Great Basin National Park is just up the road from Baker, a very small town in the basin between the 2 summits. On the road to Baker, we kept seeing a sign about a ranching display. Today we stopped to read and learn.
Let’s learn about ranching in this area.
In the 30-minute movie we saw about the basin on our first day, we learned that ranching was done here. We also learned that the ranchers fought having the area made a national park because they didn’t want to lose their grazing rights. We never saw any cows or horses, so didn’t understand about the ranching. Today we started to figure it out.
Early pioneers came back to this rugged desolate land after mining didn’t work out to establish farms and ranches, creating the agricultural foundation that we have today.
Ranchers were able to grow sheep and beef.
As the sheep industry grew, Basque men from the Pyrenees region of France and Spain came to herd sheep. Their cultural influence is still experienced in many Great Basin communities.
Ranching has changed little over the years, but today a good education and business savvy help.
Ranching today relies heavily on science and technology to monitor and maintain soil, plant, and animal health.
Without control, trees and sagebrush take over the vegetation. Mowing the sagebrush releases native grasses and forbs (don’t know what this is), restoring the area’s biodiversity.
Glimpse of what the area looks like after mowing.
a horse with no name
From the road and the ranching exhibit, we could see this abandoned car.
So of course Barney walked out to see it because he thought he knew what it was.
“The horse with no name” is part of “post” impressionistic art (since it was often added to fence posts). This example is of the skeleton of a horse sitting in an 1918 Essex (following picture is from a website talking about this art). Barney remembers hearing about this car and that people would periodically change the position of the horse in the car. If you google “American Photographs: The horse with no name” you’ll see more pictures.
see the skeleton?
car up close
the vertical white object is the last bone that is left
Now that we knew this was the place, we started seeing other art on fence posts. Aren’t people creative? Art is everywhere.
need for water
As in every area wanting to prosper, water is critical. Ranchers depend on water for good crops and healthy livestock.
Early farmers and ranchers used the wind to pump water from the ground. Today wells have to reach deeper for this resource by using high-voltage electric pumps, many powered by solar panels.
But the region’s existing water may be reallocated to Las Vegas, a real problem for the ranchers.
Do you remember the Owens Valley water fight with Los Angeles that we talked about earlier in our trip? It’s included in the Other Side posts.
more history
We finally spent some time in the park’s main visitors center and found some more history.
Town of Baker was started by Mormons establishing ranches and farms. It was name after an early cattle rancher and was established in 1895. A Baker family is still in the area ranching (he was in the movie we saw).
While Indians were here first, ranchers and herders continue working the land. Often the ranches are handed down through families holding onto their history and legacy.
In 2014, archaeologists found a weathered, rusty, old Winchester rifle leaning against a juniper tree in a remote area of the park. They determined that this gun was made in 1882 and had been exposed to sun, wind, rain, and snow for over 100 year. We’ll never know why that gun was left against a tree. Luckily it was recovered since that area was burned down a few years ago; otherwise, we would have lost it forever.
Known as “everyman’s” rifle, it was popular at the time; over 720,000 were manufactured between 1873 and 1919. After being stabilized and conserved, it was shown across the world before coming home to Great Basin National Park.
what it would have looked like when it was found
early description of the Great Basin
John C. Fremont named the Great Basin after his expedition in 1843-44 into the region. He was one of the first explorers to describe the area’s distinctive basin characteristic. Didn’t know he was the one to give the area its name!
end of Hwy. 50
We have loved going out for breakfast on Fridays since we moved to Georgia, so this morning we drove over to Border Inn, the last stop on Hwy. 50 before Utah. We got our Survival Booklet stamped for the 5th time and mailed it in for our certificate.
the sign welcoming people coming from Utah to Nevada
cute menu cover
A little light reading at our table; wish we had known this quote when the boys kept saying that life wasn’t fair!
The Border Inn is right on the Nevada/Utah border. The bar is in Nevada and the cafe in Utah. Since this is such an isolated area, the cafe/hotel had a hard time staying afloat. For a while they offered free showers to sheepherders coming in for a meal. It worked, and the servers were glad the men were clean before sitting down for a meal.
So sad to say good-bye to Hwy. 50; we’ve really enjoyed our time on this road. Tomorrow we’re off to St. George, Utah, to go to Safelite and get a nick in our windshield fixed and to get haircuts. Starbucks and Chick-fil-A sound good too! We’ll get a little exploring in as well that 2 of the park rangers told us about.
This next part of our trip we’ll call Four Corners because we’ll be in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.
