My big destination last week was Nine-Mile Ranch to see the preservation work and meet my friend and Radio Goldfield co-host, Larry, who is the Ranger Aide.
Native Americans first used this site, and in 1844, John C. Fremont’s party camped at this approximate location en route to California.
After a rich silver and gold ore strike in 1860 on the border of Nevada and California, travelers needed a road to connect Genoa to the eastern Sierra mines around Mono Lake. Nine Mile Ranch became an 1860s stage stop on the Carson to Aurora road. It is most known for Mark Twain staying at the ranch to care for an ill friend.
On December 28, 2016, a series of 5.5 earthquakes seriously damaged the ranch house. It looked like the quake almost split the house in half. In 2018, the Ranch became part of the Walker River State Recreation Area.
I first visited the house in 2002-3 and remember a young family living in the stone house. It was disheartening to see such a historic structure deteriorating. Almost a decade later, the stone house is being preserved.
The upstairs was taken apart stone by stone, and workers reinforced the downstairs stone walls with rebar. Each stone was labeled with a metal tag so it could be put back together in the exact same way. The plan is that the house looks like it did before the quake, at least from the front.
Thank you, Larry, for giving me a tour and letting me peek inside. I can’t wait to see it finished! I’ll bring a bottle of Nevada bourbon so we can toast to preserving history!
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