Historical Markers of Lyon County
- HM 7 - Dayton
- HM 61 - Mound House
- HM 74 - Wellington
- HM 85 - Sutro
- HM 113 - Wabuska
- HM 127 - Courthouse Site (1865-1907)
- HM 163 - Chinatown (Early Name of Dayton)
- HM 177 - Desert Well Station (Overland Mail and Stage Station)
- HM 185 - McCone's Foundries
- HM 186 - Union Hotel & Post Office
- HM 192 - Buckland's Station (On the California Emigrant Trail)
- HM 199 - Camels in Dayton
- HM 200 - Hall's Station
- HM 223 - Devil's Gate
- HM 233 - Dayton Cemetery
- HM 255 - Wilson Canyon
- HM 257 - Nevada's First Gold Discovery
- HM 262 - Dayton School House - 1865
- HM 264 - Silver City Schoolhouse
Nevada Landmarks Home Page
*HM 257*
-- Nevada's First Gold Discovery --
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Location: Western Lyon County, Dayton
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Date Conquered: 6/17/07
Nearest Intersection: River Rd.
Quick Description: A marker honoring Nevada's first 'officially recorded' discovery of gold.
Signed: No -- Historically, this marker was never signed.
 However, spotting it is another story. |
Full Description:
Exact description as reads...
In July 1849, Abner Blackburn, a former member of the Mormon Battalion, made the first gold discovery in what is now Nevada near this site (see the canyon to the right). William Prouse, a member of a passing emigrant party, made a second discovery further up Gold Canyon in May 1850. The discoverers of these placer gold deposits believed the promised riches of California to be greater. Most emigrants consequently continued their westward journeys, but a few returned after finding most of California's Motherlode creeks and rivers already claimed.
By the spring of 1851, some 200 placer miners, including James "Old Virginny" Finney, were working in the area. The continuous occupation of Gold Canyon's mouth makes this site Nevada's first non-native American settlement. Dayton, also known as Chinatown, became a mineral milling, commercial and agricultural center after prospectors and placer miners worked their way up Gold Creek. This monument commemorates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold and the thousands of pioneers who passed near this site.
