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’.

That sounded rather sad, and lonely. I just had to visit and try to cheer up this long stretch of remote asphalt up. I’m that kind of guy – always thinking of the road.

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 which 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.

“Won’t you be lonely out there on the loneliest road in America?” Laureen asked.

“I thought you’d like a short outing,” I replied.

“No can do this week, really busy,” she answered.

So, I cajoled my buddy, Paul, to venture out for this newest adventure. He was game.

“I’m game,” he stated.

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.

I felt a tear slowly fall, as I made that turn.

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 horizons on either side of the road.

“Do you see anything?” I asked Paul.

“Nope, nothing to see.”

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.

In all transparency, we didn’t camp in the middle of the road, which would be dangerous and stupid. Things I try to avoid, or don’t tell Laureen about.

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. Turns out there is much more to Eureka than being one of the best preserved historic old mining towns I have come across. 

Part 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.

One of the many older but well maintained buildings

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

According to Dana Lee Fruend, the Eureka Tourism Director, the town has more ghosts than can be counted.

John R Beyer with Dana Lee Fruend

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 is supposedly one of the most haunted buildings in the town.

Jackson House Hotel in Eureka, Nevada

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 back in the late 1800’s, 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 starting 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 hotels 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 – I couldn’t resist that one. 

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

Owl Restaurant and 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.

Interior of Owl Bar in Eureka, Nevada

“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 ten thousand tourists a year – not bad since it sits on the 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.

Outside of the town of Eureka, Nevada

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

“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.

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

A haunting image in Eureka, Nevada

“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.

Again, 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.