The ghost town of Ramsey, eight miles northwest of Silver Springs in Lyon County, holds a secret that has teased treasure hunters and adventurers for decades. According to local legend, a prospector returning from the goldfields of California had to bury $75,000 worth of gold coins and bars when his horse broke its leg. However,…

I’m sick of this shit happening to me. It was 8:15 a.m., and I was making good time heading home after having just left the radio station at eight. As I pulled to a stop at the underpass at Rock and the off-ramp from I-80 eastbound, I saw a Black man crossing the intersection and…

The two-hundred-mile-long Klamath River empties south of the old Klamath townsite, and some 50-plus miles above is the town of Johnson. Between these two points that in 1975 the Klamath River Salmon War began. Real bullets crisscrossed the Klamath at times, Indians firing at the white man, Indians at Indians, cops at violators. In the…

The day came with a drizzling rain that left his spirit empty. It had been 24 moonrises since leaving the village to prove he was still vital to the people, not just another meweemor, eating, sleeping, and for little else than sitting around. Nighttime could not come soon enough as he found a spot off…

While in a computer blackout because of lightning storms, and since not connected to the power, I picked up my cell phone and began perusing Twitter. From there, I started getting myself in trouble. After quickly reading a column written by a guy I call Sillybus, I responded by calling him an idiot. I know…

My friend, Bill, sat at the bar in the Red Dog Saloon drinking a cold beer, where I left him as I had visited the restroom. As I returned, I saw a rough-looking woman standing near him. She ordered a Bloody Mary, then looked his way and asked, “Are you a real miner?” “Yes, I…

Ending my newspaper deliveries at about two in the afternoon on Friday at the Tahoe House, Paul asked if I wanted a beer. Being 88 degrees and a bit warmish without a Zephyr to cool things down, I did not hesitate to respond in the affirmative. It wasn’t until about ten in the evening that…

Maybe I was partially obscured by the rose bush and why the man did not see me. Perhaps he was an asshole in waiting. Either way, as a dog catcher, and once knowing I was present, he should have backed off, put his catch-loop away, got in his truck, and headed down the road. Instead,…

During the 1860s, Genoa was a town where silver and gold fever ran high. To outsmart potential robbers, a paymaster hit upon an unconventional method of transporting a payroll shipment: conceal the gold coins within a regular nail keg and arrange for it to be sent with delivery, hoping to avoid arousing suspicion. Unfortunately, news…

The forest was waking up, and so was Alan Marshall. The wild noises had become his alarm clock, and he rolled over in his sleeping bag and sat up. Once out of the bag, he unzipped his tent and crawled out. Standing up, he stretched, then grabbed his washcloth for a quick dip in the…