Gold Point Ghost Town, Gold Point Nevada


Gold Point Gleamings Newsletter
GOLD POINT GLEAMINGS #18 JUNE 6, 2006

GOLD POINT NEVADA

 


Howdy Doody Everyone,

Well is everyone ready for the summer heat. I know I'm not. Our swamp cooler was put to work a couple of weeks ago so I guess we'll suffer through it.

You're wondering about the annual chili cook-off aren't you?? Well keep wondering. This newsletter is not going to tell you about it. Yep, that's right this newsletter is going to fill you in on the normal newsletter stuff. I will then do another newsletter on just the chili cook-off. To combine the two would make too long of a newsletter. Besides, I think the chili cook-off is deserving of it's own newsletter, don't you??. This one by itself shouldn't be that long.

Ok, let's get started by talking about a couple projects we've been working on around the town.

Bob and Dan have completed the re-roofing of Cooks Cabin. It was in very bad shape on the South side. In fact it was completely gone clear down to the wood. This was allowing all the water and snow melt to go inside and making things worse than they were all ready. On the north side the flatter part of the roof was starting to look the same. We even had to put down plywood sheeting on the North side on the slope. This will now buy us more time before getting inside to start the restoration. We still have a couple of cabins to do before we start this one. Inside is a total mess and will have to be stripped all the way down to the bare walls to start. Hopefully we can get to it next year.

Pat has completed the major work of the addition of the bathroom to the back of Lone Mountain Cabin. We've got it sheet rocked inside and the roof is completed. We still have to finish the outside walls. We're going to totally cover the outside, including the roof, with old tin. The inside of the addition will be finished off like the rest of the cabin with old newspapers on the walls and ceiling. We were going pretty good at it but the cook-off has delayed the finishing for a little while. It was far enough along to have 3 of our friends stay in it during the party though.

We've secured the patio roof over the deck next to the saloon a lot more after our friend Death Valley Phil noticed a weakness. He pointed out that it wasn't held down very good. We added a hurricane strap to each of the 2 x 6's to hold it better in case of a little twister which could come floating by. I started putting them on but Dan finished putting on the rest of them. He calls them Herbicane straps. That's so I won't blow the roof off talking too much during the party. He's a funny man!!

As mentioned in the previous newsletter the Lahonton Valley Newspaper did an article on us. People who were trying to look it up on-line had problems. That has been fixed. Any one wishing to read that article only has to e-mail with that request and I will e-mail it to you. The nice people at the newspaper e-mailed me a copy and I have it stored here.

Our friend Dion has donated another big commercial refrigerator. This one has nice big glass doors and after some minor adjustments works great. It came in handy for storage of stuff for the party this year. He also put our name in big letters on the top--GOLD POINT GHOST TOWN.

Sue has given to us on long term loan two drawings for the saloon. One of Bob Cummings by John Hagner and is numbered 1 of 250. The other is Charlton Heston by John Hagner number 4 of 500. Heston is shown in a suit and tie for the main picture. In the upper right hand corner is a drawing of him as Moses. On the bottom is a drawing of him in a chariot from Ben Hur. This weekend Sue is coming out and we are planning another hanging party in the saloon for these two drawings and also some other items including a painting of John Wayne donated to by friend Mark.

Our friend Tom from Texas noticed that we hadn't updated our mercantile page on the website. He noticed we were always under construction. We have fixed that and thank Tom for bringing it to our attention.

We have also finally found a printer to print some more of the boot shot glasses and beer/drink mugs. They are printed with an epoxy paint that won't wash off. As soon as I get back to Las Vegas and meet up with my web master we will add those to the mercantile store shelf. We have also changed our hats. They are a better quality and comfort and also have a new design done for us by friend Fred. By the end of June these items will be on the mercantile. If you can't wait that long just e-mail me your request. The boot shot glasses and beer/drink mugs are $4 each plus shipping and handling. Gold Point hats are $7.50.

I would like to tell you a little about our vacation back in April.

Between working during the week and taking care of guests on the weekends Red Dog Lil and I have very little time to ourselves. In fact you can probably count on your one hand the weekends in a years time that we don't have anyone visiting or working in Gold Point. It was decided a few years ago that we would just close the B & B or leave it to Pat to take care of while we hit the road once a year.

I'm not going into a lot of details. I just want to tell you about all the nice places that maybe you can visit on one of your vacations if you like the Old West. In two weeks we drove 4300 miles throughout the South West through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Utah.

We left on a Sunday morning and drove over Hoover dam heading to Prescott to see our friends Dave and Stella. Our first stop was Chloride Arizona. It was a few miles off the highway half way between Las Vegas and Kingman. It was a small mining town that has since seen it's day. Famous in it's time I'm sure. Unless you're driving by it I would not make it a destination by itself.

After having a late lunch in Prescott with our friends we drove all the way past Phoenix to Apache Junction to stay the night.

Next morning we went up the road to Goldfield, Arizona. A re-built Mining town on the original site of the one in 1890. We found this to be extremely worth the drive to see. You can check it out on line if your interested. We went through a couple rolls of film there. Yes, you heard me right, rolls. I have to have prints for my photo album to grow. It's 75 pounds right now and has to weigh in at least 100 before I depart this earth.

Any way, the buildings were very authentic looking. We especially liked the tour of the bordello. Red Dog even took a picture of me in bed with the soiled dove that gave the tour. No samples were given unfortunately. Too bad, she was a cute red head. This town is worth seeing if you're in the area. It's right next to the Superstition Mountains.

We drove North and made a circle around the Superstitions over to the mining towns of Miami and Globe before heading South and staying the night in Tucson.

Our first stop in the morning was the movie set of Old Tucson. Here we saw where all the old westerns we still watch were filmed. All though about 90% of the original buildings were destroyed by a fire back around 1995 they were re-built. We even saw the train engine that Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) drove through the saloon. This is another worth while place to visit.

Another movie set/town was Mescal. We tried to get in to see it but they were filming another movie at the time and it was closed. The set is South of Tucson on the way to Tombstone. The film the Quick and the Dead was filmed here.

Later that day we finally got to Tombstone. After so many years of wanting to get there Red Dog and I were slightly disappointed to find it a real tourist trap. Except for the Bird Cage Theater and the Courthouse it was just one building after another of souvenirs. We live in the old west everyday but for those of you who don't, Tombstone would be worth a visit.

We really enjoyed visiting the mining town of Bisbee just South of Tombstone. Set in a canyon full of trees it was beautiful. Seems downtown main street hasn't changed from the beginning. If you go, get there early and go on the mine tour into the mountain.

On the way to stay the night in Silver City, New Mexico we passed the place were Jeronimo surrendered.

The next day we did a lot of driving. We drove past the white sands of White Sands. They really are pure white like salt. Then through Roswell without seeing any aliens. Stopping for the night in Carlsbad.

After having a 3/4 lb burger for breakfast we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. Wow!! Red Dog hadn't been there for about 30 years and I have never been. We took the long walk in from the cave opening. It was about a mile hike down. Quite impressive I have to say. It has subtle lighting all the way down, in and around. It's very surreal. Almost like a movie set. Certain scenes from the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth was filmed here even. At the bottom they have a lunch room and rest area. We rested for a little while and then took another mile hike around the grand ballroom. Two hundred foot ceilings and hundreds of feet long was the main chamber. This really is a place to go visit.

The Million Dollar Museum at Whites City before you get to the caverns is also worth seeing. After going through it we decided they should change the name to the Two Million Dollar Museum. They have all kinds of rare antiques of the west worth seeing.

We headed then into Texas to stay the night in Fort Stockton. This is where I think I found the largest hamburger. It was 10 inches across and weighed in at 60 ounces.

Next day I finally got to see Judge Roy Bean's place in Langtry, Texas. It's literally just a stones throw from Mexico with the Rio Grande between us. His saloon isn't much bigger than a small garage but cozy. This has been on my list of places to visit ever since I saw Paul Newman in the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.

From here we went to San Antonio for two nights. We just missed seeing John Wayne's Alamo at Brackettville because of the time.

We were supposed to hook up with our friend Tom but a family emergency prevented us seeing my old McDonalds buddy of the early 70's.

We did see the Alamo. My second time and Red Dog's first. She found it quite emotional walking through the shrine.

Instead of walking the river walk we took a boat. Smart decision. Then later that day we went to Sea World to see Shamu and his friends. We caught all the shows because Red Dog don't do rides.

Next morning we headed to Red Dog Lil's home town of Menard. She hadn't seen the old town for 30 years. This is what inspired us to go to Texas this year.

On the way we stopped at Junction. This is the turnoff from I-10. I saw they had the bar-b-que going so I went over to chat. They were cooking ribs, brisket, chicken, goat, and my favorite, 3 inch pork chops. I would have bought some but they had a long time to cook still. It was only 9 in the morning and they start at 5. They go through 1 cord of mesquite a day.

After getting to Menard Red Dog tried to find her kinfolk. Nobody was around but we did find her old home.

We then headed to Amarillo to have a big steak at the Big Texan. One of the residents of Gold Point, John, was back in Amarillo for a while so we met him and his lady friend for a late lunch. They have a 72 ounce steak that's free if you finish the whole dinner. I went for the 36 ounce rib eye and Red Dog had the 22 ounce top. Of course we had leftovers. I had steak for breakfast for the next 3 days.

We drove back into New Mexico to Tucumcari for the night where we had Chinese for dinner.

Next morning we were off to Madrid. This was a coal mining town in it's day. I wanted to bring Red Dog here to show her the real town. There is a ghost town book out that shows buildings of Gold Point under the Madrid section. We had a buffalo burger and then headed to Taos for the night.

Next morning we headed to Antonito, Colorado to check out the trains of the Cumbres and Toltec. They weren't running yet. Too early in the season. We then drove to the other end of the line which is Chama, New Mexico. Here they were working on getting things ready for the new season. If you have the time this is one of the best scenic railroads of the west.

From Chama we drove through Aztec to see the ruins on the way to staying the night in Durango, Colorado. Here is another great scenic train ride to Silverton. Red Dog and I rode this one a few years ago.

Next day we went to Mesa Verde. Now this is one to see. It's amazing to see how they built there cities in these cliffs. We hiked down to one of them and it's just amazing. Their rooms are so small. I don't know how they had room for a tv and computer. Go see Mesa Verde. We spent about 5 or 6 hours in the park.

Next was the Four Corners Monument. This is where you can stand in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all at the same time. We had an Indian fry bread taco for lunch and then headed to Monument Valley.

Monument Valley is not as big as you see in a John Wayne movie but none the less is mother nature at her best. At Goulding I stood in John Wayne's cabin when he was Nathan Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

I'll speed this up a little. From here we went to Winslow, Arizona and took a picture of Red Dog standing on a corner.

Headed to Meteor Crater which was an over priced visit that will not be repeated. But I can say I was there.

Drove through the Petrified Forest. Not over priced. But only worth one trip in a life time unless you go back and take your children.

Then back to Las Vegas. End of trip. Hope I didn't bore you too much. It was quite fun for two weeks. We visited many historic places where many famous people like John Wayne, Billy the Kid, Judge Roy Bean, Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, The Earps and countless others lived and roamed. It's too bad that all these famous people didn't realize that the Famous Sheriff Stone would also follow in their footsteps some day.

Now another chapter from the "Tales from the not so Old West.
This is from the May 2, 1908 issue of the Rhyolite Bullfrog Miner.

Sister Nevada Camps...Hornsilver. Hornsilver is only two weeks old and has a population of 400. Although only two weeks old, Hornsilver, the new mining camp at the base of Slate range, a spur of Gold Mountain, is a little city of 400 inhabitants and is daily growing at a rapid rate.

There are seven saloons doing a thriving business, two brokerage firms passing out the dope, six restaurants slinging hash, five lodging houses with real feather for weary heads and four stores selling anything from hairpins to dynamite. Fifty tents and several frame buildings house the population. At the lower end of Main Street are the feed and lumber yards, while two auto lines and one stage line send in vehicles daily laden to the guards and return empty.

Real estate is leaping in value. Lots which two weeks ago sold for $50 and a week later were worth $100, are now in demand at a 1000 per cent profit on the original investment. The cause for the appreciation in values is apparent. Hornsilver is being built for permanency. There are already 100 miners on the payroll and this number will be shortly largely increased, while shipments at the rate of $50,000 a month are already in order...

A post office for Hornsilver is assured. It will be doing business within two weeks. Before the next issue of the News appears Hornsilver will also be in telephone communication with the outside world. The line is now being built from Cuprite. Arrangements are also being made to bring in a four-inch supply of water under 200-foot pressure. The source of supply is within a few miles and the system will not cost in excess of $17,000.

J.M. Russell has been appointed recorder of the new Hornsilver district and the list of claims placed upon record is a formidable one. No squatter troubles have yet occurred and none are probable as a live vigilance committee is already in existence...

Thinks well of Hornsilver Camp. Paul Wright, a Bullfrog pioneer, came in this week from Hornsilver, the new camp near Cuprite, where he is negotiating for a lease. He is very favorably impressed with the mineral showing and believes that the camp will make a good one.

People are flocking in from all parts of the country, and the town of Hornsilver is building up rapidly. The townsite company put on the lots on the main and two side streets and in 24 hours they were all sold. Six frame buildings are going up. There are about 300 people in camp and 50 tents and houses. A telephone line will be completed the first week from Cuprite, and it is reported a railroad will be made soon. The people are figuring on a water line from Mount Magruder, 12 miles away. The present supply is being hauled from the Snowstorm mine, a distance of 12 miles, and retails at $3 a barrel.

Stages meet all trains at Cuprite, and the fare is $4 one way. There is an auto service from Goldfield at $7.50 one way or $15 round trip.

There are very few Bullfrogers in the new camp, Mr. Wright says, but Lida is almost depopulated on its account.

Ok, enough for now. I will now start work on the special newsletter about the cook-off weekend. Coming soon to a computer near you. Look for it.

Happy Trails and Sunsets,

Sheriff Stone &/or Red Dog Lil

 

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