Groundbreaking at Bear Lake Memorial Hospital

We are a long way from a big city hospital here in Montpelier, Idaho, so our small rural hospital is an important part of our community.  Fortunately, it is an excellent hospital with great doctors and a community spirit.  But, the patient rooms are 50 years old and have two beds per room.  Two million dollars had to be raised in order to upgrade the rooms, which seemed like an impossible task for a city with just 2600 people in a county with a population of just 6000.  We did it, and the groundbreaking was held on April 3, 2014.  This may not be a great photo opportunity, but it is such an important event for the community that I had to share it.  Hospital administrator, Rod Jacobson welcomed a large crowd, told about the vision and fund raising efforts, and thanked contributors.

The variety of activities used to raise money was amazing, including recycling abandoned cars (rust to rooms), raffling a restored Volkswagen donated by Patricia Talcott, and Auxiliary volunteers earning money at a Thrift Store, annual snowball dance, and more.

Three large checks were presented for $200,000 by the Hospital Auxiliary, $200,000 from hospital employees, and $1,400,000 from individual donations, including one of $500,000 from Ted and Liz Schmidt.

Several groups took turns breaking ground, starting with hospital board members and officials.

The hospital Auxiliary took a turn.  My wife, Linda is fourth from the left.

Photographically, this isn't the most interesting post, but as an important local event and a source of community pride, it is hard to beat.

Metropolis, Nevada Ghost Town

Summer was way too busy to find time for updating this blog, but a camping trip last week included a photo opportunity that I just had to post.  I was on the way to Elko, Nevada to meet a friend for our second camping trip this year, and our 31st consecutive year of camping and photography.  I took a side trip north of Wells, Nevada to the ghost town of Metropolis.  This was a planned farming community started in 1910, with irrigation provided by a dam on Bishop Creek.  However, the planners never bothered to get water rights and were sued by the town of Lovelock, Nevada.  When Metropolis lost their water, the residents gradually moved out, and Metropolis was a ghost town by 1950.

The most spectacular ruin is the arch of the old Lincoln school.  The town once had a railroad station and daily passenger service, but there is no trace of the station.

This is the basement of the ruined school.  Spooky, to say the least.  Someone has shored up the stairs with a couple of 2 x 6's, and there are ceiling holes everywhere, but the debris-filled space is a ghost town classic.

The other major ruin was once a hotel.  Notice how isolated this place is.  There are miles of treeless sagebrush plains in every direction.  There is probably a cemetery somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

If you wander through the sagebrush, you will find a few foundations, the usual small artifacts like broken glass, and this wonderful rusty wreck.  There used to be a city here, with houses, stores, and about 700 people, but the desert has reclaimed nearly everything.