Living History and Around Town, Sunday, 6/29/14 and Monday, 6/30/14

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Today’s weather was sunny and in the sixties.  Chuck worked at the gold panning operation and Cindy worked again in Nevada City.  Elise looked really cute in her 1863 clothing, but her hair is too short for that time period.  Her fellow living history interpreters explained that by saying that she had suffered from “the fever,” and she wore a hat all day.  She made biscuits and learned to bake them in a wood fired stove, and then she went for some more spinning lessons. 

We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and then went out to eat at the local steakhouse.  We were both recently awarded $25 gift certificates from our employer, so we used them to pay for tonight’s meal. 

Elise and Daniel

Monday, June 30, 2014

 It was nice, sunny weather again today.  Chuck worked at the gold panning operation, but Cindy had the day off because Jaimi begged her to switch days with her.  It is somewhat inconvenient, because now the only day off we will have together is Thursday and we are getting desperate for groceries.   

Cindy mostly piddled the day away.  She cleaned the bathroom and did a load of laundry.  She returned the Victorian clothes that we borrowed from the ball organizer, and she mailed a package at the post office.  

Since she had never been to the Virginia City cemetery, she spent a couple of hours there wandering among the old graves.  There was a veterans’ memorial near the cemetery entrance, and a flag was flying for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Merchant Marines, and Coast Guard as well as an American flag and a state of Montana flag.  The cemetery was on top of a hill overlooking the city and was adjacent to an old baseball field with a sign proclaiming it was the, “Field of Dreams.”  Several of the headstones were large, smooth rocks that had been engraved with the pertinent information.   William Fairweather is the man who discovered gold here, and his grave was prominently marked.  Seeing the graves of many of the pioneers was a reminder that a lifetime is but a blip in eternity and that the pioneer era was not really that long ago. 

At 1:00 p.m. Cindy went to get Chuck and took him to lunch at the only restaurant in Nevada City.  Upon returning him to work, she saw Duel and he suggested that she check out the Nevada City cemetery so that is what she did.  George Ives, one of the road agents that was hanged by the vigilantes is buried there, but Cindy was unable to find his grave.  Supposedly, he is buried next to a 17 year old Dutch man named Nicholas Tibalt who was murdered by Ives and their graves make a T-formation.  Legend has it that Ives was buried face down to speed him on his way to hell. 

After returning home, Cindy took a walk downtown and went into the Courthouse that was built in 1875.  It is still in use today, so she went inside to look around.  It is a striking building and the bottom floor houses county offices.  The upper floor contains a still used courtroom and the woodwork was lovely including the old-fashioned chairs in the jurors’ box.  A picture of town founder William Fairweather hung in a place of prominence.   

At 6:00 p.m. Cindy drove to the River of Gold to pick up Chuck from work and they spent a quiet evening at home as the other inn mates went to Dillon for the evening.  

Bill Fairweather

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Bikers and Spinning Wool, Friday, 6/27/14 and Saturday, 6/28/14

Friday, June 27, 2014

Today’s weather was a repeat of yesterday, and the train is still broke down.  Chuck worked at the Virginia City depot and did $4.00 worth of business all day long.   

Cindy worked at the Nevada City museum, and it is always busier there.  At about 4:00 p.m. the sky opened up with a torrential rain shower and two older ladies came inside the building to take shelter.  They are riding the Trans Am Bike Trail (with a few minor alterations) like the man you read about yesterday.  However, they are not in the actual race.   

Here is the amazing and inspirational part about these two ladies:  Grandmother Coreen Frasier will be celebrating her 71^st birthday in few days, and her friend and riding partner is 67 year old great grandmother Linda Schuck.  They both live in Arkansas and flew to Portland, Oregon to start their great adventure on June 2.  They have special suitcases which hold their fold up bicycles to facilitate traveling.  Coreen’s brother lives in Washington, D.C., so after arriving in Portland they shipped their bike cases to him.   When the weather is nice, they set up their tents at night in campgrounds along the route.  If the weather is nasty, like today, they pay for the luxury of staying in a hotel.  They expect to arrive in Washington, D.C. sometime about the end of August at which time they will collect their bike cases from Coreen’s brother and fly home to Arkansas.  Wow—what a summer!   

Chuck closed up the Virginia City depot a little early and went to Nevada City to lock up the buildings while Cindy prepared the bank deposit.  While he was there he encountered an ancient old couple dancing in the music hall.  He let them finish their dance before closing up the building and they were so appreciative they gave him a $5.00 tip which he put into the preservation donation box. 

Tonight all the inn mates were invited to Duel’s house for a cook out.  As we have mentioned before, Duel’s dad, Dan Thyer, is in charge of the living history program at Nevada City and his mom is a living history interpreter on the weekends.  They live in a beautiful house just east across the mountains near Ennis.  The house has high ceilings and large picture windows which offer spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.  The whole family is very crafty and talented and the house was filled with examples of their creativity.  Dan and Duel made the beds, as well as some assorted tables and benches.  There was a fascinating coffee table made with a base of moose antlers.   After eating a great meal, we played a few rounds of Bragg before calling it a night. 

Linda and Coreen

 

 

Saturday, June 28, 2014

We woke up to more cold and rainy weather.  Chuck was scheduled to work on the train today, but since the train is still broke down he got the day off. 

Cindy worked at Nevada City and the morning was really slow and boring.  Chuck showed up with new inn mate Elise at about 11:00 a.m.  He escorted her around Nevada City and introduced her to many of the living history interpreters.  Her collections job is 40 hours per week Monday through Thursday, so she gets a long weekend every week.  Therefore, she has already been recruited to volunteer her services in living history and she is being outfitted with appropriate clothing.  She spent some time with the lady who was demonstrating spinning, and she is going to become the spinning apprentice.  Today she spun wool into yarn using a large spinning wheel and also a drop spindle.  She will also be trained on how to dye the yarn using natural plant coloring. 

 

 

 

 

 

New Inn Mate and Cool Dog, Wednesday, 6/25/14 and Thursday, 6/26/14

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

We had more beautiful weather today, but the cottonwood trees have started blooming.  These trees are everywhere and they shed a white cotton-like substance that looks like snow floating down.  We keep the doors open at all the attractions, and the cotton floats right inside making a mess to clean up. 

Cindy worked in Nevada City and Chuck drove the train today—but not for long as it broke down on the tracks again.  Since there were train passengers stranded without their vehicles, Chuck shuttled them as necessary in the state owned Suburban.  He got off work about 3:00 p.m. and went to check out the Virginia City cemetery after which he went home and took a nap.  Cindy stayed pretty busy selling museum tickets and had to issue a few refunds because of the train breakdown.                                 

We had a new inn mate, Elise, move into the Bonanza Inn last night.  We met her and her parents, but our fellow inn mates did not meet her until today.  Her parents told us this morning that today is Elise’s 23^rd birthday so we took all the inn mates and Duel out to eat pizza tonight in Ennis.  Elise seemed appreciative, if a bit overwhelmed, by all the attention. 

Elise is from Wibaux, Montana which is on the eastern border of Montana near North Dakota.  There were 13 kids in her graduating class, and she said there is not much to do in Wibaux.  Her hobbies are reading, crocheting, and watching movies.  She has a younger brother who is 21 years old.    Elise recently graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota with a degree in English Literature and a minor in classical studies.   She is the new collections intern here for the rest of the summer which means, like Daniel, she will not be getting paid for her work.   

Chuck stopped at a self-service car wash on the way home and washed the bugs and cottonwood goop off the car, and then we called it an early evening. 

Duel, Elise, Daniel

 

 

Thursday, June 26, 2014

 Though it was beautiful weather in the morning, by early afternoon it had turned cold and wet again.  Chuck worked at the gold panning operation and about fell asleep from lack of customers. 

Cindy worked in downtown Virginia City at the Gypsy Arcade and she had lots of people stroll through today.  When she heard barking she went outside and saw a little dog riding on the back of a motorcycle.  He was too cute dressed in a leather vest and sunglasses so she had to take a picture.  She also took a picture of a man (and his support team) who is competing in the Trans Am Bike Race.   Anthony Dryer is his name, and he began the race in Astoria, Oregon on June 7^th.  The finish line is in Yorktown, Virginia, and he expects it to take him 54 days total to arrive there.  The route covers 4233 miles through ten states.  The route goes through specific towns which are known for their hospitality, and thousands of cyclists pedal through these cities each year.  (That explains the hundreds of bicyclists we’ve seen here in the last few days.)  There are no entry fees to enter the race and no prize money is awarded.  You win by taking what you can from the experience, and Anthony is taking his time and enjoying all that America has to offer from coast to coast.     

We got home at 6:15 p.m. and Daniel was making baked spaghetti for everyone so Chuck made garlic bread and Cindy made a salad to share.  After eating, we taught our new inn mate, Elise, to play Shanghai.  Elise told us that she worked on cleaning one of the building exhibits in Virginia City today and she encountered lots of spiders. 

Anthony Dryer and Support Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Ghost Town and Playing in the Dirt, Monday, 6/23/14 and Tuesday, 6/24/14

Monday, June 23, 2014 

We had another day off today and set off west at 10:00 a.m.  After a beautiful hour and a half drive we arrived at Bannack State Park.  Bannack was a thriving gold rush town in 1862 with a population of about 3000.  It has a colorful past that is closely intertwined with that of Virginia City and Nevada City.  Today, however, the roads and boardwalks are deserted.  The doors sway in the wind.  There are no children laughing and adults gossiping.  The gold rush is long over.  It is but a memory left in old dusty journals.  It is a ghost town and is a moment frozen in time.  Under the direction of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Bannack is preserved rather than restored. 

There are over 60 buildings remaining at Bannack today—each one with a story to tell.   We bought a guide for $2.00 at the visitor’s center and it was well worth the money.  The guide included a map and there were numbers engraved in the boardwalk or on posts throughout town that corresponded with the guide.  We went in several homes, two hotels, a school, the jail, a Methodist church that was built in 1877, and many other structures.  The most infamous building was Skinner’s Saloon where there were many shootings and killings.  The actual bar was still there and it was quite beautiful.  A barber used to perform his craft in a chair in the corner of the saloon, and it is still there.  There was a sign posted that said, “So much shooting and violence occurred daily in this saloon that the barber in the corner wouldn’t miss a stroke with a straight edge razor when the bullets started flying.” 

The people who lived in Bannack had a hard life.  In our brochure there was quote from an actual letter written by a concerned mother in 1863.  It said, “We had extremely cold weather here the week before last.  The mercury in the thermometers after going forty degrees below zero froze in the bulb.  I never knew such cold weather.  I was so afraid that the children would freeze their noses or ears that I got up a number of times in the night to see that their heads were covered.  Their beds would be covered with frost.”   

After spending a fascinating two hours in Bannack, we went to the parking lot and saw a really strange camper with a red car sticking out the side.  It has to be one of a kind.   

We stopped in Dillon to buy a few groceries and got home at 4:30 p.m.  Chuck made homemade meatball sandwiches for the inn mates, and they were well received.  Duel and Lucinda came over later and we played a rousing game of Smart Ass. 

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

 It was nice weather again today.  Chuck drove the train and spotted a bald eagle.  Cindy worked with Duel at the gold panning operation and she did not have fun there today. 

We sell bags of dirt to go for $8.00, and it is quite amazing how many people actually take dirt home with them.  She sat out in the dirt pile for over an hour this morning filling up 36 bags with dirt.  She piled them in the wheel barrow to take them inside the office, but it was so heavy she couldn’t even budge the wheel barrow.  Duel came over to try and help, but all he did was accidentally tip over the wheel barrow.  We wound up making three trips to get all the bags inside the building.   

The next order of business was cleaning out one of the large troughs.  After Duel got most of the water out of the trough, Cindy stood on a bench and used a five gallon bucket to dip out water and mud.  We then transported the buckets of mud to a discard pile.  After several hours, Cindy was heartily tired of playing in the dirt and mud.

 

 

 

 

Double Hanging, Bed Races, and Victorian Ball, Saturday, 6/21/14 and Sunday, 6/22/14

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Wow—what a day!  The weather was beautiful in the seventies today.  It was our day off and we used it to good advantage as we went to a double hanging, a bed race, and a Victorian ball.   

After a leisurely morning, we went and checked on all the inn mates who were working to remind them when to report to the bed race.  At Nevada City we took time to walk around and visit with some of the historical interpreters as we don’t get to do that when we are working.  We met an artist who spoke to us as if we were living in 1863.  He was sketching a portrait on a small piece of paper and had a few others on display that he had done.  He said that for a pinch of gold he would make a sketch of us to send to some loved ones back home.  He informed us that he could also be hired to paint the signs on buildings and occasionally would paint an advertisement on a rock along the trail.   

At 1:00 p.m. we went to a dance lesson so we would have some idea what to expect at the ball tonight.  The lesson was fun, and we discovered that not too many people had any idea what they were doing so we were right at home. 

As soon as the lesson was over, we raced back to Nevada City as the hanging started at 2:30 p.m.  The vigilante committee has been trying to clean up the territory as it is rife with robbers and killers due to the gold rush.  The tourists formed three posses and followed a leader as we hunted down two of the criminals.  Once the gang members were found they were tied up and questioned as to their wayward activities.  Though they proclaimed their innocence, the vigilantes found them guilty and immediately carried out a double hanging.  Our inn mate, Daniel, was called upon to pull the stool out from under their legs.   

We mentioned earlier about the symbol 3-7-77 that was used by the vigilantes.  That was clarified a little better today.  If that number was painted on your dwelling, you had 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 77 seconds to get out of town or you would be hanged.  (That was to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone the vigilantes thought might be involved in criminal activities.)  It also meant that if you didn’t leave, you would be buried in a grave that was 3 feet wide, 7 feet long, and 77 inches deep.  Still today, the Montana Highway Patrol cars have the symbol 3-7-77 painted on them.   

Today was “brothel day” in Virginia City and it was sponsored by the Bale of Hay saloon.  The two women owners of the saloon were dressed as women of the evening and this morning they brought in a guest speaker who gave a lecture about prostitution in early gold mining towns.  They often sponsor such quirky events, and the finale of today’s event was a bed race.   The inn mates formed a team we called “The Bonanza Inn Mates,” and we all wore striped jailbird shirts that we purchased online.  They were actually made by prisoners in the Montana prison system.   

There were six teams in all to compete in the races, and the Sheriff’s department was there to block off all traffic in the street.   We competed in the first heat against the Ukrainian team, and we won that heat because the Ukrainian’s bed fell apart.  The rules state there are no do overs, so the bed was put back together and the next two teams raced.  When the bed fell apart the second time, the sponsors decided to time each team and award the prize to the team with the fastest time.  Our team of five consisted of Cindy in the bed being pushed by Daniel, Connor, Jaimi and Andrew. (Andrew does not live in the Bonanza Inn, but he is a co-worker and was an honorary inn mate because the others could not get off work for the race.)  Sadly, we did not win as we were three seconds behind the winning team, but we did finish with a bang.  Our sign fell out the bottom of the bed and tripped up Daniel who fell in the street.  Then Connor followed suit and fell in the street from exhaustion.    The winners were the Virginia City Players.  They are all skinny actors, and they had a skinny girl laid up in the bed dressed as a strumpet.   

We may not have won the race, but we were a hit and several reporters were there to cover all of today’s events.  The reporter from the Billings Gazette (the largest paper in the state) said our picture and names will be in the paper next Sunday and that the article will also be in the online version.  Cindy also spoke to a reporter from an unknown publication and the National Geographic Traveler Magazine. 

After the race we rushed home to get ready for the Victorian ball.  Our period clothes were provided by Janet, the ball organizer.  All proceeds from the ball go towards restoring/preserving the buildings in Virginia City.  There were about 100 people in attendance, and at 6:30 the orchestra started playing outside and we all lined up and promenaded two by two through town.  We strolled down the boardwalk on one side of the street and then up the other side.  The tourists in town ooohed and aaahed.  Some of the ladies’ dresses were really beautiful and elaborate.   

Upon entering the ballroom (a/k/a the community center) the dance master proceeded to instruct everyone on the steps of whatever dance he decided to call.  It seemed very similar to square dancing.  We did quadrilles, English country dances, and several reels including the Virginia reel.  There were a few waltzes during the evening, but we are not good dancers and mostly stumbled around for those.  There is a gallery going all around the second floor of the community center and several spectators gathered to watch the proceedings.   Also present were the same reporters who covered the bed races and they took lots of pictures.  Coverage of the ball is to be in some future edition of National Geographic Traveler magazine, but we will have to let you know when we find out the details.   

There was a nine piece orchestra that provided all the music for the ball and they were very talented.  One member was a twelve year old girl who just recently took first place in the national junior fiddler’s competition.  She performed the piece for us that won her that title.  It probably wasn’t so much the fiddling that clinched it for her but the fact that she danced and hula-hooped during the whole performance.  She was quite impressive. 

We left the ball at 11:15 p.m. and walked the short two block distance home to the Bonanza Inn.  It was a great day!

Sunday, June 22, 2014 

The weather turned foul again today with cold, rain, and hail, and poor Chuck had to work outside at the gold panning operation.  He had lots of customers, but at least Duel was there to take care of the brunt of the panning instructions and answer questions correctly.   

Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot and had a steady stream of tourists, but there was no excitement for her to report.   We did find out that yesterday was the single biggest revenue day ever for the Montana Heritage Commission and we have been promised a reward for our team efforts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of the Same, Friday, 6/20/14

Friday, June 20, 2014

It was nice weather in the sixties for most of the day.  Chuck worked on the train and Cindy worked for about an hour at the Gypsy Arcade and then moved over to the gold panning operation when Duel went home sick.  Upon arrival there, she took a picture of the geese family that lives in a pond on site.

Cindy was hopping all day with a steady stream of tourists wanting to pan for gold.  Even the afternoon rain did not deter them, so Cindy stood out in the rain shower with them for quite a while giving them instructions.  (She has become pretty good at faking gold panning competence.)

Chuck is a comedian at heart, and it was mentioned several times today that he had all the train passengers laughing during several of the trips.  He doesn’t give them the official train spiel as he was never provided with a script, but he has also become pretty good at faking tour guide competence.  Apparently it doesn’t matter as long as the passengers have a good time.   

When we got home we discovered that Daniel had prepared supper for everyone.  He grilled hamburgers and sausage and also cooked some chicken Lo Mein.  He did an excellent job, and we were most appreciative of his efforts.