Wabuska
Lyon County, Lyon County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Wabuska. Wabuska (perhaps a Washoe Indian term, for white grass) was first established in the early 1870s as a station on the stage and freight road from Wadsworth on the Central Pacific to the roaring mining camps of Aurora, Bodie, Candaleria, Columbus, and Bellville.In 1881, the town served as the principal Mason Valley supply and distribution center on the newly constructed narrow gauge Carson and Colorado Railroad. Southern Pacific purchased the railroad and converted it to standard gauge at the beginning of the twentieth century. Tonopah and Goldfield mining booms greatly increased freight and passenger traffic.When copper was discovered in Mason Valley, the town became the northern terminus of the new Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, built 1909-1911. Wabuska waned with declining mining activity in the 1920s.
Erected by Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
The Story
Wabuska took shape in the early 1870s as a station on the freight road running from the Central Pacific to the roaring mining camps of the Nevada-California borderlands. In 1881 it became the main supply and distribution center for Mason Valley on the new narrow-gauge Carson and Colorado Railroad, later bought and re-gauged by Southern Pacific, and the Tonopah and Goldfield booms swelled its traffic. When copper was found in Mason Valley, Wabuska became the northern terminus of the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, only to wane as mining activity faded in the 1920s.
Why it matters
Wabuska is a study in how a railroad junction lived and died by the mining booms it served, its every phase tied to the rise and fall of the camps at the end of the line.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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