SILVER CITY—It was time for the Tour of the Gila! As we got ready to leave for Silver City, our plans went awry immediately. We decided to eat breakfast at the Arrey Cafe, a wonderful place to get a good breakfast in a hurry and at a reasonable price. Besides, we like the whole restaurant. One 20-foot-long table dominates the dining area with smaller tables near the windows. Farm workers fill the place at lunch. What better place to eat chile than with farm workers in the Hatch Valley.
Well, we left for Silver City right after that, but be advised that it is not a short jaunt. Although dangerously scenic, that road through Hillsboro and over Emory Pass does take some time to negotiate. That is how we missed the Tour of the Gila.
It was a time trials day and all that was left by the time we got there were a few stragglers bicycling their way through the town looking for their buddies.
So we settled down to take in the main street in the historic district, which is Bullard. As you might know, the actual Main Street was wiped out in a big flood the night of July 21, 1895 which turned it into what is now called The Big Ditch. Main Street had literally disappeared into thin air and left a chasm 55 feet deep. It is said that merchants had to start using their back doors which opened onto Bullard as main entrances.
So Bullard is now the main drag of the old historic downtown area, and has been for 120 years. At the north end of Bullard stands the iconic Gila Hike & Bike. Certainly this is their weekend to be in the spotlight. Their windows are filled with sheets detailing events, riders, results and times. I saw nobody looking at those windows while I was there. Maybe in this electronic age, nobody has to show up to read race results in a store window anymore. I do know that most events seemed to have over a hundred entrants from all over the U.S. They were probably resting or eating some high-carb mountain of pasta.
At any rate, MaryAnn and I started down Bullard looking for adventure. A lot of the store fronts seem to have been painted not too long ago. This would fit in with the sign on I-25 which states, “Colorful Silver City.” We took a right turn into the door of The Curiosity Shop at 808 Bullard. The owner, Sandy Ynostrazo, was behind her counter.
It was pretty dark in there, which is just the way we like antique shops to be. And in those piles of dishes MaryAnn found an old railroad saucer made by the Syracuse China Co. It was small, made to be cradled in the palm of the hand, so as to be easier to use on a moving train. The price was $2.00. We left that bargain for someone else to find.
Hand-painted china is one of my favorite things to look at, but really undervalued in today’s antique marketplace which favors commercially made products. Another saucer filled with beautifully done pears and leaves lay atop a pile of small plates. It was also marked $2.00. We left both these treasures and continued down the street.
It looked to me as if someone was setting up a model railroad train. I’m talking about a train big enough for kids to ride in. We walked over. It turned out that Donald Beem owned that train. He was setting it up to give kids a ride during Saturday’s festivities. “Just what size train is that?” I asked.
“They call it an Amusement Park Train,” he said.
He started talking about the trucks and bearings and its 5 horsepower motor.
“How did you learn how to do all this stuff?”
“Well, I’ve basically been handy all my life.”
His engineers’ cap, stained with the grease from years of railroading, had its own tale to tell.
But he was more than handy. He was also an amateur historian regarding railroad history in Silver City. Then up came his friend Myke Bruessel. Myke had put together a diorama of the old Silver City rail station that was based on a photograph. It was accurate right down to the automobile parked in front of it.
Myke pointed to the stone building across the street at 800 Bullard. “George Gaylord used to own that place. He made acetylene in the back room.”
“He made his own acetylene? What for?” I asked.
“Because Model T Fords used acetylene lamps, not kerosene,” Myke responded.
We could have listened to these guys all night. And they probably could have talked that long as well, but we dodged our way down to the Little Toad Creek Pub for supper. And then, sated with life on the streets of Silver City, we headed back to our little trailer at Riverside Campground.
