Nolan Has Returned

Well my thanks go to Laura for her contribution yesterday and her wonderful style for posting a blog. My brain seemed to have drawn a blank yesterday after my job interview. The interview wasn't too bad, but then again it wasn't too go either... I was prepared for the usual questions, you know they types - what are your strenghts and why do you want to work here...but then they flipped things on me and starting asking questions like "What you your former employees think of you and what was the outcome of you working with them?" Huh? What was the outcome of working with them? Well, we started fires, we were unproductive and we didn't follow instructions... I don't remember how I actually answered the question - I sat there a few moments and finally asked what that question was supposed to mean. I still didn't get a clear answer and I don't believe the lady interviewing me knew exactly what it meant either... Don't ask questions you don't understand...

My thought process seems to still be wired a little funny after trying to configure itself to answering some of those questions... The best part was at the end when I had to do role playing with the woman interviewing me and she was a very upset customer. She was obviously very uncomfortable doing it, but I tried by best to keep things light and do things as best as possible... What a weird interview...

Now for some pictures. I know that's why everyone keeps coming back. It's not to hear what is happening in my life - it's to see what kind of great pictures I will post and then talk about.. Well, you are in for a treat today. I am going to post some pictures I have taken over the last few years of ghost towns. I studied them for my senior research project and gave a public presentation of my findings at the end of April 2005... Here's some of the pictures I took..

Here is the mercantile building that still stands in Dunlap, Nebraska. This is between Chadron and Alliance right next to the Niobrara river - just downstream from the Box Butte Reservior. The river is literally right behind me in the picture.
__________________________________________________________________
These ruins are what remain of Antioch, Nebraska. Antioch was founded to mine potash during World War I. The potash industry was dominated by the Germans, so when The United States had no source of import they turned to the Sandhills of Nebraska in old alcali lakes. Potash wass used in fertilizer and bombs. Antioch is along highway 2 east of Alliance and you can easily see it from the highway.
__________________________________________________________________
This is the old train tunnel at Belmont, Nebraska. This is the only tunnel in the state and it was built in 1880. The tunnel is 800 feet long. This was one of my favorite places to visit. You can see where the smoke from the engines was left on the top of the tunnel. Belmont was actually established as a station for the old steam engines to hook up. You see, Belmont is ontop of a steep grade known as The Crawford Climb and steam engines often needed help from another engine to make it up the hill. The steam engine would be sent out to meet the train coming and then take it up the climb to Belmont where the train would stop, take on passengers and the helper engine would await the next train to approach the grade. The tunnel was built to make the climb more gradual. Today the BNSF has a grade to the southwest of the tunnel that has been blasted out. Belmont is located off of highway 2 between Marsland and Crawford.
__________________________________________________________________
Here's a shot of the sign at Lodi, Nebraska and the cemetary in the background. Lodi is between Oconto and Callaway, Nebraska along highway 40. I first gathered interest for ghost towns when I was young. My grandmother told my parents about the cemetary and we stopped on our way home to see some relatives graves. So perhaps you can say I have had the ghost town crazy since I was small and grandma didn't help keep it away!
__________________________________________________________________
These buildings are all that remains of Sartoria, Nebraska. Sartoria was on the South Loup River 20 miles north-northwest of Kearney and 7 miles west of Pleasanton.

__________________________________________________________________

I am now going to take you to the Amargosa Desert of Nevada.

This is a picture looking at the major structors still standing in Rhyolite, Nevada. Rhyolite is just southwest of Beatty, Nevada and just a few miles from Death Valley. Rhyolite was established as a mining community in the early 1900's. In the picture you see the biggest building, the Cook Bank, too the left you see the Porter General Store, and the school is behind the bank. The railroad station is directly behind me. It was over 100 here when I was snapping these photos. Death Valley is just over the first set of mountains in the picture. If you have been to Death Valley in the summer then you know what kind of heat I am talking about.
__________________________________________________________________
This is actually a house that was built and lived in by Tom Kelly. Tom built the house out of Adolphus Busch beer bottles. There are over 30,000 bottles in the walls and the building is now an informal visitor center.
__________________________________________________________________This is the school house that was finished in 1907. The school board had to float a $20,000 bond to build it and the bond wasn't payed off until 1972 which was more than 40 years after the town was abandoned.
__________________________________________________________________
This is the Porter General Store that was built in 1906. You an easily see the sidewalk and the grates they used. The grates were about 10 feet deep and you can see the basement of the general store and where the grould level was.
__________________________________________________________________
The train station has been fenced off from public viewing. I think there was structural problems that deemed it unsafe.
__________________________________________________________________
Obviously I didn't take this photo, but you can compare it to the one below. This is the John S. Cook Bank around the year 1905. This picture was evidently taken from something sitting higher than where I stood below. I stood on the road - and it appears to me that perhaps this one was taken from a stagecoach or maybe a stage which was erected for a street dance or something.
__________________________________________________________________
I consider this picture one of the best pictures I have taken when it comes to comparing modern day to past photos. As the picture above shows, this is the John S. Cook Bank in Rhyolite, Nevada. It was a four story building and the safe in the bank could hold $1,000,000.00 (1 million) in COINS! The basement was were the post office was. My picture was taken 100 years after the one above. The Cook Bank is one of the most photographed buildings when it comes to ghost towns - it is probably the most photographed in the United States. While we were visiting Rhyolite there were several other people stop by just to see the ghost town. We also visited the graveyard, what's left of it that is.

Well, those are some of the many pictures and towns I visited. These are some of my favorite pictures I have taken or places I have visited. Hopefully I will be able to start visiting some more ghost towns around Montana. Until again

-=Nolan=-