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Nevada Railroads Collection
mssNevadar  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Preferred Citation
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition
  • Biographical / Historical
  • Scope and Contents
  • Processing Information
  • Related Materials
  • General

  • Contributing Institution: The Huntington Library
    Title: Nevada railroads collection
    Identifier/Call Number: mssNevadar
    Physical Description: 10 Linear Feet (18 boxes,15 volumes, 6 oversize maps) Approximately 9000 pieces
    Date (inclusive): 1862-1950
    Date (bulk): 1870-1890
    Abstract: Materials related to railroads built in Nevada and eastern California in connection with the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, and other mining booms in Nevada and California.
    Language of Material: Materials are in English.

    Conditions Governing Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

    Conditions Governing Use

    The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item]. Nevada railroads collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Immediate Source of Acquisition

    Purchased from H. A. Levinson, February 27, 1963, and Yale Brown, May 16, 1963.

    Biographical / Historical

    Among the great names produced by Nevada's Comstock Lode are Adolph Sutro, Virginia & Truckee and the ring (William C. Ralston, Darius O. Mills and William Sharon) who owned the Bank of California. Sharon was the bank's representative in the Comstock. Ralston was the power behind the bank although he assumed only the modest title of cashier.
    Adolph Sutro first came to the Comstock from San Francisco in 1860. He envisioned the great wealth to come from the Lode and conceived the idea that the most economical method of developing the mines was to drive a tunnel, nearly four miles in length, from the floor of Carson Valley, under the mines, then sink the mine shafts to meet it and remove the ore and drain the water from the mines through the tunnel instead of lifting to the surface.
    Sutro with a small amount of money, on October 18, 1865, started work on the tunnel, but met with great difficulty in financing it, and the opposition of the powerful Bank of California, although Ralston had at first approved the project.
    Ralston desired to control every part of the Comstock. He made loans to the mills at lower rates than his competitors, foreclosed when they were unable to pay, and thus the bank became the owner of the principal mills situated along the banks of the Carson River.
    Sharon proposed building a railroad from the Comstock to the Carson River to haul the ore to the bank's mills and on the return trip take up the enormous quantities of timber needed for shoring in the mines and wood for fuel for the steam engines.
    Sharon's proposal was accepted and he with Ralston and Mills organized the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Company and in 1868 the line was built from Virginia to Carson, a distance of 21 miles.
    To connect with the Central Pacific Railroad at Reno the line, in 1872 was extended to the banks of the Truckee River at Reno, a distance of 31 miles.
    H. M. Yerington who had been a mill owner but who had lost out to the Bank of California was employed as General Superintendent which post he held for many years until his death.
    In 1876 a branch to Genoa was located, but never built.
    On July 8, 1878 after fourteen years of untiring labor and overcoming opposition, Sutro completed the tunnel.
    To connect the Virginia and Truckee with the then booming mining towns of Hawthorne, Candeleria, Bodie, Aurora and Benton, the Carson and Colorado Railroad, three foot narrow gauge, ws built in 1881-1883 from Mound House, nine miles east of Carson on the Virginia and Truckee, to Hawley (later Keeler) California, a distance of 293 miles. Originally it was intended that the railroad extend to the Colorado River, but it was never built farther than Hawley.
    The Carson and Colorado Railroad was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1900.
    In 1906 a branch from Carson to Minden, a distance of 15 miles, was built.
    The line from Virginia to Carson was abandoned c. 1938.
    On May 31, 1950 the Virginia and Truckee Railroad was completely abandoned.

    Scope and Contents

    The collection consists of materials related to railroads built in Nevada and eastern California in connection with the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, and other mining booms in Nevada and California (mainly in the period from 1870-1890). Subjects in the collection include not only the railroad and mining industries but also the lumber industry. Although the collection chiefly includes papers concerning the Virginia and Truckee Railroad (correspondence, business papers, and operating statistics from 1862-1950), there are also materials related to the Carson and Colorado Railroad (letters and business papers, 1880-1900), the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company (1870-1910), and the lake Tahoe Railroad and Transportation Company (1907-1910).

    Processing Information

    Processed by Huntington Library staff. In 2000, Xiuzhi Zhou created a finding aid.

    Related Materials

    Removed and cataloged separately: Adolph Sutro lantern slides collection, photCL 508.

    General

    Former call number: mssNevada railroads.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Mineral industries -- California
    Mineral industries -- Nevada
    Mines and mineral resources -- California
    Mines and mineral resources -- Nevada -- Comstock Lode
    Business records -- California
    Business records -- Nevada
    Letters (correspondence) -- California
    Letters (correspondence) -- Nevada