Camels In Dayton
Lyon County, Lyon County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Camels In Dayton. Camels were imported into the United States for military purposes in the mid-1850’s. Lt. Edward Beale of the U.S. Army tested the animals for possible caravan operations in the deserts of the southwest. The experiment was not successful and the camels were auctioned off. Some were brought here to haul wood and salt to the mines and mills of the Comstock. They were corraled behind this stone hay barn, known as the Leslie Hay Barn. Used extensively between Sacramento and Nevada points for some ten years, they were later abandoned to fend for themselves. Few were seen after the 1880s.
Erected by Dayton Historical Society
The Story
In one of the U.S. Army's stranger experiments, camels were imported in the 1850s and tested by Lt. Edward Beale as pack animals for the arid Southwest. When the military experiment failed and the animals were auctioned off, some found new work here in Nevada, hauling wood and salt to the mines and mills of the Comstock and stabled behind the stone Leslie Hay Barn. Used for roughly a decade between Sacramento and Nevada, the camels were eventually turned loose to fend for themselves, with few seen after the 1880s.
Why it matters
The Dayton camels are a vivid reminder of how far the young nation would experiment to move freight across a punishing desert West before railroads knit the country together.
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Related people
- · Edward Beale
Themes & tags
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