The town was named after Montillus (Montillion), Murray "Old Man" Beatty who hada ranch in there in 1900. He was Beatty's first postmaster, and was a railway center for the mining industry. If you hear about it in the news in the last few years, that would be due to Nevada's future toxic wasteland, Yucca Mountain.
The town was pretty quiet, with the exception of a few nosey folks like me poking around at a couple of roadside business'. One guy was selling, well, everything. It was like a flea market/yard sale consisting of everything from horse saddles, to cracked safes, to number plates and Civil Air Patrol caps, and everything, everything in between.
The other draw in town was the Fresh Jerkey stand.
The other draw in town was the Fresh Jerkey stand.
I stopped in a gas station for a cold drink after walking around town a bit. An old lady sat behind the counter staring at me. Didn't reply or change her stone faced expression when I greeted her. Occasionally she would break from her statue like appearance and WHAM! swat a fly on the counter with a big pink fly swatter. Surreal. I was out of there so fast you would think I robbed the joint. Everyone else in town seemed nice enough, and I even saw the local Sherrif cruising in town. A true old west mining town, one of fw that survived. I'll have to take you there, M&D.
Also learned, completely by accident, that the best soundtrack to any small town desert drive is Springsteen's haunting "Nebraska". It's been on permanent rotation ever since.
Also learned, completely by accident, that the best soundtrack to any small town desert drive is Springsteen's haunting "Nebraska". It's been on permanent rotation ever since.
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