McGill began as a mining town

Club 50
S Main Street, Hwy 93
McGill

OOPSIE! I stuck the camera against the (dirty) windows to take some pictures of the interior…evidently people were living there! The fireplace was cool…”Club 50” was set into the bricks; just barely visible in my pictures.

New Victory Club
Hwy 93
McGill

McGill Club
Hwy 93
McGill

Our trip to McGill, in 2007…

There’s a sign outside of McGill that says the backbar at the McGill Club is the oldest in Nevada. We'd heard that it was the backbar from the old Arizona Club, in Las Vegas, that was later moved to the Last Frontier Village. We wanted to see it.

We stopped at the McGill Club, and checked their hours. We had a few hours before the Club closed, so we headed across the street to a shop that had 'antiques', videos, and other assorted stuff. Fished a couple of Sands (LV) shoe horns out of a fishbowl ('whatcha'got? 3? how about $1?). Then back across the street, to the McGill Club.

We ordered our drinks, then talked to Norm, the bartender.
We asked if the backbar was from the Arizona Club, and he said no. But here's the story...

The bar was manufactured in the 1890's in Dubuque, Iowa, by the Brunswick Company. There was no cross country railroad in those days, so the bar was shipped around the horn to San Francisco. It went by rail from San Francisco to Caliente. In the early 1900's it went by wagon train to East Ely, where it was at the Antler Club. Then, in 1943 it was moved to McGill. I asked my boss, one time, how it was moved and he said "In 3 pieces". He told me it went through a bad storm and fell off the wagons 3 times. I wanted to know more, but we got busy and I didn't get a chance to talk to him anymore that night. I figured I'd just ask him again later, but wouldn't ya know...that railroad crossing out there...the only one in town...well, he was killed out there before I ever had a chance to ask him again.

Did you see that wall of pictures in the front room? Every one of those pictures represents a soldier from right here in McGill...someone that enlisted, or maybe was drafted, from McGill to fight in World War Two. If I had the time, I could tell you about every one of those people.

There used to be a lot more people here. I guess we had about 2500 folks, one time. Now we've got about 700. There's nothing for 'em to do. They have to leave McGill to find jobs. Me, I was born here in Ely 70 years ago. By now I gotta figure I'm gonna die here, too.

Oh yeah...we used to have more gambling here. There was a roulette table over there, and blackjack over there. Nope, haven't got any chips or dice anymore. Sure, little lady, you go ahead and take all the pictures you want. It's been real nice chatting with you folks.

Is that great, or what? In 2014, at the age of 92, Norm passed away. I don’t know if the McGill Club is still open…if it is, it definitely isn’t the same without Norm.