photo provided by Storey County Sheriff's Office Alvin Ellwood Baldwin, of Occidental, Calif., died Tuesday afternoon when the Jeep he was driving drove off a narrow trail in Virginia City and rolled 500 feet into the Loring Pit.
A 63-year-old California man on a rock-hunting trip with his wife was killed Tuesday when the Jeep he was driving rolled off a narrow trail in Virginia City into an abandoned mining pit.
The Storey County Sheriff's Office received the call about 3:50 p.m. According to Sgt. Kenneth Quirk, Alvin Ellwood Baldwin was trying to maneuver his vehicle on a narrow trail high above the Loring Pit when he lost control and rolled 500 feet into the pit.
The Loring Pit is located across State Route 341 from the Historic Fourth Ward School on the south end of town.
Quirk said Baldwin, of Occidental, Calif., was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
"They were up above the pit and that is on the very narrow roadway, it's more of a trail," he said. "The wife actually got out because it was too treacherous. He tried to do a maneuver and it rolled."
Quirk said the couple had driven to Nevada from Occidental and had gotten a room at a hotel in Carson City.
Quirk said the wife was taken to the sheriff's office where she called friends in California, who drove over to stay with her.
"It was horrible, simply horrible," he said.