I recently traveled to the western edge of the Great Basin
in the US State of Nevada. In almost all ways this is a very big and mostly
very lonely land. Except for major cities such as Reno in the northwest and Las
Vegas far to the south, most other communities are relatively small and compact
as if gathered-in against the immensity of the surrounding sagebrush and sand
that dominates much of the area. On the west, the peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain
range pierce the frequently blue skies...skies broken by the highest peaks and only occasional
contrails of very high-flying military and civilian jets. These mountains block
what little rain Nevada receives from the Pacific Ocean in this time of increasingly
severe drought in the western United States.
Author Mary Austin once referred to the area south of the site I was
visiting as the 'land of little rain' and, mostly, that is the case for much of
the Great Basin and the other desert regions east of California. The earth in
these places range from a sandy yellow brown, to beige, to alkali white. The vegetation the dark green of
Pinyon and blue-grey of sagebrush. Although these colors and tones are the
general rule they are not exclusive.
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| Much of Nevada can be a harsh and difficult land. (Photo by Tom Baugh) |
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| Wheeler Peak, Nevada. (Photo by Tom Baugh) |
It was the exception to the desert tones and hues that had
brought my son Kevin and I to this site in the shadow of Wheeler Peak. South of
the Nevada state capitol at Carson City, the interstate highways spawned smaller
two lane ribbons of asphalt leading to communities such as Smith and Yerington and, old mining camps such as Aurora and, further south Bodie. Occasionally, we would pass bluish metal markers noting the historical significance
of a particular site. There are a number of these historical site markers in
Nevada, especially western Nevada, because a lot of history took place
here. The 49 ‘ers crossed these lands
before ascending the steep and rugged eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada range
in search of the gold in California only to make the return trip in 1859 to
establish the mineral-rich mines of Gold Hill, Silver City, and the queen of
them all, Virginia City in Nevada’s Comstock Lode.
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| Cemeteries and mine tailing dumps remind us of early Virginia City, Nevada. (Photo by Tom Baugh) |
Several of us have formed a study group to address Environmental Aesthetics. For those who are interested, please contact me at springmountain1@att.net.
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