Scott Schrantz's Blog

There's an article today by Sue Ballew about Treadway Park, a ranch and picnic grounds that used to sit along Washington Street on the site of the old hospital. Back in the 1800s it was the popular hot spot where everyone would go on their day off. People from Reno and Virginia City would even take the train to Carson just to go to Treadway Park. Aaron Treadway, the proprietor, was a genial and well-liked host who was very popular around town. Treadway also planted many trees on his ten-acre property and a lot of them are still around on the old hospital property. There is still a small patch of grass at Minnesota and William that is called Treadway Park, a tiny remnant of the former ranch.

One of Treadway's original trees still stands at the corner of Division and Washington, where it's been designated the "Nevada Bicentennial Tree". Although, as Guy Rocha points out, the tree isn't 200 years old, but probably dates back to the days of Treadway.

If you're looking to get out and do something good for the community this weekend, you might want to sign up for the Carson River cleanup that will be taking place tomorrow. A group of volunteers will be heading down to the river to pick up and haul out whatever trash and debris they're able to. Of course they wouldn't have to do this if people would just stop dumping in the river in the first place, but the Carson River Canyon east of town seems to be a popular place to toss off whatever old junk you have lying around. Up to and including the family car.

If you want to be involved, call BLM at 885-6000 or Kiwanis Club at 885-7302 or at 882-3075. The cleanup job starts tomorrow at 8am.

Followup: The Nevada Appeal has a story about the cleanup, and how they pulled three dumpsters worth of trash out of the canyon, plus "a few couches and an old car."

We're supposed to be getting more bloggers in Carson City, not fewer. But this week one of the pioneers of Carson blogging announced that he's folding up shop. Bob at No Safe Place is putting his blog "up on cement blocks" after three and a half years. He's hinted that he'll be back one day, but still it's a loss when a blog like his goes dark. His Old Nevada posts alone were worth the price of paying attention to the site.

Dave Morgan writes (as the last item in this long post) that the Brewery Arts Center has put in a request to the city to abandon one block of South Minnesota Street, between King and Second, to create a large plaza in between their old Brewery building and their performance hall in the former Catholic Church. The folks who live in the area aren't too happy with the idea, because not only will it disrupt traffic along Minnesota and force people to find a way to drive around, but it also will encourage the BAC to hold more outdoor events, which they say ruins their peace and quiet.

As someone who works just a couple of blocks away, I can't say I'm completely disinterested. I like hearing the music at night when they hold concerts, and I imagine if I lived around here I'd leave the window open to listen to it. But I also drive on that stretch of Minnesota, not often, but enough to be inconvenienced by it closing. If they really intend to make part of it into a public plaza, and not just more parking, I might be able to get behind it.

Geocaching as a hobby seems to be getting more popular. It's where you hide a small box somewhere in a tree or a bush, or under some rocks, and then put the exact GPS coordinates on the internet and other people go out and try to find it. It appeals to gadget hounds who love their GPS, to hide-and-seekers, and to hikers that like to have a goal when they're hiking. But one fellow in Carson City found out that if you're going to be placing your own caches, you need to remember a few rules. Be wary of putting them in populated areas, don't look suspicious, and don't make the box look like a pipe bomb.

This guy didn't follow the rules, and as a result his cache got blown up by the bomb squad. Oops!

After years of being built as one single page with an interminable list of news items stretching off to the horizon, WashoeValley.org has finally been redesigned. Now it's sporting a snazzy new look, as well as running on WordPress. This is great news, because now not only does the site look better, but it also has RSS feeds, permalinks, and all the other accoutrements that make it easier to read and share. Congrats to Rick on a good job!

Downtown Makeover is at it again, with another Downtown Reno photowalk this weekend, showing all the construction progress around town.

The news came out in February that the old National Guard complex along south Carson Street was set to be demolished as soon as they could scrape together the money. Well, it looks like they've been saving their pennies, because the heavy equipment moved in last week to knock down the old maintenance garage on the property (seen above).

This is the last of the money, though, so the rest of the buildings are going to have to wait. The best they can hope for in this go-round is asbestos removal.

I'm kind of curious to head over to Mills Park right now to see what a crowd of 6,000 people looks like there, but at the same time I don't think I need that kind of headache. And imagine the traffic! Yikes.

I caught this fellow last week cruising around the Minden Tahoe Airport.

As a bonus I also captured the landmark silos of the Milky Way Farm right by the airport.