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Many of us in Vegas avoid road trips in the summer. But a few of us, tired of waiting for cooler temperatures, took a quick blast to the Techatticup Mining Camp. The curvy, nearly abandoned roads make for run driving, and the driving-to-rest stop ratio is wonderful if combined with breakfast in Boulder City and a slight detour to see the Colorado River. The group included friends in a Lotus Esprit, Ferrari 355 and Angie and I in the Porsche. It is only 40 or 50 miles from Rever Clothing’s T-shirt HQ in Vegas. Watch out for HiPo on the main highway.

The “mining camp” is really a little rest stop with a lots to look at. Old gas pumps, rusted cars, and a million things that I can only group into the category of “cool old stuff.” There is a barn filled with aged signs, tools, furniture, soda machines, pictures, televisions and radios. You can also wander around an acre or two of buildings, signs, cars and assorted stuff. The shop has hundreds of photos and articles of historic happenings, as well as the many films and TV shows filmed in the area.

For some reason, they have a sign on the door that says “we don’t rent pigs.” I wish I would have asked about that.

The Techatticup mine was discovered in 1861, and was the most important mine in Eldorado Canyon. There were hundreds of mines in the canyon, but Techatticup was famous for producing more than $2.5 million dollars before 1942. That may not sound like much, but it is a gazillion dollars if adjusted for inflation and current gold values. I did the math; you can double-check it if you want.

Trivia: The canyon was also home to a couple of renegade Indians (Ahvote and Queho) that killed over 25 people. Queho killed his last victim in 1919 and was never caught.

Visible from the upstairs window of the Techatticup barn is an aircraft boneyard. It is worth a visit if you are into that sort of thing. Here is the funny scoop: In the 1970s, Thai and Vietnamese pilots trained at Keesler Air Force Base. The cadets damaged a BUNCH of the 1950s era T-28 Trojans, which were slated for disposal. An enthusiast bought the fleet and moved it to Eldorado Canyon to rebuild the airframes and salvage serviceable parts. They are sold as kits. I would have stopped at the boneyard if I knew that story in advance… But walking in the heat was daunting. That’s code for “I was too lazy”.

We hit the Colorado River on our way back. It was fun for a few minutes—we don’t see much water here in Vegas—but the lack of water wings, floaties or power boats kept us from doing much.

Anyone in Vegas should consider this short blast. If your butt can take it, add the Pioneer Saloon to the end of the trip. Supposedly it was founded by one of the discoverers of the mine… That is from a dubious source on the Interweb. Regardless, the 100-year-old Pioneer is in the theme of the trip. It is located in Goodsprings, and you can find a few pics elsewhere on this blog.