Soldier leaving area needs to find home for old wood

A local Iraq war veteran is departing for Texas and further training today, leaving behind his wife, four children and a lot of old wood.

Sgt. Michael Cartwright has wood from the old Carson House at the corner of Nevada and East Fourth streets, covering about half an acre, he said, at his in-laws' home in Stagecoach.

"It (the house) was disassembled, even though Carson City did everything they could to prevent it," he said.

The house was owned by Kurt Brown of Capital Beverages, who hired Cartwright to disassemble it.

"We were fighting the city for months trying to get that thing demolished," he said.

Finally, he and a group of teenage boys took down the building, most recently called Pepper's Patio Motel.

He said the building started out in the 1870s sometime as a farrier operation, with a small house and two longer barns. Later, it became living quarters for a brothel.

"In the 1960s, when they ran the brothel out to Mound House, it became the hotel," he said, adding that last October seven families were living there.

"But it had no foundation, no insulation, it wasn't habitable," he said. "There were plants growing through the walls and old wiring mixed in with new wiring."

Cartwright said the Carson City Planning Commission said as long as four walls and a roof were left, they could take down the rest and call it a cleanup.

Then, he said, he held a yard sale and neighbors came to buy siding, trusses and other items.

He still has lap siding, wide planks, rough cut 2-by-4's and some larger pieces. Buyers will have to pick up the wood, since Cartwright will leave today for Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he is studying to become a nurse.

He has served two tours of duty in Iraq driving a gun truck, escorting convoys from Kuwait to Baghdad and points east and west.

"All our convoys were shot at," he said. "We only had one IED (improvised explosive device) and it only took out the diesel truck. No one got hurt, but we had a hell of a bonfire."

He was hoping to have the wood sold before leaving, but now his wife, Tracy, will have to handle any sales. The couple has three girls and a boy ranging in age from 10 to 16.

"Having three teenage girls in the house, it was quieter in Iraq," Cartwright joked.

He said now he just wants to get a little income from the wood, to cover some expenses. The cost to a buyer will depend on the amount desired, he said.

He said some of the wood was reused, and a few truckloads were cut up and given to needy people in Stagecoach and Silver Springs for firewood.

For information

Call Tracy Cartwright

at (775) 577-4398

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.