On this day in history July 13, 1868 Seth Wilbut Payne, the country's first transcontinental pedestrian, caught sight of Virginia City NV. After 6 days of dragging himself through "unremitting sand and dust" he almost cried out with joy at the thought of a bath and a bed in a 5-star hotel. Situated high above the basin and half way up the slope of the Sierra Nevadas, framed by peaks on either side, the appearance of the city was "romantic in the extreme." (Utica Weekly Herald; August 25, 1868) Momentarily, Payne forgot how deceiving distance could be in the mountains--he was still 15 miles away, and he lodged under a sagebrush again that evening.

The country gradually improved as he climbed the slope to the city. Dairy farms were operating wherever fresh water and grass were available. The silver mines were booming and demand for dairy products was great. Payne was offered a good-paying job at every ranch he passed. Farm workers were hard to come by--Gold Hill lay ahead, site of the famous 1859 Comstock Lode discovery. He had to laugh. . . little did the farmers know that he was of the notorious class of "bummers" or "dead beats" known as pedestrians.

Payne only stayed in the Virginia City area a couple of days and then set off again. He apologized in his next letter for giving this corner of Nevada such short shrift, but with California so close, he could barely contain himself. For years Payne had promised himself he would visit the "celestial" land of CA, "where poverty, hardships and sorrow had been eradicated." (Utica Weekly Herald; August 18, 1868) He was almost there! 160 miles to Sacramento. ... See MoreSee Less

6 days ago  ·  

One this day in history, July 7, 1868 Seth Wilbur Payne arrived in Austin, NV. The city had started with a "boom" over silver in 1863, but after five years it had settled into the dull and respectable calling of supplying the local miners and prospectors, and exploiting the passing emigrants and freighters. Main Street offered three-fourths of mile of stores, gambling houses, saloons and hurdy-gurdies, but nothing like the "magic" of Cheyenne. The hills surrounding Austin were covered with mines, mills and rock tailings, but all was strangely still when Payne arrived. The huge mills stood idle and deserted. Payne inquired as to the cause and learned the hands were hung over, still recovering from all of their July 4 celebratin'.

There are some impressive buildings here. A large church was the most noticeable and unexpected. "A church in a wild mining country where there are no Sundays, and no religion, just think of it!" (Utica Weekly Herald; August 11, 1868) How it came to be here no one knew, and Payne was offered many opinions about the specific denomination. "Quite an argument was started between a lawyer and a livery stable keeper on the subject; the man of fast horses claiming it to be a skule (sic) house. He knew it was a skule, for his little Nancy went there as often as once in every six or seven days and recited some kind of lesson, and learned to sing and read." (ibid.) A definitive answer came from a fellow reporter--Methodist Church, pastor unknown.

With Austin "shut down" for the day, Payne didn't linger and he set off down the road at noon. Virginia City beckoned, 175 miles of hard dusty walking ahead. ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago  ·  

On this day in history, July 3, 1868 Seth Wilbur Payne, the country's first transcontinental pedestrian, arrived in White Pine, NV. A blacksmith named Leathers traveling through the previous fall discovered silver here, but deep snow on the route had put off the stampede until the following spring. Now the whole state was rushing White Pine-wards to get a piece of what promised to be the richest deposit ever discovered on the continent. Payne joined a party of prospectors to see the place for himself. He recorded a few of the "absurd" stories of instant wealth that were driving the men onwards.

"Half-way up a mountain gulch, scattered here and there, were cloth tents, half-finished mud hovels, piles of lumber, mining tools, pieces of furniture, vehicles of conveyance of every conceivable pattern. Mexican mustang, American and Indian horses, besides pack mules and oxen, were picking among the sagebrush half-starved. There were saloons, of course, without number, some kept in canvas-covered wagons and others in the open air. Meals cooked over camp-fires and served on the ground in tin dishes were readily sold at two dollars a chance. No less than a thousand men, some well-dressed, and others in rags, all the same here, slept on the naked ground with no shelter but the thin folds of the ever-lasting sage brush or the friendly protection afforded by some projecting rock. Those among the early settlers had built themselves tents covered with sheets and blankets; others had dug holes in the sides of the mountain. I noticed one man who had taken up quarters in a rough board coffin, the person for whom it was made having been buried before its arrival from Austin." (Utica Weekly Herald; August 11, 1868)

Payne laments the waste and futility of this insane rush for wealth. There are certainly some rich mines here, but they are destined to be controlled by just a few wealthy capitalists and speculators. Fifty or a hundred men may eventually find gainful employment here but given the high cost of living, they'll never match what they could earn farming in Iowa or Illinois. "In what legitimate way the thousands of outsiders who are rushing to this bleak, barren, waterless gulch expect to earn a living at White Pine is one of the many American wonders."(ibid.)

Payne left before nightfall, "One day was enough." ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago  ·