The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-10-26
INCIDENT OF A
TYPICAL OLD-TIMER

H
PRINCIPALLY with murders and notorious
mur7erers. and other characters who
i've been q little worth. II any, 70 the
state. The writers have derived their
information principally frgm newsra-
per account and from old barkeepers.
II fortunes made and crimes committed.
Not ore writer hss visited, personally
CT By inquiry. iato the homes, into the
kitchens. OF even into the field Of labor
and honest eldeavor, 70 describe the
struggles Of the honest and decent, be
ing the only places where history can
r. found in the making. Lord Mseau-
lav realized this principle. and made
his history OF England one Of the most
valuable and instructive Of histories.
Every history OF Nevada I have read.
snd nearly everything I have read
about Nevada and It's people are Sian
9sr0us. barring the writing Of Robert
L Fulton alone. I viii attempt 10 de-
piet a true Nevadan.
His name eannot be found in any CT
the histories OF writings. yet 7 consider
his the best type Of a Nevadan-J. v.
p. MeCurdy. Born in Scotland. Don't
pin me down TO exact dates, but You
ray nail me as TO facts. I begin nv
recital at Forrest Hill, near Sierra
City. California, the latter sixties. and
I summarize as close as I can for a
newspaper letter. He had raised some
money in San Francisco 10 operate a
mine. Fall Of the wear had arrived It
was not paying. Contributors failed &c
put up more He called his employees
and merchants Of the town to meet
They discussed the situation. The mer-
= Eun~- NuI kEaFr --l~.osaw- e. -
They could not move out. They urged
him to work all winter, and promised
10 take their own chances on results
He did and next spring found eondi-
tons worse than the fall. He took a
memorandum of all accounts. He left.
He went TO Virginia City, Nevada,
and there found employment as super.
intendent Of the Ogden mill, at the foot
Of one Of the streets. He was elected
alderman, and did good work as such.
Virginia Chronicle files on this point af-
ford most interesting reading. A miner
came to him and told him about the
Wild Goose mines situated above Para
disc Valley. Humboldt county, subse-
quently called Spring City, where the
mining claim is located. MeCurdy, on
the strength of this miners represen-
went to Winnemueea and landed
there with only ten cents in his peck
et He interviewed Mr.. Reinhart. lead.
ing merchant. and showed what he be-
he could do with the Wild Goose
mine, which had been worked in an
ignorant manner. Reinhart advanced
him some money and credit. He bought
the Wild Goose cheap. He ran three
tunnels, one under the other, all in vein
matter. IT was rich. He built a mill at
City, eight miles distant. lie
built about II miles of sagebrush road
eve very deep sand around a moving
mountain Of sand, beginning about ~
miles out Of Winnemueea. II caught
FIRE and burnt out. He rebuilt it. He
constructed a 17-barbed wire rabbit
proof fence around several hundred
acres of land just below Spring City.
H raised hogs, and established a ham
and bacon curing plant-the best in
the west. He had over 10 dogs of all
breeds from the deep baying hounds
and on down through the bulls TO the
poodles-some costing over so, and all
knew MeCurdy. He never wore any
hut a hickory shirt, without a tie, with
top button cut off. I spent three hours
with him one day hunting for a bleat-
ing lamb that had lost its mother.
Lucky for me, he found it. Well, l am
reaching the point which I claim is il.
Illustrative Of what constitutes a true
Nevadan.
II was about the year 1880 MeCurdy
had made money, and he had paid off
nearly all of the debts contracted at
Sierra City, although he was neither
legally nor morally bound to pay any
OF them. He went to San Francisco on
business and stopped at the Russ
House, a seeond-class hotel, and shifted
as usual. There he met one Of the old
merchants who had advanced groceries
and provisions at Sierra City. The old
fellow was seedily dressed, and still
staggering under the blow of that hard
winter. MeCurdy drew his personal
check in favor Of the old merchant for
nearly a thousand dollars, being the ex-
act amount advanced, and passed IT
over, and this is what followed:
Old Merchant: "MeCurdy, do you
mean thisf"
MeCurdy: "There is your check"
Old Merchant: "MeCurdy, you are
tie best d s. - | ever
saw
1AASAAA ~ oAAEA Alt0oAAtA AAoL
IS the most heartfelt expression of
gratitude and the best compliment he
ever received in his life.
I claim that the foregoing more cor
rectly illustrates the true inwardness
OF the Nevada heart than all that has
been written about Maekay, Fair
Food, O'Brien and their class of peo-
Ile, who have left nothing but inverted
shafts on the ground to commemorate
their achievements, and all of whom
/ say all of whom-deserted Nevada,
and ever after Stunned il like a niger
would keep away from a chicken coop
he had depopulated.
Now, let some one write about
Fave Buell. of Eureka, the father of
smelling in Nevada; II. F. Dangberg,
Sr., the father Of farming; ID. X. Jones,
the pioneer-all MeCurdys-and the
hest ever-and describe their struggles
and achievements, and we will get a
beautiful picture Of Nevada and Neva.
dans-ssOuelouefois.o in Record-C Con