The Marzen House Museum Board honored longtime Nevada geologist Webb Varnum during a May 13 meeting by officially naming the museum’s mineral and fossil room after him.
The Webb Varnum Mineral and Fossil Room features more than 400 mineral and fossil specimens Varnum gathered during decades of exploration across Nevada and the Southwest.
“The collection spans from when I was a teenager or before,” Varnum said.
Tonopah Mining Park once displayed the exhibit before shifting its focus to Nye County minerals. About nine years ago, after the collection had spent several years in storage, Varnum donated it to the Marzen House Museum.
Museum officials have since moved the exhibit into a building that will become part of Marzenville, the museum’s developing historic village project.
Varnum’s family history in Nevada stretches back generations. He said his family lived in the Winnemucca area as early as 1844. By 1850, his great-great-grandfather had settled in Fitting, a historic mining settlement near the Seven Troughs Range in present-day Pershing County. Varnum said his ancestor later served as county commissioner in Unionville when it was the Humboldt County seat.
“That was our only trip into politics ever, and I assume he was put up to it because back in those times, there weren’t that many people here,” Varnum said.
He also recalled stories about his grandmother nearly losing her life during the devastating Seven Troughs flood of 1911.
Varnum grew up in Sparks and graduated from Sparks High School before attending the Mackay School of Mines. He later spent much of his career as an economic geologist mapping abandoned mines and identifying mineral deposits for mining companies. His work took him underground into mines throughout Nevada, California, Arizona and Baja California.
Now 80 years old, Varnum has been a member of the Reno Gem and Mineral Society for nearly 50 years. He said many members hope to visit the museum because the collection was never displayed in Reno.
“Thank you for the time, the effort and your history,” board member Frankie Graham told Varnum during the meeting.
“It’s been a traveling exhibit from Tonopah to storage to the Marzen House,” Varnum said. “I think this is the perfect home for the collection.”
The Marzen House Museum, located at 25 Marzen Lane in Lovelock, opens Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, though donations help support museum programs. Tours last about an hour, and the museum may arrange after-hours tours upon request.
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