Tag: Nevada

Nevada, often referred to as the “Silver State,” is located in the western United States. Renowned for its vast deserts and striking mountain ranges, the state boasts a diverse landscape that includes the arid Mojave Desert in the south and the forested Sierra Nevada mountains in the west. The state is famously home to Las Vegas, a vibrant city known for its bustling casinos, entertainment venues, and nightlife. Beyond the glitz of Las Vegas, Nevada offers rich history in its ghost towns, a legacy of the 19th-century mining boom. The state also features significant natural attractions, such as Lake Tahoe and Great Basin National Park, offering a wide range of outdoor activities. Nevada’s economy is driven by tourism, mining, and, increasingly, technology, making it a dynamic state with a blend of natural beauty and modern attractions.

Genoa Station – Pony Express

Posted on by

Originally part of the Utah Territory, Genoa is a former Pony Express Station and unincorporated community in Douglas County, Nevada. The settlement was first founded in 1850 by Mormon Settlers when they founded the Mormon Station as a trading post for travelers bound for California. The original trading post operates in a roofless log enclosure built by H.S. Beatie and other Mormon settlers.

Simpson expedition, Genoa, Nevada, 1859
Simpson expedition, Genoa, Nevada, 1859

Travelers along the Carson Route to California could purchase supplies such clothing, tobacco, meat, canned goods, coffee, beans, sugar, flour and bacon. In 1852, the settlement hosts heavy emigrant traffic and a supports a post office, sawmills and blacksmith.

Pony Express

Most historical sources agree on the identity of Genoa as a station as well. However, James Pierson also identifies the site as the Old Mormon Station. The old post office also served as the station, which seems rather on point. The livery stable across the street supplied riders with fresh horses.

Much of Genoa, including the original fort, station, and hotel, was destroyed in a fire in 1910, but a replica of the fort was built in 1947. In 1976 the post office site was a vacant lot, and a picnic area occupied the livery stable location.

Nevada's first permanent building, Genoa trading post, established 1850
Nevada’s first permanent building, Genoa trading post, established 1850

Cheers

Genoa is home to the oldest bar in the state of Nevada, which opened in 1853

Genoa Station Summary

NameGenoa Station
LocationDouglas County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude39.0044, -119.8472
Other NamesMormon Station
GNIS859807
Post Office1852 –
NewspaperTerritorial Enterprise (1858 – 1860)
NPS Station Number165
Next Westbound StationVan Sickle’s Station
Nest Eastbound StationCarson City Station

References

Van Sickle’s Station – Pony Express

Posted on by

The Van Sickle’s Station is the second Pony Express Station encountered when traveling east from Friday’s Station at the California/Nevada State Line. The Van Sickle Station is located at the bottom of Old Kingsbury Grade in Carson Valley.

Van Sickle's Station 1870
Van Sickle’s Station 1870

In 1857, rancher Henry Van Sickle built a two-story hotel to server traveler’s on their way to California. The building contained with a bar, kitchen and a store. The location is well suited as a rest stop before the climb over the high Sierra Nevada. The location served as a Pony Express in 1860, where the riders could stop to change horses. The National Park Service does not list this station on their website, so it’s active participation in the Pony Express could be in doubt. The National Pony Express Associate does list this location as a station for the pony express. This station may be on some lists as the riders would travel near the location, and it could serve as a navigation point.

Henry Van Sickle killed the outlaw and murderer Sam Brown on July 6th, 1860. Van Sickle is fully exonerated on July 8th, 1860, when the coroners jury found “Death by a just dispensation of an all-wise providence at his own expense”.

Over time, the hotel fell into disrepair and was eventually torn down in 1909.  Today, much of the history surrounding this property has been preserved in the current residence which was re-constructed in 1944 from the still standing stone store, warehouse, bar and blacksmith buildings of the original station, using the original hand-hewn beams and stone from the old quarry

Van Sickle’s Station Trail Map

Location Summary

NameVan Sickle’s Station
LocationDouglas County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude38.9415, -119.8382
Next Westbound Station Friday’s Station
Next Eastbound StationGenoa Station

References

Friday’s Station – Pony Express

Posted on by

Friday’s Station is Union Army Military Post and Pony Express Station located near Lake Tahoe, in Douglas County, Nevada. The two story building is originally built as an inn and pony express station in 1860. The station is designated as a home station, where extra horses, firearms, men and provision are kept.

Friday's Station was a Pony Express station at Lake Tahoe - (Nevada Historical Society
Friday’s Station was a Pony Express station at Lake Tahoe – (Nevada Historical Society

Originally, the buildings are intended for the Union Army in the District of California. The location is chosen for the pony express due to its proximety to Lake Tahoe and the state line. Becuase of its location, the station is refered to as the “Lakeside Station” by some. In April, 1860, Robert (Pony Bob) Haslam made the first ride and shipment of mail from Sacramento at Friday’s Station and made his first run to Buckland’s Station, a distance of seventy five miles to the east.

Friday's Station with five freight teams and a prairie schooner arriving.
Friday’s Station with five freight teams and a prairie schooner arriving.

After the pony express failed, the property operated as a resort known as the “Buttermilk Bonanza Ranch.” Today, the original buildings still state and recognized as California Historical Landmark #728 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Location Map

Location Summary

NameFriday’s Station
LocationDouglas County, Nevada
Other NamesLakeside Station
Park Cattle Company Residence
Buttermilk Bonanza Ranch
Latitude, Longitude38.9639,  -119.9347
Elevation6,324 feet
California Historical Landmark728
National Register of Historic Places86003259
NPS Station Number166
Next Westbound Station
Next Eastbound StationVan Sickle’s Station

References

Timothy H. O’Sullivan – Photographer

Posted on by
CDV of Timothy H. O'Sullivan with imprint of F.G. Ludlow, Carson City, Nevada Territory on verso. Taken between 1871–74 while O'Sullivan was the official photographer for the Wheeler Expedition.
CDV of Timothy H. O’Sullivan with imprint of F.G. Ludlow, Carson City, Nevada Territory on verso. Taken between 1871–74 while O’Sullivan was the official photographer for the Wheeler Expedition.

Timothy H. O’Sullivan (c. 1840 – January 14, 1882) was a photographer best known for of the Civil War and the western United States. O’Sullivan began his photography career as an apprentice in Mathew Brady’s Fulton Street gallery in New York City. He moved on to the Washington, D.C., branch managed by Alexander Gardner. In 1861. At the age of twenty-one, O’Sullivan joined Brady’s team of Civil War photographers.

Little is known about his early life. He was either born in Ireland or New Work City. As a teenager, Timothy was employed by Matthew Brady where he learn the newly invented craft of photography. When the Civil War broke out, he is commission as a first lieutenant in the Union Army, in 1861.

After the was, in 1867, Timothy H. O’Sullivan is hired by Clarence King to accompany the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel as a photographer. O’Sullivan was with the Survey for the seasons of 1867, 1868, 1869 and 1872.

During these expeditions, he is known to carry two or possibly three camera outfits which include a 9″x12″ and 8″x1O” plates and for stereoscopic views. He developed the plates in the field, as was necessary with the wet plate process, and worked in either a photographic tent or a mule-drawn ambulance wagon. The negatives were usually sent back to the Survey offices in Washington D.C. where they are printed.

In 1871, O’Sullivan join the geological surveys west of the one hundredth meridian, under the command of Lieutenant George M. Wheeler of the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Wheeler would caption O’Sullivan’s photographs with practical information useful in the later establishment of roads and rail routes and emphasized the west’s suitability for settlement.

In 1873, on another Wheeler expedition, O’Sullivan photographed the Zuni and Magia pueblos and the Canyon de Chelly and its remnants of a cliff-dwelling culture. He returned to Washington, D.C., in 1874 and made prints for the Army Corps of Engineers. Soon after being made chief photographer for the United States Treasury in 1880, O’Sullivan died of tuberculosis at age forty-one.

Sand dunes, 1867, Carson Desert Western Nevada RG 77 Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, 1789-1988 Photographic Album of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel – The King Survey, 1867-1872 ARC ID 519530 77KS-3-160

Timothy H. O’Sullivan Portfolio

Desert Lake, near Ragtown, Western Nevada, ca. 1867 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Desert Lake, near Ragtown, Western Nevada, ca. 1867 by Timothy H. O’Sullivan
Kearsarge Mining Company's gold mine at Kearsarge, Kearsarge Mining District — in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, Inyo County, eastern California (1871). - Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Kearsarge Mining Company’s gold mine at Kearsarge, Kearsarge Mining District — in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, Inyo County, eastern California (1871). – Photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan
Photo of Fort Ruby as it appeared in 1868, when famed western photographer Timothy Sullivan captured this image.
Photo of Fort Ruby as it appeared in 1868, when famed western photographer Timothy Sullivan captured this image.
Montezuma Silver Works. Oreana, Nevada. ca 1857 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Montezuma Silver Works. Oreana, Nevada. ca 1857 by Timothy H. O’Sullivan – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Smelting Works. Oreana, Nevada. ca. 1857 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Smelting Works. Oreana, Nevada. ca. 1857 by Timothy H. O’Sullivan – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Austin, Nevada, 1868, albumen silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment,
Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Austin, Nevada, 1868, albumen silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment,
Mill of Hyko Silver Mining Co. in 1871 - Timothy H. O'Sullivan - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Mill of Hyko Silver Mining Co. in 1871 – Timothy H. O’Sullivan – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Gold Hill, Nevada Circa 1867, 1868 Photographer Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Gold Hill, Nevada Circa 1867, 1868 Photographer Timothy H. O’Sullivan

References

Frenchman Station Nevada

Posted on by

Frenchman, or Frenchman Station is an unincorporated community and old stage stop locate in Churchill county, Nevada. The property was devlopred by Aime “Frenchy” Bermond, a native of France who came to Nevada in 1899. The station and stage stop is a relay point along the freight route between Fallon and the mining camps of Fairview and Wonder

Frenchman Station, Nevada 1910 - Stanley W. Paher, Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, (1970), Howell North, p 94, Mrs. Lyle de Braga Collection
Frenchman Station, Nevada 1910 – Stanley W. Paher, Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, (1970), Howell North, p 94, Mrs. Lyle de Braga Collection

In the early 1900s, the station provided lodging and food, with a hotel, restaurant, saloons and stables and travellers. Water is hauled into the location from Luck Boy Springs, which is located about twelve miles away. Frenchy had the water hauled in by paid freighters. A sign proudly stood at the holding tank that read: “If you don’t want to pay for this water, leave it alone.”

Frenchy died in 1926, however his station is sold numerous times. The station remains open until 1985. The U.S. Navy bought out the community in 1985 due to its proximity on the northern boundary of the Dixie Valley bombing range. The remaining buildings were demolished two years later. Today, the location is not much more than a wide spot in the road.

Location Summary

NameFrenchman Station
LocationChurchill County, Neada
Also Known asFrenchman, Bermond
Latitude, Longitude39.2793679, -118.2701317
GNIS857995
Elevation4,157 Feet
Post OfficeNov. 24, 1920 – May 31, 1926

Trail Map

References