- I'm headed into the desert in Pershing County to explore some of the history and recreation that's available in the area.

That's all coming up right now on "Wild Nevada."

- [Narrator] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] And by Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark and Susan Herron, in memory of Sue McDowell, Lloyd Rogers and Gaia Brown, Stanley and Neila Shumaker, and by individual members.

(bright music) (bright music) - Hi, I'm Chris Orr, and I'm starting this time in the heart of Pershing County in the community of Lovelock just off of Interstate 80, to explore some of the history and recreation in the area.

And my first stop is right here at the Marzen House Museum.

(gentle music) At Pershing County's Marzen House Museum, I meet Jack Hursh.

Jack, thanks for meeting me out here.

- Hi.

Yeah.

Well, thank you for meeting me here.

- So as I've driven down 80 so many times, I've known that there was a museum, but I hadn't stopped.

And this is just a beautiful house.

- Oh, yeah.

This house was built by Joseph Marzen, and it was built in the 1874, 1875 time period.

Joseph Marzen was a typical California gold rush guy, came to California from Eastern United States.

(gentle music) This house was originally built about a mile and a half out there on a ranch.

And in 1980, Walt and Viola Brinkerhoff who owned the property then, they wanted a new house.

And so instead of tearing this beauty down, they worked with Pershing County and they donated this property, and they had the house moved to this property.

And that was the inception of the Pershing County Museum.

- So that house actually became kind of the heart of the whole museum- - It is.

- District here in Lovelock.

- That's correct.

Yeah.

Lovelock did not have at that time a permanent museum.

(gentle music) We have nice displays of the original antique period furniture in the house.

And then we have many portraits of the famous people like Sam Clemens, Edna Purviance, George Lovelock, Joseph Marzen, and then many other early pioneer settlers and ranching and mining advocates here in Pershing County.

We also have the cowboy room, which honors the ranching and the cowboys and the immigrant trail.

(gentle music) - So the sign says assay office, but it points in that direction.

(Chris laughs) - Oh, yeah.

- Is this the assay office though?

I think that this is the assay office, and it was originally in the mining camp of Rochester, which is up in the Humboldt Range, and then it's served as the assay office there around, in the early 1900s.

- Yeah, it's a really cool look, because you look at it and you realize it's metal paneling that's stamped to look like brick.

- That's right.

It's got that faux brick look.

And that was a popular building material of the time.

And it's very rusty, so it has the age and look.

(gentle music) So a lot of what's in there are original artifacts to the assay office.

And then we of course have added a lot of interpretive information about all the mining districts here in Pershing County.

- And it's interesting because we talk about the mining and agriculture as part of the history of Lovelock, but they're very much still thriving industries in the area.

- Oh, absolutely, well, we've mentioned this came from the Rochester Mining District.

Well, that mining district is still very active.

It's Coeur Rochester mine now, and it is one of the, it's a huge, huge mine, and it's one of the biggest industries and employers in Pershing County.

- You know, it's interesting how those layers of history just continue and just new layer after new layer.

(gentle music) So this is a cool old building.

- Yeah, this is the blacksmith shop from the mining camp of Packard.

And so Packard was near the mining camp of Rochester.

This was the very last structure that was still surviving at the mining camp site.

(gentle music) - People don't think about the fact that you wouldn't have a hardware store, so you would need- - Oh, absolutely.

- To be able to build your tools or repair your tools and- - Yeah, well, think about how isolated they were, those mining camps, and there was a long way from a big city, so you had to be self-sufficient.

And so every mining camp had a blacksmith shop and they had all the tools here necessary to do any metal works really.

(gentle music) - So this is definitely something that I'm a little more familiar.

This looks like agriculture.

- It is agriculture.

And so what we have here are very vintage antique haying type implements.

And so I've known this implement here to be called a beaver slide, and I don't know if that's slang or official, but it was the loose hay era of harvesting hay.

(gentle music) - Then I look out and I recognize, like, the old international tractor like my grandpa had.

And so it's kind of nice to see it going from that horse-drawn wood equipment to the more mechanized- - Yeah, the industrial age.

(gentle music) Pershing County has a incredibly rich, diverse, and many layers of history.

And of course the Native American history goes way back and it's incredibly rich and colorful.

And then the California immigrant trail coming through here, and then the establishment of Rye Patch and irrigation brought in all kinds of farming and ranching, and it's still very much agricultural.

And then the establishment of the railroad by the Central Pacific Railroad in 1868, '69 time period brought a lot of people to Lovelock because of the railroad.

And George Lovelock himself donated 85 acres to the Central Pacific Railroad, and they named the town site after him.

So that's where we got our name.

Our county is the youngest county in Nevada.

It was formed in 1919.

And General John Pershing was a famous general in World War I. And so we were named in commemoration of General John Pershing.

- I'm glad that I stopped this time through, and thanks for showing it to me.

- Well, you're welcome.

I'm glad you stopped as well.

(gentle music) - In addition to the exhibits at the Marzen House Museum, there is much to see in Lovelock, including the striking architecture of the Pershing County Courthouse, which was designed by Frederick Joseph DeLongchamps.

And located just behind it, Lover's Lock Plaza, where couples from around the world have locked their love in Lovelock, following the ancient Chinese custom of placing a lock on a never-ending chain.

There must be thousands of locks here, and the tradition has become so popular, the community has added space in some of the other town parks to let the chains of love continue to grow.

(gentle music) (gentle music) For now, though, it's time for me to head outside of town to visit a location with an even older history in the area.

Considered to be one of the most important sites of North American archeology, the sacred Lovelock Cave is located about 20 miles away on the Lovelock Cave Backcountry Byway.

We head through Lovelock and find our way to Amherst Avenue, which becomes South Meridian Road, also known as State Road 397.

From there, we follow the signs to Lovelock Cave parking area and trailhead.

While the Lovelock Cave Backcountry Byway starts out on paved road, the route becomes more primitive as you go, so make sure you check road conditions and drive a vehicle that can navigate the dirt road.

In the parking area, not far from the cave trail, I meet Steve Townley.

Well, Steve, thanks for meeting me out here.

So where are we?

- Well, this is the Lovelock Cave recreation site and cultural site.

It's one of Nevada's hidden surprises.

And, you know, as you've found and you explored, there's so many in Nevada.

So right around the corner here is where the cave is.

Out here is what's left of Lake Lahontan, which was a huge lake, you know, thousands of years ago.

If you wanna just head on over to the cave, we could just get going, I guess.

- Yeah, let's take a look.

- All right.

(gentle music) - [Chris] This is such a beautiful landscape.

I didn't realize that I was coming up out of the valley as much as I was, but now I can see that we're up a little bit higher.

- Yeah, I mean, in a little bit clearer day, of course you'd see even further, but the panorama views of Nevada are just incredible.

(gentle music) The biggest leftover of Lahon is Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake also.

So, but it was a huge lake.

All, most of Nevada was covered in it, and that was right around the end of the last Ice Age, about 15,000 years ago is when it reached its peak.

So there was a lot of water out here.

And as it receded about 11,000 years ago, the cave was exposed, so it was still very high.

And they had to recede quite a bit further before people were able to settle and hunt and live around the lake.

(gentle music) - So when we talk about the geology here, so we've got the lake, and then when we look out, what sort of rock formations are we looking at?

- There are layers of limestone and marble.

And these were laid down underneath, you know, the ocean 180 million years ago or something, a long time ago during the Jurassic, which is the dinosaur periods.

And so all that, these layers getting compressed, and then they would fold and twist.

And you can see how this happened here.

(gentle music) The colors just even here, there's even some purple in there and, yeah, the black, and it creates a beautiful, beautiful wall.

- Well, it really makes it a dramatic part of the landscape.

- Right.

- Well, it's already very cool and we're not even to the cave yet.

- All right, here we go.

(gentle music) So this is kind of interesting, right here, that the tufa is just stuck on the side of the rock there and it's all kind of bubbly looking.

To me, it looks like coral you'd see under the ocean too.

A little different way of formation, but yeah, to me it looks kinda similar.

Good evidence of the lake and that- - And how high it was up here.

- Yeah, at least, yeah, for sure, here and much higher as well.

- And then we're looking all the way now down into the cave.

- Right.

Here's the main entrance right up here.

(gentle music) - So I have a feeling this is one of those hikes where you just kinda watch your step and watch your head at the same time, right?

- [Steve] Yeah, a little.

A little tricky, like this.

Luckily I'm short enough I don't have to worry about that.

(gentle music) - Okay.

This is cool.

- Yeah.

All kinds of things going on in here.

Lot of charcoal from fires and still some of the white calcium I would imagine coming through the rock and that too.

- And you can just barely hear an occasional bat every once in a while.

I hear a little squeak.

(gentle music) Lovelock Cave was first excavated for bat guano in 1911.

During the course of these commercial fertilizer operations, thousands of artifacts dating back to 2000 BC were found buried in the cave and were well preserved because of the area's dry climate.

The artifacts have added much to our knowledge of lakeshore culture, and among them where the world's oldest duck decoys, which are currently preserved at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

(gentle music) My understanding is there's a lot of kind of legend and lore along with the cultural significance of the Lovelock Cave.

- Our pamphlets and some of our information tell those stories, and it is interesting to hear how they, you know, handled life and survived.

- When you think about how much human history it holds, it gives that even more importance to protecting it and making sure that when you visit, you're respecting it.

- And part of the reason why we have this deck in here was to basically protect whatever is left under it so that it doesn't continue to be excavated, but people can still come in the cave.

- Thanks for bringing me down here.

It's definitely a very special place.

I appreciate the opportunity to come visit.

- It's so enjoyable to share these things with people and, you know, I hope, again, like you said, the people come here and they will respect things more because of their experience here.

- There's so much history to explore in the area, but it's time to head back to town and get some rest to get ready for another day of adventure tomorrow.

(gentle music) (gentle music) To start the day, I head northeast out of Lovelock on Interstate 80 for about 25 miles to reach Rye Patch State Recreation Area.

(gentle music) As I begin my visit at Rye Patch, I meet Park Ranger Caleb Kondor.

Well, thanks for meeting me out here.

I've driven by Rye Patch hundreds of times it feels like, but I've never actually stopped and visited.

This is beautiful.

- It's a nice little place.

- [Chris] So quiet today.

It's lovely.

How big is Rye Patch Recreation Area?

- The actual state park is only about 500 acres.

The lake itself is a lot larger.

- I'm excited to get to see more of it.

Do you wanna show me?

- Absolutely.

- Rye Patch Reservoir was created in 1936 along the Humboldt River for flood control and irrigation for agriculture in the Lovelock Valley.

- [Caleb] It's a working dam.

This water comes down and it heads into Lovelock.

The farmers actually own the water.

They have the water rights to it.

(water gurgling) - [Chris] On our visit to the dam at the base of the reservoir, Caleb and I meet Townsend Barrick.

- My dad's parents first originally ran it, and then, so my mom and dad took it over, and now I get the chance to run it as well, (water gurgling) To be able to continuously provide water to the farmers and to carry on the same work that I grew up watching my parents do.

It's really awesome.

(gentle music) Usually July into August is when the farmers really start calling for a lot more water.

And sometimes I might make an adjustment daily, sometimes I might leave it running for a while.

It just depends on how much water they're calling for.

(gentle music) - Is this original equipment?

- So yes, this is all the original hydraulics that was made in 1935.

So we no longer use these ones.

I have a digital panel now.

And that gives me the ability to see how much water I have.

So right now I'm about 56,000 acre feet of water.

- So that truly is, like, all your information in one glance it tells you all your operations.

It's pretty cool.

And of course in today's world, it's all on an app, right?

- Nope, I still have to come down here.

- You don't have Bluetooth or something, or wifi.

- This is a great stairwell.

This definitely feels original.

(laughs) - [Townsend] Every morning, even weekends, every morning I come in, I do a full visual inspection underneath here.

And then even if I don't have a water adjustment, I still have to come down here and check.

- It's amazing to me to think all of this water is passing through this.

- This is why we feel that movement of air, because it creates that suction.

- Oh, wow.

It almost creates like a sense of vertigo when you look down there.

- It hurts your fingers if you put your fingers down.

- Oh, I can imagine.

(gentle music) You know, it's interesting, you stand here and you feel like you're listening to an engine and you realize, no, this is water.

- Water rushing underneath our feet.

(gentle music) - Thank you so much.

- Thanks again, Townsend.

- Hey, you guys have a good day.

- Wonderful.

(gentle music) - From the dam, Caleb and I head to the nearby day use and campground area.

Open year round, visitors can use Rye Patch State Recreation Area as a base for a wide variety of activities.

(gentle music) This is a beautiful area, isn't it?

Really feel protected among the trees.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

It really kind of a very protected area, and we get all kinds of animals come through.

We get wild turkeys.

We have wild turkeys come through, roost over here, deer.

We've even got a local bobcat that comes around.

It's a really quite a special little spot right out in here.

- Beautiful place to camp though.

- Oh, yeah.

And there's spots to park right along the river to have kind of a nice spot to get out for the day.

Otherwise, most of this is just, you know, camping space.

- Rye Patch offers two campground areas with more than 20 spots in each, one near the river and another closer to the reservoir.

The campsites offer visitors restrooms, hot showers, along with some other basic amenities, access to trails, and of course some amazing views.

(gentle music) During our brief time at the campground, it's clear that we're not the only ones enjoying the area.

We're joined by a variety of wildlife.

(gentle music) Depending on water levels, Rye Patch Reservoir offers approximately 72 miles of shoreline, and when full, up to 11,000 acres of water surface.

To really get to explore that much area, we need to head out onto the water itself.

(gentle music) Well, this is a great way to get perspective of the lake, actually being on it.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- It's much bigger than it appears when you look at it on a map.

- Well, yeah.

Well, and the thing is with all the fingers that have the, that's in the lake, it actually expands out quite a lot all the way down.

- So when a person comes out to visit and they wanna get out on the lake, I mean, obviously we're out in a motor boat.

Is that okay to bring motorized vehicles all into the water?

- Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

In fact, you know, that's how most people come out.

We do have kayakers as you've seen out and about.

People come down and just enjoy playing around in the water.

Well, there you go.

A good example of some stuff people do out here.

- Some water sports right there.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- They make it look easy.

- Right?

I think he's been doing it for a while.

- By now, I would have already fallen.

(gentle music) In addition to boating and fishing, Rye Patch offers great opportunities for wildlife viewing, including for us during our visit, the chance to see an amazing herd of pronghorn antelope.

(gentle music) I do feel like pronghorn are a little braver than deer, the fact that they're not running from us yet.

(gentle music) That's pretty cool.

Wildlife in water in one shot.

We don't get that very often.

Well, thank you for bringing me out here.

This is really a special place.

It was my first visit, but it won't be my last.

(gentle music) That's all I've got time for in this episode, but it's been great getting to learn more about Lovelock and its history, and the Rye Patch Reservoir is a true gem in the desert.

If you wanna learn more about this "Wild Nevada" or any in the series, visit our website at pbsreno.org and stream us with the PBS app.

And until my next "Wild Nevada" adventure, I hope you get to have some Nevada adventures of your own.

That sounds great.

You wanna show me?

- Yeah.

You wanna walk this way?

- Sure.

- Like this.

(Chris laughs) - I don't know if I can walk, can I walk?

- [Narrator] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] And by Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark and Susan Herron, In memory of Sue McDowell, Lloyd Rogers and Gaia Brown, Stanley and Neila Shumaker, and by individual members.

(bright music)