November 22, 2007
LCAT Reviews Lincoln County Tours

By Dave Maxwell

Each Tuesday in October and the first week of November, the Lincoln Community Action Team (LCAT) conducted demonstration tours in five communities of the County to educate volunteers and the community on the potential of an 8 to 10 person tour business.

Meeting in Rachel, November 14, LCAT members reviewed the findings from the tours. Holly Gatzke from Caliente presented a summary of the tour participants’ comments from the evaluation forms they were asked to complete. Among the strengths, participants reported, were that they liked the topics of the tours.

The Alamo tour was the only two-day affair, beginning on a Monday. Participants looked at what had once been Maynard Lake, visited some areas on the Pahranagat Wildlife Refuge, including a duck blind for handicapped people, a visit to Ash Springs and some of the petrogylphs nearby, and an outdoor Dutch oven dinner in the evening. Caliente visited Rainbow Canyon down to the Elgin school house and apple orchard, visited the museum in town and the old Railroad depot. Panaca visited Cathedral Gorge State Park, site of the old Bullionville cemetery and ruins of the stamp mills, the charcoal kilns north of Panaca summit, and Echo Canyon State Park. In Pioche, the tour focused mostly on the in-town Old West history and the mining operations there. Visits were made to Boot Hill, the Million Dollar Courthouse and dinner at the Silver Café. The Rachel tour began with a home-cooked breakfast, a visit to the Penoyer Farms operation, going to Dry Lake, and then to the site of the former Tempiute mine.

Mrs. Gatzke said that reasons for people taking a particular tour varied quite a bit. “Some of them were highly interested in petroglyphs and wanted to see them. Some of them were more interested in the Pioche historical tour because of the wild west history,” she said. Holly noted, “One person signed up for the Pioche tour because they were thinking of relocating their family here.”

The guides and presenters were enjoyed, as were the evening events and meals. Comments about what needed to be improved for the tours when offered again were to polish the timing of tours (i.e., keeping the interest of those involved in the tour from one thing to the next), better communication between vehicles traveled in or use one vehicle that provides a good view, make restroom facilities regularly available, take into account the different mobility of participants and polish the historical or technical information provided.

The participants, both those from within Lincoln County as well as out-of-county said they enjoyed the local stories, relaxed pace of the tour and access to areas not available or known about by the general public.

LCAT Chairman Keith Larson said one of the reasons for having the demonstration tours, “Was to prove to ourselves that we have something to offer and that we could do it.” He said he was of the opinion “that each location did a fairly remarkable job on completing that task.” Holly said with the response received from the evaluation forms, “I think the enthusiasm for doing tours in the area is strong because we obviously showed that we can do this. Despite it being the first crack at things, people had a great time.”

Larson said that LCAT is a bit hesitant right now in “figuring out where do we go from here?” Needs such as funding and transportation for making the tours available next year are questions the group will have to work on. To develop a strategy for future tours which might be designed for the person who wants to hike a mile in to see a place, whereas others could be designed for somebody who wants to be driven right up to the sights. The difference in mobility is taken into account when publicizing what the tour would entail. Prices for what tours might be offered next year have not been determined.

The intent has always been, he said, to develop tours of 8 to10 people, probably in the spring and summer months, that will last at least five days and will visit all of the communities in the County and see the points of interest in each one. Specific tours could be developed focusing on the mining history of the area, a tour for camera buffs, one dealing with the Old West days, and possibly one that takes a close look at the fall foliage.

In other action, discussion centered on making plans to apply as a non-profit organization and the hiring of a program coordinator.

The next LCAT meeting is scheduled for January 9, 2008 at 6:30 pm at the Pioche Town Hall.