On This Day in the Old West May 9

 Today, we’re celebrating the founding of “The Biggest Little City,” Reno, Nevada, which was begun on March 9, 1868. On that day, more than 1,000 Americans (“from Virginia City to San Francisco”) came to Truckee Meadows to purchase town site lots.

The new town was surveyed on the north side of the Truckee River (in what is now downtown Reno), amidst a few structures and ranches. Myron C. Lake had an inn and a toll bridge set up here, “adjacent to the present site of the Riverfront Hotel.”

What prompted the building of the new town? Central Pacific Railroad officials “looked ahead of the eastward progress of railroad construction” in order to pick out a suitable site for a station in western Nevada. Myron Lake’s vast acreage on either side of the Truckee seemed idea. Early in March, Charles Crocker of Central Pacific and Myron Lake got together to palaver over land use. Ultimately, the latter offered to deed 80 acres of land to the railroad, provided it built its depot within the town site limits.

J.M. Graham, head surveyor of the Central Pacific, platted the town site on Lake’s former acreage on April 1. Years later, “recalling that memorable day, Graham laughed over the suggestion of laying out a town site on ‘All Fools’ Day.’” The as-yet-unnamed town site was bounded by West Street on the west, East Street on the east, Fourth and Fifth Streets (irregularly) on the north, and on the south by the Truckee River.

The name Argenta (silver) was first selected for the new town, offered by Crocker’s brother because of the importance in Nevada of the Comstock Lode’s mines. “Sanguine Nevadans” predicted the new city would soon become “the largest city between San Francisco and the Missouri River.” Washoe City’s Eastern Slope newspaper wished Argenta well, and that “no autumn frosts would pinch out its beauties or check its prosperity.”

By the end of April, rails had been laid to Verdi, then on May 5, construction “penetrated the western edge of the Truckee Meadows.” The place soon became “the interchange where stages and freight wagons to and from Virginia City and other towns met incoming trains from California.”

Less than two weeks before the site auction, the new town’s name was changed to Reno. Exactly why Crocker did this is unknown. Some believed it was just easier to write than Argenta. Others figured it came out of a hat full of names. In any case, the name honors Virginnia Civil War loyalist General Jesse Lee Reno, who fell in the battle of South Mountain in 1862.

The day before the auction, hundreds of people, lured by newspaper ads, hastened to the area to secure a lot for themselves once the bidding started. Would-be buyers arrived in “rickety old wagons, fancy buggies, buckboards and stagecoaches, and on horseback and on foot.” A problem soon presented itself: other than Myron Lake’s small inn, no lodging facilities were available. Some people had come prepared to camp out, but others were forced to rent high-priced blankets and sleep in the sagebrush. Food was also scarce, though “happily, there was enough whiskey to insure against thirst and to ward off the chill of the spring night air.”

At 3:00pm Saturday, May 9, railroad agent D.H Haskill addressed the thousand or more buyers who had shown up. He congratulated Nevada on completing their railroad, concluding by “reviewing the scoffing of opponents who believed that the laying of the rails would never be completed over the Sierras.” Haskill then introduced the auctioneer, Mayor Currie of Virginia City, who proceeded to “bang the gavel and sell lots.”

The east corner of Commercial Row and Virginia Streets, 25 by 100 feet and fronting the soon-to-be-built depot building, was the first to go. It fetched $550—around $10,000 in today’s money! Other lots sold for as much as $1,000, and as the auction came to a close, about 70 lots had been sold—less than a quarter of the town plat. Additional land sales were made in following days, however. 

A few productive souls who had purchased lots unpacked wagonloads of lumber that very evening. Only a week after the auction, Reno had a post office, and on Independence Day, the Reno Crescent began weekly publication. “It was soon supplanted by the Nevada State Journal and the Reno Evening Gazette, the forerunners of the modern Reno Gazette Journal.” After “lengthy court fights,” the county seat was moved from Washoe City to Reno in 1871. Oddly enough, when the courthouse was built, it was located, not in the original town site on the north side of the Truckee, but on the south, “adjacent to Myron Lake’s well-patronized saloon and roadhouse.” Why this happened … is a story for another day!

 

Sources:

Paher, Stanley, “May 9, 1868: The Birth of Reno, the Biggest Little City.”
Harpster, Jack, “Who is the Founder of Reno?”

 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks