Gerlach
Washoe County, Washoe County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Gerlach. Situated between Black Rock Desert on the east and Smoke Creek Desert on the west, the townsite of Gerlach lies in country occupied for thousands of years.John C. Frémont traveled through these Northern Paiute lands when he camped here in 1843 and named ‘Boiling Springs’ ¼ mile north of town.This was also emigrant country; the Noble Road left the Applegate-Lassen Trail at Black Springs, went past this site, and proceeded southwest through Smoke Creek Desert toward Susanville. The town was established after the construction or the Western Pacific Railroad 1905-1909.
Erected by Cal Nev R.C. & D. Project
The Story
Set between the Black Rock and Smoke Creek deserts, Gerlach lies in country peopled for thousands of years by the Northern Paiute. John C. Frémont camped here in 1843 and named the nearby Boiling Springs, and later this was emigrant ground, where the Nobles Road branched off the Applegate-Lassen Trail and pushed southwest toward Susanville. The town itself took shape only after the Western Pacific Railroad laid track through the region between 1905 and 1909.
Why it matters
Gerlach's history layers ancient Native homelands, the emigrant trails of the 1840s, and the railroad age, tracing how transportation repeatedly redrew the map of the Nevada desert.
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Related people
- · John C. Frémont
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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