This Awesome Nevada town called Pioche

Pioche, Nevada: A Little Town With a Wild Past We rolled into Pioche, Nevada expecting a quiet little old mining town. What we found was a place with one heck of a story. Today Pioche is peaceful and pretty quiet, but back in the 1870s it had a reputation as one of the roughest mining towns in the Old West. Silver brought thousands of people here, along with saloons, money, arguments, gunfighters and plenty of trouble. The old stories say 72 people were buried here before the town recorded its first death from natural causes. One of our favorite stops was the "Million Dollar Courthouse". The courthouse was built in 1871 with an original budget of about $26,400. But construction problems, debt and high-interest bonds kept piling up. By the time the debt was finally paid off in 1937, the courthouse had cost taxpayers around one million dollars, giving it the name it still carries today. The old jail cells are still behind the courthouse. Then we visited Boot Hill Cemetery and the section known as "Murderer’s Row". Walking through there really makes you think about just how different life was in these western mining towns. Some people buried there died violently, and the cemetery has become one of the places that keeps Pioche's rough-and-tumble history alive. And if you look above town, you'll still see pieces of Pioche's old aerial mining tramway. Buckets once carried ore from the mines toward the mill, and portions of that tram system are still hanging over the town today. Travel Nevada describes it as the only intact aerial mining tramway of its kind remaining in Nevada. That is what we're loving about this journey. Sometimes the places that don't look like much on a map turn out to have some of the biggest stories. Pioche is one of those places. We put together a video of our visit so you can come along with us and see some of this history for yourself. And we're just getting started. We're traveling west one stop at a time, taking the slower roads, meeting people along the way and seeing what we can find. If you'd like to follow our journey, see where we're headed next, or possibly meet us somewhere along our route, sign up and follow along right here at FiniusTheSkinniest.com. Historical information for this article was researched through Travel Nevada.