Re-Discovering the Past

by Doresa Banning

Without question, Northern Nevada has a colorful past. Spanish and Mexican residents first brought horses to the area in the 1800s. Miners risked their lives to extract the Comstock Lode. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad helped Nevada earn the moniker, "The Silver State." Mark Twain wrote Virginia City news that was sometimes inaccurate and contradictory. Gambling was both a favorite pastime and major industry. Locals like Bill Harrah amassed great wealth and built empires. Couples flew into Reno from all over the country to start, or end, their marriages. And through all of it, artists recorded their very personal records of the people and landscapes.

The stories of this captivating region are chronicled visually at a number of excellent museums. Each contains something unexpected, from the tale of Convict Lake to the history of mustanging or the potential beauty of xeriscaping. The museums of Reno, Virginia City and Carson City cater to a wide range of interests, ready to spark your curiosity, entertain your eyes and keep the area's vivid character alive.

Reno

Nevada Museum of Art

Founded in 1931 as the Nevada Art Gallery, the Nevada Museum of Art moved to a spectacular new location in 2003 and has thrived ever since. The building itself has become a contemporary landmark for downtown Reno, providing lectures, guided tours, special events—like First Thursdays—children's programs, art classes and more. Also, featured within is Café Musee, which serves up lunch fare and a variety of beverages, and a gift shop. And then there are increasingly stellar exhibitions as well as a growing collection, parts of which are always on display. Below is a sampling of what's currently on view.

From a red plastic seat shaped like oversized lips to a corrugated cardboard chaise, "100 Years/100 Chairs" provides a historical look at design—and its intersection with world events and society—through documenting, year by year, a century's worth of European- and American-made chairs. There are chairs by famed architects and furniture designers, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen and Phillippe Starck, to name a few. The exhibit runs through October 1.

Also on display, through November 12, is "Alexander Calder: The Kite that Never Flew." Calder is renowned as inventor of the mobile. A sampling of his other creations—outdoor sculpture, paintings and woven mats—is also on display.

The Wilbur D. May Museum

The exhibits at the Wilbur D. May Museum revolve around the life of the man for whom the place is named. Owner of the Double Diamond Ranch in Reno, May was a Renaissance man of nineteenth-century culture—a pilot, rancher, world traveler (he went around the world over 40 times), artist, composer, businessman, big game hunter, philanthropist and more.

The museum's South Wing displays an eclectic array of collectibles that May acquired while globetrotting: African dance masks, South Asian katars, Japanese Netsukes, T´ang Dynasty pottery, Egyptian scarabs, European silver and Eskimo scrimshaws. Also for viewing are authentic recreations of four rooms from May's ranch. The Tack Room, filled with mounts, including a rhinoceros, lion, gnu, water buffalo, Bengal tiger, bushpig, sailfish and hartebeests, is unforgettable.

The North Wing features traveling exhibits and an indoor garden, complete with a koi pond, waterfall and seasonal flowers. The next exhibit, scheduled for spring 2007, will be on snakes.

Also on the property is the Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, 12 acres covered with groves of trees, wetland habitats, outdoor courtyards and secluded gardens, and the Wilbur D. May Great Basin Adventure, a seasonal children's theme park that highlights the Great Basin's history through its pony rides, petting zoo, mine replica, log ride, discovery room and more.

National Automobile Museum

"Awesome" best describes the cars housed at the National Automobile Museum (NAM). The gold-plated 1981 De Lorean LK Sports Coupe, for example, the 1907 Thomas Flyer or the 1949 Mercury Coupe that James Dean drove in "Rebel Without a Cause"—will definitely drop your jaw.

More than 200 cars dating back to 1892 are on display in the museum's 105,000 square feet. Most are from late gaming pioneer Bill Harrah's collection. Four street scenes reflect the style and mood of individual time periods in the auto industry's

history, which is chronicled via corresponding timelines.

Through October 6, six extraordinary Pierce-Arrows are featured in the Masterpiece Exhibit. "The 1960s: Movin' & Groovin'," which runs through October 16, boasts cars—including a 1965 Volkswagen "Oh My God" Art Car and a 1965 Ford Mustang—from the Era of Social Change. Along with changing exhibits, NAM offers two art collections, a research library, a museum store and special events.

Virginia City

Mark Twain Museum and Gift Shop

Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens)—humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer—spent the early part of his career writing for the Daily Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada's first newspaper. It was then that he adopted his infamous pen name. His work, which earned him $25 a week in 1863, was rife with embellishment, perhaps foreshadowing his future as one of America's most revered storytellers. Although Twain quit the Territorial Enterprise and journalism altogether, he left a mark on Nevada's history.

This period in his life is eerily captured in the Mark Twain Museum, the dark and musty basement of the original red brick Territorial Enterprise building. Twain spent much of his time in this old pressroom, which still contains most of the original furnishings and equipment. His desk is there, littered with tattered ledgers, journals and books. A sizable portrait of the man displayed alongside it makes it easy to imagine him in that room, wielding a fountain pen. On the creaking, patched wooden floor is a water wheel–powered letterpress, the first linotype in the West, a period switchboard and other bookbinding and printing machinery. In a corner is a primitive toilet. Other artifacts include type cases, trade stamps and various documents.

Nevada Gambling Museum and Gift Shop

On November 5, 1878, a 42-pound wildcat and an eastern bulldog named "Turk" battled it out while Virginia City miners rooted for the fighter they'd put money on. Games of chance like this—dog fights, cockfights, bear-versus-bull fights, panther-versus-grizzly bear fights, gunfights, boxing and wrestling—were prime entertainment on the Comstock, but only one slice of Nevada's gaming history.

A fuller history, from frontier days to the present, is depicted via intriguing displays at the Nevada Gambling Museum. In addition to games of chance, topics explained include Indian gambling methods, cheating techniques, popular games (Hazard, Chuck-A-Luck, Chinese Lottery, Gambling Tops, Poker and the like) and gamblers' guns (like Derringers and Knuckledusters).

More than $500,000 worth of gaming memorabilia is exhibited. There is an authentic-looking 1870s gambling saloon and poker room with original tables. There are 100-plus amazing antique slot machines, which show how the equipment evolved technologically and conceptually, and three, full-sized wooden character slot machines carved by Western artist Frank Polk.

Comstock Wild Horse and Mining Museum

A fall 2003 survey found 1,200 wild mustangs roaming the Virginia Range in Nevada. Generations of these horses are the focus of the Comstock Wild Horse and Mining Museum.

Located inside a historic gold and silver bullion rail car (No. 13) from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, the small museum relays the history of wild horses. Topics covered include the distinctions between wild and estray horses, the proposed sanctuary to protect the local mustangs and ways Comstock horses were used.

Because wild horses supported Virginia City mining, another portion of the museum delves into that industry. Historical mining information, memorabilia and photos are displayed. The museum is sponsored by the Let 'em Run Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving wild horses and the heritage of the American West. A gift shop offers horse-related items, such as photos, maps, music, postcards, books and more.

Carson City

Nevada State Museum

The Nevada State Museum is located in the former U.S. Mint in Carson City, where Coin Press No. 1 still strikes medallions today. In its heyday, the press produced 100 coins a minute, and minted 57 issues of silver all bearing the distinguishing "CC" mint mark. Other mint-related artifacts, history and information accompany the press.

Also sharing the former mint grounds is a walk-through Nevada Ghost Town featuring a general store, assay office, carpenter shop, newspaper and more; an explorable underground mine; and a remarkable Weapons Gallery filled with pistols, Gatling guns, bayonets and the like.

The Earth Science Gallery explores Nevada's geologic evolution from 1,750 to 40 million years ago. Highlights include an Imperial mammoth skeleton (found in Nevada's Black Rock Desert), a walk-through Devonian Sea, a 27-foot long ichthyosaur (discovered in Lovelock) and a stunning mineral collection.

The last Friday of every month, the museum offers a behind-the-scenes tour which allows audiences to see artifacts not currently on display.

The museum is undergoing construction for exhibit improvements and a new hands-on learning center, but will remain open. Also coming is an exhibit on Nevada's plants and animals.

Nevada State Railroad Museum

The Tahoe is a 38-ton steam locomotive once owned by the Virginia and Truckee (V&T) Railroad, which served Virginia City and the Comstock from 1869 to 1938. It's one of 15 V&T locomotive models on exhibit at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Along with the model displays, the museum showcases a collection of impressive late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century railroad equipment from Nevada's past, including five grand steam locomotives and several restored coaches and freight cars, most from the V&T Railroad. The museum's signature piece is the Inyo, one of the oldest operating steam engines in North America.

On weekends between May and September, train rides are offered. December 9 and 10, the Santa Train runs; both children and adults ride for free and visit with Santa. Other seasonal activities include operation of historic railroad equipment, handcar races and other special events. The 35th Annual Railroad History Symposium, "The V&T and Beyond: Nevada Railroads During the 1st Decade of the 20th Century," will be held October 19 through 22.

Children's Museum of Northern Nevada

The Children's Museum of Northern Nevada has reworked the concept of the old Fisher-Price airports and gas stations into a hands-on center where children can explore numerous exhibits—a pediatric room, a grocery store and an indoor planetarium—uninhibited. They're free to pretend, create and play, all the while learning. Other engaging features are a Gravitron, a topological map, distortion mirrors, speed traps, a parabola, a trivia board, a floor piano from the movie Big and a kaleidoscope interior.

Activities include Tuesday story reading and crafts, Movie Day, Battle of the Bands, Star Labs, Kids Camp and a large Dance Program.