By TIM CLARK

Tell tale signs: Tim inspects the abundance of curiosities which adorn Tony and Bobbie's mine museum


Tony Wierly has the confidence of a man who knows he is standing on a goldmine.
Quite literally. Somewhere underneath our feet, rich seams of quartz crystal - each riddled with the famous precious metal of the American West - burrow deep into the Earth’s crust. Within them may well be another legendary ‘mother lode’ of the type that drew prospectors from across the continent to this corner of the United States over a century ago.

I am in the heart of the Nevada desert to learn about a mine which - if local legend is to be believed - was so important back in the 19th century that its discovery was central to the founding of the state of Nevada in 1861.

For Tony though, the riches lie not underneath the ground, but above it.
Standing at only a couple of hundred feet tall, the small hill which makes up the Techatticup mine echoes with enough tales of murderous claim jumpers, civil war deserters and renegade Indians to keep a fireside conversation going well into the night.

Though it is no longer working, the mine has been restored to its former 'glory' over the past decade and a half by Tony and his wife Bobbie, who bought this dilapidated slice of history in 1994.

‘We’ve been here about 16 years, and when we got here, it was mostly run-down,’ Tony says. ‘It took us five years before we could get the mine up to a standard where we could show people around.

'After it was abandoned, the bottom 200 feet of the mine filled with water. We still use it as our well, and have done since we moved in.'

Scattered across their estate is a veritable feast of antiques and curiosities built up by Tony and his wife over decades spent perusing junk yards as far afield as the foggy corners of San Francisco.


Rusting relics to America's love affair with the automobile litter the Techatticup site


Rusted engines sit idle among the dust, the carcasses of America’s love affair with the motor vehicle piled up as abject monuments to a bygone era. In short, it is a film-makers dream.

This captivating collections of odds and sods – along with the partially restored mine – have become a mecca for film crews and magazine photographers from across the world, who come looking for a modern Wild West where they can shoot the next generation of Hollywood blockbusters.

First it was Kurt Russell with his 1997 thriller Breakdown. And Russell was back again in 2001, this time with Kevin Costner, Courteney Cox and Christian Slater in toe, for 3000 Miles to Graceland.

'They [the film crew] shot for four days. They staged people crashing Cadillacs, people jumping from helicopters, everything,' Bobbie says with a gleam. 'Being in a film set is a bit like being in a circus.'


The ramshackle mine is now used as a film and photo shoot location for magazines across the world


Though my own visit does not involve pyrotechnic displays and A-list glamour, like most visitors to Techatticup I am able to explore the local area as part of the Eldorado Mine and Canyon Experience - a typical American action tour which allows you to follow old pioneer trails on horseback, kayak down the nearby Colorado River, and quad-bike over rugged terrain.

I opt to explore the mine itself, and am treated to a potted history - before descending deep into the major shaft to see for myself the seams that the first miners followed in their quest for riches (while quietly hoping to strike it rich myself).

Techatticup is responsible for a large part of Nevada’s mineral wealth (it is estimated that between $100–140 million of gold was dug up from the mine during its lifetime). But modern day gold-diggers are drawn to the state by other, more 21st century ways of striking it rich.

Little over 40 miles from Techatticup lies the latter-day goldmine that has become synonymous with fortune-seekers the world over. Las Vegas.

Vegas stands for everything that is the American Dream: a city of nigh-on limitless options where even the boundaries of taste and decency are stretched as far as capitalism can legally take them.

But though Sin City has many detractors, there is no doubt that it can leave you entranced.

From the tide of tourists wandering endlessly up the Strip in search of a new wonder (or a fake version of a real world wonder) to the high-rollers who click and tick at casino tables, there is enough to fill the memoirs of a professional people-watcher.

My hotel alone is a visual spectacle. The 4004-room Aria Hotel-Casino is a grand new addition to Vegas's downtown skyline - and with a $9.6 billion price tag, the hotel is is reputed to be the most expensive private construction in US history.



Building boom: The Aria Hotel is considered the biggest private construction project in U.S. history


Vegas has tried to reinvent itself over the last decade as one of the world's foremost entertainment centres - drawing a long line of performers from Tom Jones to Elton John, who have all graced its stages at some time in their careers.

None of these, though, can match the original King of Rock n Roll - Elvis, who spent the final part of his career working in the city. Yet though Presley has definitively 'left the building', his name lives on in Cirque de Soleil’s Elvis Experience - held within the bowels of the Aria complex.

The show is less a performance and more a visual assault on your senses, with legions of acrobats leaping and throwing themselves across the stage in a dazzling array of circus skills - all performed with military precision as they retell the Elvis story in musical form.

After three days in the city I am left with as many questions as answers. Is Vegas the ultimate den of vice, where mankind's ugliest foibles, from greed to gluttony, are revealed? Or is it a monument to humanity's imagination? A genuine oasis in the desert?

My overriding conclusion - and I may be castigated for saying it - is that Las Vegas could well be one of the only creations of the late 20th century that will earn a UNESCO heritage award in the future.

There is one last thing to do before I depart. Having spied the roulette wheel on multiple occasions during my stay (spinning in almost every hotel, they are difficult to avoid) I finally decide to try my luck with a quick flutter.

As chance would have, it my numbers come up - and I too am able to fly home feeling like I have struck gold in the middle of the desert.


Travel Facts
Virgin Atlantic flies direct to Las Vegas from London Gatwick, from £573 return. For flights details and bookings visit www.virgin-atlantic.com.

A room at the Aria Las Vegas costs from $139 per night. For more information and rates visit www.arialasvegas.com/hotel.

An above- and below-ground tour of the Techatticup Mine costs $12.50 per adult ($7.50 for children under twelve). For more information visit

www.eldoradocanyonminetours.com.


source: dailymail