Nevada Historical Marker #245
Frederic Joseph De Longchamps. Frederic Joseph DeLongchamps was Nevada’s foremost architect of his time. Statewide, he was prolific in the number of buildings he designed. From this point, one can see a group of structures that stand, collectively, as a monument to DeLongchamps: the United State Post Office, the Riverside Hotel, the Washoe County Courthouse and the Reno National Bank Building. The Northern Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, dedicated to excellence in architecture, honors the memory of Frederic Joseph DeLongchamps.
N Virginia St, Reno, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #246
The Great Incline Of The Sierra Nevada. Located on the mountain above are the remnants of the “Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada”. Completed in 1880, this 4,000 foot long lift was constructed by the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company. A unique steam-powered cable railway carried cordwood and lumber up 1,800 feet to a v flume which carried the lumber down to Washoe Valley where it was loaded on wagons for use in the mines of the Comstock.Driven by an engine on the summit, 8,000 continuous feet of wire cable, wrapped around massive bull wheels pulled canted cars up a double tract tramline. This engineering feat would transport up to 300 cords a day from the mill located in what is now Mill Creek.
Tahoe Boulevard, Incline Village, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #247
Site Of Nevada’s First Public Library. In 1895, Washoe County District Attorney, Frank H. Norcross, later a Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court and a Federal Judge, began a drive to establish Nevada’s first free public library in Reno. That year, he persuaded the Nevada Legislature to enact a law establishing Nevada’s public libraries.The state’s first public library building was erected on this site in 1904, with $15,000 donated by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on land originally donated to the City of Reno by pioneer Myron C. Lake. It remained in service until 1930, when growth forced its relocation to the site where the Pioneer Theater Auditorium now stands. The library was sold for $1 and demolished in 1931.In 1966, the library was relocated to a new building at Center and Liberty Streets, three blocks south of this site.
South Virginia St, Reno, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #248
Virginia And Truckee Railroad Right Of Way. The Virginia & Truckee Railroad was built between 1868 and 1872 to connect the mining and milling communities of the Comstock to the Central Pacific Railroad that ran through Reno.The line first connected Virginia City to Carson City in 1869, but work to run the railroad north moved quickly. Soon after Chinese laborers graded this section during the summer of 1871, track gangs commenced laying rail south, reaching Steamboat Springs by late October. Nine months later, Superintendent Henry M. Yerington drove the last spike a mile west of Carson City on August 24, 1872, connecting Virginia City with Reno by rail. Although regularly scheduled passenger service didn’t begin until October 1, the first through train traversed the 52 mile route on September 1, 1872 - the last passed by here on May 31, 1950.
Holcomb Avenue, Reno, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #249
Union Pacific Depot 1923 (Caliente). Constructed as a Union Pacific railroad depot in 1923, this mission revival structure was designed by well-known Los Angeles architects, John and Donald Parkinson. The depot represents an imposing example of mission revival design. Much of its interior was made of solid oak, and the total cost was more than $80,000. The depot replaced a former structure which burned on September 9, 1921. This newer facility included a restaurant and fifty-room hotel for some years. The structure has served Caliente as a civic center and is the location of city government offices.
Clover St, Caliente, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #25
Nevada’s Capitol. Completed in 1871, Nevada’s splendid Victorian-era Capitol was built of sandstone from the quarry of the town’s founder, Abe Curry. The octagon annex was added in 1907, the north and south wings in 1915. Notable features are its Alaskan marble walls, French crystal windows, and elegant interior.
, Carson City, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #250
State Printing Building. Completed in 1886, the State Printing Building is the second oldest structure built by the State within the Capitol Complex. Architects Morrill J. Curtis and Seymore Pixley, designed the Italianate structure to compliment the older State Capitol (1870). Curtis was responsible for many significant buildings throughout Nevada and the West, including the octagonal library annex to the rear of the State Capitol (1906). Like many important structures in Carson City, this building was constructed of sandstone ashlar quarried at the nearby State Prison and is a significant example of state governmental architecture for the period. From 1886 to 1964, this building housed the offices and presses of the State Printer.
, Carson City, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #251
Diamondfield Jack Davis. This historical marker commemorates the lasting notoriety of flamboyant western gunman Jackson Lee Davis (1870-1949), who was better know by the colorful name, “Diamondfield Jack,” a nickname that he carried the rest of his life.In the late 1890s, Davis gained a measure of fame as a gunman for the cattle interests, including rancher John Sparks, who would later become a Nevada governor, that were attempting to restrict sheep ranchers from southern Idaho and northeastern Nevada rangelands. Following a sensational trial in 1896, Davis was convicted of murdering two sheepherders. He was sentenced to be hanged, even after others confessed to the murders.In 1902, Davis was finally pardoned for the crimes. He moved to the central Nevada mining towns of Tonopah and Goldfield, where he became a successful mine operator. He also helped found several mining camps, including one called Diamondfield. In later years, he drifted into obscurity and died in Las Vegas in 1949 after being struck by a car.
Great Basin Highway, Jackpot, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #252
Rinckel Mansion. Completed in 1876, this palatial residence is an excellent example of High Victorian Italianate architecture in Carson City. Charles H. Jones, a French-schooled designer, constructed the residence for Mathias Rinckel using European craftsmen. The mansion is constructed of pressed brick resting upon a sandstone ashlar foundation. The sandstone originated from the Nevada State Prison quarry. The brick came from Carson Valley and knot-free lumber was obtained from the pine forests of Lake Tahoe.Rinckel, a German immigrant and pioneer Carson City merchant, accumulated a degree of wealth in the gold fields in the Feather River District of California from 1849 to 1859. He increased his fortune in mining at Virginia City during that city’s infancy. In 1863, Rinckel settled in Carson City, where he engaged in raising livestock and butchering. As a successful merchant, he supplied the mining and timber districts surrounding Eagle Valley with meat.
, Carson City, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #253
Emigrant Donner Camp. Upon entering the Truckee Meadows along the Truckee River thousands of California-bound emigrants turned their wagons southwest to avoid extensive marshes and uncrossable sloughs. Here at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain the emigrants established a campground which extended nearly two miles to the east and west, one half mile north and south. Numerous local springs furnished quality water and the protected location of the camp provided an ideal locale for a rest stop after hundreds of grueling miles spent traversing the Humboldt River Valley. Once rested the emigrants turned west to lace their major obstacle, the Sierra Nevadas. In October of 1846, the ill-fated Donner Party spent five days in this area resting and grazing their weary animals. Plagued by a series of unfortunate incidents one member of the party, William Pike, was accidentally shot, died and was buried in the vicinity.
Donner Party Park, Reno, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #254
Nevada’s Mining Heritage. In 1864, a group of prospectors from Austin, Nevada discovered rock containing a silver-lead mixture on Prospect Peak. Since then, miners have struggled to reach minerals deep within these hillsides of the Eureka Mining District--a vital part of Nevada's mining heritage and future. By 1878, the population of Eureka and nearby Ruby Hill was over 9,000. The Eureka Mining District ranked as Nevada's second richest mineral producer (the Comstock ranked first). Ore veins of silver, lead, and other base materials were rich enough to justify enormous underground mine development and financial risk. Eureka's greatest production was from 1870 to 1890. By 1900, changing market conditions reduced demand for the District's materials. Many of the mines closed. A few smaller mines remained in operation until the 1920s, but it was nothing like the early days. Revival of the Eureka Mining District has recently occurred with the introduction of a mining technology called heap leaching. This method allows for profitable and more efficient processing of rock containing trace amounts of gold. Examples of old and new mining operations can be seen from here. At the base of the hill is the heap-leach pad and rock piles of a modern mining operation. Near the top of the hill is the Fad Shaft, a remnant of earlier mining days.THE FAD SHAFT - This Area's Last Underground Mining OperationProspectors discovered the Fad claim in 1906 but did not start mining until the 1940s. Geological theory suggested that ore existed 2,500 feet below the surface. From the 1940s to the 1960s, sporadic mining occurred at the shaft. Then at 2,465 feet, only 35 feet from their target, they encountered water. Flooding was so great that mining halted. The Fad closed a short time later. Ironically, the Fad Shaft, the last attempt at underground mining in the Eureka District, never produced any ore.Many hills around Eureka still contain rock piles, open shafts, and abandoned mining equipment. During Eureka's heyday, many headframes similar to the Fad dotted these hillsides. Most have since disappeared, leaving only a handful as reminders of the past.MODERN GOLD MININGHeap leaching removes trace amounts of gold from rock that would have been considered worthless in mining days of old. The gold is so small that it can only be seen with a microscope. Gold bearing rock is crushed into pebbles and pled (heaped) onto a thick plastic liner. A weak cyanide mixture dissolves the gold while gravity slowly draws (leaches) the gold-laden solution into collection tanks.Throughout history mining has changed the landscape. Mining's effects have changed as technology has advanced. Reclamation is now standard practice upon mine closure. Whether underground or surface, mining remains an important symbol of Nevada's heritage.
Lincoln Highway, Eureka, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #255
Wilson Canyon. Wilson Canyon and the Wilson Mining District were named for brothers David and “Uncle Billy” Wilson. David Wilson (born 1829) came west in 1850 during the California Gold Rush. He returned to the Midwest in 1853, married, and joined the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. Wilson participated in at least one battle and was discharged with sunstroke. He then returned to the West.The Wilson family settled in the Wilson Canyon area in 1863 mining gold discovered in Pine Grove by "Uncle Billy" and ranching in Mason Valley. The Wilsons’ mining efforts eventually yielded several million dollars.David Wilson died in 1915, a prominent local rancher and community leader. He is buried nearby in the Wilson Ranch Cemetery.A Northern Paiute named Wovoka was raised with the Wilson boys and took the name Jack Wilson. Wovoka started the Ghost Dance movement in 1890, which swept into the Great Plains with potent political force.
, Yerington, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #256
Historic Transportation. The historic road corridors from the Truckee Meadows northwestward into the Honey Lake area contains a tangle of intertwined routes following the course of valleys, portions of an emigrant trail cutoff, toll roads, county roads and casual parallel routes developed to bypass blockages such as mud holes. Construction of the paved precursor to U.S. 395 and recent freeway construction along this same corridor have obliterated much of the earlier road system, cutting it into isolated segments. The road is associated with the continuing history of transportation in the state of Nevada, reflecting the process of road improvement and economic and demographic change. HONEY LAKE 1856-1863 In 1856, the early settlers of the region, the Honey Lakers, proposed the territory of Nataqua, encompassing the land along the eastern Sierra from Susanville to Carson Valley. The 1859 silver strikes in the Comstock Lake generated a prosperous market for the ranchers' livestock and produce. Freight wagons and stagecoaches ran regularly over the rutted road from the Honey Lake area to Virginia City and strengthened the settlers' attachment to eastern Sierra settlements rather than those in California. The Honey Lake ranchers felt so strongly about their independence and connection to the Great Basin environs, they fought the 1863 Sagebrush War attempting to block their annexation to Plumas County, California. EMIGRANT TRAIL 1851-1855 In 1851, James Pierson Beckwourth (1798-1866), the son of Sir Jennings Beckwith and a slave, located and constructed a wagon road connecting the California Emigrant Trail in the Truckee Meadows to Marysville, California via Sierra Valley (portions of Highway 70). Beckwourth, a trapper and trader, hoped to earn his fortune with the opening of the road; however, he was never reimbursed as promised by the mayor or Marysville for road construction. The trail served for a few years as an alternative pass through the Sierra; it became a byway for local traffic after 1855. ROADSIDE STATIONS AND RANCHES 1850s This marker is located at the Peavine Ranch, an overnight stop for the travelers along the road from the Truckee River to ranches near Honey Lake. The ranch advertised a well-stocked table and bar and first class beds. Purchased in 1862 by Fielding Lemmon, it was initially part of real estate and mining promotion as platted on this 1867 map, but Peavine grew instead into a prosperous livestock operation. Several other ranches were located along the road, yet, for nearly a hundred years regional growth centered around downtown Reno and Sparks. Over time, most of the ranches and stage stops were replaced by small isolated communities, then larder communities, and eventually suburbs. HIGHWAY SYSTEM 1930s-PRESENT The Three Flags Highway gave way to U.S. 395, which was an extension of Virginia Street in Reno. In the 1970s a four-lane system was proposed. The highway generally follows the same transportation corridor and still cuts through the Peavine Ranch property. THREE FLAGS HIGHWAY 1923-1930s One of the first federally funded highways in Nevada was a macadam road from Reno to the Nevada/California border. The Nevada Highway Commission was organized in 1917. Federal money was mandated for Nevada in 1921 and construction started in April 1922 for the Three Flags Highway, the road linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Portions of the road still remain. TOLL ROADS 1850s-1860s Prior to state and federally constructed highways, a stage and toll road between Honey Lake and Virginia City was more or less maintained under a succession of private owners such as Myron C. Lake. In 1861, Lake traded property in Honey Lake Valley for the log toll bridge across the Truckee River with Charles W. Fuller of Susanville. Lake applied for a franchise to improve, maintain and construct a toll road from three miles south of this bridge to the California/Nevada border excluding passage through town streets of Reno. The early road, approximately 20 miles long, was in a constant deplorable condition and impassable at times.
N Virginia St, Reno, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #257
Nevada’s First Gold Discovery. In July 1849, Abner Blackburn, a former member of the Mormon Battalion, made the first gold discovery in what is now Nevada near this site (see the canyon to the right). William Prouse, a member of a passing emigrant party, made a second discovery further up Gold Canyon in May 1850. The discoverers of these placer gold deposits believed the promised riches of California to be greater. Most emigrants consequently continued their westward journeys, but a few returned after finding most of California’s Motherlode creeks and rivers already claimed.By the spring of 1851, some 200 placer miners, including James “Old Virginny” Finney, were working in the area. The continuous occupation of Gold Canyon’s mouth makes this site Nevada’s first non-Native American settlement. Dayton, also known as Chinatown, became a mineral milling, commercial, and agricultural center after prospectors and placer miners worked their way up Gold Creek. This monument commemorates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold and the thousands of pioneers who passed near this site.
Cemetery Road, Dayton, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #258
Charles W. Friend House, Observatory & Weather Station. This is the site of the house and observatory of Nevada’s first weatherman, astronomer, and seismologist, Charles William Friend. Born in Prussia in 1835, Friend immigrated by way of South America to California during the 1849 Gold Rush. In 1867, he moved from Folsom to Carson City where he set up his own jewelery and optical store.Friend built Nevada’s first observatory located southwest of his house and east of the Nevada State Capitol. Nevada’s U.S. Senator William Stewart helped him obtain the use of a six-inch equatorial mount telescope and other instruments from the federal government.Charles Friend also established Nevada’s first weather service. In 1887, the Nevada Legislature passed authorization for a weather service station in Carson City. Friend became its director and created volunteer weather stations throughout the state. He compiled the data into reports that are still referenced today. Charles W. Friend died in 1907. Since his death, the Association of Weather Services has recognized him as a pioneer in weather service west of the Rockies.
, Carson City, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #259
The Governor’s Mansion. Reno architect George A. Ferris designed this neoclassical mansion, which cost $22,700. It is the only home ever built for Nevada’s highest elected official. In July 1909, acting Governor Denver Dickerson and his wife Una became the first residents of the mansion. Two months later, June Dickerson was born here. From 1909 to 1999, sixteen families have occupied the mansion. In 2000, first lady Dema Guinn began a revitalization of the grounds. Private funds supported many of the improvements, including this fence extension donated by Steel Engineers, Inc., Las Vegas and Blue Mountain Steel, Inc., Carson City
, Carson City, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #26
Forty Mile Desert. The Forty Mile Desert, beginning here, is a barren stretch of waterless alkali wasteland. It was the most dreaded section of the California Emigrant Trail. If possible, travelers crossed it by night because of the great heat.In 1843, the Walker-Chiles Party became the first wagon train to use the route. Regardless of the desert’s horrors, this became the accepted trail, as it divided five miles southwest of here into the two main routes to California - the Carson River and Truckee River trails.Starvation and thirst preyed upon people and animals every mile. A survey made in 1850 illustrated appalling statistics - 1,061 dead mules, almost 5,000 horses, 3,750 cattle, and 953 graves. The value of personal property loss was set at the time at $1,000,000.The heaviest traffic occurred between 1849 and 1869. The trail was still used after completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869, although it saw declining traffic after that.
US-95, Fallon, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #261
Spooner Summit TOLL ROADS Johnson’s Cutoff, also called the Carson Ridge Emigrant Road, passed over Spooner Summit and down Clear Creek Road from 1852 through 1854, but was rugged and little used. With discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859, Spooner Summit became a focal point on the most heavily traveled branch of the bonanza road system linking Placerville, California, and the new towns east of the Sierra Nevada. Territorial governments granted franchisces to provide individuals or companies, allowing them to build and maintain toll roads. The Rufus Walton (Clear Creek) Toll Road replaced Johnson’s Cutoff in 1860, providing a better route around the southeast shore of Lake Tahoe via Glenbrook. LUMBER FOR THE COMSTOCK Massive amounts of wood were sent to the Comstock Lode from the Carson Range and the Tahoe Basin. Initially wood was hauled by wagon, but soon the transport included trains, steamboats, and water flumes. Spooner Summit is in the midst of a former logging landscape. In 1873, logging in the area was consolidated by formation of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company. Workers were housed at a small settlement called Summit Camp, built along one side of the toll road. From 1875 to 1898 the company operated the Lake Tahoe Railroad along 8.75 miles of the line from Glenbrook to this spot. The difficult route included switchbacks and a 487-foot tunnel just west of the summit. The narrow-gauge railroad’s sole purpose was to haul timber and lumber for building purposes and cordwood for fuel. This wood was transferred to an 11-mile long V-flume that extended from Spooner Summit down Clear Creek to Carson Valley. There the wood was loaded on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad for the rest of its trip to the Comstock. At its peak the Comstock consumed about 80 million board feet of lumber and 2 million cords of firewood each year. About 300,000 board feet of wood passed over Spooner Summit each day. This route was improved in 1863 with the completion of the Lake Tahoe (Bigler) Wagon Road, also called the Kings Canyon Road. About 5,000 teamsters were moving goods along roads leading to the Comstock in 1863, but traffic began to decline in 1875. Stations were built at convenient intervals along the roads. Swift’s Station was about two miles east of Spooner Summit on the Kings Canyon Road. In 1863, Spooner’s Station, located near the current junction of US 50 and SR 28 (a mile west of here), had a hotel, saloon, houses, blacksmith shop, and two barns. EARLY MORNING Introduction of automobiles into the Tahoe Basin rapidly changed the character of the place, making it accessible for far more people as a growing tourist destination. Early in the twentieth century, the decaying bonanza system of wagon roads had to serve the needs of the automobile travelers. In 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association designated the road up Kings Canyon, over Spooner Summit, and through Glenbrook as part of the Lincoln Highway. The highway was a private concept intended to enhance long-distance automobile travel by establishing the first transcontinental route. Actual work on this section began in 1914 when the Carson Good Roads Association placed redwood markers every mile. Each marker displayed the highway symbol and distances to Carson City, Glenbrook, and San Francisco. During this period one motorist described part of the road as “a narrow shelf along a barren, rocky mountain side.” Little more than light maintenance was done on the road even after it was included in the Nevada State Highway System as part of Route 3. In 1923, the portion of Route 3 between Spooner’s Station and the state line was incorporated into the Forest Highway System, making funding available for major improvements. In 1927 and 1928, a graded two-lane automobile road was built along Clear Creek, over Spooner Summit, and on to Glenbrook. A combination of state and Forest Highway funds paid for the work. The new road became part of US 50. In the 1930s, the road was oiled and surfaced with asphalt. Snow removal allowed year-round access to the lake. Finally, in the late 1950s, this portion of US 50 was upgraded to the present two lanes.
, Glenbrook, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #262
Dayton School House 1865. In 1865 Lyon County built this imposing stone school building for the residents of Dayton, then the county seat. It is the second oldest schoolhouse in Nevada and is the oldest such structure to remain in its original location. The building served the community as a school until 1959 when it was closed. It later housed the Dayton Senior Citizens Center and became the home of the Dayton Historical Society Museum in 1991.FRIENDS OF THE COMSTOCKCOMSTOCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSIONSTATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
Logan Alley, Dayton, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #263
Oats Park School. The Oats Park School was designed in 1914 by Frederick J. DeLongchamps, Nevada’s pre-eminent architect of the period. He was also responsible for the 1921 north and south wing additions. This building is one of his earliest, and perhaps his first, public school designs. The structure was placed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1990 because of its importance in the history of local education and its architectural significance, including the use of contrasting brick colors and attention to interior detail.In 1995, the Churchill Arts Council began construction and renovation of the facility for its use as a multi-discipline cultural center. Drawing on the building’s legacy of serving the community, the Churchill Arts Council reopened the building as the Oats Park Art Center in February, 2003.
Oats Park, Fallon, NV, United States