Pioche: The true Wild West

The law in remote Pioche, southeastern Nevada's richest mining town in the 1870s, was often determined by the fastest gun. The nearest population settlement--and the only law enforcement--was 400 miles to the west. Supplies had to be hauled over the sizzling desert from a railhead 275 miles away.

In 1870-71 Pioche claimed almost 60% of the killings for the entire state of Nevada. There were more than six dozen graves on Boot Hill from violent deaths before the first death by natural causes.

Employment prospects were good if you were a hired gun. The rich and the mine owners made good use of your services. See for yourself as you stroll Boot Hill reading the gravestones.

Visit the million-dollar courthouse, one of Nevada’s most famous landmarks, built in 1872 with bricks brought round the Horn. Now home to government offices and a museum, you can relive the past by joining the jury (there is one empty seat that you can fill for that period photograph) in a trial reenactment.

The electric mannequin judge bangs his gavel and the conglomeration of jurors listen in rapt attention to the prosecutor’s oration, then step inside the two-foot thick walls of the jail that once held some of the West’s most feared desperadoes--and those that could not bribe the jury.

The historical experience of Pioche is 175 miles north of Las Vegas on US93. Two small RV parks are in town and no-hookup camping is at Cathedral Gorge State Park ten miles south.

Look up, it's the world's tallest thermometer

The number One Hundred And Thirty Four carries weighty significance to travelers passing through Baker, California, even though they may not know it. Add "degrees" to this number and you have the highest temperature ever recorded in North America. The small desert community of Baker at the corner of the Mojave National Preserve is the gateway to where this temperature was recorded back in 1913--Death Valley National Park.

This number should serve as a reminder to travelers and those pursuing desert recreation that the Mojave Desert can get pretty darned hot, and not to forget the sun block, a wide-brimmed sun hat, and plenty of water if you plan to explore these desert treasures.

The Bun Boy restaurant (Now Bob's Big Boy) had been serving food, fuel, and supplies to travelers since 1925 when Las Vegas was linked to the rest of the world with a dirt road over Mountain Pass. They wanted to be sure that their customers were prepared for the extremes of the desert environment, so in 1991 they decided to build a thermometer next to their restaurant.

Not just any ordinary thermometer, mind you, that would mundanely tell the temperature to passersby. They built this one to a height of--you guessed it--134 feet, entering the record books as the World's Tallest Thermometer.

It's 4,943 lamps, pulling over 2,000 amperes, has become a Baker landmark, displaying the desert's temperature for miles up and down Interstate 15 and from Route 127 into Death Valley.

Formerly at the base of the thermometer, the Mojave Desert Information Center has moved to the restored Kelso Depot. From Baker, continue 35 miles southeast on Kelbaker Road to Kelso.

The renovated Kelso Depot is now the primary Visitor Center for Mojave National Preserve. Former dormitory rooms contain exhibits describing the cultural and natural history of the surrounding desert. The baggage room, ticket office, and two dormitory rooms have been historically furnished to illustrate life in the depot in the first half of the twentieth century. A 12-minute orientation film is shown in the theater.

Basement gallery space features rotating fine art collections by local artists, focusing on the cultural history and natural splendors of Mojave national Preserve.
After a nearly two decade long haitus, the Kelso Depot lunch counter, The Beanery, is back in business.