Eureka along the Loneliest Road in America

 An article in Life magazine from July, 1986 listed U.S. Route 50 as ‘The Loneliest Road in America’.

Route 50 extends west to east over three thousand miles from West Sacramento, California to Ocean City in the state of Maryland. That is one long piece of highway. I did not have the time to travel it all at the moment, so a decision was made. I’d only travel the roadway across the section that traversed the state of Nevada. That was still over four hundred miles, but at least two thousand six hundred miles shorter than the entire route.

That was doable.

I cajoled my buddy, Paul, to venture out for this newest adventure. 

We drove north on U.S. Route 395 and enjoyed visiting the towns of Olancha, Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, Bishop, Bigger Pine, Lee Vining, and Biggest Pine. 

Cruising the eastern side of the Sierra mountain range is always a great road trip. Desert brown turning to forest green is awe-inspiring. It’s as if Mother Nature is showing all the colors available on her palette. 

We grabbed Route 50 just east of Carson City and were on our way along the loneliest road in America.

Within a hundred miles, it dawned on me why this stretch of highway was given the moniker by Life magazine – it was lonely. There is nothing to be seen except flat lands stretching to the far horizons on either side of the road.

Of course, there are the small towns of Fallon, Middlegate, Austin, and such along the way, but in between these locales, there was nothing but mile after mile of nothingness and loneliness.

We drove for hours and never saw another vehicle. When it was time to camp for the evening, I didn’t even have to pull off the side of the highway. No, just pitched a tent in the middle of the road – no semi-truck ran us over during the night.

Around noon, on the second day of our trip, we pulled into the town of Eureka, Nevada. I believed it would only be for a tankful of gasoline, but I was wrong.

This town, first settled in 1864 by a group of prospectors who found rich silver-lead ore in the nearby hills, was more than just a fuel fill-up for us. It turns out there is much more to Eureka than being one of the best-preserved historic mining towns I have come across. 

One section of downtown Eureka, Nevada

The downtown looks like you have been transported into the late 1800’s. Pristine buildings like the Eureka Opera House, the Colonnade Hotel, the Owl Club Saloon Roadhouse, the Eureka County Courthouse, and the majestic Jackson House Hotel, just to name a few.

Jackson House Hotel in Eureka, Nevada

And the best part about Eureka – it’s haunted.

According to Dana Lee Fruend, a town expert, Eureka has more ghosts than can be counted.

Dana Lee Fruend with John R Beyer, Eureka, Nevada

So haunted, in 2017, the Travel Channel sent Zak Bagan and his crew from the series ‘Ghost Adventures’ to investigate. Since then, professional and amateur paranormal investigators have paid Eureka many visits.

We met Fruend in the Jackson House Hotel, built in 1877, and it is supposedly one of the most haunted buildings in the town.

Many people have reported sitting at the bar inside the Jackson House Hotel and seeing the words – ‘I’m watching you’, mysteriously appear on the fogged mirror behind the bar.

“Perhaps it’s just Alexa, or the government,” I stated to Fruend.

“I don’t think so,” she replied.

During the heydays of Eureka, a violent or mysterious death wasn’t an unusual event for the town. For example, a man keeled over one night while drinking at the bar – he was dead before he hit the floor. Another man collapsed outside the hotel’s front door after receiving a fatal gunshot during a heated argument.

Violence in mining towns was not rare, and Eureka experienced its fair share through the years.

“I actually had a strange occurrence myself,” Fruend stated. “One evening, I was doing some paperwork here in the office when suddenly doors started opening and slamming shut. I heard footsteps right outside the office, but when I investigated, there was no one there. There was no one in the entire building. It freaked me out, so I gathered my things and went home to finish the work.”

Another employee saw two children going up the hotel's stairway and then just disappear into thin air.

“There’s a guy we call Ray, who really is active in the kitchen,” she said. “He’s not there, but the utensils move around a lot as though he’s trying to cook something.”

A ghost cooking? Talk about empty calories. 

It also turned out that the Owl Bar, just down the street from the hotel, is haunted. 

Interior of a bar in Eureka, Nevada

There’s an employee there who has been photographed with floating white orbs around her in numerous photos. There’s a cowboy who has been seen, just hanging out at the bar, but isn’t really there. And, a mirror where a woman is seen in it, and then the mirror can only be cleaned using Gin. No other cleaning product works after she is seen.”

That’s a picky ghost. 

“No, Vodka won’t do. You’ll have to use the good Gin to get me out of the mirror,” the ghost was once overheard saying.

“There are other sightings in different parts of town and at different times of the day or year,” Fruend told us. “But this is a beautiful town with wonderful people who live here. I couldn’t think of anywhere to live.”

Eureka receives over 10,000 tourists a year – not bad, since it sits on Route 50. Most come for the beauty of the countryside or the numerous events held in the town. In June, there is the Legends of the West Bike and Car Fest, the great 4th of July celebration, in September, the art, wine, and music festival, and so much more.

Fruend is a fount of knowledge concerning Eureka, so much so, she described an old dilapidated part of town that most tourists don’t know about. It too is supposedly haunted.

We got the directions and, within minutes, were on our way.

Driving approximately a mile and a half over paved and then dirt roads, we found ourselves on a hill high above Eureka. There was a large production plant of some sort to the northeast of us, and then a cluster of really tattered-looking old wooden buildings to the southwest.

Exploring buildings in disrepair must be approached carefully. You don’t want a roof beam falling on your head. I do it because I’m a professional explorer and have a very hard noggin.

Be careful in abandoned buildings at all times

“Check this out,” Paul stated while he was standing in front of one of the buildings. No windows, no doors, but a very creepy cloth painting hanging on the rear wall. He was snapping photos with his phone.

Rather disturbing image on the interior wall

“That is creepy,” I stated. It was a painting of a woman, tattered and blowing in the breeze, with two dark orbs as eyes.

“My camera won’t take a photo,” Paul stated. He then showed me multiple shots he had taken of the cloth painting, and each one only came out dark blue. He then took a photo of another building, and no issue. Clear and bright.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to the paranormal stuff, but there was something in that small house that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

We walked around a bit, snapped a few more photos, and it was time to go. I felt a bit better as I looked in the rear-view mirror, watching the rundown buildings disappear.

Eureka is more than just a place to look for hauntings. As the tourism director told me, the town’s motto is – ‘Eureka! You’ve found us! History, folklore, and fun, we have it all.’

And, they certainly do.

John can be reached at: beyersbyways@gmail.com

 

The Garces Expedition

This year, 2026, is historically monumental for the United States. A year of celebrations is occurring across the breadth and width of this country, showing the world how awesome this land wrested away from a British Monarch truly is.

It’s been 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, telling King George III that it was too late to say he was sorry for treating the colonists so badly.

It’s been 100 years since the opening of the iconic Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, enabling car-loving Americans to travel 2,448 miles independently and in relative comfort across eight different states.

And, it’s been 250 years since a hard-walking Franciscan missionary by the name of Fray Francisco Garces became the first European to lay eyes on the rushing waters of the Colorado River near Laughlin, Nevada.

Of course, rather than the glittering lights of casinos, only small native villages occupied by the Mohave people greeted his eyes at that time. It was their home. But seeing that this sandal-wearing, robed man meant them no harm, they were eager to assist the explorer.

Garces was on a mission, pun intended, to find a land route between the missions of Sonora, Mexico, and those in California.

Any person who has traveled through the Mojave Desert understands how desolate and lonely it can be. Of course, along Route 40, Route 66, or Interstate 15, travel is not so bad. There are rest areas, high-priced gas stations, interesting eateries, a few motels, and quirky towns to visit. But, in 1775 and 1776, there was nothing but hard-packed desert floor, limited water sources, venomous snakes, and not a Starbucks to be found.

It was not for the timid.

Not for the timid

Father Garces was not timid, nor was the party he traveled with, as they made their way from Mission San Xavier Del Bac, near present-day Tucson, northward through the desert in October of 1775.

By the end of February the following year, Garces and his group had reached multiple Mohave villages located near present-day Laughlin and Bullhead City. They marveled at the nearly quarter-mile-wide river flowing southward.

It must have been a wonderful sight in the middle of the vastness of the desert.

The natives welcomed him to the land that no outsider had seen before. This was the land they had lived in for nearly 800 years - though some experts claim it could have been for thousands of years.

Garces traveled from one village to another, meeting the very people for whom the desert is now named. He was impressed by how they managed to thrive in such an inhospitable world, living on the fish the river's blue, flowing waters provided, and on what they could harvest from the plants in the area. Pinyon pine nuts, mesquite beans, yucca fruit, chia seeds, and cactus fruit were a daily nutritional diet that the desert yielded.

On March 4, 1776, Father Garces and his group were led across the Mojave Desert toward the Pacific Coast along with four Mohave guides. They eventually reached the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel 20 days later.

Garces returned to the Mohave villages in May of 1776, following ancient routes the natives had used for eons to trade with other tribes to the west.

Unfortunately, near present-day Yuma, Father Garces was killed during a Quechan (Yuma) uprising against Spanish forces on July 19, 1781.

Garces' legacy, besides being a man of the cloth, was one of risking his own safety while exploring the desert wilderness where no European had ventured before. He met many native peoples who found him trustworthy and treated him respectfully, as he did those who crossed his path.

The Mojave Desert is vast, covering nearly 48,000 square miles, depending on the boundaries used, and oftentimes daunting for a traveler even today.

I have had the pleasure of exploring some of it, and what I have discovered is that it is a place full of life and beauty.

Of course, exploring this massive, stark landscape is a little different while tooling around in an air-conditioned four-wheel drive vehicle in lieu of a pair of leather sandals.

It is hard to imagine the fortitude and bravery it took 250 years ago to venture out to literally parts unknown with little more than the horizon to guide them. Today, we have satellite GPS, and we still get lost.

There is a large sign just south of Laughlin, Nevada, along the Needles Highway, which tells a short version of Father Garces' exploration in the area in 1776.

To the east are the sparkling waters of the Colorado River; to the west are the endless hills, sandy washes, and harshness of the Mojave Desert.

I hiked out about one mile west over that rocky, uneven ground, sporting a nice pair of Keen boots, and realized that was about as far as I wanted to venture.

Whether you are considering our Founding Fathers, who began the grand experiment that became the USA, or the ones who stretched asphalt over two thousand miles from east to west, or a sandal-wearing Franciscan, these were determined and unstoppable individuals.

A lot to celebrate this year, from coast to coast.

John can be reached at beyersbyways@gmail.com

The Colorado River Museum

 Traveling along U.S. Route 95 in Bullhead City, one cannot help but notice the beautiful desert scenery that borders the east shoreline of the Colorado River.

Stop for a moment, and the sights and sounds of this desert community come alive. Walk to the edges of the crystal-blue waters of the Colorado to witness the majesty of the tall, lanky egrets making their way from river stone to river stone. Look up into the sky as a belted kingfisher slows its flapping while making a landing on the strong current of the river. Perhaps, there is a chance to see a pair of osprey spring into the air as a boat rushes close to the shore.

Colorado River looking north toward Davis Dam

The Colorado River in Bullhead City and the gambling mecca of Laughlin across the river is a magical experience. For nature lovers, it is a must. For desert historians, it is a destination.

This naturally carved water artery that begins 1,450 miles north of the Sea of Cortez, meanders - sometimes furiously- through seven states, ending in Arizona before entering Mexico and beyond.

I have traveled the 95 for decades, writing travel articles about this and that. Places that hum with activity and places that can no longer be found on maps. To me, that is one of the joys of traveling. To see places people love to visit and to witness places that people have never heard of or would think of traveling to.

Years ago, I wrote an article about Hardyville, present-day Bullhead City. Some of the folks I interviewed knew its history, some had never heard of it, even though there is a huge mural of Hardyville directly across U.S. Route 95 from the local Stater Bros. market.

U.S. Route 95 is not an interstate. There are stop lights, crosswalks, and pedestrians making their own non-guarded crossing lanes all through the town.

So, recently, while driving through Bullhead City, I decided to stop at the Colorado River Museum. I learned that it was not the Bullhead City Museum since it covered the entirety of the region. They like to share their history with Laughlin, across the river, Fort Mojave, south of Bullhead, Oatman to the southeast, and all points in between.

One of the many exterior displays on exhibit

I had meant to stop by for years. Those years slipped by like a wet noodle on a wet napkin. But I finally stopped, and was glad.

The two docents on duty were Carol and Ray. Both silver-haired, like me, and with that same flame of wanting to keep history alive.

Carol met me at the door and explained the purpose of the Colorado River Museum. “We want people, both locals and visitors, to understand the importance that this town and this river had.”

I nodded. That’s what I do.

The Colorado River is the dammedest in the United States. That is, there are 15 major dams along its waterways, as well as hundreds mixed in with the many tributaries.

There was a time when large barges and steamboats used to chug up and down the Colorado River from various places in present-day Arizona to the Gulf of Mexico, including Bullhead City.

Plaque outside of the Colorado River Museum

There is a great exhibit at the museum depicting the times and sorts of ships that made their way delivering goods for the ranches, farms, and mining towns that existed along the shores. Photos, letters, and delivery receipts adorn the walls near the exhibits. It is fascinating and sad at the same time. What if those dams had not been built? Would large boats still ply the waters of the Colorado River as in the old days?

Then again, dams bring hydroelectricity, which, if it were not available, cities like Las Vegas could not exist. And, you do not want to make Bugsy Segal mad.

An old one-armed bandit from the Riverside Casino

I wandered the museum, which is very well laid out and detailed in facts, and I was fascinated by what I learned.

For example, I did not know that the extremely prolific western writer, Louis L’Amour, who wrote over 100 books, actually worked at the Katherine Mine when he was 18 years old. Katherine Mine was named after the sister of S.C. Baggs, who discovered gold near present-day Bullhead City in 1900.

History of Loui's Lamour in the Colorado River Museum

The boating mecca, Katherine Landing, at Lake Mojave, is the same name for the same gal,

Wandering here and there, I learned a lot from the exhibits and from speaking with Ray and Carol - they are both founts of knowledge.

One-room schoolhouse built in 1946

Ray took me on a tour of the one-room schoolhouse located on the property that was built in 1946. Inside is a perfect replica of what a school day must have been like. Students sitting in their desks, at the ready to learn whatever the teacher in front of the class wanted them to learn, with all sorts of books, drawings, pictures, and American flags flying.

Just like today.

Docent Ray inside the one-room schoolhouse

The school was actually manually moved from where it was originally built, Ray informed me. “It was near Third Avenue, and about five or six years ago, it was moved totally intact without any damage.”

And I cannot move a refrigerator without marring the floor.

The school was only in use for approximately five years. “The town grew too quickly for a one-room schoolhouse.”

When the Davis Dam, just north of Bullhead City, was started in 1942, pausing during World War II, and finished in 1953, the area grew exponentially. Many of the workers and their families decided to stay in the warm climate of the Mojave Desert, along the glistening waters of the Colorado River.

Of course, in 1964, an entrepreneur named Don Laughlin flew over the area and believed a gambling haven might be a good bet.

John R Beyer standing alongside Don Laughlin,

He was right, and the population soared. I sat through a very interesting tale of how one man's dream helped forge two towns on opposite sides of a river that could benefit from each other.

A dreamer whose dreams paid off well.

The Colorado River Museum is a must when traveling near Laughlin, Bullhead City, or any of the nearby cities. It is stocked with artifacts from the mining period, exhibits of the ingenious people who lived there prior to settlers moving in, Davis Dam history, and anything else that a curious - and hopefully we all are- traveller would enjoy.

Enjoy the interior exhibits, the exterior exhibits, but just take a moment to stop and reflect on the history of a couple of towns built along the shores of the Colorado River.

You never know who you will meet at the museum

For more information:

https://coloradoriverhistoricalsociety.org/

John can be contacted at: beyersbyways@gmail.com