Exploring the storage area at the Humboldt Museum is like treasure hunting, with each step there is something charming with its own story to tell. Giving this particular tour of the facility is museum curator Pansilee Larson telling the stories the museum pieces cannot tell for themselves.

Joining Larson on the tour is grandson Ian, who is learning to tell the stories as well as his grandmother. With a storyteller's flourish, he pulls back the cover to a beautiful grand piano.

"This piano survived the Nixon Opera House fire," he says. "It was in the fire with everything else before falling through the floor and crashing into the basement."

It is hard to believe that the beautifully restored piano ever survived a fire, and that this lovely piece of Winnemucca history is sitting in a storage area because there isn't room to diplay it in the current museum.

That will soon change. The North Central Nevada Historical Society announced this week that a USDA-Rural Development loan will allow the completion of the second floor to the museum addition. This will allow those valuable pieces of Winnemucca history to be brought out of storage and displayed to the public.

Ian Larson guarantees that when it's finished, "It'll knock your socks off."

The museum board has been approved for a $400,000 loan. But board member Jack Bullock is quick to point out that finishing the second floor will not require the full $400,000.

The board has received grants that will allow certain aspects of the work to be completed without borrowing funds. One such grant was received from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation and will allow for an audio/visual room at the museum which will be utilized to make a visit to the museum more interesting with the aid of film. Community access to these services as a media center can offer a visual history with various themes for individuals and small group meeting.

In addition to the E.L. Wiegand Foundation, $50,000 was received from the Booth-Ferris Foundation to aid with the interior construction and a $15,000 gift was made to the museum from the will of a local citizen at the time of her death.

Bullock is confident that the board may only need to borrow half of the funds for which they have been approved, roughly $200,000. The museum board will have 30 years to pay the note, which comes at a very low interest rate.

What the board has decided to do in order to finish the project is to get a construction loan for the estimated 120-day period needed to finish the second floor. This requires electrical work, plumbing, doors and windows, mechanical fixtures, carpentry, etc.

At the end of the 120 days everyone involved in construction will be paid through the conventional construction loan. In turn, the loan will be paid in full with the Rural Development loan funds.

The obvious advantage to proceeding in this manner is that the board will be borrowing the exact amount needed, no more, no less. The board will use the funds generated at the museum, and through any grants received, to pay the note.

There is little doubt that the museum will be able to generate the necessary funds once the addition is complete. Not only will there be a gift shop, but the exhibits themselves are expected to attract visitors. One of the items that is expected to draw much interest is the Black Rock Desert mammoth bone exhibit. Currently in storage in the basement of the convention center, funds were donated to have casts made of the bones for exhibition. Assisting the museum with the transition from storage to display, is Dr. Stephanie Livingston, a scientist with the Desert Research Institute who was a part of the original excavation. The exhibit will be centered in the second floor and is expected to be one of the museum's biggest attractions.

Considering that the museum was first established in 1974, the current success of this project is due in part to the support of the community at large. Even while touring the storage area in the museum annex, Pansilee Larson was proud to show that so many of the museum pieces actually belonged to area families.

The latest piece is a dining table and chairs, estimated to be 130 years old, and acquired from Unionville. She also pointed out a doll's buggy that was donated by a local resident who played with it when she was a little girl.

The community, though, is not only generous with museum pieces. Steve and Celeste Smith, of LawBase Technologies, generously donated a new computer system that will help with book keeping, record keeping and inventory, and will soon have the Internet that will be utilized for research.

When the museum needed a feasibility study to apply for the Rural Development loan, they went to Teri Williams of the Hi-Desert Economic Development Authority for her valuable assistance. In addition, the Humboldt County Commission has lent unwaivering support.

For those anxious to see northern Nevada's treasure brought out of storage, there are high hopes that the project will be completed by September or October. For Pansilee Larson, the completion of the addition allows the historical society to fulfill their mission of "bringing the past into the present and future."