Nevada Books

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.

This was a great rural living memoir. I enjoyed the stories about the neighbors and the town's struggles, the different things that Parks learned about animals and plants, and the story of the success of the pottery school that he founded. He's on my list of people I'd like to meet!

If you really want to come to Vegas prepared, or you just must go to Vegas, Nystrom has everything you need to know.

I enjoyed reading this book, though it isn't my usual 'thing'. I do love Ireland and it's facinating landscape, but I didn't expect the beautiful prose and haunting images. The absent corncrake comes to mind...once so ubiquitous and now gone; this change perhaps a metaphor for many things extant in Irish life. Reading Micheal Viney's words brought to mind the phrase "God is in the details". A really wonderful read.

One of the most spectacular of the famous California-Nevada pioneers, Elias L. (Lucky) Baldwin's life is truly the story of an unconventional success.

This reprint of Carl Glasscock's biography chronicles Baldwin's early years in San Francisco; his involvement with the famous mines and financial giants of the Comstock; the building of San Fraincisco's first luxury hotel and theatre and Lake Tahoe's premier resort-hotel, Tallac; his numerous love affairs and seductions; and finally, his closing years as a famous Southern California land developer and racing enthusiast.

Lucky Baldwin has been spoken of as "the embodiment of the unmoral frontier" and this story of his life and times, written by an early twentieth century journalist, is a fascinating narrative, mixing history with yarns about people and places in a unique way. This classic is certain to be enjoyed by all who love the Old West.
--- from book's back cover

This is not just a recounting of the exploration of the Great Basin, the vast territory between the Sierras and the Colorado and Arizona Rockies but a major review of the major periods of time when the Basin and Range province, as geologists term it, was one of the most deadly barriers to westward migration from the states. And the popular attitude toward it and how it changed from a land of drought and death to the tourist lands of today.
The Old Spanish Trail wended its way to California through the Sonoran Desert to the south, but Spanish settlement never got further north than the Tucson area. Far to the north both the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe trail started in Missouri and crossed the formidable Great Plains; the latter in the days after the Louisiana Purchase passed into Nuevo Mexico from Colorado.
Except for the raiding Comanches of the Grat Plains and further west, the mighty Navajo nation, there was little Indian settlement to bar western travel; the tribes along the Gila and in southern California were not a horse culture and were known as digger Indians for the primitive sticks they used to plant corn.
After the railroads met at Ogden, Utah, safe cross travel across the Great Basin was finally possible, and the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific went through to the south.
Except for the Mormons and their far flung State of Deseret, there was litle traffic except catty-corner to San Diego.
The major emphasis was not on setllement until the fabulously rich mining cities, such as Virginia City, led to development from the Sierra Nevada side. Entry from the SE was blocked by the Rio Grande box, the Grand Canyon, and the scenic canyon lands. And Death Valley is still as isolated as it ever was away fro the railway.
After the mining settled down, the Santa Fe built a branch line to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and a hotel; the Union Pacific through Ogden began to run tourist trains and built resorts.
In the mid 19th century there were several major scientific mapping expeditions covering portions of the area at 1;250,000 scale (approximately 1/4 inch to a mile). The responsibility for mapping the Trans Pecos was regularized by the establishment of the United States Geological Survey in the 1870s. As mechanized mining has developed, the vast hordes of hard rock miners have long since moved on and the population of the California-Nevada area has depleted in favor of resorts like Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.
The Four Corners area has the huge coal burning Navajo power plant supplying Arizona and southrn Calfornia. So as long as the power holds out and air conditioning is availabl parts of the Basin will thrive. And tourist will come to view the deserts.
Sixty years plus ago John ford filmed many epics in Monument Valley. Arizona and new Mexico have active film commissions so the public perception is changing once more.
One modern problem is the fractured land management; the transcontinental railroads were paid with every alternate section of land north and south of their route. The US Forest Service, the National Park Service,combined with the Bureau of Land Management holdings, put most of Nevada and Utah under federal control, so there is little private land left.
The entire Great Basin includes most of western Utah, most of Nevada, NW Arizona and southern Idaho and chunks of the surrounding states so that there are few maps of any useful scale showing the whole province.
The various geologic maps are good examples of the "State Line Faults" so notorious among earth scientists. This occurs, when mapping geology, the surveys began in the interior and spread out to the state lines, where the stratigraphy seldom matches. Today USGS is producing uniform coverage of the whole US.
Nowadays one flies transcontinentally either through Albuquerque or Denver, and the Great Basin is known as "redeye" or "flyover country".

"Remarkable Nevada Women" by author Jan Cleer is a must read for anyone interested in western lore or women's history. Cleer's writing is precise and poetic at the same time, and chronicles in her book thirteen independant, spirited women who helped create the west we all enjoy today. It's a book you'll go back to again and again. A great beach read, or Christmas gift.

This is a novel of place and time and stories, lots of stories. The 'black clad widows', immigrants from Eastern Europe, tell stories; the fictitious town of Taylor, NV, is rife with stories about past events and about its many (well developed) characters. As Leon weaves her tale and vividly evokes a place for our mind's eye, the reader is introduced to lives, terrain and people unknown to most of us. The community of miners who live 'south of Main Street' protects its eccentrics, its young people and its secrets. And the stories of the grandmothers are like the stories of all grandmothers: they keep alive the traditions and provide a continuity, in this case, from the Old World to the Nevada of the 1950's.

From the Redwood forests of northern California to Nevada's Red Rock Canyon, this land was made for mountain biking. With so much to explore in northern California and Nevada, it pays to have the inside scoop on mountain biking in the region. Mountain Bike! Northern California and Nevada will introduce you to the thrill of exploring this magnificent wilderness while helping you discover its most unforgettable rides.

Mountain Bike! Northern California and Nevada provides detailed information on 50 of the best rides throughout the area, including Monterey Bay, Mount Shasta, Mount Saint Helena, Lake Tahoe. Great Basin National Park, and the Las Vegas desert. Here, glacial peaks, coastal hills, open valleys, desert canyons, and forested foothills provide some of the best mountain biking terrain in the country. Author Aimee Serrurier has uncovered a diverse collection of trails that offer something for bikers of all abilities. Whether it's a tame bike path, a rolling fire trail, or a challenging single-track, if it's a good riding, it's profiled here.

Each route profile features:
* a thorough ride description
* a detailed trail map
* helpful sources of information
* proximity of important services
* valuable commentary on elevation changes and possible hazards
* a rescue index

Mountain Bike! Northern California and Nevada also features interesting and entertaining photographs, vivid descriptions of native flora and fauna, a glossary of mountain biking terms, and tips on mountain biking etiquette.
--- from book's back cover

Carol Bonser sure knows her area and gives great directions and commentary. The maps are easy-to-understand and thorough. I've spent many fun hours on the trails she recommends. This is a good book to use in conjunction with her other titles, all about the same general region. I understand she grew up there and so has an in-depth, insider's view to where the most fun is to be had. A definite thumbs-up.