Galena Creek Bridge

The Nevada Department of Transportation announced toward the end of May, 2012, that the new portion of Highway 395 from the Mt. Rose Highway to Washoe Valley would be open sometime in July, 2012.  There have been problems with the highway from its conception to today, and our old friend Washoe Willie wrote about some of those problems, in his own fashion, you understand, several years ago when I was editor of the Nevada Observer.

Washoe Willie has a distinct manner of finding newsworthy subjects on which to expound, tomes of virulent fun and games, laced often with demon rum or whatever else might be available.

Please enjoy this in the manner in which it is offered.  That is, chaos within an active mind.  jg

Galena Creek Bridge Mystery Solved !!!

Work To Continue

by Washoe Willie

            The Nevada Department of Highway Safety (NDHS) has issued several press releases over the last few years regarding the problems with building the Galena Creek Bridge on Highway 395 between Reno and Carson City.  Not once have they told the real story behind the work stoppage.  Work has halted several times over the last few years, in fact one bridge building company actually pulled out of their contract with the state.  A new contract has been let, but it isn't certain that the bridge will ever actually be open to traffic.  This then is the real story of why the Galena Creek Bridge may never be built.

            The first recorded incident affecting the bridge construction time table occurred in 2003 when iron worker Terrance White walked off the job screaming about "the problem."  White along with many others on the project had been complaining regularly about strange sounds, about seeing shadowy figures, and hearing what sounded like growling.  The prime contractor said the men were making the stories up and refused to investigate.  Federal representatives refused to respond to our questions.

            White was arrested several weeks later when it was discovered he was on the job site without permission putting tape recorders in place.  "I'll prove to you that we weren't making these stories up."  White has been residing as a mental health inpatient in Sparks for more than a year.  "I've never told a lie in my life," he said at his last court appearance, "and I'm not telling one now.  There is something very dangerous at that bridge site."  He insists there is a conspiracy to hide the truth and the bridge will never be completed.

            It was after the prime contractor walked out on a lucrative contract that the full story came to light.  It may be that White and his co-workers did actually see or hear something strange.  E-mail was discovered on May 17th from an anonymous NDHS worker detailing the matter.  This reporter was able to get a copy of the e-mail.  This is how it reads.

            "Regarding the Terry White incident and the following problems with contractors, ironworkers, heavy equipment operators and others, NDHS personnel have found evidence of an entity living along the Galena Creek area, actually directly in line with the Galena Creek Bridge.  Workers have harassed the entity, thrown rocks at it, even taken shots with nail guns attempting to drive it off.  It won't leave."

            Representatives of the Nevada State Wildlife Preservation Agency have investigated the complaints and found bones and indications that something had a very large nest under a rock overhang in the area.  According to Wildlife Biologist Melanie Campbell, "This is a meat eating animal of some kind and the bridge workers must refrain from harassing it.  Prints and other information from the site don't look like bear, lion, or other large carnivores that roam western Nevada."

            In a highly secret E-mail from Campbell to NDHS engineers, the full story can be told.  For years those living near the Parker Ranch along Galena Creek have been harassed, sometimes molested by what is known as a Troll.  It is the Troll of Galena Creek, so often written about in the late 1800s that has disrupted the work on the Highway 395 bridge.

            One passage from the Pleasant Valley Register, a newspaper of 1866, reported the Troll had abducted an entire family that had been living along the banks of Galena Creek.  A further article in the Washoe City Bugle said the family, the father was unable to get work, had been surviving on marmots, jackrabbits, and snakes.  The Hiram Jackson family was found, injured but alive, several miles up the creek, in a state of mental collapse.  They never recovered their senses enough for a complete investigation to take place.  District officials sealed the records of the case, and it is believed the newspaper reports are all that is left.

            NDHS officials will not confirm nor deny these allegations, saying that work is resuming and the bridge will be finished.  There has never been a confirmed photograph of a Troll, but throughout history they have been known.  The Galena Creek Troll is not the only one known to exist in Nevada.

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