We’ve covered more than 1,000 miles over the past week– 1,065.9 miles to be exact, but who’s counting? – and we’re back in Las Vegas for a few days before we venture out again.
The Goldfield Hotel is a monument to the mining boom in Central Nevada. Opened in 1908, it is an impressive brick building, and was opulent – plush carpet, thick leather chairs and 150 rooms, including 45 suites with bathrooms.
Goldfield came to life in the early 1900s after the discovery of gold in Tonopah. It was aptly named: the ore was filled with gold, but there wasn’t much more than a field – it was shallow and ran out quickly.
If you like ghost stories and ghost hunting, the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah is the place to be. Unlike the Goldfield Hotel, which is a focal point of ghost hunters, the Mizpah is open and you can stay here. And there’s a roster of ghosts.
Last night, Mike and I checked into the Mizpah Hotel and headed up to our room, which had a plaque next to the door. It’s called the Key Pittman Suite. No, we haven’t seen the senator yet, but it’s still early, and we may be on the wrong floor.
We spent most of the day in Belmont, and, sad to say, we didn’t see it all. Given that it’s a small mining town, you might wonder how that’s possible, but trust me.
If you know anything about Belmont, you’ve probably heard the story about how Charles Manson’s family stayed in the courthouse, or at least left some graffiti in it.
Don’t be jealous, but Mike and I took off our jackets at lunchtime. Yes, jackets. It was cool this morning in Belmont, which is about 45 miles north of Tonopah. (It’s just about the geographic center of the state.) And, the weather required jackets, which after a summer in Las Vegas, was wonderful.
Leo Dever could play Willie Nelson in one of the Strip’s tribute acts. He has the look — hair braids stream out of a faded black skullcap; a long, combed beard falls down like a mane; a wiry frame and a world-tested look make him a natural. But Dever, 58, is far from the Strip. On Monday, he was pushing his blue-and-white Cannondale mountain bike up the steep Queens City Summit outside of Rachel.
A few years ago, I was chatting with a clerk at the Jim Butler Inn about rumors about someone buying the then-shuttered Mizpah Hotel, which is next door. She had heard of it and thought it might happen. (It did; the Mizpah reopened not long after.) But as of then, she said, there was nothing going on at the Mizpah except the usual “activity.”
