Unionville, Nevada (in Buena Vista Canyon, approximately 18 miles south of Imlay, and north-east of Reno), started, as many Nevada towns did, with the discovery of precious metals in the area, in about 1860.
And, as many towns in Nevada did, Unionville had a short existance, and went the way of many like her, returning her former nest to the elements in the late 1870's.
Fortunately, we have photographs to preserve some of the history that existed in these small remote encampments, for today, little remains of those days gone by, save the whispering of the ghosts in the sagebrush - reciting their "First Degree Proficiency".
Humboldt #17, circa 1940
In the words of Neil F. Talcott, a member of Humboldt #27 (same Lodge name, different number, in Lovelock NV), who grew up in the Unionville area:
"The picture of Humboldt #17 that shows the roof still on (the top of the three photos above) shows the front of the building and the top floor. The lodge room was in the back part of the building, the front doors were each about 3'x8' with glass panes. We used this building to store hay for our horses. The front of the building that you see on the right end was at street level, the rear of the building was two stories high. If you look close you can see some of the rock missing on the left rear corner. Even though Dad put a new roof on in the early 40's, the building continued to deteriorate. We decided to demolish the top story for the safety of our horses as the corral was on the lower side of the building."Some of the building facts that I learned as I took it down:
The ceiling joists were rough cut 2"x14"x20 feet long. Willows about as big as your finger were nailed with square cut 4 penny nails, on top of and at right angle to the joist, on top of the willows there was a layer of straw, and on top of the straw there was about 6" of dirt. The top floor was lined with 3" tongue and groove boards. One of the doors to the Lodge room had a peep hole with an eye painted on it. Over the front doors there was a 12"x12" beam, hewn from pinion pine tree, that was also 20' long. The floor joists were also made of pinion pine, hand hewn and about 2 1/2" thick by 8" wide and 20' long. I was told that these timbers came from Cinnabar Mt. in the East Range. The walls were about 2' thick, laid up with native stone and dirt, finished with lime mortar which is the white you see in the picture.The two pictures of the rear of the building (the bottom pictures above) show the demolition:
After removing the roof and as much of the lumber that could be salvaged we ran a cable through windows and pulled the walls down with a tractor. I was told that the low structure on the rear was used as a jail in early days. It didn't have any windows and was fitted with a solid iron door, the ceiling was made of juniper poles about 6" in diameter, laid side by side across the width of the cell. A brick oven was built over the top with the flue going up the rear wall of the main building. The opening to the oven was accessible from the inside of the bottom floor at the rear of the main building. To the right of this addition on the rear wall was a set of double glassed doors like the ones on the top floor in front."(photos and narrative courtesy Neil F. Talcott, Humboldt #27)
