- UPDATE -
~ Sadly, after a recent visit in 2011, I found this marker missing in action!
Please read the full story behind this marker's disappearance below.



Historical Markers of
Washoe County & Reno

 

  • HM 4 - Junction House
  • HM 18 - Pyramid Lake
  • HM 24 - Olinghouse
  • HM 29 - Chinese in Nevada
  • HM 30 - Reno
  • HM 43 - Derby Diversion Dam
  • HM 62 - Truckee River -- West
  • HM 63 - Truckee River -- East
  • HM 68 - Wadsworth
  • HM 79 - Civil War Plot
  • HM 81 - Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Tree
  • HM 88 - Sparks
  • HM 94 - The Winters Ranch
    (Rancho Del Sierra)
  • HM 114 - Franktown
  • HM 128 - The Great Train Robbery
  • HM 148 - The Two Battles of Pyramid Lake
  • HM 149 - High Rock Canyon
  • HM 152 - Gerlach
  • HM 166 - Bowers Mansion
  • HM 169 - Glendale School
  • HM 189 - Southern Pacific Railroad Yards
  • HM 191 - Verdi
  • HM 198 - Steamboat Springs
  • HM 210 - Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad Depot
  • HM 211 - Old Geiger Grade (In Canyon Below)
  • HM 212 - Galena
  • HM 218 - Geiger Station (Magnolia House)
  • HM 220 - The Fight of the Century
  • HM 221 - Sand Harbor
  • HM 227 - Lake Mansion
  • HM 230 - Mount Rose Weather Observatory
  • HM 234 - Moana Springs
  • HM 238 - Huffaker's
  • HM 240 - Coney Island
  • HM 245 - Frederick Joseph DeLongchamps (June 2, 1882 - February 11, 1969)
  • HM 246 - The Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada
  • HM 247 - Site of Nevada's First Public Library
  • HM 248 - Virginia & Truckee Railroad
    Right of Way
  • HM 253 - Emigrant-Donner Camp
  • HM 256 - Historic Transportation...
  • HM 265 - Governor Emmet Derby Boyle
  • HM 267 - Galena Creek Fish Hatchery
  • Derby Diversion Dam

    Location: Southern Washoe County, Truckee River Canyon
    Directions: Along Frontage Road, 20 miles east of Sparks
    (Access via Exit 36 from Interstate 80, then 1 mile east)

    N 39° 35.342 W 119° 26.770

    Location: 3
    Visibility: 1
    Accessibility: 3
    Marker type: St (M)
       

    Date Conquered: 8/14/07
    Quick Description: A marker dedicating the Newlands Water Project and the building of the Derby Dam.
    Signed: No -- Historically, this marker was never signed.

    Full Description:
    Exact description as reads ...

    Derby Dam, constructed under specification Number 1 and Drawing 1 of the U.S. Reclamation Service, now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, diverts the flow of the Truckee River for irrigation use. It was the forerunner of such mighty structures as Hoover, Grand Coulee, Shasta and Glen Canyon Dams.

    Derby Dam was authorized by Secretary of the Interior E.A. Hitchcock on March 11, 1903. It is part of the Newlands Project, named in honor of Nevada Senator Francis G. Newlands who worked for passage of the reclamation laws in 1902. Derby takes it name from a nearby Southern Pacific Railroad station of the day.

    Charles A. Warren & Co. of San Francisco, the contractor, started work on the dam on October 2, 1903 and finished May 20, 1905. Operational water diversions began in 1906.

    The Derby Dam in the center b.g. Accessing the Truckee River is pretty easy from here. Just stay five hundred yards from the dam if you want to fish.


    -- Conquered, 'Late Removal' --
    Date of Disappearance: (Estimated) Winter 2011

    Status: I must thank a good number of you who have informed me of this recent MIA over the past few months. #43 was a marker I would least expect to disappear - a marker that sat just well out of harm's way from I-80's beaten path. Apparently, the marker was not far enough away to escape death. The photo below shows #43's untimely death...

    Photo taken June 2011

    Many speculations revolve around what happened to this marker. The most sound explanation deals with a carload of teenagers who recklessly plowed into the marker sometime in January 2011. It wouldn't take too much force to knock over this "medium" sized marker and from the look of it, this is exactly what happened. I have my work ahead of me if I am to find out this marker's new location. The marker may have been relocated to any of the six NDOT maintenance stations in the immediate Reno/Sparks area. The worst case scenario for #43 would involve an immediate trip to the junkyard.

    Updates will be posted once I have more information. As always, my search will continue. Until then, if you happen to find out any information in regards to this unfortunate MIA case, please email me so I can update this information with full credit given to you!

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