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 Post subject: Our Expedition/Investigations Of Unionville & Lovelock Cemet
PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:20 am 
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Location: Las Vegas, NV
Our Expedition/Investigations Of Unionville & Lovelock Cemeteries 3-7-15

Isn't the sole purpose of life is to get out there and explore? When it comes to our paranormal expeditions sometimes they hold the strange other times its just nice to get away and have that freedom to see places people normally do not get to see.

These trips take allot of planning, money, supplies and gear but we never want to head off into the frontier without being prepped. Allot of times I take old wagon and mining roads in the most remote regions of the country. With it being almost Spring I was just looking forward to getting into the heart of Northern Nevada which is full of ghost towns and old pioneer cemetery.

We would take on Unionville, Lone Mountain Cemetery and Lovelock Chinese Pioneer Cemetery. All three fantastic places in an area I have worked time and time again. Its a part of Nevada allot of people are not familiar with. Its an area that we have brought you countless adventures so you never know what you might see or do back here but no less its a great area full of strange lore and history.

Personally I enjoy to offroad and work hard to get somewhere by foot or by jeep. It reminds me that nothing comes easy if it does its not truly paranormal adventuring. I spend allot of time in the cooler months visiting ghost towns that is because its cooler and their are no rattle snakes about so it really ups our safety.

I can think of other investigations we have done in this region such as Star City, Cave Of The Red Haired Giants, Rochester and Seven Troughs. All get locations that we did quite well at so I knew whatever was in store for us would make fine additions to our website as we would take on Unionville, Lone Mountain Cemetery and the Lovelock Chinese Pioneer Graveyard.

Its a nice time to investigate its nearly Spring so all the snow up on the ranges begins to melt therefore the flowers start to come out, butterflies and things begin to look very green even in the high desert of Nevada. Everybody thinks Nevada is just a giant dust bowl but its not there are meadows, woods higher up in the mountains, ghost towns, mines, scenic landscapes of various red colors and so much more. So anytime I can get away and delve into this magical land I am always game.

Allot of folks do not realize it but Nevada is really one of the last places in the country that remains vacated. You can go on hundreds of miles of dirt roads through mountains, canyons and into boom towns that once were thriving at one time. The exploration here is truly unfathomable that is why I enjoy it so much because you can spend days traversing this frontier. Actually many lifetimes and you still would not see it all.

Its always a project when I do my ghost towns extra blankets, food, survival gear, maps etc as my family does come along which they at times think I am nuts but in the end they always have a good time even if they do not admit it lol. In the early morning its cold out frost blankets everything and you never know what it might be like in some remote canyon up in the mountains of Nevada. But as we made our way into the heart of the silver state it was apparent that signs of Spring were everywhere making this a really great day to be out exploring the offbeat places not many get to ever see.

For me it would be over 150 miles till I reached our destination we stopped at our favorite location to get doughnuts and I had gotten a bodacious high energy coffee for the road. Once I would get close to Unionville I'd stop once again for more gas just to make sure the tank was full and we had enough to offroad in the region since there are none after 50 miles into the Humboldt Mountains.

We would turn off into an area known as Rochester today its a ghost town but new mining operations have sparked interest in the area. Although there is more then one way to get back to Unionville I would take the Rochester way back in here to go around the Humboldt Range up into Unionville Nevada.

Unionville Nevada

For three years now I have seen signs pointing to this place and have read about it. But the problem was I never had enough time to actually go here and check it out. The town is mainly known for boasting the Mark Twain cabin which in the town he went under his real name of Samuel Clemens.

I had a bit of an issue trying to find the town because once you head into the ghost town of Rochester you veer to your left on top of this mountain overlooking the valley behind the Humboldt range. I had seen cattle roaming around some were crossing the road while as we made our way down into this valley wild horses were playing off to my left.

Its not the wild west without the free range cattle or the wild horses. Personally I had not even reached the hotel and it seemed life was very abundant here. I was hoping to see some antelope but no less the hawks were flying over us and there was nothing but scenic beauty.

We also found this creek which the road begin to follow it was kind of like an oasis there were trees, pools of water, waterfalls and even grass here. Not something you would expect to see in the middle of Nevada but the beauty here is rather abundant if you pay attention which I do because ill get out of my jeep just to film or photograph sites.

Its very confusing because you follow the backside of the Humboldt range then eventually the road begins to veer to the left around it. The problem is none of the roads are marked the one that was ended up taking us up to the front gates of some farm while that road at one time went straight to Unionville.

Without signs and many dirt roads to our left we honestly did not know where to go to find the town. Not until the old emigrant road showed up on my GPS and I used that as a way point to head NW down another road named after one of the towns more prominent residents.

Its strange because you will not see this town until you actually get to the mouth of Buena Vista's Canyon. Once your at the mouth then you can see a single road that keeps going through the center of the canyon which follows a creek which in turn keeps the canyon shaded with cottonwoods.

Before I get into my adventure let me just say I probably will never go back here again. Its not that its not beautiful or historic but some of the locals apparently do not like outsiders. Despite that Unionville is a well visited ghost town and its advertised on numerous travel sites trust me on it the people here are very strange and lack poor social skills. Which ill get into later into this report then you can form your own conclusions but lets just say I was not given the warm welcome I expected despite that its our site that puts these places on the map so that business owners can also gain something out of this also. But it seems like the folks here are looking for drama maybe their lives are dull here afterall what is there to do if you live in some trailer in the middle of a canyon that is 50 miles from even the nearest grocery store?

Our first stop was these three old wood structures not sure if they were cabins as one of them could have been a business from back in the day or something. I was out in the high desert outside one of the first residents at the canyons entrance. I was not on her property but out in the desert next to it never crossed the fence line when she came out to stare at my son and I. I held up my camera very high to let her know I am taking photos of the wood buildings instead she goes back in brings her dogs outside to intimidate me no lie with my son on my side.

So then I had to deal with this woman eyeballing us for 10 minutes while her dogs were growling at us one of them being a Doberman. I mean seriously I am with my kid taking photos its a ghost town you would think the local residents by now would be use to seeing other ghost town explorers come out here just to get a few photos and visit the historic sites found here. The real honest truth was that if she would have told her dogs to attack us she would have had to dead dogs because my knife I carry is pretty large and when it comes to my sons safety you wont get very far if you want to be put on my radar. I could not believe that this woman would not wave to us right from the beginning of entering town I felt already ousted before the adventure begin.

So I ended up hurrying on up because it was obvious this person was bringing there dogs out to attack us and we were not even on her property. Its sad that people have to be that way how paranoid can someone get what is a harmless dad and his kid going to do. We took our photos and we split from this area along the way we found some stone ruins and a wall. Most of the time these early residents of these boom towns used anything they could find to build homes and businesses. That includes the wood from some of the trees in the canyon, hillsides where they would make adobe dug outs and of course native volcanic rock as well.

When I had gotten out to look around some of the stone ruins two guys in a trailer were watching me out the window. Honestly I hate folks that just stare if you want to be proud of your town wave to others do not stare at someone like they are doing something wrong. I mean seriously have these people ever seen any other ghost town explorers before or kids running around playing? If you ask me that is kind of creepy and makes me feel less welcomed. Its one thing if you want to look out your windows and another thing to just rudely keep staring at us. Honestly this made my family feel less safe therefore I had to make sure I was armed to the teeth out here because some of the people in the sticks act weirder then me that is the truth!

Eventually as we begin to enter the main part of downtown Unionville we found this what appeared to be manor maybe at one time it was a station of some kind. It looked sort of like a train or freight station but had multiple chimneys on it and the building was gutted. The windows had long arches and it appeared that it was being freshly renovated as I seen tools, piles of wood and remnants everywhere.

When I went into the building the front entrance was missing the walkway so I had to walk across these beams that is where I stepped on a small piece of wood with a long rusty nail. Yeah it went through my hiking shoes into the bottom of my foot which is okay it happens. Lucky for me as it entered my skin I stopped dead in my tracks removing the board from my shoes by kicking it off. I could not do much else my hands were full and at the time I was filming. I never even said a word while filming despite the pain I was in the show must go on.

When I had explored this building it had two bathrooms one of them had a hot tub, basement stairs were gone, rooms were torn to pieces, rat droppings everywhere, broken glass, holes in the wall etc. The entire building was a mess with no windows in the older section while the newer one had them. I looked out some of the windows at the snow capped peaks. My guess would be based on studying the foundation, wood floors, beams etc that this building was very old and was being renovated into a more modern looking structure as the roof had ceramic roof tiles not something you in a ghost town structure often. Its apparent someone is going to renovate the building, gut it then build a much more modern home out of it.

Further down the road is a barn, stone ruins and an entire field of remnants of the town. This is where downtown would be but today its just an overgrown field of collapsed wood buildings, wagons, old Ford trucks, mining machinery, rusty vintage relics of the past, cogs and wagon wheels. I entered the downtown area through an area where no fence was up as it was not posted and you could just walk around as it resided by the road.

Also across the street from old downtown is the Old Pioneer Garden B&B which use to be the old wagon shop in the 1800's turned into a small inn with 11 rooms. At first I took some photos of the hens, sheep and smaller animals which are fenced in where you enter the inn. I thought hey this is great the kids get to see some animals grazing and I can go off photograph some of the old remnants of the town across the street.

Well my GF was hanging out by the Old Pioneer Garden when its owner came outside and not just out front but drove his truck 30' and then stood there watching me. Eventually he had gotten rude with Tammy asking her if I had the owners permission to take pictures or wander those grounds. As far as I knew downtown is not posted and the way I seen it is if you do not want people roaming it then put some fencing up and post the property. As far as I knew I was just exploring Unionville with my son we had no ill intent and we had no idea it was private property. I like how all these folks in Unionville do not want you roaming around the ghost town yet half of there fences are down, incomplete and nothing is posted except for peoples brand new homes or ranches which is understandable but old town come on!!!!

The owner of the B&B then called the owner the guy must be blind because he called my 13 year old son an adult and was bitching at Tammy about those two men out in the desert roaming around. He asked her what we were doing isn't it obvious when I am holding a cam and my son is standing still next to a pioneer wagon that more then likely were just visiting here taking photos.

Its so easy to judge guys like me because I have tats, bandana on, black nails, leather jacket etc and its sad it just means that the owner of the B&B is a busy body. I absolutely refuse to promote the B&B, send over customers or advertise it as I had planned. Once you act that way with me your business can shut down for all I give a shit. There was not one I mean it NOT one person staying at the B&B!!! I certainly was not going to stay the night here they lost my business the moment he called the owner and tried to stir up drama even though Tammy told him I am just photographing the ghost town. I mean is the drama necessary I just am a guy with my kid shooting photos of old downtown big deal!!! Like that is uncommon here considering many groups like mine come up to Unionville to visit the ghost town and Mark Twain cabin!

When my son came to get me after telling me the old man at the inn was being rude I left downtown. I was only able to pull off a video and photograph some of the remnants. I found a few ore carts, old truck, bean cans, meat grinder, old broken tea cup, ore keg and a few other historical relics. Maybe the locals think people are going to steal from the town I am sure it has happened but come on do they think I am going to carry an old ore wagon on my back? Seriously!

When I did leave the open high desert where downtown once stood in this canyon I passed the guy at the B&B who I said hello to and well he gave me a hi back but it was almost like it killed him to say it. The owner of that apparent property was parked in his truck watching me. Waiting for us to leave the area which if you ask me is a bit unsettling that these people have no lives so they have to create drama and excitement out of a simple situation. So simple that all it required me to do is take a few photos and video then move on.

I had come to notice that the further you went up the canyon the more brand new homes that had been built back here. So most of the town site is either on private property, next to someone's home or behind it and many things are just inaccessible. From other older ghost town explorer sites from what I seen it was not always this way but when people build new homes a piece of the ghost town becomes a part of their property sad to say. This just means less for us to check out even though we drove very far to see it all so I was very disappointed from the get go.

Unionville started off as a confederacy sympathizer town and well as some of you know the state of Nevada was full of Union Support during the civil war. All the metals mined in Nevada went to the Union therefore their was mixed political views and today it seems that way also. I seen a ranch in the canyon named Dixie with the old rebel flag. I am sure some of the residents support the confederacy still to this day others may share some very conservative views of the way government should be. Perhaps this is why they looked at me as if they never seen a human before especially one that is eccentric as I am. But no less I am use to ghost town exploring and hiking in the sierras where I meet new people all the time. I mean come on the only person to wave at me was a guy driving a truck in the canyon with Oregon plates NOT even a local!

Lets not forget Unionville had an anti Chinese hate movement that took place in the 1800's. Over 18 residents were charged with racism and hate crimes. They actually gathered up 35 Chinese residents transporting them to a town over 30 miles away to be deported on the Union Pacific. A judge handed down the book to the men charged as they conspired against the Chinese. It does not appear that much has changed with the town itself I can see hate still exist or maybe fear. When people fear a certain race or the way a person looks or a skin color they tend to judge or sometimes act irrationally. I can see that not allot has changed since the 1800's lets just being honest Unionville supported slavery but lost as Union supporters out numbered confederacy supporters. It was the site of one of the largest hate crime criminal charges brought up on 18 men of its kind. Today many of the locals do not like outsiders especially me or I would not be getting stared at the entire time I was there nor would some lady be trying to ready her dogs to attack my son and I just for taking photos of the scenic mountains and historic sites. NOTHING I mean NOTHING has changed and these people have not learned a thing from the mid 1800's till present day!

As I went further up the road we found a pond but we also seen a few cabins and even another old barn. Many of the old wood structures line main street while many of the old stone structures are simply just gone erased from history. It seems that allot of people have built new homes along the Buena Vista Creek and so there was allot of old structures I could not get to because they were fenced in unlike downtown which had scattered remnants of the town everywhere. I actually seen a coyote during the day near me running over a hill that was pretty cool. I have seen plenty but its very rare to see one roaming alone during the day.

We saw this really cool round kids house would call it a tree house however its not held up by trees. From the top of it there is a slide while around it has a winding stairwell. It was pretty cool so was this one area where cobblestone had been laid out where the creek flows near the road and there is a small waterfall.

Tammy and I made a few stops to photograph an old cabin, bar and stairwell. That is when a hawk flew over us and we seen this marmot watching us from on top of some rocks. Wildlife was abundant here we seen flowers, butterflies, birds, wild horses, green meadows, trees budding and the creek was flowing fast as the snow on the mountains above was melting from a nice 70 degree days approaching fast.We had passed by the old schoolhouse which today has been renovated and it appeared someone was living in it so we did not even attempt to go down the road to it since it had been posted. However one thing I will say is this is one of the best preserved school houses in the west compared to other ones we have visited this one on the hill is probably the towns most dominant structure.

We later then came across this other ranch which had an old covered bridge cross the creek. Yeah you guessed it you cant even access the bridge it sits behind a gate and fence on someone's property. This persons property not only has made the bridge a part of their land but the rich mines that are said to be above it. So there was no way for me to go up into the mountain behind the home and try to check out some of the old mining remnants. I really wanted to walk across the bridge and take some readings. Lets face it covered bridges on the west coast are just about nonexistent let alone in Nevada. I use to on occasion check them out back east but to find one here is a diamond in the rough.

Beyond the covered bridge is the Mohea Memorial Youth Park which is at the end of Main Street. The park is quaint and nice with trees then been planted here. In the back of the park is an old wood and adobe structure. Behind that in the a hillside is an old rock and wood structure that was made into a two room cabin where Mark Twain resided. He also built the cabin with his very own hands so its a very unique historic site. Next to the cabin is an old outhouse which is fallen apart and on each side of that are old stone walls which may have also been built by Twain which may have been built to encircle his property at one time.

We had a picnic at the park it was nice unloaded all the food sat at a picnic bench the weather we were topping out at around 70 degrees it was just a nice day. Since its further up the canyon the park kind of overlooks the town below it although as you go deeper into this canyon the more it narrows truthfully.

The Mark Twain cabin had a second room that went right into the hillside itself while the wood and adobe structure had a few rooms. The kitchen had an old stove inside and fridge as I could see them from a broken glass window on the backside of the structure. While nearby were numerous giant cottonwood tree stumps some of the oldest I seen in NV that probably were cut down for wood or maybe when the park was erected. I would have to say that each tree probably was over 200 years old my son found one stump he could climb into and sit lol.

I spent allot of time enjoying myself at the cabin it was the only part of town where I did not have people trying to send there dogs out to get me or give me dirty looks. The town is known for the Twain Cabin so its the reason allot of folks come up here but to have a nice picnic at the cabin itself was truly a blessing and deeper in the canyon where its more peaceful. One can hear the water rushing from the creek and enjoy a few plaques as well.

When we left the park I continued to head further up the canyon by this time it narrowed greatly and the road split left or straight ahead. Both ways were not very good to take a vehicle on allot of sharp rocks and I just was not going to be stuck here not with the way the locals acted with me. As I told Tammy id probably end up as an interment in their local cemetery with the way some of the people act. I did adore the newer homes some of them were gorgeous but it seemed anyone who lived in a tiny one bedroom trailer appeared to suffer from delusional paranoia and a staring problem. Where I come from through my adventures in NV and the high sierras surrounding Tahoe is people generally wave or talk to eachother. But that is not the vibe I had gotten here its as if the locals do not want people to come check out there town quite sad if you ask me.

I would stop at the split in the road I believe the road to the left takes you up into another canyon or up over the hill where one of the main mines was. However it graced along a ranchers property who also was outside at the time giving the stare so I just was at the point of leaving it alone because it seems even if your not on private property these people do not act right or stable. Nobody normal brings there dogs out to intimidate you or guns or just stands there staring at you the entire time that is just rude and unnecessary especially when there are kids around come on now!!!! We cant learn about the town or teach others about its rich history if the locals are hostile.

I decided to grab my gear where the kids and I would instead hike up this narrow canyon which was full of iron and these rusty looking rock formations everywhere. We did find in that canyon a dump pile but no mine however back when some of the locals were convicted of Chinese hate crimes they did come back and tried to mine this very canyon. So I did see a few dump piles where mining had been done including a couple high up above the canyon near some peaks. After going about a half of mile down the road we would turn back not much to see Buena Vista canyon continues to traverse the Humboldt Range. My guess would be that this is the back road into its sister town called Star City which we investigated twice including in 2014 when we checked out the very haunted Sheba Mine.

We would eventually head out of town where I would take us to Unionville Cemetery not of course without people giving us more dirty looks. Not sure what the deal is we seen two other couples but they were from out of state driving through the canyon to check out the town to. I wonder if they had the same difficulties with this location we did. I know one thing why would I say at a B&B when the whole entire towns makes visitors feel uninvited besides the fact that there is nothing to do here unless your interested in remnants of the town or its history. If your not allowed to check it out or your condemned for doing so then their is no point in renting a room in Unionville so if you plan on it don't stay in Winnemucca which is a fairly large town 30 miles if not less up the highway.

When we reached the cemetery I told Tammy and the kids that this is probably the best part of the entire town and it turned out it was. There are no ranches nearby, people, dogs, houses and it resides on the outskirts of town. With great views of the Humboldt Mountain Range and Star Peak its truly a serene place. I felt at peace here perhaps because honestly the dearly departed are the last of my worries here as opposed to roaming the town itself.

If you ever wanted to see what a true wild western cemetery looks like then this would be it. Many of the wood fences are collapsed, graves laying on their side, leaning and even cracked in many pieces. There was a very tall wood grave marker while at another gravestone was carved by Masons who probably lived within the town. As the town had a few fraternal groups one of them had a reunion at the park in town and are still prevalent today.

We did see the Mohea Whitaker Gravesite which had this concrete hole filled with water and a dead rat that drowned in it recently. With the dump a few hundred feet away from the cemetery for the town I have to assume that it has drawn in rodents in the area due to the garbage being dumped here by the residents of the town. Mohea died in the 2007 many sites appeared to be named after her including the local park and even a road heading into town. It appears her husband is still alive not sure he lives in town but it would appear that most of the interments found in the cemetery range from the towns first residents to more recent times.

I was a bit saddened by the cemeteries condition many of the graves are laying on there side or in pieces on the ground. The wood fences that surrounded them are down while another grave is that of a child's who has beautiful wrought iron around it. It appeared that at least almost half of the graves were that of children here. Living in the wild west was a do or die situation for all young and old. Life was harsh back in these mountains everything had to be imported and death was not uncommon.

I sat by the wrought iron child's grave for awhile to take a break that is when Tammy showed me a skull of a coyote or possible canine within the cemetery itself. We also found near that grave allot of bone shards may have been human I picked a few up to study them scientifically to see if maybe they derived from the skull nearby or from a nearby gravesite. I still have no idea but there was many bone fragments on the ground quite odd to come across no less.

One of the gravesites was a big piece of iron ore while another memorial was dedicated towards all the members who belonged to the I.O.O.F. which is similar to the masons. There was also another memorial that had some names listed on it with a tree with dates ranging from the 1800's to the middle of the 1900's. Id say in total there was well over 40 gravesites here while their was allot of open space probably were there was some unmarked burials at.

While I rested at the cemetery my younger son went outside the cemetery to explore the high desert. I guess he wanted to find any remnants of the town but he ended up not finding anything. He told me he was chasing some butterflies I was not as concerned about him roaming around the cemetery as the town itself. My other son was chasing grasshoppers and finally caught one. I take my boys out allot with me because I do feel they should enjoy their youth not spend it on a computer or some video game. To many kids do not get enough time out of the house I make sure my kids do and in the process they learn when they want to lol ugh teens!

It would appear that Unionville seems a bit unfriendly if you decide this is a place you want to visit take my advice be careful. Its not friendly like Virginia City or some of these other semi ghost towns. I wish I could have met up with the local historian or someone to share with me some tales as it may have been a much better experience for me and maybe the locals would have not been so defensive over me taking photos here who knows! But I can see why Mark Twain did not like this place I now understand. If people acted this way now I can only imagine how bad off the town was in the 1800's when people were struggling for their survival. Then again Twain described this place as rather dismal because the mountains surrounding it kept the town in the dark most of the time as Unionville was in a narrow canyon surrounded by some of Nevada's most dominant peaks.

I have come to the conclusion that some folks are either bored or just have no socialization skills living in the boondocks. Therefore they are not as cultured as you or I let alone as openminded to the way I look. I did not find everything I was looking for such as Relic Mining, various stone ruins or the town plaques. Their is one plaque which covers the town history the other one supposedly about the Donner-Reed Party who set up camp here prior to heading into the sierras where they were forced to hunker down in a massive October storm that forced them to stay in a single cabin till April. The Donner Party ran out of resources eating their dogs, horses and even shoe leather. Eventually when a member of the party died they resorted to cannibalism. So Unionville is historic in more then one way if you really want to delve as deep as I do.

Eventually we would leave the cemetery I begin to follow the entire Humboldt Range all the way up to where it intersects with Star Canyon where Star City is found. This road more or less was the scenic loop sure it put me 35 miles out of my way but by the time I finished the loop I had driven around the entire Humboldt Range so that I thought was really cool. The entire time I could see Star Peak off to my left and if you pay attention the valley holds allot of wildlife. But no less we were surrounded 360 degrees by mountains the entire time at all times here! So when you see this on our site keep in mind lots of nature, scenery, pictures of what is left of the town such as old wagons and allot of videos I filmed here.

I would take this road that was so narrow and there was plant life growing down the center of it. Of course the jeep sits higher up so it was not an issue but if you have a car forget it its not a good road to take. I knew if I kept heading North id eventually hit the highway because I been out here before offroading more then once. This road was so so but it had allot of up and down dips Tammy was holding on for dare life and I was just chuckling to myself as I gave her the ride of her life Lord Rick style lol. It was funny because I had went from taking a very well maintained dirt road called Old Emigrant Road to eventually this narrow road which surprisingly took me out at one of the highways which led me to the entrance onto the expressway.

Once you reach the expressway you have two options if you were to head east you end up in Winnemucca and Elko two NE large Nevadan towns or if you chose to head west then you can work your way into Reno/Carson City which are two of the biggest NW cities in Nevada. No less the expressway in northern NV is really your only hub between civilization and the Nevadan frontier which traverse through allot of mountain ranges, salt flats left behind from the Lahontan Sea, vast desert expanses and miles without any gas stations so if you journey out this way you better be prepared if you want to get to where you need to go and be able to leave that area. You definitely would not want to be stuck in Unionville and have the locals eyeballing you like your a piece of meat or food for their dinner table lol.

The journey along Thunder Mountain and the Humboldt Range this time of year is nice as you head west towards Lovelock. Many of the peaks are snowcapped and also the Thunder Mountain Memorial/Monument is beautiful this time of year which we tend to visit everytime we pass by it one way or another. Someday ill do a story on our site about the monument/memorial. It was built by native Americans who found trash from the white man and made an entire complex of statues as well as structures. Its actually quite amazing at the native art and how they turned trash into treasure. We would eventually make our way into Lovelock its large town but it sits out in the middle of the great basin so its limited to what you can do out this way as we visited Lone Mountain Cemetery which is fairly accessible on the outskirts of town.

Lone Mountain Cemetery

It was good to be back into some civilization this meant I could get a cup of Joe or take the kids for burgers. I had to find Lone Mountain Cemetery as it was the largest and perhaps one of the most historic in the area. Lovelock NV is very historic as it use to be a mining boom town and although historic it is growing with each passing year unlike most towns which become abandoned in this region or have.

We would find the cemetery it was a bit odd may I say because it had to entrances into it with a chain link fence surrounding it. At each entrance was a wood sign hung up by two metal poles while in between two was a giant metal sign that had displayed Lone Mountain beneath the name. I think they did a great job depicting Lone Mountain which is this volcanic looking geological formation that overshadows the entire cemetery. The sign depicts the foothills then the mountain the background its pretty cool.

I learned about this cemetery from a member browsing our communities. She had told me that some of the cemeteries in Lovelock are haunted and worth checking out. As some of you know that we operate a large website so when we get leads we chase them down always have and tips. Having the website allows for me to take reports from others in the region then follow up on those tips to see if such sites do contain something paranormal.

I parked inside the entrance to the cemetery my kids wanted to rest they had enough after excitement of Unionville. It was okay cemeteries for me are about history of course just as with anything ill take some EMF readings and ill definitely do EVP sessions in case such places are haunted.

As with this cemetery its very large hundreds of graves a majority of them crosses while other graves are Masonic works of art. It appears that the most historic or oldest part of the graveyard resides at the very back aisle. While newer graves are towards both of the entrances.

The type of gravesites vary here all the way from angel statues to stones shaped like trees to tombstones with peoples creepy pictures truth be told why lie. There was an upper burial vault all the way to George Lovelock's memorial the founding father of Lovelock Nevada and one of the first pioneers to brave this area.

This was a harsh area to live its in the great basin surrounded by mountains and at one time believe it or not was all underwater in ancient times. The one thing I did focus on from afar is where the cave of the red haired giants was located at. You can actually see the general area of the where the cave is from the cemetery across the valley from miles away. I bet when the Lovelock family settled in this area they had very little idea that giants once lived up in those mountains truth be told he would never live to hear about the giant skeletons that were unearthed here.

The one thing about the cemetery that stood out is the many types of gravesites all the way from wood gravemarkers and fencing to those surrounded by rusty wrought iron. While we found a couple gravesites filled with so many flowers you could barely see the headstone which is always a nice site to see because it means they are remembered not forgotten.

However many of the graves in Lone Mountain are forgotten however vandalism is nearly nonexistent here which is rare because most burial grounds I visit do not go unscathed. Id say out of a few hundred gravestones I visited maybe two of them were cracked and had broken pieces. So it is very well maintained considering it was erected in the 1860's. It appeared that the founder had a new memorial while his wife next to him had an original beautifully carved stone.

We also found a family burial where a mother and daughter died on the same die then the second daughter two weeks later. More then likely a car accident but these type of sites bring me great sadness. You see every grave here tells a story while others indicate tragedies that took place even in the small town of Lovelock from decades ago.

There was also an upper burial where a piece of the concrete was missing on its side thus nearly exposing the coffin. The interment was an Irish man and someone put a bottle of Irish ale inside the hole. I have to assume someone did it as a memento to the person buried here perhaps or as a way to honor them.

There was another tombstone that had a smaller one leaning up against it while other graves had trinkets. In the center of the cemetery was a flag with a veterans area. While some family plots were surrounded by chain link fencing and had a couple dozen burials. Some of the graves had trinkets hanging from them others were just marble flat stones.

In the end by the time I was done here I had seen so many different types of gravestones and sites. It has a variety of interments here and there is only one small corner left within the cemetery for future burials. I did see a couple new gravesites less then a year old here also so yes its still being used but eventually they will run out and perhaps a new cemetery will open with the growth of Lovelock.

I did take sometime to admire the scenery here at one point when I left the cemetery I was able to peer between two mountain ranges and see the snowy sierras from over 100 miles away that is how clear it was during my investigation here. While I took some photos of the scenery that surrounds Lone Mountain which really adds to the thrill of being in the cemetery it was amazing to come up on the founding fathers family plot accidentally.

Some of the family plots were just massive concrete slabs with older tombstones placed on top of it so its obvious that over the years some restoration projects have taken place while certain gravestones may have been replaced.

I cant say this place is haunted but what I can say is this will be a very fine addition to our site. I visit allot of cemeteries in the wild west and some are in peril but the Lovelock Cemetery is a beautiful desert burial ground with pretty views that almost seem to go on for eternity.

What went from a sea to an area giants lurked today is a bustling town with allot of pioneer history and most of them are buried right here at Lone Mountain Cemetery. Our next and final stop after Lone Mountain would be a hike up to the Lovelock Chinese Pioneer Cemetery.

Lovelock Chinese Pioneer Cemetery

The cemetery is actually not far from Lone Mountain but you have to physically exist out of there and then head up this lonely dirt road that goes off into the open desert. Before I went into the Chinese Cemetery I would visit the Lone Mountain Metal Sign for a picture and video footage only then would I take the road less taken into the sunset.

By the time I had gotten back here I came to realize that tales of segregation seem to hold some truth. The old Chinese cemetery was out in the desert not to far from the backside of Lone Mountain Cemetery. It was obvious that the two were segregated from one another. The only way you would ever know of this place is at the entrance before you take the road is two metal poles holding a wood sign up that says Chinese Cemetery. I never even knew about it this was just a random find hiking around and sometimes when I go out in the field not all places I document are planned but rather spontaneous adventures.

It kind of reminded me of back in the day when in nearby Unionville 18 plus men were convicted of hate crimes because they deported 35 Chinese laborers to another town and sent away on the Union Pacific to another town. But the miners and Chinese often were mistreated in the west such as in Dutch Flat all of China Town was set ablaze some believe purposely numerous times. In many cases the ones that worked in saw mills around Tahoe were often murdered then thrown to the bottom of its depths while in other regions they were often mistreated, abused and kept segregated from the rest of the community.

However, I knew differently because it was really the Chinese who built the west. They are the pioneers who made the railroad that crossed over the high sierras possible. They were the ones who did most of the hardcore mining which provided precious metals to the Union in the civil war. They were responsible for the building of most boom towns and they brought in Opium Houses which were quite popular back in the day as well as legal in the 1800's They even built a great wall at Donner Summit and I know because I visited it. So as much as I could go on I can say that they added culture to allot of these boom towns just as any of the other emigrants did.

This cemetery is more like a Potters Field it probably was in much worst shape then it is today. Today all the graves have chicken wire fencing that surround burial mounds. Each mound has a vase on top of it while some vases are either broke, tipped over or have dead flowers in them you can see that a restoration project did take place here.

Sadly none of the graves are even marked you do not know who is even buried here. The flag on the pole is badly torn while at the entrance is a statue on the ground of Buddha along with some flowers that are in a pot and sort of clinging to life.

Their also is a giant earn it had some candles in it and two gravesites made out of brick. One of the brick graves has these tiles on top of it while the other one has an open area which is filled in with some dirt. Its pretty obvious that the urn and the one gravesite is used for candle vigils and the lighting of incense using one of the bricks which had holes drilled in it.

There was also a gravesite surrounded by wood fencing from the 1800's and next to it was an old wood table. Not sure what this table is I never seen a table inside a cemetery. Not sure if its symbolic to the individual buried here or if its some kind of sifting table a Chinese miner may have used to separated minerals from smaller pebbles. Not to far away is a wood gravemarker one of the only ones that exist here surrounded by a dilapidated wood fence that was falling apart.

There was a section of the cemetery where you could tell at least 8 to 10 graves were exhumed. You could see where the dirt was filled in or displaced. Allot of times many of the Chinese emigrants before heading back to China would also take their deceased family members with them. Allot of early Chinese did not feel wanted in America or these boom towns so more then often after the vandalism of their loved ones graves they would exhume the body or ashes relocating them overseas. I learned about this when we visited the Chinese burial grounds in Dutch Flat and their were signs that this scenario may have also transpired here in Lovelock also.

One of the burial mounds had chicken cooper wire around it but at one of the corners of the gravesite was this tall odd out of place wood post. Nailed to it was some homemade flower display it also had some kind of wood or basket like material that was entwined with them. I am not sure if someone made it as decor for their loved one or if those that were restoring the cemetery put it there.

I would say there was about 30 gravesites in all but its difficult to say how many were exhumed or how many graves were unmarked. It is apparent that all of the graves had headstones hence the fact that I found one burial site with a wood grave marker original to the 1800's so more then likely all the others did at one time also.

Just outside the entrance into the cemetery which btw is not a gate but three tiers of metal roping that you have to climb between or over. Its probably to keep others out however I cant teach or preserve this place if we cant do a story or get in it. But upon further investigation near the gate we found a bunch of broken tombstones laying up against the fence of Lone Mountain Cemetery. Next to that we found tiles which were used to restore one of the gravesites and a pile of bricks. So in theory the broken stones probably were pulled from the Chinese Cemetery then replaced with a vase, chicken wire fencing and a bouquet.

The sun was beginning to set it was time to head home the long road back to my jeep is filled with a desert to my left which was full of broken glass bottles where probably more Chinese are buried while to my right are lovely trees which separate Lone Mountain from the high desert.

My kids I have to say set off my jeep alarm three separate times because they would exist the vehicle and every time they did that it went off. So even though they did not want to visit either cemetery they came running at me for the keys to turn it off lol. So my son did get to visit the Chinese Cemetery and took a few photos for me here.

Just as with Lone Mountain its hard to say if this is a haunted place I hope I had gotten killer EVP's but their was not so much even a mild EMF Gauss reading here. I knew one thing I had a long trip home and by the end of the day we really covered allot of territory ranging from the semi ghost town of Unionville in Buena Vista Canyon, Unionville Pioneer Cemetery to Lone Mountain Cemetery and finally making a final stop at this forgotten Chinese Cemetery so many pass by or just do not realize that it is here. The ones that do tend to throw glass beer bottles all around it and really have no respect for the Chinese history that surrounds all these historic towns in Northern Nevada.

Allot goes into what we do driving 400 miles in one day and spend at least 100 of it offroading in remote northern Nevada will take the wind out of you. These trips start in the early morning and sometimes go into the evening. I felt pretty luck to get home just a little after 6pm even had the honor to drive around downtown Lovelock which is very historic including its courthouse. From what I hear many of the sites near the cemetery do have haunted history and they might be placed ill consider bring our viewers in the future.

All in all our day was full of adventure the kids had burgers and I just enjoyed my scenic trip home. Nothing is more beautiful then driving westward into a pink sunset with snowcapped peaks miles off in every direction. I would love to return to Lovelock to visit some of the other cemeteries but to be able to visit the towns founders grave and find this little pioneer Chinese Cemetery really topped off my day. That is besides the fact that the cemeteries were peaceful but Unionville had more trouble then what its worth. No less everything worked out really great on my way home I tried a new medicine which helped my neck somewhat but my knee was feeling it and boy it always does after every single adventure I do.

I bring allot of good food on my adventures ranging from fruit snacks to muffins to fruits and gourmet chocolate. So as some of you know I spent the ride home drinking me some chocolate milk, iced mochas and even devouring a hazelnut chocolate bar. I did eat an apple which was so sour I threw it out the window for the coyotes to enjoy lol. Sometimes I buy subs and make other dishes that I can enjoy during my long drives home. It can be rough everyone passes out generally accept for me because I have to drive in addition to explore so it can be quite tedious.

It was a good adventure every time I go out near the Humboldt Range and Lovelock region I always get to see some cool ghost towns, cemeteries and historic sites. The great basin here is very beautiful allot of red rocks and this area is known for its red haired giants that once roamed these lands eating the natives and stealing there women. Lots of mystery, history, lore and offbeat places to explore and in the future we will return to see more of what this area has to offer. It took me three years but I finally was able to do check out Unionville and actually investigate a couple cemeteries in historic Lovelock so its a start as we continue to spread our wings across the Silver State.

Despite the fact that it was in the 70's which is great weather soon it will be time to start our research back up in the high sierras of NV and CA. The problem is with the high desert its beautiful but once summer begins its to hot to hike and to dangerous to roam due to rattle snakes which are found everywhere hidden in sage brush which is quite common in cemeteries and ghost towns in Nevada. I do look forward to returning to the Sierras since the snow is starting to melt so truly some of our last trips in the Nevada frontier are coming to an end soon and will be back once it cools on down no worries.

As far as my foot its healing just fine the nail that went into my foot at Unionville did no major damage. Its healing up and I am recovering. I have just accepted the fact that no matter where I go your going to get bruised, cut and battered if your truly exploring these locations. You have to sometimes climb up into these places and hike around which in turn might cause you some pain but its the rewards that outweigh it as we collect great paranormal evidence, take some really fantastic photography and bring you guys documentaries of all the locations in depth that we visit so truly in the end all of you are a part of our journeys and that is what makes what we do here at PGS so special! The real adventure begins my friends when the pavement ends!!!

Peace,
Lord Rick
PGS Founder

PS This report is a rough draft renditions may be made, adjusted or even added to. When each case is added after our report only then will our viewers be able to see the in depth history, nature, scenic beauty, videos, media, photos, EVP's, evidence etc to each of the locations written about here so please stay tuned in and patient for more coming soon!

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Love is like a ghost sometimes you cannot see it but it is There


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