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West End of Hastings Cutoff – Nevada State Historic Marker 3
The West End of Hastings Cutoff is Nevada State Historic Marker number 3 and located on Interstate 80 in Elko County, Nevada.
Perhaps to most notorious story in the western expansion of the United States is that of the Donner Party. The Donner party was a wagon train which was bound for California, when running behind schedule, the became snow bound in the High Sierras. Notoriously, after several weeks of starvation they fell into despair and cannibalism.
One of the reasons the Donner Party was behind schedule is their use of the Hastings Cutoff, which a short cut along the California Trail. The route was not any shorter and dramatically more difficult and cost a lot of valuable lost time for the party. Following the Donner Party, and Hastings Cutoff soon goes unused and becomes a footnote to one of the most notorious tragedy’s of the west.
Nevada State Historic Marker 3 Text
Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. These roadside markers bring attention to the places, people, and events that make up Nevada’s heritage. They are as diverse as the counties they are located within and range from the typical mining boom and bust town to the largest and most accessible petroglyph sites in Northern Nevada Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost or damaged.
Across the Humboldt Valley southward from this point a deeply incised canyon opens into a valley. Through that canyon along the South Fork of the Humboldt River ran the disaster-laden route called the Hastings Cutoff. It joined the regular Fort Hall route running on both sides of the Humboldt here.
The canyon was first traversed in 1841 by the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, the earliest organized California emigrant group. In 1846, Lansford Hastings guided a party through this defile of the South Fork and out along the Humboldt. The ill-fated Reed Donner Party followed later the same year.
By 1850, the dangers of the cutoff route were recognized and it was abandoned.
CENTENNIAL MARKER No. 3
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
West End of Hastings Cutoff Marker Summary
| Name | West End of Hastings Cutoff |
| Location | Elko County, Nevada |
| Longitude, Latitude | 40.7661, -115.9198 |
| Nevada State Historic Marker | 3 |
West End of Hastings Cutoff Trail Map
References
Pioneer Memorial Park – Nevada State Historical Marker 2
The Pioneer Memorial Park is Nevada Centennial Marker No. 2, installed in 1964 as part of Nevada’s celebration of its 100th anniversary of statehood and the beginning of the Nevada Historical Marker Program. The Marker is a monument for the men and women buried at the location and some of the earliest settlers of Nevada starting in 1863.
Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. These roadside markers bring attention to the places, people, and events that make up Nevada’s heritage. They are as diverse as the counties they are located within and range from the typical mining boom and bust town to the largest and most accessible petroglyph sites in Northern Nevada Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost or damaged.
Nevada State Historic Marker 2 Text
This part of the Pioneer Cemetery includes the last resting place of Frank Baud and other of the pioneers who founded Winnemucca, earlier known as French Ford. Baud arrived in 1863 and is one of the men credited with naming the town Winnemucca after the famous Northern Paiute chieftain.
Baud came with Louis Lay from California to work on the Humboldt canal, a project headed by Dr. A. Gintz and Joseph Ginaca who devised the plan to link Golconda and Mill City by means of a 90-mile canal and provide water for the mills in the area. It was never completed. Baud later became a merchant, helped build the Winnemucca Hotel with Louis and Theophile Lay, was the first postmaster, and gave the town a schoolhouse before his death in 1868.
CENTENNIAL MARKER No. 2
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
Nevada State Historic Marker 2 Trail Map
Nevada State Historic Marker 2 Summary
| Name | Pioneer Memorial Park |
| Location | Pioneer Memorial Park, Winnemucca Humboldt County, Nevada |
| Latitude, Longitude | 40.9787, -117.7419 |
| Nevada State Historic Marker | 2 |
References
Empire and the Carson River Mills – Nevada State Historic Marker
The Empire and the Carson River Mills is Nevada Start Historic Monument number one, located near Carson City, Nevada. Following the discovery of the Comstock Lode, and the volume of silver ore produce the the mine, the region enjoy an influx and captial and people to work the mine. Part of the task at hand is the building of mills to process the ore.
Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. These roadside markers bring attention to the places, people, and events that make up Nevada’s heritage. They are as diverse as the counties they are located within and range from the typical mining boom and bust town to the largest and most accessible petroglyph sites in Northern Nevada Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost or damaged.
Nevada State Historic Marker Text
When the Comstock Lode was discovered in 1859, the problem of reducing the ore from the fabulously rich Virginia City mines had to be solved. Mills were built in Gold Canyon and Six Mile Canyon, in Washoe Valley, at Dayton, and on the Carson River which offered the most abundant source of water to operate the mills.
On the east shore of the river near the town of Empire the first small mill, built in 1860, was later enlarged to become the Mexican. The site of this mill lies to the southwest. Other large mills were then constructed farther downstream, spurring the growth of the town of Empire. Ore was hauled to the mills at first by wagon and later by the famous Virginia and Truckee Railroad built in 1869. Fortunes in gold and silver were produced in over 40 years of operation by the Carson River mills including the Mexican, Yellow Jacket, Brunswick, Merrimac, Vivian, and Santiago. Traces of Empire and its mills can still be seen today.
CENTENNIAL MARKER No. 1
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
Empire and the Carson River Mills Marker Summary
| Name | Empire and the Carson River Mills |
| Location | Carson City, Nevada |
| Latitude, Longitude | 39.1873, -119.7063 |
| Nevada State Historic Marker | 1 |
Nevada State Historic Marker Trail Map
References
Arrowhead Trail (1914-1924)
The Arrowhead Trail (1914-1924) was an early attempt to connect Salt Lake City with Los Angeles, and is Nevada State Historic Marker 168 located in Valley of Fire State Park, Clark County, Nevada.
A rough road was built through this area in 1912 as part of the Arrowhead Trail, connecting Salt Lake City with Los Angeles. This road allowed people to travel through what became known as Valley of Fire. In the 1920s the name was coined by an AAA official traveling through the park at sunset. This person purportedly said that the entire valley looked like it was on fire; hence the name.
Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. These roadside markers bring attention to the places, people, and events that make up Nevada’s heritage. They are as diverse as the counties they are located within and range from the typical mining boom and bust town to the largest and most accessible petroglyph sites in Northern Nevada Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost or damaged.
Nevada State Historic Marker Text
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.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 168
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
Nevada State Historic Marker Summary
| Name | Arrowhead Trail (1914-1924) |
| Location | Valley of Fire, Clark County, Nevada |
| Latitude, Longitude | 36.4261, -114.4628 |
| Nevada State Historic Marker Number | 168 |
Nevada State Historic Marker Trail Map
The Arrowhead Trail (1914-1924) state historic marker is along highway 168 in the valley of fire near Elephant Rock.
References
Nevada’s First State Park
Nevada’s First State Park is Valley of Fire State Park and Nevada State Historic Marker number 150. The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape.
Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates. Prehistoric users of the Valley of Fire included the Basket Maker people and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley. The span of approximate occupation has been dated from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D. Their visits probably involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies, although scarcity of water would have limited the length of their stay. Fine examples of rock art left by these ancient peoples can be found at several sites within the park.
Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. These roadside markers bring attention to the places, people, and events that make up Nevada’s heritage. They are as diverse as the counties they are located within and range from the typical mining boom and bust town to the largest and most accessible petroglyph sites in Northern Nevada Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost or damaged.
Nevada Start Marker Text
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.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER NO. 150
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
Nevada State Historic Marker Summary
| Name | Nevada’s First State Park |
| Location | Valley of Fire State Park, Clark County, Nevada |
| Latitude, Longitude | 36.4303, -114.5140 |
| Nevada State Historic Marker No | 150 |
Nevada State Historic Marker Trail Map
Nevada State Historic Marker number 150 is located at the visitors center in the Valley of Fire State Park.