Jacobsville, Nevada
Jacobsville, Nevada | |
|---|---|
Jacobsville Jacobsville | |
| Coordinates: 39°30′04″N 117°10′52″W / 39.50111°N 117.18111°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Nevada |
| County | Lander |
| Named after | George Washington Jacob, an agent for the Overland Mail Company[1] [2] |
| Elevation | 5,699 ft (1,737 m) |
Jacobsville[3] is a ghost town located in Lander County, Nevada, six miles west[4] of Austin, on the east bank of Reese River, 0.7 mi N of US 50.[3] Jacobsville was also known as Jacobs Spring, Jacobsville Station, Reese River and Reese River Station.[3]
Mail station
The station possibly began as a mail station operated by George Chorpenning's 1859 mail posts near the Reese River.[5] The station was burned by Indians in 1860 and partially completed adobe structure was present on October 13 of that year when it was visited by Richard Francis Burton.[6]
Pony Express station
Reese River Station was a Pony Express station during the 18 months of its operation (April 3, 1860, to October 1861).[2]
The ruins of the adobe Pony Express station were present northwest of Jacobsville in the early 1980s.[7]
Later history
In 1861, Mark Twain traveled through the area and in "Roughing It" he wrote, "On the eighteenth day we encountered the eastward-bound telegraph-constructors at Reese River station and sent a message to his Excellency Gov. Nye at Carson City (distant one hundred and fifty-six miles)."
On May 2, 1862, a former Pony Express rider named William M. Talcott discovered rich silver ore in Pony Canyon while cutting wood for Jacobs Station on the old Pony Express route and a maintenance point on the overland telegraph line. The result was a silver rush known as the Reese River excitement.[2][8]
Jacobsville was the provisional Lander County seat from December 1862 to September 1863.[9] A courthouse was built in Jacobsville, completed in August 1863, and moved to Austin in September.[4]
Myron Angel wrote that "[In 1863, Jacobsville] had a population of three or four hundred; also contained two hotels, three stores, post-office, telegraph office, Court House and fifty residences."[4]
The Jacobsville post office was in operation from March 1863 to April 1864.[10]
By the late 1870s or early 1880s there was only a single farm house at the site.[4]
References
- ^ History of the Buell Family in England. 1881. p. 361. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
- ^ a b c Carlson, Helen S. (January 1, 1974). Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. University of Nevada Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-87417-094-8. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Jacobsville (historical)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. December 12, 1980. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Angel, Myron (1881). History of Lander County. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
- ^ "Pony Express NHT: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 8)". National Park Service. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- Townley, John M. (Autumn 1982). "Stalking Horse for the Pony Express: The Chorpenning Mail Contracts between California and Utah, 1851-1860". Arizona and the West. 24 (3): 248. JSTOR 40169027. Jacobsville appears on a map between pages 232 and 233. - ^ Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1862). The City of the Saints: And Across the Rocky Mountains to California. Harper & Brothers. p. 486. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
Reese.
- ^ Townley, John M. (1984). The Pony Express Guidebook. p. 40.
- ^ Myron Angel, ed. (1881). History of Nevada. Oakland, California: Thompson and West. pp. 512 and 513. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ^ Federal Writers' Project (1941). Origin of Place Names: Nevada (PDF). W.P.A. p. 40.
- ^ "Jacobsville Post Office (historical)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. September 1, 1991. Retrieved February 12, 2019.