Nevada City

Although strictly classified as a ghost town, Nevada City still exists, and a few people still call it home. This photo shows the main street of Nevada City, with the same buildings that stood when the combined miners courts of Junction and Nevada City tried George Ives and convicted him of murdering Nicholas Tbalt.

The Star Bakery (at left) has been in business off and on since 1863, and readers of God's Thunderbolt will recall that Dan Stark, the protagonist and fictional prosecutor at the trial, ate a meat pie and drank a beer there during the trial. The tall house beyond the flag pole is Doctor Don Byam's house, where in the novel the Vigilantes, led by Dan Stark, question two other suspects about Nick's murder.

If you follow this link to the website for the Montana Heritage Commission, you'll read more about how the Frank Finney family saved the town by refusing to sell their childhood home and move out. Dredging for gold and highway construction destroyed what remained of the town on the opposite side of the road where I stood to take this picture. Thanks to the Finneys, we have as much as we now have and you can see where the trial took place.