Places that you may never have heard of
I’ve made countless cross country trips by car usually traveling our Interstate Highway system. When I pass by a “strange” name, I’ll jot the name down and do some research on the place when I return home.
One of these places is Beowawe.
Bewawe is located in eastern Nevada a few miles south of Interstate 80.
Some say that its name is derived from the Paiute language who inhabited the area and means gate. But there are several other interesting and humorous tales about the origin of the town’s name which you can read here.
In the late 1800s, nearby mining operations sent the ore to Beowawe for shipment by rail. The railroad also brought supplies for the ranching operations. For decades it remained a small town to support the nearby ranching industry.
During the 1940s and 1950s several visits by the USGS to examine the hot springs and geysers in the Whirlwind Valley area where Beowawe is located. Researcher Nell Murbarger discovered that this “remote pocket in the mountains of north central Nevada with a colorful terrace and boiling pools provide an amazing spectacle for the few people who venture over the treacherous road that leads to this spot.”
In the late 1950s tests were conducted to determine if these natural hydrothermal features were capable of generating electrical power. Consequently a plant was built to capture the hot water and steam. Unfortunately the geysers of Whirlwind Valley disappeared with the plant’s construction.
Here are a few more places that you may never have heard of – Argenta, Nevada
Resources: Murbarger, Nell, “Geysers of Whirlwind Valley” Desert Magazine, January 1956, Vol. 18, Issue 1.
To visit Beowawe take exit 261 off of I-80 and drive a few miles south.
Still Interested?
Aragonite, Utah
Dunphy, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming
