Carson City and Lake Tahoe

We certainly have learned a lot about the state of Nevada in the past two days!  Sunday we toured the train museum here in Carson City.  There we learned how important the railroad was for the mining industry in the state.  The wealth of Nevada's silver mines was  of the reasons for its swift acceptance as a state in 1864, as the 36th state of the union.  Nevada is also the sixth largest producer of gold in the world.  There are some other interesting aspects to this state, some of them perhaps not as important as gold and silver.  It is the driest state, not speaking in terms of alcohol, but water.  Nevada, along with California, Hawaii and Alaska has a higher probability of earthquakes than the rest of the states.  And that brings us to the capitol of Nevada, which we toured yesterday.

 

The capitol is pictured above.  It was built in 1871, however, it was totally gutted in 1974 because it was structurally unsound and a public safety hazard.  It would crumble in an earthquake.  The roof and interior details were removed and a reinforced concrete shell was bonded to the existing exterior wall.  Then the interior was rebuilt using the items salvaged from the original.

This statue of a Native American woman caught my eye immediately as I entered the capital.  She is Sarah Winnemucca, (1844-1881).  According to the information provided, she was a defender of human rights, educator, and author of the first book by a native woman.  On the second floor is a display by the Nevada Woman's History Project.  This group has researched women's accomplishments in Nevada, and they were responsible for the placement of the statue in the capitol.  Nevada may have had all male governors, but it ranks second in the nation having the most female legislators.  Women could vote in state elections by 1916- Nevada was one of the first states leading in that.  It was not until 1920 when they could vote in Federal elections.

Pictured above is the senate chamber.  Nevada is one of only a few states to have their legislative building outside of the capitol.  The capitol building lacked the room for the legislative body so the senate and assembly moved to a new building in 1971.  There was not much to see in this building, so we quickly moved on to grab some lunch and head out of town to Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe is a short drive from Carson City.  We were that close and just could not pass up a chance to see again one of the prettiest lakes in all of North America  (it is the third deepest at 1,600Ft.).  We also were there to meet up with our niece Rebecca who works on the zip line in Heavenly Village.  Fortunately she was just coming down off the mountain from a day of work when we met up with her.  Her family; brothers, sister, and parents also just happened to be arriving in South Tahoe city that day and we were all able to get together for a meal out.  It is one of the perks of being on the road,  there is always somewhere family to meet up with.