I started a fall trip at Commons Beach in Tahoe City. Needing to stretch, I walked around. I saw what I thought was old CCC bathrooms and investigated. I wasn't expecting to find old jail cells! In 1901, with an increasing number of visitors and workers on the railroad, Tahoe City required a jail. The original cells were in a windowless concrete bunker on Commons Beach. Thinking that jail was ... VIEW POST
Recent Ghost Towns & Travel Updates
I80 Mishash
Headed to Elko in the fall of 2025, I made a few stops off I80. I visited a few ghost towns, several graves, and an old mill. I'm trying to get something posted about the sites I visited in late 2025 and early 2026. Don't worry, I'm also working on new in-depth articles. Oreana Oreana (different from Oreana Station) had a five-stamp mill in 1865. It processed ore from the Montezuma Mine ... VIEW POST
Cave Creek & Fort Ruby Drownings
Nestled at the southern edge of Nevada’s remote Ruby Valley, Cave Creek is one of the Silver State’s lesser-known ghost towns. It was born from military necessity and sustained by whiskey and silver. What began as a rough settlement to serve soldiers at isolated Fort Ruby quickly developed its own colorful character, complete with a popular distillery known as “Old Commisary,” a short-lived mining ... VIEW POST
Ruby Valley Pony Express Station
Tucked away in the rugged high desert of northeastern Nevada, the Ruby Valley Pony Express Station was a powerful testament to one of the most daring chapters in American westward expansion. Originally established in the remote Ruby Valley and later relocated to Elko, where it now rests outside the Northeastern Nevada Museum, this weathered structure is one of only two surviving Pony Express ... VIEW POST
2026 Presentation Schedule
I'm so excited about all the presentations this year! A few more locations are pending. The first one is February 28th, at the Lincoln County Tourism Expo in Caliente. Most are about my new books, In the Shadow of the Sierra and In the Glow of the Sierra: ghost towns of the Eastern Sierra. I am especially looking forward to the Nevada State Museum: Dust to Dust in the Desert: Unearthing ... VIEW POST