Another “ jewel” from the treasure trove of Nevada Day Historical Essays retrieved from the school archives. —Linda Bunch
If Only They Could Speak by Shammy Rhoads Rodriguez, Tuscarora, NV
1982 Nevada Day Historical Essay Contest A group of Tuscarora Pottery School students has arrived in the remote ghost town of Tuscarora, Nevada. They are assigned rooms at a green two-story building affectionately called “the hotel”. If only those walls could talk, what a fascinating history would unfold. The Pottery School Hotel originally served as a hotel in Pacific Palisades, California. A man by the name of Mr. Hogle had it moved to the budding mining camp of Cornucopia, Nevada. A few years later, the “hotel” was moved by teams of horses and wagons over dirt roads to its present location in Tuscarora, a distance of about fifty miles. Miss Dora Lamar used it as a boarding house. She was also a midwife, and many babies were brought into this world by her deft hands. Miss Lamar also served as Tuscarora’s postmaster for some thirty years. In the 1940’s, Mrs. Susan Woods bought the building. At that time it became the United States Post Office in Tuscarora. Mrs. Woods served as the postmaster for the next twenty years. Even though the building doesn’t have the “needed” atmosphere today, it is still being used as a pottery show place. The mailboxes, dusty and faded, still line the hall. Up Main Street stands the original Masonic Temple, now known as the Tuscarora Tavern. The Tavern was built with rocks from the nearby hills in the 1880’s. Even today, it is the most impressive building in town with its large metal doors swinging wide to host many community gatherings.(Ed. Note: In 2013 this building will be officially christened as Society Hall..the original name..and will again serve as a gathering spot in the Tuscarora/Independence Valley community.) Mother Rose owned a string of buildings next to the Masonic Temple. Included among them were a saddle shop, bar, restaurant, and general store. When Mother Rose died in 943, her stores were sold. The new proprietor was Buck Horn who owned Buck’s Pool Hall across the street. He tore Mother Rose’s stores down and used the lumber for firewood. Many unique transactions occurred in those early days. One of the most unusual involved Todd’s Saloon owned by Teen Todd. It seems as though one of Todd’s customers owed a bar bill of some $500. In order to pay the bill, the customer gave Todd his field. Today it is called the Todd field. Newt Phillips tore down Todd’s Saloon and two other stores. The material was used to build a barn and bunkhouse on the Quarter Circle S Ranch. Fire destroyed the barn in 1956. In 1970, the ranch’s current owners tore down the bunkhouse. They used the wood for scrap material to patch a corral here and there. A few of the doors were used in their newer bunkhouse. Across the street A.E. Sewell owned the Sewell Grocery Store. After World War I, the family decided to move their store to an old
part of the Spanish Ranch. The store was finally moved and set up. At their new location they caught much of the business from Jack Creek, a small community a few miles to the north. The Sewell Store was more than just a store. When the merchandise was cleared away, the dancing began. A hot cup of coffee was always available as well as the latest news of the day. Unfortunately, fire soon demolished the little store. What once was a furniture and drug store is now the local museum. Della Phillips, Newt’s daughter-in-law, is the owner and manager. She has captured a lot of history in this once multiple-use building. There you can find many antiques, purple bottles, the original uniform of Tuscarora’s National Guard, an organ that traveled across the Plains in a covered wagon, and even a miniature coal stove that Della “cooked” on as a little girl. At one time in Tuscarora’s past, a two-story school house existed in town. Neil Jones and Charles Beardsley bought one part of the building from the county. The partners tore it down and took the lumber to Elko where it was used to build two duplexes. Part of the original school house still stands and is used today as a summer home. The last schoolhouse in Tuscarora was built about 1950. The three schools in Independence Valley were consolidated in 1962 when a new school was built. It is located about ten miles below the town on the valley floor. The old school was bought by the Packer family to be used as a bunkhouse. So, as you can see, people have preserved the past in unique ways. It is still going on today. Weathered wood from the old buildings can be found in the local homes as interior décor. Many other artifacts also remain in the community. Only the heartiest of Tuscarora’s buildings still stand. Their strength has been tested. The square nails which were pounded in with such care and enthusiasm have survived the test as well, though they are rusted and aging. These nails are as important as the pioneers who helped build the history they represent. These buildings in a nearly abandoned mining town have served many people for many purposes. If only they could talk, I am sure that they would tell use of the joys they have seen. They would also sadly relay the sorrows and heartbreak that have occurred over these many years. They would tell of the many good people and good deeds they had witnessed as well as the dishonesty, greed, and selfishness they had to share. So when you happen to pass by these old Tuscarora buildings-remember they stand as a symbol of Nevada’s struggle to become a state. Bibliography: Interviews with Tony Primeaux, Willis Packer, Sharon Rhoads and Della Phillips in March, 1982.
(Shammy attended Independence Valley School for grades one through eight, Elko High School and UNR where she graduated with a degree in elementary education. She now makes her home on the Trembath Ranch at the mouth of Taylor Canyon on the way to Tuscarora with her husband, Cowboy Rodriguez and their two children. She and Cowboy work for the Rhoads Ranch, owned by her parents, Dean and Sharon (Packer) Rhoads. Two older sons have graduated high school are making their own lives.
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