US 6 is the real 'Loneliest Road' around, but packed with history

As I made my way through a myriad pile of junk - old rusted slot machines, broken down chairs, tables, shattered glassware, I suddenly felt like I was being watched.

“You don’t belong here,” a voice seemed to utter. “You should leave.”

Taking a gander at this wreck of a once vibrant welcoming center, I decided to take that unknown recommendation to heart.

Stepping up and over a windowsill without panes of glass, I knew there was something about this place, Montgomery Pass, that was inviting but, at the same time, unnerving.

I don’t believe in Casper flying about doing this and that, even though I write about visiting supposed haunted places for columns each October.

Thus, as I passed this locale with dark, overcast skies and threatening clouds, I was not looking for any paranormal mumbo-jumbo. I had just been passing by and discovered this empty soul of a small town.

Sitting nearly 7,200 feet above sea level, it was chilly and uninviting, but simultaneously, the place called out to be visited.

I was making my way toward Bishop along US 395 via US 6 after leaving the town of Mina in Nevada along US 95. There were a lot of US highways on this route, one of the most patriotic road systems running through the area.

Montgomery Pass is near Montgomery Peak, one of California's tallest peaks, with its twin, Boundary Peak, not far away. Both peaks are over 13,000 feet above sea level. Some mighty lofty peaks along the White Mountains, just east of the Sierra Nevadas.

According to the Nevada Travel Bureau, US 6 is the real Loneliest Road. There are 297 miles of open roadway with only three towns with more than 100 people: Baker, California, and Ely and Tonopah, Nevada. The truth is, you will not be seeing many vehicles along US 6.

I recall roughly two summers ago, traveling between Tonopah and somewhere, when it suddenly dawned on me that I had not seen another vehicle for at least 30 minutes. A bit hungry, I stopped in the middle of the road, lit up the BBQ, and within an hour was enjoying a rack of lamb, sided with Za’atar roasted carrots and grilled asparagus, followed with a delicious glass of Fiji Water in a crystal goblet.

It is a lonely highway - as I drove off after my scrumptious luncheon, I heard the asphalt crying.

Montgomery Pass was an unexpected delight on this simple travel day. According to one of my favorite ancient Greek philosophers, Heraclitus: ‘If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.’

And, of course, this goes with my belief that to find sights you would not expect, you must choose the byways when traveling to see what may have not been seen.

A railroad was constructed over the pass between 1880 and 1883 using primarily Chinese laborers, who spent exhausting and dangerous time digging track lines, leveling off steep inclines, and blasting a 247-foot tunnel through a portion of Montgomery Pass.

The tunnel was the most constructed, even outdoing the Southern Pacific Railroad tunnels near Donner Pass.

With the creation of an avenue from Nevada to California, mining also picked up in the early 20th Century, with claims of various minerals being clawed out of the earth in the White Mountains and further east into Nevada near Tonopah.

One grizzled miner may have reported, “My claim is the biggest of any claim anyone else may be claiming.”

It is also rumored he spent quite a bit of time at the Liberty Club in Eli ruminating over glasses of rum.

The small enclave of Montgomery Pass began to grow during and after the construction of the railroad as a camp for the workers. Soon, not just goods and products crested the pass, but passenger trains also joined in, allowing folks traveling from Reno to have a more direct route to the west into California.

Then, in the 1930s, a decent road was established, allowing those adventurous folks in automobiles to travel across the high mountain pass and into the Owens Valley and beyond toward the Pacific Coast.

Railroad traffic slowed as mining dwindled, and commercial trucks quickly transferred merchandise, but that did not mean the end of the complex at Montgomery Pass.

Since Nevada allowed legal games of chance and legal meetings with a certain kind of woman, the town became a mecca as a selective tourist stop.

Soon, there was a hotel, bungalows, a large gas station, gaming rooms, bars, a restaurant, and supposedly a few bordellos - everything a traveler may need or want.

According to the Reno Evening Gazette of June 24th, 1959, ‘although the gaming control board is looking sharply at a slot machine license application for the Mt. Montgomery Service Station bar and restaurant, owned by Nevada vice figure Joe Conforte, it probably won’t recommend a denial strictly on the ground there are shady ladies about. Several Nevada bordellos operate slot machines and have done so for 20 years or more.’

Our pastime is to watch the warm and cozy family togetherness films in ‘The Godfather’ series on Thanksgiving.

So, in honor of Mario Puzo, I wonder if Joe Conforte offered the gaming control board an offer they could not refuse?

The somewhat bawdy history of the past is quite interesting. In 1960, both Conforte and his bartender, Robert Paolo, were in court pleading not guilty to selling liquor at the pass without a permit. In the meantime, the liquor license issued to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Campo was revoked, and not long after, Mrs. Campo decided to become a widow and murdered her husband, Joseph.

Somewhere along the way, Conforte found himself in a lock-up in the Storey County jail and was offered $47,500 from a farmer out of Visalia, California, for the property at the summit in 1960. The purchase was approved by the gaming control board, given the provision that no prostitution or vice-guy Conforte would ever be near the property again.

The farmer swore that would be the case, though, in later years, a bailiff may have mentioned that the farmer had his fingers crossed behind his back at the time.

In 1962, the Nevada Gaming Control Board denied another sale for the property to $85,000 because the buyers were utilizing questionable finances.

The businesses remained and thrived, with tourists coming in from Nevada and California to enjoy the quietness and beauty of Montgomery Pass.

As I wandered the rather extensive grounds, I understood the draw.

Rolling up out of the deserts of Nevada during the summer months must have been a wonderful reprieve from the often scorching heat. Bishop, only an hour\'s drive away, is usually bustling and hustling with tourists year-round, so escaping up to the summit may have been an excellent place for a bit of solitude among the pines while dealing with a one-armed bandit.

In 1985, during an interview, a woman from Bishop mentioned why she loved visiting the summit. “I don’t like the big city casinos. I prefer this place because they get to know you and always ask how you are. Plus, the drive is marvelous and a chance to escape town for a while.”

The drive through the Montgomery Mountains is spectacular. Tall peaks covered in green trees and shrubs allow the driver to relax, hoping to see deer, elk, or a cryptid cross the road.

Tourists finally dried up for the businesses on the pass in the late 1990s, when gambling at numerous casinos operated by Native American tribes near Bishop and other areas along US 395 opened.

The gambling finally stopped in 2001. In 2010, many of the structures burned down, leaving Montgomery Pass just a reminder of a time when folks gambled on their future.

Walking through the remnants of a burned-out building or two, I could almost hear people laughing at a joke, screaming when they beat the house, and having a good time overall.

Good times! The past and present when one ventures to the byways and finds the unexpected.

There you go, my man, Heraclitus!

John can be contacted at - beyersbyways@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: US 6 is the real 'Loneliest Road' around, but packed with history