Recent visits to Virginia City and Sutter's Mill (Coloma, CA)
RYK
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Last week, during a family vacation in Lake Tahoe, I was able to visit two sites of numismatic significance.
We made a day of visiting Virginia City, NV, the site of the town that supported the efforts of mining the Comstock Lode. Much of the Main Street dates back to 1876 (as fires devoured the first iteration of the city in that year), and if you closed your eyes, you could imagine a stagecoach riding by or a duel in the street... However, when you opened them, mostly what you took in was a tourist trap, with tawdry shops, uninviting restaurants, and a smattering of casinos. We dined (using the term loosely) at the Bonanza Restaurant, visited the "The Way It Was Museum", took one of those hackneyed family western photos at my daughter's request, saw a low quality western skit, got ripped at a few of the shops, and headed back to California.
Of particular note:
1. Virginia City is where Mark Twain got his start as a writer, and there is a museum dedicated to him in town.
2. Morgan dollars were sold everywhere, mostly junk Morgans at inflated prices. There was one real coin store on Main Street (Danielle's Mix), and sure enough, not only did they sell PCGS and NGC slabbed Carson City coins, there was an attractive 1875-CC $20 PCGS AU-58 with a CAC sticker!
The next day, we had a whitewater rafting trip planned on the South Fork of the American River. The launch point was just a few miles from the original site of Sutter's Mill, where James Marshall found gold in 1848, leading to what is now known as the California Gold Rush. As opposed to Virginia City, California has made this area into a very charming state park, with many of the original structures intact and a nifty little museum. We had sandwiches and homemade pie at the Aardvark Restaurant, a double eagle's throw away from the original site of Sutter's Mill (the original mill no longer exists) and walked among some of the original structures of the area.
After the rafting trip, which was quite enjoyable for all (especially the Class III+ rapids
), we dined at the Sierra Nevada House, a restaurant and B&B which dates back to the Gold Rush.
If you visit the area and can only visit one, I highly recommend Coloma and recommend Virginia City, only if you have an extra day to kill.
(Advance apologies for posting this here if they created a Numismatic Travels forum while I was away
)
We made a day of visiting Virginia City, NV, the site of the town that supported the efforts of mining the Comstock Lode. Much of the Main Street dates back to 1876 (as fires devoured the first iteration of the city in that year), and if you closed your eyes, you could imagine a stagecoach riding by or a duel in the street... However, when you opened them, mostly what you took in was a tourist trap, with tawdry shops, uninviting restaurants, and a smattering of casinos. We dined (using the term loosely) at the Bonanza Restaurant, visited the "The Way It Was Museum", took one of those hackneyed family western photos at my daughter's request, saw a low quality western skit, got ripped at a few of the shops, and headed back to California.
Of particular note:
1. Virginia City is where Mark Twain got his start as a writer, and there is a museum dedicated to him in town.
2. Morgan dollars were sold everywhere, mostly junk Morgans at inflated prices. There was one real coin store on Main Street (Danielle's Mix), and sure enough, not only did they sell PCGS and NGC slabbed Carson City coins, there was an attractive 1875-CC $20 PCGS AU-58 with a CAC sticker!
The next day, we had a whitewater rafting trip planned on the South Fork of the American River. The launch point was just a few miles from the original site of Sutter's Mill, where James Marshall found gold in 1848, leading to what is now known as the California Gold Rush. As opposed to Virginia City, California has made this area into a very charming state park, with many of the original structures intact and a nifty little museum. We had sandwiches and homemade pie at the Aardvark Restaurant, a double eagle's throw away from the original site of Sutter's Mill (the original mill no longer exists) and walked among some of the original structures of the area.
After the rafting trip, which was quite enjoyable for all (especially the Class III+ rapids
), we dined at the Sierra Nevada House, a restaurant and B&B which dates back to the Gold Rush.If you visit the area and can only visit one, I highly recommend Coloma and recommend Virginia City, only if you have an extra day to kill.
(Advance apologies for posting this here if they created a Numismatic Travels forum while I was away
) 0
Comments
did you do any panning anywhere?
thanks for the report.
Coloma is a wonderful park. James Marshall was a distant relative of mine, and we enjoy that link with California history. The neat thing about Coloma is you are right on the American River and there is great rafting there, and it is a very well shaded area on hot days in the summer. The museum there is pretty good, and there are additional sites with smaller museums in the town, like a Chinese merchant's store etc. I remember that there were a few 19th century coins in the museum there, a definite plus! Curiously for us, there are things we know about James Marshall's personal history that are never revealed in histories, particularly why he was in fact in California in the first place... a very little known history that was pivotal in the very early history of California, and a later famous institution in another state.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>Great Travel Forum Report! (I also hope it does not get dinged
I do not believe Longacre would find himself in the Coloma area. There is not a Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons within an hour's drive!
If you only have time for one thing, I would HIGHLY recomend a visit to Bodie State Historical Park (California) 2 hours south of Reno. It's the best preserved (arrested decay) mining camp town anywhere that I know of. No tourest trap (not even a place to get a drink of water). Even by todays standards, Bodie is hard to get to and far from anything but well worth the trip. (IT 8000 ft elevation for those that may have a problem with altitude, so caution at that).
You didn't make a side trip to CC?! The museum at the site of the old mint is worth the visit, as is CC itself, with its silver-domed capitol.
(edited for typo. fat fingers this morning)
I wonder if they are the one that outbid me in Heritage a while back when a real nice AU58 slider went for $2000.00 ?
<< <i>Do you remember the price on the 1875 CC 20 cent?
I wonder if they are the one that outbid me in Heritage a while back when a real nice AU58 slider went for $2000.00 ? >>
It was a $20, not a 20c, and I did not ask for the price.
You didn't make a side trip to CC?!
I wanted to visit the CC Mint, but I was careful not to hijack the family's summer vacation (too much
<< <i>I agreee wiht Barry, you might want to visit Carson City and the Mint instead of Virginia City. The Mint is historic and has a great display of the coins minted there as well as the original press. The mint aslo houses a very nice museum. >>
Carson City is only a half hour away from Virginia City. In fact, if you drive from the south shore of Tahoe to VC, you will pass through Carson on the way up US 50 -- and if you stay on the main drag through Carson, you'll drive right past the Mint on the left side of the road.
The White Water Rafting on the American River is really awesome as well!
Did RYK like Satan's Sespool?
The name is LEE!
Oh, yeah! I will update the thread later with the pics.
<< <i>Interesting report.
If you only have time for one thing, I would HIGHLY recomend a visit to Bodie State Historical Park (California) 2 hours south of Reno. It's the best preserved (arrested decay) mining camp town anywhere that I know of. No tourest trap (not even a place to get a drink of water). Even by todays standards, Bodie is hard to get to and far from anything but well worth the trip. (IT 8000 ft elevation for those that may have a problem with altitude, so caution at that).
I will guarantee you that there is a water fountain there, between the parking lot and the town itself.
Sunscreen is key as well; you will burn in 4 minutes without it.
I've visited many times; each time i've spent a day of photography. I took the mill tour once; that was very nice to get a tour inside of the Standard Mill. It is still mostly there, which is odd for a mill town, as the equipment was usually packed up and sent to the next boomtown. But Bodie was the last one in the chain of boomtowns for that equipment.
For the more adventurous, a person with a 4x4 high clearance vehicle and the capability to drive it can start by going to the town of Aurora. The approach from the north will take you by the extensive beautiful ranch valley that the millionare Fossett owned. Then, at the crossroads, you go straight up into the mountains towering above you. You ascend into Aurora; there is a real mine there today...don't go in there. Veer right and park in the old cemetary. Now walk around. Very little is left; most of it was removed.
One of those little roads winding around and down into a canyon, down a rocky slope that takes some driving care...crosses a stream and meets up with another road heading to the north. I felt that I needed a GPS and a map because I think there was more than one choice. And when you are going down a really rough road that you have never been on before, you always question yourself if you made that right choice as sometimes you go down things that you do not want to drive back up. Anyway...at the bottom...cross the little stream, turn left, head north, and about 5 miles later, you arrive at Bodie...but the BACK WAY! From Aurora, it's sister city.
I did this on 'opening day' when the snow was still melting. I had no idea if the roads were open or not, but went for it anyway. I met the rangers half way, they were coming from Bodie; they were doing the initial survey of the road to see if it was open. We stopped when we met. The question out of both of our mouths was..."does the road go through"? Both answers? "Yep". It was pretty funny. And also super cool to realize I was pretty much one of the first through. Bodie was still technically closed according to the highway signs, so I pretty much had the whole place to myself for the day. That was an amazingly cool trip. Ended up camping that night in view of Mono Lake. Love it!
At the time of these cities, they knew where the legislature fixed the California/Nevada boundary line; a corner of it was in the middle of Lake Tahoe. It took some time to survey this, and when they did, they discovered that Aurora was in Nevada and that Bodie was in California. It was a point of argument up until then! And, more interestingly, the Inyo county seat was Aurora at the time. OOPS! It was transferred to Bridgeport when they discovered that Aurora was not actually in the county. And there is even an inter-governmental story here...Aurora forced Bridgeport to pay a sum of about $20,000 to copy the county records, as Aurora was not willing to give their only copies away, nor to copy them for free...Bridgeport simply had to have that documentation...and the local governments forced money to flow over this! Frontier xerox fees!
I'm sorry for going so far off topic, but I love this whole area, spend much time there and try to learn the history.
Those scary little nevada tourist towns are unfortunate. Did you see the highway expansion work going on between Reno and Carson City? I heard it was happening; it will probably serve to help Carson City out (becoming more touristy).
<< <i>Coloma is a great place to visit and anybody that has any interest in California Gold simply must make the trip.
The White Water Rafting on the American River is really awesome as well!
Did RYK like Satan's Sespool? >>
Look at that poor slob in the rafting picture (lower right, below the guy with the hat). That's why Longacre does not get on any boat less than 80 feet.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Sounds like fun.
First of all, Virginia is very touristic. A little too touristic for my taste, but for families its a cool town. During my visit we (me and another forum member) had planned to be in town for about 2 hours. At the coin shop, we already stayed 2 1/2 hours.
The coin shop (Danielle's Mix) is something you absolutely do not expect in such a town. It has a large inventory for a small shop, including currency and lots of CC coins. During my visit for example, they had a 1873-CC no arrows dime and quarter for sale for roughly $3000 each. They were found in the same spot somewhere in the area and obviously had signs of being in the ground for a long time, but both had EF details noting that they were probably lost in the Boom days of Virginia City in the 1870's when it was much, much bigger. It must be noted that the original owner, Lyman Allen, specialist of Philippine Coinage and contributor to the Red Book still works there on some days (he was when we were there). A good guy who has some great stories to tell.
Technically, if not for the tourist things the town would have died and be a ghost town now. Luckily enough the tourist things (I guess they are good for smoething) keep the place alive. We didn't visit the Mark Twain museum but did visit the Mark Twain book store. They have some interesting and scarce books on the area for anyone interested in Nevada history. I bought 2 books there but didn't read them yet.
The old part of Virginia City along Main Street
Bodie is a complete different story. Back in the 1880's, the town was the 3rd largest city of California behind LA and SF. With now only 5% of the buildings remaining, the town is a true ghost town with junk (nails, wood, shells from pistol shots ringing out from a long gone ballroom night) all over the place. 2 large fires have destroyed most of the town, but since 1962 when it became a state park the town has remained in its state as it was back then. In it's heydays, the town had 65 saloons and murders were more common than anything else. One girl who moved to Bodie with her parents, wrote in her diary "Good-Bye God, I'm going to Bodie giving a strong sense of the reputation of the town.
Overview of the town
Bodie is one of the most desolated places I have ever visited. The town is 7 miles from Bridgeport, the next town and the last 3 miles is a dirt road. I spent a full day wandering around until I was completely gone and only wanted to get out of the place. It's at 9000 Feet Elevation which is absolutely too much for this dutch guy from the lowlands.
Typical Bodie, CA view
The weather is one strange thing about the place. At points, there is absolutely no wind. Suddenly the winds starts to blow for a few minutes and then stops again leaving to your imagination what it was. I guess there must be reasons why they call it a ghost town
The town is very historic with some highlights. One of them is one of 9 stamp mills that were in the town, and the only one still standing. They give guided tours, which is the only option to get close to the mill as it is in a hazardous area. The mill that is still standing is from the early 20th century and was the only one that ever turned out a profit. The milling that was done there, 24 hours a day, 6 days a week (except sunday's) together with the other 8 mills caused that the town could be heard from 3 miles away, and the story is that the children couldn't sleep on sundays because it was so silent around town. I can certainly recommend the tour for both kids and adults as it was very well done by the guide who plays the wife of the owner in the early 20's.
The Standard Mill looking over town
One more interesting aspect of Bodie is the old bank. It's a ruin, but the original vault is still standing in rather good condition for it's age. Off course, all coins are long gone but it still is a special place for a coin collector.
The old bank vault-outside
The old bank vault-inside
They are both very interesting places which I can suggest to anyone interested in western history. I have a lot more pictures of especially Bodie, so if anyone is interested shoot me a PM and I will send some more
Dennis
PS sorry for hijacking the thread, but I guess I lost my soul in Bodie, CA
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what a great, historic place. I'm still enjoying my QDB California Gold Rush History/Central America book. I don't know why I've gotten so interested in this subject.
Wouldn't be able to testify about the Bodie bank vault, but almost all the other furniture and other items are not original to Bodie, but were brought in for effect. In the 1950s all the buildings were totally empty.
back in late 80's upon returning from a missouri trip to show my ex wife we had to stop by carson city to see where all my gold pieces came from.
it was a town of 35k and still had a railroad roundhouse (torn down in early 90's) but i fell in love being from the san fernado valley and hence we moved there as it was best to raise kids there in choice.
it was at the mint i drilled upon all neat tidbits i could out of guides,staff and general elders who made the ol mint their hang out.an interesting fact was revealed inthat in 1964 was last official mint operations as the goverment had the carson city mint produce part of the mass of 1964 lincolns.
the mint itself before final opening was feared to be doomed as a major earthquake struck but was built in such stature that it survived fine to many's disbelief
virgina city...good gawd a vammer could spend days and days upon looking at that huge painting of a lady which the artist had used silver dollars.standing in front of that one only wonders the magintude of carson city silver dollars in one place
one last note is the town of bodie mentioned here...a friend of mine who was a goldbug of sorts came into work one monday morning to show me a 8 ounce nugget he found crevicing out of bodie.
glad to hear anyone visit's that area which i made home for some 12 years as being an advivid collector i wonder how many here hold some sort of dream in making home in a city that our mints lay in
Dennis
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