he’d ever need that.
It turned out that Dan and his
girlfriend (I never did get her name
and it was never volunteered) had
gone down on some loose gravel a
few kilometres back. They’d picked
up the bike to keep going but it
wasn’t long before he’d realised he’d
lost a bolt holding his handlebars.
He’d assumed it had fallen off in the
crash. Unable to ride the bike, Dan
was contemplating what to do. I’d
offered to bring one of them back to
the nearest town (about 50 kilometres
away) to call for a tow. Just as Dan
was thinking about this, a local farm-
er appeared in a pickup truck. The
farmer thought he had a part back in
his garage that could fix the bike, so
my services weren’t needed. I’d re-
mounted and continued on, thinking
Dan carried that pistol for protection
from his girlfriend because she want-
ed to kill him.
But this was Nevada, and pistols
have always been a part of the cul-
ture because where there is gold,
there are guns. And so, the story of
Winnemucca.
On September 19, 1900, the First
National Bank in Winnemucca was
held up by a gang of bank robbers
at gunpoint. The thieves made off
with $32,000 in gold coins from the
bank’s vault. Instead of arousing
suspicion by going out the front door,
TRAVERSE 82
the robbers blew a hole in the wall
with dynamite and went out the back,
where they had horses waiting. The
bank owner and president chased the
gang into the street, and even though
shots were fired, no one was hit. The
townsfolk formed a posse to go after
them.
The posse rode after the robbers
and even enlisted the steam-fired
locomotive to help catch up. But the
gang had planned this robbery well.
Every ten miles along their escape
route, they had fresh horses ready.
When the locomotive came charging
after them … well they just took a left
and went into the hills. They were
never caught.