Camels were imported into the United States for military purposes in the mid-1850's. Lt. Edward Beale of the U.S. Army tested the animals for caravan operations in the deserts of the Southwest. The experiment was not successful and the camels . . . — — Map (db m41082) HM
By 1880 the ores of the Comstock had dwindled and the men who founded the Virginia & Truckee Railroad and owned most of the mills on the Comstock needed to restore their high level profits. Mining bonanzas in the southern deserts set a plan afoot to . . . — — Map (db m103171) HM
"Crossed the river... to avoid some very high bluffs which here come to the river. One is very high, leaving a foot path under it. The country is very mountainous-the hills bare and rocky... the valley very narrow."-Byron N. McKinstry, Sep 4, . . . — — Map (db m264924) HM
The legendary Paiute Leader; friend and guide to pioneers; breveted a "Captain" by John C. Fremont; gave his name to a valley, river and town; died near here in 1860.
Dedicated July 20, 1974
By E Clampus Vitus
Julia C. Bulette . . . — — Map (db m30865) HM
The first Chinese were brought to this site in 1856 to build the "Reese" ditch from the Carson River to the entrance of Gold Canyon. The ditch was used for placer mining. The Chinese soon began reworking the placers, earning a living from those . . . — — Map (db m69688) HM
Dayton was the first seat of Lyon County and had one of the first courthouses built in Nevada. Finished in 1864, local residents celebrated the new two-story brick building and its Italianate styling as an important architectural benchmark for a . . . — — Map (db m143630) HM
Dayton, one of the earliest settlements in Nevada was first known as a stopping place on the river for California-bound pioneers. Coming in from the desert they rested here before continuing westward.
In 1849, gold was found at the mouth of Gold . . . — — Map (db m69687) HM
Founded in 1851, this is one of the oldest constantly maintained cemeteries in the State of Nevada. The trail to the Mother Lode passed directly in front and the wagon tracks can still be seen with careful observation.
James Finney (Ole . . . — — Map (db m89439) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m143635) HM
Born in Virginia in 1817, an often-inebriated prospector named James Finney was known as "Old Virginia" or "Old Virginny" to his friends. He lived in a tent dug into the side of the hill, which would become known as Johntown, located two miles from . . . — — Map (db m89525) HM
Spafford Hall built this station and trading post in the early 1850's to accommodate emigrants bound for California. Hall, who was the first permanent settler, was severely injured in a hunting accident in 1854 and sold the station to one of his . . . — — Map (db m89514) HM
James Finney, State of Virginia native, died Chinatown Dayton June 20, 1861. About 44 years old, one of the first placer gold miners in Gold Canon, arriving in 1850 or 1851. Old Virginny was so revered by other Comstock miners, they named Vrginia . . . — — Map (db m89532) HM
The Carson River While camping in 1849, waiting for snow to melt in the Sierra Nevada, frontiersman and wagon train guide Abner Blackburn used a butcher knife to dig Nevada's first-found gold from a creek bed at the mouth of Gold Caρon. The . . . — — Map (db m160800) HM
Mound House was located one-half mile north of this point. Originally constructed in 1871 as a station and siding on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, it served for some time simply as a wood and water stop. In 1877, a post office was established. . . . — — Map (db m173904) HM
Dedicated September 15, 2001
Nevada
Added Station
Jul. 1, 1861 - Nov. 20, 1861
By
Bennetts Family
James Stretesky
Dayton Historic Society
Don, Nancy, Jody & Jeff Dallas
Robert & Rae Marie Foster Family
Pony . . . — — Map (db m29750) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m143642) HM
The first community building was built by the Odd Fellows in 1863 costing $30,000. Lodge offices and Hall were on the second floor. The Odeon Saloon and Billiard Parlour occupied the west side of the street floor, hosting such notables as Mark . . . — — Map (db m89448) HM
Sutro was a town, a tunnel, and a man. The well-planned community was headquarters for the Sutro Drainage Tunnel.
German-born Adolph Sutro came to the Comstock in 1860. He advocated a drainage tunnel, visualizing development of Comstock ore . . . — — Map (db m175810) HM
Sutro Tunnel
The concept of a water-drainage tunnel driven into a mountainside was not new, but Adolph Sutros vision and tenacity elevated it to an unprecedented scale. After a fire destroyed his Dayton, Nevada, stamp mill in 1863, the . . . — — Map (db m300327) HM
Had its beginning in May, 1869, when Fred Birdsall built a half-mile horse drawn railroad from the Lyon Mill of Dayton to the Gold Canyon Mine Tailings. On July 11, 1881, Engine No. 1, the “Ernie Birdsall,” first ran on a 3 foot gauge . . . — — Map (db m160797) HM
In February of 1872, with the construction of the tunnel
well underway and thinking he would no longer have to
travel as much, Adolph Sutro contacted Mr. Bethel, in
charge of buildings etc at the tunnel and instructed him to
construct a . . . — — Map (db m287004) HM
The only quartz stamp mill in which Adolph Sutro was
directly involved was built in 1861 on the Carson River near
Dayton, Nevada. After examining Comstock ores, Sutro
believed he could recover their values more efficiently than
existing . . . — — Map (db m300298) HM
The Misfits is a contemporary western drama filmed in 1960 and is best known for the final film roles of movie legends Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. It was directed by John Huston and written by playwright Arthur Miller. In 1956, Miller . . . — — Map (db m201467) HM
The mule barn, a significant historical structure, was built
around 1874 to house and feed the mules that were used
at the Sutro Tunnel. It is in the same configuration today
as when it was initially built, a testament to its enduring legacy. . . . — — Map (db m287007) HM
Dayton was an important point on the Pony Express route. The site of the old station is approximately 200 yards northwest near the old firehouse. — — Map (db m69689) HM
The Carson and Colorado Railroad (C&C) The Carson and Colorado Railroad (C&C), completed in 1881, operated on a 3-foot narrow-gauge track. Nicknamed the "Slim Princess," it provided transportation from Mound House, Nevada to Keeler, California . . . — — Map (db m160798) HM
The original Union Hotel was located across the street. It was rebuilt here in 1870 after a fire destroyed the old hotel. The former post office site originally housed the dining room and barber shop. The freestanding rock wall is the original . . . — — Map (db m89513) HM
Dayton (known as Chinatown 1857-1861) Dayton is the site of Nevada's first gold discovery (1849) and the state's first permanent Euro-American settlement, founded after miners created a tent town at the mouth of Gold Caρon in 1851. Initially . . . — — Map (db m160799) HM
The Lincoln Highway was conceived and promoted by industrialists who were determined to act on the concept of creating one transcontinental highway from amongst the various and fragmented paths, trails and city streets. The LH (1913 -1927) brought . . . — — Map (db m46380) HM
Emigrants headed for Stephens Pass and the California gold fields — dry and dirty from long, punishing water-short days on the 40-mile Desert to the northeast — rushed train by train to the “Big Bend” of the sparkling pure . . . — — Map (db m131831) HM
"I met an Indian with a little tin bucket containing
about a gallon of water He offered me a drink, but
I refused, stating that there were men behind dying
for water". James William Evans, Aug 10, 1850
Guidebook Available
Trails West . . . — — Map (db m263653) HM
"There was deep sand for eight miles, and the road
on both sides was strewn with dead cattle. A number of
our train succumbed to the heavy travel and heat".
- Helen Carpenter, Sep 18, 1857
Guidebook Available
Trails West, Inc.
P.O. . . . — — Map (db m263654) HM
Along this ridge was the trail of the P/X from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento/San Francisco, California and return. This segment was from Hall's Station (Dayton) to Carson City P/X Office on the west side of Carson St. just north of 5th Street. . . . — — Map (db m184147) HM
A Proclamation
Whereas, The Congress of the United States passed an act, which was approved on the 21st day of March last, entitled “An act to enable the people of Nevada to form a constitution and State government,” and for the . . . — — Map (db m115733) HM
It gives a forcible impression of the unhallowed character of the place J. Ross Brown 1860
This rugged reef of metamorphic rock was once one of the famous landmarks of the Nevada Territory. In June of 1850, John Orr . . . — — Map (db m21561) HM
Two well-educated brothers, Hosea and Ethan Grosh, discovered silver here in 1856 but both died in 1857 before their ore was assayed. Had they lived they might have gone on to locate the Comstock Lode. Their cabin was Ό - mile to the South. — — Map (db m174102) HM
Nevadas first mining town established in 1853. A boarding house was operated here by Eilley Orrum (Mrs. Sandy Bowers). Other prominent residents, discoverers of the fantastic Comstock Lode, included the Grosh Brothers, Peter ORiley, Patrick . . . — — Map (db m45943) HM
The growing town of Silver City built a schoolhouse at this site in 1867-1868. Enrollment was as high as 166 students in the 1880s. Children were educated here for nearly a century until school closed in 1958.
The building then began its . . . — — Map (db m45945) HM
Living quarters for one company of approximately 100 men consisted of three buildings: two barracks and a combined mess hall/kitchen. By October 1860, six barracks were up, but only partially finished, and would remain this way for years. . . . — — Map (db m261603) HM
Samuel S. Buckland was a true pioneer. He settled here in 1859, began a ranching operation, established a station for the Overland Stage Company, and operated a tent hotel. He also constructed the first bridge across the Carson River downstream . . . — — Map (db m61066) HM
This two-room building served as the administrative headquarters and courtroom for Fort Churchill. Though small, the office would have included everything necessary for the officer in charge to conduct business and communicate beyond the fort. . . . — — Map (db m261605) HM
John C. Fremont and his expedition of 27 explorers rode south from Pyramid Lake and camped in this area of the Carson River on January 18, 1844 by a bend in the river, beneath the bluffs where Ft. Churchill is now located. After making observations . . . — — Map (db m189602) HM
Located approximately one mile south are the remains of a typical stage station of the period 1843 to 1869. An era of transition between the arrival of the first emigrant wagon trains and the completion of the Trans-Continental Railroad.
Desert . . . — — Map (db m89512) HM
In the fall of 1864, Lieutenant Colonel Charles McDermit anxiously awaited the arrival of three mountain howitzers. What eventually arrived at Fort Churchill were three-inch Army ordnance rifles. These rifled cannons boasted improved accuracy and . . . — — Map (db m261551) HM
From a French word meaning "large box," a caisson was a two-wheeled cart used by field artillery units during the Civil War to transport ammunition. It was attached to another two-wheeled cart, called a limber, by a long pole. This four-wheeled . . . — — Map (db m261557) HM
This plaque commemorates the efforts of the Nevada Sagebrush Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, to preserve the integrity of Nevada's first and largest military outpost.
Two hundred acres of the original, military reservation . . . — — Map (db m263604) HM
Fort Churchill has been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark
under the provisions of the historic sites act of August 21, 1933 This site possesses exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the history of the United States. . . . — — Map (db m261554) HM
Fort Churchill
Established in 1860, Fort Churchill played a key role in the history of this region. During the turbulent decade of the 1860s, troops from the fort helped keep peace between the native Paiute Indians and ever-encroaching . . . — — Map (db m261610) HM
Located in this isolated position on the south side of the grounds, construction of the guard house was completed in the spring of 1861. The building's two front rooms served as an office and as quarters for the guard on duty while the cell block . . . — — Map (db m261558) HM
The hospital was distinctly L-shaped and included a kitchen, three small rooms, and a cellar. The exact number of patients could the hospital could accommodate is unknown. Based on limited records, it
seems likely there were twenty or fewer . . . — — Map (db m261607) HM
Army regulations allowed for laundresses. The women who lived in this four-room structure provided essential, backbreaking laundry services for the men at Fort Churchill who valued "spit and polish". The Army provided living quarters and a . . . — — Map (db m261608) HM
Officers and their families lived in six 1½ story buildings made of adobe walls 20 inches thick. Wide porches sheltered three sides of each building and attached to the back was a woodshed and privy - no trampling through the weather for these . . . — — Map (db m261604) HM
The Post Cemetery was the final resting place for soldiers killed in local battles and those who died from exposure, illness, and hardship. In February 1885, more than 15 years after the fort's abandonment, the remains of 44 soldiers were removed . . . — — Map (db m261552) HM
Originally built in 1865, on this site. It was first called Stockstore Station, then finally Stockton Well. It was one of the largest of the way stations since five trails converged at this point. One of the more famous was the old Carson . . . — — Map (db m167944) HM
The quartermaster and subsistence storehouses were deliberately situated near the commander's
office and within view of the guard house to discourage thievery. Both storehouses were built
with 20-inch thick adobe walls and included a finished . . . — — Map (db m261606) HM
No known photographs of Fort Churchill from its period of operation exist today. Knowledge of the fort's physical aspects is limited to written descriptions and one lithographic drawing. The drawing, shown here, depicts adobe buildings arranged . . . — — Map (db m261561) HM
In the spring of 1860, in the midst of the Pyramid Lake War, Robert "Pony Bob"
Haslam left Friday's Station (Lake Tahoe) with the eastbound mail and made his
way toward Buckland Station. When Pony Bob reached the Carson River, 60 miles
into . . . — — Map (db m171428) HM
120 celebrated riders rode 650,000 miles with only one rider killed by Indians, one schedule not completed and one mail lost.
Founders Owners Operators
Russell Majors Waddell
Buckland's Ranch Station, homesteaded in 1859, was a stop . . . — — Map (db m261553) HM
Established by Zodak Pierce in 1875 as a hotel, grocery and feed store. It was sold in 1903 to the Reading Bros., of Bodie, who renamed it the W.E. Reading General Merchandise. Later on in 1945, Perry and Gerri Aikens acquired it and gave it its . . . — — Map (db m169796) HM
Edward P. Lovejoy was the son of Elijah Lovejoy, "the first American martyr to the freedom of the press and freedom of the slave". As a young man, Edward left the midwest for California where he served as district attorney, judge, and newspaper . . . — — Map (db m229659) HM
Wabuska (the Washoe Indian term for White Grass) was first established in the early 1870's as a station on the stage and freight road from Wadsworth on the Central Pacific to the roaring mining camps of Aurora, Bodie, Candelaria, Columbia and . . . — — Map (db m27643) HM
Built in 1881 by Edward P. Lovejoy, this building has served as a general merchandise & produce, hotel, restaurant, bar, grocery and post office.
After a succession of owners, Mitch first aquired the property in 1994 to operate a bar. His . . . — — Map (db m229578) HM
Early pioneers John and Mary Hoye came to the valley in 1863 or 1864. On the edge of Alkali Flat they operated a station which they later move to its present location in 1873.
Through the years there have been several owners without any . . . — — Map (db m169820) HM
Following the mining boom in the Aurora District in 1860, Jack Wright and Leonard Hamilton put up a bridge across the West Walker River and established a stage station at this location. Wagons and stages were repaired, horses shod and the station . . . — — Map (db m69285) HM
In 1893-1894, Wellington pioneers Benjamin Dickinson and C.C. Turner established the Wellington School District from the larger Smith School District. This new district didn't have a permanent school so pupils used a converted saloon until this . . . — — Map (db m169786) HM
Built in 1893 by Dr. Granville I. Leavitt, a local doctor and Indian reservation doctor. The upstairs was used as the Masonic Lodge meeting hall; downstairs was the Kash & Karry Unified Grocery until the late 1950s. The hall was used by Hope Lodge . . . — — Map (db m138026) HM
Formed in the early 1890s and enduring a succession of owners. The "telephone" was introduced at Yerington in 1898. Dr. Granville Leavitt, Ed Lamb and JI Wilson were the principles in constructing the first line into town from Wabuska. Twelve miles . . . — — Map (db m171936) HM
In 1858 Henry Miller, known as the Cattle King of California, and Charles Lux, a fellow German with a keen business sense, formed one of the most successful partnerships in American history. The Miller & Lux Firm began buying up land and cattle . . . — — Map (db m116877) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m143611) HM
Construction began in the spring of 1912 and was completed in September at a cost of $16,600.00. The school opened for the 1912-13 school year with an enrollment of 130 students. Later, in 1935, it was enlarged on the rear and continue as a school . . . — — Map (db m138024) HM
