Customer Reviews (1)

The Best Technical Book on the Comstock Lode
I bought this book years ago when I first visited Reno, Nevada and Virginia City's Comstock mines.Years have passed and I'm buying again because of all the books every written on the Comstock, this book has itall.If you want to know what it really was like in those mines, read thisbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not just a travel guide
"Close enough for government work" is a slam with a core message that is demolished by Tingley and Pizarro's book.The inside cover makes it clear that this book, published by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, is keyed to the designation by the Nevada Legislature of US 50 as the official "Loneliest Road." Thus forwarned to what by conventional wisdom ought to be a badly-organized piece of legislation-inspired junk, I was blown out of the water (OK, sand) by the photos (plenty of color but also outstanding B&W), organization, and clear and enthusiastic writing.The emphasis is on geology over social history, but the interaction between the two is always made clear.And it's not just history--wise comments re the possible sound of Sand Mountain versus the reality of OHV roaring alert readers to what is worth stopping for.Anyone traveling through Nevada on US 50 as opposed to I-80 or I-15 must be a tourist.This book gets granular for you.

Special Publication 26
I am seriously addicted to these Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology books. They lead you by milepost on such wonderful tours. You'll want to grab your camera, rock hammer and pocket protector, and hit the road with this one.

There are a lot of excellent maps in this spiral-bound book. The Great Basin offers many surprises to those who leave the Interstate. Enjoy.

Long Overdue
I have a confession to make. When I live in a place that has ice and snow on the ground for twenty-something days; the temperature hovers around the cold mark (anything below 50 degrees Fahrenheit;)and my home heating bills are larger than my mortage payment, I frequently contract cabin fever. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, looking at maps, howling at the moon (when available), chasing parked cars, and reading travel books. I know, I know, it's only the beginning of winter and readers are typically not standing in line to get tickets for their summer vacations. However, to my surprise I find that a number of libraries have very popular travel programs that start in January. Could it be that others are afflicted with this seemingly incurable malaise? Thus, you can imagine my delight in finding a copy of this wonderful travel book. My wife and I traveled U.S. Highway 50, christened "The Loneliest Road in America" by Time magazine, across Nevada a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, while we had a number of obligatory travel books of this region, this one was not available. I can't believe how much we missed! Since it was published by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, it is a specialized travel book. But don't let that fool you. While it is chock full of information on the geology, flora, and fauna of the region it is so much more. In addition to being highly readable it has 70 color photos, 170 black & white photos and an abundance of illustrations, maps, and sketches. The book takes the traveler along this historic Lincoln Highway from Carson City to Baker and introduces you to a unique Nevada adventure complete with national forests, deserts, and a National Park, Great Basin, that many travelers don't even know exists. About the only thing you will miss is the diesel fume spewing monsters pulling full grown homes and bumper-to-bumper traffic at every milepost. During our visit to Great Basin National Park we encountered perhaps a dozen cars. The book has a helpful road log keyed to highway markers. The trip will take you from ghost towns to Pony Express stations and so many side trips into areas of pristine beauty that you will be hard pressed to believe you are in Nevada, which is, after all just a lot of desert, right? You might even visit a lake that produces some of the best trout fishing in the State and stop for a picnic lunch under aspens that will take your breath away. How about stopping in Fallon and visiting the Naval Air Station and Strike and Air Warfare Center, the Navy's Top Gun training center. Riding the "Ghost Train" from Ely is a trip you won't forget. We discovered the works of Nevada poet Kirk Robertson in a small bookshop in Eureka, which has a beaufifully restored historic courthouse. Kind of a special two for one deal. If you are looking for the fastest way to traverse Nevada complete with four lanes of pavement, interchanges, and fast food stops, Highway 50 is not for you. On the other hand, if you have just a touch of adventure in your soul and don't mind beautiful scenery, historic ambiance, and lots of space, this is worth your time. I would not make this the only travel guide to take on such a trip but I would not leave home without it. Take heart fellow sufferers, spring and summer is coming and this book will remind you why the wait is worth it. ... Read more

Product Description
You've probably never known that submarines have been traveling through a underground cavern from Nevada to the Pacific since the late 1880's.Or that Napoleon III started an Indian war in Nevada.Or that there was a firmly denied battle between the French and the Union navies off Cape Hatteras in 1863, resulting in the sinking of the very first US Navy submarines.That is part of the legend of the Nevada Navy.

Naturally, the history of the Nevada Navy is clouded in secrecy.Firmly denied by US Navy and every other US government agency, the state of Nevada, and any other nation, the Nevada Navy can’t exist. Really.It can’t.

That may be.But according to this secret history, the Nevada Navy has a base inside Anaho Island at Pyramid Lake, Nevada.Landlocked.About 400 miles from the Pacific Ocean.So how is it, after 150 years, that the Nevada Navy has been sending submarines around the world’s oceans?

Can’t be.

Yet how to explain that this same Anaho Island was mysteriously declared a white pelican nesting preserve in 1913 by Woodrow Wilson?White pelicans?And someone would care that much about white pelicans in 1913? Really? Then Anaho was declared a National Wildlife Refuge in 1940 by FDR’s administration.Why would Anaho be declared a National Wildlife Refuge when it was already in the middle of an Indian reservation with restricted access anyway?

So now, no one but rangers can come within 500 feet of the 247-acre island.And Anaho is a small island in a landlocked desert lake in the middle of a landlocked state.Thanks to the United States government.

So this is the story of that secret history, beginning in 1850, and told through Indian wars, the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s intervention.Plus a well-covered up naval battle between the Union and France, and the development of technologies to support combat search and rescues and disaster relief on the world’s oceans.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Secrets Galore!!

A funky bit of imagined history for a Nevada 'Navy'.Loved the interaction between Aldis Gunn and the Indian princess Sarah Winnemucca. I never knew there was really a war between the Indians and the settlers in Nevada;I thought that was more plains Indians kind of thing. Lots of technical stuff, but it is a fun bit of story-telling.Makes you want to go to Pyramid Lake to discover Anaho Island for yourself.Could there really be a cave inside there?I like the idea of it.

Weirdly Great!
The Nevada Navy. lol.But the author paints a fairly convincing portrait of his non-existent Nevada Navy.Probably the most spooky point of his 'history' is his assertion that Anaho Island, the 'secret' base of the Nevada Navy was made a white pelican preserve in 1912, and some kind of park in 1940---both of which turn out to be true, so that no one can go to Anaho Island, as he says, in the middle oflandlocked lake Pyramid Lake in the middle of an Indian reservation.Conspiracy theory stuff.The French turn out to be the villains, beginning with Napoleon III. At least he didn't make the Nazis the bad guys.But I liked it. ... Read more

Product Description
Goldfield, Nevada, was one of the West's last mining boomtowns, centered on a fabulously rich gold deposit discovered in 1902 and exhausted by 1920. Goldfield's heyday embraced both the final days of the western frontier and the beginning of the automobile age, and its brief but brilliant history combined elements of both.

Distinguished mining historian Sally Zanjani has a personal connection to Goldfield-her father was one of thousands who went there to seek his fortune. In this book, Zanjani tells the colorful history of the town, enhancing her story with the personal accounts of many of its residents.The result is an exceptionally readable narrative of an exceptional place.

Goldfield developed first as a rough mining camp after the discovery of gold in 1902, but quickly it included modern stamping mills, an array of saloons and brothels, a lively business district, and a population of widely diverse backgrounds and habits. The arrival of the railroad brought access to the culture and luxuries of the wider world, and gold created the fortunes to enjoy them. But there were families here as well, mothers and children, homes, schools, and churches. There were also single women seeking a livelihood (respectable or not), crooks of many persuasions, politicians with a range of agendas, some less than honorable, and working men of many backgrounds, all hoping to strike it rich. By 1919 the gold rush was over-the ore bodies were exhausted and most of the population left for greener pastures. A disastrous fire in 1923 destroyed much of what was left.

Today's Goldfield is a mere shadow of its halcyon self, but Zanjani's engaging recounting of its story brings this last western gold-rush town to life again as the town celebrates the centennial of its founding. Lavishly illustrated with more than 150 remarkable period photographs, many from private collections and never before published, The Glory Days in Goldfield will delight readers and preserve the history of one of Nevada's most important and vibrant mining centers. ... Read more

Product Description
The complete history of UNLV in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

In 1951, the rapidly growing population of Las Vegas was demanding teachers for the city's burgeoning schools and an opportunity for local high school graduates to earn a university degree close to home. That year, Nevada's Board of Regents, the governing board of the state's system of higher education, initiated a post-high school program in Las Vegas as an extension branch of the University of Nevada in Reno. Few people at the time anticipated the fledgling institution's remarkable future. With an initial enrollment of twelve full-time students taking evenings-only classes in the cramped dressing rooms of the Las Vegas High School auditorium, the school struggled for survival. It was not until September 10, 1957, that UNLV finally opened for classes on its own campus and began a new era of higher education in the state.

In The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted historian Eugene P. Moehring recounts UNLV's phenomenal growth. Here are the personalities who created and guided the school, from Maude Frazier, the visionary educator who fought to bring higher education to southern Nevada, to the professors, administrators, coaches, and other campus personalities who helped shape the institution and its traditions. Moehring discusses the decisions and controversies that influenced the University's location, goals, programs, and personnel, as well as the significant role played by its students. He also examines the unusual relationship between the University and the city, which has developed since the 1955 campaign that raised money to purchase land for a permanent campus by sending students door-to-door to solicit donations. Today, the remarkable synergy between UNLV, Las Vegas's business community, and private philanthropists has been instrumental in creating and supporting many of the University's most important academic programs.

Published in conjunction with UNLV's celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is the account of one of the country's most vibrant institutions of higher learning, a major public research university that reflects and contributes to the booming modern metropolis around it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

UNLV book
My book was in perfect shape when I received it and it arrived at my door about one week after I ordered it.

The first fifty years . . .
As one who attended UNLV back in the old days when the university was fondly referred to as Nevada Southern by its matriculated students and Tumbleweed U by those who played ball with the Running Rebels and lost.Nevada Southern had heart.It was a place where opportunity abounded.The professors were great--well prepared to teach the courses and helpful to their students.The education I received at NSU has followed me throughout my lifetime.When I drive past UNLV, the number of buildings growing from three to over a hundred amaze me. The 330 acres of campus astounds me.Yet with everything considered, UNLV could not possible be a better place than when I attended there--more than fifty years ago!Oh, by-the-way, the book is complete, well-written, with pictures conjured up from the past.Definitely, this book is a tribute to those back in the early days, who were unafraid to dream of a glorious university adorning the fair city of Las Vegas/Henderson, Nevada. And then work and sacrifice to make their dreams come true.Dr. Dickinson, Dr. Wright, and other great educators, whose name mark their place on campus buildings.If students could only envision their own future potential while attending school at UNLV, what a world this would be! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pretty words but no maps or GPS coordinates
As with other books of this style and Author, There are no maps of any use nor are there GPS Coordinates. While instructions are included so the sites they are very vague and many depend on your finding a site your not interested in, in order to find the one you want. With so many dirt roads in mining area's the directions to turn left of a dirt road does not help with there could be 10 dirt roads in a span of three hundred feet.

Best On The Ground Guide
All of Shawn Hall's books are excellent. We have used them for several years to plan trips and then go find the locations he mentions. He gives the reader not only the history of the site, but what remains today of the ghost towns, old stage stops, and railroad towns.

A great resource for historians and explorers
Shawn Hall obviously has a love of history and it's preservation. "Old Heart of Nevada: Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Elko County" is obviously the result of 1000'sof hours of research and countless miles of off-road exploration. Hall's account of these now vanished towns is both factual and facinating as he provides the history, stories, and current state of dozens of now defunct towns, mines, and ranch sites of the area.
The text alone is worth the price for the facts and stories, but even better are the historical photos which can often be contrasted with the author's own photo's of the same area.
A must-have for any Nevada historian or explorer. ... Read more

Product Description
The image of Old West saloons as sites of violence and raucous entertainment has been perpetuated by film and legend, but the true story of such establishments is far more complex. In Boomtown Saloons, archaeologist Kelly J. Dixon recounts the excavation of four historic saloon sites in Nevada's Virginia City, one of the West's most important boomtowns, and shows how the physical traces of this handful of disparate drinking places offer a new perspective on authentic life in the mining West.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Comstock Lode's mineral wealth attracted people from all over the world. At its peak, Virginia City had a cosmopolitan population of over 20,000 people. Like people everywhere, they sought to pass their leisure time in congenial company, often in one or another of the four saloons studied here. Dixon's account of the role these four establishments played in the social and economic life of Virginia City offers keen insight into the businesses and people who made up the backdrop of a mining boomtown. The saloons in this study were quieter than legend would have us believe; they served relatively distinct groups and offered their customers a place of refuge, solidarity, and social contact with peers in a city where few people had longtime ties or initially any close contacts.

Boomtown Saloons also offers an equally vivid portrait of the modern historical archaeologist who combines time-honored digging, reconstruction, and analysis methods with such cutting-edge technology as DNA analysis of saliva traces on a 150-year-old pipestem and chemical analysis of the residue in discarded condiment bottles. The book is illustrated with historical photographs and maps, as well as photographs of artifacts uncovered during the excavations of the four sites. Dixon's sparkling text and thoughtful interpretation of evidence reveal an unknown aspect of daily life in one of the West's most storied boomtowns and demonstrate that, contrary to legend, the traditional western saloon served an vital and complex social role in its community. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Interesting read, aimed at the layman, entertaining
An entertaining book, fairly well written, no hypo-technical jargon for which archaeologists are well known...and for that I am thankful.Very adequate photographs of the artifacts, good descriptions.Includes short fictional accounts of what may have transpired in each saloon, based on the artifacts found.My only critical points on this book are these:one i would expect a hardbound books of some size, for the price of over 21 bucks and this is a softbound, very small and short book of 166 pages not counting the exhaustive notes, so there is not much bang for the buck.Secondly, the mishmash of the various saloons and excavations is confusing in the book, the author switches from one saloon excavation to another time after time, so that you are never sure exactly where you are.Not exactly the flowing words of Ivor Noel Hume, but still a nice book, thus my four star rating.

A cutting-edge delve into the fine nuances of what archaeology can tell us about America's past.
Written by anthropology professor and American West historical archaeology specialist Kelly J. Dixon, Boomtown Saloons is an exciting account of the excavation and analysis of four nineteenth-century Virginia City, Nevada saloon sites. Dixon personally participated the excavation projects, and offers a firsthand view of the evidence, and what its analysis tells us about the people and society of Virginia City well over a century ago. From the style of saloon architecture to reconstructed menu items, saloon serving ware, vices and amusements that saloons offered, and much more, Boomtown Saloons is a cutting-edge delve into the fine nuances of what archaeology can tell us about America's past.

Not quite what you see on the Silver Screen
Boomtown Saloons puts a humane and inclusive face on Old West culture.It was refreshing to see that there was more to life in Virginia City than Hollywood's interpretations.

This well written, informative, and entertaining book which should be a must read for anyone interested in the Old West. ... Read more

Product Description
Nevada is much more than desert and casinos. While the majority of mining towns are now ghost towns,there is much about Nevada that goes unknown by most visitors. This book enlightens both the old time Nevada resident and fills in many of the spaces in the knowledge of the casual traveler or visitor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Little Editing Would Go a Long Way
This book presents interesting little snippets of Nevada history - nothing so grandiose as the state's history, but rather snapshots of towns, individuals, and natural features. And really, that's more intruiging.

However, this book suffers greatly from a lack of editing. Numerous typographical errors mar the flow of the story, and some of the text just needs to be tightened. In one case, the sentence "State statues forbade the Chinese from owning property," is followed two short paragraphs later by "The Chinese were prohibited by state statute from owning property." (page 115)

A good read, and one that can be taken in small bites, but in dire need of a good editor.

Readers are treated to revelations in geology
Little Known Tales In Nevada History by Alton Pryor is an engaging "window in time", leading the reader through Nevada frontier towns that originally boomed during the gold and silver mining era, only to disintegrate into ghost towns as the mines dried up. Readers are treated to revelations in geology locked within earth and stone, as well as exciting tales of train robberies, lynchings, and battles with Indians, and so much more. Black-and-white illustrations pepper this highly enjoyable read, which is especially recommended for its insights into human nature, as well as showcasing the curiosities of Nevada history. ... Read more

Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1913Original Publisher: The Elms Publishing Co., Inc.Subjects: NevadaHistory / United States / State ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Horses, Mules & Sierra Nevada
There can be no perfect and complete treatment of mules, horses and packing in the Sierra Nevada. This is a major effort and does very well starting with Spanish exploration in the mid-1700s to the early 1950s. Mules are generally significantly smarter than horses. Mules take care of themselves and their feet better than horses. As a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, mules get the best of both parents ("hybrid vigor") and are able to carry heavy loads over long distances in difficult conditions. Theodore Solomons explored much of what is now the John Muir - Pacific Crest Trail in the Sierra Nevada with his mule "Whitney."

There are strong contributions from Norman "Ike" Livermore, Secretary of Resources for California under Governor Ronald Reagan. Livermore's 1936 business master's thesis at Stanford University was on the High Sierra Packing Business. Now in his 90s we are fortunate to have some of his and many others' collective wisdom and knowledge as a part of this book. Jim Synder, Yosemite Natl Park Historian has worked diligently to collect grazing and packing history.

Backpackers today have limited understanding the role pack stock has played in the Sierra Nevada since the 1850s. Trails and bridges are largely built to stock standards. Large wood-burning stoves, structural steel, large diameter cable, bridge decking, trail signs, tools and support for trail crews and recreational visitors have all been carried into and out of the backcountry by mules and horses.

Use of pack stock peaked from 1950 to about 1970. Backpacking took off in the early 1970s. In many cases urban back packers with no knowledge or experience of stock viewed stock as foreign, intrusive and not compatible or sustainable with Sierra Nevada ecosystems. The Sierra Club Foundation, National Park Service, universities and National Forest Service began investigating outings impacts in the 1970s. Much abuse was inflicted by concessionaire, government and packer stock on meadows in the past. Where formerly parties were large with huge impacts on the ecosystems, parties became smaller and could carry propane and not burn wood. For many years backcountry rangers with a horse and mule(s) patrolled large areas, did extensive trail maintenance and hauled refuse that had accumulated since the 1930s out of the backcountry. A backpacker walks the trails today, sees little or no refuse and thinks things are pristine and have "always been this way." In fact, stock carried huge amounts of supplies and tools in and large amounts of refuse out.

Costs and logistics caught up with many pack outfits in the 1970s. The effort to care for and maintain stock year-round for packing between June and October became cost prohibitive. Urban dwellers often balk at paying $150 to $250 per day for a packer and a mule.

The collective and historic wisdom of working with stock in the Sierra Nevada has been lost to a large extent in the National Forests and to a lesser extent in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Budget cuts have eliminated many with intimate knowledge of stock who worked 30, 40, 50 or more seasons in the Sierra Nevada. It has always been difficult to be a "mountain mule man" and is more difficult now. Sierra Nevada management has largely moved to sustainability and away from resource extraction as evidenced by establishment of Giant Sequoia National Monument, contiguous formal wilderness from the northern to southern Sierra Nevada, requirement for wilderness permits. The Sierra Nevada Alliance is making comprehensive efforts toward "whole watershed" sustainble management. Recent court actions have made stock use follow the same restrictions as backpackers - limiting the size and number of groups, with or without stock.

A packer must be good with people, horses, mules and government personnel. A packer must fix water bars, saw through downed trees, chase down reluctant mules, efficiently pack loads that stay on over difficult terrain in strings of mules, take care of horse and mule feet, take care of themselves - all independently without help.

The "University of the Wilderness" is a magnificient education where the receptive "learn the questions to answers we have not yet learned how to ask." Mules are an integral part of a Sierra Nevada university education - now increasingly hard to come by. Mules are excellent teachers if you are patient and willing to listen, watch and learn. Louise Jackson has done a major service touching on a portion of the history of mules, people and stock operations in the Sierra Nevada. This is a good read!

Compelling telling of an interesting part of Sierra history
This book is well-written and entertaining. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of Sierra or the use of livestock, as well as to anyone who has spent time in the Sierra back country. The author does a wonderful job of presenting the facts in a manner that brings the era and the people alive. The history of packing is provided against the backdrop of the broader Sierra history, putting it in context that makes the role of packing clear. ... Read more

Product Description
HIKING MONTANA 3RD

Customer Reviews (3)

useful book
delivery was slower than usual, but the book is easy to use and will come in handy

Woah!!!
Well I would say this is a basic overview of Nevada... Not really super detailed to any one particular area, but a good general description of some key hikes in the great state of nevada. If you buy enjoy it....

Some of Nevada's Finest:A Review of the Second Edition
Bruce Grubbs is the author of a very good hiking guide to Great Basin National Park, so one might expect that his guide to hiking the whole state of Nevada would also be a gem.And indeed, this book does list some nice hikes throughout the state ranging from short day hikes to multi-day backpack trips.Directions to trailheads, route descriptions, hypsometric maps (where appropriate) and such useful information as "canine compatibility" (ie. where you can walk with your dog) are all more than adequate.In addition, the second edition features a little more than a dozen new hikes in the Silver State.

Nonetheless, I cannot give this book more than 3 stars, and this despite the fact that it has very few competitors in the market.In the first instance, I don't really like the format which, like the first edition, is more a work of compilation than a work of authorship.In many cases, Grubbs simply prints comments from brochures (or other sources) by Nevada Parks, the Forest Service, or the Bureau of Land Management.I prefer authors write their own trail descriptions.It helps assure me that they have personally hiked (and rechecked) the trails.Beyond that, I still wonder about some of his trail selections.Red Rock Canyon, outside Las Vegas, gets a lot of (well deserved) attention, but Mt. Charleston Recreation Area has only 1 trail listed.Insofar as this recreation area offers some of the premier hiking in the southern portion of Nevada, I'm curious why a guide to the state would mention so little in this region.On the other hand, some of the "trails" listed, especially in northern Nevada, have long dirt roads for access and offer little in the way of such amenities as trail tread.After reading this book, I certainly don't feel much desire to go explore the area around Winnemucca and Denio.

So in the final analysis, I think this book could offer more in terms of really scenic hikes and drop some of the long desert washes.Still, you can find some neat little out of the way trails with it.Last winter, my wife and I explored the Grimes Point Archeological Area, a short leg stretcher just off our route from California to Boise, Idaho and really enjoyed the place.We would never have found it without this guide, so until something better comes along, this is the book to get for Nevada outdoor recreation. ... Read more

Product Description
Before the Nukes chronicles the fascinating history of the area of the Nevada Test Site. Told with photos, maps, and logs are the stories of occupation by Native Americans, the crossing of the area by the Death Valley '49ers, the mining ventures and ghost towns, and the people who braved formidable hardships to live there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

DESERT MYSTERIES
Before the Nukes is a short history of the Nevada Test Site and the surrounding region. It is not about the Nevada Test Site per se, however, but instead it takes the reader on a cultural tour that extends thousands of years back into antiquity. The author then moves forward to the present, giving us valuable tidbits of history all along the way. It's fascinating stuff, especially for anyone interested in desert lore.

I came across this little book while doing research on the early atom bomb tests that were conducted at the Nevada Test Site and, after reading the first page I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in American history and, specifically, in the cultural/geographic region containing the Nevada Test Site.
... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Chronicles the life and political career of Howard Cannon
Written by former journalist and U.S. Senate aide Michael Vernetti, Senator Howard Cannon of Nevada: A Biography chronicles the life and political career of Howard Cannon, who represented Nevada in the U.S. Senate from 1958 to 1982 and earned a reputation for productivity and influence. A man who believed in the virtue of hard work rather than excessive vanity or self-promotion, Cannon's work on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the Armed Services Committee brought about sweeping changes in the air travel industry - such as deregulation and increased support for national military preparedness. A handful of black-and-white photographs and information garnered from dozens of interviews with Cannon's associates distinguish this solid biographical account of a respectable American leader.
... Read more

Product Description
The tragic saga of the Donner Party has inspired both legend and scholarship ever since the survivors were rescued from the High Sierra snows in the spring of 1847. When archaeologist Donald L. Hardesty and four colleagues—a historian and three other archaeologists--turned their collective attention to the ordeal of the Donner Party, the result was an original and sometimes surprising new study of this pioneer group and their place in the history of overland migration.

Now available for the first time in paperback, The Archaeology of the Donner Party combines the fruits of meticulous investigation of the Sierra Nevada sites with scientific analysis of artifacts discovered there and interpretation of the documents of the party and the memoirs of survivors. Through this interdisciplinary approach, Hardesty and his colleagues offer new insight into the ordeal of these ill-fated emigrants and demonstrate the vital role that archaeology can play in illuminating and expanding our understanding of historical events.

Contributions by Michael Brodhead, Donald K. Grayson, Susan Lindstrom, and George L. Miller. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An extensively researched history of an ill-fated expedition to California in the winter of 1846-1847
Professor of Historic Preservation and Anthropology Donald Hardesty presents The Archaeology Of The Donner Party, an extensively researched history of an ill-fated expedition to California in the winter of 1846-1847. Trapped by snow in the uppermost reaches of the Sierra Nevada, half of the Donner Party perished from starvation; the remaining half had to cannibalize their dead to survive. The tragedy became fuel for legends, folklore, and stories about westward expansion; but what truly happened? The Archaeology Of The Donner Party turns to the science of archaeology to unravel long-standing mysteries. Contributions by Michael Brodhead, Donald Grayson, Susan Lindstrom, and George Miller aid the author in gathering as much raw data as possible, some of which is offered in the form of charts for the reader's perusal; the result is an astute cross-examination of the telltale footprints of history. A handful of black-and-white The Archaeology Of The Donner Party is welcome not only for its meticulous reconstruction of a devastating tragedy, but also as an example of how archaeology can aid in the study of relatively recent history as surely as the history of civilizations from thousands of years ago.

Stunning history!
Read this book after reading "Frozen in Time" (about the Franklin expedition lost in the arctic) and "Alive" (about a 1972 plane crash in the Andes), both terrible and true tales of people forced to fight death and starvation.

This book is as stunning as the other two!

The book is well researched. Dramatic. Brings to light details and hypothesis of how these people coped in the face of death.

It is interesting seeing this team piece together the Donner party's activities.

Fantastic read if your into human adventure & spirit! ... Read more

Product Description
The twenty-two essays in this compelling anthology were written for a 1999 symposium commemorating the bicentennial of the discovery of gold in North Carolina. Topics addressed include: the geology and science of gold; world gold exploration; pre-Columbian gold; gold and gold mining in North Carolina (1799-1915); the Bechtler and Charlotte Mints; African Americans, slavery, and gold mining in North Carolina; the California Gold Rush; Colorado's Cripple Creek Mining District; Nevada's gold-mining history and the Carlin Deposit; financing the gold rushes; gold in the Klondike; gold in Alaska; and the aesthetic dimension of gold. Ninety-eight images and maps illustrate the text. ... Read more

Product Description
The life story of Jack Douglass a Northern Nevada gambling pioneer. Founder of the Cal-Neva Casino in Reno. (Description by http-mart) ... Read more

Product Description
In 1991, Nevada's Commission for Cultural Affairs was created to oversee the preservation of the state's historic buildings and the conversion of the best of them for use as cultural centers. Working closely with local groups and drawing on both public and private resources, this program has rehabilitated dozens of historic structures treasured by their communities for the ways they represent the development of the state and its culture. "Nevada's Historic Buildings" highlights 90 of these buildings, describing them in the context of the state's history and the character of the people who created and used them. Note: Nevadans themselves had a say in which buildings were picked. ... Read more