slgwv's photos with the keyword: historic

Whiskey Creek Camp, Granite Chief Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. See adjacent photo for more information.

Whiskey Creek Camp, Granite Chief Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. See adjacent photo for more information.

A Basque sheepherders' camp from around the turn of the last century, now in the middle of the Granite Chief Wilderness in California's Sierra Nevada. The buildings are being preserved for their historical value--that's why they remain in the wilderness! This is the bunkhouse. The left inset is a storage building; the right inset is a large oven for baking bread, constructed as a small free-standing building in its own right. Note it's all stone, brick, and mortar. Many Basques emigrated to the mountain West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and have left their own cultural imprint. In fact, the first Basque-English dictionary was published by the University of Nevada, Reno, in the mid-90s, and AFAIK UNR is still the only place where you can learn Basque in English.

A historic fire lookout on a summit north of Lake Tahoe. It's been restored by volunteer labor, and is now even in use by volunteers. California, just west of the Nevada line. The inset shows the plane table & alidade inside the lookout, used to locate fires.

An old ranch & stage stop, now on US 95A in western Nevada where the highway crosses the Carson River. It's now part of Ft. Churchill State Park and is being restored. The lower floor is now a museum with latter 19th century furnishings--there are some pix elsewhere in this album. Here's a brief write-up (scroll about halfway down): parks.nv.gov/parks/fort-churchill-state-historic-park

Overland Trail Museum, Sterling, Colorado, USA. A type of windmill that, aside from the wooden tower, is still commonly seen across the rural US west. This museum is considerably more than a cut above the usual museums you find in the rural US! Recommended if you're ever that way.

Sawmill site above Washoe Valley. Active in the late 19th century or so.

Sawmill site above Washoe Valley. Active in the late 19th century or so.

Where the US transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The National Park Service runs the Golden Spike National Historic Site there, complete with a museum and operational replicas of the original locomotives, the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific's #119. (The Central Pacific was building eastward from California, while the Union Pacific built westward.) Note the differences in the locomotives' smokestacks. The wide funnel on the Jupiter was due to its being fueled by wood, while #119 was coal-fired. A screen over the top of the wide funnel on wood-burning locomotives was supposed to stop sparks, and thus keep the countryside from catching fire. It didn't always work... Ironically, the railroad itself is abandoned; it was bypassed in 1904 by the Lucin Cutoff laid directly across the Great Salt Lake. The rails were ripped up in 1942 for the war effort, but a mile and a half was relaid for the park in 1969.