The Ruins of the Thompson Smelter

Near Wabuska, Nevada
March 28, 2009

On a leisurely drive around the Nevada countryside southeast of Carson City, I came upon the ruins of the Thompson Smelter, which I saw to the west as I drove north on US 95 ALT. The mill and smelter ruins are at the northern end of the Mason Valley, and the mill and smelter processed copper from the many mines in the Mason Valley and Smith Valley. The copper ore was delivered here by the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, which ran the length of the Mason Valley and into Smith Valley via Wilson Canyon. The heyday of this area was short-lived with the smelter and town built around 1910 and, except for the ruins, not lasting for more than a decade or two. The ruins consist mostly of foundations of the mill buildings, two smelters, and a number of a buildings from the nearby town that served the mill and smelter.

The Devils Punchbowl

Dianas Punchbowl
aka Devils Punchbowl
Nye County, Nevada

Los Angeles County, California   May 29, 2000
Nye County, Nevada   May 24, 2009
Montgomery County, Indiana   July 3, 2011

The Devil has quite a number of punchbowls in the United States. Over 20 places in more than a dozen states have been called the Devil's Punchbowl or Punch Bowl. The Devils Punchbowl is also found in other English-speaking countries including Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, England, and Wales. Since the devil is known in other languages, his punchbowls are also found elsewhere in the world. In Ecuador at the Rio Verde it is called La Ponchera del Diablo.

We are not talking about a large bowl from which a beverage such as punch is served. Rather, these punchbowls are unique geologic or topographic features which to an explorer's eye may look like a bowl-like depression. These features include basins, springs, lakes, and waterfalls. The devil's ownership to the punchbowls has been usurped by man, but the devil's presence at one time or another engulfed these places. The anxiety of a placenamer who came upon one of these punchbowls may have spawned a fright that only the devil can bring. A legend telling of the devil haunting, causing mischief, or bargaining for a soul at the punchbowl may have evoked anxiety and fright in the placenamer. Or it may have just been a shiver down the back of the placenamer as the punchbowl brought visions of the devil's dwelling.