8-30-2021 PIOCHE, NV

 This area was rife with precious minerals and, by crackie, they were discovered, dug up, claimed, mined and murdered over.  In fact, Pioche was one of the biggest precious mineral finds in Nevada history, if one is to believe the hype.  It seems they say that about many little mining towns out west.  It was named after a CA financier named François Pioche who in 1868, “came here and bought the town.”  But Pioche has another claim to fame:  the violent nature of its residents.  They kept getting themselves shot dead, mostly over land claims but an abundance of booze was also a part of it.  Or an overabundance, depending on how you look at it. 

Here lies, "Morgan Courtney
Feared by some
Respected by few
Detested by others
Shot in the back 5 times
in an ambush"

Boot Hill skirted by
the Aerial Tramway

In the early days, 75 shooting deaths occurred before anybody had a chance to die of natural causes.  Normal for a week in Chicago, maybe, but a little high for a tiny mining town.  These people seemed to be cocked in “pissed off.”  The Boot Hill Cemetery sits silently holding the remains of these outlaws, bandits and claim-jumpers who “died with their boots on.”

 

The town burgeoned to 10,000 belly buttons during the mining boom of the 1870s.  Pioche became the seat of Lincoln County and the townsfolk began building a county court house.  The project was designed and priced out at $25,000 in 1870 but construction stalled when money ran out.  They began issuing bonds, bigger government agencies got involved and the cost escalated.  In a few years, it ballooned to $75,000.  Over a 40 year period, bonds were issued, bought, sold and devalued.  The court house was finally completed in 1938, two years after the building was condemned. 

Million Dollar Courthouse

The courtroom

The DA's Office

The Post Office inside the courthouse
"Can I help you?"

It is now a museum and famously known as the Million Dollar Court House because the final cost was, you guessed it, $1M.  Maybe that’s what pissed people off so much!  As for crabby townsfolk, here are some of the local laws that still apply:  1)  No dumping hot coals in vacant lots.  (It tends to start fires and burn stuff down.)  2)  No young boys in saloons or hanging around Green Gables or any other red light establishment.  3)  Sale of liquor to Indians is strictly prohibited.  4)  No lewd women allowed on the streets in daylight hours.  (Lewd men are apparently good to go.)

Voting booth in the 
courthouse - Who knew that
the Republicans would be
on the left?!

 

One of three jail cells
Think it might have been
HOT in there?!

Three jail cells in the courthouse

There is no longer nickel or silver ore mining going on in Pioche and the aerial tramway is no longer active.  It was quite an engineering affair.  The cables carried the ore cars down from Treasure Hill to the mill and although there was a 5 hp motor to assist, the loaded cars moved down mostly by gravity.  Simultaneously, this carried the empty cars up the hill.  The cost of operating this way was roughly 6 cents per ton of ore.  Pretty damned clever, I think.

 

Aerial Tramway mill
Active from 1920-30s

Overland Hotel and Saloon

The Overland Hotel and Saloon sits on the footprint of the original building which operated as a boarding house.  A disastrous fire in 1947 destroyed the original building and in 1948, the hotel was built as it stands today.  As firearms `were really the only “law enforcement” in the early days, there were a number of shooting deaths that took place in this building, presumably having a lot to do with the attached saloon.  Many folks (including Wendy the Barmaid who served us a beer) swear that the hotel is haunted.  Wendy hears screams, her name called, sees shadows moving from room to room and things that rattle and go bump in the night.  The hotel has 14 rooms appointed beautifully.  (Be ready to climb the stairs.)  Another bucket list item for the Labor Day festivities for Lindy and Rob!

Roberto in the lobby of the 
Overland Hotel and Saloon
The backbar was shipped around
South America's Cape Horn

 

Gunslinger's Saloon

The Gunslinger’s Saloon is right up the street, where you can get a cold beer, an ice cream cone or a po’boy.  It was originally the Ghost Town Saloon where burgers were barbecued in the back yard until the old man turned the key and simply walked away.  The new owners have maintained the little building nearly intact, with 3 tables, corrugated steel walls, bare lightbulbs attached to the wooden rafters and bullet holes in the original bay windows.  It started out as a garage, apparently, since the establishment is shy of a bathroom but it is homey and welcoming.  One evening, Judy and her husband came down to their new saloon with their pistols and blew several holes in the new Gunslinger’s shingle.  She grinned, saying, “Just to make it look authentic, don’tchaknow!”

"There's one of the bullet holes."

Gunslinger's Saloon

 

Pioche deserves much more exploration at some future time but for now, we move along to Provo, UT.