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Show (S2&&E RV fafriliiit Hi miHiHUimH tomih liliUIilhfliiii- C jjl - ow n ii A halo of predawn light hovers over Vegas in 1998, playing poker, for a whopping $222,636. Just two Robbins had struck another mother lode at a casino in Reno, accuearlier, years 171 several months. 0(X) on over jackpots mulating $481, Yet he is quick to say, "Had I not won that money, Id still be doing what Ive been doing here all along buying and fixing up when I can. Mount Dunfee in the high desen country of southwestern Nevada. Three chukars scurry jackrabbits zigzag through an empty lot, and partridge-lik- e across the street seeking haven beneath sagebrush. It is 5:30 a.m., a time when things seem not quite real to the eye, when shad- ows can be mistaken for apparitions. But that's what you'd expect and maybe even hope for in an old ghost town. Welcome to Gold Point, Nev. population five. The former mining town is under the constant watch and upkeep of Today, his and Kremins holdings include a saloon and the former post office. The two have a visitor-friendpolicy that enables them to present ly Gold Point to tourists in its authentic state, not spruced-u- p and restored to conform with state codes. Youre always going to have dust in a place like this, remarks Kremin, bur you're never going to have dirt. Herb Robbins and his sidekicksaloon bouncerbusiness partner Walt Kremin. Of the 55 old miners shacks and period buildings remaining in Gold Point, Robbins and Kremin own 28. That would include the historic outhouses, too, quips Robbins, who purchased his first piece of property in Gold Point in the late 1970s. The town at the base of the Shale Hills has been Robbins dream make that 'Sometlxizxe; to see' From coast to coast and town to town, Americans are finding a part of their lost past in treks to places like Gold Point. Ghost towns or their remnants can be found in every state of the union and in every state of condition. Gold Point for 23 years. A wallpaper hanger by trade, Robbins, 50, qualifies as an authentic mining historian, owning more than Brenda Mites, age 9, patrols Gold Points dusty 600 books on the subject. It all started when his friend, Kremin, noticed a newspaper advertisement in 1978 offering three Gold Point lots for sale. I wanted to say I owned a piece of a ghost town, obsession comis a symbol of these munities whose best days are behind them. Ghost towns embody the determination that ttntti. once-thrivi- drove fortune hunters, explorers, and settlers to cross the country to find riches and a better life, notes Carol Shull, keeper of the National Register of Historic Places for the National Park Service. They are Robbins admits, "but the more I bought, the more I wanted. Indeed, Robbins financed some of his recent Gold Point purchases and restoration under- at the heart of the American story." Stanley Paher, author of Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, was first lured to the fascination of old parallel of an takings with an uncanny modern-da- y old-timiners strike: He hit the jackpot in Las Page 6 American Profile X, - - r 41 |