May – June 2018

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HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE

Perfectly planned and executed, we have some really fun stories this issue. We take a look at Reno’s sesquicentennial on page 22, and longtime readers may just recognize that byline.

Looking to the east, we have stories on a historic happening in Ely when air races come to town this summer, and just a bit further we sample the delights of Kerouac’s Restaurant in Baker. Find them on page 56 and page 42, respectively.

We’ve got train stories, of course. The giants of the southern Nevada lines can be found on page 72, and some insight into how our museums manage their collections is on page 36.

There’s more inside, so grab a cool drink and get out in that early summer sun while you read what we have in store for you this issue. Enjoy.

Issue Cover May – June 2018

What’s Inside

Reno Sesquicentennial

  RENO: 150 Years in the making The Biggest Little City in the World looks ahead to its sesquicentennial celebration. BY MATTHEW B. BROWN I'll never forget when I told a relative in 20 ... read more

Railroad Collections

Nevada State Railroad Museum staff and volunteers   Rolling Through the Years How the Nevada State Railroad Museum Cares for its Collections. BY CHRISTOPHER DE WITT The Nevada State Railroad Museum (NSRM) in Carson City has a significant collection of Nevada-related restored an ... read more

Kerouac's Restaurant

Finding Bliss at Kerouac's Relish in a delicious path to enlightenment in eastern Nevada. BY ENGRID BARNETT By the time you reach the easternmost edge of U.S. Route 50, affectionately known as The Loneliest Road in America, Kerouac's restaurant in Baker feels more like a mirage than a reality. The brainchild of chef Jake Cerese and architect K ... read more

Ely Air Races

The World's Fastest Motorsport Comes Ely Eastern Nevada town launches first new air races in the West in 34 years. BY MEGG MUELLER When you have around 4,000 people in your town and y ... read more

Lady Luck Changes Her Game

The days of illicit back-alley poker games and nickel slots paying out drinks and cigars were over, and gaming quickly became one of the state's most important industries. Since that time, the core of the industry—the games—has changed, led by technology and followed closely by the desire for bigger payouts, and more entertaining games. ... read more

Iron Horses, Steel Stallions, & Concrete Colts

If you were to take all of the concrete used to build the Hoover (Boulder) Dam, there would be enough to create a 4-foot-wide sidewalk around the equator, or enough to build a two lane road from Seattle to Miami, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Department also estimates that the dam weighs 6.6 million tons (13,200,000,000 pounds). So how did 1930s-era civil and industrial engineers figure out how to transport approximately 13.2 billion pounds of concrete, along with millions more tons of metal and other materials? They teamed up with another type of engineer—the railroad engineer. ... read more

W.J. Forbes: Death, Taxes, & BM

Mysterious Nevada newspaperman was nearly forgotten by the history books. BY ERIC CACHINERO Semblins. While on a lunchtime jaunt at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, I still remember how anxious I was seeing the name for the first time in my life. It was like a tractor beam defiling my focus and leaving me slightly embarrassed as I ... read more

Railroading Sisters

Two women run the U.S. Gypsum short line north of Reno STORY BY LINDA NIEMANN PHOTOS BY SHIRLY BURMAN (This story originally appeared in our March/April 1992 issue) Just how rare is it for two petite grand­mothers to be running a tr ... read more

Yesterday: Reno’s First Robber Baron

Founding father Myron Lake was a man of vision and avarice, whose toll bridge had Reno citizens both coming and going. Some said he had created a town in order to bleed it. BY GUY LOUIS ROCHA His death was not so deeply de­plored ... read more

2018 Silver State Scavenger Hunt

NEVADA MAGAZINE CELEBRATES THE YEAR OF THE TRAIN BY SENDING ADVENTURERS TO RAILROAD DESTINATIONS. Click here for complete rules. All aboard the 2018 Silver State Scavenger Hunt! The hunt is back, and the pressure’s on to get out and explore Nevada while winning some awesome adventure prizes. We’re incorporating the Nevada railroads ... read more

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