Columnist Susan Snyder: History in the making in Goldfield

Monday, Aug. 16, 2004 | 8:24 a.m.

It's hard to ignore the itch once the historic preservation bug bites.

Soon after Lake Tahoe-area residents Steve Cramer and Angela P. Haag bought the 1907 bank building in Goldfield, they decided they needed more property close by for parking and fire access.

So they bought the Enterprise Mercantile building next door -- a 1905 building even more dilapidated and worn-out than the bank. Cramer still recalls the day he sat atop the bulldozer, ready to put the mercantile out of its misery.

"It covers three lots. When I got ready to take the bulldozer to it (Angela) comes running out and says, 'Wait. You know, this building is older than our building.' And it was history," he said.

He meant the bulldozing plan, not the building.

Today, Cramer is retired from the construction business -- sort of. There truly is no rest for those who seek to restore history, brick by brick.

"It's slow," he said. "Ten thousand square feet and me."

But such work might be the best hope for turn-of-the-century boomtowns such as Goldfield, an old mining town that sits on U.S. 95 in the eastern edge of Esmeralda County, 182 miles from Las Vegas.

While most of Nevada will continue to grow, Esmeralda is one of eight counties predicted to lose population by 2024, according to a state demographer's report released in May.

Goldfield, the county seat, is one of four communities big enough to list on the county's Web site. Gold Point, Fish Lake Valley and Silver Peak are the other three.

At the peak of its mining boom in 1906, Goldfield was a city of about 20,000. State figures showed 439 residents last year. Still, many people own a piece of Goldfield without living there.

Cramer can name at least half a dozen Californians who spend their weekends, free time and money restoring Goldfield's past. Some will move there when their buildings are habitable.

"They have no children. They are retired. They're people with the money and the gumption to restore these houses," Cramer said.

Cramer and Haag also own four pieces of vacant property in Goldfield, which they bought in 2000 at the annual Goldfield Days land auction and festival. This year's celebration and sale is Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The event includes an antiques fair, historic tours, Old West gun fights, artwork displays and dozens of people roaming the streets in late 19th-century costumes. There's even a good, old-fashioned bank robbery.

"We come out with bags of money, and they rob us on the street," he said of the merry band of bandits who travel from Austin, another historic central Nevada town.

OK, so it sounds like a lot of rich folks playing dress-up. But without such make-believe, the reality is tourists will pass on through Goldfield and spend their money in Tonopah, 26 miles up the road.

Californians, in comparison, look pretty good. One of them is restoring a historic home and railroad car and hopes to open a railroad museum. Cramer and Haag are thinking of turning the bank into a retreat center.

"The locals all know us. In the beginning it's like we're new and we're kicking up some dust. We're 'just city folks,' " Cramer said. "But that's why we're there. We want to get away."