Nevada Historical Marker #135
New Pass Station. The rocks composing the walls of this stage station and freighter stop were in neat array and roofed with bundles of willow twigs in July 1861, when John Butterfield’s Overland Mail & Stage Company began traversing this Central or Simpson Route between Salt Lake City and Genoa, Nevada.The spring on the hill was inadequate for both humans and horses. However, Division Superintendent Thomas Plain’s support ranch, one mile to the west, kept this important team-watering and replacement-stop operating.Completion of the first transcontinental railroad spelled the eventual demise of the Overland Stage line. Butterfield sold out to Wells, Fargo & Company in 1866, which suspended all operations on the Central Route in February 1869. The company continued to operate their diverted equipment on other lines until the early 1870s.STATE HISTORIC
Austin Highway, Austin, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #136
Toquima Cave. Toquima Cave is an extraordinary Great Basin Native American archaeological site. Toquima Cave’s walls and ceiling are covered with pictographs in a variety of abstract and geometric designs painted with white, red, yellow, and black pigments. The meanings of these ancient designs may be as ceremonial markers, depictions of hallucinations, and art. Western Shoshone Indians historically occupied this region, and their ancestors most likely painted the Toquima Cave pictographs. Toquima Cave is located in a basalt outcrop on the east side of Pete’s Summit in the Toquima Range about 12 miles to the east. The cave is accessed by a half-mile hiking trail from the US Forest Service Toquima Cave Campground. In order to protect the pictographs from vandalism, visitors are separated from the cave walls by a cage-like structure.
, Austin, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #137
Hickison Summit. About one mile northwest lies a natural pass between two low buttes, which prehistorically, the aborigines may have used as a site of ambushing migratory deer herds. Three petroglyph panels are located in the pass. Concerted cooperative efforts of several families were necessary for successful trapping, killing and processing the deer. Petroglyphs suggest magical or ritual connection with hunting activities. They were added seasonally by the group's religious leader or shaman, as omens to insure a successful hunt.
Lincoln Highway, Austin, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #138
Belmont. Belmont sits at an elevation of 7,400 feet. A spring flowing year round made this a gathering site of the Shoshone Indians for rabbit drives and celebrations.In 1865, silver ore discoveries led to the development of an attractive tree-shaded mercantile community. East Belmont became the mining and milling center. A wide range of nationalities worked the mines, operated businesses, and provided services. At its height, Belmont had schools, churches, a post office, and a newspaper, as well as a Chinatown, a red-light district, and a racetrack. The town was the Nye County seat from 1867 to 1905, and a courthouse survives from this period.Belmont had a reputation as a rowdy town. Incidents of saloon brawls, vigilante actions, shootings, hangings, and feuds made the town notorious. Well known Nevadans such as Jack Longstreet, Tasker Oddie, Jim Butler, and Andrew Maute all participated in local early history.Silver production totaling four million dollars was from high grade but shallow ore. By 1890, most mines ceased to be profitable and were forced to shut down. Belmont’s population dwindled as most residents left for new discoveries in nearby mining towns.
Belmont Courthouse State Historic Site, Manhattan, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #139
Old Spanish Trail (The Journey Of The Dead Man). Early Spanish traders named the fifty-five dry miles separating Las Vegas and the Muddy River the Journada Del Muerto (Journey of The Dead Man). This longest stretch without water along the Old Spanish Trail was littered with the skeletons of animals and parts of wagons abandoned along the sandy desert. Most experienced travelers made the trip at night.John C. Frémont crossed the Journada in 1844 and commented: “We ate the barrel cactus and moistened our mouths with the acid of the sour dock. Hourly expecting to find water, we continued to press on to midnight, when after a hard and uninterrupted march of 16 hours, our wild mules began running ahead; and in a mile or two we came to a bold running stream (the Muddy River).”
, Moapa Valley, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #14
Goldfield. For a twenty-year period prior to 1900, mining in Nevada fell into a slump that cast the entire state into a bleak depression and caused the loss of a third of the population.The picture brightened overnight following the spectacular strikes in Tonopah and, shortly afterwards, in Goldfield. Gold ore was discovered here in December 1902 by two Nevada-born prospectors, Harry Stimler and Billy Marsh. From 1904 to 1918, Goldfield boomed. The city had a railroad that connected to Las Vegas and a peak population of 20,000, making it Nevada’s largest community at the time. Between 1903 and 1940 a total of $86,765,044 in precious metals was produced here.
East Crook Avenue, Goldfield, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #140
The Garcés Expedition. Seeking to open a land route between the missions of Sonora and California, Fray Francisco Hermenegildo Garcés, OFM, a Franciscan missionary priest and explorer, was the first European to enter the present boundaries of Nevada. He departed mission San Xavier Del Bac near Tucson in October of 1775, and by late February of 1776, the Spanish Franciscan friar had reached the Mohave villages located just south of this location on the banks of the Colorado river. Garcés was now traveling in areas never before seen by a non-native American.Relying on Native American guides, he walked from village to village. The Mohave agreed to lead him to the pacific coast along a route used for trade purposes. It was from this general location, on March 4, 1776, accompanied by four natives, that Garcés left the banks of the Colorado and set out across the Mojave Desert; he reached Mission San Gabriel Arcángel 20 days later. Upon his return, he again visited the Mohave villages in this vicinity in May of 1776. His route followed a much older prehistoric trail used to bring shells and other trade goods to the tribes of the desert and mountain west. On July 19, 1781, in a Quechan revolt against Spanish forces, Father Garcés was killed at La Purisima Concepción Mission near the Yuma crossing. Padre Garcés’ body was later interred in the Franciscan church of the Colegio De La Santa Cruz, Querétaro, Mexico.“Greater love hath no man than this - that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Excerpts from Father Garcés’ diary“I proceeded three leagues on the course northwest with some turns to the west-northwest. I observed this locality to be in 35° 01', and I named it San Pedro De Los Jamajabs. In this situation and that below there are good mesas for the foundation of missions, and though they are near the river, they are free from inundation”. Father Garcés’ Entrance into Nevada (March 3, 1776) “March 4, on which was made the observation noted on the 3rd day. I departed, accompanied by three Jamajab Indians and by Sevastian, on a course southwest, and at two leagues and a half arrived at some wells [which I named Pozos De San Casimiro]. There is some grass”. Father Garcés’ Departure from Nevada (March 4, 1776)
, Laughlin, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #141
Old Spanish Trail Armijo’s Route. On January 8, 1830, the first pack train to pass from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles crossed Las Vegas Valley. Antonio Armijo, a merchant in Santa Fe, commanded the train and roughly sixty men. The successful completion of the journey opened a trade route between the two Mexican provinces of New Mexico and California.Following the “longest, crookedest, most arduous pack mule route in the history of America,” Armijo’s party and others brought woolen goods to Los Angeles and returned to Santa Fe driving herds of valuable mules and horses. Later termed the Old Spanish Trail, this route was the principal means of transportation between the two Mexican territories, until the end of the Mexican War in 1848.
Lake Mead Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #142
Old Spanish Trail (Mountain Springs Pass). This portion of the Old Spanish Trail was discovered in January 1830, by Antonio Armijo during his first trip from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. The springs just north of this marker provided excellent water and fed meadows of luxuriant grass for draft animals. Two days were required to travel between Las Vegas and Mountain Springs Pass. The trip was broken at Cottonwood Springs, the site of Blue Diamond, where an early start was usually made in order to climb the pass by nightfall. Early travellers often referred to the area as Piute Springs, but the present title has been used for over a century. The altitude made Mountain Springs one of the favorite camping spots on the trail.
Nevada State Rd 160, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #143
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins (1844 1891). Proposed Text, Marker Plate in Production:Sarah Winnemucca, whose Paiute name was Thocmentony (Shell-flower), was the daughter of Chief Winnemucca, and granddaughter of Captain Truckee, a friend and supporter of Captain John C. Frémont. Sarah Winnemucca sought understanding between her people and European Americans when the latter settled on Paiute homelands. Sarah lectured, wrote a foundational book in American Indian literature, and founded the non-government Peabody School for Native children outside of Lovelock, Nevada. She worked tirelessly to remedy injustice for her people and to advocate peace. Here at Fort McDermitt she served as an interpreter and teacher. Because of her importance to the nation’s history, Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins was honored in 2005 with a statue in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol.STATE HISTORIC
North Road, Fort McDermitt, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #144
Fort Mc Dermitt. Established in 1865, Fort McDermitt was first called Quinn River Camp #33 on the East Fork, then renamed in honor of military district commander Lt. Col. Charles McDermitt, who died while fighting Native Americans. The fort consisted of several adobe, stone, and frame buildings surrounding a square. Its purpose was to protect the Virginia City-Quinn River Valley-Oregon road. Twenty-four years of operation made it the longest-serving active army fort in Nevada. Its troops participated in the Modoc War and in conflicts with the Bannock and Shoshone Tribes. It was the last of the Nevada army posts in service when converted into an American Indian reservation school in 1889.
Veterans Memorial Highway, Fort McDermitt, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #145
Unionville (Pershing County). Southern sympathizers settled in Buena Vista Canyon in 1861 after the discovery of silver ore. Appropriately called Dixie, their camp’s name changed to Unionville in 1862, when the will of the neutral and northern factions of the population prevailed. The town was designated as the seat of Humboldt County, which was itself the product of Buena Vista mining activity. Unionville lost this distinction to Winnemucca in 1873.By the late 1870s most of the local ores were depleted, but it remained a pleasant place, enjoying more amenities and less violence than most mining towns in spite of strong political feelings.Today, Unionville retains its picturesqueness.
, Unionville, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #146
Mc Dermitt Indian Reservation. In the mid-1860s many Paiutes returning from Oregon’s Indian reservation, joined some from the pyramid lake Indian reservation (home of the “cui-ui eaters”) because of poor treatment and the dishonest dealings of U.S. Indian agents. These Native Americans settled about fort McDermitt, where they aided the local military against bannocks and others resisting settlers who were taking over.Nearby mercury mines furnished employment for Native Americans adjusting to the life style of the settlers. Likewise, today a local precision assembly industry utilizes the dexterity skills of the Indians today. Red and green clays from the canyon are now made into pottery.
Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, Fort McDermitt, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #147
People Of The Humboldt. Nevada lies within the Great Basin where rivers drain into lakebeds and sinks, never reaching an ocean. The broad valley around this location contains two of these terminal lake basins or “sinks” one for the Humboldt River arising in northeastern Nevada and the other for the Carson River flowing from the Sierra Nevada to the southwest. Near the end of the Ice Age, much of this region was beneath the waters of Lake Lahontan. As Lahontan’s water receded, two lake basins formed, separated by a massive gravel bar to the north. Archaeologists have concluded that over the last 12,000 years, Native Americans occupied the region, prospering when the valley supported extensive wetlands.From about 9800 years ago, Native Americans utilized Leonard Rock shelter, a National Historic Landmark, and other caves carved from the bedrock by Lake Lahontan’s waves. Remnants of stored tools and food recovered from the caves include nets, fishhooks, dried fish, water bird remains, duck decoys, and basketry made from willows or tule. Lovelock Cave, above Humboldt Lake to the northeast, is a legendary battle site where tradition maintains two bands of Numa (Northern Paiutes), the Koop Ticutta (Ground Squirrel Eaters) and the Sai Ticutta (Tule Eaters) warred against one another. When European American explorers entered the area in the 1830s, the area was dominated by vast wetlands that still supported Numa (Northern Paiute) villages.STATE HISTORIC
, Fallon, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #148
The Two Battles Of Pyramid Lake. On May 12, 1860, Northern Paiute warriors, fighting to retain their way of life, decisively defeated a volunteer army from Virginia City and nearby settlements. The battle began with a skillful Numu (Paiute) Native American ambush north of Nixon and with the engagement continuing along the plateau on the opposite side of the Truckee River almost to the present site of Wadsworth.On June 2, 1860, a larger force of volunteers and regular U.S. Army troops engaged Numu warriors in battle along the tableland and mountainside. Several hundred warriors, attempting a delaying action to allow their women, children, and elders to escape, fought with such courage and strategy that the attacking forces were held back during the day until the Numu could withdraw.Numu war leader, Numaga (young Winnemucca) desired only peace, but he fought back to defend his people.
NV-447, Nixon, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #149
High Rock Canyon. This Marker has been removedThe presence of man from 3,000 B.C. to the gold-rush days is recorded on high canyon walls. Prehistoric man left his rockshelters, campsites, and petroglyphs in this historically rich, remote, volcanic area.Northern Paiute Indians roamed these lands when John C. Fremont first journeyed through high rock canyon in 1843. The Applegate brothers blazed their trail from Oregon through the canyon to the Humboldt River in 1846. Peter Lassen partially followed this route in 1848, and gold seekers crowded the trail in 1849.STATE HISTORIC
, Gerlach, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #15
Tonopah. Jim Butler, District Attorney of Nye County, is credited with the turn-of-century discovery, which ended a twenty-year slump in Nevada’s economy. American Indians originally used the name Tonopah for a small spring in the nearby San Antonio Mountains, long before Butler camped in this area in May 1900. Tonopah became the richest silver producer in the nation and replaced Belmont as the Nye County county seat in 1905. The mines spawned a railroad, several huge mills, and a bustling population of approximately 10,000.The mines faltered in the 1920s, but Tonopah achieved long-lasting fame because of the prominent financial and political leaders it produced. Many camps and communities followed in the wake of Tonopah’s boom, most of which have become ghost towns.
Erie St, Tonopah, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #150
Nevada’s First State Park. Along with most Americans, Nevadans by the 1920’s began to demand greater access to the outdoors, precipitating early efforts on the part of the legislature to designate state lands for recreational use. Building on those efforts, a 1931 land exchange transferred 8760 acres of federal land to the state at Nevada.In 1934, that land was officially dedicated as Valley of Fire, Nevada’s first state park. The following year, Nevada’s legislature established this and three other parks at Beaver Dam, Cathedral Gorge and Kershaw-Ryan. These parks owe much of their early infrastructure to the work of Civilian Conservation Corps crews led by Thomas W. Miller of Reno, who also served as the first chairman of the State Parks Commission. By 2015, Valley of Fire State had grown fourfold, and is recognized internationally for its outstanding scenic, geologic, and archaeological features.
Balanced Roack, Overton, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #151
Duck Valley Indian Reservation. Established in 1877 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, this reservation is situated on the ancestral lands of the Western Shoshone Indians. The reservatino includes 300 square iles in Nevada and Idaho and is hom eto Northern Paiutes as well. Peaceful and cooperative, the residents have developed their culture from Stone-age levels to Contemporary American, but many still retain ancient handicraft skills. Most residents are ranchers producing hay, wheat, and cattle. Duck Valley Indian Reservation is covered by the Shoshone-Paiute Tribal Council elected by the residents.
Sho Pai Drive, Owyhee, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #152
Gerlach. Situated between Black Rock Desert on the east and Smoke Creek Desert on the west, the townsite of Gerlach lies in country occupied for thousands of years.John C. Frémont traveled through these Northern Paiute lands when he camped here in 1843 and named ‘Boiling Springs’ ¼ mile north of town.This was also emigrant country; the Noble Road left the Applegate-Lassen Trail at Black Springs, went past this site, and proceeded southwest through Smoke Creek Desert toward Susanville. The town was established after the construction or the Western Pacific Railroad 1905-1909.
Main St, Gerlach, NV, United States