My recent Nevada adventure

[Ray Dunakin]

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but I wanted to share the pics and info about my trip because I feel it can be very useful reference material for modelers....

I recently returned from my annual Nevada rocketry and camping trip, exploring ghost towns and old mines. I've uploaded photos from the trip beginning with this one:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32571841&p=75778602

You can click through the rest from there, or go here to choose from thumbnails:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32571841&f=

The first few pics are aerial photos taken by cameras onboard custom rockets -- my other hobby besides garden railroading.

There's plenty to interest ghost town buffs and model railroaders too. These pics are a treasure trove of reference material for anyone modeling or weathering old structures and mines. (I also can supply additional views of most structures for anyone who may want them.) Many of the old mining town buildings would be excellent additions to a garden railroad due to their compact size. And I encountered some very cool railroad artifacts too!

BTW, can any of the railfans out there identify these odd standard gauge trucks I saw in Goldfield, NV? I've never seen anything like them before:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32571841&p=75781078

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This trip didn't start well. After just thirty minutes on the road, my Trooper's mysterious engine problem cropped up again, missing badly and losing power going up hill. I pulled off the freeway in Temecula and located a repair shop. Once again, the computer failed to save a trouble code. But with a little mechanical detective work and some deductive reasoning, they narrowed it down to a couple possibilities and soon found the culprit: bad rubber "boots" on the spark plug wires. Two hours after leaving the freeway, I was back on the road again!

Next stop was Johannesburg, a small mining town in the Mojave desert. Didn't have time to see much there but did get some pics of a large wooden headframe. Shortly before sundown I made the first launch of the trip, firing off a small camera rocket near a railroad siding at Searles summit. Got a pretty nice photo of long strings of covered hoppers parked on the wye.

Late that night I set up camp on the rim of a geological formation in Nevada known locally as "The Sump". The following morning I launched a rocket there and got some great pics of this interesting and rugged terrain. Also caught and photographed a horned lizard.

Later I explored the ruins of a small mine and an old stone rancher's cabin. The corral next to the cabin had a loading ramp made from spiral-wound, riveted steel pipes! From there I headed over to the Silver Peak area, and spent several hours searching for the rocket and camera I lost last year. Still no luck. However, I did find a lot of incredible Indian petroglyphs! These were all in excellent condition with no sign of tampering or vandalism.

That evening I returned to the Fish Lake Valley area and set up camp within the Sump as lightning flashed in the distance. I launched two more rockets there the next morning. One was a two-stager, however the second stage failed to ignite. The altimeter safely deployed the chutes and prevented a crash. While packing up, another little horned lizard wandered into camp and I took his picture. Then I placed him near some ants and he immediately started gulping them down.

After refueling in Dyer, NV I drove north and explored several mining areas which I'd never visited before. These were mostly disappointing, with little of interest remaining. Then I stopped in at Mina, NV. This was a railroad town in the days of the Carson & Colorado Railroad (later the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge, aka "Slim Princess"). Now it's a sparsely populated relic on Highway 95 with several interesting old buildings.

Farther north I took a side trip into the Volcano Peak mining area. Here I found a wooden cabin, several dugouts and powder bunkers, and a huge wooden ore bin. The trail leading in and out of this area passes through a rugged canyon, and there I launched another rocket which obtained a good shot of the colorful hills.

The next town I came to was Gabbs, a very remote little community with a huge modern mining complex. The chief ore here is brucite, a magnesium ore. As the sun set, I briefly checked out the site of Downieville. A few crumbling stone walls and some mine shafts are all that remain of this ghost town.

That night I camped at the site of an old tungsten mine, and launched a couple rockets there in the morning. In one of the aerial pics, you can see the ruins of the original mine on the east side of the hill, and the remains of a somewhat newer mine on the west side of the hill.

Continuing north, I visited the sites of Phonolite, the Highland Mine, and the Buffalo Hump Mine before reaching the pavement of Highway 722. I finally found gas at Middlegate, NV along Highway 50, and also sold a couple of my aerial photos to some of the locals there. Then it was east to Austin, NV.

Austin is a beautiful old mining town in central Nevada with a lot of historic buildings and structures in various conditions. Some have been well-maintained, some are still occupied and some are falling apart. A huge brick church is in the process of restoration. This town has two or three gas stations and several restaurants, but no grocery store! The locals have to drive over a hundred miles to buy groceries.

After spending a couple hours photographing many of the buildings in Austin, I turned south through the Reese River Valley. Eventually I came to the near-ghost town of Ione, NV. Only a handful of people still live in this former mining town. I continued south to the ruins of the Cloverdale Ranch, which has some fine old stone and wood structures.

Another morning, another rocket launch, this time in the Klondike Pass region. Next stop was Goldfield, a town south of Tonopah, NV. In its prime in 1907, Goldfield was the largest city in Nevada and home to over 30,000 people. Now only a few hundred people live there. Two fires and a flash flood wiped out much of the town over the years, but numerous historic buildings remain. Old mines surround the town as well as a few which remain active on a small scale. Most interesting was the wooden passenger coach and two Dodge railcars from the defunct Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad currently stored at the site of that railroad's former freight depot and service yard!

Further south I visited another former mining town, Goldpoint. This near-ghost has only a handful of people still living there, and is one of the most well-preserved ghost towns I've seen. It is also the closest to most people's idea of a stereotypical Western ghost town, with its many intact buildings, wooden boardwalks, and classic false-front stores and saloons. There are also several very interesting mines nearby as well as the ruins of a large mill. I hope to eventually model some of these structures for my outdoor model railroad.

I visited a few smaller mines beyond Goldpoint, including the Dunfee and Silver Moon mines. Pressing southward, I checked out the mining ruins at the site of Pioneer, NV. Here I found several large wooden ore bins, ruins of a stamp mill, the remains of a large steam powered hoist, and other relics. I also managed to launch a rocket here and got a pretty good aerial shot of the area.

By evening I had crossed over into California and came to Shoshone, near Death Valley. In the small store there I picked up a cool video: "The Great Desert Railroad Race". Using stills, archival film footage, and recreated scenes, it tells about the construction and history of the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad and the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad. It also has some info about the Tecopa Railroad and other shortlines in the Death Valley region. The recreated scenes were shot using the steam train of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum in Ely, NV. I highly recommend this video to train fans and desert history buffs. (www.goldcreekfilms.com)

My last night of the trip was spent at a place called Sheephole Camp in the Mojave desert. I made one last launch there the following morning before heading home. It was a dual launch, and in one frame you can just see the second rocket rising up out of the smoke from the first rocket. Sadly, the second rocket suffered a deployment failure and did a lawndart on a large boulder -- the only rocketry loss of the entire trip.

All in all, a very enjoyable time!

[FJ and G]

Ray,

 

Love the aerials and old truck photo, which I downloaded.

 

You got me thinking with those cool aerials. It wouldn't be too hard to get a small, hot air balloon up over one's garden RR to give a different sort of perspective shot. 

 

Thanks for sharing your adventures. 

[GearDrivenSteam]

Dammit Ray, those rockets really get up there, don't they? I didn't know they went that high. What happens if you hit an aircraft? Just sayin...........

[FJ and G]

Robert,

 

There were UFO reports from reliable witnesses in the area at the time. Now we know it was Ray's doings. 

[Anonymous]

Robert,

 

There were UFO reports from reliable witnesses in the area at the time. Now we know it was Ray's doings. 

[Anonymous]

Ray, as a longtime Nevadan, I believe you captured the essence of the old mining towns in my state.  Goldfield is an especially interesting place to visit.  I like old mining cars and an old-timer who lives right on US 95 has a nice collection on display (which he refuses to sell).  As for Gabbs, NV, I will not venture within fifty miles of that place.  It is the tarantula capital of Nevada and I am a strong arachnaphobe.  I'm told that during certain periods (mating season?) the roads are black with migrating tarantulas.  Brrrrrr!

[Ray Dunakin]

Eric Cooper wrote the following post at 08-17-2007 7:01 PM:
"Ray, as a longtime Nevadan, I believe you captured the essence of the old mining towns in my state."

Thanks! I hope to do the same with my In-ko-pah Railroad, once I get far enough along to start modeling the buildings and mines.

[kimbrit]

Ray, what can I say, absolutely magnificent and thanks for the time you took to post this. Goldfield, it was like I was there, what a place. The pics are great and on a wet day in Blackpool all that sunshine cheered me up no end.

Thanks mate,

Kim

[SROC99]

Ray,

  I was born and raised in Hawthorne, Nevada and I'm always interest in comments and stories about Nevada's history. Hawthorne is about 30 miles from Mina and a bit more than 50 miles from Gabbs. Gabbs was a "last resort" for a job, if you couldn't find a job anywhere else you could always get hired at Gabbs.

  The aerial rocket shots are wonderful and shows what most of Nevada is all about. I've explored most known and many unknown minning towns, camps, and individual mines and really appreciate Rays photos and comments. Eric Cooper is right about the Tarantulas, in fact, Gabbs High School's mascot is a Tarantula.

  Around the Hawthorne area and south if you know what and where to look you can find evidence of the Carson & Colorado narrow gauge road bed.

Sam Clarke

Kadee Quality Products

[Ray Dunakin]

GearDrivenSteam wrote the following post at 08-17-2007 8:12 AM:
"Dammit Ray, those rockets really get up there, don't they? I didn't know they went that high. What happens if you hit an aircraft? Just sayin...."

Actually, with the rockets I flew on this trip, you could probably go as high or higher with some of the little Estes model rockets. It just takes more power to get a camera up there.

As for hitting an aircraft, there are precautions against that, chief of which is, Don't launch when there are aircraft present. Not a problem out in the remote desert where aircraft are few and skies are wide and clear for easy viewing.

Above a certain size, you also need prior approval from the FAA, called a "waiver". Even with this, you're still responsible for making sure there are no aircraft present before launching.

Incidentally, it would be virtually impossible to _intentionally_ hit an aircraft with a sport rocket, even one powerful enough to reach high altitudes. Real surface-to-air missiles have costly, sophisticated targeting and guidance systems, and _they_ don't always hit their targets. If you could do it with a cheap hobby rocket, the military wouldn't have to spend billions for missiles.