Here, Fishie, Fishie, Fishie...

I was going through some stuff the other day, doing some Spring cleaning, and ran across my dad's fishing license holder, circa 1980, when the McEwan family still owned it--I went to school with their son, Craig, and Mountain Gate was THE fishing spot for my dad, he was there every day.

 It's just a little plastic holder, nothing remarkable in itself--what's special about it, is that Mountain Gate Lodge no longer exists--it got completely washed away by the West Walker river in the 1997 '100 Year' Flood that swept it, and a big chunk of highway 395, away on New Year's Day that year. The flood was especially nasty, striking just before dawn. Several people had to be rescued from the lodge, and it also washed away the home of Betty, one of my mom's friends. My mom, who lived about 10 miles downstream, had been in Reno with Betty for New Year's Eve and was unable to return for days, not knowing if either had homes that still stood. Luckily, our home survived, being uphill a bit from the river--Betty's did not.

Interesting video (with overblown narration) here, but towards the end the sound gets badly out of sync. Mountain Gate Lodge footage at 47:32: 1997 Flood video