Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

The History Guy takes up the subject of why Nevada is a state.



Nevada does have a strange history, and THG doesn't have time to include the oddities like when Nevada assumed that California wouldn't mind giving up parts of Lassen and Modoc Counties, and when the state carved out a county from Nye County that would have no residents (Bullfrog County) in order to collect money from the federal government related to the nuclear waste disposal site.

THG's video does include the story of The Most Expensive Telegram Of All Time.

Yesterday afternoon, when I got off work about 3 PM, Lisa and I went to Reno intending to get grocery shopping done at the newly-remodeled and rebranded Raley's O-N-E market in south Reno (Galena/Wedge Parkway). the O-N-E Market branding appears to be an attempt for the Raley's family of grocery stores to pick away at the Whole Foods Market segment, and in this case, it hasn't worked for us.

There is a long-term road project at the so-called "Spaghetti Junction" of I-80 (east/west) and US-395/I-580 (north/south) that makes the junction an annoyance to be avoided except in times of very low traffic. Fortunately, for what we wanted to to, Veterans Parkway, which forms a partial beltway on the east side of the Reno/Sparks metro area, bypasses the mess.

( Ruining a Good Grocery Store )

Oddly, both Winco (where we usually get bulk items) and Raley's (which usually has a better-quality selection) seemed to not only be out of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce (or any brand, for that matter), but also didn't seem to have any space for it on the shelves anymore. It's hard to believe that the stores would drop what seems like a standard condiment item. After the disappointment at Raley's we initially thought to head back toward home and possibly swing by one of the other grocery stores that direction that might still carry the sauce.

As we neared the north end of Veterans Parkway, we ran into a slowdown. While waiting our way through it, I spied off in the distance that the cause of our backup was that traffic on I-80 eastbound (toward Fernley) was at a standstill. That was not good. I-80 east of Sparks is a bottleneck between there and the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Park at USA Parkway. Accidents or blockages there, especially during rush hour, cause huge delays. Even if it would take longer in net travel time, we'd rather keep moving.

Not wanting to spend an hour-plus in creeping slow traffic, I made a U-turn at the last available opportunity before being committed to the freeway, and made our third trip of the day down Veterans Parkway, turning onto US-395 Alternate (the former main highway, now superseded by I-580 between Reno and Carson City) and headed south. This is a pleasant enough drive, and usually lightly traveled, which suited us, even though the speed limit is lower. In Carson City, we turned back east, and as we got to Dayton, we decided to try the Smith's grocery store (part of the Kroger grocery conglomerate) there. We found that they had Worcestershire sauce, and bought several bottles. We also took advantage of gasoline prices 30 cents/gallon cheaper than Fernley to refuel the Astro before heading for home.

A wrong turn going to the gas station with the cheaper fuel also gave us the opportunity to read a historical marker. Dayton (site of Nevada's first gold discovery) has some interesting history, and we've meant for some time to come explore it more thoroughly, which we may do post-COVID. Alas, we'll never get to see the former Carson & Colorado railroad station, as it burned down a couple of years ago. The local historical society has pledged themselves to attempt to rebuild the station they way it used to be in the days when there was a railroad connecting Carson City, Virginia City, and Tonopah (and thus also Goldfield, Bishop, and ultimately Las Vegas and Los Angeles) running through here. The railroad is long gone, but there are dirt roads and embankments that look to me to probably be the old right-of-way.

It's never really a quick trip to Reno given that it's a minimum of 25 miles to the edge of the city from Fernley, but this was a particularly long day, and not one I enjoyed that much given that it was a work night. We got home, I had a quick dinner, and went to bed two hours later than usual. That has made today a bit of working through a fog, but I've managed.

On Friday afternoon, after turning in the last of the Day Jobbery, Lisa and I drove up to Warrenton to spend a few hours at Fort Stevens State Park. We went to the military portion of the park, which is the preserved remnants of the former US Army base established at the mouth of the Columbia River during the US Civil War that was active until after World War II.

( Odd Corner of Military History )

We could easily have spent a whole day here, but we only had a couple of hours, and our feet were hurting already (we've done a whole lot of walking this week). Lisa was glad to see this. She's been coming to Seaside for many years but never got to see Fort Stevens, and she'd always been curious about it.

Lisa and I did a short trip today south of Fernley and Silver Springs to Fort Churchill State Park, which is the closest of Nevada's 23 state parks to us. (It's about 23 mi/38 km south of Fernley on US 95 Alternate.) This park preserves the ruins of a US Army post established in 1861 to protect early settlers and abandoned only nine years later. The post was along the line of the Pony Express and the first transcontinental US telegraph line.

After lunch at the Black Bear Diner, we set off for Fort Churchill. After depositing our $5 day-use fee (includes $2 Nevada resident discount), we spent the next couple of hours wandering around the park and taking the short (1 km) trail through the adobe ruins.

( Some Photos of the Park )

The full package of photos is in my Fort Churchill album on Flickr.

We found this an interesting visit, and we'll come back, but only when the weather is like it was today. It's awfully spring-like, which is a bad thing for the drought, but good for walking with only a light jacket. This post must have been really awful much of the year: blisteringly hot and dusty in the summer and bitingly cold in the winter. The hospital description talks of the ward being filled with cases of pneumonia, with measles and smallpox thrown in for good measure. However, when the weather is pleasant like this, it makes for a nice walk.

We enjoyed this bit of Nevada history, and expect to return on a nice spring day packing a lunch and exploring the rest of the trails in the complex.

We have another old photo from almost exactly a century ago that I scanned and that we tried to match on Friday. Trying to figure out who was in the photo led us to some interesting pieces of information and allowed us to fill in some things Lisa didn't know about her family.

( Mehama 1911 and Today )

While trying to search who was in the photo, we learned more things about Lisa's mother's side of the family about which I will post later because there are too many photos in this post already.