Bill Payne, Dean of College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno, said some of the branding iron collection was in his office at UNR and the rest at John Ascuaga’s Nugget until the family sold the property and asked CABNR to help preserve the collection.
Anne McMillin
Churchill County hosted a dedication for a new state branding exhibit now at the Rafter 3C Arena on Feb. 16, the second day of the annual Great Basin Bull Sale.
Dignitaries included J.J. Goicochea, Nevada director of Agriculture, and Bill Payne, dean of the University of Nevada College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources.
The branding exhibit and its sister exhibit in the Buckland Room highlight different aspects of ranching heritage. As people walk into the Rafter 3C Arena, they’ll the state branding iron exhibit. In the Buckland Room, the Churchill County Museum has curated items from horsehair ropes to stirrups in the wooden cases lining the far wall.
The state branding iron exhibit comes to Churchill County on loan from the CABNR’s farm and features a collection of more than 145 irons, some of which had famous owners including former governors and Hollywood crooner Bing Crosby. The exhibit features a selection of the total brand collection hung vertically on the wall with the brand itself burned into the barnwood wall covering and labeled with its first registered date and owner.
Beneath the wall display of branding irons are several historic saddles from the museum’s collection and on loan from individuals including the 2013 Ellensburg Rodeo Championship saddle won by Fallon’s own Jade Corkill.
Display cases inside the Buckland Room are now filled with western artifacts including mid-century brand books, two varieties of chaps, an intricate Garcia bridle and several items from the former Ranchharrah estate in Reno.
Museum Curator Rae Sottile headed up the pieces selected and the display itself in the Buckland Room. He describes the challenges that came from working with artifacts from outside the museum collection.
“While most of the collection came labeled, several pieces did not so I went to the museum’s reference library and that, along with reaching out to area experts, gave me to opportunity to identify some of the more unusual pieces,” Sottile said.
The final display in the Buckland Room has minimal interpretation which allows the visitor to take a step back and admire the diversity in approaches to ranching and riding in Nevada from the mid-nineteen century to today.
Anne McMillin is the public information officer for Churchill County.
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