Category: Reno

Steamboat Ditch and the Tom Cooke Trail to Hole in the Wall

Back In February Duke and I hiked the Tom Cooke Trail to Hole in the Wall. This hike is on page 233 of the book Afoot & Afield Reno-Tahoe A comprehensive hiking Guide by Mike White. The trail starts right next to the Patagonia Outlet on the Truckee River and heads south and then west along the Steamboat Ditch to where the ditch goes through a tunnel.

If you are familiar with Reno you are familiar with the ditches but otherwise you are probably wondering what I am talking about. Reno has a series of canals that carry water from the Truckee river for irrigation. I wanted to know more about the Steamboat Ditch but had a hard time finding any information. The Reno library wasn't able to help me.

Finally today I went to the library at the Nevada Historical Society. The people there were incredibly helpful and I learned a lot.

As the Reno area was first being settled in the second half of the nineteenth century most ranches got there water by buying shares in a ditch company. About 130 miles of ditches were created in the Reno area primarily for irrigation. 

The last ditch company was formed in 1877. It was the Truckee & Steamboat Irrigating Canal Company. Trustees  hired Chinese labor to construct the 33 miles of canal. White laborers were angry and announced that they would drive the Chinese out by force. In spite of their threats the Steamboat Ditch was opened July 1, 1880. It took two years and $40,000 to build

The Steamboat Ditch starts at the Nevada-California Line near interstate 80 west of Reno. Water is taken out of the Truckee river and is carried in flumes and through canals to an area south of Reno near Steamboat Creek. On our hike we walked along the ditch to one end of a tunnel that was built through a hill above the river. It is a long dark tunnel and you can just see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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During the winter if you ever take Interstate 80 into Reno you can see the flume for the Steamboat Ditch on the other side of the river. The icicles hanging down underneath the flume are beautiful.

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There are other paths to hike along the canal and I am looking forward to exploring more of the Steamboat Ditch and learning more about it.

Reno Newcomers Club – Let’s Learn About Nevada meeting

Duke and I have joined the Reno Newcomers Club. It is a very active group of over 1000 people with lots of activities. A couple of weeks ago we went to the welcome coffee, got the newsletter, paid our dues and joined. We went to our first event last night. The Let's Learn About Nevada Meeting was held at the Coney Island Bar one of the oldest establishments in Sparks. Named Coney Island because there used to be an amusement park across the street. It was originally a tamale factory.

The speaker for the meeting was Guy Rocha, the soon to retire Nevada State Archivist. He talked about the importance of getting historical facts right. A few of the facts he talked about include:

  • The dome on the Nevada state capitol is not now and never has been made of silver.
  • When Reno was the divorce capital of the country the 'tradition' of going form the courthouse to the Virginia Street bridge was created by a marketing brochure and the movies.
  • The name Nevada is from the Spanish word nevada for snowfall. Sierra Nevada in Spanish means snowy sawtooth mountains.
  • The iceberg should not have sunk the Titanic.  The Titanic broke up and sank so quickly because it was built with defective rivets. 
  • Nevada senator  Key Pittman who served in the US senate from 1913 from 1940 was not kept on ice so that he could be elected after he died. He had heart attack before the election and died a few days later.
  • Our speaker Guy Rocha would be interested in the position of Archivist of the United States.

Guy Rocha said "Ultimately I believe the truth matters."

New House for Thanksgiving

I haven't posted anything in almost 3 weeks but if you follow my Twitter updates in the right hand column you know that we just bought a new house and have been busy moving out of the old one and getting settled in the new one.We are having a open house tomorrow so have had a deadline for getting unpacked. We also had the family here for Thanksgiving which was great fun.

We had to buy a new refrigerator and we also ended up buying a new washer and dryer. Our old dryer was gas and the quote to install gas to the dryer here was $1,200!

I love the new house. We have a great view and it is just nice to know that it is ours.
Here is part of the view from the back door.
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And here is a four generation picture from Thanksgiving.
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Petroglyphs at Lagomarsino Canyon

Last Friday Duke and I went exploring. Several people have told us about the petroglyphs at Lagomarsino Canyon. Our real estate agent said he used his mountain bike to find them and was blown away by the magnitude of the site. We used the directions on the Backyard Traveler blog and headed out in our truck.We drove over some very rough dirt trails.  I am kind of surprised that we found the site on our first try because there are no signs and there are lots of dirt roads. The site is probably no more than 10 miles east of Reno as the crow flies but we were the only people there on Friday. I'm sure the remoteness limits the visitors.

The  sign at the entrance to the canyon says

"Lagomarsino Canyon is one of the largest rock art sites in Nevada. Most
motifs appear to be 4-5,000 years old, but some may be as old as 10,000
years. Although we do not know what the images mean they still hold
great significance and deserve to be respected. This site is protected
by law and is monitored regularly by concerned local citizens and
Storey County law enforcement. If you want to learn more about rock art
or want to help protect this special place go to www.nevadarockart.org or call the Storey County Sheriff @ 775-847-0950"

We climbed up the rocks to the lip of the canyon. It is easy to suppose  that the ancient Indians who did this rock art used this canyon for hunting. It seems like it would be a good place to drive game over the edge of the cliff. The drive was really pretty and the rock art was amazing. If you would like to see my pictures they are on Flickr here.

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