Kit Carson Trail - Part 1

Bliss Mansion

Several years ago, the Carson City Convention and Visitors Authority developed the Kit Carson Trail to promote the Capital City's rich history. The 2.5 mile walking tour through Carson City's west side passes dozens of notable historic homes and buildings.

Emulating Boston's Freedom Trail, which is marked by a brick trail through that historic community, the Kit Carson Trail's path is a bright, blue line painted on sidewalks through the city's most historic neighborhoods.

A walking tour map, available from the convention and visitors bureau office, describes the trail.

Additionally, several of the houses tell their stories. When you stand or park your car in front of any of them and tune a radio to AM 1020 or AM 1040 you can hear recordings telling the history of the two closest homes. The map indicates "talking" houses.

The first 13 places listed in the Kit Carson Trail brochure include the city's most historic government buildings and landmarks including the State Capitol, built between 1870-71, the former State Printing Building, built in 1885-86, the former U.S. Mint (now the Nevada State Museum), built in 1869 and the Governor's Mansion, completed in 1909.

From the state government complex of buildings, the blue line leads to the city's historic churches, largely clustered in the vicinity of Division Street, between King and Telegraph.

These include St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church (completed in 1871), St. Peter's Episcopal Church (opened in 1868), the First United Methodist Church (1865) and the First Presbyterian Church (1864). The latter is considered the oldest church building still in service in the state while the Methodist Church is the state's oldest religious congregation, established in 1859.

From the churches, the blue line leads into the city's historic residential neighborhoods. The houses range from the modest—such as the 1862 Smail House (512 N. Curry), which is considered a fine example of Greek revival architecture—to the elaborate, like Henry M. Yerington's Victorian home, built in 1863, once home of the superintendent of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

Other noteworthy abodes on the trail include: the Alfred Chartz House (412 N. Nevada), built in 1876, and named for a renowned 19th century Nevada lawyer; the Abe Curry House, an unusual sandstone home built in 1871 by the city's founder (using stone from the state prison quarry); and the Frank Norcross House, built in 1906 by a former Nevada Supreme Court Justice (and later owned by former U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt).

One of the most historically significant buildings is the Orion Clemens house (502 N. Division), built in 1863 by the first and only secretary of the Nevada Territorial.
Orion Clemens was the brother of Samuel Clemens, better known as writer Mark Twain. The latter began his writing career at Virginia City's legendary "Territorial Enterprise" newspaper and occasionally stayed in the house in 1864.

The 1886 William Stewart House (503 W. Robinson), named for Nevada's first U.S. Senator, was actually the second home he had constructed in Carson City. It later served as a hospital.

A more recent structure that is architecturally significant is the Dr. William Cavell House (402 W. Robinson). Built by a local dentist in 1907, the house was one of the first in the city to have indoor gas and electricity.

Another striking home is the Bender House (707 W. Robinson), a white, two-story structure with a wonderful round porch. The home was built in 1867 and is named for David A. Bender, a V & T Railroad official, who owned it from 1873 to 1901.

Across the street is the magnificent Bliss Mansion (710 W. Robinson), a 15-room home built in 1879 by lumber magnate Duane L. Bliss. The house is now a bed and breakfast inn.

More about the trail in the next posting.

(For more information about the Kit Carson Trail, contact the Carson City Visitors & Convention Authority, 1-800-NEVADA-1).

Churchill County Museum Has the Goods

It’s amazing how much of Nevada’s history is associated with the Fallon region.

Within a few miles of the community are such historically significant places as Hidden Cave, the Pony Express route, the 40-Mile Desert and the Newlands Water Project.

Fortunately, the Churchill County Museum in Fallon tells the stories of these places and the role each played in the state’s development.

For instance, prior to the arrival of white settlers in the late 19th century, there was a plethora of prehistoric activity in the area. Displays in the 14,000 square-foot building describe these early people as well as the landscape, which was considerably different from today.

Until about 12,000 years ago, much of the region was covered by an ancient inland sea, now called Lake Lahontan. Archaeologists at Hidden Cave have uncovered fossils and artifacts dating as far back as 21,000 years.

The museum offers exhibits detailing excavations of Hidden Cave and offers guided tours of the site on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

A related children’s exhibit allows kids to dig in sand for hidden artifacts such as arrowheads, spear points, an axe head, and other items.

Adjacent displays focus on the Native American culture of the area with special emphasis on the art of making tule baskets and duck decoys. Some baskets in the museum’s collection were woven more than a century ago.

Additionally, a large hut constructed of tule reeds has been carefully reconstructed to show the traditional Paiute lifestyle.

Wandering through the museum’s main building (the complex consists of several structures), you pass other exhibits describing other important historical events.

One large display is filled with relics from the dreaded 40-mile Desert, a stretch of the Emigrant Trail that was considered the hardest portion of the entire journey because of the lack of water and vegetation.

If you look closely, you can find wagon parts, a rusting waffle iron, horseshoes, wooden roller skates, pans, cow skulls and an assortment of other things left in the desert by pioneers struggling to make the trek.

Fallon was also located on the famed Pony Express route (although the mail trail predates the town by a half-century) and there are displays describing Pony Express stations in the region as well as the development of the Overland Telegraph (which replaced the riders).

The Churchill County Telephone and Telegraph System, which remains the nation’s only county-owned telephone company, eventually absorbed the old telegraph lines.

The museum also contains a display telling the history of the Newlands Water Project, the first federal reclamation project in 1902. This irrigation system created the nearby Lahontan Reservoir, which provides the water for area farmers.

In another part of the museum, visitors can wander by various rooms that recreate early Fallon home life. For example, there is a replica of a typical turn-of-the-century kitchen complete with period stove, table, pots, pans and canned goods.

Glass display cases scattered throughout the building contain a wide variety of antiques such as an extensive old-time camera collection, carnival glass (popular from 1905-30), firearms, rare purple glass, quilts and office equipment.

Outside the main museum building, you can find a number of unique displays that further illustrate the area's history.

There are samples of ancient Indian petroglyphs (rock writings) and the restored Woodliff Novelty Store, once a well-known Fallon business that served the local community over a century ago.

Upon request, docents will open the old store, which has been reconstructed to include portions of the original Hazen post office as well as items preserved from the Kolhoss Store, a general store that operated for many years in Fallon.

Reflecting the area's abundant agricultural roots, there is also a large collection of farming equipment, including a 1903 Case Steam Traction engine.

The museum annex contains a large assortment of horse buggies as well as a replica of a 19th century blacksmith shop, a saddle collection, fire engines and a 1909 steam road roller that was used to build Lahontan Dam.

The museum has a small gift shop that offers postcards, maps, historic photos and a nice collection of historic books about Nevada.

The Churchill County Museum is located at 1050 S. Maine Street in Fallon. The museum is open daily (except Thursday). Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 775-423-3677.

Lahontan Dam Transformed Nevada

Near the start of the 20th century, the Lahontan Reservoir was looked upon as the way to transform the dry Nevada landscape into a paradise.

Lahontan’s story begins in 1889, when the United States Geological Survey conducted several studies to determine the practicality of irrigating large portions of the American West. One of the regions considered was Western Nevada, near the location of modern-day Fallon.

In 1902, the United State Bureau of Reclamation was created expressly to build projects that would transport water to dry and dusty parts of the West, including Nevada.

Among the first five projects selected for construction by the new agency was the Truckee-Carson Project, which later became known as the Newlands Reclamation Project, in honor of U.S. Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada, author of the 1902 National Reclamation Act.

The project was grand in scope, involving the construction of 104 miles of canals, 504 miles of laterals and 335 miles of open ditches—all designed to move water from the Truckee and Carson rivers to a dry spot in the desert that would be transformed into an oasis.

Work began on the project in 1903 with the building of the Truckee Canal and the Derby Diversion Dam, which divert water from the Truckee River (at a point about 32 miles east of Reno) to Fallon.

Construction continued for nearly 15 years, with other elements added such as the Carson River Diversion Dam (1905), the Lahontan Power Plant (1911), the Lake Tahoe Dam sluiceway (1913) and the Lahontan Dam, completed in 1914.

The latter was the most impressive single structure. It is an earthen dam measuring about 120 feet high and 1,300 feet wide. Curving concrete spillways, which look like giant steps, were built at each end and a massive concrete outlet tower was built in front of the dam.

Water from the spillways flows into a 220-foot pool on the opposite side of the reservoir and from there the water falls back into the Carson River, with a portion diverted to a small electrical powerhouse.

Both the dam and the powerhouse haven’t changed much in the past 80 years. The dam has many unique early 20th century architectural touches, such as the row of old-fashion light posts lining the top of the dam and the intricate concrete arch and metalwork on the suspension footbridge leading to the outlet tower.

The powerhouse is a substantial stone and concrete structure on the river’s edge that houses three generators. Completed before the dam, it supplied hydroelectric power for the machinery used to build the dam. Today, it provides power to the surrounding area.

The original supporters of the Newlands Project were extremely bullish about its prospects, predicting that when completed it would irrigate more than 400,000 acres. The estimates proved overly optimistic as only about 70,000 acres are irrigated by the project.

The 100,000-acre reservoir, however, surpassed expectations in terms of recreational uses. At 23 miles long, it has about 70 miles of shoreline and can retain 320,000 acre-feet of water (an acre-foot is the amount of water it would take to cover an acre of land with a foot of water).

Operated by the Nevada Division of State Parks, the reservoir regularly accommodated nearly a half-million people each year—and most of them seemed to be there on the July 4 weekend. It has more than two dozen beaches with picnicking and swimming as well as 50 camping sites with a dump stations, drinking water and boating launching facilities.

The name, Lahontan, is derived from the name given to the prehistoric lake that once covered much of Nevada and honors Baron de Lahontan, a famous 19th century French explorer.

The Lahontan Recreation Area is located nine miles west of Fallon (or about 45 miles east of Carson City via U.S. 50).

For more information, check out www.state.nv.us/parks/.

Forgotten Fletcher

While the tiny community of Fletcher never boasted more than a handful of residents, it played an important role in the development of business and commerce in the region.

The remains of Fletcher can be found at the intersection of Lucky Boy Pass Road and Aurora Road, about 18 miles southwest of Hawthorne.

Fletcher's heyday—if it can truly be said to have had one—was from about 1883 to 1919. The completion of the Carson & Colorado Railroad to Hawthorne in 1881 provided the impetus for the creation of a way station at the confluence of the road from Aurora and the road leading to Hawthorne.

This crossroad location also happened to boast a vigorous natural spring, which was certainly an advantage in this relatively dry landscape. In 1881, a stage stop was established to connect the thriving mining camp of Aurora, six miles to the south, with the rail line at Hawthorne.

A post office was located at the settlement in 1883 and the intersection took its name from H. D. Fletcher, the first postmaster.

The community's fortunes ebbed and flowed with the successes and failures of mining efforts in Aurora. The post office was opened sporadically over the years, then closed for good on November 30, 1918, when Hawthorne was designated the mail address for its patrons.

The small community of Fletcher quietly slipped into obscurity after the loss of the post office. Ranchers continued—and continue to this day—to utilize water from the spring for livestock, but any permanent residents picked up and moved on.

Today, Fletcher is little more than a wide spot in the road. After driving across miles of flat, dry high desert, you can find Fletcher because it's the only green area around. Tall cottonwoods and poplars, lush green grass, marshy ground and thick foliage attest to the life-giving benefits of the spring.

Indeed, water continues to rush from the spring, funneled through a plastic pipe and into a flat, green meadow that is attractive to local cows. Overflow from this stream of water collects in a small pond, which is thick with cattails and grasses.

Remnants of past settlement remain. Crumbling, hand-piled rock walls indicate the former site of a corral while a locked iron door hints at the hidden things within a stone cellar in a hillside—the only real building still standing.

All around is the refuse of the past; warped wooden boards, rusted metal barrel rims, barbed wire and other castoffs. A U.S. Geological Survey marker indicates this was once someplace—but today few would know where and what and why.

And beware of the few remaining residents of Fletcher. In addition to the cows and the occasional wild horse, the rattler is the most prominent boarder. During a recent visit, we spotted one quietly snoozing within the rotted, hollowed center of a fallen tree.

Fairview's Faults

For six months in 1954, central Nevada was violently shaken by a series of earthquakes that literally changed the shape of the land. Between July 6 and December 16, six quakes shook west central Nevada and eastern California.

The biggest of the temblors, which occurred a little after 3 a.m. on December 16, registered 7.3 on the Richter Scale (for comparison, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was 7.8). It was felt over an area of more than 200,000 square miles.

The epicenter of the quake was seven miles west of U.S. 50, at a spot east of Fairview Peak (about 40 miles east of Fallon). Four minutes later, the area was rocked again by an aftershock that measured 6.9.

The effect of the twin quakes was spectacular surface ruptures and cracks in the nearby valley as well as significant shifts in elevation. Nearly 50 miles of faulting was exposed on Fairview Peak and in the Dixie Valley and Clan Alpine Range to the northwest.

Scientists’ estimate that in some places the mountains rose more than 20 feet relative to the surrounding valleys (although rises of six-feet were more common).

Fortunately, the area most affected by the quakes was sparsely populated so property damage was minimal and no one was injured. U.S. 50 experienced some cracking and buckling and, in one fifty-foot section, the roadway dropped more than five feet.

In Fallon, the closest community of any size, there were a few cracked and toppled chimneys. At the Newlands Project, the series of canals and ditches that transport water to the Lahontan Reservoir, there were reports of several breaks and leaks.

Sacramento, located about 200 miles west, the shock wave apparently caused an estimated $20,000 in damage to a large underground water tank at the city’s filtration plant.

Today, it’s still possible to see traces of the tremendous geological shifting that occurred during the 1954 quakes in the vicinity of Fairview Peak and Dixie Valley.

A road sign on U.S. 50, east of Frenchman’s Flat, points you south to a dirt road that leads to an interpretive display describing the quakes. In fact, if you walk a quarter-mile west of the interpretive sign you can find the exposed fault line.

If you continue on the dirt road, you can see additional fault scarps (places where the ground has been pushed higher than the surrounding area) as well as other faults, which resemble crude trenches dug in the hillside.

The interpretive sign explains that earthquakes basically occur when pressure builds under the earth’s crust and is suddenly released. Portions of the crust will bend or, when the stress exceeds the strength of the surface, break and snap into a new position.

As great as the Fairview/Dixie Valley quakes were, they weren’t the biggest in Nevada’s history. The U.S. Geological Service ranks Nevada as among the most seismically active states.

The earliest recorded earthquake in the state occurred in 1851 near Pyramid Lake. According to later newspaper articles, great cracks opened near the lake and water spouted 100 feet into the air.

The strongest recorded earthquake happened in October 1915, when three temblors in a seven-hour period rattled most of northern Nevada. The biggest shock, with a magnitude of 7.75, struck the Pleasant Valley (north of Winnemucca), and caused damage to homes in Lovelock and Winnemucca. More than 100 aftershocks followed during the next few weeks.

An earthquake of about the same magnitude as that of Fairview Peak (7.3) occurred near Cedar Mountain (near Gabbs) on December 20, 1932. Two cabins were reported destroyed by the quake and a handful of chimneys collapsed on homes in Mina, Luning, and Hawthorne.

For more information about earthquakes in Nevada, including tips on how to cope with one, check out the University of Nevada Reno Seismological Laboratory web site at www. seismo.unr.edu.

Historic Kingston Canyon

On many road maps, Central Nevada seems to consist of the town of Austin—and lots of empty space. But hidden in the canyons, mountains and valleys, explorers can find dozens of historic sites and natural attractions.

In fact, Kingston Canyon, located 27 miles southeast of Austin, is one of the most beautiful of central Nevada's lesser known scenic gems. To reach the site, travel 17 miles east on U.S. Highway 50 to State Route 376, then south for about four miles to Kingston Creek Road, which leads into the canyon.

At the mouth of Kingston Canyon, you'll pass through a relatively developed area consisting of a dozen ranch homes and a few larger buildings, including a general store and church. Just past the newer development, to the right, you'll spot the last remnants of Kingston, a mid-19th century mining camp.

Perhaps the best ruin is the former Victorine Mill, which consists of fairly substantial stone walls and large timbers. Around the mill site, there are also the scattered foundations and walls of other structures no longer identifiable.

From here, you can start driving up on a maintained dirt road into Kingston Canyon. The canyon walls offer some impressive rock formations and classic Nevada pinion and sagebrush landscape.

The road rises above the surrounding Big Smoky Valley—offering a wonderful view—into the Toiyabe Range. About a mile from the canyon entrance, you reach the rustic Kingston Forest Campgrounds, operated by the National Forest Service.

A bit farther is a pretty, small reservoir, a popular local fishing spot. From here, the road curves around Bunker Hill (the 11,474-foot-high peak to the north) and rides the crest of the Toiyabe range for a few miles, paralleling Kingston Creek.

The scenery here is incredible; to the west you can see the beauty of the Reese River Valley, while to the east is the spectacular Big Smoky. A few miles ahead, Kingston Creek becomes Big Creek and the road reaches the Big Creek Forest Campground, a relatively undeveloped back country campsite.

The road continues northwest from the campground, dropping down into the Reese River Valley at a point about ten miles south of Highway 50 and Austin.

Records indicate that silver and gold were discovered in the Kingston area in the early 1860s. A small camp, originally called Bunker Hill, was established and existed for about two years.

In 1864, Kingston was staked near the entrance of the canyon to be closer to the mines. Several mills were built, including the massive Victorine, and, because of the availability of water from the creek, a number of crops were planted, including grapes (which apparently did not flourish).

By the end of the decade, it became obvious that the Kingston ore wasn't as rich as originally believed and the town began to decline. The mills were dismantled and moved to other locations.

Kingston's mines were reworked several times in later years, including in the 1880s and at the turn-of-the-century. Today, the area remains a sleepy ranching hamlet with a handful of businesses. In recent years, retirees have discovered Kingston and begun moving into the area.

For more information contact the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Box 212, Austin, NV 89310, 775-964-2200, www.mountainsage.org.

Sutro's Dream

In the mid-19th century, Virginia City’s mining industry helped spur a number of technological and engineering breakthroughs like square-cut timbering, thick woven metal cable and—perhaps the most audacious—Adolph Sutro’s tunnel.

At that time, one of the industry’s biggest challenges was how to remove scalding hot water that seeped into the mines and made it impossible to work.

To cope, mining companies resorted to ingenious solutions such as dropping giant blocks of ice into the shafts, limiting the amount of time miners could work underground and developing some of the world’s largest pumps to remove the water.

However, a Prussian immigrant named Adolph Sutro concocted perhaps the most ambitious plan. While only 30 years old, Sutro had already operated a successful mercantile business in San Francisco before heading to Nevada in 1860 to improve his fortunes.

After learning about the challenges facing Virginia City mine owners, he had an inspiration—build a long tunnel deep beneath the mines, then link the shafts to the tunnel so that hot water could easily and safely be drained from them.

Additionally, he thought that the tunnel would be an easier and cheaper way to move the ore from the mines to the mills, many of which were located on the Carson River.

His tunnel would stretch more than 20,000 feet from its entrance, located east of present-day Dayton, to the first connection at the Savage Mine. He also envisioned the development of a whole town, named Sutro, to serve as the focus point for the tunnel.

In the early 1860s, Sutro pitched his tunnel idea to the mining companies, who were initially supportive. In 1865, the Nevada State Legislature granted him authority to drill a four-mile long tunnel into Mount Davidson.

He persuaded a number of the Comstock Lode’s largest mines to agree to pay a fee for each ton of ore transported through the tunnel.

But opposition arose, primarily from officials of the powerful Bank of California, who feared his tunnel might break their monopoly on the milling and transporting of Virginia City’s ore. As a result, it would take Sutro another three years to line up financing for the tunnel.

Finally, on October 19, 1869, work began on Sutro's hole. Nearly nine years later, on July 8, 1878, the tunnel was completed. It cost $3.5 million and stretched more than 20,000-feet from the mouth, located just east of Dayton, to the first connection at the Savage Mine.

Unfortunately for its investors, who were mostly European, the tunnel was completed about the time that Virginia City’s mines had begun to decline. While it served its original purpose, it was never the moneymaker that Sutro envisioned and never paid for itself.

Sutro was probably aware of this since he quietly unloaded his stock in the venture—making more than a million dollars in profit—shortly after the tunnel was completed.

He successfully invested his funds in real estate in San Francisco, eventually becoming mayor of that city.

The town of Sutro had a similar fate. Established in 1870, it never lived up to Sutro’s expectations that it would eventually be larger and more important than Virginia City.

Sutro peaked in 1876 when it had a population of nearly 800 people, a school, a church, its own newspaper, and Sutro’s impressive two-story Victorian house. After the tunnel opened, the town’s population actually declined as the amount of business generated through the tunnel didn’t support such a large community.

Sutro’s grand mansion managed to survive until 1941, when it was destroyed by fire.
Today, only a handful of privately owned buildings including several barns, a large drainage pond, a few ore carts, an old wagon, some rusted rails and a handful of houses mark the former site of Sutro.

The foundations of Sutro’s mansion can be found in the sagebrush on the hillside above the tunnel. An interesting aspect of the house was the fact that thick cables, which can still be seen, were attached to the house to keep it from being blown over by the area’s often-fierce winds.

A few years ago, the area around the tunnel’s entrance experienced extensive damage after excessive rain caused a cave-in. While the whitewashed, brick archway entrance remains standing, the stretch of tunnel directly behind the opening has collapsed, sealing off the tunnel from the outside world.

Note that Sutro’s Tunnel sits on private land and is not open to the public without permission from the property owners.