Unionville, Nevada

Issue #160 - Nevada, off the beaten path

Driving west along Interstate 80, at Mill City, is State Road 400, a paved road heading 20 miles south to a junction where you’ll see a sign pointing to the right. The first photogenic spot is this row of weathered cabins with the Dun Glen Flat stretching for miles to the east. Drive west, into the canyon, to photograph an old stone wall, the back wall of a general store. Farther up the canyon, on the right, is a well-weathered wooden cabin with a long wooden staircase, the only way to reach it. The remains of another wooden cabin sits beside the road, where Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain lived. A restored school sits behind a locked gate. There are no commercial shops, no gas station, and no food is available. When gold was discovered here in 1861, the population boomed to 1,500. Today, there are fewer than 20 people living in this canyon.