A visit to the heart of the Sagebrush Rebellion
Jon Christensen
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
‘The hate in our country is reminiscent of Nazi Germany’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Nevada’s ugly tug-of war. “The hate in our country is reminiscent of Nazi Germany.” – Guy Pence Last March, a pipe bomb blew a hole in the wall of Forest Service District Ranger Guy Pence’s office in Carson City. In August, dynamite blew up […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
‘As long as people are breaking the law …’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Nevada’s ugly tug-of war. “As long as people are breaking the law and getting away with it … it’s going to be tough.” – Jim Nelson Jim Nelson, supervisor of the Toiyabe and Humboldt national forests in Nevada, has led the agency in cracking […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
Nevada’s most rebellious
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Nevada’s ugly tug-of-war. “(We say) the federal government has to prove they own the land. And they can’t do it.” – Dick Carver Nye County Commissioner Dick Carver is a leader in the revolt of rural counties against the federal government in Nevada. “We […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
‘All of us feel we don’t have …’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Nevada’s ugly tug-of war. “All of us feel we don’t have the impact, the ability to make changes we had 20 years ago.” – Bonnie Whalen Bonnie Whalen is a computer supervisor who grew up on a ranch north of town and has worked […]
Posted inJune 26, 1995: Colorado's prison slayer
Mining reform might sneak back
While other environmental debates rage in Congress, negotiations over reform of the 1872 Mining Law are quietly proceeding behind closed doors in the Senate. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is at the center of the give-and-take. In March, Campbell and Sen. Bennett Johnston, D-La., introduced a bill, S. 639, that they said is almost identical […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
Forest Service bombed in Nevada
A bomb blew out windows and ripped a hole in the wall of a Toiyabe Forest Service office in Carson City, Nev., in the early evening of March 30. No one was injured in the explosion, which scattered debris and damaged computer equipment in the office of District Ranger Guy Pence in downtown Carson City. […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Elko is halfway home
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, Learning from Las Vegas, in a special issue about the Great Basin. With the help of its annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering, which brings up to 10,000 visitors here each January, Elko clings to its image as the last cowtown even as a gold […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue about the Great Basin. The landscape casts a rhythmic spell in the Great Basin. You feel it driving Highway 50 across Nevada. Grinding up a steep grade to the summit. Seeing a broad valley, and more mountains, one range after another, like waves […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
After the gold rush
Miners have many ways of turning rock into metal – brute force, corrosive chemicals, high heat and extreme pressure. Likewise, environmentalists are discovering there is more than one way to transform the West’s most refractory industry. Mining has fiercely resisted change since it was first given free license to pillage the mineral riches of a […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Scientists search for biological treasures
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. The story of change in the Great Basin is written on the landscape. The tectonic forces that shaped the land can be seen in the twisted layers of rock that rise abruptly from […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
A tale of two ranches
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue about the Great Basin. For Tony and Jerrie Tipton, a couple in their 40s who live in a trailer and run cattle on public land in the Toiyabe Mountains of central Nevada, it is the best of times. For their neighbor Paul Inchauspe, […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
No final solutions for farmers
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue about the Great Basin. “IRRIGATED HOMESTEAD LANDS. Now Open to Entry. THE LAND is FREE. Water Rights furnished by the U.S. Reclamation Service. Water Supply under the Great Lahontan Reservoir is permanent and assured.” Many families and businesses in the town of Fallon […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
A bitter rancher and a failed compromise
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. Great Basin National Park was born compromised. Established in 1986, the park covers 120 square miles of the Snake Range, centered on Wheeler Peak near the border of Nevada and Utah. It is […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Surprises of Sovereignty
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue about the Great Basin. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation, 30 miles northeast of Reno, seems a perfect setting for a resort. The turquoise lake shimmers amid desert mountains at the end of the Truckee River. Earlier in this century, tourists and sports […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
County commissioner courts bloodshed
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. Dick Carver barnstorms the West telling crowds of ranchers how he faced down an armed federal agent to open a road in the Toiyabe National Forest. “We’re going to bring the power of […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
At home in the wasteland
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue about the Great Basin. The Great Basin can be seen as the geography of hopelessness. Wallace Stegner might roll over in his grave at this turn of phrase. But at the twilight of the 20th century, the Great Basin is still a social, […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Folk hero has a pure white vision
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. The fight against the MX missile was a turning point in the Great Basin, the first time the region said a resounding “no” to a major federal pork-barrel project. The Great Basin MX […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Activist seeks a green, just Nevada
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. Bob Fulkerson is a fifth-generation Nevadan and environmental activist who should be on top of the world. He could be coasting on victories he helped bring about, including the end of underground nuclear […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Learning from Las Vegas
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue about the Great Basin. Time magazine ran a cover story last year hailing Las Vegas as “The New All-American city.” The benediction signaled transformation for what, after all, had been considered Sin City only a few decades ago. In 1994, Las Vegas also […]