slgwv's photos with the keyword: tank

Pool where the outflow from the hot spring (adjacent photo) collects. It supports vegetation and apparently is drinkable by livestock; the value of surface water in this area is suggested by the sign on the pool (left inset). This area is in the vicinity of the Burning Man counterculture festival, held in late summer in the Black Rock desert, and perhaps there had been some problems with unauthorized diversions by campers!

We found this amusing--the windmill is obviously defunct, with only the tower left, but a solar panel is running the well pump! And it must be working--the stock tank is full. North of Sulphur, Nevada, east of the Black Rock Desert. The high point on the skyline, just to the right of the solar panel, is King Lear Peak (8923 ft/2720 m), high point of the Jackson Range.

Small reservoir for watering stock, off the Greeley Crossing road in extreme northern Nevada. These small watering ponds are commonly called "tanks" in the western US. I've seen it alleged that this is a literal translation of Spanish "tinaja", but it could just be another survival of an older usage. According to the online etymology dictionary, "tank" meant pond originally. Lots of these little ponds dried up in the drought, so it's nice to see it holding water! It just catches the occasional runoff in this usually dry drainage. In fact, it was apparently dry when the satellite view was taken.

Yes, as in mobile armored military vehicle with a large cannon! Off Horse Creek in the Clan Alpine Range, Nevada. We were somewhat nonplussed and wondered if we'd stumbled into the local militia hangout. We initially were doubly nonplussed when, on driving out, we were passed by a dozen or so carryalls, vans, and SUVs full of young men (and maybe a few young women) of military age driving in! We were relieved, however, to note that many of the vehicles had "US Government" license plates. So it's not a militia! We figured the young folks were in the National Guard and out for military training. They train on weekends and holidays--note it's the July 4th holiday--and hence get the somewhat undeserved sobriquet "weekend warriors." The National Guard is a weird holdover of the US Federal system: each state has in effect its own military units, which can be called out in state emergencies (often natural disasters, these days). But in modern times they work closely with the US Federal military and are immediately Federalized (i.e., incorporated into the regular military) during times of national emergency. It used to be, before the all-volunteer army, that a stint in the Guard was considered a relatively painless way of fulfilling one's military service. Daniel Quayle, George Bush senior's VP from 1988-92, skipped Vietnam this way back in the 60s, and this became something of an issue in Bush's Presidential campaigns.

Gold Hill, Nevada. Probably an early cyanide vat--they were made with redwood staves and steel hoops originally.

Gerlach, NV. On the old Feather River Route (Western Pacific), now part of the Union Pacific system. At least the rails haven't been pulled up...

Pershing County, Nevada, USA. Somehow the solar panels clash... I assume they're running a pump to fill the stock tank, replacing a windmill.