Before Ely—There was Lane City

 

  The remnants of one of White Pine County’s earliest communities, Lane City, can still be seen just west of Ely.

  In fact, Lane City, originally known as Mineral City, is considered one of the area’s first significant settlements. It was established several years earlier than Ely.

  According to Nevada historian Shawn Hall’s book, “Romancing Nevada’s Past: Ghost Towns and Historic Sites of Eureka, Lander and White Pine Counties,” a local Native American guided a prospecting party led by Thomas Robinson to promising silver deposits in the region in late 1867.

  The discovery led to the creation of the Robinson Mining District in March 1868 and within two years a small community had cropped up, which was named Mineral City.

  To process all of the silver being mined in the district, a 10-stamp mill and a small smelter were built in city, which grew to nearly 600 residents in 1872-73. According to Hall, Mineral City also had a post office, six saloons, four boardinghouses and a handful of shops and stores.

  Despite a drop in silver production, beginning in 1874, Mineral City managed to survive for several years as a regional hub for mining operations in the county.

  By 1880, however, it was clear that Mineral City’s boom had gone bust, and most of its residents began to wander off to more lucrative mining opportunities.

  The district, however, revived in 1896, when Charles D. Lane, a wealthy Eastern investor, purchased many of the local claims, reopened the stamp mill and constructed a power plant and water ditch. It was during this time that Mineral City’s name was changed to Lane City.

  During the next decade and a half, the area’s mines and mining operations sporadically operated, depending on whether enough ore could be found and processed.

  By 1910, Lane City’s mines were largely shut down for good. The post office, which had reopened in 1902, closed again in 1911.

  Because of the success of copper mining in nearby Ruth, Lane City, however, wasn’t completely abandoned as a number of miners continued to live in the community and work in the adjacent mines or in Ely.

  Throughout the first part of the 20th century, Lane City boasted about a dozen homes and a fine brick schoolhouse, which, while long abandoned, remains standing.

  Today, visitors to Lane City can find a handful of stone, frame and log buildings as well as some stone walls and foundations, all of which date to the early 20th century. It’s not believed that any of the original structures from the settlement’s earliest days (when it was still called Mineral City) still exist.

  Lane City is located three miles northwest of Ely, on the east side of U.S. 50. The ruins are accessible via a dirt road. Be aware, however, that much of the area is private property and there are some open mine diggings.

  One of the best ways to get a good look of the ruins of Lane City is to take a ride on the Nevada Northern Railway, which operates a regular excursion between its depot in East Ely and Ruth.

  From the train, you can clearly see the dozen or so ruins as well as a few homes that appear to still be inhabited. The most impressive structure is the old Lane City School, which is the large, white building that sits near the front of the community and almost looks like it could be reopened tomorrow.

  For more information about Lane City, pick up a copy of Shawn Hall’s book, published by the University of Nevada Press, or June Shaputis’ informative history of the community, found at: http://theusgenweb.org/nv/whitepine/Towns/lane_city.htm.

Exploring the New East Walker River State Recreation Area

 

  One of Nevada’s newest state parks facilities is all about ranching.

  Known as the East Walker River State Recreation Area, located about 14 miles south of Yerington, the park is devoted to celebrating the ranching culture of western Nevada, while offering plenty of recreational opportunities.

  The park, along with Ice Age Fossil State Park near Las Vegas, are the only new state parks that have been established in the past two decades.

  The East Walker River Recreation Area encompasses nearly 30 miles of river corridor and 12,856 acres of land. It was created when the Walker Basin Conservancy, a non-profit environmental group seeking to restore Walker Lake, bought four historic ranches that border the East Walker River.

  According to the group, the goal was to secure the water rights from the ranches in order to return more water to the lake, which has been receding in recent decades. The group gifted the land, estimated to be worth more than $8 million, to the state for the park.

  The ranches included the Pitchfork, Nine Mile, Rafter 7 and Flying M ranches, which can trace their roots back more than 125 years.

  At the present time, only the Pitchfork (originally known as the Strosnider Ranch) and the Nine Mile are open to the public.

  The Flying M Ranch, owned by Barron Hilton, remains under a life lease and will become available for public use after his death. The Rafter 7 Ranch, which includes a large ranch house, is still being developed as a large-group setting.

  The initial phase of the park’s development began on the Pitchfork Ranch property in 2018, with the opening of a visitor’s center (in an attractive stucco building that was the original ranch house) and completion of campsites, some with RV hook-ups, and covered picnic areas.

  Additionally, the park offers four one bedroom, one-bathroom cabins (with additional bunkrooms accommodating two twin bunkbeds) at a place called Antelope Acres, which is about a mile and a half from the main entrance.

  Cabins can be reserved using a form found on the state park service web site (http://parks.nv.gov/parks/walker-river). Cabins cost $95 per night on week nights and $120 for weekends.

  A stop into the visitor’s center is a chance to ask park staff any questions about the area, view a handful of exhibits, and pay the $5 day-use fee.

  One of the best ways to enjoy the park is by kayaking on the East Walker River (bring or rent your own). Currently visitors can float for about six miles but the route will eventually stretch some 50 miles.

  A good account about kayaking at the park recently appeared on Public Broadcasting’s Wild Nevada television show (watch at: www.pbsreno.org/watch/wildnevada/s5-episode1/).

  The park also offers trails as well as roads for off-road vehicles, horseback riding, mountain bikes. Private working ranches surround the park’s property, so pay attention to signs marking no trespassing.

  To reach East Walker River Recreation Area, head south of Yerington on State Route 208 for about eight miles, then head east on a marked, graded dirt road for another six miles or so. The road can be wash-boarded and a little rough for passenger cars but easy for a higher clearance four-wheel drive vehicle.

  For more information, go to the Nevada State Park web site for the park, which is: http://parks.nv.gov/parks/walker-river.

The Sweet Surprise that is Wilson Canyon

  Wilson Canyon is a narrow rock passageway in the Singatse Range, which separates Smith Valley from Mason Valley in western Nevada. Stretching some three miles, the canyon is an unexpected scenic treasure that is also popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts.

  The canyon’s spectacular reddish-gray-colored volcanic rock walls were carved by the West Walker River, which runs through the canyon before intersecting with the East Walker River a few miles to the east.

  Located 13 miles southwest of Yerington, Wilson Canyon was named for brothers David and William “Uncle Billy” Wilson, who settled in the area in 1863.

  David, Wilson who was born in Ohio in 1829 and raised in Missouri, headed to California in 1850 to seek his fortune as a gold placer miner on the Yuba River. Three years later, he returned to Missouri and, in 1855, married Abigail Butler of Ohio.

  Following service in the Union Army during the Civil War, David Wilson and his wife and family returned to the west, this time heading to Nevada, where his brother, William Wilson, was mining.

  The brothers settled in the Wilson Canyon/Mason Valley area, where David became a successful rancher while William, who had previously worked as a miner in Virginia City, continued to seek his fortunes in the region’s mountains.

  In 1866, William struck it rich in the Pine Grove area. While David would spend the rest of his life in the Mason Valley area, becoming a prominent rancher and community leader, William made and eventually spent a fortune developing mining properties in Pine Grove.

  William died nearly penniless in Pine Grove in 1911 at the age of 80. His brother, David, died four years later in the Mason Valley home of his friend, John McGowen, at the age of 85.

  An interesting side note is that in addition to his own sons, David Wilson took in and raised a young Northern Paiute boy named Wovoka, who also took the name Jack Wilson. Wovoka would later become an important Native American religious figure and leader, who started the Ghost Dance Movement in 1890.

  From 1910 to the late 1940s, the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad line ran through the canyon.

  In more recent decades, the Bureau of Land Management has maintained a recreation area for day-use and overnight camping, which is located at the western edge of the canyon. Camping is primitive with no utility hook-ups and on-site vault restrooms.

  The recreation area is popular with all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts and dirt-bikers, who can travel on some three-and-a-half miles of trails in the area.

  Additionally, the Wilson Canyon Nature Trail, developed in 2011 with assistance from the state of Nevada, Lyon County and local volunteers, is a 3.5-mile loop that offers beautiful views of the area.

  Lining the trail, which is rated moderate, are a handful of signs that help hikers identify various plants and animals (including mule deer, waterfowl and raptors, found in the area. You will also find petrified wood stumps and other fossils along the way.

  For more information about Wilson Canyon, go to: www.alltrails.com/trail/us/nevada/wilson-canyon.