Sodaville: Home of the Rare and Once Endangered Milkvetch

Buildings at Sodaville (Photo courtesy of Ken Lund)

 You won’t find a Coke in Sodaville. You also can’t find Pepsi or Mountain Dew or any other brand of soft drink.

Despite its frothy name, Sodaville owes its existence to the presence of two mineralized hot springs that flow in the area (hence the name) and a railroad’s need for a station in the area—and not to any type of carbonated beverage.

  Located on U.S. 95, about three miles south of Mina, Sodaville is today, in fact, little more than a name on a map with a handful of decaying buildings. Some online sites actually describe it as “an extinct town in Mineral County.”

  Historical records indicate the area was settled in the 1870s under the name Soda Springs. Situated about 20 miles north of the mining boomtown of Candelaria, it’s believed Soda Springs may have provided water to that mining camp and surrounding camps.

  In 1881, the Carson & Colorado Railroad decided to locate a rail station and roundhouse at Soda Springs, which, was renamed Sodaville. Additionally, a stage/freight line was established linking Sodaville to the mining community of Belmont (about 110 miles to the east).

  Along with transportation-related enterprises, Sodaville also became a popular warm springs resort for locals.

  By the early 1900s, Sodaville had become an important shipping point for ore coming out of Tonopah and Goldfield and supplies going back to those booming mining towns.

  Sodaville also became the site of a couple of small milling operations, which worked ore from nearby mining camps.

  Nevada history writer Stanley Paher has noted that in 1904, there was such demand for faster travel between the Carson & Colorado terminus at Sodaville and Tonopah that the horse-drawn wagons were replaced with Stanley Roadsters boasting 32-horsepower engines and room for up to 16 passengers.

  The trip, which had previously taken an entire day, was now possible in a blazing six to eight hours.

  Sodaville’s usefulness as a regional transportation hub soon came to an end following establishment of the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad in the summer of 1904, which offered quicker, cheaper and better service.

  A year later, the Carson & Colorado’s owners decided to relocate its operations from Sodaville to Mina.

  In about 1915, tungsten was discovered in the mountains west of Sodaville and by the mid-1920s, a tungsten mill, the Silver Dyke, was erected in the community.

  These mining operations, however, were short-lived and Sodaville quickly slipped into obscurity. Today, only a few buildings, foundations and mounds of dirt mark the site of the original settlement.

  A perhaps apocryphal story about Sodaville appeared in the WPA Guide to Nevada, published in 1940. According to the guide, in 1904 a notorious local gunman named “Two-Gun” Mike Kennedy had been bullying camp residents for some time when he encountered a quite but determined miner named James Lund.

  Kennedy had been messing with Lund, who, tired of the harassment, challenged the gunman to a shoot-out. According to the story, Lund was unarmed so “Two-Gun” Kennedy loaned one of his pistols to the miner.

  The two squared off in the center of town, with residents lining both sides. Despite his reputation as the “toughest man ever to emerge from the East,” Kennedy was no match for Lund, who apparently fired all six of his bullets into Kennedy’s body. The sharpshooting Lund, however, was unharmed and, it was said, walked back into the saloon for another drink.

  While little remains of the community, Sodaville has been in the news for two non-mining related reasons in recent decades. In the late 20th century, naturalists discovered that the area was the site of a rare plant known as the Sodaville milkvetch (or Astragalus lntiginosus var. sequimelralis), a member of the pea family.

  According to reports, the Sodaville milkvetch has only been found at two locations in Nevada and one in California. It can be recognized by its divided leaves, purple flowers and inflated, elongated seed pods.

  The Sodaville milk-etch only flourishes in moist, alkaline clay flats near springs and around desert seeps, such as the marshy spring-fed areas found at Sodaville. As a result it was included on federal endangered species lists until recently.

  The other reason Sodaville has been in the news in recent decades was in the 1990s, when an entrepreneur acquired ownership of the area’s hot springs and decided to raise Australian red claw crawfish, which resemble small lobsters, in tanks fed by the springs.

  For a time, he was fairly successful, advertising to travelers on U.S. 95 that they should stop in to pick up what he called “Desert Lobsters.” At the peak of his operations, he had more than a half-million of the shellfish in his tanks.

  Unfortunately, however, he neglected to obtain the proper permits from state wildlife officials to commercially farm a non-native species. Concerned that the crawfish might migrate into other nearby warm springs, some of which contain threatened or sensitive species, his operation was shut down.

  According to news reports at the time, the would-be crawfish magnate wasn’t supposed to sell the crawfish live, which he was apparently doing. After repeated warnings, wildlife officials raided the crawfish farm and killed off the invasive species by pouring chlorine bleach into the tanks.

  So, the next time you’re heading south on U.S. 95 and you’ve just passed the town of Mina, pause for a moment at Sodaville to ponder “Two-Gun” Kennedy, the infamous Desert Lobsters and the rare milkvetch.

Peter Lassen's Final Resting Place

 

It’s peaceful at Peter Lassen’s gravesite near Susanville, California.

Surrounded by tall pines and adjacent to large, open meadow, Lassen’s final resting spot is picturesque and tranquil. The gravesite, which resembles a small park, is located at 2550 Wingfield Road, about six miles from downtown Susanville via Richmond Road.

Lassen, namesake for a county in California, a national park, a national forest, a mountain peak, and a community college (in Susanville) is today recognized as one of the most important non-Native American pioneers to settle in the northeast corner of California in the 1840s.

Lassen was born on October 31, 1800 in the town of Farum, located near Copenhagen in Denmark. Named for his grandfather, Peter, his last name was formed by taking his father’s name (Lars) and adding “son.” Since spelling was haphazard in those days, he was known as Peter Larson as well as Larsen, Larsson, Lawson, and Lassen Farum (after his birthplace). Eventually, he simplified his name to simply Lassen.

By the time he was in his mid-20s, Lassen had become a master blacksmith in Copenhagen. But economic success proved elusive so, in 1830, he migrated to America for better opportunities. After brief periods in Boston and Philadelphia, he settled in Keytesville, Missouri, where he worked as a blacksmith and was active in forming a local militia.

In 1838, he became acquainted with John A. Sutter, who was just embarking on a trip to Hawaii and California. Sutter, who eventually settled in the Sacramento area (and founded that community) invited Lassen to join him in Northern California, which he did in 1840.

After a few years of working in California, during which he had success milling lumber, making furniture, and building saddles, Lassen was able to receive a land grant from Mexican Governor Manuel Micheltorena. His new holdings amounted to 22,000 acres at the confluence of the Sacramento River and Deer Creek, about 22 miles south of modern-day Red Bluff.

During the next few years, Lassen established a small ranch, known as Bosquejo Rancho, which included 2,300 cattle, horses, and mules, fields of cotton, a vineyard (from which he made wine), and a trading post/store. His property attracted others and he helped start up a new town, Benton City, near his land.

In 1848, Lassen traveled to Missouri and led a wagon train back to California by way of a more northern route than previous wagon parties had traveled. Known as the Lassen Trail Cutoff, it proved to be a far more arduous journey than the more traveled Carson Pass or Truckee Pass routes. Despite that fact, thousands would follow on his trail.

Some historians note that Lassen had another motive for encouraging travelers to take the Lassen Trail—it led to his ranch, where he could sell goods to the weary travelers.

Despite that, Lassen was largely viewed as a generous man who was quick to organize rescue parties for lost or struggling travelers. He also was constantly seeking new ways to make his fortune.

In 1850, one of those schemes involved purchasing a steamboat that he planned to use to transport goods and products on the Sacramento River. Unfortunately, the river proved too difficult to navigate and the venture went bust. Lassen lost nearly everything, including his rancho.

By 1855, Lassen had relocated to the Honey Lake area, where he established two ranches, one on the banks of the lake (near present day Milford) and another near present-day Susanville.

Lassen also tried his hand at mining, prospecting in the Black Rock Desert region. In late April 1859, Lassen and a band of eight other men headed out to the area to search for silver. The party split into two groups, with five of the miners leaving first to set up camp and Lassen, along with Edward Clapper and Lamericus Wyatt, departing later.

The latter group traveled for a few hours but couldn’t catch up to the main party and decided to set up their own camp. Interestingly, they were only a mile away from the main group’s camp.

The next morning, as Lassen and his friends were sleeping, they were attacked by an unknown party. Clapper was shot in the head and killed immediately as he slept while Lassen was shot and killed after he stood up to see what was happening.

Wyatt, who jumped on his horse and rode 125 miles to Susanville, told residents that Lassen and Clapper had been killed by either members of the Pit River tribe or the Paiutes. Some were skeptical, however, since whoever killed Clapper and Lassen didn’t raid the camp, which contained food, clothing, and whiskey, after Wyatt rode off.

An expedition rode out from Susanville and found Lassen’s body (but not Clapper’s). They buried Lassen on the site, where he remained until November, when a second party removed him and buried him adjacent to a large Ponderosa tree near his Susanville ranch (where he had previously indicated he wished to be buried).

Clapper’s body wasn’t recovered until 1990, when rock hunters found a skull and upper body skeleton in the Black Rock Desert. In 1992, his remains were buried alongside Lassen’s.

Following Lassen’s death, in 1862, local Masons (Lassen was a member of the order) erected a stone monument adjacent to his grave. By 1917, the ten-foot-tall marker had begun to deteriorate and the Masons erected a larger, taller one adjacent to the site. Today, an enclosure protects the original marker and the Lassen and Clapper gravesites and wooden benches have been set up for visitors to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

Petroglyphs and Pre-History Found Just Outside of Sparks

 

Griffith Canyon petroglyphs

A place I had not learned of until recently that certainly piqued my interest is Griffith Canyon, located in the foothills north of Sparks and on the edge of Spanish Springs.

I had read the canyon was scenic, not too difficult to navigate, and contained good examples of petroglyphs, which are prehistoric Native American rock carvings that are believed to be sacred and related to either hunting, fertility, or something else because no one knows what they mean.

I also was surprised I wasn’t aware of it because of its close proximity to Reno and Sparks.

So, off to Griffith Canyon I went on a recent Saturday morning. Following the instructions that I found on Google Maps, I drove to Nevada 445 (Pyramid Highway) in Sparks, then continued north about eight miles to Calle De La Plata road. I turned right on Calle La Plata, drove another 1.8 miles, then turned right onto Valle Verde Drive.

I passed through a neighborhood of large ranch-style homes for a quarter-mile, then turned right onto Agua Fria Drive (continuing for a half mile). At El Molino Drive, I turned left, and drove about a third of a mile on a dirt road that led to a pair of stone and white metal fences (like a gateway) that stand on each side of the road.

About a quarter mile downhill from the fencing, I found a wide spot in the road (to the right), where I decided to park. On the opposite side was a metal culvert and below was a gash in the mountains that I hoped would be Griffith Canyon.

At first, I wondered if I had found the correct place. But as I stood on the road looking down into the narrow canyon, a full-grown buck with large antlers suddenly appeared before me. I took it as a sign that this was the spot, and slowly climbed down the hill into a rocky, dry wash (wear sturdy shoes, like hiking boots because it’s easy to twist an ankle here).

The buck heard me and bounded up one of the sides of the canyon and disappeared. I continued into the canyon. A rough trail appeared occasionally and seemed to crisscross the creek bed, which was lined with pinion, sagebrush, wildflowers and grasses.

As I walked on, I saw the sides of the canyon became steeper with more rock walls—ideal spaces for petroglyphs. About a third-of-a-mile into the hike, I encountered the first panels of rock writing to my left. Here, I could see jagged lines and patterns carved into the reddish rock wall.

A bit farther, and there were round shapes as well as a carving shaped like a stick with three prongs and stick figure-like images. At the bottom of the rock face, there is also an unusual carving that resembles a turtle.

I marched on for another half-mile, where, to my right, I found the greatest concentration of petroglyphs—several larger rock panels covered with carvings that resembled a big-horn sheep, various circles, lines, and other patterns. In other places I could see more stick figures and other lines and shapes.

Standing in the middle of the wash and looking at the carvings, I had the feeling of being in a spiritual place. These images had been carved several thousand years ago for some unknown but no doubt important reason.

From the road to the larger panels is about three-quarters of a mile, making the entire hike, back and forth, a bit under two miles—and well worth the effort.

One thing to keep in mind is that the petroglyphs here are fragile, so be respectful. The canyon is best explored between April and November, and since there are only a few trees, make certain to dress appropriately for sun and bring water.