Folk art sculptures at Thunder Mountain.

Thunder Mountain Park

Imlay, Nevada

Reports of Mormon cricket infestation in the area around I-80 near Imlay, NV got us thinking about Thunder Mountain Park, a folk art site built by "Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder" of cricket-impervious concrete and junk, right off the interstate in the middle of nowhere.

It’s located between Winnemucca and Lovelock, if that’s any help, about 120 miles east of Reno. It was created by Frank Van Zant, who started building in 1968, and, gripped with Dementia Concretia kept at it until his suicide in 1989 at age 69. According to some, he killed himself just after completing Thunder Mountain, though it is hard to tell if it's really complete just by looking at it.

Naked Man greets the day.

The main part of Thunder Mountain is a three-story house, built of bottles and concrete. Spires and pretzels of painted concrete shoot out over the roof in all directions, and culminate in a two-dimensional dome skeleton, vaguely like the US Capitol dome (though we may be reading too much into it). Windows are made of car windshields.

All sorts of refuse was taken from a nearby junkyard and used in the house and grounds: wagon wheels, car hoods, typewriters, farm equipment.

Around the house are stone walls and statues of Native Americans and nude women. Various concrete totems have vague faces pressed into them. Blue glass telephone pole insulators dot the tops of the walls. Plastic baby doll heads are stuck on tree branches.

On our first visit in 1988, a child led us around, as various small animals both followed and fled from us. He pointed out exhaust pipes for the underground section. A sign read: "Underground House (site) 1970-1979 Constructed to demonstrate the all-round feasibility and economy of underground living."

Frank Van Zant was born in Oklahoma with some Creek heritage. Some sources list Van Zant’s birth as 1911, but 1920 fits better with his WWII service -- a tank battle left him with bad burns. After the war, he worked as different jobs including logger, miner, and minister. He ran for elected office.

But, according to newspapers, in 1968, Van Zant claimed an old medicine woman had told him, "In the final days, there shall rise up a place called Thunder Mountain." She said that only those who lived at Thunder Mountain would survive the apocalypse.

So he changed his name to Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder, moved his family into the desert, and began creating. It is meant as a tribute to Native Americans.

The political side of the environment is not what you notice at first. But as you inspect various individual pieces, it comes into relief. One statue depicts a Native American hero holding the severed head of a blond, devil-horned, forked-tongue person.

Elsewhere, masoned together with stone, rusted refrigerator doors serve as billboards: "Princeton Univ. Their Ideas This Fence And Behind This Fence Anti-American." Another reads:"Media be warned. You destroy America" But it's not all bad: One cement tree is dedicated as a "Salute To The US Forestry Service."

Without Van Zant’s watchful eye, the assembled junk has been dissembling. There has been vandalism and a fire. Son Daniel Van Zant is trying to build momentum behind a volunteer effort to save the site. In the summer of 2002, after a decade of neglect, repairs started on the property.

Though Thunder Mountain has been designated a Nevada State Historic Site and a National Monument, there are no rangers or tour guides. Just park your car and wander around. But try to avoid the heat of the day. And the crickets.

September 2004: Planet Steve reports from a recent visit: "The main structure is fenced off for restoration but that you can still view the exterior and wander the nearby 'courtyard'."