Histories

1862 Directory

DOUGLAS COUNTY. Beginning at Mason's Ranch, on Walker River, and running westerly, in a straight line, to the mouth of Clear Creek; thence, along the middle of said creek, to its source; thence, due west to the California line; thence, south, and south-easterly along said line, to the western boundary of Esmeralda County; thence, northerly along said boundary, to the place of beginning. County-seat, Genoa.

This county, it is hardly necessary to state, is named after the late eminent patriot and statesman, Stephen A. Douglas. The census taken in August last, showed the territory of which it is composed to have one thousand and fifty-seven inhabitants, a number that has been increased, by this time, to at least one thousand two hundred. This county contains more good farming and wood land, in proportion to its size, than any other in the Territory. It also contains a great number of quartz leads, and other indications of mineral wealth, the working of which, when they shall come to be developed, will, no doubt, prove highly remunerative. The timber lands are confined to the eastern slope of the mountains, and cover between thirty and forty thousand acres. The agricultural and grazing lands are mostly embraced within the limits of Carson Valley proper, and may be set down at sixty or seventy thousand acres, being about one third the entire area of the valley, the balance being tule, marsh, or barren sage plains. As an evidence of the productive character of the arable and grass lands, it may be stated that, besides sustaining a large amount of stock, and raising a considerable quantity of grain the past season, about four thousand tons of hay were cut upon them, though the grass was lighter than usual. In fact, they produce luxuriant crops of grain, grass, and vegetables when irrigated, some portions not requiring this aid. The facilities for watering it are great, by means of the river, and the numerous streams coming down from the mountains, the latter flowing pure and cold the year round. The finest of vegetables can, with proper culture, be raised in Carson Valley, and although but little attention has been given to the growing of fruit, the hardier kinds would, no doubt, do well with judicious management.

Coursing through the whole length of the valley is Carson River, which, one mile above Genoa, separates into two branches, known as the East and the West Fork. These streams have their sources in the Sierra Nevada, the latter rising in a small lake south of Hope Valley, passing through which, it afterward rushes down Carson Canon, a foaming torrent, making a descent of one thousand two hundred feet in five miles. The valley is bounded by mountains on all sides except the north. On the south and west is the Sierra Nevada, heavily timbered, lofty, and precipitous; on the east, the Pine Nut Range, having an altitude varying from one to three thousand feet, and destitute of timber, except patches of the pinon, a scrubby and resinous species of pine. Genoa is four thousand three hundred and thirty-seven feet above the sea level, about the mean elevation of the whole valley, above which the Sierra lifts itself to a hight varying from three to five thousand feet - Job's Peak, a bald mass of bleached granite, being nearly six thousand feet high.

The streams falling from the Sierra afford numerous excellent mill-sites, some of which have already been improved, as the balance will be when the country fills up and the mines come to be opened. There are in this county five saw mills, two flour mills, and one quartz mill, now in operation, with a number more either building or projected. They are all driven by water, and of about medium capacity, the saw mills making from six to ten thousand fet of lumber per day. Several toll roads have been laid out and constructed in this county. The principal of these is the Kingsbury Road, leading from Carson to Lake Valley, through the Daggett Pass - a work completed at heavy cost, and alike creditable to the skill and enterprise of the projector, and a convenience to the public. This improvement, commenced in the winter of eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and prosecuted under great difficulties, was open to travel the following August. It shortens the old route, by way of Carson Canon, ten miles, besides affording a much easier ascent of the mountain, which is twenty-five hundred feet above Carson Valley, at the point where the road crosses it. From the valley to the summit, it is three miles in a straight line, and five and three eighths as the road now runs. By thus increasing the distance, the angle of ascent is reduced to five degrees eight and three-fourths feet rise to the one hundred feet. The laying out of this road is pronounced by those skilled in the art one of the finest pieces of engineering in the country, every natural advantage being turned to the best account and a uniform grad being maintained throughout. It is also ample in its dimensions and substantially built, being sixteen feet wide, and supported by heavy retaining walls of granite. It will cost, with improvements constantly being made, seventy thousand dollars. A toll road has also been built through Carson Canon, and another through the pass east of Carson Valley leading to the West Walker on the way to Mono County; substantial bridges have been built over the forks of the Carson, where these roads cross respectively. A company, composed of J. C. Russell, C. H. Hobbs, David Smith, and J. L. Pennell, was chartered by the Territorial Legislature at its late session for improving the East Fork of the Carson, for the purpose of floating down logs to Empire City, where a large steam mill has been built for sawing them into lumber. This company design to clear the river of obstructions, and dredge or dam it, and cut side channels where it is too shallow to answer their purpose. If successful, it will enable them to get timber to their mill from the forests on the East Fork, about forty miles above Genoa, at small expense. There are other improvements in this county of a minor character, yet worthy of mention, and which we would be glad to notice, if space would admit. There are two schools, one in Genoa, and the other further up the valley, both in a flourishing condition. A neat Catholic church was erected in Genoa in the summer of eighteen hundred and sixty, through the exertions of Father Gallagher, and the inhabitants, about the same time, put up a commodious building to serve as a court house.

MINES AND MINING OPERATIONS. A number of mining districts have, at various periods, been created within the limits of what is now Douglas County, good-looking, and, in some instances, very rich quartz having been found in the range of mountains on both sides of Carson Valley, and immense ledges on the East Fork, some thirty-five miles above Genoa. Even so early as the fall of eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, there was quite an excitement about certain ledges situate at the foot of the Pine Nut Range, eighteen miles south-east of that town. These, however, having been examined more closely when the snow left in the spring, were found worthless, and nothing more was heard of them. In June, eighteen hundred and sixty, encouraging signs being found higher up in these mountains, at a point about one mile north of the Mono Road, a district called the Eagle was laid out, and operations commenced which have been continued vigorously up to this time. The following additional Districts were formed in that section of the country about the same period, viz.: the Blue Ridge, Sulphur Spring, and Camp Faulls, but, as little or no work has ever been done in them, they require no particular description, and may, perhaps, be considered as disbanded. In the Eagle District, the principal ledge, or at least that most extensively opened, is the Mammoth, located at the point mentioned. Here, a tunnel has been run five hundred feet in length, a force of thirty hands being at present employed, and the company are in daily expectation of striking the ledge, in which, from assays previously made, they have great confidence. The Peck Tunnel, near by, running for the same ledge, has at length reached it, and pay-rock is being taken out by the proprietors. In the summer of eighteen hundred and sixty-one, a new district, called Silver Mountain, was laid out on the East Fork of the Carson, thirty-five miles above Genoa. A great amount of quartz exists in this neighborhood, and a number of persons visited it and took up claims during the summer. A number of shafts have been sunk, and six or eight tunnels commenced, but sufficient has not yet been done here to determine the actual value of these ledges.

The mines most entitled to notice in this county, however, are those in the Genoa District, adjacent to the town. Running along the foot of the Sierra, in this neighborhood, and maintaining a uniform altitude of about one hundred feet above its base, is a singular ridge, or lip, as it has been termed, which can hardly fail to attract the attention of one passing on the Immigrant Road. Curious to know something of its formation, some miners while inspecting it in August, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, came upon the debris of quartz ledges, which, containing gold, led them to believe there must be mines in the vicinity. Further examination confirming this opinion, the entire base of the mountain was located so far as this rocky projection could be traced, being from Van Sickles' to Jack's Valley, a distance of seven miles. Large claims for tunneling operations were taken up; a code of laws, the most full and perfect of any hitherto framed, was adopted, and extensive works at once commenced. Commencing on the south, the following is a list of the companies that have opened their claims, with a statement of the prospects obtained, and the work done up to this time: - St. Ann's - tunnel in about seventy-five feet; St. Mary's - tunnel in nearly three hundred feet; Le Roy - tunnel in five hundred feet - not expected to strike the ledge under nine hundred feet, work being done for interests in the ground; Lytton - tunnel in one hundred feet; and Rio Vista - tunnel one hundred and seventy-five feet, also shaft one hundred feet deep. A considerable amount of work has been done on the May Flower, What Cheer, Union, Blue Lead and Rebecca, but not so much as on the others. Rich samples of quartz have been found on most of these, though no regular vein has yet been struck. The Sierra Silver Mining Saw and Quartz Mill Company, with a capital of six hundred thousand dollars own six thousand six hundred feet of this ground, upon which more work has been done than on any other claim in the district. Their operations, when fully carried out, are to embrace a wide scope, as they own a large tract of excellent timber land adjacent to their claim, connected with which is a saw mill having a capacity to cut seven thousand feet of lumber per day. The quartz mill is designed for crushing their own rock, which, by assay, yields from three hundred to nine thousand dollars to the ton. The labor upon their tunnel, one of the largest in the country, and on which a heavy force is kept employed day and night, has cost over twelve thousand dollars. This, together with the entire business of the company, is under the charge of their energetic and very competent agent, Mr. M. Scott. There were originally but thirty shares in this company, which have since been divided into so many fractional parts that the number of stockholders is now over a hundred. Nex to and adjoining the Sierra Company on the north, is the ground of the Sierra Morena Gold and Silver Mining Company, into which a large tunnel is also being carried, and from which samples of exceedingly rich ores have been obtained. Owing to a dip in the mountains they expect to reach their ledge in going about half the distance of the other companies, a circumstance that renders it correspondingly valuable. Next to them is the H. J. Company, who are also opening their claim with energy and excellent prospects of success. Thus we find there is a broad extent of valuable mining ground within a short distance of Genoa, which, owing to its proximity to timber and water-power, can be worked to great advantage. The opening of these mines has given a new impulse to the business of the entire valley, over fifty thousand dollars having already been expended upon them, while from their future working must spring up a new and prosperous branch of industry, advantageous alike to the proprietors and the country at large.

GENOA. This, the earliest settled, and for a long time the only town in Western Utah, is pleasantly situated on the west side of Carson River, and about half way down the valley. On the south, a high, bald mountain, projecting like a huge bastion from the main range, shelters it from the strong winds and severe storms that mostly come from that quarter, while on the west, and immediately over it, the mighty Sierra, dark with woods and cut with deep ravines, lifts itself to the hight of several thousand feet. Spread out before it to the east are the rich meadows and pastures of Carson Valley, with the willow-fringed river winding through it. The landscape in front is as beautiful as can be conceived - the scenery behind, bold and majestically grand.

The first settlement was made her by the Mormons as early as eighteen hundred and fifty. The place then, and for a long time after, was known as the Mormon Station, a name it retained until about four years ago, when it received the one it now bears. Owing to its situation on the main Immigrant Road, its proximity to timber, and the abundance of water for mills and irrigation, and the fine lands about it, and to the fact that it was for a long time the shire-town of Carson County, it has always been a point of note and importance. Here a trading-post was established, and a saw and grist mill erected at an early day; and here the weary immigrant first made a halt after crossing the plains, to recruit his stock and replenish his exhausted store of provisions, before starting over the mountains - then a formidable barrier to his further progress. The California trader going out to meet the immigration, generally made this his point of destination, only the more eager pushing on into the deserts beyond.

Genoa, at the period of the silver discovery, contained about two hundred inhabitants; a number that has since been nearly doubled, though this town has not kept pace in its growth with those that have lately sprung up elsewhere in the Territory. The founding of its rival, Carson City, to which the county-seat was afterwards removed, operated to its detriment; but, surrounded, as it is believed to be, with valuable mines, in the midst of the best agricultural and grazing region in the country, with extensive forests of pine timber and numerous mill-sites close at hand, once more a county-seat, and still on the great highway leading to California and the East, it may well be expected to increase rapidly in business and population, and once more regaining its ancient importance, to become one of the most thrifty, if not, as heretofore, the leading town in the Eastern Slope.

Contributed 2025 Jan 09 by Norma Hass, extracted from First Directory of Nevada Territory, published in 1862, pages 49-58

History of Douglas County, Nevada

It is impossible to separate the early history of Douglas County from that of the history of the state of Nevada. Researchers should keep in mind that prior to 1861; Nevada Territory belonged at various times to Mexico, California and Utah.

It is believed that the first white men set foot in what was to become Douglas County between the years of 1834 and 1843. The first documented exploration of the area was in 1843 when General John C. Fremont passed through the large valley that he subsequently named "Carson Valley" after his scout, Kit Carson.

From 1845 to 1848, immigrants on their way to California sporadically crossed through this Mexican Territory. Then in 1848, the Nevada Territory was seized from the Mexican Government by the United States at the end of the Mexican-American war. This territory became part of California and was known as "Washoe Country".

In 1849, the first white settlement was established in this area. The settlement, known as the "Mormon Station", was a trading post and way station established by H.S. Beatie for travelers on their way to California from the Great Basin. The station was abandoned within the year due to Indian troubles. The station was re-established in 1851 under new ownership, again by Mormons from Salt Lake City, and became the first town in the territory, Genoa. Genoa still exists today at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In 1850, the "Washoe Country" became part of Utah Territory (Millard County, Utah). By 1851, an independent government had been established in the Territory but lasted only until Utah authorities intervened.

In 1854, Millard County was replaced with Carson County, Utah... the County Seat was the town of Genoa. The name changed but the problems remained the same. The disgruntled inhabitants petitioned Congress to annex them to California. Petition denied. By 1856, sixty to seventy Mormon families were living in this territory - as well as a number of Gentiles.

In 1857, Brigham Young sent word to these families that they were to return to Salt Lake City to help defend the Church against the United States Government. Those that were devout Mormons deserted their homes and returned to Salt Lake City as directed by Brigham Young. Gentiles in the area quickly seized their lands. There were a number of Mormons that did not return to Salt Lake, they were termed "Jack" Mormons.

In 1859, Territory inhabitants once again tried to free themselves from Utah. Several of them met in the town of Genoa and drew up a State Constitution over a ten-day period. The new state failed. In the same year, a silver bonanza was discovered in the Territory and the Federal Government began to take serious notice of the area.

On March 22, 1861, the Utah Territory was divided. The western portion of the Territory became the Nevada Territory. President Abraham Lincoln named James W. Nye, from New York, the first Territorial Governor.

On November 25, 1861, the Nevada Territory was divided into nine separate counties with county seats: Douglas, Esmeralda, Ormsby, Washoe, Storey, Churchill, Humboldt, Lake and Lyon. Douglas County was named for Stephen A. Douglas, Representative and Senator for the state of Illinois. On October 31, 1864, Nevada became our 36th State... After the turn of the Century, the County Seat for Douglas was moved from Genoa to Minden, Nevada where it remains today.

Douglas County is 710 square miles in area, the fourth most populated county in Nevada with some 40,000 residents. Its boundaries encompass the Sierra Nevada mountains and Lake Tahoe as well as the Carson River and Topaz Lake. Elevations vary from a low of 4,625 feet on the valley floor to a high of 9,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada. An arid climate prevails with warm summers, moderate winters, and cool night temperatures year around.

Contributor and Source: Unknown