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 Nevada’s First Gold Discovery Posted by:  Volcanoguy
N 39° 14.152 W 119° 35.509
11S E 276301 N 4346152
Nevada history sign #257 in Dayton, NV.
Waymark Code: WMVMCV
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 05/03/2017
Views: 2
Nevada history sign #257 located at 235 W Main St in Dayton, NV at the Dayton Justice Court. Marker deals with the first discovery of gold in Nevada.
Marker Title (required): Nevada’s First Gold Discovery
Marker Number (If official State Marker from NV SHPO website above, otherwise leave blank): 257
Marker Text (required):
In July 1849, Abner Blackburn, a former member of the Mormon Battalion, made the first gold discovery in what is now Nevada near this site (see the canyon to the right). William Prouse, a member of a passing emigrant party, made a second discovery further up Gold Canyon in May 1850. The discoverers of these placer gold deposits believed the promised riches of California to be great.Most emigrants consequently continued their westward journeys, but a few returned after finding most of California’s Motherlode creeks and rivers already claimed.
By the spring of 1851, some 200 placer miners, including James “Old Virginny” Finney, were working in the area. The continuous occupation of Gold Canyon’s mouth makes this site Nevada’s first non-Native American settlement. Dayton, also known as Chinatown, became a mineral milling, commercial and agricultural center after prospectors and placer miners worked their way up Gold Creek. This monument commemorates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold and the thousands of pioneers who passed near this site.
County (required): Lyon
Marker Type (required): Metal Plaque
Other Marker Type (optional): NA
Is Marker Damaged? (required): No
Other Damage Type (optional): NA
URL - Website (optional): Not listed
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