1881 - Callville

Callville was settled in 1864 by Anson Call and a small number of emigrants from northern Utah. They constructed a few dwellings and two warehouses for the storage of freight, for at that time it was believed that considerable trade would soon spring up along the navigable portion of the Colorado River. The altitude of the town is 700 feet. It is situated on the banks of the Colorado, among rough gorges and barren sand-hills. The surrounding scenery is desolate in the extreme, and few of the original settlers remained. Its position, however, is an important one, standing at the head of navigation on the Colorado River, and must eventually be connected with Fort Yuma by a line of freight and passenger steamers. A charter has already been obtained for a railroad from Eureka to Callville. At the last session of the State Legislature a memorial to Congress was adopted, asking for the immediate improvement of the Colorado River to Callville. It set forth that evidences exist that a prehistoric race, advanced in art, science and civilization once occupied the region bordering on the Colorado, from the Grand Canon to the Gulf of California, and inhabited large and regularly laid-out cities; built canals, aqueducts, highways and culverts; understood engineering, constructed systems of irrigation and drainage, and embarked extensively in mining operations. The fact that Nevada has never before asked the General Government for river improvements was adverted to, and it was urged that immeasurable benefits would accrue by rendering the Colorado navigable at all seasons of the year to Callville, since vessels can now ascend to it only during the spring months. An appropriation of $250,000 was asked for, and it will undoubtedly be granted within a reasonable period of time. The result would be a vast enhancement of the prosperity of eastern Nevada.

Extracted, 2021 Aug 25 by Norma Hass, from History of Nevada, published in 1881, page 489.