Pioneer Days in Sparks and Vicinity (1924)

[From The Nevada State Historical Society Papers vol. V 1925-1926, pp. 285-374.]

Material for the writing of the history of any State is not complete until the story of the common man has been gathered. For this reason it is desirable to compile reliable information concerning as many of the residents of each community as can be obtained. It is especially important to tabulate knowledge concerning as many as possible of the pioneers. Each one of these first settlers may have done only some very small thing, but this contribution when added to that of numerous fellow citizens makes the sum total of the movement as a whole which has laid the foundations of civilization. The composite picture which results from the assembling of the many detailed parts not only is gratifying to those descendants of the pioneers who take pride in preserving the memory of their ancestors, but it also contributes to an understanding of the corporate development of the community as a whole. From data such as this may in future times be made many and various studies bearing upon different phases of life in early Nevada.

The use of a geographical plan instead of a chronological narrative has necessitated some repetitions. The emphasis placed upon vital statistics and successive ownerships of land is with purpose aforethought. It is only to be regretted that many errors of detail must necessarily have crept into a work so hurriedly done and concerning which the editor has had no opportunity to check carefully each statement. Errors are especially easy to occur with respect

to the spelling of proper names, and correct information as to these names is often difficult to obtain. To place the story, as told by Mr. Kingsbury after several months of interested work, before the public ere the last of the participants pass over "the grade" is the purpose of this publication. Any corrections will be welcomed.

The story of the beginnings of Sparks may seem commonplace to those of us who have so recently watched the story in its making. But each detail of this unique chapter in Nevada history will be of inestimable worth in future social studies. No slightest part of it should be left to the hazardous chance of being handed down only by tradition.

The foot notes are, in every instance, inserted by the editor. In the body of the text the numbers in parenthesis are cross references to paragraph numbers and also correspond to numbers without circles on the map of the pioneers.

To attempt writing in detail an authentic and comprehensive article on the old Pioneer Days in Sparks and vicinity would require much time and research. Each year it is more difficult to obtain the true facts. Old landmarks are becoming obliterated, the older generation is "passing on", and many of the records are fading and in danger of being forever lost. For the benefit of those who in later years may become interested in this part of the Truckee Meadows and also because this is the twentieth anniversary of the town of Sparks it may not be altogether unwise at this time to collect from some of the older generation such facts, reminiscences and traditions as they may recall and to place this data in a more durable place than the "mind's store-house."

In the preparation of this material the writer has hastily examined several of the Nevada histories and has interviewed about thirty of the earliest settlers still living in this region, some of whom have been able to throw interesting sidelights on what has already been written and printed in books. Many others should also have been seen. They are justly entitled to mention and should have been included in the list of "pioneers", but time and space require certain limitations.

Owing to the numerous sources from which this data has been compiled, it should be stated at this time that there may in some instances be a variation of from one to two years from the actual conditions. The historical matter here given is usually in the form in which it was received by the writer and has not been verified.

According to history, Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848 a tract of territory about one thousand miles wide by six hundred miles long, lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and south from the present Idaho. Oregon line to Old Mexico. Within the limits of this vast area lay the whole of Utah, Nevada, and California and parts of several adjoining states. Between the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Sierra Nevadas on the west lay a great elevated region covered with hills, mountains, and deserts, often nude of trees and all vegetation except sagebrush. Within this basin is found a large portion of our "Silver State." For many years this was known as "The Great Basin" or as a part of "The Great American Desert."

Until after James W. Marshall discovered gold in California on January 24th, 1848, white men knew comparatively little about what is now the State of Nevada and her great mineral wealth was entirely unknown. Marshall's discovery, however, opened the way whereby large numbers of pioneers came westward across the Great Basin in search of the golden bonanza during the summer of 1849 and later. Still others came to the Golden Gate by way of the Isthmus of Panama or around Cape Horn. The great rendezvous of the "overland pioneer" was at St. Joseph, Missouri, in a country which heretofore had been known as the "far-West". These men and women who set out into the unknown West in one of those six-months' perilous trains were a hardy, courageous class, filled with zeal and inspired with hope and determination.

After many weary weeks travellers crossed the "Forty-Mile Desert" in western Utah, after which the old trail divided, one part extending over the southern route through Carson Valley

while another came up the Truckee River from Wadsworth, passing through Stone and Gates' Crossing, then following on through what is now Reno to California. Imagine if you can the joy of the emigrants as they issued from the canyon, four miles east of the present city of Sparks, to see the Truckee Meadows with its hundreds of acres of tall blue joint grass and plenty of fresh water for the stock.

According to one man's story, when he passed through here in the year 1854 there was only one person living in this valley and that was a trader who dwelt in a tent some distance northward from what later became Glendale.[1] George F. Stone and Charles C. Gates are said to have "settled in the valley as early as 1853", but it is hardly probable that they came to what later became known as "Stone and Gates' Crossing" at that early date, for it appears that they did not establish their trading post at the Crossing until 1857.

Between the latter year and 1867 this was the largest and most prosperous village in this region. During those years there were erected several dwellings, stores, a postoffice, a blacksmith shop, a meat market, hotels, a restaurant, saloons, etc. Near at hand was the only schoolhouse within a radius of possibly ten miles. When the postoffice was established the name of "Stone and Gates' Crossing" was changed to "Glendale." The village prospered until after the birth of Reno in the Spring of 1868, when the town gradually declined and finally died a natural death. Whether or not Glendale was ever a township, or was simply a "place on the map" without definite

bounds has not thus far been fully established by the writer. If it were a township it would fall in the third tier of townships east from the California-Nevada state line, number twenty, and in township number nineteen north from Mount Diablo Base line.

In entering upon the subject of Old Pioneers and Early Settlers it appears wise to work as far as possible along geographical lines and to give each home or point of interest a number. In order to get a point of beginning we will start on the line of the old Emigrant Trail down in the canyon several miles east of the present City of Sparks.

1. Leonard C. and Abraham O. Savage, second cousins, were early settlers in this region. The latter, prior to 1866, built a toll road through the canyon along the north side of the Truckee River. The toll house stood near what was later the Clark ranch and some miles from the west end. To use this road a man on horseback paid fifty cents. Teams and stock paid in proportion. John D. Shaw later moved here from Section (2). This was some time after 1870. He collected toll for a few years. The toll road eliminated several crossings of the river. (See map "Clarks.")

2. Daniel W. O'Connor, born in Ontario, Canada, on November 16, 1837, came to the States in 1860 and thence to California via the Isthmus of Panama. He engaged in mining in Grass Valley, California. In 1862 he moved to Virginia City, Nevada. About 1864 he settled on a four hundred acre ranch near the present Vista Railroad Station. Here he erected a good set of buildings and greatly improved the ranch. Subsequently he lived in Reno where he erected the O'Connor block. He was mayor of Reno in 1905.

John D. Shaw was born and married in Canada. He and his wife came from Peterboro, Canada, or vicinity to the O'Connor ranch in 1869. They were passengers on the first or second through train from the East after the gold spike had been driven at Promontory Point in Utah. Mr. Shaw later lived at section (1) on the Ulyatt farm and finally moved to Reno. He and his wife adopted Ellen Frances McCormack when she was about five years of age. Ellen came west with her foster parents and later became the second wife of Orrin C. Ross.

3. Judge James Ferguson lived on the next farm in 1865. Within twenty-five years the buildings had all disappeared.

4. Theodore Lewis lived on the next place to the west in 1865. John Kleppe came to this ranch prior to 1870 and the property is still owned by his heirs. John was born in Germany, 1832, and came to America when a young man, settling in Illinois. After a short trip back to Germany, he came to California by way of Cape Horn. When he landed in the Golden State in the early '60s he had but thirty cents to his name. He came to this State in 1864 and finally to the ranch in question. His wife was Susan Becker, also a native of Germany. She died in 1872. Two children were born to them: Mary, who died at the age of twenty-two, and John F. Kleppe, now of Reno.

5. The Holbrook Brothers, Charles and James, lived at (5) in 1866. Later it was occupied by Charles C. Chase, a native of Skowhegan, Maine. He married late in life a Mrs. Gunn, who is the mother of Charles Gunn, late of Reno. The building on this farm stood off from the old road and only a short distance from the river. John Evans now owns the property but his house is located much nearer to the present road.

6. This is the Kellum Powell place, now occupied by H. A. Hollenbeck. The house stands off from the road some twelve rods and belongs to a somewhat recent ranch.

7. John F. Stone came to this farm, now owned by Antonio Raffeto, at an early date. He was associated in business with Charles C. Gates. He is said to have come from Boston, Massachusetts. Tradition has it that his first wife was a Spanish woman who died here about 1865 and was buried near the bank of the river. Mr. Stone was of the "rough and ready" sort with a quick excitable temper. The story goes that after the funeral of his first wife he delivered a short eulogy in which he thanked his friends for attending the service and said that he hoped to be able sometime to return their favors! He and his partner at one time had a ferry across the river. The rope for the ferry was purchased in Sacramento and brought over the mountains on the back of a mule. When delivered at the Crossing the total expense of the rope came to fifty dollars. One day while Stone was on his way over the river and Gates was plying out the feed rope a kink appeared in the line. This caused Mr. Stone to lose his mental equilibrium and he blurted out, "Cut the rope !" Gates, with a chuckle, caught up a hatchet and severed the rope, in which he held a half interest. Sometime prior to 1868 Mr. Stone built the house which is still standing at this place. For his second wife he married Miss Elizabeth Westlake. She was born at Calstock, England, and died in Oakland, California, September, 1904. She was a sister of Caroline Westlake, the wife of William Thomas of Sparks. Mr. Stone removed to Dutch

8. Several rods south of number (7), on the east side of the highway leading over the present bridge, was a butcher shop run by John Fraser in 1866. He left here and settled in Reno in 1868, after which the shop was made into a dwelling-house but the building has been gone now for many years.

9. South of the butcher shop and not far from the bank of the river was a building used by a Chinaman as a "wash-house." He was dubbed "Charles Crocker" in honor of the railroad magnate of that name. This building also disappeared many years ago.

10. The present iron bridge over the river with a span of about one hundred and ninety feet stands on or near where Stone and Gates erected a toll bridge in 1860. This bridge was carried away during the freshet of January, 1862. The county soon after built a free bridge on this same site.

11. Passing on over the bridge, not far from the south bank of the river and on the east side of the road is an old Indian camping place. A branch of the Paiutes came here to hunt and fish for several successive years after 1865. Young Chief Winnemucca came with them on one trip, about 1866, and Chief Natches, the friend of the whites, came at a later date and made a short speech in John Larcombe's store. There were usually from forty to fifty who came here to camp. Feed racks and corrals on the Charles W. Mapes ranch now occupy the old Indian camp. Around 1872, there was a road running through this land and along the bank of the river to a ranch where the Jess brothers lived. This old road, being so near the

12. Archie and Allen Jess, brothers, had a ranch on the south side of the river and possibly a half mile easterly of (11). They were living here in 1863 but later sold out to a Mr. Derby.

13. Continuing eastward to the next ranch we find where Johnnie George lived. Later Carl Jones had this farm.

14. In 1868, returning to (11) and going south to the Charles W. Mapes farm (so-called) was the four hundred acre ranch of Leonard Coates Savage, Hezekiah Carmack, and Martin Gulling. They had a large two-story barn and a good dwelling-house, but everything was destroyed by a fire about 1878. In 1870 Mr. Schmidt was in company with Leonard C. Savage under the firm name of Schmidt and. Savage. They had a store at (21).

Leonard Coates Savage, son of Jacob and Eliza R. (Coates) Savage, Jr., of Anson, Maine, and grandson of Jacob Savage, was born near Skowhegan, Maine, January, 1835, and died in Oakland, California, February 3, 1878. In 1850, when a lad of only fifteen years he left his native state and came to California where he soon located at San Juan, Nevada County, engaging in mining and milling until 1859 when he came to the state of Nevada. Being one of the first men on the Comstock Lode in Virginia City he located the Savage Mine from a bunch of croppings just south of the heavy croppings of the Gould and Curry mines. The original locators of the Savage Mine were Leonard C. Savage, a second cousin named Abraham O. Savage, Hezekiah Carmack, W. P. Sturtevant, R. Crall, and Charles C. Chase. Mr. Savage disposed of his mining interest a year or two later and purchased a valuable tract of farm-

ing land on the Truckee Meadows at Glendale. Here he was engaged in ranching and stock raising and as a mercantile partner until the middle of December, 1877, when, on account of ill health, he was compelled to seek a change of climate and removed to Oakland. In June, 1868, he had married Catherine Cashin. She died in 1919 at seventy-seven years of age. Of the six children born to this union the only one now living is Frank Charles Savage who resides in Reno and in company with his son is engaged in the plumbing and heating business. It is interesting to note that of the men interested in the Savage Mine, A. O. Savage, C. C. Chase, and H. Carmack were subsequently associated with this locality.

15. Archie Bryant, a carpenter by trade, lived in 1866 on the Virginia Road some distance below (14). He is said to have built the Glendale schoolhouse.

16. Across the road, John W. Boynton had a large ranch about two miles south of Glendale bridge in 1866.

17. At the end of the lane west of (14) George Alt was living in 1866. He was born in the state of Pennsylvania January 3, 1832, and died about 1902. When a young man he went to California and thence to Glendale where he purchased a farm of two hundred and fifty-eight acres, then in a wild state. He married Susan Carroll in 1865. She was born in County Cavan, Ireland, in 1841, the daughter of James Carroll. George and Susan had three children, James, Mary, and Susan. The latter married Julius Carr. The Alt ranch is now owned by Mr. Mapes.

18. Up the river westerly of (17) Henry M. Frost lived in 1866 and later. He came from Massachusetts with an ox team at an early date.

The house on this place formerly stood farther to the north and not far from the river.

19. The Steel brothers, William and Robert, owned two large farms farther up the Valley. They built their house on the line between the farms. Thus, while living under the same roof, each lived on his land. John Steel, a reverent sort of man, probably was their brother.

20. Upon the Steel brothers' ranch was located the Eastman sawmill. Charles Henry Eastman was born in New Hampshire and died at Oakland, California. He married in 1870 Betsey Adeline Kidder Parish, a half sister of Mrs. E. C. Sessions. He built his steam sawmill on the south side of the river about 1864 and nearly midway between the Glendale Bridge and the site of the present Reno. William White was his partner in business. The logs for his mill came down the river from the vicinity of Verdi. The business continued until into the '70s. Mr. Eastman served at one time as a member of the Nevada Legislature.

Soon after the sawmill was built there came to live here a widow by the name of Peckham. Thus another old-time family enters into Glendale history, that of the Peckham-Norcross. Josiah C. Peckham lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, where he died about 1855, leaving a widow who before marriage was Miss Caroline B. Sherman. A daughter and one son, George Edward, were born at Fall River, the latter on March 8, 1851. The widow and children came to San Francisco early in the '60s, thence to Nevada where Mrs. Peckham married Thomas W. Norcross, a native of New Hampshire, who died in Carson City. The widow died in Oakland, California, in July, 1897. The son by her first marriage is the well

and favorably known "Old Timer", Geo. E. Peckham, who writes of the pioneer days for the newspapers in Reno. Judge F. H. Norcross and Charles A. Norcross are sons by the second marriage. There are also two sons of Mr. Norcross by a previous marriage. They are William A. and Thomas Whitney Leland Norcross.

21. Returning to the Mapes ranch at (14) we find that some rods north of that place and above the river road was a store in 1866. It was owned by Lou P. Drexler and later was run by Schmidt and Savage. What became of the building has not been learned. It originally stood on the east side of the road between (11) and (14).

22. On the west side of the road a little southwest from (21) Madam Boice lived and ran a two-story hotel in 1866. The building went to decay in the early '70s. James D. O'Sullivan ran the place in 1864. (See 58)

23. North of the above hotel and about one hundred and fifty feet south of the present bridge is a building twelve by twenty feet which is still standing. Nelson S. Sherman, a soldier in the Civil War, built this house about 1887. He went around with a crutch, having been wounded while in the war. He lived here alone. A daughter of his was married to a Mr. Behler and at one time they resided in Reno. Mr. Sherman is said to have been a cousin of General William T. Sherman.

24. Returning over the bridge, we come to a place where there was a restaurant on the west side of the road and not far from the river. It was run by Joseph C. B. Stanley in 1866. On September 22, 1867,[2] it appears that David C. Caldwell, a blacksmith at Galena, was in the res-

taurant when an argument took place with the proprietor and Caldwell was stabbed and killed. Mr. Stanley was brought to trial but after many months gained his liberty. Matthew Carroll later took up his residence here and he was followed by Joseph Childs. The old restaurant building has been gone now these many years.

25. Several rods north of (24) stood the "Farmers Hotel" from 1866 to 1873. It was owned by Stone and Gates. Mr. Stone lived at (7) and took care of his ranch while Charles C. Gates, his partner, ran the hotel. Mr. Gates was an unmarried man at the time and his sister was the landlady. Later in life Mr. Gates married a widow. He removed from Glendale prior to 1874 and settled in California where he died in 1878. The hotel was a long two-story building standing sidewise to the road. On the first floor was the office, the dining-room, the kitchen, and the saloon. The ball room was in the second story. As early in 1857 Stone and Gates established a trading post here and did a thriving business with the pioneer travellers and teamsters on their way to and from Virginia City. This lasted until after the railroad arrived in 1868-9. In those days as many as sixteen freight teams put up here during the noon hour. At a later time Henry Whistler lived at this place; also John G. Woodworth, neither of whom it is believed kept a hotel. After Woodworth's death part of the building was sold to John Denning who moved the south, or saloon, half of the old hotel north to a place above the "pioneer road", where it was used as a dwelling, saloon and dance hall. Nothing now remains to show the site of this famous old "stand."

Ferguson lived in 1866 ; this later was the home of Matthew Lyman. The house has been gone for many years.

27. On the corner of the street, north of Judge Ferguson's, was John Larcombe's store. John Larcombe, Jr. was born in Weymouth, England, about 1824, and died in Reno in the winter of 1879. He was the son of John Larcombe, Sr., who came to America over eighty years ago and who also died in Reno, August 21, 1871. John Jr. came west in 1849 or 1850, by way of the Panama route. For a time he worked as a miner on the Feather River in a town in California called Bidwell's Bar. He came to Stone and Gates' Crossing prior to 1866 and there opened a store. Business was prosperous here and soon there was a call for a postoffice. Mr. Larcombe was asked to give a name other than Stone and Gates' Crossing, so he suggested the name "Glendale." He received the appointment as postmaster. John Lee, a genial Scotchman, was teaming through Glendale about that time and Mr. Larcombe induced him to come in as partner. The firm was known as Larcombe and Lee. It did not dissolve until 1868 when Larcombe moved to the new town of Reno, where he continued in the same line of business, while "Scotty Lee", as he was called, settled in Wadsworth where he continued in the mercantile business and became opulent long before his death. He left a widow who now resides in California. John Larcombe Jr. married Mary Ann Summerhays, who was born in Devonshire, England, and died in Reno Jan. 16, 1918. Of their three children Fred is dead ; Hannah (Nellie) now lives in the State of Washington; George Washington Larcombe, born in Glendale December 20, 1865, now resides in Reno and is a merchant in company with E. B.

Coffin. The old Larcombe and Lee store was later made into a dwelling-house and Orrin C. Ross lived on the place from 1868 till 1869, when he purchased the house and moved it to his ranch on the north county road (43). The old house is still standing and is occupied by Louis Raffetto, an Italian.

George Madison Turner was another man who lived at (27) from 1890 to 1891. He was born in Georgetown, California, October 22, 1859. He is the son of John Turner, an old forty-niner from Missouri. He now resides near Sparks.

28. George Ferguson, it is said, was a blacksmith. As early as 1866 he had a shop on the north side of the old pioneer road and at the head of the road going south across the river. Possibly he was a brother of William, who was called "Judge", although he was only a justice of the peace. James Ferguson is also said to have lived in this vicinity at an early date. Mr. Jameson, a Scotchman, was blacksmith here in 1870, at which time he lived in a cabin near his shop and kept "bachelor's hall." On or near this spot John Denning placed that part of the hotel which he moved from (25). John was an Irishman; he came here from Massachusetts. The old buildings are now all gone.

29. A few rods west of (27) was a blacksmith shop which remained a few years and was then removed. Benjamin M. Shaber ran this shop. He married about 1864 Elizabeth Moore. Her sister, Demelda Ann Moore, was the first wife of Orrin C. Ross of Glendale. The mother of these girls, by her second marriage, became the wife of Neal C. Haslund.

30. Let us now pass up the road westerly to the Glendale schoolhouse. The present road from

the canyon to this point is supposed to follow the line of the old pioneer route. From a point in front of the schoolhouse the old road continued straight across the fields in a northwesterly direction. It crossed the old Mitchell and Sessions ranches, then continued on past an old cemetery and the north side of the present Asylum site, and thence to Reno. This Glendale school was organized at an informal school meeting which was held at the house of Stone and Gates during October, 1863, at which time it was decided to erect a schoolhouse twenty by thirty feet in size with eleven foot post to be studded and sided. At that meeting a committee was appointed consisting of John F. Stone, William Steel, and E. C. Sessions. In the Nevada Historical Society Papers, Volume 2,[3] is an illustration showing the call for a school meeting on Saturday, December 19, 1863, at Stone and Gates' Crossing to complete the organization of School District No. 6 embracing all of Township No. 19 and "to locate schoolhouse site", etc. . . . Signed : "Truckee, Dec. 7, 1863, E. C. Sessions, Authorized person." The meeting was duly held. The following persons were present: John F. Stone, E. C. Ing, William Steel, Neil C. Haslund, J. E. Scott, C. Symons, M. Forgerty, J. R. Myers, Henry Weston, and E. C. Sessions. It was moved and carried that J. F. Stone, William Steel, and N. C. Haslund be the Trustees of said District for the ensuing year. Said Board was authorized to select a site for the schoolhouse. The minutes are signed by E. C. Sessions, Secretary. The building was erected in the spring of 1864 on the spot where it still stands. It is the same as when erected except

for the projection on the north end. At a meeting held July 22, 1864, it was found out that "the indebtedness of School House and bills was . . . . $1466.00." For several years this was the only schoolhouse in this vicinity and some of the pupils came each day from ranches eight or ten miles distant. There were about thirty pupils who attended this school in 1866. A spelling school was started that year and ran during the winter months for several years. Rev. F. M. Willis, M. E., circuit rider for this valley, frequently preached here after the schoolhouse was built.

31. Neal C. Haslund, a native of Denmark, came to the Truckee Meadows as early as 1866. He took up one hundred and sixty acres of wild land. He settled on the east side of the County road, now called Stanford Way. He subsequently removed to Peavine and thence to Reno, where both he and his wife died. He married, possibly as a second wife, the widow Moore, mother of Elizabeth Moore, wife of Benjamin M. Shaber, and Demelda A. Moore, wife of Orrin C. Ross. There was still another daughter of Mrs. Moore who married A. A. Longley. Neal Haslund had a son named Lawrence. Henry Stephens purchased this one hundred and sixty acre ranch in the spring of 1874 and sold it in 1901. Henry Stephens was the son of Benjamin Stephens. Henry was born in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1843. He died in Sparks November 30, 1917. In 1864 he married Lydia F. Brown, a native also of Pennsylvania. She died about 1873. In 1882 Mr. Stephens married Emily Quick of Pennsylvania. She now resides in Sparks. During the Civil War Mr. Stephens enlisted in Co. H, 186 Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers and served for about eighteen months. His old ranch is now owned by Rameli Trosi.

Fred C. Stephens, son of Henry and Lydia, was born near Nicholson, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1869. He remained in the East for several years after his father had settled in Nevada. He arrived in Glendale May 16, 1882. He is married and now lives near 19th St. and Prater Way, Sparks.

32. In 1865 W. E. Mitchell was living on the south side of Glendale Avenue, going west from Stanford Way. The north line of his ranch bordered on the Avenue. The first house erected on this place stood near the middle of the land and on the line of the "old pioneer road" mentioned under (30). Remains of the ruts in this old trail could plainly be seen as late as 1888. The house has since been moved north to the present road.

In 1866 Hezekiah Carmack and Martin Gulling (see 14) settled here, and still later Henry Stephens (31) owned the property. It is now occupied by an Italian, Angelo Oppio.

Martin Gulling was born in France November 11, 1829. He was named for Saint Martin, on whose day he was born. He died about 1905. In 1832 he came to America with his parents, who settled near Canton; Stark County, Ohio. Here Martin grew to manhood. On February 20, 1855, he sailed from New York City for California by the Isthmus route and arrived during March of that year. From there he came to Nevada in 1866. Here he engaged in farming, buying and selling cattle until 1903 when he retired from active life. He married Rosanna Sosie, also a native of France. Their children are: Charles; Mary, wife of Mr. LeVrie of Reno; Josephine, wife of James Eason of Reno; John. Charles Gulling, who was born at Oak Valley, California,

October 14, 1855, came to Glendale with his parents in 1866. He taught the Glendale school at one time and has held several positions of honor and trust in his home town of Reno. In 1883 he married Margaret Henry and has three children.

33. The old Sessions one-hundred-and-sixty acre ranch lay just west of (32). John Sessions resided in Randolph, Vt., and died in that state some time after 1870. He married a Miss Flint. Their children were : Milton H., who went to Wisconsin and later to Lincoln, Nebraska; Elizabeth ; Orville, who died young; and Erastus Constantine Sessions, who was born in Randolph, August 19, 1823, and died in Reno August 26, 1900. He left Vermont about 1847 and went to Wisconsin where he blazed a trail several miles into the woods and there settled with a wilderness all about him on the site of what is now the town of Waupaca. Here he lived until 1859 when he started for Pike's Peak, Colorado, but not obtaining employment there he kept on to Sacramento, California. There he worked until the spring of 1861 when he sent for his family who had remained thus far in Wisconsin. They all met in Nevada, going to Virginia by way of Dayton and Silver City. They lived in Virginia from October 1861, until April, 1863, at which latter date he purchased his Glendale ranch, probably from the Government. A small cabin was built near the river. Some months later it was moved up to the line of the present road and additions were made to it. During the winter of 1863-1864 the first school, so far as can be ascertained, was kept by Mr. Sessions in a room in his house. There was an attendance of eight or nine pupils. After the Glendale schoolhouse was built, he also taught there. He was a well read man of more than

usual ability. He served as Commissioner of Washoe County in 1865 and was a member of the General Assembly in 1873. He held his ranch till 1886 when it was purchased by A. T. Rice. On September 13, 1849, Mr. Sessions married Abigail Chandler Parish, born at Randolph February 17, 1829, who died at Reno March 3, 1913, the daughter of Jacob Kimball Parish. Their nine children were : 1) John Orville, who was born at Waupaca, Wisconsin, August 10, 1850, and who died at Reno September 29, 1922; he was a rancher for many years on a farm now owned by Peter Cassinelli ; he served as County Commissioner several years ; later he was Public Administrator; he married Sarah C. Vinton and after her death Mrs. Martha Harris who now resides in Reno. 2) Edward Parish, born at Waupaca, December 20, 1863, resides at Berkely, California. He married Melissa A. Dickinson and has two living children. 3) A daughter who died when young. 4) Charles Dana, born July 21, 1857, resides at Woodland, California ; he was married in 1879 to Jennie Tufts ; there are no children. 5) Anna Carrie, born at Virginia City March 14, 1863, was married December 12, 1906, to Thomas E. Harris who was born in England; she resides in Reno. They have an adopted son, John Harris. (6) Elizabeth Celia, born in Washoe City, January 14, 1865, married W. F. Lemberger; she resides in Anderson, California, and has three children living. 7) A son who died in infancy. 8) Lewis (or Louie) Henry, born in Glendale September 8, 1870, died in Ely, Nevada, February 12, 1920; he married Jean Laking, daughter of Richard ; they had two children : Richard Laking Sessions, who lives in Sparks, and Thelma Sessions, also of Sparks. 9) Albert Hebard, born in Glendale October 1, 1872, resides at Fort

Bidwell, California ; he married Mary Ann Laking, a sister of Lewis H. Sessions' wife; there were no children.

34. Across Glendale Avenue some distance northerly of (33) was the first cemetery for white people in this vicinity. It was in use during the '60s and '70s after which the bodies were removed together with the headstones to the cemetery in Reno.

35. We will now return east on the north side of the Avenue. Henry Weston was living here during the '60s. His farm extended east to Stanford Way. In 1903 when the Southern Pacific Railroad Company changed its route it took a slice off the north side of this farm. Formerly there were eighty acres in the tract. Among Henry's children there were: Hattie, wife of Frank Janes, both of whom are now dead ; Charles ; Julia ; and Douglas, all of whom settled in Idaho.

36. Adjoining on the north of the last named place was an eighty acre farm which Jerry G. Blaisdell and wife Julia sold to William Thomas in 1871 for $1000. At that time there was a small cabin on the place.

Mr. Thomas was born in Calstock, England, in 1831 and died near Sparks July 27, 1876. Was married in his native land to Caroline Westlake, a sister of the second wife of John F. Stone. In the year 1861 an English mining company induced Mr. Thomas to come to America to superintend their mine in the Calumet region in Michigan. Accepting the position he and his family came to that famous copper district. Here they remained until the lure of the West caused them to come to Nevada. On May 14, 1870, he and his family arrived at Glendale. As previously

stated, he began farming the next year on his eighty acre ranch, where he erected a new set of buildings. The house was finally destroyed by fire in 1913 and the barn went the same way during the last winter. As a matter of record it may be worth while to note that in 1872 this ranch was bounded by the County Road, or Stanford Way, on the east, on the north by the old Hickman ranch, on the west by Miss Mary Wall's land, and on the south by the property of Henry Weston. When the Railroad Company decided to build new shops and straighten the road-bed through what is now Sparks, surveyors came quietly on to the Thomas land and made plans of the ranch. They even came into the dooryard placing stakes at convenient points as they saw fit without asking permission of the owner. Viewing this action as but little short of an insult, the widow Thomas went out and ordered the surveyors off her property. They took the hint and fled. That was not the end of the matter, however, for some months later an official of the Railroad Company came to her and, after explaining his business, made her an offer of ten thousand dollars for the eighty acres in the ranch. The woman replied, "I do not wish to sell! Oh, what will I do with my dear old black hen which I have just set! No, I will not sell!" With a smile of amazement the gentleman left. But as this property was sought by the Railroad Company not only to provide a new roadbed but also as land on which to place its new shops, he called again a few days later and made an offer of twelve thousand for the place. After a night of consideration Mrs. Thomas consented to the deal provided she could retain as a home four acres at the east end of the tract and also the buildings. This was agreeable to the Company and the

money was soon paid over to her for the seventy-six acres. Sparks' Chinatown is located on this old ranch east of the railroad property and south of B Street. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. William Thomas was Polly Sarah, born in Calstock, Devonshire, England, July 2, 1857. She came to America with her parents in 1861, thence to Glendale May 14, 1870. She was married June 4, 1884, to William Augustus Martin, Jr., born in Sandusky County, Ohio, February 29, 1856, who died at the hospital in Reno October 12, 1912. He was the son of William A. Martin, Sr., whose ancestors were of German descent and were early settlers in Pennsylvania. W. A. Martin, Jr. and his wife had no children; she still lives in Sparks, where she has resided for over fifty-three years. In July, 1921, she sold the Thomas-Martin homestead to Edward Cantlon.

37. On the east side of the "Way" about opposite the Martin place is the old Blaisdell farm. Jerry G. Blaisdell and family came from New York state and arrived at this place August 14, 1861. At that time there were but three men living in this region. They were John F. Stone, and Charles E. Gates of Stone and Gates' Crossing and Ed. C. Ing. Mr. Blaisdell obtained two hundred and thirty acres, in Sections 9 and 10 of Township 20 East, on which he erected a log house one mile east of the present house, which is on Stanford Way. The old house was near a well which may still be seen. It was on the line of an old road which ran from Glendale to Spanish Springs Valley. Some years later he built a frame dwelling one half mile to the west of the first house. After the Government surveyed the present road (the "Way") the house was moved in 1872 to its present location; after which the old log house was also moved up and

joined to the present dwelling. The old family well in the field a mile east of Sparks is nine rods south of the north fence line. It is stoned up and is some twenty inches in diameter and from five to six feet deep. This family was molested but once by the Indians. One night about twelve o'clock they were called up and ordered to surrender all they had to eat! The next day Mr. Blaisdell was obliged to obtain a new supply in Virginia City. Jerry Gray Blaisdell was born in Wayne County, New York, November 30, 1828. He died in Sanger, Fresno County, California, December 19, 1916. On December 16, 1850, he married Julia Ann Kipp, who was born in Wayne County, New York, June 10, 1835 and who died in the old home January 7, 1911. Their five children were : 1) Matilda A., born in Wayne County January 14, 1853, and now living in Petaluma, California ; she was married Jan. 14, 1872 to Benjamin D. Dunning, who died June 25; 1919. 2) Theodore H., born in Wayne County, April 13, 1855 ; he was married Jan. 1, 1879, to Amanda Perry. 3) Henry Eugene, born on the farm in Truckee Meadows, Glendale, September 3, 1864. He was the first white child born in this region of whom we can find any record. He is now living at 563 Merrimack St., Oakland, California. He married Nina Jones. 4) Julia M. born at Glendale November 20, 1866 and married February 12, 1889, at Reno to William Bryant, a son of Daniel Bryant. They reside in San Francisco. 5) John K., born at Glendale January 7, 1869, who died October 25, 1871.

Edward C. Ing, mentioned above, was born in 1820 at Philadelphia. He arrived from California May 10, 1859. In 1863 he was a widower. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in

November of that year. The property is now owned by the Humphrey Supply Company.[4]

38. North of the Thomas ranch was the Hickman farm originally containing two hundred and forty acres. This land extended on the south to the south side of the present B Street. The widow Hickman owned the property for some time. Then James Curnow purchased it and settled there where he lived until about 1888. James was born in England and came to America about 1870. For several months he worked at his trade of blacksmith at various mines, a portion of the time at Mineral Hill, Eureka County, Nevada. Then he went into the dairy business at Pine Valley, after which he came to what is now Sparks and purchased the Hickman ranch. He married in England Mary James. Both died in Reno within recent years. They had a son, William Curnow, born in England, December 5, 1865 or 6. He is married and lives at the corner of Stanford Way and Prater Way in Sparks. The east end of the City of Sparks now covers a portion of the Hickman farm.

39. On the east side of the street, where Mr. Ceresola now lives, and known today as the "Green Acres" farm, is a part of the old Hickman ranch. A Mr. Ordway lived here some time ago. He met death by accident. Also a Mr. Gould once lived here. Mrs. Hickman lived at this place many years ago. She purchased a fine Jersey bull which took first prize at the State fair at Reno about 1877. As her hired man was placing him in the corral after the Fair was over the man was gored to death.

41. Going east on the County Road from the above named corner the first building was the North Truckee schoolhouse. It formerly stood in the southwest corner of the field and above the road. It was just east of the road which runs north to where the schoolhouse now stands. This we call the "North School Road." This building was the second one[5] used for school purposes in this district and was erected about 1876. It was moved to its present location in the summer of 1885 (see 52).

42. The Humphrey Supply Company now owns the next place easterly of (41). This is the old Kinney ranch. Rufus H. Kinney was born at Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan, March 11, 1840, and died in Reno August 26, 1911. He was the son of Amos and Mary (Roberts) Kinney. Mary was a native of Vermont. The parents also lived here in Nevada for a time. Before coming West, while still living in his native town Rufus met Miss Mary Ann Spencer. He was married to her at Battle Creek, Michigan, May 2, 1870. They immediately started on their honeymoon in the West and arrived at Glendale, Nevada, where they took up their residence. They had two daughters, one of whom married Roy L. Robinson of Sparks.

In 1871 the Taylor family was living on the Kinney ranch. Charles L. Taylor and his sister Mary A., both now reside in Reno. Henry Colwell, known as "Yankee Colwell", also lived at this place for a few years. He married the

43. This is the old Orrin Charles Ross ranch, where a Mr. Brown once lived. It is now the property of Nick Sorge of Reno. According to the family traditions the paternal ancestor of this branch of the Ross family was a Thomas Ross who was born in Scotland. He emigrated to America prior to 1775, landing in Virginia but soon after removing to Massachusetts. He had a son Silas, who was born about 1814 and lived in Massachusetts and Vermont until 1850, when he and his family emigrated to Illinois, thence to Lamont, Iowa, where he died about 1888. He was married to Miss Parnell Dunsmore who was also born about 1814. The first few years after settling in Iowa the distance was ten miles to their nearest neighbor. Orrin C. Ross, son of Silas and grandson of Thomas, was born in Massachusetts October 5, 1838, and died in Reno March 7, 1919. Mr. Ross, being of an adventuresome, progressive turn of mind, started for Pike's Peak in the spring of 1859 with an overland train of pioneers. As he did not find employment in Colorado he pushed on to California. The train passed enroute the famous Stone and Gates' Crossing. Arriving in the Golden State he lived in Marysville, Forest City, Downieville, etc., a portion of the time being engaged in mining. In 1863 he decided to return to Iowa, and in order to meet his expenses he drove a freight team which was bound for Virginia City. Upon arriving at Glendale he was accidentally thrown from the wagon and suffered broken ribs which caused him to tarry in Glendale for a week or two. During the convalescent period he fell in love with this region and decided to make the Truckee Meadows his future

home. For the seven years following he was engaged in handling hay and farm produce for the Virginia City market. Then for a time he leased ranches. About 1870 he purchased the "Ross ranch" of one hundred and sixty acres which at that time was in a wild state and covered with sagebrush. In 1872 he purchased of John F. Stone the Red Rock Cattle Range situated some twenty-five miles north of Reno and engaged in the cattle business. The range was used during the summer. His home ranch provided winter quarters. Just before purchasing his ranch he took a trip back East and while in Chicago he purchased a thoroughbred roan Durham bull calf which he shipped by express to Glendale. This was the first of that breed to come into the State of Nevada. This proved to be a good business transaction for he soon sold the calf to George Alt for enough to pay not only all charges on the animal but also his expenses to and from Chicago. During the high wind of March 2, 1879, when the City of Reno was destroyed by fire his house took fire around the chimney and was soon in ashes. It was first thought that the fire was started from burning shingles coming from the Reno fire, many of which landed on the Ross meadow although his farm was nearly six miles from the City. He rebuilt on the same spot during the following summer. He sold this place in 1917 and purchased a house near the University of Nevada in Reno. His first marriage was in 1871 to Miss Demelda Ann Moore of Petaluma, California. She died November 18, 1882. His second marriage was to Ellen Frances McCormack, born in Peterboro, Canada, September 14, 1860. She now resides in Reno. She is the daughter of Cornelius and Bridget (Gorman) McCormack. When her parents died, she was

adopted by John D. Shaw at about five years of age. Orrin C. Ross had six children. By his first wife there were: 1) O. Charles, Jr., residing in Reno. 2) Emma R., wife of A. G. Brown. 3 and 4) Two children who died in childhood. By his second wife there were : 1) Silas Earl Ross, born on the Ross ranch; 2) Vera Ross Whitehead, wife of A. E. Whitehead of Sparks, who has two children, Edwin Ross and Jean Ellen. Silas E. was educated in the North Truckee School, the Reno High, and the University of Nevada. He graduated from the latter institution in 1909 and taught there between 1909 and 1915, at which time he entered the undertaking business in Reno and is now associated with John J. Burke under the firm name of Ross and Burke. Mr. Ross was married June 11, 1913, to Miss Emily Coffin, who was born in Carson City, the daughter of Trenmore and Marie L. (Benoit) Coffin. There are two children : Emily Lee, born March 14, 1914; Silas Earl, Jr., born June 5, 1916. Mr. Ross, Sr. is at present Past Grand Master of the Masons of Nevada.

44. Following eastward on the same road to where Henry B. Baker now lives is the farm formerly owned by Allen Joseph Clark, who came here from Pyramid Lake prior to 1869 and removed from here to Reno about 1877. Mr. Clark was born in Rutland, Vermont, December 28, 1836, and died in recent years in Reno. He was the son of Laben Clark and the grandson of Rufus Clark of Keene, New Hampshire. Allen Joseph Clark had four children. They were: 1) Allen Laben, born 1867, resides in Reno. 2) Alice J., married to Wiiliam Cool, died 1896. 3) George J. born 1872, is. now deceased. 4) Ernest G., born 1877, is now deceased. Allen Joseph Clark,

the father, ran the Pioneer Hotel in Reno. It is opposite the Southern Pacific Railroad Station and is now known as the Clarendon.

45. Returning to the North School Road, the first place above the corner on the east side of that highway is the old "Blanchard place." It is now owned by Theodore Wesley Clark, Jr. of Reno. He was born at Unionville, Humboldt County, Nevada, March 8, 1875. He is the son of Theodore W. and Sarah Elizabeth (Miller) Clark. T. W. Clark, Sr., an old pioneer in Unionville, Nevada, was born in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, in 1842. In 1859-60 he came to San Francisco, California, by way of the Isthmus and thence to this state on, horseback. Here he engaged in the stock business, handling both horses and cattle. The son, T. W. Clark, Jr., came to Reno in August, 1889, where he completed his education. About 1903 he bought the Blanchard ranch. An unusual coincidence has taken place in this family since three successive generations have taught school in the same schoolhouse at Unionville. First was Henry Miller, next was his daughter, Sarah E. (Miller) Clark and in due time her son Theodore, Jr., taught in the same building. Theodore, Jr. was married on September 4, 1898, to Miss Jane Mary Barnes. They have five children living, two sons and three daughters.

The Blanchard lineage will now be given. William Blanchard was born in New York State about 1798 and died about 1884. When a lad of fifteen he enlisted in the War of 1812 for a term of five years. When discharged his regiment was in camp near St. Louis, Missouri. He, in company with another soldier, set out on foot for his home in New York. While passing through Woodford County, Illinois, he became interested in the su-

perior quality of the land and decided to take up a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Springbay Township. Here he lived till his death. He was a highly respected citizen, industrious, and an active worker in the M. E. Church. He married Elizabeth Donahue and they had five children, Robert Ashley, Thomas, William Leslie, Mary, and Jane. Robert Ashley Blanchard was born in Springbay, Illinois, and died at Santa Ana, California, about 1920. He served in the 108th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers during the Civil War. He married Margaret Isabella McQueen, a Scotch lady, who died about 1873. They had a son, John May Blanchard, born May 1, 1854, who came to the Blanchard ranch May 23, 1877, to work for his uncle, William L. After a few years he bought an interest in the property. Subsequently he lived in Reno, then Wadsworth, and came to Sparks with others in 1904. Since August 1, 1894, he has been in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. June 22, 1885, he was married to Irene M. MaLott, born at Marysville, California. They have one daughter. Thomas Blanchard, the second son of William, died while serving in the Civil War. William Leslie Blanchard, the third child of William, came to the Truckee Meadows in April, 1877, and in company with Charles E. Roberson bought the Blanchard ranch consisting of one hundred acres. This land was severed from the Rufus H. Kinney farm (42). Early in 1877 Mr. Blanchard built a small cabin here and during the following winter he erected the present two-story dwelling. In 1878 he removed to Rocklin, California, where he died about twelve years ago. Mary Blanchard, the fourth child, married Thomas Fauber. She died in Woodford County, Illinois, about twenty-five years ago. They had

six children. Jane Blanchard, the fifth child of William, was born about 1840 and died at Santa Ana, California, about 1922. She married Milton Applegate, a soldier of the Civil War. They came to Glendale, and for a time she kept house for her brother William L. There were three Applegate children, all of whom came here to live. They were Thomas, Alonzo, and Mary.

The first schoolhouse in the North Truckee District was a small one-room cabin, about twelve by twenty feet in size; it stood where the barn on this place now stands. It was built about 1873. There were eight or ten pupils who attended here. After the present school building was erected (41) this older building was purchased by William, usually called "Bill", Perkins and moved to (46) for his abode. Tradition says that Alvin Kinney, a son of Amos, had a home in this location in 1867 before the cabin schoolhouse was erected.

46. Across the road from the Blanchard ranch where Angelo Mangini now lives was the "Bill" Perkins place. He lived here during the '70s in the old cabin schoolhouse. He was unmarried at the time. He formerly worked in the Eastman sawmill (20). The material in the present two-story house on this place came from a house which once stood in Virginia City.

47. The next place to the north on this road is the old Isaac Pierson Johnson farm, now owned by Joseph Bianchini. "Ike" Johnson, as he was called, was born in Westmoreland, Cumberland County, England, February 9, 1829, and died October 29, 1888. He came to America when seventeen years of age and for several months worked for a John Bolen in New York state. Then he went to Michigan and worked in a saw-

mill near a place called Mill Point. This mill was owned by the Hopkins brothers and he remained with them for some ten years. For most of that time he was their foreman. Getting the "Gold Fever" he, with his wife, came overland in 1859 to Nevada. With an ox-team they started from St. Joseph, Missouri, with a train of pioneers. For many miles there was no wood and the wife did all the cooking with "buffalo chips." Yet they experienced no serious difficulty until they had passed Salt Lake City, after which the settlers there began to try to run off their stock at night. Not until the third night were they successful, when the horses and oxen were all taken. With one change of clothing, the family Bible, a few trinkets, and some dry biscuits, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were compelled to walk to the next station, a distance of nearly forty miles. There they got aboard another wagon and came through to Ragtown, thence to Carson City and finally arrived in Galena, where Mr. Johnson secured work driving a freight team between Susanville, California, and Virginia City. He later moved to Hydesville, California ; but after a few months returned to this state and began working for Mr. Eastman near Glendale, both in the sawmill and running logs down the river. On one of the latter trips he nearly lost his life. About 1870 he purchased his one hundred and sixty acre farm where he lived until his death. His old cabin is still standing on this place, a few rods south of the present house. Mr. Johnson was married in Michigan about 1857 to Miss Helen Melissa Watson, who was born at Mill Point, Michigan, and who died on the Johnson ranch October 28, 1893. She was the daughter of Dustin Watson, a native of Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had several children. The only

one now living is Sarah, born at Galena, November 17, 1863. She was married first to Mr. Murray and secondly to Robert McClure. She now resides in Reno.

48. The James Grose ranch is northwest of (47). The buildings are twenty-five or thirty rods west of the main road. Walter E. Vance is said to have been the first to settle on this land. His dwelling was a small cabin which stood on or near the spot now occupied by the present house. Edward Wills and Walter Tregellis sold this forty acre ranch to James Grose May 8, 1895. Mr. Grose came here from Virginia City and the property is still owned by his family. The Indians had a camping ground on the ridge near this set of buildings in the early times. Until within the last twenty-five years each year some five or six of the old red men would return and pass a few days on this spot, doubtless bemoaning the loss of those times when the Paiutes held sway over the whole of this part of the Truckee Meadows. In the latter '60s hundreds of their people came and camped at this place.

James Grose, son of William and Elizabeth (Rogers) Grose, was born in Camborne, England, May, 1848 or 1849. He died on the Grose ranch April 14, 1922. He came to America in 1866 and lived first in New Jersey, going thence to Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania, where he was employed in a coal mine. In July, 1872, he came by train to Virginia City where he was employed in the gold and silver mines until 1895. In more recent years he mined in the state of Montana and also for several months in the Wedekind mine, which was less than one mile from his home. In 1905 the present house was built. The material came

largely from a house which formerly stood in Virginia City. He was married July 29, 1885, to Miss Thomasine Sampson, who was born in the village of Angarrick, near Hyle, England, January 20, 1865. She now resides in Sparks. She is the daughter of Stephen and Mary Jane (Davis) Sampson. Her father died in England, after which the mother, in company with her children, came to America. They arrived at Virginia City about the twentieth of December, 1871. Mrs. Sampson finally married George Bennetts and later moved to Santa Rosa where she died. The six children of James Grose were : 1) William J., an engineer on the S. P. ; he resides in Sparks. 2) George, a rancher at (49). 3) Elizabeth, married to William F. Hallard ; she lives at Ely, Nevada. 4) Dora, who married and now lives in Los Angeles, California. 5) Rose, married to George Murphy, also lives in Los Angeles. 6) Lewis J., a railroad man of Sparks.

49. Joseph (or Antone) Asevedo, a native of Portugal, was the first to settle on the ranch now owned by George Grose. He bought a part of this farm from Wills and Tregellis. The balance is said to have formerly been owned by W. E. Vance and others. He erected the first building on this place in the field some eighty rods northwest of the present ones but later moved the old structures and erected those now standing on this ranch. George Grose purchased the place some four years ago and is engaged in the dairy business. He married Grace Richards. They have two daughters. Some forty years ago on the knoll a few rods east from this house stood a cabin. Old Mrs. Johnson moved here from (56).

50. North of the "Ike" Johnson place where a road runs to the east is a small house, now

vacant, where Mrs. Jane McCommish and her son Alexander were living some twenty-five years ago. She was the mother of Mrs. William P. Van Meter. She and her son are now both dead. Joseph McCommish was born in Scotland and married Jane Mac Cashnie. They came to America and arrived on the Truckee Meadows July 9, 1870. Joseph had a sister, Belle McCommish who married John W. Woodworth and who settled in Glendale prior to 1870. Across the road just north of this place Will Van Meter now lives.

51. William Prater Van Meter, son of William and Elizabeth Van Meter, was born at Elizabethtown, Harding County, Kentucky, June 13, 1833, and died near Sparks April 17, 1909. He married August 14, 1870, Miss Margaret McCommish, daughter of Joseph and Jane. Margaret was born in Glasgow, Scotland, July 7, 1851. Mr. Van Meter bought his one hundred and sixty acre ranch in the North Truckee district and settled here February 14, 1872. His widow still lives on the old homestead. The first dwelling on this place, which was destroyed by fire about 1894, stood above and not far from the road, some three hundred feet westerly of the present house and near a large tree. There are six children living. John Kelley, it is said, formerly owned this place and erected its first buildings. Half a mile east of here is the large ranch once owned by Judge James Pollock.

52. The North Truckee Schoolhouse, as previously stated, was moved to this location from the corner of the road at (41). West of and not far from the schoolhouse is a recently built house occupied by Otto Olsen. In the next house lives Mr. Lavaginino.

53. The first place west of the schoolhouse in 1872 stood several rods from the present road. The house stood on the south side of that highway and a short distance south of the corral opposite the present Smith and Galvin house. Daniel Bryant and George Snively are understood to have owned this property and one or both of these men lived there about that time. Daniel Bryant was born about 1829 and died in Reno May 27, 1920, aged over ninety years. When a young man he was employed in a flour mill. He came to the Truckee Meadows in the '60s. He married a Miss Conkley. Among their children were: 1) Emma, who married Walter E. Vance; 2) William, who married Melissa Blaisdell, daughter of Jerry; 3) Sherman, who died young; 4) Sheridan, twin brother of Sherman, who is a conductor on the Southern Pacific Railroad and resides at Roseville, California.

54. Nearly north of the Bryant and Snively place is the present Galvin-Smith ranch. This is the farm purchased in 1876 by Robert Frazer. The Frazers were of Scottish ancestry. The first recorded is said to have been Alexander "Fraser" as the name was formerly written. He had a son named William, born in 1807, who came to Vermont about 1830 and for a time lived in the vicinity of Barnet in that state. Subsequently he settled in Monroe, Grafton County, New Hampshire, where he was engaged in grinding wheat for the inhabitants of that region. This being a custom mill, he retained two quarts of each bushel as his toll. He died during the fall of 1847 when only forty years of age. He married Hannah Manchester, whose great-grandfather was John Manchester of Liverton, Rhode Island. William and Hannah Frazer had nine children born in Vermont and New Hampshire,

three of whom settled in Nevada. They were: 1) Robert A., born October 31, 1834, a resident of Reno; 2) Jane Elizabeth, born February 28, 1836, who lives with her brother William; 3) Mary, born 1838, died August 17, 1864; 4) Hattie, born March, 1840, died in New Hampshire September, 1915, unmarried; 5) James, born March 24, 1843, now living at Fort Bragg, California ; 6) Hannah, born 1845, who resides at Monroe, New Hampshire, unmarried; 7) William Harrison, born at Monroe, March 28, 1846, who resides on his ranch near Sparks; 8) Oscar, born February, 1848, who resides in. Monroe where he has served his town as selectman and as a member of the New Hampshire State Legislature; 9) Esther, (a twin to Oscar), who also resides in Monroe. Robert A. Frazer, first child of William and Hannah, went to San Juan, California, in 1855. In 1861 he arrived in Washoe City, Nevada, where he served as City Treasurer for six years and as Assessor of Washoe County for two years, after which he went into the sheep, cattle, and farming business. He purchased his ranch in March, 1876. He married Janet Hastings of Monroe, New Hampshire. They had one son, Robert H. Frazer, who now resides at Modesto, California. Jane Elizabeth Frazer, second child of William and Hannah, was married first to William Nuttall, who was killed while crossing a railroad track in Massachusetts. Her second marriage was to Andrew Jackson Welch. This couple lived in Reno for several years and then removed to Virginia City where Mr. Welch was engaged in the livery business for many years and where he died in 1904. Mrs. Welch came to Nevada in 1871. While crossing the plains the buffalo were so numerous as to retard the progress of the train. She had no children.

55. William H. Frazer, seventh child of William and Hannah, now lives on the next ranch west of (54). He left New Hampshire in the fall of 1865 and went to Monticello, Jones County, Iowa, thence to Iowa Falls in Harding County of that state. Then he removed to Calamar, where he was employed by the railroad for about one year. On March 30, 1872, he came to Reno and soon after began herding cattle for his brother Robert on the latter's ranch in Modoc County, California. He returned to this state in 1873 where he has since resided. For the next few years he was engaged in baling hay, etc., until he purchased his ranch of two hundred acres from Walter E. Vance and on which he settled March 10, 1876. (See 56). Retaining ten acres of his original two hundred acre tract he erected his present house in 1903-1904 in the midst of over one hundred shade trees which he had planted in 1880. June 4, 1904, he moved to this place from (56). He married November 3, 1875, Belle Anderson, daughter of John Anderson, She was born in the State of Indiana and died March 8, 1920. There are six children living: Robert; Vernie, who married Louis G. Wedekind and resides in Fernley, Nevada; Clare; Myrtle; Gladys, a teacher who lives at home; Roy, a resident of Reno.

56. This ranch, which was owned by a Mrs. Johnson in 1868, is now the property of Bisagno Brothers and is the spot where William H. Frazer settled in 1876. At the time of the building of the Central Pacific Railroad the Government granted every other section of land to the Central Pacific Company. Walter E. Vance leased this piece of land and made improvements thereon. When Mr. Frazer took over the property he purchased the two hundred acres of land from the

Railroad Company and all of the buildings and other improvements of Mr. Vance. By means of grit, thrift, and ambition Mr. Frazer while here was able to cut from one hundred and fifty to two hundred tons of hay and to keep one hundred head of cattle. On a rocky portion of his ranch the Wedekind mine was discovered. He moved from this place to (55).

57. The James Gault ranch was formerly owned by Daniel Powl. The latter had about three hundred acres which he probably received from the Government. For a time during the '60s Walter Vance had lived in a small cabin here and made some improvement on the wild sagebrush land. James Gault, Jr. was born in Quebec, Canada, April 9. 1844. He was the son of James and Elizabeth (Easton) Gault. The Gault ancestors were among a band of hardy Scotchmen who emigrated at an early day into the north of Ireland. James Gault, Jr. left his native town and came to Nevada in January, 1871. He soon purchased of Daniel Powl one undivided half of his three hundred acre ranch. Here he settled and here he has lived for over fifty-three years. For a time he and his family lived in the Vance cabin which he later enlarged. In 1907 Mr. Gault built a new home. The old cabin is still standing by the roadside near the old well. In 1871 there was no road leading to this place. No fences or ditches had been built. Hence, when traveling to Glendale or to Reno, the trip was taken in the shortest and most convenient way according to the pleasure of the driver. At that time a Mrs. Johnson was living on the William H. Frazer "old" ranch (56). There was only one place close to the main road in going east to the site of the present schoolhouse and that was where Daniel Bryant later

settled, (53) . Myron C. Lake of Reno owned a ranch south of Gault's in 1870. He leased it to Daniel Bryant. That place is now owned by George H. Calligan. In 1872 Mr. Gault set out a sizeable orchard of fruit and shade trees just south of his buildings at an expense of about three thousand dollars, but the project was only a partial success. For many years after 1871 a band of twenty-five or thirty Paiute Indians would come each summer and camp on top of the hill twenty rods west of Mr. Gault's buildings. Some of the men worked on the ranches and were very good steady workmen. While men were excavating for the Orr ditch on the hill east of Mr. Gault's buildings and near the point where that ditch now crosses the road an old Indian burying place was discovered. Mr. Gault was the foreman of the ditch gang for many years. This section of the ditch was begun about 1872 and for several years thereafter it was enlarged and improved. Mr. Gault has served as State Senator from Washoe County. He was married about 1867 to Jane Nolan, now deceased. There are four sons living.

58. The next place to the west of (57) is the O'Sullivan ranch. James Dennis O'Sullivan, son of Dennis, was born in Cork County, Ireland, March 1, 1835, and died on his ranch September 27, 1913. About 1854 he came to America, landing in New York City. After six years he left there by boat for San Francisco, by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He arrived September 1, 1860. From there he went to Sacramento, where he worked in a brick yard and became familiar with the business. Around 1862 he came over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and landed in Virginia City, from which place he came to Glendale. For some years following he ran a

hotel and saloon at (22). Then he went to the village called Auburn about two miles north of Sparks where he was employed by the English Mining Company, an organization which was just starting in business. In 1866 he settled on the farm which was not far from the Auburn mill. There he or members of his family have since resided. For the first six years they lived in a small cabin. Then he conceived the idea of making brick from the abundant clay found on his ranch. In 1872 he erected the first part of the brick dwelling on this place. In 1892 he added the two-story or the main portion. The east wing was built in 1896, making it one of the largest and most substantial dwellings to be seen on any ranch in this vicinity. During the Reno fire of March 2, 1879, fire brands from that city were carried by the high wind and set fire to his corral, destroying part of his property. The family name in Ireland was written "O'Sullivan", but for many years James wrote it "Sullivan". Finally, late in life, he prefixed the "O", giving to the name its original form and thus it has since been written. He married Mary Cosriff who was also born in Ireland. She died in December, 1870. Of their four children two are now living. One of these is Dennis, who resides on the old homestead. He was born in Sacramento, California, May 22, 1861, is married and has two children.

59. On the next place west of the above ranch Patrick J. Kelly was living in 1871. But little has been learned regarding him other than that he was a native of Ireland and quite a noted character in these parts in his day. Continuing westerly from this place was the Auburn Mill settle-

60. Here Carroll Eldredge now lives, off the main road. Martin Gulling of Glendale purchased two hundred acres here in 1873. He erected the first building on the place in 1879. A new road, dividing this ranch, has since been built from Sparks to the Wedekind Mine. James Nelson now owns that part of the Gulling farm lying on the east side of the new road. Mr. Gulling sold this property in 1903.

61. A man by the name of Saul Stines and his wife Minnie were living near the corner of B and 7th Streets in the early '70s. He had a small, low, flat-roof cabin which stood on or near the present site of Young's Hotel. Along at that time an insane man was living in this vicinity. He had been a miner and now he always carried his pan for panning out the "rich ore" of which he was ever in search. Coming to Saul's cabin one day and finding the house open with no one inside he took the chairs, the table, and other household furniture from the cabin and placed it all upon the flat roof, explaining after he had finished the job that he "thought it would set the house off better." Either to be on good terms with the women folks or else to avoid them—which alternative the writer has not learned—the old miner always carried a lot of ladies' hairpins in the lapel of his coat. A few months after decorating the roof of the cabin he is believed to have perished on some of the hills in this vicinity where a corpse and a miner's pan were afterwards discovered. His name is unknown. Some fifty years after coming to Glendale Mr. Stines sold out to George Frick and went to Missouri. He had four children, Allen, Jake,

Polly and Dell. George Frick later sold to John O'Sullivan who had the farm cut up into building lots with streets between. This is now known as the "O'Sullivan tract".

62. North of the last-named ranch was one owned by J. S. Sellers. His buildings stood north of the County Road, now' called Prater Way. Jacob L. Sellers was born near Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, October 26, 1823, and was accidentally drowned March 30, 1881, while building the Mayberry bridge above Reno. He was married August 24, 1848, to Mary Davidson who was born near Carlisle March 1, 1829, and died at Reno July 6, 1919. Being a man of push and energy Mr. Sellers removed about 1850 to Fort Madison, Iowa, where he worked as a carpenter and contractor. In the spring of 1864 he decided to come to this state. With a two-horse team and a four-ox team, on two prairie schooners he and his family started out over the plains. Arriving at Council Bluffs they were detained nearly two weeks before they could cross over the Missouri River on a ferry to Omaha, where the overland train was to be made up. A Mr. Cramer, who had previously resided in California, had been East and was now returning with his family. Being familiar with the route, Mr. Cramer was selected as pilot of the train. This man, by the way, settled at Beckwith, Sierra Valley, California. The train of about twenty teams passed through Fort Laramie where they crossed the Platte River, thence through a canyon in the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City, thence over the old emigrant trail and down the Humboldt River to the Truckee at Wadsworth. Mr. Sellers had set out for Virginia City, but upon arriving at Wadsworth decided to continue up the river, soon arriving at Stone and Gates' Crossing. Being

favorably impressed with the Truckee Meadows he purchased his one hundred and sixty acre ranch already mentioned. In 1868 upon the birth of Reno, he sold to Daniel Pawl and moved to the new town where he carried on a large and successful business as contractor and builder. The Lake Toll Bridge was carried away about that time and he was engaged by Mr. Lake to build a new one of wood on the old site. During the period of its construction a board walk was placed across the river for the use of foot passengers. One day, we are told, a large flock of turkeys came along and each one in single file took the "turkey trot" over the plank bridge, on the way to the Virginia City market. As Mr. Lake found his hotel business increasing he hired Mr. Sellers to raise up his old frame building and place a story underneath. This building was torn down later and on its site was erected the Riverside Hotel. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Sellers are: 1) Alfred Stow, born in Pennsylvania July 29, 1849, resides in Sparks ; 2) Marion, born in Iowa August 25, 1861, lives in Sparks ; 3) William Calvin, born February 25, 1853, married Carrie Peterson and died in Reno March 1, 1917, leaving a son Alfred and a daughter Lillian ; 4) Frances Marian, born in Iowa June 6, 1856, married Frank Cramer and resides in Sparks ; she has three sons and one daughter now living; 5) Harry Davidson, born in Iowa, February 9, 1862, resides in Sparks ; 6) Jacob Grant, born near Glendale January 22, 1869, died January 7, 1870; 7) Hattie Luella, born in Reno December 5, 1870, married Frank Richardson by whom she had two daughters, Ruby L. and Edna M.; she was married a second time, to Mr. Zerrnan; she now resides near Wheatland, California.

what is now known as the Robison Tract. A man by the name of Pollard owned the land in 1868. Less than twenty-five years ago it was the eighty acre ranch owned by George W. Robison. George Washington Robison was born in Ohio in December, 1845, and died at Bowers Mansion near Carson City, October 8, 1921. When a young man he moved from his native state to Missouri where he joined the Union Army. March 7, 1862, he enlisted for three years in Company C, 7th Regiment, Missouri Cavalry, but soon after was transferred to the First Regiment Cavalry. He was discharged at the expiration of his service at Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 13, 1865. He then settled in Iowa and was married in 1871 to Martha M. Lampman who was born at Marshalltown, Iowa, and who died at San Francisco in May of 1890 or 1891 at the age of forty-eight years. Mr. Robison took up farming in Marshalltown, removing later to Ames, Iowa, where he was engaged in the grocery business. His health becoming impaired, he moved upon his physician's advice to this state in 1874. Arriving at Wadsworth by rail, he hired a rig and drove to the home of Cyrus Cheever in Mason Valley. Mr. Cheever was an old friend of his who lived some two miles from the present site of Thompson. For the next sixteen years Mr. Robison lived in that vicinity. In 1890 he bought of William Chapman for $6000 his ranch in what is now the City of Sparks. This ranch extended south to the south side of B Street, east to the east side of 8th Street, north to the alley between E and F Streets and west to 15th Street. His old house, No. 430 15th Street, is still standing near the northwest corner of the old ranch. In 1902-1903 after the Railroad Company decided to locate their shops here Mr. Robison saw the opportunity and soon had his ranch sur-

veyed for house lots and streets. The lots were laid out twenty-five by one hundred and forty feet, with streets sixty and eighty feet wide. A twenty-foot alley ran through each block. Each block contained twenty-four lots, twelve on each street. Residential lots sold from one hundred dollars up. Business lots on B Street sold from two hundred to five hundred dollars apiece, depending on their location, on the corner or in the middle of the block. Mr. Robison realized the tidy sum of seventy-five to one hundred thousand dollars on the sale of his eighty acre ranch. While living in Mason Valley he served as County Commissioner and was a member of the General Assembly after he moved to Sparks. There are three children living : 1) Roy Lampman, born at Ames, Iowa, August 30, 1873, a hardware merchant in Sparks in company with W. S. McPherson; has served as Commissioner of Washoe County and is now a member of the City Council of Sparks, and was married September 25, 1901, to Kate F. Kinney, daughter of Rufus H. Kinney (see 42) ; 2) George, now of Los Angeles; 3) a daughter, who married Henry Ritter and who now lives at Bowers Mansion.

64. North of the Robison Tract and above Prater Way is the old Prater ranch. Richard Prater, a merchant at Virginia City, is said to have owned this tract, but he rented the property to others. But little has been learned regarding this man, except that Prater Way was named for him. John Ham owned this property some thirty years ago.

65. Along the "Way" west of (64) is the Deer Park, a tract of four or five acres, now principally used as a camping spot for auto-tourists. On a rise of land northerly from this park is a spot where the Indians buried their dead fifty years ago It, was simply a hole in the ground where the

red men were placed without much ceremony and that within the memory of some of the early settlers. It is believed that the place has long since been obliterated.

66. West of 15th Street and the Robison ranch is the so-called Newtown Tract. John P. Winfrey formerly owned this ranch. South of the latter tract was land owned by Miss Mary Wall forty or fifty years ago. More recently this became known as the Harriman Tract.

67. The Mary Wall ranch was owned by L. T. Fox in 1873. Mr. Fox ran a butcher shop in Virginia City about that time. The old house, still standing, was on the line of the old pioneer road mentioned under (30). Miss Wall married Daniel Crawford. Then the Railroad Company purchased the property and after reserving a strip on the north side, sold the balance. The ranch is now owned by the McEnerney family.

The waters from the Truckee River, conveyed by the numerous irrigating ditches, had transformed the barren sagebrush desert in this part of the Truckee Meadows into bountiful alfalfa fields upon which stock revel in fatness.

There is one long main ditch, though under three heads, which runs north of Reno and Sparks, thence northward into Spanish Springs Valley. This supplies a large quantity of water for land purposes in the vicinity of Sparks. The Orr Ditch and Water Company was begun in a small way by Henry Orr in 1863. It leaves the Truckee River above Reno. and crosses the University of Nevada grounds, running thence to near the site of the old village of Auburn and ends near the road easterly of James Gault's

house. Its total length is about ten miles. Mr. Gault was superintendent of the ditch gang after he moved to town. Each season for several years after 1871 men in this locality were engaged, when time would permit, in enlarging and extending the Orr Ditch. Finally a new company was formed and the ditch was extended easterly some four miles. This piece became known as the Orr Ditch Extension. In due time this latter piece was extended northward into Spanish Springs Valley six or eight miles. This ditch takes its name from the Valley. The Orr Ditch has an average drop of forty feet per mile. Charles Gulling has held an office in the Ditch Company for many years. The late Orrin C. Ross was also deeply interested in these water channels. So important has this water system become for the ranches that practically speaking, every ditch has its fence and every fence has its ditch.

Auburn, or the old English Mill, as it was frequently called, was a mining company's location two miles northwesterly from Sparks. A man by the name of Boyle was the promoter of this company, which started about 1863, with capital around half a million dollars. There was a twenty-stamp mill. Rock was crushed by water power which was conveyed by a canal from the Truckee River. The company employed possibly one hundred hands in the mill and doing carpentering and canal work. A village sprung up and a post-office was established. But the business ran only about three years, and then failed, to the great loss of all the investors, most of whom lived in London.

The Wedekind Mines are two miles north of the City of Sparks on land formerly owned by William H. Frazer. George H. Wedekind, a native of Germany, made the discovery about 1900. He was born July 20, 1828, came to America in 1851, went to San Francisco by the Isthmus route, and remained in the Golden State for ten years. He then moved to Virginia City where he lived until 1895 when he came to Reno and worked at his trade of piano tuning. For some years he had been interested in mining. During his leisure time while living in Reno he could be seen driving an old horse through the country on his prospecting trips. One day while eating his lunch he casually kicked over a small rock which appeared a bit unlike others which lay round about. Upon a closer examination he was convinced that it contained ore. He therefore had it assayed. It proved to be rich in silver. He set about sinking a shaft. From this he took out about ten thousand dollars worth of ore. Then he sold the property to Governor John Sparks, for whom the town of Sparks was named, for one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars. A number of houses and mills were soon erected, a store was opened and a postoffice, called Wedekind, was established. But like so many other mining projects the ore ran out and after a few years the place ceased to thrive. Although the mine has been run in a small way within the last few months there appears to a casual observer little of life, labor, or of ore in sight. After Mr. Wedekind made his discovery others flocked here, and between 1901 and 1908 possibly fifty holes, from four to four hundred feet deep had been sunk in the hills in that vicinity, where they remain to this day, threat-

ening death and destruction to man or beast who may happen to be passing that way. Governor Sparks opened a store there in 1902 in a building that has since been removed. The store was operated for some eight months by his son Charles. The Wedekind postoffice was in the same building and also existed for some eight or ten months. Alex. Strang was the postmaster. Mr. Wedekind was married in 1860 to Lena Wilhelm, also a native of Germany. Both he and his wife died in Reno. Their children are: John, Henry, Mrs. Laden, Mrs. Ramsey, and Lewis, who married Vernie Frazer and died some five years ago.

Vista is a flag station on the Southern Pacific Railroad about four miles east of Sparks and at the entrance of the canyon. Here there is a schoolhouse of recent construction, a ranch or two (see 2) and perhaps six cabins.

From data collected it appears that there was an old road in early times which ran from Glendale to Spanish Springs Valley. From, or near, the old John Larcombe store (27) the road started and ran northward in the most convenient way, passing the old house where Jerry G. Blaisdell once lived (37), thence to the Rufus H. Kinney ranch (42), then on to the William L. Blanchard place (45), where it bore off in a northeasterly direction and crossed the Isaac Johnson farm near his old barns some distance east of his house (47), thence northward and entered the present road not far from the barns on Mrs. William P. Van Meter's ranch. At that time no obstruction except sagebrush blocked the passing traveler,

for none of the ditches or fences arrived till several years later. After this road was discarded the old Blaisdell house (37) was moved up to the County Road, now called Stanford Way, where it still stands (37 1/2).

The railroads in America have been the chief cause of the upbuilding of many of our largest and most prosperous cities. During the '60s the Central Pacific Railroad began building eastward from Sacramento to join the Union Pacific which was pushing its way westward through the Rocky Mountains.

The first train from the west arrived in what is now Reno, June 18, 1868. This was the end of the track until the road had been completed farther to the east. Finally the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific roads met and so important was this occasion when the East met the West that a gold spike was driven in the last rail at what is now Promontory Point, north of Great Salt Lake in Utah. This event occurred on May 10, 1869.

The coming of the railroad caused Reno to become the prosperous and thriving city that it is today. Before the road had been graded across the Truckee Meadows, near where the City of Sparks has been built, a great freshet caused the river to swell its banks and flood not only the line where the railroad had been surveyed, but most of the lower lands to the mouth of the canyon. In order to overcome this difficulty the company decided to build its road farther to the north on the higher land. There the roadbed remained until about 1903 when it was rebuilt on almost the exact line where it had first been surveyed back in the

'60s. The old road left the present location not far from Coney Island and bore a little north of east along a fill, a portion of which is now being used as a roadbed by the Reno-Sparks Street Railway Company. From here it ran to 15th Street in Sparks, a few rods north of the house where the late George W. Robison formerly lived, thence on the south side and parallel to Prater Way until it crossed the street just north of the Curnow house (40) and then ran into the field where the old roadbed can still be seen, thence on and crossing the schoolhouse road some rods to the south of Bill Perkins' house (46), then passing by the fence on the south side of Theodore W. Clark's ranch, continuing easterly to near the foot-hills where it turned southward, crossing the County Road east of Henry B. Baker's buildings, and then entered the canyon near Vista. Under the management of the late Edward Henry Harriman great and vast were the improvements which took place in the old Central Pacific, now known by the official title of the Southern Pacific lines.

When the roadbed of the railroad was straightened and other improvements were made, the Southern Pacific Railroad, under the new management required new and larger shops in this vicinity as also a terminal located more centrally for the eastern and western divisions than was Wadsworth. While the City of Reno appeared to be fairly central as to location yet there was an insufficient amount of suitable land there. Hence the officials of the railroad finally decided to place their shops on the Thomas-Martin ranch, four miles east of Reno, in what is now Sparks. Four or five other ranches were required, or have since

been taken, on which to build the city of Sparks. It was during 1902 or early 1903 that it was fully decided that the railroad shops at Wadsworth should be rebuilt on the Martin ranch. What Wadsworth would suffer in the change, the new town would gain. The move was, however, a severe blow to the life and prosperity of Wadsworth. Sadly the inhabitants left the old town, where some of them had resided for thirty years, to make their new home on ranches twenty-eight miles nearer the Golden Gate.

The railroad company was ever ready to assist in every way possible while their employees were making this move. All employees who owned a dwelling in Wadsworth received for the sum of "one dollar" a deed of land in Sparks on which to erect a new dwelling. A tract of land on the south side of B Street and on the north side of A Street was surveyed into streets and building lots. A committee was chosen from among the men to take charge of the drawing for lots. It was agreed that the drawing should follow by seniority of service with the railroad company. But this plan, it appears, did not work out to the satisfaction of all interested parties. Then the company took a hand in the matter. It had the land re-surveyed so that the lots ran north and south instead of east and west, as in the previous survey. Also complying with the desires of many of the coming residents, it was provided that no business establishments or saloons should ever get seated on the tract. A reservation clause to this effect appeared in each deed. This accounts for the fact that most of the business houses are on the north side of B Street. The residence tract is now frequently mentioned as the "Reserve." Between 10th and 15th Streets there were four blocks laid out for the Reserve. Each block con-

tained sixteen house lots each forty by one hundred and forty feet in size. Eight faced on A Street and eight on B Street, making a total of sixty-four house lots in the tract. Finally the drawing of the lots took place in the old Library building in Wadsworth. As to just how and when this drawing occurred there seems to be a difference of opinion, but judging by the best authority, it was probably done one day during the summer of 1903, and was presided over by Miss Gladys Pratt, a daughter of Leland Stanford Pratt, Master Mechanic of the railroad company. The numbers of the house lots were placed in one hat and the names of the employees in another. Then Miss Pratt drew one slip of paper from each hat and the result was duly recorded. So the process went on to the end. It appears that there were three more families eligible to draw a lot than could be accommodated on the Reserve. They were given the first three lots on B Street east of those who had already drawn the sixty-four lots, making in all sixty-seven lots received from the railroad company.

From that time on business was booming in both the old and the new town. Dwellings in Wadsworth were torn down and the material placed on board the cars and shipped free of charge to the new town. Fruit trees and shade trees were even taken up and transplanted. In fact sufficient cars were used to transport not only furniture and buildings, but everything else that was movable and was desired by any employee. New buildings, cabins, and tents were soon erected in the new town. These were used until better and more substantial structures could be provided.

The grand exodus took place on or about July 4, 1904, and the former prosperous town of Wadsworth, with a population of from eight hundred to

one thousand inhabitants, fell to only about one hundred people within a few weeks. The new town grew by leaps and bounds within the next few years. Some competition ensued over the naming of the new town. Some thought it should be called East Reno. But on September 11, 1903, the matter was settled by the institution of a post-office under the name of "Harriman" in honor of Edward H. Harriman. But it appears that this worthy official sought no laurels in the establishment of the new town. So after due consideration he gave notice of his desire that the town be given some other name. A meeting of interested parties was held to talk over the matter. Some still felt that it should be called "Harriman", others preferred "East Reno," while still others wanted the name of "Glendale", so dear and familiar to the older inhabitants. It appears that one of the railroad officials was present at the meeting and explained that for safety in dispatching trains it was unwise to have a Reno and an East Reno station on the same line. As to the name Glendale, it appeared that there was already a station by that name near Los Angeles. Then the name of "Sparks" was finally advanced and accepted in honor of John Sparks, who was at that time Governor of the State of Nevada.

By an act of the State Legislature the City of Sparks was incorporated March 15, 1905. Under this act the city embraced all the land "within the southwest quarter of section four; the south half of section five ; the south half of the southeast quarter of section six ; the northeast quarter of section seven ; the north half of section eight; using as the southern boundary of this portion what is now known as Glendale Avenue ; and the northwest quarter of section nine, all in township nineteen north, range twenty east, Mount Diablo

base and meridian, and also such other and additional lands and tenements as may at any time hereafter be embraced or included within established limits of said city as hereinafter provided," etc. Provision was made for city wards as follows : First Ward shall be that part of the city south of Harriman Avenue, now B Street. Second Ward shall be that part of city east of Monroe Street, now 11th Street, and north of Harriman Avenue. The Third Ward shall be that part of city west of Monroe Street and north of Harriman Avenue. The Mayor shall serve for a term of two years. The City Council shall consist of three members, one from each ward. Other city officials were the city clerk, city treasurer, city attorney, judge, constable, chief of fire department, etc.

William E. Dalton, now a resident of Gerlach, Nevada, served as the first Mayor. The first councilmen were : Ward One, Charles A. Beemer; Ward Two, Alexander Pollock; Ward Three, Elihu H. Proctor. The first city clerk was George A. McPherson, now a resident of Sacramento, California. The first city treasurer was George A. McPherson; the first city attorney was Eugene L. Williams of Reno, where he has resided for over thirty years. The first city judge was James Pollock, who died some years ago in Sparks. The first constable and chief of police was Robert Pollock. The first to be regularly appointed to the head of the fire department was William R. Shaber, the present chief. He has held the office for several years.

Solomon M. Summerfield was appointed the first postmaster of Harriman, the later Sparks. He now resides at Mina, Nevada. He served under a Republican administration. He was succeeded by Charles Alfred Beemer of the same political faith. John Patrick Reynolds became the

third postmaster and under a Democratic regime. His successor was Howard C. Mulcahy, also a Democrat. The fifth and present appointee is Mrs. Dora E. Rice. The Sparks postoffice has been located in several different places. Sol. M. Summerfield was a merchant at No. 139 15th Street, in 1904. After his appointment as postmaster he placed the first postoffice station in the city in his store. The building is now owned by Swanney Peterson and there is a store in the place run by M. V. Escalante. The postoffice was moved to the Courtland Building at 1034 B Street, where Mr. Semenza now has his store. According to reports it was moved one day after dark. A second time the office was moved to Charles A. Beemer's present store at 934 B Street and a third time to the Francis grocery store at 840 B Street. The office is now in the first building east of the last-named place on B Street.

The population of Sparks has increased rapidly. According to one authority, "on January 1, 1904, there were over twelve hundred inhabitants" in Sparks. The United States census of 1920 gives the population as 3238. The present estimate is that of about four thousand people in the town and its vicinity.

From the number of churches that exist in Sparks it appears that the religious life of this community has kept pace with other improvements in the vicinity. Rev. F. M. Willis, born February 28, 1832, a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, was, as far as has been discovered, the first to conduct religious services in this region. He was appointed to ride the Truckee Meadow Circuit in 1863. Services were held in cabins, farm houses, or any place where he could gather a few people in "one place" when making his usual trip on horseback. After the Glendale schoolhouse had been

finished in the spring of 1864 he frequently held services in that building. No house of worship was erected in the vicinity of Sparks until after the spring of 1904. The order in which the church buildings were erected, as has been given to the writer, was this : First was St. Paul's Episcopal Church on 8th Street; the first Rector was Rev. Thomas L Bellam, who came here with others from Wadsworth in 1904. The second church was the Emmanuel Baptist on the corner of D and 12th Streets. The third was the Roman Catholic Church between 7th and 8th Streets, located at 725 F Street. The fourth was the Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of C and 12th Streets. Fifth was the "Mormon" Church on C Street, near 11th. It was built about 1920. Sixth was the Christian Missionary Alliance Church, erected on C Street near 8th in 1921. The Christian Science Church holds services in the Masonic Temple. There is also a Spiritualist Society which holds weekly services.

For purposes of education a number of structures have been used at various times. As heretofore related, E. C. Sessions taught a school in his house in 1863-4 and other schools may have been kept in cabins or other buildings prior to 1863, but there is every reason to believe that the Glendale schoolhouse was the first sizable building in this region which was used for the purpose of education. The second "seat of knowledge" it appears, was the Cabin school, at (45). The third building to be erected was the North Truckee schoolhouse at (41), now standing at (52). The fourth schoolhouse is the present two-story brick building with basement on the north side of Prater Way in the City of Sparks, known as the Grammar School. It was erected in 1905. Following

this two school buildings were erected in 1917. "The Mary Lee Nichols" at the corner of 8th and C. Streets was originally a two-room building which has since been enlarged to a four-room school. The other is the present High School on the east side of 15th Street. The lower grade pupils were taught for a few years in buildings secured by the School Board. Among these places were the Methodist and the Baptist Churches on 12th Street, the Railroad Engineers' Hall on 9th Street, and the present Fire Station at C and 12th Streets.

The Bank of Sparks, Incorporated, was established October 22, 1904, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. The first officials were Walter J. Harris, President, now a resident of Reno ; Richard Kirman, Vice-President, now a resident of Reno; William McMillan, Cashier. The present officers are : George Wingfield, President; J. Sheehan, Vice-President; F. S. Gunter, Vice-President; E. R. Simms, Cashier; V. Hursh, Assistant Cashier. The brick building at the corner of B and 10th Streets was built in 1904 and in 1922 the interior was enlarged and new and modern equipment was installed, thus making it a modern up-to-date banking house.

The Southern Pacific Club House is a feature of the present City of Sparks. Along with the Wadsworth people and buildings to come to Sparks in 1904 was the Public Library Building. It was taken down and rebuilt on the south side of B Street nearly opposite 9th Street and was used for a library and club house for workmen connected with the railroad. This building was partially destroyed by fire and on its site was erected the present Southern Pacific Club House. It is a two-story frame building with basement and

For one year after the birth of Sparks the town had absolutely no fire protection. In fact there was no water system other than the several irrigating ditches which had been in use on the old ranches. One of these old waterways ran along B Street in the location now occupied by the rails of the Reno-Sparks Street Railway. Fred W. Steiner saw the necessity of the town's having some fire protection. In May, 1905, he caused an item to be placed in the local paper, the Headlight, which called for a meeting of volunteers to be held on the second floor in the Raine Building. The following five men attended that first firemen's meeting : Fred W. Steiner, Richard Cook, W. E. M. Stewart, James P. Raine, and Henry W. Fiegee. These five men organized the Sparks Fire Department and chose Fiegee "Chief," a position which he held for several years. The department was soon after enlarged by other volunteers who in time became interested in the work. Soon after the first meeting a Bucket Brigade Company was organized and buckets were purchased at an expense of forty-two dollars and fifty cents. After another year or two four hose carts were purchased and placed in different parts of the City. Each cart had five hundred feet of hose together with a captain, a first and a second lieutenant, and six or eight "privates." After a few more years several other carts were purchased. This made a fire company of about sixty men including Chief Fiegee and the two assistant chiefs. In the meantime a water system had been installed. In 1917 the city purchased the brick building on the corner of O and 12th Streets for a Fire Station. During March of that year the present Number One

fire engine arrived from the American La France Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York. This was a seventy-five horse power, triple hose, pump and chemical engine having a three hundred gallon per minute capacity and equipped with one thousand four hundred and fifty feet of hose. On May 17, 1924, Number Two Engine arrived from the same factory. This is similar to Number One except that it has a six hundred gallon capacity and one thousand two hundred and fifty feet of hose. William R. Shaber has been fire chief since 1917. R. L. Craze, Assistant Fire Chief, was appointed the first permanent station man. A. J. Stankey, who came this spring, is the second permanent station man. There are also twelve call men, making fifteen men at present in the Sparks Fire Department. This spring has seen the installment of the first street alarm boxes. They are seven in number.

The Masonic Order has a three-story brick building on B Street. This order was instituted in Wadsworth in 1895. The following men were the charter members : T. L. Bellam, first Worshipful Master ; Edwin Fowler, Martin Kline, W. S. Bailey, W. B. Van Horn, W. E. Cobb, William Dunlope, F. C. Hampton, J. F. Walker and L. Hettenhousen. In. January, 1905, the order was moved to Sparks and the meetings were held in a hall at 4th and D Streets. The present building was erected in 1921.

The G. A. R. has been well represented in Sparks. No complete list of all the Union Veterans who fought in the Civil War and who later resided in this vicinity is at hand. The following list, however, has been gathered up from various sources. So far as can be discovered, J. J.

Joseph Jay Jackson was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, February 11, 1843. He was the son of Joseph and Phoebe (Cox) Jackson of Dayton and the grandson of Samuel Jackson. His father was a zealous abolitionist, in the days prior to the Civil War, and removed his family from North Carolina to Indiana where he rendered all possible assistance in carrying on an "underground railway." The father removed thence to Louisa County, Iowa, in 1854 or 1855, where he died March 28, 1858. He had four sons who enlisted in the same company in the Civil War. One of these was Joseph Jay. He enlisted in Company F, 11th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was transferred to the 72nd Company, Veteran Reserve Corps and as a member of that department he was never in battle. His discharge took place at Davenport, Iowa, June 28, 1865. From Iowa he came to Carson City during October, 1874, and in the following December he settled at Franktown, Nevada, where he was employed as a blacksmith and wheelwright. He later settled at Wadsworth. He removed with others from that town to Sparks in 1904. He has been a member of the Masonic Order for a period of over fifty-seven years. January 22, 1877, he was married to Louisa Porter, a daughter of Joshua Porter who came as a pioneer from Indiana to Virginia City in 1860. They have three sons and three daughters now living.

Albert Nelson Babcock, son of George W. Babcock, was born in Middleton, Ohio, April 30, 1843, and died in Sparks May 29, 1923. He was a private in Company D, 4th Michigan Cavalry. He served three years lacking nine days. He

was in the squad of men who captured Jeff Davis when he was in skirts. Mr. Babcock was married October 20, 1866, to Mary Elizabeth Jones, daughter of William Jones. She was born at Howell, Michigan, October 7, 1846, and now resides in Sparks. Owing to illness Mr. Babcock removed his family from the East to Winters, California, about 1867. There they resided until they came to Sparks in 1909. They had six children, only two of whom are living. These are Mrs. Minnie B. Herold of Winters, California, and George Washington Babcock who now resides at Spokane, Washington.

Michael Kaiser was born in Germany, January 1, 1840, and died in Sparks July 21, 1920. He came to America in 1849 and served in Company I, 8th Wisconsin Infantry. He married Helen Maria Cope. Their daughter Helen M. married William R. Shaber of Sparks.

Ephraim Moore Hill was born in Fulton County, Illinois, October 22, 1846, and died in Sparks, June 9, 1919. He lived at one time in the Soldiers' Home in Boise, Idaho, and later in Sparks. He became so much interested in the Union Cause when a boy that he ran away from home and enlisted.

Andrew Flint lived for several years in Sparks but is now residing in Oakland, California. His son-in-law, Mr. Stone, is an engineer on the Southern Pacific Railroad and lives in this town.

Henry Frank Close, son of Henry Close, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1847, and died in Sparks October 14, 1921. When a lad he ran away from home and enlisted at St. Louis in Company K, 40th Missouri Infantry. He came

William Henry Harrison Rathburn was born near Rochester, New York, December 28, 1836, and died April 26, 1918, a short time after he went to live in the Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle, California. He lived in Sparks from July, 1915, until March, 1918. He was a private in Company A, 2nd Regiment, Missouri Cavalry. He served for four years. His son, Dr. E. F. Rathburn, lives on B Street in Sparks.

William Given formerly lived in Sparks. He died within recent years, probably in the California Soldiers' Home.

John Wesley Smith, Jr. was born December 25, 1846, in Strautsburg, Virginia. He now lives in Reno and Santa Cruz, California. He was the son of John W. and Margaret A. (Mowry) Smith, Sr. He enlisted as a drummer boy but soon took a gun and became a private in Company D, 187th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served from November, 1864, until January, 1866. He married Rachel Rebecca Long, born in Chillicothe, Ohio. They lived in Sparks from June 30, 1904, till September, 1920. Their children are: Mary, married to Morris Neilson, residing in Sparks ; Jesse Earl, resident of Reno ; Sina Nevada, resident of Santa Cruz.

William Yocum died in Sparks January 21, 1917. He is understood to have served as a teamster in the Civil War, probably from Nebraska.

Other soldiers who formerly lived in Sparks are: George W. Robison who died in 1921; Nelson S. Sherman, also deceased; Martin Kennedy, who died in Sparks. There were doubtless others who lived in or near here.

Southern Army is not at hand. Governor John. Sparks served in the South as did also Daniel McQueen. The latter formerly lived in West Virginia but is now a resident of Sparks.

The first newspaper of Sparks was the Headlight printed in the office of the Reno Evening Gazette. It ran only a few months. The second paper was the old Wadsworth Dispatch, which survived about a year after its removal to Sparks and then changed into the Nevada Forum. In 1910 another change took place when the paper became the Sparks Tribune. The latter paper is still in the ring and is a tri-weekly publication.

Hon. John Sparks, for whom the town was named, was born August 30, 1843, in the State of Mississippi and died May 22, 1908. The Sparks family originated in England. The first of the name of whom we have record was the grandfather, Millington Sparks, who resided in Maryland and lived to a good old age. He had a son, Samuel Sparks, born in Hagerstown, Maryland, and who was married to Sarah Deal of South Carolina. For a time they resided in Mississippi. In 1857 he, with his entire family, removed to Lampasas, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sparks, as well as his father, were all conscientious followers in the faith of the Baptist Church. They were the parents of ten children of whom the seventh was John. At the age of fourteen John began to work for himself. While still only a lad he had an aptitude for dealing in cattle but the war came on and for a time he served in the Rebel Army. In 1868 he settled in Nevada for the purpose of extending his stock business. In time he had a herd of seventy-five thousand head of cattle. He was the importer of registered Hereford and Durham cattle. The ranch where he lived was located on the Virginia and

Truckee Railroad between Rena and Carson City and consisted of twenty-five hundred acres. During the severe winter of 1889-1900 he suffered a serious loss in the death of thirty-five thousand head of stock. He was nominated and elected by the Democratic party as governor of this State and served in that office from 1902 until his death in 1908. As is stated elsewhere in this paper he purchased the Wedekind Mine. This project it is understood was largely a financial loss. This setback, along with other business reverses, was the cause of his losing before his death a large portion of his former wealth. He married in June, 1872, as his first wife Miss. Rachel Knight, daughter of D. F. Knight of Texas. She died about 1879 and he then married her half-sister, Nora Knight, who is now living in Alameda, California. By his first wife he had one daughter, Maud, who married Dr. A. McKenzie, a son of the Rev. Dr. McKenzie, a well known Presbyterian clergyman of San Francisco. By the second wife there are three sons, Benton H., Charles, and Leland.

Jacob Shaber was born in Germany but came to America when a young man. He first went to Pennsylvania, then removed to the State of Ohio. From there he went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, about 1845, where he lived until in old age he returned to his native country and lived there until his death. He married a Miss Romig. They had a family of eight children of whom the youngest was Benjamin Michael Shaber who was born in Ohio, July 24, 1834, and who died in Wadsworth, June 24, 1913. In 1852 when only eighteen years of age he left Arkansas for the gold mines in California. He came along on horseback with an overland train which enroute passed along the emigrant trail near the present site of Wadsworth

and thence up the Truckee River and through what later became Glendale. At that time there was but one house on the Meadows, possibly where the Blaisdells later lived. He continued on and settled in Green Valley, Sonoma County, California, where he lived until the time when he returned to settle in Glendale about 1861. Here he worked as a blacksmith at (29). He was also associated for a time with Charles E. Gates, of Stone and Gates, as a farmer and dairyman for the Virginia City markets. He married Elizabeth Moore about 1864. She was born in Missouri in 1846 and died at Wadsworth in May, 1902. Her father, Mr. Moore, was a '49er and crossed the plains. He died in California and later his widow married Neil C. Haslund (31). Four of his five children are still living, one of whom is William Romig Shaber who was born in Reno, May 21, 1876. He has served four years as Councilman in Sparks and has been Chief of the Fire Department since 1917. He is also constable. He formerly resided in Wadsworth. He married Helen Maud Kaiser, daughter of Michael Kaiser. They have three children.

There is another "Old Timer", whose name is withheld by request, but whose experiences as a '49er should be recorded, although he has no direct connection with either old Glendale or the later Sparks. He was born in the spring of 1832 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two years later the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Early in 1849 a Dr. D. D. Brown was making plans to go overland with his family to settle in California and this young man, sixteen years of age, was hired to go along and drive a four-ox team. Dr. Brown assembled the outfit which consisted of three prairie schooners drawn by sixteen oxen. One of the schooners was his medicine chest

which he was to use in his practice after getting settled in his new home. There were six men, Mrs. Brown, and their three children in the train. They started on this six months' trip about March 20, 1849. Arriving on the east bank opposite St. Joseph, Missouri, they found the river very high and when the ferry was crossing with one of the teams the ferry rope broke and all on board floated down the river for some distance until the boat came up against the opposite shore as was desired and the team was driven ashore. Before they were able to go forward Dr. Brown contracted cholera but with his medical skill was able to cure himself as well as several others who came to him while in that place. After some two weeks the train moved on by the way of Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger, Acre Canyon to Salt Lake City where they turned northward passing through what is now Ogden and around the north side of the Lake. Thence they proceeded by the Goose Creek Mountains and down the Humboldt River route to Ragtown (now Leeteville), Nevada.

Their supply of food was now getting very low; their stock was thin after the long weary trip; two of the oxen had died back on the plains. While taking a short rest at Ragtown a fat steer was discovered in the bushes, doubtless strayed off from some earlier train. This was shot and the meat supplied their larder until they arrived in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As it was getting cool they pushed forward as quickly as possible by way of the Carson River route. Entering Carson Canyon the teams went into the river bed and for three days they were floundering around in deep water over rocks and boulders until finally they were able to ascend the bank, only five miles nearer their goal. While going

over the Sierra Nevadas the roads were steep and in a fearful condition. The weather was cold and after a few days' travel ten of their famished cattle gave out and during one night perished from cold and hunger. Eighteen inches of snow fell. The Indians came and plundered the two wagons which had to be left behind. Then for two days the party survived on coffee and dried apples until they were rescued by friends from California who came out to meet them. Such were the hardships of a '49er.

Dr. Brown settled in Sacramento where he and his family lived for many years while the young "tenderfoot" driver spent three weeks in that city, sleeping each night in the shelter of a large log near the town. Early in the spring of 1850 he went to work in the mines near where Marshall made his great discovery. Here he remained until fall, then returned to Sacramento. Early in 1851 he ran a store and butcher shop and began buying and selling cattle, etc. In December, 1853, he left San Francisco for the East by the Isthmus route and finally ended up in St. Louis. He next purchased three hundred head of cattle near Quincy, Missouri, in the spring of 1854 and with four other men he again set out for the Golden State, coming by the way of Glendale. At that time only one white man was living on the Truckee Meadows, he being a trader who came over from California and was living alone in a tent northerly from the later site of the Glendale schoolhouse. "In 1849 there was not one white settler living on the road between Ogden, Utah and California ; the Indians were very troublesome; they would start and run off the stock at every opportunity."

John Ferguson George, the son of Henry and Sarah Jane (Hargraves) George, was born in

Portsmouth, Virginia, March 7, 1854. When a young man he went to live in Philadelphia, from which place he sailed by way of Cape Horn for San Francisco where he found employment for a few months in the Palace Hotel. After a few months he removed to Wadsworth, Nevada. This was in October, 1874. He soon after began working for the Railroad Company. He was employed as brakeman, conductor, fireman, and engineer until in June, 1922, he was retired by the Company. He came to Sparks with others from Wadsworth in July, 1904. On June 17, 1879, he was married to Sarah Jane Nichols who was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, April 11, 1858. She was the daughter of William and Agnes (French) Nichols. Their children are: 1) Beulah Agnes, born in Truckee, California, and married to Ashley P. Faull; she resides in San Francisco; 2) Alice Norfleet, who married Dr. Howard M. Cameron of Sacramento.

William Nicholls was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1833 and died in Sparks September 10, 1907. He married Agnes French, who died in Wadsworth in 1889. He came to this country when a small lad and settled near what was later called Richmond Hill, Canada. Early in the '60s he contracted the gold-fever and went to New York where he took a boat via Cape Horn for San Francisco. He soon after located in Stockton, California, and in 1861 he came to Nevada, where in company with a Mr. North he established the old Stockton Station on the line of travel and about midway between Virginia City and Fallon. Soon this became a famous watering station for the eighteen-mule ore-teams plying between these two towns. The teamsters gladly paid a "bit for a drink" and for filling the water barrels to see them through to Ragtown. The railroad was

completed to the East in 1869 and soon after this the family came to Glendale to live. In 1870 they moved to Wadsworth and in 1907 Mr. Nicholls came to live in Sparks.

James William O'Brien, son of Dr. James W. and Eliza M. (Geoghagen) O'Brien, was born in Georgetown, Eldorado County, California, January 27, 1861. He became a telegraph operator for the Southern Pacific Company and in March, 1884, took up his residence in Wadsworth, Nevada, where he continued to live until he went to Sparks in June, 1904. At Sparks he continued in the employ of the Company until retired in August, 1923. He was married February 7, 1880, to Sarah T. Woodward of Oakland, California. They have four children living: 1) Dr. Edward W., who resides in Richmond, California ; 2) Alice W. of Sparks; 3) Mrs. Edwina F. Bannigan of Philadelphia; 4) Harold E. of Gardnerville, Nevada.

Shelby Beemer was born in New York State July 1, 1837, and died at Wadsworth about 1902. He was a carpenter and bridge-builder and for a time was engaged in the grain business in Reno. February 6, 1868, he married Josephine Hannah Detrick, daughter of Alfred and Elizabeth (Carter) Detrick. The latter was born in Stilesville, Indiana, January 13, 1851. She now resides in Sparks. During early childhood she crossed the plains twice with her parents. Alfred Detrick and his family started for California by ox-team train in the spring of 1853 or 1854. They came in a prairie schooner, so popular in those days. They passed through Salt Lake City where they camped some two weeks in order that their stock might recuperate before entering the Great Desert which lay just ahead. The route was the same one followed by so many of the pioneers of

that day to the western part of what is now Nevada. Here they turned off and went by way of Virginia City to Sacramento, California. At the latter place Mr. Detrick worked at his trade as saddler and harness-maker until about 1855 when he with his family returned to Indiana by way of the Panama route. Arriving at the Isthmus he hired a native who carried his daughter Josephine overland "pig-back", as the method is called by children. Some two years later, Mr. Detrick again left the middle West for California with a team of four mules which proved a bit more "speedy" than the ox-team, for they ran away three times during the trip. After the second "hop-off" Mr. Detrick told his wife and children to jump out the next time, which they did and landed without injury. Arriving at Virginia City he decided to lie over and rid himself of his mules. He sent his family forward on a twelve-horse freight team that was returning to Sacramento. Here the driver rode on one of the wheel horses and with a jerk line guided the lead horse safely and with the skill of a wizard. Arriving again in Sacramento he soon purchased a farm some ten miles east of that city where he lived for three years. Then he returned to Sacramento and took up his old trade of harness-making. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company was building the road to the East over the Sierra Nevadas. In the spring of 1867 Mr. Detrick was employed by this company as a harness-maker and for a year he was stationed at Cisco, California. Then he was transferred to Wadsworth and again six months later to Elko, Nevada, where he died of smallpox. The children of Shelby Beemer were: 1) Charles Alfred, born in Reno, December 6, 1868 ; the first white child born in that city ; 2) Frank Roy, born

October 24, 1870, a painter in Sparks; 3) Elwood Hayes, born February 3, 1878, County Clerk of Washoe County, who resides in Reno; 4) Eva May, born December 23, 1881, who married Clarence Bigelow, a railroad engineer and who resides at Fresno, California. Charles A. Beemer, first child of Shelby; is a merchant in Sparks. He was formerly in the employ of the Southern Pacific Company. He removed from Wadsworth to Sparks May 19, 1904. He resigned from the railroad company work to accept the office of postmaster in Sparks. He was also the first councilman from his ward after Sparks became an incorporated city.

John Broderick Cunningham was born at Vergennes, Vermont, the old "city" in New England, June 30, 1862. He was the son of Patrick and Anna (Broderick) Cunningham. Patrick Cunningham enlisted in the 9th Regiment, Vermont Volunteers Infantry in the Civil War. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Fair Oaks, and for the six months following was confined in Andersonville, after which he was exchanged. At the time of his death he was on the pension roll as a. prisoner in war and for wounds received in battle. In 1871 he moved from Vermont to Polk County, Iowa, thence to Wadsworth, Nevada, where he later died. The son entered railroad life with the Southern Pacific lines September 27, 1884. At that time he was living at Carlin, Nevada. He removed to Wadsworth July 1, 1885, and from there went to Sparks July 4, 1904. Since 1889 he has been engineer on the above-mentioned railroad. For ten years he served on the Sparks school board. He was married September 2, 1889, to Rhoda Elizabeth Castle, a native of Clyde, Sandusky County, Ohio. She was born. July 4, 1862, and was the daugh-

ter of Robert and Rhoda (Demon) Castle. They have six children living, one of whom is Justice Francis J. Cunningham of Sparks.

John Patrick Reynolds, ex-postmaster of Sparks, was born at Lambert, New Jersey. He began work as a machinist for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1890. Five years later he took a similar position with another company in this state. Subsequently he was with the Great Northern at Seattle and later was employed in several of the western states and in Mexico. In 1903 he located in Wadsworth where he was employed by the Southern Pacific Company and from that place he removed to Sparks. Mr. Reynolds has also been engaged in the real estate and in mercantile business within recent years.

Martin Kline, son of Jacob and Magdalena (Zimmerman) Kline was born in Amherst, Erie County, New York, November 1, 1851. His parents removed to Tanawanda, New York, and thence to Fremont, Ohio, where Martin grew to manhood. Martin left that town for the West May 4, 1874, and came to this state. He lived first in Toano and then in Carlin and Wadsworth, finally coming to Sparks during the summer of 1904. He began working for the railroad company July 11, 1874, and remained with the Central and Southern Pacific Company until he was retired in 1917. He is unmarried and resides in Sparks.

Richard Valentine Laking, son of Matthew Laking, was born in England, February 14, 1850, and died in Sparks August 1, 1920. He came to America when a young man and soon located in Virginia City, Nevada. About 1878 he was married to Jean McCommish and soon after this he settled on a ranch some fifty rods east of (51) where William Van Meter lived, his wife being

a sister of Mrs. Van Meter. His house, which was removed some years ago, stood on the south side of the road and not, far from where the present road turns to go northward into Spanish Springs Valley. Nothing now marks the site of this house. The family lived here till about 1894. There were six children, two of whom are : 1) Jean, who married Lewis H. Sessions; and 2) Mary Ann, who married Albert H., the brother of Lewis.

Alexander Pollock, son of John and Sarah (Minor) Pollock, was born in Woodburn, Canada, February 13, 1860. He came to Wadsworth, Nevada, in March, 1879, and found work on a ranch run by T. G. Herman. In September, 1880, he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Company, first as a fireman. Since 1882 he has been engineer. He moved from Wadsworth to Sparks in 1904. In the latter place he served on the school board, as a member of the first city council, and as the second mayor of Sparks, an office which he filled from May, 1907, until May 10, 1909. He married Alice Priscilla Smith who died four years ago. Their daughter is May Frances, wife of F. E. B. Gates. They reside in Sparks.

James Pollock, the first judge of the police court of Sparks, was a brother of Robert Pollock, the first chief of police. So far as known they were in no way connected with the above-mentioned Alexander Pollock.

Elihu Henry Proctor was a son of Daniel and Elizabeth Ann (Wilson) Proctor. He was born in a place called Crystal Peak, a sawmill town near the Nevada State line, on January 11, 1866. His father was born July 15, 1828, and came from the vicinity of Lowell, Massachusetts, to Cali-

fornia in 1853. The father engaged in teaming; twice he crossed the plains. The son, Elihu Henry, lived in Wadsworth in 1875 and for a time worked for the Southern Pacific Company. In 1904 he came to Sparks with others. He served the city as the first councilman from Ward 6. He has been in the carpenter business for the past two years. June 17, 1891, he was married to Eva May Allen, who was born in Churchill County, Nevada, December 27, 1867. She is a daughter of Lt. Governor Lemuel Allen of that county. They have two sons and one married daughter now living.

John Batteni Colombo, son of John and Ganberi (Barkana) Batteni, was born in Genoa, Italy, January 15, 1857. In 1879 he came to New York City and went thence to San Francisco, California. From there he came to Nevada and soon after began working for A. A. Langley who owned a ranch several miles south of Reno. At that time John could speak but few words of English, and the first day Mrs. Langley said : "John, where did you come from?" "Genoa", was John's reply. "Well, that was where Columbus came from, and so I will call you Colombo," she said. By this name John has been known ever since. In 1893 he purchased a forty-four acre ranch on Glendale Avenue, some rods south of the present State Asylum. Here he has lived ever since. He is believed to have been the first Italian to buy a ranch and settle in this vicinity. He was married October 22, 1892, to Mary Degiovanni who died some months ago. There are two living children, Ida and Virgil.

Some mention should be made in this paper of the Indians, those "sons of the forest" who formerly were so numerous in this valley. The Paiutes and the Washoes were early settlers here.

They returned to camp, fish, and hunt for years after the "pale face" came here to live. Even as late as 1885 or 1890 they came here to camp as also to work on the ranches. Prior to 1870 there was a big camp each year on the south side of the river and a few rods east of the Glendale Bridge Road. Another camping place was across the road north of (42). Still farther north was another spot a fourth of a mile easterly of (47) and another a few rods west of (48). There was also one on top of the hill west of (57) and still another at a later date near the old railroad track below Prater Way on the east side of 7th Street. The Indians would move about in those days from one camp to another, especially after a death had taken place in their tribe. Usually they pitched their camp on top of a hill. or a slight elevation of some kind. Then up would go a "campoodie village" as if by magic.

75. On the south side of the river half a mile westerly of the present Nevada State Asylum is a settlement of the Paiute and Washoe Indians who are to some extent under the control of Uncle Sam. About 1917 the Government obtained this tract of twenty acres and turned it over to the two tribes above mentioned, each camp having ten acres. The Paiute camp occupies the north end of the tract. Here there are about thirty-one cabins, houses, and tents in which the present population of about eighty-seven men, women, and children live, as counted by Harry Stevens, a member of the Paiute tribe. The Washoe camp is located at the south end of the tract. These Indians live in fourteen or fifteen houses and cabins and have a population of forty-eight when all are "at home." This information was obtained by the writer from "Old Blind Dan." Daniel Purdy was born in an Indian camp in

Long Valley, Sierra County, California, January 6, 1858 ( ?). His father, Dan, was accidentally killed on the railroad near Reno some years ago. The two tribes in this settlement it is said do not associate with each other to any great extent. Yet in more recent years a few brides have been taken from the opposite tribe.

[1] In 1852 a Mormon by the name of Jamison came from Carson Valley and established a trading station, known as Jamison's Station. Angel, Nev., 623, 624. This may be same settler referred to by Mrs. Kingsbury's informant in relation to the year 1854.—Editor's note.

[2] Angel says Dec. 13; argument over a cow.

[3] Other very valuable information relative to early Glendale, as furnished by Geo. E. Peckham, is contained in this same volume.

[4] The present Blaisdell house is (37 1/2).

[5] A cabin schoolhouse, a short distance to the north, preceded this one. See (45).

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