Techatticup Mine NV254
TECHATTICUP MINE The Techatticup Mine. Located in 1861, was the most important mine in El Dorado Canyon. It produced millions of dollars in gold ore, and was originally served by steamboats on the Colorado River. The mine's name is taken from two Paiute words meaning "hungry" or "bread". Two of Nevada's most famous renegate Indians lived in the canyon; Ahvote, who killed five victims, and Queho, who killed over twenty people. Near this spot, Queho killed his last victim, Maude Douglas, in 1919, and successfully eluded sheriff's posses.

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Nevada Test Site NV165
Testing of weapons for defense and for peaceful uses of nuclear explosives is conducted here. The nation's principal nuclear explosives testing laboratory is located within this 1,350-square-mile, geologically complex area in the isolated valleys of Jackass, Yucca and Frenchman Flats. Selected as oncontinent test site in 1950, the first test took place on Frenchman Flat in January, 1951. Archeological studies of the NTS area have revealed continuous occupation by prehistoric man from about 9,500 years ago. Several prehistoric cultures are represented. The last aboriginal group to occupy the site was the Southern Paiute, who foraged plant foods in season and occupied the area until the coming of the pioneers.

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Chief Tecopa (Peacemaker of the Paiutes) NV171
Chief Tecopa was a young man when the first white man came to southern Nevada. As the leader of the Southern Paiute tribe, he fought with vigor to save their land and traditional way of life. He soon realized, however, that if his people were to survive and prosper, he would have to establish peace and learn to live in harmony with the foreigners. During his life-span, which covered almost the entire 19th century, his energy and time were devoted to the betterment of his people. Chief Tecopa is honored for the peaceful relations he maintained between the Southern Paiute Indians and the white men who came to live among them.

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Devil's Gate NV223
It gives... "a forcible impression of the unhallowed character of the place," J. Ross Browne—1860. This rugged reef of metamorphic rock was once one of the famous landmarks of the Nevada Territory. In June of 1850, John Orr and Nickolas Kelly unearthed a gold nugget nearby, the first ever found in Gold Canyon. For the next ten years, the canyon was the scene of placer mining and one of the first stamp mills in the Territory was erected just to the south of Devil's Gate during the summer of 1860. During the brief Paiute War of May, 1860, the people of Silver City built a stone battlement atop the eastern summit and constructed a wooden cannon for protection. Devil's Gate marks the boundary line between Storey and Lyon Counties. Through this narrow gorge paraded thousands of the most adventurous souls of the mining West as they made their way to the gold and silver mines of the Comstock Lode.

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Valmy NV167
Overlooking the old California Emigrant Trail, Valmy was named after the Battle of Valmy in France. Established in 1910 by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a section point, Valmy served during the steam era as a water and fuel stop for the railroad. Treaty Hill to the northwest marks a division point between the Paiute lands to the west and Shoshone lands to the east. For generations the scene of battles over two springs, Treaty Hill marks the site where peace was wrought by compromise, when two chiefs sat down and divided springs and territory between the warring tribes. The first post office here was established as Stonehouse on November 26, 1890. The name was changed to Valmy March 24, 1915.

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Las Vegas (The Meadows) NV40
The famous Las Vegas Springs rose from the desert floor here, sending two streams of water across the valley to nurture the native grasses and create lush meadows in the valley near Sunrise Mountain. The water gushed forth with such force that a man could not sink in the Springs. The natural oasis of meadow and mesquite forest was the winter homeland of Paiutes, who spent the summers in the Charleston Mountains. An unknown Spanish-speaking sojourner, whether padre, trapper or trader, named Las Vegas "The Meadows," and marked it as such on a map of the Southwestern Desert. Antonio Armijo stopped at the Springs in 1829-30, traveling a route which became known as the Old Spanish Trail. After 1830, the route was traveled by Spanish traders, emigrants and frontiersmen, who rested beside the Springs. On one of his western explorations trips, John C. Frémont camped here on May 3, 1844. Because of artesian water here, Mormons established the Las Vegas Mission and Fort in 1855; the Valley became a huge cattle ranch from 1866 to 1904; and the San Pedro, Los Angeles, Salt Lake Railroad Company acquired water rights and land and created the City of Las Vegas in 1905.

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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.

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Reno NV30
The first Europeans in the Reno area—the Stevens-Murphy party—passed through the Truckee Meadows near Washo and Paiute Indian camping sites and winter villages and over Donner Pass in 1844. With increased travel by 1859, C.W. Fuller established "Fullers's Ferry," a small lodging house, ferry and bridge at the site which would become the center of Reno. M.C. Lake bought the property in 1863, and it became known as "Lake's Crossing." When officials of the newly built Central Pacific Railroad platted the town around the central plaza where the station stood, it was called "End of the Track." Chosen by railroad officials, the town's permanent name honors a slain Civil War officer, General Jesse Reno. Growth was rapid due to railroad activity and continued development of the nearby Comstock mines. Reno became the county seat in 1871, incorporated in 1876, but did not draw up a charter or hold elections until 1903. In 1906 the wife of a prominent U.S. industrialist came to Reno for a divorce. The resulting publicity started the city's divorce reputation. Tourism increased, and a new industry was established when gambling was legalized in 1931.

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West End Of Hastings Cutoff NV3
This spot was part of the pioneer cemetery where rests Frank Baud and others of the pioneers who founded Winnemucca, earlier known as French Fort. Baud arrived in 1863 and is one of the men credited with naming the town Winnemucca after the famous Paiute chieftain. Baud came with Louis Lay from California to work on the Humboldt Canal, a project headed by Dr. A. Gintz and Joseph Ginaca who devised the plan to link Golconda and Mill City by means of a 90- mile canal and provide water for the mills in the area. It was never completed. Baud later became a merchant, helped build the Winnemucca Hotel with Louis and Theophile Lay, was the first postmaster, and gave the town a schoolhouse before his death in 1868.

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Diamond Valley NV82
The first known explorer of Diamond Valley was Colonel John C. Frémont, who mapped the area to aid western migration in 1845. Before Frémont, tribes of Shoshone and Paiute Indians long had gathered nature's bounty here. Colonel J.H. Simpson mapped a route through the valley in 1859. The Simpson route, through the north end of the valley, immediately became the Pony Express route from 1860-1861. The Overland telegraph replaced the Pony Express and also crossed the valley. Early freight toll roads were operated across the valley as lead and silver mining camps boomed in the 1860's. Needs of the mining camps gave rise to a limited livestock an dairy industry. In 1957, a large underground lake was tapped to supply water for irrigation.

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