Thursday, July 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Cowtown Chronicles

Dyer

Pop.: 300 (350 in summer when the ranch help's in town)

Industry: Ranching, farming (main crops are alfalfa and carrots)

Nearest city: Tonopah (pop. about 2,500), 75 miles north for general groceries, or Bishop, Calif. (pop. about 3,500) 80 miles west if you want a Kmart or JCPenney.

Distance to Las Vegas: 226 miles (also 226 miles to Reno).

Talk of the Town:

Well, maybe down at The Boonies restaurant and bar people are still talking about the geologists who came from all over the world last week--Tel Aviv, Australia, you name it--to study Dyer's big fault. The Death Valley-to-Furnace Creek fault system is second only to the San Andreas fault, says LaCinda Elgan. She can see it out her window. I've phoned her up at home, and she's happy to talk about the place she loves best, the 45-mile-long Fish Lake Valley, where the community of Dyer is scattered about. It's snug between the Silver Peak Range and the White Mountains and a glance away from Nevada's highest point, Boundary Peak (13,140 feet). Kids can go to school here K-8, then get bused to Tonopah. Amenities are brief: post office, couple of bars, hardware/gift store, the little Esmeralda Market. "We're like a big family," says Elgan.

The really big news, however, that Elgan and her husband (Kenneth, the Esmeralda County sheriff) have been talking about is the Goldfield Land Rush coming up Aug. 23. Elgan, who's Esmeralda County's clerk/treasurer (she drives 75 miles every day to Goldfield for work), is in charge of the land sale. It's a yearly event in which the tiny, impoverished county sells off county property to bolster its coffers. Some of it is property the county reclaimed when previous owners defaulted on their taxes. Like the four-story Goldfield Hotel, for instance, which at the turn of the century was a five-star figure of elegance. It's up for bid this year because the owner lost it to the county for failing to pay $350,000 in back taxes. Actually, says Elgan, the owner still has until 5 p.m. today, July 24, to redeem the hotel. There's also some land for sale in Fish Lake Valley.--Heidi Walters