Rain, Rain Go Away...

posted by Christopher James

...and take the snow with you.


We raced the storm from Eureka to Pioche yesterday, with a stop in Ely. Did you know that Pat Nixon was born in Ely and that 'Pat' wasn't her real name but her nickname, having been born on St. Patrick's Day? I didn't, but Ely does, and they're celebrating her centennial.


While in Ely, we saw the historic Hotel Nevada, sometime stomping ground of Frank Sinatra and current stomping ground for some ghosts. Everything in Nevada seems to be haunted. Our hotel in Pioche, the Overland, is also haunted. And today we'll make our way to Rachel to see an area 'haunted' by another sort of spirit: extraterrestrials!

Why does Nevada have so many haunted places? Perhaps because it has a lot of ghost towns where remnants of the past can be seen decomposing in real time. It makes one think not of death, but of what comes after death. Perhaps it's good for tourism.


Pioche, however, has a damn good reason to be haunted. This may have been the most dangerous town in the West. Seventy-two men were murdered, it's said, before a single resident died of natural causes. Some of those victims are buried near their killers at Boot Hill Cemetery. The town's ungovernable notoriety meant that the Sheriff got paid more then the President of the United States (and made even more in bribes).


Pioche has other claims to fame, too. The local mines produced several million dollars in their day and, along with the legendary Comstock of Virginia City, they made Nevada the world's leading producer of silver. The town also has a strong connection with the Mormons. Like Las Vegas, Pioche was first scouted by missionary pioneers. The small village was meant to be a refuge for church leaders when the war with the U.S. Government came. Pioche's town hall was built by Mormons.

The LDS Church has a significant role in Nevada's history. Today, Mormons are mostly well-regarded around the West. But consider the Pyramid War of 1860. When Paiutes raided a settlers' camp in retribution for a kidnapping, the Whites presumed that the fearsome hand of Prophet Brigham Young was behind it.

Do old suspicions like this still haunt the Silver State?