RonnieAdventure #0029 – Thunder Mountain Monument, Pershing County, Nevada

While driving eastward on Interstate 80 toward Winnemucca, at the Imlay exit I saw what looked like a cousin to the Watts Towers. Since I love architectural oddities, it was time for a RonnieAdventure!

The Thunder Mountain Monument was created on five acres of land by Frank Van Zant, also known as Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder. (Frank Van Zant was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on November 11, 1921. Although his surname is Dutch, Van Zant always considered himself to be a full-blooded member of the Creek Nation.) Van Zant constructed the Thunder Mountain complex as a monument to the American Indians and a retreat for “pilgrims aspiring to the pure and radiant heart.”

After serving in World War II, Van Zant decided to become a Methodist minister, but dropped out of divinity school after a year and a half to pursue a law enforcement career. After retiring from law enforcement, he remarried for the third time and moved to rural Nevada where he was “reincarnated as Chief Rolling Thunder Mountain.” When asked about the big change in his life, Van Zant reportedly said that he had a dream one night that a great big eagle swooped down from the sky and told him “this is where I should build his nest.”

The three-story monument started as a “bottle house,” similar to one Van Zant had seen near Death Valley during his travels, but he gradually rocked over his one-room trailer until it came to resemble Barney Rubble’s stone-age bungalow. Automobile parts, scrap iron, galvanized pipe, and rebar were all added to the structure as they became available. The entire exterior of the structure is covered with decorative objects that reportedly depict historic massacres or bureaucratic betrayals of the American Indians.  

During the Sixties and Seventies Thunder Mountain became a popular hangout for hippies, artisans, and countercultural individuals that were interested in “living the Indian Way.” During this time period the project was expanded to include other outbuilding, a roundhouse, hostel, work shed, underground hut, guest cabins, and children’s playground. However, in the late 1970s Thunder Mountain fell in to disrepair. The hostel burned down and the underground hut caved in. Van Zant died in 1989 and the remaining structures suffered substantial vandalism until they were fenced and protected by Frank’s son in later years.

Although the buildings are currently closed to the public, the State of Nevada has designated Thunder Mountain to be a Historic Preservation Project Site and may open the structures to the public at some future date.