Lake Tahoe & Virginia City - Day Five (May 10, 2008)

On Day Five of our vacation, we drove down from Tahoe into Carson City and up the mountain to Virginia City. We thought it would be interesting for the kids to learn a little more about the founding of their home state. Without Virginia City and the immense wealth that emerged from its silver and gold mines, Nevada would not have been even considered for statehood until decades later than its admission to the Union in 1863.

Our first stop was the world famous Bucket of Blood Saloon. Actually, we only parked next to it. I really didn't want to go into the saloon with Julene and five kids, particularly since the place was overrun with bikers. (Correction, the whole city was overrun with bikers.) I was going to take some pictures of the bikers, but they all looked like they would beat me up, even the females (I can't call them women because they just don't look much like women to me). The bikers were probably really just accountants from the Bay Area going through their mid-life crisis by playing dress up for the weekend.I am still trying to figure out what sinister event gave the Bucket of Blood Saloon its macabre name. If anyone knows, please feel free to comment. Otherwise, I'll just assume that the owners wanted to give it a name that would stand out from the others.

After we got all liquored up at the saloon, we walked down the hill from C Street to the Virginia and Truckee Railroad station on F Street. The railroad was constructed in 1869 by private investors at a cost of $1,500,000. It was primarily designed to haul silver ore from Virginia City to processing mills in the Carson River Valley.

On the way, we walked past St. Mary's in the Mountains. Originally built in 1869, it is one of the few significant structures in Virginia City to have survived the Great Fire of 1875 intact.

Unfortunately, the steam engine was out of order that day, so we had to ride behind the stinky diesel train.

Although, Angelina didn't seem to mind.

The Ballard clan, getting ready to pull out of the station.

The train took us past numerous of the famous mines of the Comstock Lode. The Yellow Jacket Mine (above), staked in 1859, was one of the deepest in the Comstock Lode, at one point reaching down 3054 feet. In April 1869, a fire broke out at the 800 foot level of the mine. Thirty-four men died in the fire, most of them suffocating when the smoke filled the underground space where they worked. Although men went back into the mines by the end of April, three weeks after the tragedy, the fire continued to burn for months throughout the shafts. Miners reported finding smoldering timbers for six months after the fire.

My beautiful girls.

We stopped and turned around near the Yellow Jacket Mine, which gave us a chance to stand up and take a picture at the back door of the car in which we were riding.

Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed his first train ride.

The family as we left the Yellow Jacket Mine (Angelina helped me take the picture).

The train ride even included going through a tunnel.

The kids really enjoyed the flash of the camera while we were going through the tunnel.

Angelina looked a little apprehensive in the darkness.

Josh, Joseph and Allyse went on the Ponderosa Saloon Mine Tour with me. Since the mine entrance is in the saloon, we had to hang out in the saloon for about 20 minutes before the tour started. Although our tour guide was missing several teeth, I am convinced that his slurring had less to do with his teeth than his having taken advantage of the fringe benefits of working in a saloon. (The smell of alcohol that followed him, even though we were hundreds of feet into the mine, was a dead giveaway.)

Allyse and Josh raced a camel outside another saloon. If it seems that every other sentence has the word saloon, then you are getting a pretty accurate picture of Virginia City. On C Street, every other building is a saloon, with a mixture of shops, featuring rocks, western paraphernalia and touristy knickknacks.

We also went to see a couple of the cemeteries in Virginia City. One was called the Silver Terrace, which amused me since there was a retirement home just around the corner from our old house by the same name. The irony didn't escape me.

As we went through the cemeteries, it dawned on me that a substantial number of the headstones, and even the gate to the cemetery, bore the masonic compass and square symbol.

Perhaps there is a new installment of the National Treasure movies in Virginia City.

This was the tallest monument in the cemetery.

The monument was for Captain Edward Storey, for whom Storey County, Nevada, was named. Again, note the masonic symbol. Hmmm, I sense a conspiracy.