Claudia Wines - Hidden History of Elko County

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright by 2017 Claudia Wines

All rights reserved

Front cover: courtesy of Northeastern Nevada Museum.

First published 2017

e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978.1.62585.512.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016945809

print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.995.8

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to those hardy souls who were the history of Elko County. It was a rugged land, and life was not easy. They struggled through hard winters, dry summers and long, hard traveling to civilization. Those who live here now appreciate the perseverance of our early settlers.

My thanks to those who have researched and written about the history of Elko County, either one story or a whole book. They have all done their part to preserve our history.

Also, my thanks to Toni Mendive and Thad Ballard, for always helping me find just the right picture.

Last, but not least, I appreciate my family: my late husband, Gordon, who shared my love of local history; and my children, Gretchen, Ira and Margaret, who spent countless hours on the phone hearing about this book, and Catherine, who proofread it and made creative suggestions, which made it much better. My thanks to my late parents, Harvey and Margaret Dahl, who settled in Starr Valley when I was four years old and started my lifelong love affair with Elko County.

To all of these, I owe a debt of gratitude.

1

LEONA REYNOLDS

Was It Billy Graham?

Leona Kimmerle Reynolds spent thirteen of her eighty-eight years in the small town of Currie, in southern Elko County. Not many other people lived there; it was in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town was Ely, Nevada, seventy-five miles away. There was one thing that made life pleasant for the inhabitants, and that was the railroad. In Nevada at that time, most small towns only connection to civilization was by horse and buggy on a dirt road.

Leonas story began in Putnam, Ohio, in 1886. During her school years, she had a teacher named Earl Reynolds. He tired of teaching, moved to Nevada and got a job with the newly built Nevada Northern Railway. This ran north from Ely to Cobre, some 125 miles, where it joined the transcontinental Central Pacific Railroad, constructed in 1869, from the Pacific Coast to the Mississippi River. Earls first position with the railroad involved opening a new telegraph office and railroad station at Currie. But before he began, he returned to Ohio and married his former student, Leona, in 1908.

The newlyweds took all their belongings and a months worth of groceries and rode the train to Currie. Their home was in the railway depot; so began many exciting events for the new bride.

She immediately fell in love with the country around Currie. She had a friendly, outgoing personality and soon had many friends. There were only a few people living there at the time, but she became acquainted with most of those who lived on surrounding ranches.

Leona told of trips to these ranches for picnics and parties. The Goshute Caves were twenty miles from Currie, and she and her friends would go there by horse and buggy. They loved crawling through low, narrow openings and admiring the stalactites that almost met the stalagmites among the beautiful pools of cool water.

In addition to the railway depot, there was a hotel in Currie, and finally, as more people moved to town, there arose a need for a school. The State of Nevada required a minimum of eleven students in order to establish a school, but there were only nine children in Currie. The state would not relent, so one of the nearby ranchers hired a family that had two children. The entire community pitched in to help build a schoolhouse, which also served as a community center and space for dances, parties, election boards and any other necessary functions.

There was no store in town, so after a few years of saving their money, Earl and Leona decided to start one. They ordered supplies, which arrived on the train, and soon it was a huge success. In addition to the townspeople, ranchers from as far away as seventy miles and nearby Indian tribes frequented their store. They soon expanded from just food to clothes, fabric and sewing supplies, machinery, hay, oats and anything else that the local people needed. The store kept them so busy that Earl finally quit his job with the railroad and devoted all of his time to the mercantile.

Leona told many tales of dealing with rattlesnakes. She saw one nearly every time she stepped out her back door. In an attempt to lessen the number of snakes in town, the men found a nearby rattlesnake den and dynamited it, which helped somewhat. Jackrabbits were also a problem, as there were hundreds of them around the area. The railroad ran a special train to Currie from Ely every Sunday carrying more than one hundred people, who would spend the day shooting rabbits to try to help thin them out.

The Reynoldses store was so successful that they eventually could afford to build their own house. They also constructed a chicken coop, and Leona started raising chickens and selling eggs, which added to the profitability of the store.

The Italian man who ran the hotel in town married a girl from Italy, who spoke no English. Leona and several other women in town included her in all their jaunts around the countryside; although they could not converse, she enjoyed their friendship. Later, when the newcomer was expecting a baby, her husband planned to take her to Ely, the nearest hospital. The baby decided to come early, and Leona was called on to be a midwife. It was a successful experience, and she consequently delivered a number of babies through the years. She also served as a mortician when someone died, until an undertaker could make the trip from Ely to Currie.

Leona and Earl Reynolds in front of their first house in Currie. Courtesy of Northeastern Nevada Museum.

When Leona looked back on her life, years later, she had many tales to tell about the time spent in Currie, but the most exciting thing that stuck in her mind was the day Billy Graham came to towntwice. He didnt actually come to Currie; he just passed through, but he was in an automobile, probably the first to go through Currie, and it provided something to talk about for years to come. If it was, indeed, Billy Graham, it was probably William Graham Sr., the father of the well-known evangelist.

This happened one day when a couple arrived in Currie in a brand-new Buick. Many people in Currie had never seen a car. The road, which was only a dirt trail used by horses and wagons, was not conducive to automobile traffic. Billy Graham was driving, and his wife was in the back. They stopped in Currie for a few minutes before speeding off down the road. They made it part way to Wells when they ran into a herd of cattle and hit one of the cows. The collision tore the top off the car and threw the animal into the back seat, on top of Mrs. Graham. She was not seriously injured but decided shed had enough of automobiles. She caught a ride into Wells with the mail stage, boarded the train and returned home. Mr. Graham drove the topless car back to Currie, sold it to Earl Reynolds for $250 and then he, too, caught the train home.