Fairview, Nevada: 1861 Overland Mail Station

Fairview is one of those forgotten places that has almost been erased from history. Very little evidence of the site can be located online or in books. I found only a few notations: A site in Stan Paher’s Nevada Ghost Towns and Desert Atlas, a post on Forgotten Nevada, a GPS location on a few maps and a notation by the National Park Service. Even knowing the location, you have to search hard to find evidence of the station.

The exact location remained a mystery for many years as maps and reports disagreed. Forgotten Nevada made several attempts to locate the site. Their associate identified the location by helicopter when the area was blanketed in snow, outlining the old stage roads and a clearing.

Fairview Station is separate from the nearby ghost town of Fairview, the town that never stayed still, and was relocated twice in its existence. You can view the bank vault from Highway 50, the but the area is fenced off by the Fallon Naval Air Station.

Fairview Stage Stop predated the town of the same name by forty-five years. Fairview was a freight station on the Overland Stage Trail beginning in 1861. The route later became part of the California and Mormon emigrant trails. The stage company operated until 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed.

The Pony Express followed much of the Overland Stage Route. The National Park Service references several sources stating Fairview was used as a Pony Express Station at the end of their service in 1861.

Scattered debris including broken oxen and horse shoes, barrel hoops, nails and other forms of rusted metal mark the site.

Without canning or refrigeration, meals at stage stations were basic. A good meal might consist of little more than beans, hardtack and barely edible bacon. The location is also littered with remains of glass bottles. Water was limited and of questionable quality and alcoholic drinks were usually the libations of choice.

Fairview Station is now part of Fallon Naval Air Station. Don’t worry, it’s an Electronic Warfare Range, not the active bombing range.

I spent the day in South Dixie Valley with Nevada Expeditions as my guide. Along with friends we started at Fairview Station then a loop to Wonder, Hercules, Victor back to West Gate and ended our day at Middle Gate for yummy bacon burgers.

Visited 1-10-2021

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References

• American Heritage: Great Day of Overland Stage
• Any Place America: Fairview Station
• Eyewitness to History: Riding the Overland Stage 1861
• Forgotten Nevada: Fairview Station
• Ghost Towns: Fairview
• Historic Destinations of Eastern America: Traveling Cross-Country on the Butterfield Stage Line / San Diego, California
• History: Transcontinental railroad completed, unifying United States
• National Park Service: Pony Express Historic Resource Study
• Nevada Expeditions
• Overland: Overland Stage Stations
• Paher, Stanley. Nevada Ghost Towns & Desert Atlas: Volume 1. Nevada Publications, 2020. Page 24.
• True West Magazine: The Myth of Whiskey
• Wikipedia: Butterfield Overland Mail
• Wikipedia: Overland Trail
• Wikipedia: Transcontinental Railroad

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