Deadman’s Creek: Lost History

A new mystery to reserach

One evening while watching old episodes of Wild Nevada, I learned about Deadman’s Creek trail. The park ranger relayed the creek name’s origin and the graves at the bottom of the trailhead. I paused the episode and started researching the story. Unfortunately, little information was available online, and the graves were not on the popular cemetery website, Find-a-Grave. Nevertheless, I told myself to stop at the graves on my next trip to Reno.

Deadman’s Ranch & Creek

German-Swiss emigrant Mathias Fege started a farm in the southeast Washoe Valley in 1860. It consisted of one hundred forty-one acres and a “lively spring.” In 1864, he sold half of the ranch to Jacob Schroeder. The men planted an orchard and garden. They lived solitary lives working the farm. The duo hauled their produce to miners in Virginia City and surrounding areas.

Aura of mystery

On June 6, 1865, visitors found the two men dead in their cabin. The inquiry determined they died the day before. It was assumed to be a double murder but later held that Fege shot and killed his partner, then turned the gun on himself.

There has remained an aura of mystery about the events and to this day the little green farm in Hidden Valley in the sagebrush-covered hills is known as ‘Dead Man’s Ranch.’ 

Myra Sauer Raty, Pioneers of the Ponderosa 

As late as 1900, speculation about the deaths continued with the Daily Appeal reporting the men died at the hands of Indians.

The ranch is known as “Dead Man’s Ranch,” because some unfortunate met his fate there in the early days at the hands of the Indians.

Elko News

Hotel owner and banker from Carson City, George Tuff, became executor of the estate including the farm and $700 in gold. Settling the estate took considerable time and Andrew Sauer agreed to be a caretaker for the farm but had to use several thousand of his own dollars to keep the farm operating.

John Tacchino acquired the farm and continued to raise produce, transporting it to Comstock Lode using the same rocky road as Fege and Schroeder.

As with many sites of the old west, we will likely never know the truth of what occurred. Ghost towning is sometimes like living in a detective novel, but on a grand scale with thousands of characters, hundreds of places, and more than a few unsolved homicides.

Want more ghost towns?

For information on more than three hundred ghost towns in Nevada, visit the Nevada Ghost Towns Map or a list of Nevada ghost towns.

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References

• Backyard Traveler: Washoe Valley Deadman’s Creek Trail
• The Daily Appeal Dec 4, 1900: December Hay Making
• Go Latinos: Washoe County’s Deadman’s Creek named for two ranch partners found dead in their cabin
• Mary Sauer Raty: Pioneers of the Ponderosa

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