HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Paradise Valley

Humboldt County, Humboldt County, Nevada

Marker Inscription

Paradise Valley. Hudson Bay Company’s Peter Skene Ogden traversed Paradise Valley in November 1828.  Settlers came to Paradise Valley in 1863.  Conflicts with local Native Americans started the next year, causing the establishment of Camp Winfield Scott (1866-70) four miles from here.  Paradise Valley farms supplied the nearby Nevada and Idaho territory mines.In the original town of Scottsdale (1866), John C. Kemler built the first hotel, now used as a residence.  Renamed Paradise City (1869), the town was a mining supply center from 1878 until 1920.  Later when livestock raising predominated, the town was again renamed, this time “Paradise Valley.”

Erected by Nevada State Historic Preservation Office

The Story

Hudson's Bay Company trapper Peter Skene Ogden passed through Paradise Valley in 1828, and settlers arrived in 1863 to farm land that would supply mines across Nevada and Idaho. Conflict with local Native Americans soon followed, prompting the U.S. Army to establish Camp Winfield Scott nearby from 1866 to 1870. The town changed names with its fortunes — Scottsdale, then Paradise City as a mining supply center, and finally Paradise Valley once livestock raising came to dominate.

Why it matters

Paradise Valley traces the collision and succession of frontier eras — fur trade, farming, Indian conflict, mining, and ranching — that shaped settlement across the Great Basin.

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Related people

  • · Peter Skene Ogden
  • · John C. Kemler

Related events

  • · Camp Winfield Scott

Themes & tags

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