The Trains Yesterday

A Hurricane Blowing and the Snow Drifting

The N&O train got stuck yesterday in a drift four miles from Reno. They ran back to Reno and too out 12 shovelers. When they got nine miles out they stuck again and could not move either way. A four-horse sleigh brought the men and passengers back to Reno. The mail went through on horseback. Walter Thomas came in with the mail from Onieda and took out the mail and four passengers this morning. The engine is being shoveled out today.
The V&T came in with three engines and a snow-plow covered with snow. There were heavy drifts in Washoe Valley. The west-bound freights were held at Verdi until noon Sunday. The east-bound arrived at Reno at 2 P.M. A freight train was stuck between Verdi and Boca all night Saturday. The wind blew a hurricane all day in the mountains.

In company with Mr. E. Owens of Franktown we rode over the much talked of Dall Rd, leading from a point near Franktown to the Ophir grade. It will be remembered that this road was once offered to the county for $4,000, and was inspected by Messrs. Eastman and Bragg with a view to its purchase by the county. The south end of the county was divided at the time on the road question, some wanting a road from Washoe City, others from Ophir, and a large number in favor of the Dall Road. We understand that a new proposition has been made to the Board of County Commissioners, viz: to build a road on a direct line from Bower’s Mansion to the Ophir Grade. The last Legislature passed a bill allowing this county to spend $5,000 on a road from some place on the north side of Washoe lake to high land on the opposite side. The people in Washoe Valley need a road across the valley from north to south. With these facts before us we were glad of the opportunity to see the roads in question. The Dall road is 3.5 miles long, and must have cost its owner nearly $8,000. He proposes to do work in funding and fixing the road to an amount equal to about $1,500 and sell the road to the county for $5,000. Franktown will give $1,000 or more of this sum. The road is a very good one, and the only practical one for majority of the people in that valley. The proposed road from Bowers’ would cost $6,000 or $7,000 and would not then be as good a one as the Dall road is now. The Ophir road would cost a large sum and  would then accommodate only a few persons.
At Mill Station there are at the dump of Hobart & Marlett’s flume, about 12,000 cords of wood. D. M. Riordan is the V&T R.R. agent and is a very gentlemanly fellow and well posted man. The fluming season is over at Mills. The late frosts nearly destroyed the wheat crop of Mr. Montgomery, and very materially injured that of Mr. Simons. Mr. Simons has one of the prettiest homes in Washoe Valley. He has a large farm, fine orchard, and most comfortable dwelling.

Editors notes: Mr. Dall had a mill for processing Quartz ore from Virginia City that was brought by wagon over the Ophir (Jumbo) Grade on the east side of the valley. He built a road from that toll road to his mill. That is presumably the road mentioned. During this time, the V&T railroad made processing ore along the Carson River profitable and the Washoe Valley mills, and towns, began to disappear. Perhaps this is why Mr. Dall was willing to sell his road.

Flumes were wood “ditches” that transported wood cut from the high country to the west of the valley. Cord wood was cut to fuel the mills and stoves of Virginia City. Nearly all of the old growth timber was cut from around Lake Tahoe to feed the silver production in the form of lumber, fire wood and timbers for the mines.

Western Washoe Valley was vigorously farmed for wheat, potatoes, fruit and especially hay during the Comstock mining boom from 1860 through 1900.

I was able to pick up “Virginia and Truckee” by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, two wealthy and eccentric residents of Virginia City in the 1950’s. Originally Beebe wrote society articles for New York City papers before relocating to Virginia City. The only clue as to why I have seen is that VC was a hangout for eccentric artistic types in that era. They revived the Territorial Enterprise and pursued their interest in railroads by writing books on the subject while at the same time orchestrating the local social scene. Often they would be seen hobnobbing in VC in “top hats and tails.” One of their private railroad cars is on display at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

This volume is a short 60 pages and includes some photos of the rolling stock taken by the authors among others. I was surprised to see two “Then and Now” photos included of Gold Hill and Virginia City. This is a mini hobby of mine. Beebe and Clegg later moved to San Francisco. In all, Beebe wrote 30 books.

They were both very interesting characters and deserve more attention on this site at a later time.

A Grand Illumination.

Franktown was blazing last night. A procession with torches, banners and transparencies marched up and down. There were many ladies in the procession. Huge bonfires blazed at every corner. A unique feature was vast illumination on the mountainside west of town. A fire had been raging there for a week and it had left dots of flame scattered about all up and down the vast wall for some distance. The evening was dark and the grand illumination showed up splendidly and roused a great deal of admiration. It seemed as if the very mountains were endorsing Garfield and Arthur.

(editors note: James Garfield won the presidency in November and Chester Arthur was vice president. In July 1881, Garfield was assasinated and Arthur took over as president until 1885.)

Carson Opium Smugglers

Officers Find Fifty Pounds of the Drug and a Counterfeit Mixture in a Cache

Carson, Nev. Jan. 13. United State District Attorney Jones to-day found fifty taels of opium buried in one of the stalls at the racetrack. Lee Brooks, who hid the drug there, recently left town and now is serving sentence in the Washoe County Jail for defrauding a Reno man out of $60.
A man named Jordan, who occupied a cell with Brooks in jail some time ago, was his confidante, and learned that Brooks had a quantity of opium buried in one of the stalls at the Carson racetrack.  Brooks wanted him, as soon as he was released from custody, to take the opium away so officers would not find it. Jordan, instead of doing as requested, immediately informed the Sheriff of Washoe County and he came over yesterday and told the United States District Attorney. Together they went to the track and found one case of opium, containing fifty boxes.
Some of it was a mixture of molasses, etc. with which Brooks and his partner, Harry Butts, are supposed to have duped unsuspecting Chinamen, presumably showing them good opium and then selling the mixture, which was similar to it in appearance. Three hundred pounds of the same mixture was recently found at Washoe Lake.

(editors note: a “tael” is a chinese unit of measurement, sometimes about 40 grams. Also, this article was transcribed exactly as it appeared in the paper.)

The book “Distribution of total and methyl mercury in sediments along Steamboat Creek”, published in 2004 documents the process and the remaining elevated mercury levels along the route. The photo above is of the last remnants of a mill along Hwy 395 on the west side of Washoe Lake at the site of the ghosttown of Ophir.

We usually hear about elevated levels of mercury in the Carson River due to the mills there but Steamboat Creek shares a similar history. The “quartz mills” operated from about 1860 through 1873 when the newly completed Virginia and Truckee Railroad and new mills along the Carson River put them out of business.

Years later, in 1913, Washoe Valley rancher Gib Douglass reports he operation has produced two hundred tons of potatoes along with 700 tons of alfalfa. He also noted that heavy rains destroyed 160 tons of hay. The alfalfa was sold to Treoloff, a cattle feeder, who is wintering 100 head of steers on the ranch.

That would be 20,000 bags of potatoes!- editor

Reno Gazette Journal, Nov. 25, 1913

Emerald Mine-Mr Holmes, of Franktown, informs us that work on the Emerald mine will shortly be resumed. This mine is owned by several parties in and about Franktown. It lies 8.5 miles northwest of Carson and just over the Washoe county line. The company will commence a drift to the north from their tunnel. They have found good silver ore but believe that a greater and richer ledge is yet to be found.

The rainstorm of day before yesterday visited Washoe Valley in a very severe form. The clouds burst, and large quantities of water fell, washing  away rocks and earth in many places. The sand and earth was washed into Theo. Winters’ house, which is built up well from the ground, and hail-stones fell in such quantities as to form drifts against the fences to the depth of two feet. Wm. Joy’s barn was struck by lightning, one side receiving considerable damage. No loss of life or heavy damage is reported.

“Washoe Valley first was settled in 1852. The first settlers on Franktown Creek called the place “The Garden of Eden.” Within a year, other Mormon pioneers took up ranches eventually to be known as Winters,’ Bowers’ and Rose’s places. A town site was laid out with wide streets and squares so it could “grow as great as Salt Lake City.”"

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