Chronicles of the Comstock — A history blog by Dennis Cassinelli —

‘Uncovering Archaeology’ now available

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 13:28:12 -0800

Dennis Cassinelli’s latest book, Uncovering Archaeology, is now available for purchase online. The roughly 170-page book sells for $16.95.

The new edition, which was ordered after the first run sold out, contains revised text and a new layout.

According to Cassinelli, the book’s main purpose is to arouse interest in archaeology by challenging conventional theories about how the western hemisphere was populated.

Uncovering Archaeology offers several insightful new theories about ancient history, including speculation that the Spirit Cave Man and his people actually were descendants of the Ainu people from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and that Central America actually is the long-lost continent of Atlantis.

Cassinelli also levels a critical eye at modern-day archaeologists and anthropologists, focusing on those who allow political and social pressures to influence the scientific process.

In one chapter, Cassinelli discusses how the remains of the Spirit Cave Man — a 10,000-year-old human mummy discovered in 1940 near Fallon, Nev. — were barred from further study after a heated dispute between scientists and American Indian tribes. The scientists wanted to learn more about the mummy’s history while the tribes wanted to reclaim the remains for burial.

According to Cassinelli, such legal stalemates leave a hole in the scientific record and hurt everyone involved. Because the Spirit Cave Man is the oldest human mummy found in North America, further study might reveal the truth about how the continent originally became inhabited.

You can purchase your copy of Uncovering Archaeology today by logging onto http://web.mac.com/denniscassinelli. Also, on Feb. 23, Dennis is scheduled to give a lecture discussing material contained in the book. You can read an excerpt of the book here.

Copyright © 2010 by Dennis Cassinelli

Dennis’ annual Gold Hill Hotel lecture scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 14:51:42 -0800

Northern Nevada author and historian Dennis Cassinelli is scheduled to present his annual lecture and book signing at the Gold Hill Hotel on Tuesday, Feb. 23.

The lecture topic this year will be “Uncovering Archaeology,” a critique of how archaeology has been practiced throughout the years. Dennis also will unveil his book of the same name and discuss many of the exciting archaeological mysteries discussed in it.

In addition, Dennis will be signing copies of his books, which will be available for purchase at the event.

The Gold Hill Hotel will be serving a buffet dinner from 5-7 p.m. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, please visit Dennis’ lecture page and book-signing page.

To reserve a seat, call the Gold Hill Hotel directly at 775-847-0111, or visit them on the Web at www.goldhillhotel.net.

Copyright © 2010 by Dennis Cassinelli

Reno’s KOLO Channel 8 airs story discussing Nevada Insane Asylum cemetery

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 18:56:04 -0800

Reno reporter Ed Pearce and KOLO Channel 8 recently aired a story about the Nevada Insane Asylum cemetery, available here. The cemetery and efforts to preserve it have been the subject of many of Dennis’ articles.

Pearce spoke to Carolyn Mirich, founder of Friends of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services Cemetery, as well as Dennis, who witnessed some of the burials as a child.

Recently, legislation was passed to help preserve the cemetery. As Dennis stated in a previous post: “Plans are being made to construct a single large stone memorial that will tell something of the history of the site and show the names of all the people we can determine have been buried there from 1882 until 1949 ... hopefully, these actions will bring some closure and dignity to a very dark and neglected side of Nevada history.”

Copyright © 2009 by Dennis Cassinelli

V&T Railroad makes a surging return to the Comstock

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:41:34 -0700

The Virginia and Truckee Railroad made its first Virginia City-Carson City run in more than 70 years on Friday, Aug. 14. The $50 million project has been in the works for more than 20 years.

Carson City photographer and blogger Scott Schrantz was on hand at the event and captured some amazing photographs, which are available at AroundCarson.com. Also, be sure to see his earlier posts that feature photos of Engine No. 18 and the train’s route through Carson River Canyon.

For more information about the V&T’s first run, check out these articles from the Nevada Appeal and the Reno Gazette-Journal.

New legislation helps preserve historical cemetery

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 11:38:02 -0700

As you may recall, I have written several articles about the deplorable condition of the old cemetery located at the Nevada State Hospital in Sparks. This was originally known as the State Asylum. Between 1882 and 1949, this institution buried most of the patients who died there in a vacant field behind the hospital buildings. During these years, an unknown number of people was buried there. Estimates range from about 600 documented burials to perhaps over 1,000, including those that may have not been listed or otherwise documented.

Many of the patients named in the death lists were former residents of the Comstock. They died from a wide variety of physical and mental causes, including alcoholism, mining accidents, mercury poisoning from milling operations and other job-related reasons.

Due to recent construction of a state agriculture building adjacent to the cemetery and other construction threatening to encroach on the site, a group of concerned citizens began corresponding with the various state agencies involved to see if the place could be set aside as a historic cemetery and protected from further desecration.

I joined with a non-profit group called Friends of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services Cemetery to encourage the 2009 Nevada State Legislature to approve a bill to designate the site as a historic cemetery. The legislation was approved and work can now begin to fence the site and create a memorial to the hundreds of people buried there with not a single marker to show where the individuals are interred.

The Friends of the Cemetery thank those in the Nevada State Legislature who took the time during the hectic 2009 session to act favorably on this legislation. At last the pleas of many friends and relatives have been heard and the hundreds of these forgotten souls will be remembered and memorialized in a dignified manner.

Due to the budget restraints experienced in this legislative session, not much in the way of funding is available to do cleanup work or construct a memorial. The Friends group, led by Carolyn Mirich (mifieldni@yahoo.com) is still accepting contributions for the protection and preservation of this historic Nevada cemetery.

Because none of the graves in the original cemetery area is marked, ground-penetrating radar has been used to detect where hundreds of the burials had been placed. Some had originally been marked with metal markers, but these have long ago disappeared. Several burials located in a separate section of the property do have grave markers and these will be relocated to the larger cemetery in order to have all the burials located in the portion the State has designated as the historic hospital cemetery.

Plans are being made to construct a single large stone memorial that will tell something of the history of the site and show the names of all the people we can determine have been buried there from 1882 until 1949. It is impossible to determine at this time where all the burials are located, or who is buried in each grave. Hopefully, these actions will bring some closure and dignity to a very dark and neglected side of Nevada history.

Copyright © 2009 by Dennis Cassinelli
This article originally appeared in the Comstock Chronicle

Did ancient SUVs cause prehistoric global warming?

Sun, 17 May 2009 15:17:37 -0700

Prehistoric mankind arrived in the Great Basin near the end of the last major Ice Age. The melting glaciers and the moist climate of the time created Ancient Lake Lahontan and a vast network of lakes and marshes teeming with fish and waterfowl. The early inhabitants lived along the shores of the lakes and marshes, fishing and hunting the wooly mammoth and the abundant waterfowl.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have determined that about 7,000 years ago, the entire region entered a period of hot, dry weather that lasted over 2,000 years. Scientists refer to this period of time as the Altithermal stage. During this time, drastic climate changes caused some of the human population to migrate away from the area. This was global warming on a scale we cannot imagine in a modern world.

Once the Altithermal stage set in, changes occurred that significantly altered the lifestyle of the scattered bands of human inhabitants. The human population was no longer able to depend upon the water and wildlife associated with marshes, lakes and rivers for their survival. An incredibly harsh desert environment emerged where game was scarce or nonexistent and vegetation ceased to survive.

During this time, Lake Lahontan, Walker Lake, Washoe Lake, Great Salt Lake and others completely dried up. Pyramid Lake shrank to a dangerously low level, since there was no water flowing down the Truckee River. Even the level of Lake Tahoe dropped several hundred feet during this lengthy dry cycle. Evidence of this is the underwater forest of trees that divers have seen and photographed on the bottom of the lake. This forest grew when the level of Lake Tahoe was so far below the rim that no water flowed down the Truckee River for over 1,000 years. The events of this hot, dry period in our ancient history has been studied and documented as scientific fact by the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada and by other leading scientists.

As we look back on this horrible time in the history of the region, who can we blame for causing this drastic climate change to occur? In typical Al Gore fashion, we could speculate that the campfires the human population used to keep their caves warm and cook their food emitted vast amounts of greenhouse gasses. We could surmise that there was enough flatulence released into the atmosphere from the herds of buffalo and the wooly mammoth to pollute the air with methane.

None of these explanations can account for such a dramatic warming of the climate to end the Great Ice Age. I have pondered for years about how such a tragedy could have happened. Then, at last, I made a discovery out in a remote canyon between Lovelock and the Black Rock Desert that seems to explain this phenomenon in terms modern man can understand.

The first article I ever wrote for the Comstock Chronicle told about the remains of a prehistoric sport utility vehicle I had found. I was recently able to return to the site where I discovered these remains to photograph this incredible artifact to document that it actually exists. Other fragments of such vehicles are scattered around throughout the Great Basin. The vehicle is mostly intact, including doors, windows and remnants of the dashboard and control mechanisms.

Obviously, hundreds of these crude vehicles spewed forth the greenhouse gasses required to create the worst global warming in the history of the earth. This also explains how the ancient Indians were able to cross the Bering Land Bridge and populate the entire continents of North and South America within just a few years. Who knows, perhaps someone may just nominate me for a Nobel Prize for making this amazing discovery.

Copyright © 2009 by Dennis Cassinelli
This article originally appeared in the Comstock Chronicle

The historic cemeteries of the Comstock

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:28:42 -0700

I have always had a fascination with the many historic cemeteries located in the Comstock Historic District. Some of these are well known and visited by countless tourists and local residents on a regular basis. Many others have reverted back to the sagebrush desert from where they originated. A lonely, almost forgotten solitary grave can be seen near my family business at Moundhouse, once the terminus for the Carson and Colorado Railroad where it connected with the Virginia and Truckee. Others in Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City and Dayton contain hundreds of graves dating back to the 1850’s when placer miners were working their way up Gold Canyon on their way to discovering the Big Bonanza.

Comstock cemeteries are those within the boundaries of the Comstock Historic District. Because of its rich history, The National Park Service in 1961 designated Virginia City and about 15,000 acres of surrounding area as the Virginia City National Historic Landmark. In 1859 Virginia City and the surrounding area burst into prominence and fame because of the Comstock Lode discovery, one of the richest ore strikes in the world.

The historic cemeteries of the Comstock are among the last survivors of the roar and silence that defined the fabric of the Comstock. These cemeteries are memorials to the laboring classes that toiled behind the machinery of industrialized mining. Culturally diverse groups such as Irish, Welsh, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and German, all lived and died while working the mines and supporting the communities of the Comstock. In their glory days, the cemeteries were a collection of Victorian parks spilling across the desert landscape in a green patchwork of flowers and shrubbery and neatly painted fences.

Despite the glowing efforts of the times and the historic position of the cemetery as the forerunner to national parks, The Comstock cemeteries of today are imminently threatened. Overgrown vegetation, erosion gullies, collapsed or sunken graves, missing or dilapidated markers and a lack of cultural resource protection is leading to ultimate destruction. Much of the original wooden or metal fencing is non-existent or ineffective, inviting vandalism and theft.

Cemeteries of the Victorian era, such as Gold Hill and Silver Terrace, were viewed as gardens. They were places for contemplation and for the enjoyment of gardens and nature in an otherwise desert environment. The landscape was filled with trees, flowering plants, roses, morning glories and dense fields of purple clover. Not even a shadow of these historic gardens remains today, only the dead carcasses of old trees and overgrown sagebrush. Early residents of the communities wanted their cemeteries to be a beautiful oasis in the desert landscape and a dignified place to bury their loved ones. These 19th century cemeteries, complete with watering systems, were the prelude to America’s national parks. Now they are disappearing from sight and from memory.

If you would like to visit a historic Comstock cemetery, the Comstock Cemetery Foundation offers daily tours of the Virginia City Cemetery. Daily tour times are posted at the main gates of the cemetery. You may call 847-0281 to check on times for daily tours. These last about one hour and the cost is $5. Customized tours are available for larger groups and the student group price is $2 per student. You can visit the cemetery with no tour guide without any charge, but I am sure you would learn much more of the local history by taking the guided tour. The cemetery closes after dark.

Other cemeteries in the areas surrounding Virginia City are also of historical interest and contain the remains of many notable Comstock pioneers. For an excellent photographic memoir recording the historic graveyards of Nevada and the Comstock area, I suggest you check out “Alkali Angels” by award-winning photographer Marilyn Newton. Her photographic images of solitary graves standing watch over high desert valleys swept by clouds evoke the simple drama of life and death in early Nevada.

Copyright © 2009 by Dennis Cassinelli
This article originally appeared in the Comstock Chronicle