Right now, you might be saying to yourself, "Self…how can this broken insulator be 'provenance'?" Well, pull up a chair and find out. Last week, I was privileged enough to be able to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nevada. This was an awesome, once in a lifetime opportunity and experience. Anyway, I had some downtime on Tuesday, so I signed up for a five-hour tour of Carson City and Virginia City (home of the famous Comstock Lode). We visited the state history museum in Carson and then continued on to Virginia City. I was primarily interested in checking out the V&T railroad (which is smaller than you might think-but is in the process of a $20 million expansion to return service to Carson City), but they were only running one diesel special that day. Ugh diesel, I want some steam! So I wandered around town instead. For those of you who like old mining areas, the downtown area is to be avoided at all cost. It is pretty superficial and is catered for the tourist/"Tombstone" crowd. However, there is an excellent bookstore tucked away downtown. When we drove in, I had noticed some antique stores on the outside of town along the main drag. I hoofed it to the other side of town, only to find the first shop closed. Virginia City is one of those quaint little towns whose hours of operation are along the lines of "We are open when we are not closed". Right next-door is another antique store that is open. I walk in and meet probably the nicest old lady in Virginia City. She will be hosting Virginia City's 150th anniversary in a couple weeks, so most of her shop has been packed up. I asked about insulators and she brought out a few common ones. As I looked at them, she proceeded to recount the time (about thirty years ago) when the crews replaced all the glass in town with porcelain. Most of the glass was left at the base of the poles, so she picked them up…and did so for a good many years. About that time, she made a comment about a "big, broken one" in her front yard. I asked her to see it, so we stepped out to look at it. WOW! It's a CD 286 Locke just sitting in her flower garden! I'm getting excited. She proceeds to tell me that, last year, she and her son were pulling all the big rocks out of her flower garden ("which you can see here, aren't they so pretty?") and found this insulator. This isn't thirty feet from the main road into town, which was probably paralleled by a power line. Well, I'm in shock. These things just don't happen. Or maybe they do…but not to me. I ask if it is for sale. She asks what I would pay for it. My reply seems to surprise her (she obviously thought a broken insulator wasn't worth much) but she readily accepts. We chat for a while about history and the importance of preserving its stories. I then depart, as I must catch the bus back to Reno. This was definitely the high point of my day.

Who else can say they have a genuine insulator from the Comstock Lode, found by a local resident in their flower garden? How cool is that? That is provenance.