Magical Spaces and Building Codes

*This essay by Quest Lakes was originally published as a column in the Mason Valley News in Nov. 2018.

Silver City, Nevada - News that Lyon Couny has begun enforcing codes made me think about the way houses were built in the good old days in Silver City. For instance, the unusual home where my husband grew up and later raised his own children would not be allowed today, even though the architectural plans for the house were approved by the Comstock Historic District Commission of the time. In her 2017 article, Lisa Gavon wrote of the house that “being inside is like walking in a giant sculpture: unexpected and aesthetically compelling. The light reverberates with a lyrical elegance across the triangular components, making the space continually magical.” Part of the magic is that the house has 4 large skylights.

Creating McCormick House: On Thanksgiving Day 1971, my husband’s parents, Jim and Sandy McCormick, moved their young family from a rental in Reno to the mountains of rural Silver City in Lyon County. They had purchased 5 acres of land in the historic Comstock area at a county property tax lien sale so they could build their own home.

Jim was an art professor at the University Nevada Reno, but took a 6 month sabbatical to work on the house. The family started out building the house with hand tools and no power, but eventually got a generator and power tools to finish the project.

A design fom Whole Earth Catalog inspired the home. My husband, Theo, recalls visiting some Buckminster Fuller designs in Colorado with his parents in the years before they built the dome house. He also remembers going to California with them to look at single dome structures (icosahedrons) being used by an Ananda Yoga center for yoga practice. The icosahedrons they saw used a method of binding center hubs together using metal strapping, which is what Jim did when he built McCormick House.

Sandy McCormick at Ananda Yoga Center around 1970.

The Silver City house was completed by 1972. It consisted of one large dome, plus four icosahedrons and a slanted green house/ sun porch sort of structure on the east end.

McCormick House domes being framed

McCormick House domes being constructed. You can see professor/artist Jim McCormick inside.

MCCORMICK HOUSE 1972

House of Repurposed Materials: McCormick house is made partly with found objects and re-purposed materials. Some of the lumber for the siding was from a barn and house being torn down in Reno. The flooring for what is now the home library came from an historic Silver City house that was being torn down around 1971. A large window and a sliding glass door in the kitchen both came from philanthropist Moya Lear’s River House in Verdi (Lear was a family friend).

MCCORMICK HOUSE 2018
The large dome on the east end of the house, now used as an art studio, was originally a pipe and multi-colored plyboard structure made by UNR students and used on campus for art events. Jim brought it to Silver City around 1971 and students helped him reconstruct it on the east side of the property. It was eventually connected to the house by a hallway.

ART WORKSHOP/STUDIO at MCCORMICK HOUSE

Jim McCormick chose the site for Mccormick House with the lovely views of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the Pinenut Mountains in mind. This view from the deck is a favorite.

Harry’s Last Stand

*This essay by Quest Lakes was first published as a column in the Mason Valley News in November 2018.

I was sad to hear that Harry Leslie Smith, a WWII veteran and an activist for refugees and the poor, died this week. He was nearly 96 years old. His childhood in England was one of extreme poverty. As a young man he served in WWII with the Royal Air Force, and witnessed the sad plight of thousands of European refugees created by the war. He spent his last years advocating for the refugees of today, visiting refugee camps and government leaders around the world, and giving frequent public speeches and interviews. At 84, he published the first of his five books on the topics of life in the Great Depression, WWII, and postwar austerity. He created a wonderfully engaging podcast called “Harry’s Last Stand.” Smith’s constant message was: “don’t let my past be your future.”

As a child during the Great Depression, he survived by eating from garbage bins. This was before Britain had introduced universal, free health care. He recalled that health care then was for the “privileged few." As a result, his sister died at age 11. His childhood experiences led him to speak out against austerity and privatization of the National Health Service, and to view health care for all as a human right.

He summed up the purpose for the work of his last years when he wrote earlier this year, “I am a very old man whose only weapon is that I have endured the catastrophic history of the 20th century and I am not afraid to tell younger generations what I saw and experienced in my youth. I want my memories to be a testament of what must not happen again, especially when it comes to the treatment of those who flee their countries because of war or persecution.. .I cannot sit back in good conscience while the world my generation built is left to turn feral in the hands of right-wing populists and indifferent capitalists...”

Smith also embraced Twitter as a way to share his message, and he had a following of nearly 260,000 there. When he went into the hospital in November, there was an international outpouring of support on Twitter from people he’d inspired, including well-wishes from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Harry Leslie Smith’s life was a testament to his generation’s commitment to leaving the world a better place. I’m really going to miss him.

Silver City’s Secret Rock Art Site

*This essay by Quest Lakes was first published as a column in Mason Valley News in Dec. 2018.

Silver City, Nevada – Silver City has plenty of significant historical sites related to the Comstock Lode era, but the town also has cultural sites such as petroglyphs, or rock art, of the Washoe people and possibly Paiute people. In fact, Silver City’s little known rock art site is unusual in that it includes paintings, lightly carved images, and chiseled petroglyphs all in one site.

A 1992 descriptive report by C.L. Rogers includes fascinating details about an officially designated petroglyph site located on private land in Silver City, within the Comstock National Historic District. In her report, Rogers explained that she used a large-scale contour map of the town provided by Mike Donovan of Silver City, plus an aerial photo map. She was able to list details of Native American work, and offered indepth reporting on other historic art panels. After visiting the site about eight times, she concluded that the Silver City site is "a many-faceted site, worthy of more intensive study.”

She noted that the site includes 75 "panels" of rock art, including prehistoric curvilinear and realistic petroglyphs, historic and modern petroglyphs, prehistoric pictographs, historic and modern pictographs, Great Basin scratched panels, and historic and modern scratches, mostly in the form of names and dates of site visitors. With reference to names and dates of site visitors, she wrote that "the many signatures from the 1860's, 1870s and 1880s testify that citizens of Silver City in its early days were very familiar with this fascinating site.”

Rogers explains that other than her report, she was aware of no other formal research on the site up to 1992, other than a study of rat middens in one of the site's rock shelters by Peter Wigand of the Desert Research Institute.

According to her report, "the site consists of much more than petroglyphs...Great Basin scratched panels are also numerous...Additionally, there are two rock shelters at the site, each associated with elaborate pictographs in red pigment, and possibly in combination with white pigments.” She described the exterior surfaces of one of the rock shelter areas as "lavishly decorated in red...Here are painted big horn sheep, possibly deer, rainbows, stick figures, and lines.”

C.L. Rogers described a particular area of the site as "unusual and noteworthy." This spot is "near a beautiful, long incised feather design and pictograph line near the base of a boulder" that she suggested may "possibly be the site of a human burial.”

Of the two rock shelters where the rock art can be found, one is a "low, wide-mouthed shelter" that "widens to a 'room' with a blackened ceiling.” Rogers suggested that this spot would have been an ideal vantage point for spotting large game, and other people, for many surrounding miles.

Rogers went on to write that "across the site, 26 panels were recorded that display only pecked Native American elements. Thirteen others include petroglyphs in combination with scratched lines, grids and cross-hatching...Scratched rock art is less common than pecked art at the Silver City site.” Rogers also found a possible grinding slick and unifacial mano, but no other particular evidence, such as camp debris, that the site was domestic in nature (items found might have been seed grinding equipment).

She noted that although the Silver City site was NOT recorded by Julian Steward in his 1920's study of Great Basin Rock Art, the site is located in the region designated the "western Nevada" stylistic area. This is relevant because of the fifty elements that Steward "selected for distribution plots, most are present at Silver City.” The few NOT present include: stars, spirals, human hands, connected dots, gridirons, bird tracks, and angular meanders. Rogers also noted that there were "no pit and groove panels nor faceted boulders at the site.”

One could also compare elements at the Silver City site to elements identified by Heizer and Baumhoff in 1962, Rogers explained, and using that criteria, "at least 40 of 58 are present in the Silver City site.”

Rogers also noticed two possible atlatls (a stick used to propel a spear or dart) shown on two different panels, and she surmised that these "could indicate that both art types were created at the site at least 2,000 years ago.” She went on to explain that the "site is located near the ethnographic boundary between Washoe and Northern Paiute territories. If the atlatl depictions are really atlatls, then the site predates the arrival of the Northern Paiutes to this area, if one accepts the Numic Expansion hypothesis. The site may be a Washoe-derived site, or the work of people who lived here prior to the Northern Paiute, but who were something other than Washoe...Still, the Washoe connection may be the most feasible one. If the scratched art was the work of Northern Paiute, then the site represents use and re-use over a long period of time."

Additional information about Silver City's petroglyphs can be found in various other publications and archives, including in a section about the "Virginia Range" in a 1982 Cultural Resource Overview of the Carson City District and West Central Nevada: "The  Silver  City  Petroglyph  site (26Lyl03) was recorded  by  the  BLM  in  1975. The  site  consists  of  a  basalt  cliff  covered  with  petroglyphs  and  pictographs, some  of  anthropomorphs  and  big  horn  sheep.  More  recent  paintings  and  glyphs also  adorn  this  cliff  and  probably  date  to  the  early  historic  period  (several  Chinese  characters  were  noted). Two  caves  in  the  cliff  face  are  adorned  with  rock  art.  Davis  (personal communication)  has  recovered  a  Neotoma  midden  from  one  of  the  caves. The  BLM  rechecked  the  site  in  1978,  noting  the  occurrence  of  a  great  deal of  vandalism,  and  protective  measures  were  recommended.   The  site  is particularly  interesting  when  viewed  in  the  context  of  the  chain  or  rock  art sites  that  exist  in  the  immediate  vicinity (see  the  Truckee  River  section). 

Furthermore,  pictographs  are  rare;  this  site  is  one  of  but  a  handful  of  such sites  in  Nevada,  and  as  such  should  be  protected.   The  nature  of  the  site  also mandates  some  formal  recognition,  such  as  nomination  to  the  National  Register  of Historic  Places.   In  any  case,  the  site  should  be  thoroughly  recorded  before  it is  destroyed  by vandalism." https://archive.org/stream/culturalresource00pend/culturalresource00pend_djvu.txt

* The map below can be found in Vol. 18 of the year 2000 Nevada Archaeologist publication in a paper by Sue Ann Monteleone called "Rock Art in the Homeland and on the Border: A Look at Washoe Territory." https://nvarch.org/amcs/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2000-Volume-18-Nevada-Archaeologist.pdf

Flags and Statues Honoring an Imaginary History

*This essay by Quest Lakes was first published as a column in the Mason Valley News in August 2018.

There’s a story that hundreds of Confederate monuments in 31 states in the U.S. and the display of the Confederate battle flag simply reflect a love of Southern heritage, and a commitment to preserving history. However, most of the Confederate monuments were erected long after the Civil War, specifically during periods of civil rights tensions between 1900 and 1920, and again between the 1950s and 1970s. And displaying the Confederate battle flag was something that had a resurgence in popularity after World War II – it was a way to show opposition for Civil Rights and racial equality.

For instance, it wasn’t until 1956 that Georgia redesigned its state flag to include the Confederate battle flag, and South Carolina placed the flag on top of its capitol building in 1962.

The majority of Confederate monuments were built between about 1900 and the 1950s, the era of Jim Crow segregation. The two largest spikes in construction occurred during times of exteme civil rights tensions - around 1900 to 1920, and then again in the 1950s and 60s.

The years between 1900 and 1920 included the continued lynchings of black Americans; an increasingly popular “Lost Cause” myth about an idyllic antebellum South brimming with benevolent slave owners and happy slaves; and a resurgence of groups like the KKK.

During the 1920s, the Klan had hundreds of thousands of members across the U.S. More than 30,000 KKK members marched through Washington, DC in full costume in 1925. The next day, The Washington Post front-page headline read, “White-robed Klan cheered on march in nation’s capital.” The small agricultural community in Indiana where I grew up was home to the state’s Grand Dragon of the KKK during the 1920s. He was also a wealthy attorney. It’s not surprising that this was an era when many new Confederate statues were erected. Most were cheaply mass-produced in cast bronze or zinc and their installation was shoddy.

Another surge in erecting Confederate monuments began around 1954 after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional.

About half the Confederate statues in Southern states are of nameless soldiers, with titles like “Silent Sentinel”, and depict a soldier in Confederate uniform. Groups such as United Daughters of the Confederacy raised funds for them and had them installed in places like town squares many decades after the Civil War.

For example, “Silent Sam” was a Confederate monument located on the north campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Julian Carr, a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and North Carolina industrialist, gave a speech at the 1913 dedication of the monument. His long dedication speech credited Confederate soldiers with saving “the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South.” He also declared that “today, as a consequence, the purest strain of the Anglo Saxon is to be found in the 13 Southern States — Praise God.” In his speech, Carr also bragged that, “One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I performed the pleasing duty in the immediate presence of the entire garrison.”

The appropriate places to see Confederate monuments and flags are in museums, the sort of curated spaces where we also see objects from the Nazi reign or the rule of Stalin and learn about their tragic context. They should not in places of honor atop capitol buildings or in town squares.

Artist Bree Newsome, known for climbing the flagpole at the South Carolina Capitol building in 2015 and lowering the Confederate battle flag there, recently wrote, “folks will continue to resurrect the false argument that taking down Confederate monuments is erasing history. But, again, these monuments to the Confederacy erected in early 20th century are themselves a form of deliberate historical erasure intended to justify slavery and racism.”

Creating Community

*This essay by Quest Lakes was first published as a column in the Mason Valley News in Dec. 2018.

Silver City, Nevada- Recurring themes sometimes inhabit family stories. For instance, in the 1970s, my husband’s father, an art professor, moved the family from Reno to rural Silver City with the idea of creating a commune. The first stage of the experiment was to include building two Buckminster Fuller-inspired dome houses on a five acre piece of land, with a kitchen structure connecting the households. Alas, that plan did not work out – two dome houses were built, but were never connected. In a similar attempt, some of my husband’s relatives worked to create a commune in Texas in the 1800s, with somewhat better results.

In 1855, some of my father-in-law’s ancestors, along with hundreds of others from western Europe, came to the U.S. to begin a new life as part of the La Reunion commune near Dallas. Devoted to utopian principles, the community dissolved after a few years, but many of the settlers stayed in the region, contributing to Dallas.

The hopeful group was composed of generally well-educated French, Swiss and Belgian people. Some were political refugees from the unrest then spreading across Europe. Although La Reunion only lasted a few years, “the settlers are credited with bringing a cultural sophistication and world-view to the [nearby] dusty little town of Dallas on the Texas frontier which had precious little of either before their arrival. Without the influence of these failed utopians, Dallas would be a much different city than the one we know today.”

The 500 or so settlers of La Reunion, Texas were pioneers who came to build a community based on the social theories of Francois Charles Marie Fourier. Fourier was a French philosopher and an influential early socialist thinker later associated with "utopian socialism." His ideas inspired a movement of intentional communities, including La Reunion. Fourier characterized poverty as the principal cause of disorder in society, and he believed sufficient wages, and a "decent minimum" wage for those who were unable to work, would eliminate poverty. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, which were seen as quite radical in his lifetime, have become mainstream today. For example, he supported women's rights and believed that women should also be able to work in any job field they were qualified for.

Frenchman Victor Considerant was a devotee of Fourier’s ideas, and he thought the U.S. offered a “splendid opportunity for the exploitation of those principles.” Due to the state of unrest in France, he knew he’d easily find others willing to go to the U.S. with him to implement Fourier’s ideas. He visited the U.S. in 1853 and found a site for the colony. By 1855 people began to arrive from Europe, building houses and clearing land for crops. They built a community store, restaurant, and school right away. They brought with them everything needed to make the place self-supporting, and began raising cattle, sheep, horses, and poultry.

Among the La Reunion settlers there were carpenters, florists, doctors, etc., and about a dozen farmers. The La Reunion settlers were mostly artisans -watchmakers, weavers, brewers, etc. Importantly, “they also were the first bona fide musicians in North Texas,” arriving with small instruments as well as an organ and a piano. Records show that singing and dancing were a big part of their community life, along with other arts and culture events that brought people of nearby Dallas to visit and admire La Reunion.

By the second year of La Reunion’s existance, it was clear that a bad drought was likely to continue, so the artisans began to seek employment outside La Reunion, and by the end of the second year, most of them were working in various trades in Dallas and other nearby towns. La Reunion had mostly faded away by 1860. However, about half of the settlers stayed in the U.S., and many of them had a significant impact on the culture of the Dallas region.

Silver City Winter Events and News

Silver City, one of the gems of the Comstock, is located within a federally designated historic landmark near Virginia City. Throughout the year, the town's many groups offer public programming in art, science, music, poetry, and more at the local park, outdoor stage (Silver Pavilion) and School House (community center). The townspeople also gather throughout the year for many community events such as holiday dinners and parties. Below are some highlights of December and January events, plus town newsbriefs from October and November.

Monthly Acoustic Jam: The next jam is Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018 from 3pm-5pm at the Silver City School House. Bring your instrument and join in.

Benefit Concert for the Silver City Historic Preservation Society: Masterful guitarist and songwriter Ray Bonneville will grace the stage at the historic Silver City School House on Saturday, January 19, 2019, with Richie Lawrence on keys and squeeze and very special guest songwriter Darren Senn opening. Ray's new record At King Electric is getting rave reviews in the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. He'll have copies with him for sale. Doors open at 6 pm, show at 7 pm. $15-$25 donation requested. Please reserve a seat by emailing SilverCityLive@gmail.com. Beer and wine will be available for purchase. More details: https://www.facebook.com/events/455324871666451/

New Book Includes Poems Set in Silver City: David Lee, who has been at the Resident Artist Program in Silver City in 2016, 2017 and 2018, will publish a new book of poems in 2019, many of them either about or set in Silver City. Lee was Utah's first and longest serving Poet Laureate, was a 2001 finalist for the position of United States Poet Laureate, and a 2016 and 1999 nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. During a 2018 radio interview with KNVC 95.1FM radio, he read several poems written during his time at McCormick House in Silver City: https://knvc.org/featured/poet-david-lee-reads-unpublished-work-from-his-new-collection-mine-tailings/

Silver City's new town advisory board members are Rachel (Lainey) Henderson, Noel Chounet, and Patricia Allander.

Silver City Volunteer Library: The library has a number of new nonfiction and fiction books for both children and adults. Among them is Charles Portis novel True Grit, donated by the Carson Cultural Commission through their NEA Big Read event.

Columnists: Local Susan Stornetta writes a periodic column for the Nevada Appeal. Quest Lakes writes a weekly column for the Mason Valley News under the column header "Silver City Neighbors."

October and November 2018 News Briefs:

During its November 2018 meeting, the Silver City Town Board presented Carson City with a proclamation declaring the community a valued "Arts and Culture Sister City." The proclamation reads in part, “the Silver City Town Advisory Board proclaims its desire and intention to formally declare Carson City a valued ARTS and CULTURE SISTER CITY in appreciation of Carson City's history of promoting the arts and culture of Silver City and in recognition of our mutual understanding that arts and culture are pathways to maintaining our vibrant communities.” Mark Salinas, Arts & Culture Coordinator for Carson City, accepted the proclamation, noting, “I accept this award on behalf of a long line of people who have come before me... I look forward to more collaboration, partnerships, communications, efforts and exchanges between Silver City and Carson City.” Karen Abowd, Carson City Mayor Pro Tempore and a Carson City Cultural Commissioner, signed the proclamation, thanking the Silver City Board for the recognition. Terri McBride, Chair of the Carson City Cultural Commission, also signed the proclamation, saying, “Thank you for encompassing us in your efforts. I think creativity works synergistically and so we can bounce off each other’s creativity and all rise to a higher level.” The proclamation was also signed by Silver City advisory board members Chali Haugen, Cal Dillon, and Cristee Davis.

Silver City Arts group co-sponsored an October event at the School House that included a screening of a film about the American Flat historic site with an introduction by BLM, and a fascinating illustrated lecture about the architecture of the site by local consulting architectural historian and industrial archaeologist Ron Reno, PhD.If you missed the "American Flat Remembered" event but would like to see the film, it can be found online at this link: https://youtu.be/Xotaj-ywdkE

Also in October, there was a well attended Halloween costume party for adults with music by Red Rose and friends.

Locals gathered for a Silver City community Thanksgiving Dinner in November.

The town's Christmas dinner, sponsored annually by the Silver City Volunteer Fire Department, was lots of fun for both kids and grown ups. Christmas carolers braved bad weather and sang from the School House porch on Christmas Eve. December also included the monthly acoustic jam at the School House; plus the Silver City Arts group's annual holiday show and sale; and an open studio day at Julie La Croix's.

Display: Renate Victor created a lovely display this December at the Post Office full of photos of people at past Silver City community dinners and other Silver City events.

“Ashes Denote That Fire Was”

*Previously published as a column by Quest Lakes in the MVN in July 2018.

Silver City, Nevada - Watching the news this week about fires near Yosemite Valley and Redding made me remember all the fires I’ve seen in Silver City over the last few decades. It also reminded me of the kindness and bravery of everyone who responds to fires, from fire fighters and other first responders, to everyday folks who do what they can to help those affected by fire.

One of the first fires I witnessed in Silver City occurred in a ravine next to our house about 25 years ago. A child playing with fireworks accidentally set off a fire that quickly created a fire tornado spiraling straight up between our house and two other homes. After calling 911 and then alerting older neighbors with disabilities to make sure they had time to react, my husband began doing what he could with our garden hose. Our neighbor to the south used his garden hoses as well. Soon local volunteer fire fighter Austin Crouch arrived with the fire truck, leaping down and hitting the fire from above with a hose that helped halt the fire before it reached homes. My husband said the relief and gratitude he felt when he saw Austin arrive was indescribable.

The next fire I saw was about 19 years ago. It was a summer day, and I was up at 6a.m. with my newborn son, standing on the deck and watching the jackrabbits and quail in the yard. Just as I looked to the east, a pigeon landed on a power pole, burst into flames, and fell to ground, where the dry summer cheat grass immediately ignited. I ran to call 911, and asked my stepdaughters to go downstairs and tell my husband what was happening. While I was on the phone, he instructed the girls to go next door and make sure the neighbors were awake and aware of the fire. He then ran toward the fire, which was on an empty lot on a neighboring property, and began shoveling a fire break around the quickly spreading grass fire. He recalls that he knew this was a losing battle. But suddenly, he realized that someone else was there with him, also shoveling a fire break. Rattlesnake Dave, as he was known in town, had seen the smoke and ran to help. The two of them kept the fire from spreading until the fire truck arrived soon after and put the blaze out.

My family has witnessed several fires on and near Bear Mountain on the south west part of Silver City over the years as well. When my son was five or six years old, emergency workers came up our long driveway at around 2 a.m. in the morning to tell us to prepare to evacuate if a rapidly approaching fire jumped State Route 342 and came into Silver City. At the time, we let our son continue to sleep, planning to carry him to the car in his pajamas only if we really had to leave. We listened to fire reports while running through the house, packing for possible evacuation. We were lucky - the fire didn’t jump the highway and was put out before it reached any homes. But that experience helped me imagine what people go through when they actually do have to evacuate.

And finally, about five years ago, I was with artists hanging their work for an upcoming art show at the Dayton Valley Community Center when I got a call from my son that a fire was rapidly spreading on Bear Mountain in Silver City. At the time, both my son and my husband thought it would be put out quickly and urged me to stay put. Shortly after that, they called to say they were preparing to evacuate. They’d put our pets in carriers, and packed our car for evacuation. From our deck they could see an air attack on the fire that involved continual drops of water and fire retardant. At one point, a helicopter carrying a water bucket and an airtanker nearly collided directly above our deck. We all have a lasting respect for fire fighters after witnessing their skill, courage and endurance in halting that fire before it reached homes.