Early in the morning of December 7, 1941, Herb Ringer set off for a solitary drive in the back country south of Reno, Nevada. The day, which would prove to be one of the most painful and well-remembered days in US history, began like any other cool and clear winter morning. An ideal day for a peaceful drive. As Herb wrote in his diary…
I left Reno at 7:50 and travelled south over the familiar road toward Carson City. It was extremely clear and cold and certainly a beautiful day presented itself. Drove to the hot springs at Steamboat thence over the Geiger Grade to Virginia City. The scenes which presented themselves at each turn in the road were gorgeous and I took time to drink in all of the beautiful mountain and desert scenery as I climbed the long grade…
From beside the grave of Charles H. Setzler 1824-1875 I took a picture of Virginia City across the little draw which separated it from the cemetery. A draw which contained some rubble and mine dumps, now dormant as the town and the whole scene presented an idea of death and sleeping memories…
After spending an hour in the old boot hill I drove into town and entered the Crystal Parlor. Spent some time looking at the old relics and listening to the 60 yr. old player piano, then took a picture of the famous Crystal Chandelier. This beautiful piece of work is composed of gold tubing, standards, bars, 18 chimneys, 18 shades and 18 bulbs and 600 separate crystal pendants that have to be taken off to be cleaned…
Part way down this slash in the mountains I met a Basque sheepherder walking with his dogs and sheep down the narrow canyon trail toward a little grassy valley that branched off to the east. His rifle, a Winchester carbine strapped to his back, was a warning to coyotes…
I then drove back over the same route to Virginia City, thence down through Gold Hill and through the desolate Gold Canyon to Silver City…
The road was poor and very rough, but I enjoyed driving across the back country toward Ft. Churchill. The road wound through a valley then through a canyon and along the slopes of low hills, running sometimes through wooded sections along the river bottoms again across broken rock tableland and at last emerging in a valley leading eastward and soon at old Ft. Churchill. Here I stopped for over an hour to walk about, write and take pictures…
Ft. Churchill, built after the uprising of the Piutes near Pyramid Lake and as a protection for travellers and ranchers who were fast settling the western ranges; it had an interesting period of occupancy and saw some fast action. I strolled around, looking in all of the old shells of buildings and walking through most of them. Many of the buildings are only two or three sided, while others retain all four walls. They were all constructed of adobe brick and one old building contains thousands of bricks supposedly for the repair of the buildings. Sagebrush covers the flat on which this historic fort stood and on the hill is an old cemetery...
After spending some time among the old buildings I drove on to the highway and turned north…
Drove through Virginia City and down Geiger Grade and at Geiger Point, I saw Reno for the first time at night from this high spot and it presented a beautiful sight with its lights strongly showing up through the darkness…
Thence down into town and found the extras on the streets, declaring Hawaii had been bombed by the Japanese.
HERB RINGER came West from his home in New Jersey in 1939. Camera in hand,
Herb captured the American West, from the Canadian Border to the Rio Grande and
from the Big Sur coast to the High Plains.
We believe Herb’s collection of Life in the West is one of the finest. His work has been
published in The Zephyr for 20 years. I am pleased finally, to offer Herb’s photographs
in color. We are also building a new ‘album’ of his work, elsewhere on this site.
My dear friend died on December 11, 1998…JS
For the Most Comprehensive Collection of Herb Ringer Photographs Online, Click Here to see the Herb Ringer Issue of the Zephyr.
And Follow Our Digital Archive of Herb’s Photos Daily on Facebook.com/ZephyrAmerica.
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I first drove the route in the early ’70s and then again in the middle ’80s–It’s still there and this article brings memories back. Thanks, cause today is my first time to relive it and to read your publication!