NV Tour 4

Small Town Detours

Susanville, Calif.) — Reno—Carson City—Minden—Gardnerville— (Mono Lake, Calif.); US 395- California Line to California Line, 84.4 m.

A branch of the W. P. R. R. parallels route north of Reno, and the V. & T. R. R.

US 395 makes an 84-mile loop through Nevada along the foothills of the Sierra. Throughout its course in Nevada it runs between high ranges, crossing the fertile Truckee and Carson Valleys, climbing to low passes, and running through canyons. It traverses the country that was the heart of early Nevada, the country of its first wild mining booms and its first permanent settlements. For miles the route is lined in the spring with the beautiful pale pink blossoms of Nevada wild peach.

US 395 crosses the NEVADA LINE, 0 m., at a point 70 miles southeast of Susanville, California. Between the State Line and Reno US 395 loosely follows a route to California established by James Beckwourth, the mulatto trapper and scout; it was known as the Beckwourth Road, This route crosses Beckwourth Pass (Chilcoot) into Sierra Valley, where a trading station was established in 1852.

Close to the California Line US 395 skirts Dry Lake (L), a catch basin for the spring run-off from Peavine Mountains (R). In late summer, when the lake is dry, the hard baked surface is used as a speedway for try-outs of new motorcycles and automobiles. Running northward is Dry Lake Valley, a grazing area.

The HEINZ RANCH, 2.3 m.f is one of the oldest in this part of the State. As the highway climbs out of Dry Lake Valley, Rattlesnake Hill, a red butte, is visible to the rear. On it is a former Indian burial ground where artifacts arc still discovered. In 1867, when a small band of Pitt River (California) Indians had been raiding the cattle of Long Valley ranchers, Pyramid Lake Paiute received the blame for the depredations. Matters became so complicated that the old

chief decided to vindicate his people and took to the war trail. Aided by a dozen whites his warriors finally surrounded the Pitts and exterminated all but one. Rattlesnake Hill is considered the site of this inter-tribal battle.

US 395 crosses PEAVINE SUMMIT, 4.2 m.f a low pass between Granite Mountain and Peavine, then drops to Black Spring Valley. The old BLACK SPRING PLACE, 8 m., a tumbled-down shack that was moved to its present site from the Black Spring, a mile south. The Black Spring was named for John Black, who operated the station on the Beckwourth Road, and who with John Poe, a cousin of Edgar Allen Poe, and others established Poeville, a mining camp now deserted in one of the rugged canyons on the east side of Peavine.

The highway climbs gradually out of Black Spring Valley to a divide that offers & broad vista of Truckee Valley and Reno. The approach to Reno is foretold by signs along the road, advertising "Love Blessed" wedding rings, and the Dog House, a "haven for divorcees"—also "Harold's, the place to rattle your bones and win some dough." All highways approaching Reno are lined with signs announcing wedding rings designed to insure wedded happiness, retreats for the brokenhearted, and gay night spots for those whose disillusionment is more devil-may care.

RENO, 16 m. (4,491 alt., 21,500 pop.), (see Tour id), is at the junction with US 40 (see Tour i).

US 395 goes south through the fertile Truckee Valley with signs on both sides of the road advertising "Guest Ranches" for divorce-seekers who prefer the moonlight and tree toads and the smell of the countryside to the gay night spots of The Biggest Little City in the World. The impressive Sierra range (R) is still wooded on its higher flanks. On the valley floors are green fields, chicken ranches, grainfields, and produce gardens. Great poplars surround modern ranch houses as well as those that bear the unmistakable architectural stamp of earlier days.

From the junction clouds of steam are seen southward in the depression below the highway and on a low plateau (R). At one point (L) close to the junction hot water is bubbling up a few yards from the road. At present these hot springs, which have high mineral content, do not erupt more than a few inches and some merely ripple the surface of the pool, but about 1928 the water was thrown several feet in the air at intervals and there have been other periods when spouting was violent. The reason for the variations is unknown though it has been noticed that the pressure is much greater when earthquakes are prevalent in California. These springs are considered among the geological wonders of the world because here it is possible to study the formation of precious mineral deposits in rock. On both sides of the road are small resorts offering swimming in warm water pools.

Right on this paved route, which enters a division of the Nevada National Forest (campsites, trails) and rises 4,000 feet in about 20 miles, though this is not particularly noticeable. Broad, magnificent vistas are revealed on every curve—far across the lowland meadows, over the Virginia Range, to ranges with glistening peaks. The road offers a route to the Ski Club and is often crowded on winter week-ends, particularly during the sport programs.

GALENA, 7 m.> at the foot of the skiing area, has shelters and a variety of runs. It also has a very fine summer picnicking spot in GALENA COUNTY PARK.

At 14 m. is the MOUNT ROSE SUMMIT (8,933 alt.) between (R) Mount Rose and Slide Mountain. GRASS VALLEY (R), an alpine meadow with a small lake, below the top of Mount Rose has particularly wide variety in its slides, which are 5 feet to one mile wide and from 5 to 17 miles long. There is one jump of 135 feet and a ski lift.

At 23 m. is the junction with Nev. 26; R. here 5 m. along the shore of Lake Tahoe to the California Line, where the route around the lake shore becomes Calif. 39 and leads in n miles to Tahoe City, a lake resort.

At the junction Nev. 28 southward becomes the main side route; here along the shore of LAKE TAHOE (6,225 alt.), one of the most popular resort areas in the region. The lake, 21 miles long and 12 miles across at its widest point, has a delightfully irregular rocky shoreline that is thickly forested with evergreens. With the peaks of the high Sierras in view above the trees, the lake is a brilliant green-blue, owing to its great depth—1,776 feet at one point. In spite of the number of resorts and private homes on its shores, the forest gives it an unspoiled look.

First recorded knowledge of the lake is in the report of Fremont's expeditions When he was encamped at Pyramid Lake near the mouth of the Truckee River in 1844, Indians "made a drawing of the Truckee River, which they represented as issuing from another lake in the mountains three or four days distant, in a direction a little west of south; beyond which they drew a mountain, and farther still two rivers, on one side of which, the Indians said, people like ourselves traveled." Fremont then crossed the Sierras over Carson Pass and saw Lake Tahoe, of which he wrote—"We had a beautiful view of a mountain lake about 15 m. in length." It was not named in his report but later on his map of 1845 it was called Mounrato Lake. Writing from Prescott, Arizona, in 1881, Fremont said that he gave it the name of Bonpland for the French scientist and explorer, Aime-Jacques Alexander Bonpland, and on a strip map covering his explorations that name appears. The California legislature named it Lake Bigler in 1853, for John Bigler, the State Governor. Popularly it was known as Tahoe from 1863. Neither Bonpland nor Bigler ever came into general use, nor did Tula Tulia, a name proposed in 1861. Nevada did recognize the name Bigler by inference in a legislative act of December 19, 1862, but William Henry Knight, in charge of the first general mapping of the Pacific Coast, later said that when his map was ready for the engraver in 1862, he instructed that the name be omitted. John S. Hittell, historian and editor, and Dr. Henry De Groot, journalist and publicist, who had compiled a list of Washoe words, were called into conference and De Groot produced the word "Tahoe", which was immediately approved. On Knight's advice, the U. S. Land Office approved this name.

This lake basin was formed long after the disturbances that lifted the granite core of the Sierras to their present height. It is probable the lake was created by repeated slipping of large masses of earth along a fault, which uplifted the surrounding rocks, and also by volcanic action, still evident in dormant MOUNT PLUTO, at the northwestern end. Today the huge bowl is practically closed in by mountains planed down and softened by erosion.

Formerly the Indians assembled each spring along the northern end because the water abounded with trout and because they were fond of water sports. Opposite their camping grounds is a big cavern; at certain times of the year, according to their tradition, the rock sent forth a hoarse and awful voice. They

called this grotto the Spirit Lodge. Anciently, their legends say, die lake was a part of the great river Tro-ko-nene, which emptied its water into the sea. In those years, the country roundabout was more level, and covered with trees and vines that bore fruit. Then came the time when the mountains were lifted and the mighty river was swallowed; and since then the country has become barren, and the smaller Truckee River, denied egress to the sea, has had to cut a gorge and find its way to Lake Pyramid.

Tahoe is a lake of many moods. When untroubled, it lies under a full sun like an enormous pavement of colors, with long slender paths of silver^ across the broad belts of green and blue. In early morning it is so soft and shimmering that it looks unreal; and under a low western sun burning in cloudbands, it is a mighty plateau streaked with gold.

The water has extraordinary transparency. On a sunny day objects 65 feet down are sharp and distinct. At more than 200 feet white objects are clearly visible, and in winter some objects can be seen at even greater depth.

There are numerous camping spots and trails in this area. Among wild flowers are the snowplants, red and white heather, gentian, water lilies, wild marigold, Indian paintbrush, pennyroyal, and primrose. Smaller trees include the ash, laurel, and holly; and among the more conspicuous trees are yellow, sugar, lodgepole, white, and digger pines; red, white and Shasta firs; and alpine spruce as well as cedar and tamarack. There is a great variety of songbirds. Many smaller lakes nearby are reached by roads and trails.

Nev. 28 goes south along the eastern shore, passing private estates. One privately owned cove and beach provides the owner with a landing bay for his hydroplane.

The Steamboat Hot Springs on US 395 and a resort by them were very popular in the early days, and a pretentious hotel served tourists as well as invalids seeking relief by "drinking the waters". Steamboat Springs was a terminus of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad for nearly a year, after 1871.

The highway passes over the toe of a hill and through narrow, fertile Pleasant Valley, whose lands were first tilled by Mormon settlers in 1856. On a bare hilltop (L) the brush grown lines indicating old roads leading up to Virginia City are almost the sole reminders that Pleasant Valley held a very busy mill town at one time. This lumber town, Galena, was founded as a mining camp in 1860 on the edge of the mountains westward and was so called because of the large amount of galena occurring in the ore. The mining did not pan out so the camp was moved further up the creek (see before) and became a short lived lumber camp supplying die Comstock. It was only one of many towns of the area founded to supply timber and fire-wood to the mills and mining camps.

At the southern end of Pleasant Valley a low summit is crossed and the highway follows the shore of Little Washoe Lake, which with Washoe Lake to the south, divides Washoe Valley.

Close to the road and almost hidden by trees, at 35 m.f is (L) a brown ranchhouse that provides a particularly charming example of Victorian Gothic design. Tall prim gables and tall gabled dormers provide spaces for tall narrow windows with pointed arches and pointed panes of clear glass bordered by narrow strips of red and blue glass. This ranch first belonged to a Mormon, William Jennings,

reputed to be the wealthiest man of his clan. It later passed into the hands of Theodore Winters, who maintained racing stables here and raised two Derby winners from his blooded stock; one was El Rio Rey, a magnificient animal. South of the house was a mile-track where races were held frequently in the i88o's and iSgo's. North of the house were a half-mile track and the racing stables.

Hay from these valleys was so prized that some was shipped to New York, where it brought high prices, and part was even shipped to England for racing stock. The bulk of the apple crop from the nearb-by ranch of Ross Lewers, an early fruit grower, also found a market in England,

Hidden behind formal plantings of Lombardy poplars and Scotch broom, is the BOWERS MANSION (R), 36.4 m.f a reminder of the first Comstock millionaires, Lemuel Bowers and his wife. The square, two-story sandstone structure is still impressive and with its two rear wings, mansard roofs covered with pale-blue and white checkerboarded slate and broken by long narrow rounded dormers roofed with rusted tin, is strongly reminiscent of Mediterranean villas. Only a high platform remains of the ornate balustraded front porch that was an incongruous note on this otherwise well-designed structure. Inside, remnants of early glory are found in the carved white marble mantelpieces and plaster ornaments on the ceilings. In one wing is a bar for the service of picnickers and visitors to the two, small, warm water swimming pools. These pools have modern concrete rims but they were first dammed in the days when the mansion was built. Both the pools and the basin around a formal fountain in front of the house then teemed with goldfish and after the mansion became a picnicking resort it was the delight of children to catch these fish with their hands.

Between the wings is a stone-paved court, shaded in summer by the leaves of an enormous grapevine. A path behind the house zigzags a few hundred feet up the steep rocky hillside among pine and manzanita to the tiny hollow where "Sandy" Bowers, his wife, and their adopted daughter, Persia, were buried.

The building of this costly mansion in the early days when no one expected to stay in Nevada roused widespread attention, and the later eccentricities of Mrs. Bowers turned her into a legendary figure. Eilley Orrum—who became plain Ella when signing documents in America—was a Mormon convert who left Scotland when 15 years old, with the Mormon missionary, Stephen Hunter, who married her. When Hunter took another wife in Deseret after the revelation on polygamy, his Scottish wife left him. Later she married Alexander Cowan and they were among the settlers sent to these valleys in 1855 by Brigham Young. When Young called the settlers back to Deseret to strengthen his forces on the approach of Federal troops, Mrs. Cowan refused to go with her husband. During their first winter in the valley, when cash was desperately needed, Mrs. Cowan kept a boardinghouse near Carson City. Later she opened one in Gold Canyon, serving the prospectors and miners who were beginning to work there (see Tour 8).

Among Mrs. Cowan's boarders in 1859 was Bowers, 14 years /ounger than she and usually called Sandy. He was among the first daim holders on the lode and he gave her a strip adjoining his, possibly in payment of his board bill. While other claim-holders sold their "feet" for prices that were to prove ridiculous Mrs. Cowan, like a good Scot, held onto her claim and persuaded Sandy to do likewise. Later they united their claims as well as their lives. Their ore was among the first mined from the lode and the daily profits began to run into thousands of dollars. As income mounted Mrs. Bowers planned for a mansion in this place, which had particularly taken her fancy, and for a trip to Europe on which she would show her Scottish relatives that they had been wrong in opposing her departure for America with the poor Mormon. Her plans even included a call on Queen Victoria—but this was made impossible by her divorces; court etiquette was even stricter then than now on this subject. Plans for the mansion were approved and good stone-cutters were found—the block* of granite were so true that practically no mortar was used. Then the Grand Tour, which lasted two years, was begun. It became largely a buying expedition, with the Bowers' being rooked right and left by dealers of the Continent. A steady stream of marble mantels, French furniture, and household odds and ends began to cross the Atlantic, pass round the Horn, and up the Pacific, to be freighted in across the high Sierras. On their return Sandy was too busy on the Comstock to enjoy the mansion; besides, he probably felt more at home in the saloons with his friends, and his wife did not find the elegant society she had hoped to gather around her. Sandy died suddenly in 1868, leaving cash and claims of much value, but in a very muddled condition. Mrs. Bowers' former shrewdness had forsaken her; she became entangled in litigation and speculation that soon left her destitute. With the house heavily mortgaged she endeavored to run it as a resort, on instructions from a crystal she had begun to depend on. Even that could not support her for long and, that being the great period in which spiritualism, mesmerism, and the like were the vogue, tried her hand at crystal reading for fees. For a while she had numerous clients asking her advice on stocks and places to locate claims, then the applicants fell off. When she eventually died, an old, old lonely woman, she had become a fantastic figure.

Just above the mansion in the early days wa» Ophir, where a stamp mill crushed ore from a Comstock claim of the same name. The mansion itself was at the upper end of what is still called FRANKTOWN, laid out by the first Mormon settlers in Washoe Valley. Founded before the discovery of the Comstocfc, it, like the oth«r towns of the valley declined with the exhaustion of timber on the Sierra slopes in the vicinity. In 1872, when the town became a ttation on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, it had a large hotel, two stores, a market, a blacksmith shop, and a number of neat dwelling houses. In its heyday, Franktown also furnished produce to Virginia City from its farms,

In June, 1854, a company of Mormons headed hy Orson Hyde had come to Carson Valley and then migrated to Washoe Valley. Hyde was pleased with this site and erected the first sawmill here. When Brigham Young recalled his followers, his settlers sold everything hastily for whatever they could get. The fact that he was paid so little for his very valuable sawmill caused Orson Hyde to send a letter calling a curse before the Lord on the people here who had treated him so unjustly; he "placed his suit in the Chancery of Heaven," he said. Later events, which included a flood, would seem to indicate that some of his invoked punishments arrived.

Franktown built the first school-house in Nevada but when the settlers left that fall the building was sold to "Lucky Bill" who moved it to Genoa for a horse stable.

US 395 proceeds through Washoe Valley, with Big Washoe Lake in the distance. Against the mountain (R) is the landscaped estate and white house of C. A. Wellesley—Earl of Cowley—who has made it his permanent home. LAKEVIEW SUMMIT, 42.1 m.t is a low pass between Washoe and Eagle Valleys. Under the pavement here are pipe lines leading water from high in the Sierra to Virginia City (L); this inverted siphon was the engineering wonder of its day, for never before had water been piped to a vertical depth of some 1700 feet and then raised by its own pressure almost to its intake height.

CARSON CITY, 45.8 m. (4,660 alt., 2,474 pop.), is at a junction with US 50 (see Tour 7<r).

N. Carson St.f for Virginia and Truckee Ry. and also for the Virginia and Truckee Transit Company Stages; hotels, hoarding houses, auto courts; information at State Department of Highways, Memorial Building, on Carson St.

CARSON CITY, smallest capital in the United States and seat of Nevada's smallest county, is near the bottom of the forested eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in Eagle Valley.

From the early days westbound travelers, weary of the wastelands, have looked with pleasure on this fertile spot near the Carson River. With plentiful water from springs on the mountains above, the settlers planted cottonwood, balm of Gilead, poplars, locust, black walnut, maple, and many other trees to such extent that from the heights in summer the little city seems to be a park surrounding the white dome of the capitol. The long main street is wide and paved, but many of the trees along it have been sacrificed to clear parking space. Repeated fires have destroyed many of the old-time buildings and others have been torn down to make way for modern structures, but enough remain to indicate unmistakably the period in which the capital developed. The sensible wooden awnings over the sidewalks have been removed for the most part, and where the awnings formed upstairs porches doorways now open onto air. In the neighborhood of the capitol are a number of Victorian houses, with jigsaw, lathe, and iron

decorations. The predominating building material for the older public structures is sandstone, usually rough-hewn from the quarry at the nearby penitentiary.

Though the great majority of people living in Carson are employees of the State, a few are employed by the Federal government— more Federal employees are in Reno—others work in the shops of the little Virginia and Truckee Railroad, in the local brewery, and in the stores and other service businesses depending on valley trade.

The town has all the clubs and fraternal organizations so prevalent in Nevada towns and every two years has a round of festivity when the legislature is in session—though the majority of the legislators come down daily from Reno.

Carson City came into existence with the backwash of gold-seekers from California. On November 7, 1851, a party that had crowed the Sierra Nevada from Brent's Bar decided to seek gold in this region. When prospecting gave poor results they decided to open a trading post here on the Overland route. While they were building a log cabin that later became the Overland Stage station, one of the men shot an eagle and nailed its skin on the cabin wall. This gave the place its name of Eagle Station; it was later called Eagle Ranch, and the meadows roundabout became Eagle Valley. Eagle Ranch on the great travel route became the social center of the scattered settlements that grew up in time, and here dances were held and the first marriage in Eagle Valley took place, by civil contract. Many of these early settlers were Mormons. When in 1857 Brigham Young recalled his cohorts to the City of Great Salt Lake, most of them responded, selling their holdings to John Mankin for a nominal amount, paid in wheat. Man- kin later laid claim to the entire lower valley. For a short while he and his four sons and one daughter were the only occupants of his large tract of land, which was later sub-divided and sold.

In September, 1858, Abraham V. Z. Curry had the present town- site surveyed because he expected the western part of Utah to be separated from the eastern part and soon become a State. To induce settlement he gave a lot to anyone who would erect a building on it. Major William M. Ormsby then became an enthusiastic promoter of a town that was still chiefly on paper, and named it for Kit Carson. The rush to the Comstock Lode in 1859 stimulated the infant community and it began to look as if Abe Curry were a man of foresight. The Territorial Enterprise, attracted by what looked like an imminent boom, moved over from Genoa, but a few months later packed up and went on to Virginia City.

As early as 1859 Curry began to more energetically make Carson City instead of Genoa the territorial capital, and he was ably abetted by others who had caught his speculative fervor. The town's principal advantage, it was claimed, was that it was closer to the lines of traveL One of the first acts of Territorial Governor Nye in 1861 was a proclamation summoning the legislature to Carson City on October i.

On November 25, Carson City was declared the permanent capital by the legislature and a plaza was set aside for public buildings.

In 1860 the town had only 701 inhabitants but in a year the population more than doubled; Carson had become a station on the Pony Express in 1860, and also the eastern terminus of a telegraph line from San Francisco. April 12, 1860, was a great day here; the pony rider dashed in with mail and dispatches relayed from St. Joseph, on the Missouri River, and Carson was able to telegraph the latest national and international news to the Coast—only nine days old. Carson became the Ormsby County seat in 1861. Before long it was a freighting and supply point for many mining and ranching communities in central and southern Nevada, At one time between ^1865 and 1875 its population was established at more than 8,000, but it did not receive a city charter until the end of the period, when the population had begun to decline rapidly.

With the silver stampede and the development of freighting the whole territory as well as Carson bad serious troubles with hoodlums of every kind. The territorial legislature in its first session, in 1861, passed various laws designed to establish order, including & Sunday blue-law making gambling and "noisy amusements on the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's Day" unlawful. But it took more than statutes to control the wild, propertyless throng and on at least one occaasion—after many incendiary fires (see ahead) the "601" put in appearance.

When the legislature found no building large enough to accommodate it, Curry offered the use of his primitive Hot Springs Hotel, which was near the river. In addition he built a horse-railroad from the town limits to the temporary capitol and hauled the legislators free. Orion Clemens, Territorial Secretary and brother of Samuel, separated the senate from the assembly with a canvas curtain to carry out the provisions that a chamber should be provided for each; but the Federal government, indifferent to his resourcefulness, refused to pay for it, and subtracted the cost, $3.40, from his salary.

One of the first acts of the assembly was to divide the territory into counties and they named the smallest (in which was the capital) for Major Ormsby, Curry's friend who had been killed during the Paiute trouble of 1860. When a courthouse was needed, Curry was ready with another hotel, the Great Basin, which he sold instead of lending, convinced that the time had come to collect dividends on his foresight. This hotel-courthouse was used by the legislature until 1869. It and its successor could have told many stories of vote-buying, vote-trading, and general political corruption. As contemporary papers show, tie tales would have been embellished with accounts of fistfights, hot-headed tempers, resounding oaths, and many a juicy bit of highhanded legerdemain, particularly during those years when legislators chose United States Senators.

Politics all ovtr tbt country was a wild game at the time, with corruption so rampant from Ae Atlantic to the Pacific that it is not

surprising that vigorous Washoe should have had its share of what only^in later years was called scandal. With the United States Senate gaining the reputation it held for several decades as the club of new millionaires, it is inconceivable that the Comstock should not have produced several candidates for seats in the Chamber and that they should not have resorted to the widely current practice of buying their way in—and resorting to kidnapping and intimidation if that served their purpose. Not all the men who wanted to go to Washington had prestige alone in their minds. They were men of big interests and they felt that the best way to protect them was to have a hand in the legislation touching them.

A familiar figure at the legislative sessions was Charles C. Wallace, usually called Black Wallace because of his coal-black hair and because he was hand-in-glove with the "Black Republicans*'. A trusted political henchman of the Central Pacific Railroad, he held the inside track on legislative manipulation in Nevada. Under his direction caucuses were held, candidates were chosen, and bills were passed or carried out in the waste baskets, it has been said. Black Wallace liked a good stand-up-and-knockdown fight with the winner take all—and he usually took it.

Matt Cannavan, sent to the assembly from Storey County, was also busy. A shrewd Comstocker, he framed a bill that would have forced the stock brokers of Virginia City to pay for a quarterly license. The indignant broker pooled $5,000 and gave that sum in bills to Peter Burke, who set out to save the situation. Soon after arriving in Carson City he was lured into a resort and was soon completely intoxicated and snoring. Cannavan quietly extracted the bills from his pocket, marked them, took the serial numbers, and returned them. The two met the next day and Cannavan offered to wager Burke that he could tell him the number of every bill he possessed. Burke was too inexperienced in politics to scent a plot; he took the wager, and lost, realized what had happened, and frightened, rushed back to the brokers and cursed them for scoundrels who were trying to land him in jail. Before the brokers could collect their wits, the Cannavan bill was passed.

In 1861 John Q. A, Moore erected the first opera house, a big wooden building with a square false front; it seated about 400 people and there was a convenient saloon under the same roof. The Carson Opera House, a larger structure, was built in 1878. For money to buy scenery, equipment and furnishings, a benefit ball was given on July 4, 1878. Formally opened by Henry Ward Beecher, the house occupied the site where the post office now stands, but was later moved to the corner of Plaza and Spear Streets where it was destroyed by fire on Easter Sunday in 1932,

Carson soon outgrew its freight-team and oxcart days. In February of 1869, construction was begun on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, which was to connect Carson City with Virginia City. On September 28, 1869, Colonel H. M. Yerington, the superintendent, drove a silver

spike to secure the first rail laid in this town, and three hours later a locomotive was puffing over a short section of track. It had been hauled from Reno by teams; two others were similarly transported to Virginia City—such being the impatience of the citizens to see their railroad in action. On November 7, 1871, the line reached Steamboat Springs; and on August 24, 1872, the last link was finished in the 52-mile railroad. Though the principal office was originally at Virginia City, it was moved to Carson City in 1900; and in 1905 a branch road was constructed from Carson City to Minden.

For many residents, the most exciting event that has ever taken place in the capital was the world heavyweight championship fight on March 17, 1897, between Bob Fitzsimmons and Jim Corbett. Fitz- simmons won with a solar plexus punch. Sport fans and newspaper men from all over the world thronged the town for many days before the fight took place. The gate receipts were only $8,000 but more than $1,000,000 was grossed from the moving pictures. These, the first films of die kind ever made, were of bluish tint and flickered and shifted without warning; but they were considered marvelous at the time.

i. Construction of the STATE CAPITOL (open 9-4 weekdays), N. Carson St., was begun in 1870 and though it was used by the fifth legislature in 1871 it was not completed until the following year. The big square stone structure has hewn logs of great length for its rafters. Peter Cavanaugh was the builder. In 1907 an octagon-shaped, two-story sandstone structure was added on the east side and connected to the main building by an open corridor on the first floor and by an enclosed bridge supported by Doric columns on the second. North and south wings were added in 1915. On the lower floor are offices of the governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, and of numerous departments; the senate chamber, assembly chamber, and offices of the superintendent of public instruction and other State officials occupy the upper floor. In the lower corridors is the S. L. Lee collection of mineral specimens and Indian and pioneer relics, presented to the State by Dr. Lee's widow in 1934. In the chamber at the north end of the building on the second floor is an excellent oil portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Chas. W. Shean.

The shady capitol grounds cover four city blocks, first called The Plaza. Elms almost hide the capitol in summer; near each of the four corners of the ground grows a tall pine. Along the old iron fence surrounding the area are many flowers in summer.

2. The NATIONAL HUMAN ALLIANCE FOUNTAIN, N. Carson Street, opposite the capitol, is a fountain constructed of polished granite, with a drinking bowl about six feet in diameter for horses and base cups for dogs. A round column rises about four feet above die larger bowl.

southern end of The Plaza, was designed by F. D. Delongchamps of Reno and houses the State Highway Department The two-story sandstone structure, entered through a portico, was erected in 1920 to honor Nevada's World War troops.

4. The SUPREME COURT AND STATE LIBRARY BUILDING (open weekdays 10-12, 1-5, 7-9), on Carson St. just north of the Memorial Building, is a modern three-story structure of reinforced concrete faced with stone; it was constructed in 1936. The supreme court room is especially impressive. The collection consists of 45,000 volumes in the general library, with the same number in law, and in law reference. The collection of statutes is unusually complete. The library also has unusually complete files of Nevada newspapers. Books are sent on request and without charge to any resident of the State but the borrower must pay the postage for their return.

5. The ABE CURRY HOUSE, on the northwest corner of Nevada and Telegraph Sts., is the core of old Carson, for it was built by the first man to believe firmly in Nevada's future and determine in advance where its capital was to be. The house, with the old-fashioned elegance of its period, was constructed of stone taken from the quarry at the penitentiary (see ahead).

6. MATT WRINKLE'S HOUSE is an old-fashioned structure on the N. W. corner of King and Curry Sts.

7. The WARREN ENGINE COMPANY FIREHOUSE, cor- ner of Mussey and Curry Sts., is a little stone structure with a semi- false front that rises to a bell-tower. Warren Company Number I was organized by 20 young men on June 17, 1863, and soon collected $2,000 for equipment. They immediately bought an engine from the Warren Engine Company Number 4 of Marysville, California—both had been named for the Revolutionary War commander who fell at Bunker Hill. In ordering the engine and also 300 feet of hose from San Francisco the company specified that the equipment had to be on hand before the Fourth of July, for one of the pleasures of being a volunteer fireman was the chance to parade in uniform and give demonstrations. At their first ball, on July 3, all members appeared in uniform, which included a bright red shirt; tickets for the event cost $6 though "the ladies" contributed the supper.

The Warrens' first fire came in August; two buildings burned and one had to be torn down. By October members were tired waiting for more fires and determined to put on a public show at The Plaza. The climax of events came when the little engine threw a stream straight up 155 feet. Later the company purchased a steam engine and the Warrens planned another show, boasting that the engine would shoot a stream over the big pavillion that then stood on The Plaza. They were utterly humiliated when only feeble pressure was achieved; but the day was saved when a resourceful member dashed to a store across the street, bought several pounds of bacon, and threw them on the smouldering fuel.

being absent from meetings and $5 if absent from a fire. Moreover, they paid monthly dues of $2.50 for the privilege of membership. The parades and fire-fighting were far from being the only attractions to membership. Rival companies had been formed in 1864—the Curry Engine Company Number a and the S. T. Swift Company No. 3. Abe Curry had provided the engine house for the first of these. Competition was very keen on equipment and its merits, and also on fire-fighting prowess. Citizens complained that the companies were sometimes so busy fighting one another for places at the tanks from which they pumped the water that they sometimes forgot to put out the fires.

Between 1865 and 1870 there was a wave of incendiarism and blame for the fires was put on six temporary residents who had been sleeping in the Curry firehouse. Angry townspeople ordered the six out of town. Five left and after the sixth had refused to go he was found hanging from the cemetery gate with "601" on his chest. The incendiarism ceased.

The city's worst experience with fire came in September, 1926, when flames swept down King Canyon and burned ranchhouses and everything in the way. All business places and public buldings were closed to enable every able-bodied man to join the fight and even trusties from the State penitentiary were sent out to join them. Five men were killed before the flames were under control. Of the three companies, only the Warrens had survived and they had taken over the Curry engine house in 1908. They are still in service though the city now pays a few salaries.

The engine house is a museum as well as center of firefighting service. High on the walls are pictures of the Currier and Ives series "The Life of a Fireman," including among others the one in which a helmeted figure dashes from flames with the drooping body of a woman in night- clothes. Many valuable old photographs line the walls and half a dozen metal fire trumpets are displayed; one of these is the Marysville, California, trumpet of 1854. A particular treasure is a piece of early firehose, made of buffalo hide and riveted with brass.

8. The turretted red brick POST OFFICE AND FEDERAL BUILDING, North Carson St., between Telegraph and Spear Sts., has a high mansard roof typical of the period of its construction—1888. The granite steps were part of the old Ophir Mill, which cared for the ore from the great Ophir Mine on the Comstock (see Tour 8).

9. The OLD MINT, on the northwest corner of North Carson and Robinson Sts., is being transformed into a State museum. Ground for the great bleak square stone structure was broken with great ceremony at eight in the morning of July 18, 1866. Gold and silver were minted here with one interruption until 1893, when production of precious metals had dropped so low that the building was turned into a State assay office. Rooms are small—almost cell-like.

10. The so-called MARK TWAIN HOUSE (private), Division and Spear Sts., is a two-story frame structure with peaked roof and

gables. A legend inscribed in the cement sidewalk before it, proclaims that this was once the home of America's Samuel Clemens—though it must have undergone many changes if his description in Roughing It was accurate. Mark Twain was private secretary to his brother, Orion Clemens, first Territorial Secretary. This is only one of several places where lie brothers are said to have lived.

11. The H. M. YERINGTON HOUSE, on the corner of Minnesota and Robinson Sts., is another of the Victorian structures of the period when Carson's hopes of becoming a metropolis were high. Visitors were always escorted to see it as one of the impressive show places of the town.

12. Another early show-place was the D. L. BLISS HOUSE, on the corner of Elizabeth and Mountain Sts. Festivities in some of these early houses were occasionally as formal as Emily Post could have desired.

13. The GOVERNOR'S MANSION, west side of Mountain St. at the corner of Robinson St., was built in 1905. It is a low spreading house with broad verandas, and a white-columned portico to give it a touch of proper formality.

14. On the southeast corner of South Carson St. and Second St., is the CARSON CITY DAILY APPEAL office, from which a newspaper has been issued ever since 1865, when H. R. Mighels edited the first issue of the Morning Appeal Bob Davis, the journalist and magazine writer, had his first newspaper experience here.

15. The garage at the northwest corner of South Carson and Third Sts. is the FORMER BENTON LIVERY STABLE, which was the leading transportation center of the early town. One of Benton's drivers was Hank Monk, whose reputation as a devil driver made him a valued Jehu in time of need but a terror to people who were unacquainted with his skill

16. A grocery store now occupies what is left of the ORMSBY HOUSE, on the west side of South Carson St., between Second and Third Sts. This hotel, named for Abe Curry's friend, was the leading hotel of early Carson. The story of smoky back-room sessions held here by politicians of the i86o's and later will be stirring when told—which will be when the heirs of participants have reached a philosophical and detached attitude on the practice of those days.

THE ORMSBY HOME, on the southwest corner of Third and Minnesota Sts., is the place from which Major Ormsby set out with his volunteers in 1860, to teach the "red devils" a lesson after they had burned William's trading-post and killed four men in retaliation for the kidnapping of two Bannock squaws. Ormsby, one of the 64. men killed in the battle near Pyramid Lake (see Tour i), was an enthusiastic believer in Carson's destiny and had aided Curry in his plans for making the town the capital.

Left from Carson City over an improved road to the NEVADA STATE PENITENTIARY (visitors 9 A. M. to 10:45 and xa to ^45 ?. Af.), 2 *».,

which has the first lethal gas chamber constructed for execution of the death penalty. Here also is the old execution chair, its back to a stone cliff, with gun- rests before it. For years the State allowed a condemned person to make a choice between shooting and hanging. Only one man ever chose to be shot The site, close to Abe Curry's Warm Springs Hotel, was rented from him in 1862, then purchased two years later. The first buildings were burned in 1867. A very important archeological discovery was made within the walls of the prison. Skeletons of prehistoric animals, and footprints of birds, horses, lions, wolves, and the giant sloth have been unearthed. The first discovery was made in the late 1870*3 when fossil remains were uncovered by a blast used in excavating for a prison workshop. The tracks and skeletons have been found at a depth of from 20 to 25 feet on what apparently was the shore of an ancient lake.

For a few miles south of Carson City, US 50 (see Tour 7) unites with US 395. At 48.9 m. is the junction with paved Nev. 36.

Left on this road 1 m. to STEWART, composed of the CARSON INDIAN AGENCY, established in 1890 through the efforts of William M. Stewart, then a U. S. Senator from Nevada. Here, on the banks of Clear Creek at the southern end of Eagle Valley, are 30 modern buildings, including a school, chiefly of local stone, surrounded by orchards and tilled fields. In addition to the usual subjects, the Indian children are taught agriculture, horticulture, stockraising, and home economics. The students are not only from Nevada, but also from California, Utah, Arizona, and Oregon. The agency here has jurisdiction over certain reservations within the State, and those in Inyo and Mono Counties, California, There is a trading post selling souvenirs to visitors. Pageants are annually presented, usually in June.

US 395 proceeds southward over rolling sage-covered hills to drop into Carson Valley, one of the most productive areas in the State. In the blue distance is the mighty backdrop of the Sierras.

Wild flowers are scattered in spring over the valley floor and the surrounding foothills. Lupine, both blue and white, and a variety of mullein having yellow blossoms resembling sunflowers are prolific, A riot of fragrant pink petals from the wild peach line the road. Thickets of wild rose bloom along the small streams. Indian pinks, sego lilies, sand lilies, larkspur, and wild pansies bloom early on the hillsides. In late summer and fall the vivid yellow-orange blossoms of rabbit brush brighten wide areas.

Right on this road to GENOA, 3 m. (4,750 alt, 150 pop.), now a scattered community but the oldest permanent settlement in Nevada, made when this area was in Western Utah. There is some controversy over the date when Genoa was really settled. The first structure, a roofless stockade, was built in 1849 by H. S. Beattie, who had come over to trade with travelers on the road to California. Robert Lyon wrote that when he stopped in 1850 at Mormon Station, as it was then called, he found two or three women, and several children among those apparently living here. The people had a band of fat cattle brought from Salt Lake, which they were killing for meat; it sold at 750 a pound. But in the spring of 1851, when John Reese and Jacob A. Dinsey chose this iite for a trading post, they found only the remains of one building. On July 4, 1851, Kinsey took possession of Mormon Station, which name it retained until 1855, when, after a survey, Judge Orson Hyde renamed it Genoa.

sibly the only house In Nevada. A stockade enclosing more < than an acre of ground was erected at a cost of $2,000 as a protection against Indians in case of need—and also to protect the post against the numerous marauding whites. A fine crop of turnips was reaped in 1851 and these were sold to travelers for as much as a dollar a bunch.

After the influx of more people, a squatter government was formed at a meeting held November 12, 1851. Four years later, Genoa became the seat of Carson County, Utah Territory. In 1861 it became the seat of Douglas County, which position it retained until 1916. Its early prosperity was owing to the rush of California miners back to Virginia City, and the mining there, which created an immense amount of freighting and stage travel across the Sierra.

Genoa early had a newspaper, a telegraph line, and an Overland Stage rtation. Before long a gristmill and a sawmill were in operation and two stores supplied residents with all necessities.

In May, 1852, Israel Mott settled four miles from Mormon Station. His wife was the first woman to make her home in Carson Valley.

It was while Genoa was the «eat of Douglas County that half-mad "Fighting" Sam Brown, who boasted that he had filled a graveyard, met a little more than his match. This bully of Virginia City cam* down to attend a court session for the purpose of intimidating the judge, jury, and witnesses into freeing one of his henchmen, who was on trial for murder. He was met by young Bill Stewart, then a district attorney and later U. S. Senator from Nevada, whose contempt for the courage of bad men was one of his outstanding traits. He pointed a gun at Brown and took his testimony.

When Brown left Genoa he was as furious as any bully could be. Looking for vengeance, on his way back to the Comstock he committed the deadly mistake of taking a few pot-shots at a peace-loving Dutchman named Henry Van Sickle. The shots went wild—for Brown was not dangerous except at close range; but they did awaken something in that Dutchman. He got his shotgun and started in pursuit, and before many hours had passed he had the terror of Washoe fleeing for his life.

When at last the furious Dutchman cornered the bully, the fight was soon over, and a long breath of relief ran throughout the area. The jury's verdict was that Brown had "come to his end from a just dispensation of an all-wise Providence." Van Sickle seems to have been indifferent to the fact that he was a public hero. He did not like to have men come along and shoot at him for fun, and so far as he was concerned, that was the whole story.

Right on this road which approximately follows the route Fremont and his party took in 1844. Right on Nev. 19, a dirt road. At 13 m, is a junction with US 50 (tie Tour 7) by Lake Tahoe at a point one mile from the California Line,

MINDEN, 61.4 m. (4,700 alt., 200 pop.), seat of Douglas County and terminal of the Carson Valley branch of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, achieved a measure of publicity when Mary Pickford of motion picture fame chose the little courthouse here to divorce Owen Moore.

In 1855 a German immigrant, Henry Fred Dangberg, crossed the Plains and, ignoring the silver lodes on the surrounding heights, took up a ranch in this valley. Knowing what the Mormons were doing with irrigation in Utah belabored hard until he had ditched his fields and was growing hay on his ranch; with the rush for Washoe and the great demand for feed he was able to get $300 a ton. In 1864 he obtained a small supply of seed from a ship-captain who had been in Chile and planted it at places where he beli«ved the mineral content of the soil

would permit its growth; this was probably the first alfalfa grown in the State. Gradually his ranch expanded and when he died in 1904 his property extended from Twelve Mile House to Carson—36,000 acres. In 1864 he married Margaret Ferris, sister of the man who was to build the Ferris wheel at the first great Chicago Fair, and they trained their children to share their father's interests. Two years before Dangberg's death he organized the H. F. Dangberg Land & Livestock Company, which passed to the hands of his sons—John, Henry Fred Jr., and George. The company established Minden in 1905 and it at once become the county seat.

The ranch today provides the best example of diversified agriculture in the State; it has both cattle and sheep of registered stock and produces grain and potatoes as well as hay. An allied business is a creamery, and many of Minden enterprises, such as the bank and the hotel, were Dangberg-initiated. The town itself as well as its public buildings have the neat trim look associated with the old-fashioned German villages.

GARDNER VILLE, 62.7 m. (4,710 alt., 400 pop.), which like its near neighbor is a trade town of Carson Valley as well as for mountainous areas westward in California. Also like Minden, this is a town with solid buildings and shaded streets.

US 395 proceeds southeast through Carson Valley with its fertile ranches, large herds of cattle, and thousands of haystacks. The snowcapped peaks of the Sierras (R) run in a north-south line as far as the eye can see. The road leaves the valley at 66.7 m. and takes a winding course over low hills covered with sage and dotted with dwarf pine. Within a few miles the air is redolent with the smell of evergreens.

US 395 turns south to climb a low pass. TOPAZ LAKE (L), 83 m., is an artificial body of water lying partly in Nevada and partly in California. It impounds the waters of West Walker River for irrigation use in Lyon County. The lake has a treeless shoreline on which are many campsites. The water is well stocked with trout; boats can be rented at CARSON'S FISHING LODGE, 84.1 m.

US 395 crosses the CALIFORNIA LINE, 844 m., at a point 132 miles north of Bishop, California.