Mike Cox - Finding the Wild West: The Mountain West: Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana

Founded in 1865 as a mining town following the discovery of silver ore in the Toquima Mountains, within two years Belmont had a population of two thousand. The town got another boost in 1867 when the county seat was moved here from Ione. Over the following two decades, area mines produced some $15 million in silver before the ore began to play out. But Belmont never gained a rail connection, and after its primary economic engine careened off the figurative track, the town declined. In 1905 the county seat was relocated to then-booming Tonopah, forty-five miles to the south.

Charlie and Jack Become Unruly

In 1874, two men named Charlie McIntyre and Jack Walker arrived in Belmont and began to explore the town. In the process, perhaps having overindulged in spiritous beverages, they settled a difficulty with a local resident by shooting him. The man survived, but the newcomers were duly arrested.

Not finding that confinement suited their lifestyle, the pair managed to break out of jail and went on the lam. A couple of days later, they were captured and returned to jail. Details are sketchy, but for whatever reasonmaybe the shooting victim had dieda delegation of concerned citizens decided there was no need to burden the countys legal system with a trial.

Descending on the sheriffs office and basement lockup, the vigilantes overpowered the sheriff and a deputy, tied them up, and removed McIntyre and Walker from their cells. The high desert town lacking any substantial trees, the citizens group figured out a way to hang the men right there in the jail.

Once theyd asphyxiated, the pair were cut down and taken to the Belmont Cemetery on the edge of town (GPS coordinates: N38 35.06', W116 52.69') and buried in an unmarked common grave. The double lynching occurred in the old bank building, the ruins of which are still standing, during the construction of the two-story redbrick courthouse that opened in 1876. The ghost towns most impressive surviving structure, it was maintained by the state for a time but was transferred to Nye County in 2012. A nonprofit group now takes care of the property.

When Frank Hall shot an eagle, then had it mounted and hung over the door of the trading post that he and five others opened in 1851 on the Emigrant Trail, it seemed logical to call the place Eagle Station. The store went through several owners before Abraham Curry and other investors bought it and the entire surrounding valley in 1858. They had a townsite surveyed and named it Carson City for scout Kit Carson. In 1861, when Congress cut Utah Territory in half to create Nevada Territory, Carson City became the capital. With statehood coming three years later, it remained the seat of government.

With many of its nineteenth-century buildings still standing, Carson City is considered one of the best unreconstructed early-day mining towns in Nevada. Among the vintage structures are the 1871 Greek Revival Lander County Courthouse (122 Main St.), the 1866 City Hall (90 South St.), and the St. Charles Hotel (310 South Carson St.; 775-882-1887). Built in 1862, the St. Charles is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Nevada. These buildings are among forty-four National Register of Historic Places or properties in Carson City.

Built in 1863 by Lemuel Sandy Bowers and his wife Alison Eilley Orrum Bowers, the sixteen-room Bowers Mansion is a monument to nineteenth-century nouveau riche extravagance. Having made separate fortunes in silver mining, the couple spent $400,000 building an elegant stone mansion inspired by Mrs. Bowerss memory of fine homes in her native Scotland. The couple traveled to Europe, spending additional hundreds of thousands of dollars collecting furniture and fine art to go inside their new home.