Gold Point Ghost Town, Gold Point Nevada


Gold Point Gleamings Newsletter
GOLD POINT GLEAMINGS #24 NOVEMBER 10, 2008

GOLD POINT NEVADA

 

Well howdy everyone!!!!!

Time for another loose riveting newsletter to bring you up to date on the goings on in Gold Point, Nevada.

Let's start with letting you all know that we are proceeding with the almost annual day after Thanksgiving dinner this year on Friday the 28th in the afternoon. The cost will be $12.50 per person for all you can eat turkey, ham, smashed tatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce, sweet taters and assorted desserts, etc. At this time we might have 1 cabin left and about 7 spots left in the rv park. You don't have to stay the night if you're close enough for a day trip. If you're interested please let us know how many you're bringing so we have plenty of food on hand.

Christmas is just around the corner so it's time to start thinking of Christmas cards. We are again happy to exchange old Christmas cards with anyone who sends us one first. For those who are new to this let me explain.

The Senator's wife Ora Mae Wiley saved everything ever sent her for almost 50 years. Most were, of course, greeting cards. They are in their original envelopes with the old stamps still on them. We still have some from the 40's but this year we are going to get out the decade of the 1950's. They are from all over the country. If you send us a greeting card we send you our greeting inside one of these old cards. There is no guarantee we can find what you're looking for but you can request a year, city or state and we'll do our best.

Don't worry about it now. We'll send out a special reminder the first part of December with our address.

I've finally passed a milestone and goal that I started 33 years ago in 1975. My photo album is finally past the 100 pound mark. Yes, you heard correctly, 100 lbs. with 6700 photos of my travels of ghost towns & mining camps and photos of our accomplishments in Gold Point over the past almost 30 years. A lot of these photos show buildings and structures that are no longer around due to mother nature and humans. It's anyone's guess as to what it will weigh before I pass along in 29 years. Do you think I could get into the Guinness record book???

Now to bring you up to date on the projects we're working on.

We've had to work on the roof on Stone's. The old rolled gravel roofing on the South side was starting to wear very thin and the old 1 x 4's were getting pretty weak. Rather than tear everything off we just sheeted it with plywood to give us a firm base. We then just put new tar paper on that and new brown graveled rolled roofing over that. Now we don't have to worry about it leaking inside. Eventually I will put cedar shingles over the entire roof giving it the look of 100 years ago.

Prior to this years Memorial Day party Stranger from California had started working on one of our larger cabins. It's on Orleans street behind where I live. He had time to put in two windows and a new front door. He brought up some old redwood 2 x 6's from a deck he tore out and used them to put up new studded walls inside on the North and South sides. He built them in sections with tar paper on plywood then the studs and then stood them up and put them in place. The building is now very stable. He also redid the North side of the roof.

He plans on coming back again before Memorial day to try and finish the 12 x 24 foot front room. He was telling me one day of his plans to fix it up like a show piece of his work. Kind of like Shangri-La I thought. So the name stuck.

It will have a full kitchen with breakfast bar, stove, refrigerator, sink, running water and a full bathroom including a Jacuzzi bathtub.

Dan from Fish Lake has been helping us work more on the Bunny Hutch. As you recall from the previous issue it was almost a pile of firewood because of the wind.

It took three weekends to carefully raise the walls up off the ground and put them back in place back on the floor which was about 20 inches higher because of the cinder block foundation we had put under it.

With several 10 foot 2 x 4's as legs inside and several 16 footers in various locations around the outside we started to raise it up inch by inch. Every couple of inches or so we had to lower the legs inside back on the floor in case it wanted to fall it wouldn't fall very far. As we kept raising it we kept adding more blocking under the fragile board and bat walls.

Eventually after a couple of inches, for more stability, we had to drive Old Blue around to the East side and put a 2 x 6 board on its front bumper angled up to the top of the outside wall.

The wind that blew the walls off the floor came from the South. So after another couple of inches we drove the Devil truck around to the North side to push it back to the South a few inches. We then left that truck there to stabilize the building from that side and prevent it from moving in that direction as it got higher off the ground.

The first weekend went well raising it up about 6 inches before we had to quit.

The following weekend was going pretty well until Sunday afternoon. By then we had raised it up a total of about 10 or so inches. Dan was on the East side and I was on the West side slowly jacking the building up to put a large beam under it. I got my side finished first so I went around to help Dan. He was ready with another block of wood to put under the beam as I jacked it up when the building started moving on its own toward the West. We thought, oh @#$&!!!!!!!!!! The top of the building moved about a foot or so before all the legs we put inside stopped it. Had it not been for those legs it would have been firewood. After that we put another truck on the West side to stabilize it and then went to the Saloon to have some whiskey to celebrate it not falling. End of weekend two.

The third weekend went really well. With 3 trucks and a whole bunch of legs and bracing outside we finally raised it up the rest of the way and put it back on the floor and screwed the bottom of all the walls to the foundation. Then it was back to the Saloon to really celebrate with more whiskey.

During the next two weekends we took plywood, with tar paper facing out, and attached them to all the board and bat walls with screws from the outside. This really made the building keep from creaking sideways as we started to remove the trucks and bracing little by little. After all the plywood was installed on all 4 sides we then put in 2 x 4 studs all the way. The Bunny Hutch is now solid as a rock. All the trucks and braces and legs are now gone and it stands alone defying the wind to huff and puff.

Our next step is to put a roof on it. We want to leave it open inside but still need to insulate. To accomplish this we are going to put tar paper on top of the old 1 x 4's then sheet over them. We then plan to build with 2 x 8's a new roof and put insulation in it and then sheet over that. Over that we'll put tar paper and rolled gravel roofing and eventually cedar shingles.

After the rolled roofing we are going to put it on hold for a while and start working on Sally's Bordello across from the Saloon so Dan will have a nicer place to stay. Plus we want to try and finish up some of the other projects we have already started. We had to jump on the Bunny Hutch now to prevent it from falling.

The last project to talk about is, at this time, called the Shabin next door. That is derived from combining two other words--shack and cabin. Cute huh??

Our friend Dennis from Las Vegas is doing a lot of the work along with another of our friends Kenny of Vegas.

Earlier this year we put a roof on it. Now it was time to start on the inside. We started tearing out all the ruined walls in the kitchen. Without the roof the rain water did quite a number on everything in there. There was no way to save it. Besides after we started tearing out the ruined walls we found that there was no insulation in any of the walls. It also makes it easier to put in the electrical wiring.

The cabin is actually two cabins placed next to each other. We found a piece of cardboard with the words "built by W. C. Clark May 1941" Everyone who participates in this restoration will sign and date the cardboard and it will be put back into the wall again to be found 100 years from now.

We also found many old cardboard boxes with printing on them. We will keep all the good ones and have them on display. One of them was a case of 25 loaves of wonder bread. It was shipped by rail via post office from Sacramento, California. It still has all the postage on it. It cost 75 cents for shipping.

The front or living room part of the cabin had quite a secret hidden beneath the walls and boards. It is actually an old tent cabin. The kind you've seen in old pictures with the bottom 3 feet made of wood and the top canvas. Yep, the old canvas is still there and will remain there. This leads me to believe that Mr. Clark probably took two old cabins from the original boom and put them together and finished them inside in 1941.

We've had to add more 2 x 4s for strength and for the wiring and sheetrock to be connected to. The living room had a raised ceiling. The kitchen had a very low ceiling but we are raising it up to the same as the living room.

Walt has pretty much finished installing all the boxes and wiring. Dennis has pretty much got all the new studs in. It will soon be time for insulation and drywall.

We will also build a pump house so as to have running water in it.

Now it's time for some more "Tales from the not so Old West"

The following is from the Rhyolite Bullfrog Miner May 16, 1908.

"Sister Nevada Camps.
Hornsilver....Hornsilver is now less that a month old, but already it has a population closely hugging the thousand mark. There are several grocery stores, a hardware store and a drug store doing a land office business. Seven saloon are assuaging the desert thirst. Every block in the center of the city has its restaurant and lodging house, while several feed yards are transacting business at the lower end of Main street.

Already-and this seems incredible-a telephone system has been in operation for nearly two weeks and a railroad spur of the T & G has been surveyed and preparations for grading are under way, while the Clark road people are planning to also build to this camp. Negotiations are under way for the bringing in of electric light and power. A franchise for a water system is also being considered by the board of county commissioner.

Hornsilver is not a boom camp. It is upon a permanent basis. Instead of booming a townsite to stimulate prospecting in the neighborhood, Hornsilver got its producing mines first and then considered the townsite proposition."

The following if from the Hornsilver Herald Vol. 1 no. 2 May 16.

"Eastern capital becoming interested in Hornsilver. Promising lease on Great Western is taken over by Easterners--Sale of mining property made. On Wednesday Hardwick and Richardson were in Goldfield to close a sale of their lease on Great Western ground. These lucky leasers have been at work a day or two when the developments they had made were inspected by some parties from Massachusetts who made some test of the ore encountered, which induced them to make a very liberal offer for the full interest of the lease. After some consideration Hardwick and Richardson accepted the offer. ..."

"Big operators interested. Tuesday last Louis Kountz and G.H. Keelyn of Goldfield were in Hornsilver...J. H. MacMillan and George Holleran of Goldfield, accompanied by Mr. Taylor, the expert, came here Wednesday...
"Regular Auto Line. The Kernek Rental Co. has put on a line of automobiles to ply between Goldfield and Hornsilver. Their headquarters will be at Hornsilver. This company as reduced the rate to Goldfield to $7.50 and between this place and Cuprite the fare is $5.00, and being essentially a Hornsilver enterprise, are sure of a good patronage. Their office is with Beckman & brick, Main street."

"Auto Fare Reduced. 'Shorty,' the auto man, has reduced the fare between Hornsilver and Goldfield to five dollars to all. This has caused much remonstrance among other auto men, but the cut stands for the present. Whether it is the wisest move for the camp remains to be seen. By auto, Hornsilver is generally speaking, only two hours from Goldfield."

"Many Arrivals. Besides two stage lines from Cuprite and one from Goldfield coming daily filled with passengers, the automobiles have been doing a rushing business. Despite the severe weather three auto loads came from Goldfield and one from Rhyolite Monday. In the blustering weather of Tuesday five auto loads came from Goldfield and Wednesday brought five more loads. This is a good showing for a town a month old-and yet they say the influx has scarcely begun."

Well, that ends another episode in the life and times of Sheriff Stone and Gold Point, Nevada.

We hope you enjoyed reading. take care and happy turkey day.


Happy Trails and Sunsets,

Sheriff Stone &/or Red Dog Lil

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