Eagle Valley is the area encompassing Carson City, Nevada. The valley was first settled during the California Gold Rush of 1849. The discovery of Nevada's Comstock Lode in 1859 established the economic importance of the area, which would become the site of the Nevada State Capitol. [1]
The area was historically occupied by the indigenous Washoe before the arrival of American settlers. [2] The Bartleson–Bidwell Party is believed to have passed through the area on the way to California in 1841. Kit Carson and John C. Fremont rode into the valley, which was still under Mexican rule, during their survey of the Western United States in the mid-1840s. [1] In 1848, Mexico ceded the region to the United States after the Mexican–American War. [3] Soon afterwards, the California Gold Rush brought a wave of prospectors in search of fortune. [1]
In September 1850, the valley was part of the newly established Utah Territory. Many early settlers included Mormons led by Colonel John Reese. [2] In 1851, Reese and a band of eighteen men established "Mormon Station", the first trading post of the Nevada region, near the valley at a location that would become the town of Genoa. [4] When they were recalled to Salt Lake City, Utah by Mormon leader Brigham Young, the land was sold to local resident John Mankin. North of Genoa, in the area of what would become Carson City, another early trading post was established, known as Eagle Station. The post was likely located near present-day Fifth and Thompson streets in Carson City. [5] The surrounding area was called Eagle Ranch. [6] The name reportedly came from an eagle shot by ranch manager Frank Hall, who displayed it on the trading post wall. The station served as a stop on the California Trail. [2]
In 1858, Abraham Curry came to Eagle Valley after he found the real estate in Genoa to be too expensive. [2] Curry partnered with attorneys John J. Musser and Frank M. Proctor to purchase the trading post and much of the valley for a $300 down payment out of a total sale price of $1,000. Musser and Proctor worked to carve a separate territory from Utah, while Curry promoted the newly founded Carson City. [7] Curry set aside and donated 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land for the site of the future Nevada State Capitol. [8]
In July 1859, Musser became president and Proctor became vice-president of the constitutional convention to establish the Territory of Nevada. Curry served as the delegate from Eagle Valley. [7] In 1859, the discovery of the Comstock Lode east of Carson City was made public. It was the largest silver find in history, attracting tens of thousands of miners to the area. [1]
Carson City became a station of the Pony Express in 1860, and was designated the territorial capital in 1861. [1] In 1862, the Nevada Territorial Legislature leased the Warm Springs Hotel, located in the valley east of Carson City, from Curry to hold meetings and detain prisoners. The legislature had been using the site's prison quarry to provide stone material for the Nevada State Capitol. In 1864, the territorial legislature acquired the hotel along with 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land from Curry for $80,000. [9] As the American Civil War was being fought in the Eastern United States, Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864. [1]
In 1873, another major silver find called Big Bonanza continued the prosperity of the area. In that same year, railway service was opened by the Virginia and Truckee Railroad to transport ore and timber. [1] [8]
Eagle Valley is a tributary to the Carson River basin. Runoff from the valley has contributed to flooding of Carson City, notably on January 3, 1997. [10]
Carson City, officially the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada, named after the mountain man Kit Carson. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,274, making it the sixth largest city in Nevada. The majority of the town's population lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Reno.
Dayton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 8,964 at the 2010 census. Dayton is the first Nevada settlement and home to the oldest hotel in Nevada. The micronation of Molossia is located in Dayton.
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. At its creation, the Territory of Utah included all of the present-day State of Utah, most of the present-day state of Nevada, much of present-day western Colorado, and the extreme southwest corner of present-day Wyoming.
Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is 131 miles (211 km) long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length 205 miles (330 km), traversing five counties: Alpine County in California and Douglas, Storey, Lyon, and Churchill Counties in Nevada, as well as the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, Nevada. The river is named for Kit Carson, who guided John C. Frémont's expedition westward up the Carson Valley and across Carson Pass in winter, 1844. The river made the National Priorities List (NPL) on October 30, 1990 as the Carson River Mercury Superfund site (CRMS) due to investigations that showed trace amounts of mercury in the wildlife and watershed sediments.
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about 3,000 mi (4,800 km) across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail followed the same corridor of networked river valley trails as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, namely the valleys of the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater rivers to Wyoming. In the present states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah, the California and Oregon trails split into several different trails or cutoffs.
The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada, which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States and named after American miner Henry Comstock.
Genoa is an unincorporated town in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. Founded in 1851, it was the first settlement in what became the Nevada Territory. It is situated within Carson River Valley and is approximately 42 miles (68 km) south of Reno at 39.005,-119.846. The population was 939 at the 2010 census. It is home to the oldest bar in the state of Nevada which opened in 1853.
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a privately owned historical heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is 14 miles long. The railroad owns and uses the service mark "Queen of the Short Lines". The V&T Railroad runs up to seven trains per day, many in steam behind locomotive #29, a 2-8-0 Consolidation, or an ex-US Army GE 80-ton diesel from Virginia City, from Memorial Day until the end of October each year.
The Carson City Mint was a branch of the United States Mint in Carson City, Nevada. It primarily minted silver coins; however, it also minted gold coins, with a total face value in dollars nearly equal to that of its silver coins. The mint minted coins in 21 different years.
Mormon Station State Historic Park is a state park in downtown Genoa, Nevada, interpreting the site of the first permanent nonnative settlement in Nevada. Mormon Station was originally settled by Mormon pioneers and served as a respite for travelers on the Carson Route of the California Trail. The park features a replica of the 1851 trading post stockade. The replica trading post houses artifacts and exhibits about the station's history.
Washoe Lake State Park is a year-round public recreation area occupying 3,775 acres (1,528 ha) on the southeast shore of Washoe Lake in Washoe County, Nevada. The state park lies to the east of Lake Tahoe, approximately five miles (8.0 km) north of Carson City near U.S. Route 395. The area around the park is known for its high winds making Washoe Lake a popular destination for windsurfers.
Alison "Eilley" Oram Bowers was a Scottish American woman who was, in her time, one of the richest women in the United States, and owner of the Bowers Mansion, one of the largest houses in the western United States. A farmer's daughter, Bowers married as a teenager, and her husband converted to Mormonism before the couple immigrated to the United States. After briefly living in Nauvoo, Illinois, she became an early Nevada pioneer, farmer and miner, and was made a millionaire by the Comstock Lode mining boom. Married and divorced two times, she married a third time and became a mother of three children but outlived them all.
Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, after telegraphing the Constitution of Nevada to the Congress days before the November 8 presidential election. Statehood was rushed to help ensure three electoral votes for Abraham Lincoln's reelection and add to the Republican congressional majorities.
Nevada's entry into statehood in the United States on October 31, 1864, in the midst of the American Civil War, was expedited by Union sympathizers in order to ensure the state's participation in the 1864 presidential election in support of President Abraham Lincoln. Thus Nevada became one of only two states admitted to the Union during the war and earned the nickname that appears on the Nevada state flag today: "Battle Born".
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Nevada:
The First Battle of Pyramid Lake in 1860 was one of the opening conflicts of the Paiute War in Nevada between the American people and the Paiute people, who had resisted the increasing numbers of migrants who traveled the California Trail through their territory, taking scarce game and water resources, as well as altercations with the Pony Express.
AbrahamVan Santvoord Curry is considered the founding father of Carson City, Nevada. A native of the state of New York, he traveled to the West Coast during the California Gold Rush and settled in Nevada's Eagle Valley, where Carson City was established.
William Matthew Ormsby was an early settler of Nevada who was instrumental in the establishment of Carson City and the Nevada Territory. Major Ormsby was killed leading a vigilante force against Paiute Indians in what was called the Pyramid Lake War.
Francis "Frank" Marion Proctor was an American lawyer, state senator, and co-founder of Carson City, Nevada.
Coordinates: 39°09′55″N119°45′24″W / 39.1652°N 119.7566°W
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