Nevada Historical Marker #153
Jarbidge Community Hall. Gold discoveries by Dave Bourne in 1909 created the town of Jarbidge.With 1,500 population in Jarbidge Canyon by 1910, citizens built this pioneer-type community hail with a “floating” maple floor. Support from the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs and the community funded the restoration of the building.STATE HISTORIC
Charleston Jarbridge Rd, Jarbidge, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #154
Belleville. Founded in 1874 by Alsop J. Holmes, Belleville flourished by milling ore from Holmes’ Northern Belle Mine at Candelaria. The mill, located just east of here, made its first bullion-bar shipment (worth $9,200) in April 1875.Belleville was also the terminus and work camp of the Carson and Colorado Railroad that reached the town in December 1881. At that time Belleville’s population peaked at about five hundred and included an assay office, an express office, a telegraph station, a livery stable, a schoolhouse, two hotels, several restaurants and blacksmith shops, and seven saloons.By the late 1880s pipes delivered water to Candelaria and allowed local mills to begin operation, reducing the need for shipping costs. Belleville could not survive the competition and was deserted by 1892.STATE HISTORIC
Mina-Basalt Cutoff Rd, Columbus, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #155
Silver Peak. Silver Peak is one of the oldest mining areas in Nevada. A 10-stamp mill was built in 1865, and by 1867, a 20-stamp mill was in operation. Mining camp lawlessness prevailed during the late 1860s and over the next 38 years, Silver Peak had its ups and downs. In 1906, the Pittsburg Silver Peak Gold Mining Company bought a group of properties, constructed the Silver Peak Railroad, and built a 100-stamp mill at Blair the following year.Silver Peak was, at times, one of the leading camps in Nevada, but by 1917 it was abandoned. The town burned in 1948 and little happened until the Foote Mineral Company began extraction of lithium from under the floor of Clayton Valley.
, Coaldale, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #156
Gold Point. Gold Point was initially called Lime Point for the nearby lime deposits found in 1868. Processing difficulties in the 1880s discouraged silver mining locally.Goldfield ore discoveries in 1902 stimulated area mining interest. In 1908 miners discovered high grade chlorargyrite, a form of silver chloride known as hornsilver. The town’s name was changed to Hornsilver, and a typical mining camp developed. A newspaper, post office, stores, and saloons began operations, and a town of over 225 wood-frame buildings, tents, and shacks appeared.The camp assumed the name Gold Point after 1930 when more gold was being mined than silver. Miners were drawn away to essential World War II industries in October 1942, and major mining ceased at Gold Point.
NV-266, Goldfield, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #157
Lida. Known as a gathering point for Shoshone and Northern Paiute Indians, Lida Valley was the site of early prospecting in the 1860s.Later prospectors organized a mining district in 1867 and laid out the town in 1872. Soon stores, shops, stables and a post office were established. Some ore was milled locally, yet high grade ore ($500-$1,000 per ton) was treated at Austin or Belmont. After 1880 mining declined.Lida revived and thrived for three years during the turn-of-the-century Goldfield boom, but declined again in 1907. Mining efforts resumed a few years later and a small community existed here until World War I.
, Lida, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #158
Palmetto. Thinking that local Joshua trees were related to palm trees, the 1866 prospectors named the mining camp Palmetto. Although a local 12-stamp mill worked the silver ore, the town died for lack of profitable material. New discoveries in the late 1860s brought Palmetto back to life, but once again meager deposits caused its demise.New prospecting in 1903 caused Palmetto to grow to a town of 200 tents on a platted town site. At its peak in 1906, the commercial street contained all the necessary mining camp businesses.Local miners drifted away in autumn, 1906. Mining, on a lease basis, has been minimal since that time. An important talc deposit lies nearby.STATE HISTORIC
, Sylvania, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #159
Ione. Ione Valley had a dense and permanent aboriginal population, dating back about 5,000 years. Unusual property arrangements and agricultural methods were practiced later by the Shoshone and Northern Paiute Indians. Silver was discovered in 1863, and in 1864 Ione City was named first county seat of newly created Nye County. Over 600 people worked in this prosperous town until Belmont wealth attracted most of the miners in 1865, and the county seat in 1867. Alternately prosperous and poor, yet never completely deserted, Ione suffered mining depressions, milling difficulties, and the loss of miners to richer strikes throughout its history.
NV-844, Austin, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #16
Mineral County. Nevada’s earliest maps show Walker Lake. Jedediah Smith, the first English-speaking American in what is modern-day Nevada, passed near here in 1828 during his remarkable trip across the Great Basin. Peter Skene Ogden traveled through the region in 1829, and then John C. Frémont arrived in 1845 with his guide, Joseph Walker, for whom the lake is named.Until its creation in 1911, Mineral County was part of Esmeralda. The first Esmeralda County seat was at Aurora but it was moved to Hawthorne in 1883, two years after the Carson and Colorado Railroad was built. Goldfield took the county seat in 1907, but Hawthorne became a government seat once again with the creation of Mineral County. The county includes several well-known mining towns, including Aurora, Belleville, Candelaria, Luning, Marietta, Mina, and Rawhide as well as other smaller mining camps.
, Walker Lake, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #160
Panaca Spring. The large constant flow of warm water from this spring created the desert oasis of Meadow Valley. First noted by Manley’s ill-fated Death Valley Party in 1849, the site was cultivated in 1858 by Brigham Young’s White Mountain Mission Men, who sought a desert refuge should a federal invasion of Utah occur. The site was abandoned that same year, when the federal government quelled the Mormon resistance.Dependent on these spring waters, Mormons built the first permanent settlement in southern Nevada at Panaca in 1864. For 80 years, all domestic needs depended on this water.The Meadow Valley Mining District, including the Pioche area, was organized in 1864 with its center at Panaca Spring.
North 5th St, Panaca, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #161
Churchill County Courthouse. Churchill County was created by the Territorial Legislature in 1861 but attached to Lyon County for judicial and revenue purposes. Churchill County was organized in 1864 and La Plata served as county seat. In 1868, the local government moved to Stillwater where it remained until March 5, 1903 when Fallon claimed the title.The Neo-Classical Churchill County Courthouse was constructed in 1903 on property donated by Warren and Addie Williams and John Oats. Contractor W.B. Wyrick built the wood building for $7,300 from plans and specifications by Reno architect Benjamin Leon. The building was completed and accepted by county commissioners F.L. Small, Charles L. Allen and E.S. Harriman on February 2, 1904.The building is the only monumental wooden courthouse built in Nevada. It has been in continuous use since opening.
West Williams Ave, Fallon, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #162
Camp Mc Garry. The U. S. Army operated Camp McGarry twelve miles northeast of here at Summit Springs near Summit Lake on the Old Applegate Trail from 1865 to 1868.Troops protected the Idaho-California mail and stage roads and the nearby trails in Nevada and Oregon. The army constructed officers quarters, a mess hall, barracks, and a 100-horse stone barn near here.In 1866, Camp McGarry was made headquarters of the district of Nevada. In autumn 1868, troops were moved to Camp Winfield Scott, north of Paradise Valley, Nevada, and Camp McGarry, largest military reservation in Nevada, comprising 75 square miles, was abandoned.In 1871, the land transferred to the Bureau of Land Management and was eventually used as an American Indian reservation.
County Road 217, Gerlach, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #163
Dayton Chinatown. Dayton is the site of Nevada’s first China Town. By the mid-nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from China, along with immigrants from Japan and Korea, moved to the United States, They were pushed by economic disruption in their home countries and pulled by the promises of gold and employment in the Rocky Mountain West.The Dayton Chinese were hired by Edward Rose in August 1857 to dig the four-mile Rose Ditch from the mouth of the Carson River west of town to the miners working the placers at the entrance to Gold Canyon. Despite discrimination, the promise of jobs compelled the Chinese to stay. They mined in Gold Canyon and settled along the Carson River in this area. The community continued to be an important hub for Chinese Americans in Nevada into the 1880s.
Silver St, Dayton, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #164
Button Point. In 1873, Frank Button and his uncle Isaac Button drove cattle to the area to begin ranching operations in the rich, fertile valleys of northern and eastern Humboldt County.Under their famous Double Square brand, they raised thousands of fine horses on the 4,000 square miles of ranchland. Although the original ranch was sold in 1884, Frank Button continued his ranching activities in this area, and later served as the postmaster in Button Point and as the Chairman of the Board of Humboldt County Commissioners.
Mills Rd, Winnemucca, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #165
Nevada Test Site. Tests of devices for defense and for peaceful uses of nuclear explosives have been conducted here since the 1950s. The nation’s principal nuclear explosives testing laboratory was located within this 1,350 square mile, geologically complex area in the isolated valleys of Jackass, Yucca, and Frenchman flats. Selected as the North American test site in 1950, the first test took place on Frenchman Flat in January 1951. Today, the Nevada Test Site is one of the nation’s most important expressions of the Cold War.Archeological studies of the Nevada Test Site have revealed continuous occupation over the past 9,500 years. Several American Indian cultures are represented. Southern Paiutes were the most recent group to occupy the area.
, Mercury, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #166
Bowers Mansion. BUILT— 1864 RESTORED —1967 Bowers Mansion recalls the wealth of the Comstock Bonanza. Lemuel S. “Sandy” & Eilley Orrum Bowers were probably the first millionaires produced by the famous find in Gold Canyon. As strangers, they had adjoining claims. After a rich vein was struck, they were soon married and had this mansion built.Misfortune followed fortune and soon all was lost. The richness of their vein gave out, a new mill was destroyed, financiers balked, and then Sandy died in 1868. Maneuvering to make the property self sustaining, Eilley struggled on. Finally, in 1878, she lost the property by foreclosure to Myron C. Lake. After that, the properly had a succession of owners including Henry Ritter, who managed it as popular resort from 1903 to 1946. Eilley Orrum Bowers died in poverty and unwittingly, she and Sandy left a legacy to Nevada.
Bowers Mansion Rd, Washoe Valley, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #167
Valmy. Overlooking the old California Emigrant Trail, Valmy was named after the Battle of Valmy, fought during the French Revolution in 1792. Established in 1910 by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, Valmy served during the steam era as a water and fuel stop for the railroad.Treaty Hill to the northwest marks a division point between the Northern Paiute lands to the west and Shoshone lands to the east. For generations the scene of battles over two springs. Treaty Hill marks the site where peace was wrought by compromise, when Native Americans peacefully divided springs and territory between the warring tribes.The first post office here was established as Stonehouse on November 26, 1890. The name was changed to Valmy March 24, 1915.
Marigold Mine Road, Valmy, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #168
Arrowhead Trail (1914 1924). Las Vegas promoters claimed to be the originators of this all-weather route between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. From the beginning, the Arrowhead Trail was a “grass roots” effort, including promotion by various chambers of commerce and volunteer construction by local citizens. However, it was Charles H. Bigelow, from Los Angeles, who gave the trail publicity. Between 1915 & 1916, he drove the entire route many times in the twin-six Packard he named “Cactus Kate.”The trail, which extends near here, was built in 1915 and completed the section between St. Thomas and Las Vegas. In its day it denoted a milestone of progress.
Valley of Fire Highway, Overton, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #169
Glendale School (1864 1958) “Oldest Remaining School Building In Nevada”. Glendale, as a settlement, preceded Reno and was destined to be the metropolis on the Truckee River until the Central Pacific Railroad was induced to bypass the community for a station at Lake’s Crossing (Reno). E. C. Sessions, the first teacher, organized the school and taught in his home until this building opened in 1864. Archie Bryant built the structure at a cost of $1,446 and it remains as a testament of his craftsmanship. The original School Board of Trustees consisted of John F. Stone, William Steele, and N. C. Haslund. Over the years, many Nevadans attended the Glendale School. Perhaps the most notable student was U.S. Senator Patrick A. McCarran.The school building moved from its original site in 1976 and finally came to rest at this location in 1993.
Victorian Ave, Sparks, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #17
Pershing County. Here was a key point on Nevada’s earliest road, the famed Humboldt Trail that brought 165,000 immigrants west in the 1840s and 1850s. Travellers named this rich valley the Big Meadows. They stopped here for water and grass before continuing south to cross the dreaded Forty Mile Desert, the most difficult segment on the trail to California.Mining began here in the 1850s. George Lovelock, merchant, rancher and prospector, gave his name to the county seat. The coming of the railroad in 1869 brought new growth to the area. Pershing County, established in 1919, was previously part of Humboldt County.
Western Avenue, Lovelock, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #170
Eureka Sentinel Building. Constructed in 1879 at a cost of $10,000, the Sentinel Building was designed by architect C.M. Bennett. The Eureka Sentinel was published here from 1879 to 1960. Three generations of the Skillman family, Archibald, Edward, and Willis, edited the newspaper. The last editor, Edward J. Moyle, had been with the Sentinel for over fifty years before he took over the editorial chair in 1944.
North Monroe St, Eureka, NV, United States