Moapa Valley NV36
Rich in prehistoric, pueblo-type culture, and noted by the explorer Jedediah Smith in 1826, Moapa Valley is crossed by the old Spanish Trail. In 1865 Brigham Young sent 75 families to settle the area, to grow cotton for the people of Utah, and to connect Utah with the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River. Located near the junction of the Muddy and Virgin Rivers, and now under Lake Mead, the "Cotton Mission" was named St. Thomas for its leader, Thomas Smith. A prosperous, self-contained agriculture was built up in the valley, which included orchards, vineyards, cotton, grains and vegetables. The December, 1870 survey placed the valley in Nevada and because Nevada taxes were greater than those of Utah, the settlers, now including those in St. Joseph, (Old) Overton, West Point and Logandale, began leaving two months later. They left the results of seven years of labor, more than 18 miles of irrigation canal and several hundred acres of cleared land. Other Mormons resettled the land in 1880. The area remains one of the most agriculturally productive in the state.

---

Las Vegas Mormon Fort and Rancho NV35
At this location Las Vegas had its beginning on June 14, 1855, when 30 Mormon missionaries arrived from Utah. They built a 150-foot square adobe fort enclosing eight two-story houses, cultivated small gardens and fields, planted fruit and shade trees, and established friendly relations with the Paiutes. After the Mormons departed in 1858, Octavius Decatur Gass developed Las Vegas Rancho, using the adobe structures as headquarters. He farmed 800 acres, supplying produce to miners and travelers. Mrs. Helen J. Stewart, owner of the property from 1882 to 1903, expanded the ranch to 1,800 acres, which she sold to the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Company as the Las Vegas townsite, auctioned on May 15, 1905, starting contemporary Las Vegas. One of the Fort houses remains as a monument to the 1855 pioneers.

---

Gardnerville NV129
Early Gardnerville served the farming community and teamsters hauling local produce to booming Bodie. The first buildings were a blacksmith shop, a saloon and the Gardnerville Hotel. The latter was moved by Lawrence Gilman in 1879 from the emigrant trail between Genoa and Walley's Hot Springs, where it was known as Kent House, to this site, the homestead of John M. Gardner. Just as Genoa was the center for British settlers (largely Mormon) after 1851, so Gardnerville, after 1879, became the center for 1870 Danish immigrants. They founded the Valhalla Society in 1885 and met in Valhalla Hall--now gone. Starting in 1898, Spanish and French Basque shepherds tended some 13,000 sheep in Carson Valley, increasing to 25,000 by 1925, when the Basques began acquiring their own sheep and land. After 1918, several Basques in Gardnerville opened inns which flourished during the Prohibition years.

---

Goodsprings (Mining District 1856-1957) NV102
(Mining District 1856-1957) Ore deposits readily recognized in the faulted and folded limestone deposits of this district remained unworked until 1856, when the Mormons developed a single lead mine at Potosi--probably the oldest lode mine in Nevada. Named for cattleman Joseph Good, the open springs area was developed into the mining-ranching community of Goodsprings by A.G. Campbell. With completion of the Los Angeles-Salt Lake Railroad in 1905 and the narrow-gauge Yellow Pine Railroad from Jean to Goodsprings in 1911, transportation costs of the oxidized zinc minerals were reduced. The peak year of operations was reached in 1916, and Goodsprings then had 800 residents. This district, with the greatest variety of valuable minerals in Nevada, produced a total of $25 million primarily in lead and zinc, with lesser amounts of gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium and uranium.

---

Thomas L. Kane PA1808
Commander of the Civil war "Bucktail Regiment" and founder of the borough of Kane. Breveted Major General in 1863. A friend of Brighan Young and staunch supporter of the Mormon pioneers. He died, 1883, and was buried at this chapel, built at his direction in 1876-78.

---

Joseph Smith PA1071
Founder of Mormonism, once lived a few miles East of here prior to 1830. Much of the translation of the "Golden Plates" for the Book of Mormon is said to have been done there. Site now owned by the Church of Latter Day Saints.

---

Carson Valley NV207
Carson Valley below, now a broad expanse of cultivated and pasture lands, was originally a strip of meadow along the banks of the river where 49ers, following the California branch of the emigrant trail, rested their stock and bought vegetables from the Mormon station owners. After discovery of the Comstock Lode (1858) settlers extended the natural meadows by irrigation to provide hay, meat and butter for the miners in Virginia City and neighboring towns. From 1870, German, Danish and Swiss immigrants enlarged the area still more to supply produce to booming Bodie and, after 1905, to supply Tonopah and Goldfield. Good range and agricultural practices have allowed Carson Valley to continue to be one of Nevada's finest agricultural areas.

---

Crystal Springs NV205
The discovery of silver in Pahranagat Valley in 1865 resulted in the creation of Lincoln County with Crystal Springs designated as the provisional county seat in 1866. With the intention of organizing the new county, Governor Henry G. Blasdel left Carson City in April, 1866, accompanied by over twenty people and after a perilous journey through Death Valley, California, reached the new district of Pahranagat. This expedition was also expected to find a more practicable route between the valley and the towns of western Nevada. When the Governor arrived at Crystal Springs, he found that the region lacked the number of voters necessary to meet the requirements for county organization, which resulted in the eventual formation of the county at Hiko one year later. This locale, used as a watering place and campsite, was the principal stopover on the Mormon Trail alternate route.

---

Huffaker's NV238
Before the arrival, 1858, of Granville W. Huffaker driving 500 head of cattle into the Truckee Meadows, the principal settlers were Mormons. The Comstock Lode and its mining needs focused attention on the valley. Huffaker established his ranch in 1859. Langton's Stage Line and the first Post Office were functioning by 1862. For ten years Huffaker's was a most active stage-stop and a center for a community. The school house was constructed in 1868. Bachelors of a jolly nature gathered here for dancing, horse-racing and "Land Squabbles." The Athenian Literary Society flourished for the more cultured. In 1875 the "Bonanza Kings" completed their Pacific Lumber and Flume operation from the Lake Tahoe Basin. For fifteen miles trestled logs were propelled "by waters rushing faster than any train." At the terminus of the flume, the Virginia and Truckee Railroad opened a depot and telegraph office and constructed a spur where workers transferred timbers.

---

Nevada's Birthplace NV12
Carson Valley is the birthplace of Nevada. In 1850 a first settlement was made at Mormon Station, renamed Genoa in 1856. Here, in 1851, the first attempt to form a government was made. In 1861, Nevada's Territorial Government was established at Genoa. Over the old road skirting the west bank of the Carson River thousands of immigrants moved southward to cross the Sierra, feeding their livestock on grass cut along the river. At Genoa, at Mottsville, settled in 1852; and at Sheridan, settled by Moses Job about 1854, they stopped to enjoy produce of the state's first gardens. Pony Express riders used this route in 1860, switching in 1861 to the shorter Dagget Trail, now Kingsbury Grade.

---