Local Information About the Carson Valley

Gardnerville - Carson Valley
Early Gardnerville served the farming community and teamsters hauling local produce to booming Bodie (Ca.). The first buildings were a blacksmith shop, a saloon and the Gardnerville Hotel. The latter was moved by Lawrence Gilman in 1879 from the emigrant trail between Genoa and Walley s Hot Springs, where it was known as Ken House, to its new site, the homestead of John. M. Gardner. Just as Genoa was the center for British Settlers (mostly Mormon) after 1851, so Gardnerville, after 1879, became the center for the 1870 Danish immigrants. They founded the Valhalla Society in 1885 and met at Valhalla Hall now gone.
Starting in 1898, Spanish and French Basque shepherds tended some 13,000 sheep in Carson Valley, increasing to 25,000 by 1925, when the Basques began acquiring their own sheep and land. After 1918, several Basques in Gardnerville opened inns which flourished during the Prohibition years.

Carson Valley
The birthplace of Nevada - Carson River Basin In 1850, a first settlement was made at Mormon Station, renamed Genoa 1856. Here, in 1851, the first attempt to form a government was made. In 1861, Nevada s Territorial Government was established at Genoa.
Over the old road skirting the west bank of the Carson River thousands of immigrants moved southward to cross the Sierra, feeding their livestock on grass cut along the river. At Genoa, at Mottsville, settled in 1852; and at Sheridan, settled by Moses Job about 1854, they stopped to enjoy produce of the state s first gardens. Pony Express riders used this route in 1860, switching in 1861 to the shorter Dagget Trail, now known as the Kingsbury Grade.

Minden
The seat of Douglas county since 1916, was named for a town in Westphalia, Germany, where the founder of the H.F. Dangberg Land and Live Stock Company was born in 1829. The company established Minden in 1905 to provide terminal facilities for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which was then extending a branch line southward from Carson City. Principal promoter of the town and its related development was H.F. Dangberg, Jr., secretary of the company and son of the founder.

History of Douglas County

It is impossible to separate the early history of Douglas County from that of the history of the state of Nevada. Researchers should keep in mind that prior to 1861; Nevada Territory belonged at various times to Mexico, California and Utah.
It is believed that the first white men set foot in what was to become Douglas County between the years of 1834 and 1843. The first documented exploration of the area was in 1843 when General John C. Fremont passed through the large valley that he subsequently named "Carson Valley" after his scout, Kit Carson.
Douglas County is 710 square miles in area, the fourth most populated county in Nevada with some 40,000 residents. Its boundaries encompass the Sierra Nevada mountains and Lake Tahoe as well as the Carson River and Topaz Lake. Elevations vary from a low of 4,625 feet on the valley floor to a high of 9,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada. An arid climate prevails with warm summers, moderate winters, and cool night temperatures year around.
Douglas County was named for Stephen A. Douglas, Representative and Senator for the state of Illinois. On October 31, 1864, Nevada became our 36th State... After the turn of the Century, the County Seat for Douglas was moved from Genoa to Minden, Nevada where it remains today.

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