the fault area. There, large cracks on the Stillwater Road opened; one crack "measured about 400 feet long, two feet wide in places, and at least four feet deep. Paralleling this monster break was a series of three or four lesser cracks" ("Monday's Big" 4). Severe damage was reported from many people in the Stillwater area. At the Martin Dodge home, the chimney crashed through their living room and their water heater was knocked down. Household goods and canned food covered the floors. "The quake was far sharper than the first big tremor on July 6," commented Mrs. Dodge. "I don't care what the scientists say, this one was the worst" ("Monday's Big" 4). But, another quake was yet to come.
The December 16th earthquake of 1954, which ranked 7.2 on the Richter scale was felt from Salt Lake City to San Francisco, from Oregon to San Diego. One amazing thing occurred after this large earthquake; there were no heavy aftershocks. Profes-
sor Vincent Gianella stated that "this is
`earthquake history', since most earthquakes, including those felt here in July and August, are trailed by a series of mean little tremors" ("Earthquake Ranked" 4). This earthquake, to date, may have been the largest earthquake that had taken place in Nevada. "Judging from the gigantic faults and displacement areas in hard-hit Dixie Valley, Nevada greatly exceeds the San Francisco jolt of 1906," according to Dr. David Slemmons, seismologist at the University. Gianella added, "The San Andreas rift which set off the San Francisco quake caused a displacement of only three feet as compared with downdrops of more than 20 feet along the 54-mile long fault area at Dixie Valley. Had there been a city as large as San Francisco in the location, death and destruction would have been beyond imagination" ("Earthquake Ranked" 4).
Even though there were not a lot of people living in Dixie Valley, there still
were several affected by this quake. One of those people was Horward Turley. His living room was completely rearranged. The piano kangarooed to the opposite side, the buffet up-ended and their newly repaired fireplace chimney was again needing repairs. Mr. Turley said, "The mess in each room can be left to imagination. We had milk, eggs, flour, sugar, shampoo, various antiseptics, no. 2 oil and creosote nicely mixed with shattered glass, [ci]gar tips, soot from the
Aftershocks appear to have toppled this caution sign guarding a crack in the highway near Stillwater. A smudge pot burns next to the sign to warn drivers of the danger. rChurchill County Museum & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
Earthquakes 113
Damage done to the Martin Dodge home, 10600 Stillwater Road. (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
downed kitchen stove chimney and water" ("Quake Shocks" 1).
But the earthquake was not all bad. Earthquakes are known to relieve the strain, but they also disrupt the water table. "As the crust snaps back into shape, rocks contract, and water that has seeped deep into fractures is forced up toward the surface" (Carpenter 76). A good example of this occurred at Willow Springs, at the west edge of Dixie Valley. "Before the quake there was just a little water hole, but now a small stream flows down the slope" ("Quake Shocks" 1). Some ranchers that formerly had to use gasoline pumps and windmills to get water to their ranches did not have to do that after the quake when water flowed near their farms and even flooded some fields.
This past history of heavy earthquake activity creates legitimate concerns for the future. Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear dump site for the nation near Las Vegas, Nevada, is located near earthquake faults. In 1993 it was discovered that the Ghost Dance Fault cut straight through the proposed dump site. Recently, another earthquake fault called the Sundance Fault has been discovered in the area. U.S. Senator Richard Bryan said, "It's looking more like Swiss Cheese than a mountain. This is no safe monolith, but a geologic structure riddled with problems. With earthquake zones, and now two faults, the Department of Energy should recognize that Mother Nature is sending a loud signal" ("Geologist Find" 1B).
These discoveries have prompted the Department of Energy (DOE) to think about redesigning the facility. Carl Johnson, administrator of technical programs
114 Chris Sharp
for the State of Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office commented that, "Aside from the dangers and uncertainties of faults criss-crossing the proposed Yucca Mountain repository, each newly discovered fault zone -- and more may be found -- increases the area which DOE must exclude from waste emplacement" ("Major Earthquake" 1).
Another concern that comes with the threat of earthquakes is how one will affect solid structure in the bigger cities of Nevada. The Department of Transportation is concerned about the bridges along 1-80. They said, "Some freeway bridges in the Reno area could collapse in the event of an earthquake in the mid to high six magnitude and work is underway to make them safe" ("Quake Retrofitting" 4). The Department of Transportation has already spent two million dollars since 1991 to make bridges earthquake resistant. The interchange of U.S. 395 and Interstate 1-80 and ten other bridges along 1-80 need to
be reinforced to meet current standards.
They plan to start work on this project in 1996.
Nobody knows the exact date when construction will begin to reinforce the
bridges in Nevada, but it is obvious that the need for concern is upon us. As reporter Steven Kent put it, ". . . Nevada has been shaken by a major earthquake at regular intervals of 20 to 25 years. The last really active quakes occurred in 1954. If we can rely on time intervals, western Nevada is just about due to be shaken up" (Kent 1).
WORKS CONSULTED
Carpenter, Betsey, "A Nuclear Graveyard", U.S. New & World Report 18, March 1991: 72-77.
dePolo, Craig Alan Ramelli and Diane dePolo. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, UNR
Seismological Laboratory, Nevada Division of Emergency Management. Earthquakes in Nevada
and How to Survive Them.
Earthquake Epicenter Map of Nevada. Map. Nevada Bureau of Mines, 1961.
"Earthquake Ranked as Largest in U.S." The Fallon Eagle. 25 December, 1954:4.
"Fallon Rebuilds Quake Damage." The Fallon Eagle. 10 July, 1954:5.
Fiero, Bill. Geology of the Great Basin University of Nevada Press, 1986. 189.
"Geologists Find New Fault Near Proposed Dump at Yucca Mountain." Reno Gazette-Journal. 7
January, 1994: 1B.
The newly formed Willow Springs at the west edge of Dixie Valley. (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
Earthquakes 115
"Intense Earthquake Epicenters Near Fallon." The Fallon Eagle. 7 July, 1954: 1.
Kent, Stephen. Earthquakes are Ever-Present danger to Fallon. The Fallon Eagle. 3 June, 1979: 1.
"Major Earthquake Fault Discovered." Nevada Nuclear Waste News. February, 1994: 1&4. "Monday's Big Earthquake as told in Pictures." The Fallon Eagle. 28 August, 1954: 4. "Quake Retrofitting at Bridges Planned." Lahontan Valley News. 12 November, 1994: 4. "Quake Shocks Intense Dixie Valley to Mina." The Fallon Eagle. 22 December, 1954: 1. Stevenson, Pat. "Post Scripts." Lahontan Valley News. 21 February, 1984: 3.
"Will the Big One Hit Any Time Soon?" Lahontan Valley News. 4 October, 1994: 1.
Buildings on Maine Street suffered damage too. Here the fire wall of the Bank Club building fell through the roof of the Chapman-McLean building, west side of Maine, north of Center Street. (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Mary Walker Foster Photo Collection.)
116 Chris Sharp
Cans strewn about the floor in the I. H. Kent grocery store attest to the violence of the 1954 earthquake tremors. (Churchill County Museum & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
Huge boulders block the road from Eastgate to Carroll Summit as a result of the 1954 quake. (Churchill County Museums & Archives, Laura E. Mills Photo Collection.)
SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE
Carson Points Along the Stillwater Slough:
An Archaeological Enigma
Janet Bertaud and Greg Gedney
On a bitterly cold day in November 1992, Greg Gedney found himself on common ground with the shadowy figures of the Lahontan Valley's prehistoric inhabitants.
Gedney was seizing a rare opportunity to pursue a lifelong interest in the mystery of the Carson point -- a type of tiny stone arrowhead or projectile point found only in a few sites in the Fallon area. For the last fifteen years, his pursuit has taken the form of an ongoing archaeological investigation of the Stillwater Slough. But although Gedney graduated from Churchill County High School, he now lives and works in Colorado, so opportunities to get out in the field are few and far between. That's why not even the weather -- 15° F and snowing, with the wind from the north -could keep him indoors that November day.
"I'd located a new site that looked promising," he explains. The site was on the gentle south facing slope of a dune. On the north side, the face of the dune drops abruptly about 15 feet to the playa below, diverting winds from the north up and over the southern slope.
"I sat down to look more closely at the stone fragments on the surface, and suddenly I felt warm for the first time that day. Sitting there sheltered from the north wind, with the sun in my face, I understood what had made them choose this particular spot."
117
Carson points are less than 17mm in length and weigh less than 0.56 gms. On Greg Gedney's hand, their miniature size is vividly illustrated. (Greg Gedney photo.)
118 Janet Bertaud and Greg Gedney
It was an insight that gave Gedney a renewed feeling of kinship with the people who lived on this land hundreds of years ago and who left him a tantalizing puzzle to solve: who made the tiny Carson points, and why?
Intriguing as the Carson points are, Gedney would be the first to acknowledge that they are only one small piece of the larger puzzle of early man in the Lahontan basin -- a puzzle that archaeologists are still trying to solve.
The puzzle is a complex one. There are many pieces still missing, and no one has more than a hazy idea of what the finished picture will look like. What is clear, however, is that the landscape and climate of the Lahontan basin have varied widely over the last few millenia, and that the people who lived here at different times over the last ten thousand years may have led very different lives, shaped by the changing environment as much as by culture and belief. [Ed. note: for an overview of the prehistory of this area, see following article, pages 125-132]
The question of where the Carson points might fit into this kaleidoscopic pattern, and what they might be able to tell us about their makers and the world they inhabited, has fascinated Greg Gedney ever since he first saw a Carson point -- when he was just ten years old.
It was a question he returned to in the 1970's, exploring the Carson desert as a high school student in Fallon. In 1983, he turned that abiding interest into a college archaeology project, and began a sytematic study of Carson points at one specific site on the Stillwater Slough. Since then, he has undertaken a detailed survey and documentation of more than four hundred sites in what he now designates the Southern Stillwater Slough Archaeology Research Area, or SARA. It has been an impressive investment of time and effort. Twice a year for the last fifteen years Gedney has spent at least part of his vacation out in the Carson desert in all weathers, armed with notebook, maps and camera to record his finds; compass, pedometer and aerial photographs to accurately locate them. Sometimes temperatures down to 15° F made it difficult to write; sometimes snow or fog would make it hard to see far enough to take a compass bearing. But nothing discouraged him for long. His field notes, now filling five notebooks in addition to hundreds of files, drawings and photographs, attest to the enthusiasm that still keeps him going.
April 15, 1993 .
What a wonderful little site! I had lost my pedometer, so while backtracking myself I came upon an old road almost overgrown, but still able to be distinguished in the sand dunes. Here I happened upon a few obsidian] primary flakes. Right away I knew that these were larger than most - still only a few inches. While I pondered these I looked up to see two obvious fire hearth[s] ... what is unique about this site is when I found a piece of old glass and 2 shotgun shell
Carson Point 119
bases. The glass shows obvious usage along one edge [i.e. it had been sharpened by flaking, as though it were a stone tool] ... One of the shotgun shell bases is dated 1901 ...
Gedney himself acknowledges that he has learned as much in the course of his study about the techniques of research as about the sites themselves. "As time went on I became more and more aware that I had a responsibility to document what I was doing professionally," he says. "Now I look in the earliest notebooks and it just cracks me up! I didn't have a clue ..."
His work has acquired a significance well beyond the question of the Carson Points alone. No other study in the Great Basin has mapped such a large contiguous area -- 64 square kilometers or nearly 16,000 acres -- in anything like the same detail as Gedney's. Indeed, in today's academic and economic climate, such a study could probably only be undertaken by a dedicated enthusiast like Gedney, who is willing to devote hours of unpaid work to the task. For the archaeological community, as they piece together the prehistory of the region, this extensive database, and Gedney's careful, systematic documentation of his work, is a fantastic resource.
When archaeologists find a prehistoric occupation site, they want to determine
when it was used and where it fits into the overall pattern of settlement. Dating a site can be relatively straightforward, or it can be extremely difficult. If the site is
buried, soil stratigraphy alone can often provide an excellent estimate of age. If it
is in a cave, where the stable temperature and humidity and protection from the weather provide ideal conditions for preservation, organic artifacts are likely to
yield reliable dates from carbon 14 analysis. If it is buried and in a cave, that's
great. The problems arise with sites that are exposed on the surface of the ground out in the open -- and the vast majority of sites in the Carson desert are just such
surface sites. Lacking stratigraphic evidence, and often unable to obtain reliable results from other techniques, researchers must rely on other clues. One of the tools they use is projectile point typology.
Greg Gedney, notebook in hand, describes the scale of his undertaking. His study area covers almost 16,000 acres of the landscape behind him. (Churchill County Museum & Archives Photo Collection.)
120 Janet Bertaud and Greg Gedney
From certain key studies (usually buried cave sites), particular characteristic forms of projectile points have been associated with particular time periods and cultures. By measuring attributes such as weight, length, thickness, shoulder angle and neck width, archaeologists can assign projectile points to a cultural phase with a reasonably high degree of confidence. The presence of characteristic projectile point styles can therefore be used to provide at least an initial estimate of the age of the site. A sequence of cultural phases of occupation has been established for this part of the Great Basin and appears in the table below.
Among the difficulties that archaeologists face in deciphering the pattern of human occupation are the changes that we ourselves have wrought on the landscape. Many former habitation sites have disappeared under plowed fields, and many of those that still lie in the open desert were picked over by souvenir hunters in earlier decades. Arrowhead collecting used to be a fairly common pastime, and sadly, by the time it was widely recognised that such collection destroyed a priceless archaeological record, the damage was done and much information had been irretrievably lost. Once the diagnostic projectile points have been removed, it can be almost impossible to date a surface site. However, Carson points, because of their small size, were often overlooked by arrowhead hunters. It would be very useful if Carson points could be used to help establish occupation dates for a site. Unfortunately, it is not easy to use Carson points in this way.
Carson points are unusual in that their defining characteristic is not shape, but size. In fact, Carson points can be found in styles (notably Rosespring, Cottonwood and Desert Side-Notched) typical of more than one period. This chronological ambiguity is one of the things that has made them intriguing to archaeologists. To Gedney, it suggests that they were made not by a single cultural group, but by both Rosegate and Desert people at different times in response to some recurring environmental condition. In other words, they represent not a cultural time period, but a survival strategy adopted by more than one set of inhabitants
Carson Point 121
of the Carson desert. What strategy could they represent, and what circumstances might have necessitated the adoption of such a strategy? An answer is suggested by the economics of flaked tool manufacture in this area.
Obsidian does not occur naturally in the Carson desert. It had to be carried from quarry sites in the mountains -- the nearest being the Bodie Hills deposits in the south, Majuba Mountain near Lovelock to the north, and the Dayton source. Obsidian from each source has a slightly different chemical signature, so it is possible to learn where a particular piece came from; most of the artifacts found in the Fallon area are made of obsidian from southern sources. Gedney argues that travel is costly in terms of resources. It requires a considerable surplus of high energy foodstuffs that can either be conveniently carried or easily and quickly obtained at the end of a days travel, and reliable sources of water. If the territo-
Gedney documents the Carson points from his study area with drawings, reproduced here actual size.
122 Janet Bertaud and Greg Gedney
ry to be crossed is occupied by other people, social factors will also constrain travel, since some sort of accommodation must be reached with the occupants. Such social constraints are likely to be harder to meet in times of shortage, when the land may barely support its occupants, let alone wayfarers. A journey to obtain fresh supplies of obsidian, Gedney reasons, could therefore probably only be undertaken during "good times" periods when the climate (the governing factor in the varying productivity of the Carson desert) was relatively benign.
Certain morphological characteristics of all the Carson points he has examined indicate that they were made from a single flake of obsidian. Gedney has postulated that those flakes were "lithic debris" -- the waste flakes of stone generated in the manufacture and maintenance of larger projectile points by earlier inhabitants. It may be possible to test this theory using obsidian hydration rind testing. When a fresh surface of obsidian is exposed, chemical changes begin to occur, forming a rind on the surface. Although many factors can affect this process, careful analysis of the rind can yield an estimate of the age of the surface. Carson points made from waste flakes would have surfaces of two different ages. Careful application of obsidian hydration analysis might reveal whether this was the case, although there is some debate about its accuracy.
Gedney believes his theory is supported by the size distribution of the Carson points that have been found. If Carson points were made from scavenged waste flakes, their size would depend on the size of flakes that could be found. Archaeologists believe that most obsidian in the Carson Sink was brought here in the form of finished artifacts, and there are studies that indicate that the farther out into the sink (away from sources of toolstone) a projectile point is found, the smaller it tends to be. The flakes generated by reshaping or sharpening these points would therefore also get smaller. If Carson points were made from such waste flakes, Gedney reasons, they too should diminish in size. In other words, Carson points found further out into the sink should be smaller than those found at nearer sites, and this is indeed the pattern he has observed.
If Carson points were in fact made from scavenged waste flakes, Gedney believes that they were probably made during fairly prolonged periods of "hard times" -- when conditions were difficult enough in the Carson desert to prevent the people living there from procuring fresh supplies of obsidian. As their existing stocks ran out, they would have been forced to make smaller points from flakes that had been discarded in earlier times of relative plenty. Gedney suggests, therefore, that the survival strategy that Carson points represent is scavenging, and the environmental trigger was probably drought. He is excited by recent evidence of severe and prolonged droughts in the Sierra Nevada in late prehistoric times, which he believes support his interpretation.
Other explanations are possible. The hardship represented by Carson points might be not drought, but population pressure. The archaeological record suggests that around Rosegate times population was expanding all across the Great
Carson Point 123
Taken from 500 feet, this aerial photograph shows the intersection of an ancient streambed (center foreground) with the still-active Stillwater Slough. (Greg Gedney photo.)
Basin and almost every habitable site was occupied, so restricted access to tool-stone might have been caused by other people living at the source of supply.
Whatever their reason for adopting such a thrifty practice, if the makers of the Carson points were using scavenged flakes, they would have had to find sites in which they could be assured of a supply of suitable lithic debris to work from. Gedney points out that along the Slough that means Gatecliff sites, since Gate-cliff points were the only ones that generated waste flakes of adequate size. At the time the Carson point makers found it, such a site probably contained various artifacts that archaeologists today would recognize as diagnostic of a Gatecliff occupation site. It seems likely that the Carson point makers would have simply reoccupied these sites.
Eventually, the Carson point makers moved on too, driven by hardship or wanderlust or new waves of settlement and occupation. If, in the early part of this century, arrowhead hunters found the site, they might have collected all the large, obvious artifacts, removing, for example, every characteristic Gatecliff point they could find. But many of the tiny Carson points would have been overlooked. Gedney's contention is that where there are now Carson points, there may once have been Gatecliff points, because those who made the Carson points needed Gatecliff debris to work with. In other words, Gedney suggests, an archaeologist, locating a site where the only artifacts to be found are Carson points, can at least tentatively identify it as one where there may have formerly been Gatecliff occupation, even in the absence of any characteristic Gatecliff artifacts. Indeed, when
124 Janet Bertaud and Greg Gedney
Gedney compared the known locations of Carson points with the existing record of Gatecliff sites, he found that the two co-occurred in almost every instance.
To many in the archaeological community, this is an interesting idea, but one that has not yet been tested sufficiently to be of practical use. For them, the enduring value of Gedney's work lies in the astonishing quantity and detail of the information he has gathered, and the care and thoroughness with which he has recorded it.
During the fifteen years he has dedicated to it, Gedney has explored many avenues of enquiry in addition to the path he originally set out to follow. Currently, he is interested in the relationship of geographic features and hydrology to sites he has found. The vast majority -- 95% or about 450 sites -- are located in a band between 300 and 1,000 meters away from the Stillwater Slough. This makes intuitive sense. Water is of vital importance in a desert environment, while being too close to it has the disadvantage of putting oneself right in the mosquito zone. But some of the most intriguing sites in Gedney's study area are located 2 to 3 meters above the current streambed and 2 kilometers away from any present watercourse. In these sites, he has found rule knives and large fishnet weights -- indicating that when the site was occupied, it was adjacent to at least a moderately-sized body of water. Recently, Gedney, who holds a private pilot's license, has been using aerial photography to identify hanging streambeds that intersect the Slough and that may have drained prehistoric ponds associated with these anomalous sites. He is eager to explore the idea that detailed analysis of the geomorphology in conjunction with the archaeology of the area may lead to new insights in both fields.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Greg Gedney wishes to thank the many professional archaeologists who have generously given him guidance, encouragement and help with his study, especially Dr. James West, Ms. Prill Mecham, Dr. David Hurst Thomas, Dr. Robert Kelly, Mr. Don Tuohy, Dr. Robert Elston and the late Dr. Christopher Raven. He would also like to thank his wife, Kate Elder, and children, Ryan and Jennifer, for their patience and Mr. Lake Manley and Ms. Sharron Moore for ther support and input.
Greg would like to dedicate this article to his grandmother, Mrs Vinita Gedney of Fallon.
Change is the Only Constant:
10,000 Years of Life in the Lahontan Basin
Janet Bertaud
Water has always been crucial to the people who have lived in the Lahontan Valley. The lifeways and culture of the very first inhabitants, 8,000 years ago or more, were tied to water with bonds no less compelling than those that constrain us today. This in spite of the fact that the water regime experienced by those earliest inhabitants was radically different from that which we confront at present.
Twelve thousand years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene, the land that was to become the Carson Desert and the Humboldt Sink was just emerging from beneath the waters of the vast, prehistoric Lake Lahontan. For most of the preceding 12,000 years, this huge lake had covered the entire area, including Pyramid Lake, Winnemucca Lake, and the Black Rock Desert. When the water level was at its highest, about 14,000 years ago, Lake Lahontan was approximately 900 feet deep at its deepest point (present day Pyramid Lake) and covered some 8,665 square miles -- everything below the 4,363 foot contour.
Because the lives of people here have always been inextricably linked to the land and the resources it provides, scholars attempting to piece together a picture of the prehistory of this area are profoundly aware that such a picture must include the landscape and climate and all those things that depend on them -- vegetation and animal life and water -- always, especially, water. Many people have studied some particular aspect of the past and filled in one part of the picture. Unfortunately, each group has different terminology, and often there are several names that all refer to the same period of time, or the same kind of archaeological site. Clues about prehistoric lifeways and environments have been gleaned from sources as unexpected and diverse as lichens and linguistics, tree rings and volcanic eruptions. New techniques are constantly being explored and developed. Some prove to be useful; others must be abandoned when they turn out to be too unreliable to be of any use.
From what is known at present, it appears that the earliest known occupation sites in the local area are between 6,000 and 8,000 years old, and in other parts of the Lahontan Basin sites have been found that date back to 11,500 years ago. These oldest sites are known as "Pre-Archaic." The Pre-Archaic is divided into two phases, distinguished by different kinds of projectile points: fluted points and stemmed points. Sites with fluted points seem to be restricted to locations
125
126 Janet Bertaud
that were valley bottoms or lakeshores at the time that they were occupied, and they contain a limited range of artifact types, all apparently associated with hunting. Sites with stemmed points occur in more diverse locations and contain a wider range of artifacts, the most distinctive of which are mysterious flaked stone "crescents" whose purpose is still speculative. Most Great Basin archaeologists believe that the fluted points are earlier, dating back to 11,500 years ago, but some maintain that both types were in use at once and that they simply reflect a difference in hafting technology. This uncertainty is largely due to the fact that nearly all the fluted point sites and most of the stemmed point sites found so far are surface sites, which are very difficult to date accurately.
Pre-Archaic sites are distinctly different from more recent ones. Both types are much more like those of the prehistoric big game hunting cultures of the Great Plains to the east than like the later Archaic cultures in this part of the Great Basin. Pre-Archaic projectile points, knives and other tools are generally fairly large and heavy, suggesting they would be suitable for hunting and butchering large animals. Seed processing implements, which are common in later sites, are rare or missing altogether from the earliest sites in the Western Great Basin. These sites do not include extensive midden deposits, suggesting they were not lived in for very long periods, and no evidence of storage or living structures has been found. All this suggests that the Pre-Archaic inhabitants lived in a rather different environment, and followed a rather different lifeway, from those who came after them.
During this early period, cultures on the Great Plains were centered on the hunting of big game animals such as mammoth and horse (the species, now extinct, that was native to the American continent, not the modern horse that was brought from Europe). These large animals tend to be referred to collectively in the scientific literature as "extinct megafauna"! Fossil remains show that many of the same species also lived in this area: mammoth and sabertooth remains have been found in the Black Rock Desert, extinct horse and camel at Hidden Cave, and American lion at Astor Pass in the Pyramid Lake Basin, among others. However, no site has been found in this area where human and megafauna remains are convincingly linked, for example by animal bones found in conjunction with projectile points that could have killed them, or such bones bearing the distinctive marks that show they have been butchered with stone tools, or hearth-sites in which large animals had been cooked.
Lacking this sort of evidence, researchers can draw only tentative conclusions as to what the economic base of the earliest inhabitants was. But those conclusions can be tested, in part, against the current understanding of how the landscape that is now the Carson Desert has changed over time -- and it has changed dramatically.
Climate studies indicate that during the Pleistocene, the temperature was between 9° and 13° F cooler than present day averages. This was the end of the last
The Lahontan Basin 127
Ice Age, and much of northern North America was still covered by vast glaciers that reached their greatest extent (known as the Wisconsin maximum) about 18,000 years ago. Computer models suggest that this enormous mass of ice split the winter jet stream and pushed one branch of it to the south, bringing more rain and more cloud cover to this area. Under this pluvial (rainy) pattern of weather, Lake Lahontan grew to its maximum extent.
To learn what sort of vegetation grew around Pleistocene Lake Lahontan, scientists have analyzed pollen that was trapped in the sediments of Hidden Cave. The results suggest that on the slopes surrounding the site was a sagebrush-dominated steppe, and that subalpine conifers, possibly limber pine, extended to much lower altitudes than they do today. (Pifion pine was absent from the Great Basin until about 6,600 years ago, when it moved up from the south, and it did not reach its Western extent in the Virginia Range until approximately 600 years ago).
It was into this landscape that the first inhabitants of the area would have moved. At one time, the similarity between the Pre-Archaic sites in the Great Basin and those of the megafauna hunters of the Great Plains led many archaeologists to argue that the makers of at least the fluted points in this region were big game hunters too. But all the fluted points in the Great Basin have been found in locations that we know, from our understanding of the Pleistocene ecosystem, to have been highly productive lakeshore environments. In addition, the known sites in the Carson Desert region post-date the extinction of the mammoths and many other big game animals. These factors suggest that big game hunting was secondary to utilization of shallow water resources. For many years another dominant theory among researchers was that the Pre-Archaic culture was almost entirely directed towards the exploitation of a lake environment, and the term "Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition" was used to describe it. However, discoveries of stemmed point sites in a wide range of locations and altitudes, including some a long way from any valley that could have contained a lake or marsh, suggest that this, also, may be too limited a description, or perhaps that it should be applied only to fluted point sites. However, there seems no doubt that lakes and marshes were a key to the culture of both groups, since when these waters disappeared from the Great Basin, about 7,500 years ago, so did all trace of the Pre-Archaic people.
The end of the Pleistocene epoch was marked by a climatic change that resulted in the precipitous (on a geological timescale!) fall of the Great Basin lakes from their highest levels. The glacial ice was in retreat, temperatures rose, the skies cleared and rainfall generally decreased.
By the early Holocene epoch, about 10,400 years ago, Lake Lahontan had separated into several smaller bodies of water, although these were still much more extensive than those we see today. Large areas of the lower slopes and basin floors were exposed to colonization by plants, animals and, ultimately, people.
128 Janet Bertaud
By 10,000 years ago, all the Pleistocene megafauna were extinct. The conifer forests and many associated plants and mammals retreated upslope into the cool subalpine environment where they are found today. The sagebrush steppe began to give way to shadscale and greasewood, more like the modern vegetation of the Lahontan basin.
These changes, of course, were neither sudden nor steady. Throughout the Holocene, which continues right up to the present (we are living in the late Holocene epoch today), the climate of the region has gone through several cycles of variation. The Early Holocene saw a gradual warming and drying of the climate and the slow dessication of the smaller lakes left behind by the receding Lake Lahontan. The climate was still relatively mesic (moist), and the precipitation regime was winter dominant. About 6,800 years ago, Mount Mazama, a volcano in southern Oregon, erupted, creating the caldera in which Crater Lake now sits and depositing ash across much of the Great Basin. This ash layer is a valuable benchmark date. At the time it fell in the Carson Sink, the lake level was near 3,940 feet. Between about 7,000 and 4,000 years ago, during the early and middle Mid-Holocene, the trend was towards a warmer and dryer climate with less surface water, with more summer precipitation and less in winter. This pattern of summer rainfall tends to bring thunderstorms and flash floods, while the lack of winter moisture means little snowpack to provide any steady supply of moisture. These more erratic growing conditions probably led to a decline in the amount of vegetation that was reliably available to feed herbivores. This no doubt partly explains the fossil evidence indicating that a number of smaller mammals declined in population or moved upslope to cooler, moister elevations during this time.
There are very few occupation sites in the Lahontan Basin that can be reliably dated to this period. The last known site that can clearly be identified as Pre-Archaic was in use about 7,300 years ago, and signs of the Archaic culture in the Lahontan Basin do not begin to increase until about 5,200 years ago.
It was during this period, however, from about 7,000 years ago, that the pinion pine, which was to play such an important role in regional cultures from the late prehistoric up to the present, began to move north through the Great Basin. Botanists suspect that four climatic factors control the present day distribution of single-leaf pinion: cool summers, cold winters, inadequate summer moisture, and absence of thermal inversions in winter. Thermal inversions develop when the coldest air (which is denser and heavier than warmer air) flows downslope and sinks to the valley bottoms. The effect is that halfway up the slope there is a zone that is as much as 15° F warmer than that below (or above). It is in this band that the pinion pine grows. This made the pinion-juniper woodland, once it was established, a doubly attractive place for a winter camp to the more recent inhabitants of the area, since it provides both relative warmth and a food source that can easily be stored and used throughout the winter. Pinion-juniper woodland had proba-
The Lahontan Basin 129
bly reached its northernmost extent along the Truckee and Humboldt Rivers by 4,000 years ago, but did not appear in the Virginia Range until about 600 years ago.
When the warming and drying cycle reached its extreme, between about 5,100 and 4,200 years ago, soil studies show that the wind was able to erode massive amounts of sediment from the playa bottom in the Carson Sink, indicating that the lake was probably completely desiccated.
Oddly, it was apparently at the end of this hottest and driest period, when it seems that the Carson Sink would have been at its most inhospitable, that occupation here began to increase again, or at any rate to become more visible in the archaeological record. It is possible that the sites which have been found represent short term occupation or visitation during relatively brief periods of wetter conditions that were exceptions to the overall xeric (dry) trend of the climate, since floods can occur even in dry phases, just as droughts can occur in wet ones. This phase of occupation is known as the Early Archaic. In the Western Great Basin it appears in a few scattered sites betwen 7,000 and 6,000 years ago (early Mid-Holocene) but is most prominent between about 4,500 and 3,700 years ago (late Mid-Holocene). The characteristic projectile points found in Early Archaic sites are the Gatecliff series. These points were used to tip darts thrown with the atlatl, a type of spearthrower. Archaeological sites that date from this period reflect the change in food supply. Projectile points tend to be slightly smaller than those of the Pre-Archaic, suggesting that smaller game was being hunted. Manos and metates, the principal tools for preparing plant foods, especially grinding seeds, become much more common.
Studies of contemporary hunter gatherer societies have shown that the decisions the people make about what plants to collect and what animals to hunt can be explained by measuring the energy expended in obtaining the food against the energy gained from eating it. In general, seeds are very costly in energy terms because it takes so much effort to process them with stone grinding tools. Consequently the net energy gained, or "energy return," from consuming seeds tends to be relatively low. Seeds, therefore, tend to be dropped from the hunter gatherer diet when other foods are available, and added to it when there is a shortage of more desirable foodstuffs. It seems likely that these preferences, which are exercised in the face of short term variation in availability of foodstuffs, also would apply to longer term fluctuations brought about by climatic variation. If so, the presence of large numbers of seed processing tools in Mid-Holocene archaeological sites would indicate relatively hard times in the Carson Sink during this period -- a picture that fits with the climate and fossil evidence.
Some plant foods, such as roots and fruits, on the other hand, have an energy return ten times as great as that of seeds, often comparing favorably with animal foods. A number of Great Basin food resources have been tested for their nutritional value. The results showed that cattail pollen ranked highest for energy re-
130 Janet Bertaud
turn amongst the plant foods tested, and higher than a number of small game species, including ducks and ground squirrels. Pine nuts contain about 10% protein, 25% fat and 55% carbohydrate; the protein contains all 20 amino acids.
Between about 4,250 and 3,200 years ago, during the late Mid-Holocene, temperatures dropped again, and both summer and winter precipitation increased. This climate has been described as neoglacial or neopluvial. Towards the end of this period, winter precipitation was dominant, and glaciers formed in the Sierras. Marshes and shallow lakes formed again over quite large areas of the Carson and Humboldt Sinks at various times. There is a fairly extensive archaeological record of occupation of marshside sites at this time. Such open sites were the location of residential base camps; caves and rockshelters were used for burials and as caches for equipment and supplies. The Middle Archaic cultural phase is the period between about 4,000 years ago and 1,000 years ago and spans the end of the Mid-Holocene and the early and middle Late Holocene. In the Carson Sink the culture of the time is called the Lovelock Culture, subdivided into Early, Transitional and Late. Sites belonging to the Early Lovelock period are characterized by the presence of a style of projectile points known as Gatecliff. This is the period during which Hidden Cave was most intensively used. Late Lovelock sites have a different style of points, called Elko points. The transition occurred about 3,250 years ago, and coincides with the beginning of the Late Holocene geological epoch. During the Late Lovelock period, about 2,000 years ago, it seems that temperatures may have begun to rise again, and summer precipitation become more dominant.
Recently, scientists have studied tree rings from ancient stumps submerged beneath the waters of several lakes in the Sierra Nevada. These preserved trunks have extended the detailed year-by-year record of climate that tree rings can provide back for more than eleven hundred years. The pattern they reveal is one of wild oscillation between wet and dry. When the record starts, 1,125 years ago, the region was in the grip of drought. How long it had been going on before that date is unknown, but the drought lasted for another 220 years. Following that, there was a 40 year period that was extremely wet by historic standards, then another drought, this one lasting about 160 years and ending 715 years ago. That drought was broken by a century of wetter conditions that were nevertheless still dryer than the modern average. Around 600 years ago there was another dry spell that lasted at least a decade. For the last 600 years, the climate in the area has been in a relatively cool and moist phase again, but punctuated by moderate to severe droughts about every 53 years.
The beginning of the most recent prehistoric cultural period, the Late Archaic, was marked by the arrival of bow and arrow technology in the Great Basin. Ros-espring and Eastgate points appear in the archaeological record of the area about 1,500 years ago and are generally held to represent the transition from atlatl to bow. About 650 years ago, another projectile point style, the Desert series, ap-
The Lahontan Basin 131
pears, and it was still in use at the time of historic contact. Brownware pottery appears in other parts of the Great Basin at about the same time, but the local people appear to have specialized in basketry, which they developed to a highly sophisticated level and used for everything from water vessels to cooking utensils.
Some scholars have suggested that another major change took place during the Late Archaic. They postulate that the Numic group of languages, which includes Paiute and Shoshone, spread across the Great Basin within the last thousand years, from a common origin in southern California. This theory is based on a linguistic technique called glotto- chronology, which attempts to estimate the amount of time that has elapsed since two related languages (such as French and Italian) diverged from a common parent (in this case, Latin). The technique was developed using written languages -- the only way it could be, since it requires the comparison of vocabulary across hundreds of years. Writing, however, tends to stabilize language, and there is no reason to believe that spoken languages would change at the same rate as written ones. Nor is there any way to find out. Worse, there is reason to doubt that glottochronology works reliably even for written languages, and many linguists have discarded it as a means of estimating age. For this and other reasons, several researchers have suggested alternative dates for a "Numic expansion," or suggested that the languages evolved right here. It will be difficult to resolve this question, since the archaeological record leaves few if any clues as to language.
New techniques are being developed and tested that may enable the identification of genetically separate populations from skeletal remains. If these techniques prove workable, it may be possible to find out whether there was a population replacement in this area, and if so, when it occurred, which could throw some light on the question of the Numic spread.
Wherever the Numic languages originated, the fortunes of the people who spoke them in this valley were as dependent on water as those of their predecessors. The wetlands furnished them with textiles, building materials and foodstuffs for most of the seasonal round. Their lifeway had a sturdy resilience that enabled it to withstand the droughts that assailed it in almost every lifetime, but those droughts must have taken their toll in hardship and sorrow, just as they do today.
132 Janet Bertaud
REFERENCE MATERIAL
Elston, Robert G. "Prehistory of the Western Area." In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume II : Great Basin, ed. Warren L. d'Azevedo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1986.
Elston, Robert G., Christopher Raven and Alice Baldrica. Prehistoric Wetlands Adaptations in the Carson Desert and the Humboldt Sink: An Element of the Nevada State Historic Preservation Plan. Carson City, State Historic Preservation Office, 1992.
Fowler, Catherine S. In the Shadow of Fox Peak: An Ethnography of the Cattail-Eater Northern Paiute People of Stillwater Marsh. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1, Cultural Resource Series 5, 1992.
Grayson, Donald K. The Desert's Past: A Natural Prehistory of the Great Basin. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.
Mehringer, Peter J. "Prehistoric Environments." In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 1 1 : Great Basin, ed. Warren L. d'Azevedo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1986.
Raven, Christopher and Robert G. Elston. Prehistoric Human Geography in the Carson Desert, Part 1: A Predictive Model of Land-Use in the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area. Portland, Oregon: U..S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1, Cultural Resource Series 3, 1989.
Thanks to Dr. Robert Elston of Intermountain Research in Silver City and Ms. Prill Mecham of the Bureau of Land Management in Carson City for their time and expertise.
CONTRIBUTORS
Janet Bertaud is the Photography Curator at the Churchill County Museum. A New Zealander, she holds a B.S. in biology and has worked as a researcher and scriptwriter for television documentaries, mostly on science and natural history subjects.
Alfred H. Cooke, former Fallon resident, is enjoying his retirement years in Yountville, California.
Bunny Corkill is a lifetime resident of Fallon and is the Research Assistant at the Churchill County Museum.
Carl F. Dodge is a semi-retired businessman and rancher who spends his summers in Fallon and winters in southern California.
Eloise Chappell Enos is a Fallon native and a graduate of Western Nevada Community College and the University of Nevada, Reno. She is presently employed with the Churchill County School District.
Catherine Fowler is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has worked for many years with the Native Americans of Nevada and was an associate of the late Margaret "Peg" Wheat. Her latest publication is In The Shadow of Fox Peak.
Gregory M. Gedney, a native Nevadan, became interested in archaeology at the age of 9, while living with his grandparents in Fallon. A move to Alaska, where fossils of Pleistocene megafauna were uncovered by mines near his home, furthered his interest in prehistory. He received an Associates Degree from the Phoenix Institute of Technology in Arizona and currently lives in Denver, Colorado, where he is employed as a Project Engineer at Mcfall-Konkel & Kimball, Consulting Engineers.
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W. Earl Givens holds a degree in Transportation from Northwestern University and a MBA in Management from American University. He has been an amateur historian of Trans Mississippi Transportation. He has published several books and monographs in the transportation field as Manager of Transportation Research Department of Ford Motor Company. As a boy he traveled with his family across the Lincoln Highway from Oakland, California, to Ft. Wayne, Indiana in 1926. Presently retired, he is the Nevada Director of the re-established Lincoln Highway Association and can be contacted at 3800 S. Decatur St., #108, Las Vegas, NV 89103.
Marian Hennen LaVoy is a native of Elko, Nevada. A Fallon resident, she donates her time to the Churchill County Oral History Project, recording important memories of early residents.
Michon Maupin Mackedon is an English Instructor at Western Nevada Community College. She holds a B.A. in history and a master's degree in English, both from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Jane Pieplow has been the Director/Curator of the Churchill County Museum since November of 1992. She holds a B.F.A. in Visual Arts and a master's degree in Public History, both from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition to writing for In Focus, Jane designs the layout for each issue using the museum's desktop publishing software.
Kara Lucas Pratt, a former Fallon resident, spends her summers in Blairsden, California and winters in Stockton, California, teaching, playing golf, hiking and enjoying her family.
William D. Rowley teaches Nevada and American environmental History at the University of Nevada, Reno. His biography of Francis G. Newlands, Newlands: Reclamationist and Reformer, will be out later this year, published by the Indiana University Press.
Chris Sharp, Hawthorne, Nevada native, is currently living in Carson City where he is finishing his degree at WNCC. He is an outdoor enthusiast.
CHURCHILL COUNTY
MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
1050 South Maine Street
Fallon, NV 89406
(702) 423-3677
MUSEUM STAFF
Jane Pieplow, Director/Curator
Janet Bertaud, Curator of Photographs
Bunny Corkill, Research Assistant
Karen McNary, Curator of Education
Cathy Stem, Registrar
Paulie Alles, Hostess
Cindy Loper, Hostess
Clydene Mickelson, Hostess
Georgine Scheuermann, Hostess
Bob Walker, Host
IN FOCUS STAFF
Michon Mackedon, Editor
Jane Pieplow, Editor
Janet Bertaud, Assistant Editor
Bunny Corkill, Assistant Editor
PRODUCTION CREDITS 1994-1995 ISSUE
Production Photography: Janet Bertaud
Typesetting: Amiga 2500/40 with a NEC LC 890 Postscript
Laser Printer and Professional Page v42.0a software
Production: Braun-Brumfield, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
FOUNDED IN 1967, the Churchill County Museum Association seeks to advance the study and preservation of local history. The Association does this through special programs, exhibits in the Churchill County Museum & Archives, which opened in 1968, and this publication, Churchill County IN FOCUS. The Association is also active in the collection and preservation of historic photographs and collects manuscripts, maps, artifacts and books, making its collections available for research. The Museum is the repository for both the City of Fallon and Churchill County government records.

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