Nevada - Southwest

Though described as Mrs. Phillips' home, what interests me here is that two men (possibly brothers) lived in the house for about twenty years after the mine closed. They prospected and gardened in the area; as is often the case with married couples, when one died, the other died shortly thereafter.

The west side of Mrs. Phillips' house. From this point, there were houses further down the hill. Nothing remains of those houses other than a few plaques indicating where they were.

On the edge of what appeared to have been the developed area, a plaque denoting the location of the cabin for the forest ranger. What was interesting to me here was the extent to which the woods in the area were managed by the ranger -- I didn't reazlie there was active management of forestry in Nevada the late 1800's / early 1900's .

Remnants of the Berlin cemetery. As was the custom in those days, the cemetery was built quite some distance from the town. Per one description, many of the graves in the cemetery were moved to other areas over the years; it was thus difficult to get a sense of how large the cemetery once was.

Hanging on the fence around this grave site were metal brackets or collars that appeared to have once been used in mining. There was no description as to why they were placed on the site or what purpose they filled.

Grave of D. Manuel de Totorica who died Nov. 11, 1905. Much of the language on the head stone is difficult to decipher.

The requisite rusted tin can dump, found near many ghost towns. This is very close to the cemetery.

Residence of the night watchman, who was a bachelor. Not sure why there was specific mention of his marital status here.

Berlin mill....

Large, red brick, house in Reese Valley. The house is remarkable in two ways. First of all, its quite large for what you typically see of homes that are in the middle of a high desert valley. Secondly, it's red brick, a type of construction you almost never see among rural ranch homes in Nevada. The property seem to be occupied, but the brick house seemed to be abandoned. Update: Subsequent discussion with slgwv (see comments below) led to more history on the ranch and a link to more detailed photos of it. The ranch seems to have been referred to as both the Hess Ranch and the Walsh Ranch, I couldn't quite separate out the sequence on that. It seems that the Walsh family had the longest association with it. Links: Walsh family discussion of the ranch: walshfamilybantrybay.com slgwv's much more detailed photos of it: www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/album/401561

From Cathedral Canyon, Hidden Hills, outside of Pahrump, NV. Last I visited the canyon, the statue of Jesus in the center still had a head (see www.ipernity.com/doc/donbrr/21212691 ). The canyon is quite close to Front Sight Firearms Training Institute and the warlike-sound from nearby made it uncomfortable to be here, which became even more uncomfortable when someone began shooting a rifle quite nearby. I could not see the shooter and thus could not know if they were just target practicing, or firing to warn me off. (This was the first of two incidents on this trip where rifles were being shot very near me.)

Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, from Cathedral Canyon, Hidden Hills. See www.frontsight.com

Last Supper , just outside the ghost town of Rhyolite, NV. The sculpture, created in 1984, was the work of Dutch artist Albert Szukalski who created the figures by wrapping live models in plaster (I’ve never seen a detailed explanation of how that worked). In the desolation of the desert, surrounded by worn-out and abandoned mines, it’s a moving scene – fortunately, every time I’ve seen the sculptures, there has been very few visitors to the art exhibit. Linked below is a more detailed photo of the sculpture from 2002. Sources: Artist: wandering-through-time-and-place.com/tag/last-supper-by-albert-szukalski Previous photo: www.flickr.com/photos/donbrr/3018022815

Tribute to Shorty Harris … and penguin. A tribute to Shorty Harris, an early miner in the area, by a Belgian artist. In the linked photo from 2007 you can see that there is a statue of a penguin next to the memorial for Shorty. I’ve always wondered why a penguin -- per the Straynger link below, the artist felt very out-of-place in the desert and thus chose an animal that reflected that sense of alienation. Straynger link: strayngerranger.com/chicago-west-rhyolite-nv Photo from 2007: www.flickr.com/photos/donbrr/3316119836

No Borders No Walls . Inside the miner’s cabin, more liberal graffiti than I expected in rural Nevada.

In the former town of Rhyolite, a 1962 Chevrolet -- miner’s car? Probably not. The area mines began in 1905 during a gold rush, but the mines didn’t last long and started dying almost as soon as they were built Rhyolite was close to zero in population by 1920. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyolite,_Nevada

In the abandoned housing area of Rhyolite, what was probably originally a miner’s cabin – the woodwork in the interior (next picture) suggests that building may have been occupied at some later point.

The Rhyolite train depot of the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad, built in about 1906 and abandoned less than 10 years later. A good reminder that profligate, not well-planned building is a constant of capitalism…..