Day 7: Virginia City to Austin

Nice sunny but cold day. But first, let me tell a little about the Golden Hill Hotel. Originally built in 1861 it is reputed to be the oldest functioning hotel in the state of Nevada. I had booked the two original rooms with balconies. The rooms were called Rosie's and William's, both were reputed to be haunted (more on that later). We had Rosie's room. Painted pink with a very high (off the ground) four poster bed. The floor had a definite slope to it. The bath room was authentic also....stone floor, old bath with a shower attachment taped on the surounding metal rails for the curtains. It functioned very well. And of course a door out to the balcony, where you could look up and down the road.

Behind the hotel was the V&T railway track and behind that the Yellow Jacket mine, apparently 30 miners were killed in a mine explosion sometime in the 1880's. The folks who own the Gold Hill also own all the other buildings around the area, and all are offered for accommodation. I would recommend staying at this hotel.

Around 9:30 we drove into Virginia City. Stopped at the Palace for breakfast. Then we started to explore. Virginia City has been described as a tourist trap, and in someways I agree with that observation. We visited the visitor centre and got our Highway 50 or "Loneliest Road" survival booklet or passport (it's a tourst gimmick, but we joined in). Virginia City owes its fame for the silver and gold taken out of the surrounding hills, especially the Comstock Lode. Because of the silver and gold Virginia City became the largest city between Chicago and San Francisco. A vast amount of wealth was generated over a very short period of time for small number of people. For the local miner the pay was 25 cents per day. Later cornish miners flooded in and because of their mining experience were paid $4 per day ( alot of money in the 1860's, when you consider 15 cents bought you a solid meal).

We walked along "C" street, the main street. Visited St Mary's in the mountains Catholic church ( on E street). The church was built by the Irish miners in the gothic style, very impressive and well worth a visit. Following this we visited the Comstock History Centre (it told of the valuable contribution Chines miners made to the industry (they did all the hard and dangerous work- just like what has been played out in SoHo's tv show "Hell on Wheels". A small one room museeum which has a locomotive as its central display. Worth a visit.

Next we visited the "Way it was" museum. Again a very compact museum $3 entry, but worth a visit. Lastly we went on the mine tour operating out of the Ponderosa Saloon. The tour went about 150 metres back into the hill. According to the guide, mines on both sides made mega dollars for their respective owners, while the mine we toured made $450, the owners lost millions. The tour showed us the working conditions, which would have been horrendous.

Should mention that Mark Twain worked for a local newspaper and honed his story telling skills before he moved to San Francisco and then back east for the novels that made him famous.

We headed down 6 mile gully back to Highway 50. We drove to Fallon and found a very big Walmart...so shopping we went. Ended up having a picnic lunch in the Walmart parking lot. Filled up with gas and headed for Austin. 

We stopped at Grimes point to look at the petroglyphs. These were made by primitive hunters and gathers who lived beside a now vanished lake called "Lake Lahontan". The petroglyphs were carved into basalt boulders and were very abstract. Well worth the visit.

Next stop was Sand Mountain. Big sand dunes made of the fine material deposited by the late plistocene or holocen glaciers. Today being Saturday it was busy with "Off roaders" riding the dunes (dirt bikes and dune buggies). Regan was busy taking photo's when one of the locals pulled up and offered to take him to the top for better shots. Regan jumped at the chance, he was gone about 15 minutes and really enjpyed the experience.

Finally arrived at Austin around 5:20 pm, just gone full dark and -2 degrees. Got settled in our rooms. We ate at the International Hotel, now just a saloon and resturant. This was the same hotel we stayed at 35 years ago (when we wandered into Austin on our way to Death Valley). Tomorrow we will explore the treasures of Austin before heading east to Ely.

Just a note: The International Cafe and Bar-where we stayed all those years ago, was moved here board by board from Virginia City in 1863. When we stayed here it had a brick exterior, now it is wood.

I will post photos when I get access to Regans laptop.