This weekend, I played tourist in my own backyard. I travel all over Nevada and miss the amazing history of Carson Valley and Alpine County. I stopped at Dangberg Ranch, Markleville and Monitor.
Dangberg Ranch
In 1857, Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg built a cabin and developed a ranch in Carson Valley. The cabin grew into a house for Dangberg’s wife, Margaret Ferris, and their five children. Their ranch grew to include 48,000 acres.
Dangberg’s children created the town of Minden in 1905. They designed the town square around a park and many buildings and donated land to become the southern terminus for the Virginia and Truckee Railway, much to the dismay of Gardnerville, a few miles south.
Markleeville
In 1861, Jacob Markley established a toll bridge on the Carson River to connect Silver Mountain City and Genoa. He recorded a claim for 160 acres in Douglas County, incorrectly thinking the property was in Nevada.
Markley planned a town and sold lots; the settlement soon included a dozen homes and a boarding house. A post office opened in 1863. A dispute over land ownership in 1863 resulted in a gunfight and Markley’s death.
Monitor
Silver was discovered in the narrow canyon of Monitor Creek in 1857, but substantial mining and community development did not occur until the early 1860s.
Nicholas Piequet, in 1868, planted hops in the canyon and opened a brewery. The hops were a variety from the Alsace region of France and can still be seen by the astute observer 155 years later, one of the few traces that remain of the town.
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