Gyro Days? Hey, It’S A Current Thing

A 36-year Mullan resident, Lydia Lane has seen her share of Lead Creek Derbies. And for the past decade, she’s had a front row seat.

Lane owns the Mullan Cafe at 312 River St., just downstream from the bridge where the canvas ball is dropped in the creek.

“A lot of the spectators don’t even bother to go to the bridge because it’s so congested,” Lane said. “They just wait here.”

As pretty much every Shoshone County resident knows, the Gyro Days Lead Creek Derby involves following the ball down the South Fork to Wallace, where the time is logged. The person who purchased a raffle ticket with a matching time wins a prize.

“Yes, but what’s the point?” asked one mystified out-of-towner.

Answer: There is no point, except that the raffle proceeds fund scholarships for local students. And it’s fun.

This year the Derby will take place on June 20, a week from today. Derby-goers who stop at the Mullan Cafe for breakfast will be welcomed by a sign on the wall above the counter that reads, WELCOME TO THE MULLAN ZOO.

STAGGERED FEEDING TIMES.

Lane wishes.

“It’ll be busy and wild until the ball goes by,” she predicted. “Then they’ll be gone, and it’ll be dead.”

After the breakfast crowd is served, she usually lets her employees join the partygoers following the ball, while she stays to clean up.

“I figure I did my share of ball-following,” she said. “I did years of that when my kids were little.”

In conjunction with Lead Creek Derby, the Gyro Club also brings a carnival to downtown Wallace beginning the Thursday evening before the derby. Local schoolchildren are given free carnival tickets for opening night. In years past, the club also sponsored a fireworks display.

“Thursday we went to the carnival to use the free tickets. Friday we went to the carnival and watched the fireworks. Saturday we followed the ball, then went to the carnival some more. To tell the truth, I got kind of tired of that carnival,” Lane said.

Now that her children are grown, the cafe demands almost all of her time. Restaurant ownership was her former husband’s dream, but he passed away three years ago, leaving Lane to preside alone over the bright plastic tablecloths, the antique juke box, and the tall counter with its old-fashioned stools. The Mullan Cafe is her sole source of income.

Open seven days a week, she serves up family fare: omelettes and hot cakes, burgers and chicken strips. The cafe was one of the first sites in the Silver Valley to offer espresso. Lane’s particular specialty is the pasty - or miner’s meat pie.

“Pasties were a big tradition in all your mining camps,” she said. “You can eat them hot or cold. Some English people told us that in the iron mines, English miners had no place to wash their hands. That’s where the thick crust came in handy - they just held onto one part of the crust, then threw that part away.”

Lane has a hard time keeping her pasties in stock. In addition to food, she also sells Avon and Watkins extracts, spices and cleaners. Baskets of lip gloss and hand lotion adorn the counter. Extracts are displayed in a glass cabinet on one wall. She’s a relentless worker, but she shrugs off sympathy.

“You’ve got to live,” she said. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

She said ball-watchers traditionally show up in Mullan as early as 9 a.m. on Derby day, though the ball isn’t dropped into the creek until noon.

Lane said Lead Creek Derby has grown a bit tamer with the passing years.

“They’ve tightened up with the laws,” she said. “No more open containers, no more beer wagon. It’s not like it was 25 years ago. There aren’t nearly the people.”

Nevertheless, the Mullan Cafe is bound to be busy next Saturday. That’s all right with Lane.

“I’m kind of looking forward to it, to tell you the truth,” she said. “It’ll liven the place up. I guess I’m still a kid at heart.”