Hall's Station
Lyon County, Lyon County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Hall’s Station. Spafford Hall built this station and trading post in the early 1850s to accommodate emigrants bound for California. Hall, who was the first permanent settler here, was severely injured in a hunting accident in 1854 and sold the station to one of his employees, James McMarlin. It became known as McMarlin’s Station. Major Ormsby bought the station sometime between 1854 and 1860. The title was still in his name in 1860 when he died in the first battle of the Pyramid Lake War.A special niche in Nevada’s history is accorded this site as the place where the first recorded dance was held on New Year’s Eve, 1853.The exact site destroyed by borrow pit.
Erected by Dayton Historical Society
The Story
In the early 1850s Spafford Hall, the area's first permanent settler, built a station and trading post here to serve emigrants pressing on toward California. After a hunting injury in 1854 he sold out, and the post passed through several hands — becoming McMarlin's Station and later belonging to Major Ormsby, who died in 1860 at the first battle of the Pyramid Lake War. The site is also remembered as the place where the area's first recorded dance was held on New Year's Eve, 1853.
Why it matters
Emigrant way-stations like Hall's were the frontier's first infrastructure, turning a trail across the Great Basin into a settled corridor of trade and community.
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Related people
- · Spafford Hall
- · James McMarlin
- · Major Ormsby
Related events
- · Pyramid Lake War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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