Great Basin National Heritage Area

Preserving and promoting the Great Basin

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History

History of the Great Basin National Heritage Area

12,000 - 9,000 B.C.

Sites have been found indicating Paleo-Indian habitation within the Great Basin in the form of small hunting groups following the mammoth, bison, camel, and horse herds

9,000 B.C. - 400 A.D.

Implements like milling stones found in this area from the Great Basin Desert Archaic Period

3,000 B.C.

Lives of the oldest bristlecone pine trees in the Great Basin National Park began

500 - 800 A.D.

Fremont Culture emerged, leaving behind well-preserved sites indicating agricultural activity as well as hunting and gathering

1300s

Numic-speaking peoples entered the Great Basin, ancestors of present day Western Shoshone and the Southern and Northern Paiute

1776

Escalante-Dominguez party passes through Pahvant Valley near Delta, Utah

1826

Jedediah S. Smith expedition crosses Great Basin through present-day Millard County on its way to California in search of beaver pelts, returned across Nevada in Summer 1827 through White River, Spring and Snake Valleys

1842 - 1845

U.S. Army Captain John C. Fremont expedition encircled the area and reported the internally draining basin as "truly a great basin"

1849

Howard Egan first brought livestock into the Snake Range

1851

Governor Brigham Young designates Fillmore as the capital of Utah

1852

Construction of Fillmore Statehouse begins

1853

- Eight members of an exploration team led by Captain John W. Gunnison killed at Gunnison Massacre site west of Delta
- Mount Wheeler named Jefferson Davis Peak by Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Steptoe
- Martial law declared at Fillmore Fort due to conflicts with Indians which became known as the Walker War

1855

First wing of Fillmore Statehouse completed

1855

Brigham Young sent a group of elders to establish a mission and plant crops in "Grease Wood Valley" (present-day Snake Valley near Garrison, Utah), Ezra Granger Williams was first to climb to the top of Mt. Wheeler

1858

Utah capitol moved from Fillmore to Salt Lake City

1858

White Mountain Expedition explores Snake Range (including Wheeler Peak) and other mountain ranges, mission established near present-day Panaca, Nevada

1859

Captain James H. Simpson passes through White Pine County near what would become Schellbourne Station, called Mt. Wheeler Union Peak

1859

Overland Stage and Mail station built at Schellbourne, Virginia City rush begins, Thomas Robinson discovers ore that will become Robinson Mining District

1860

Wildens establish Fort Willden at Cove Creek, Pony Express begins using Schellbourne Station

1861

Pony Express service terminated, first settlers arrive in Snake Valley

1863

Treaty between U.S. and Goshute Shoshone Indians defines boundaries of the Goshute Reservation, telegraph runs through Schellbourne Station

1865

Wildens abandon Fort Willden at Cove Creek, Fort Deseret constructed

1867

Deseret Telegraph establishes office at abandoned Fort Willden, Cove Fort settlers arrive at Cove Creek

1869

Lieutenant George M. Wheeler began comprehensive survey of southwest starting with Mt. Wheeler which now bears his name, Mineral City (Lane City) established

1870

Absolom S. Lehman and Olive S. Lehman settle at 600-acre ranch near Lehman Creek

1871

Aurum Mining District (silver) established east of Schellbourne, Leamington, Utah settled

1872

Gold-bearing quartz rock belt found in Osceola District

1875

Absolom Lehman's younger brother Benjamin S. Lehman and his wife Mary started a ranch at what is now Baker, Nevada

1878

Naturalist John Muir explored Nevada and climbed Mt. Wheeler

1881

Absolom S. Lehman believed to have found and explored Lehman Caves, heliotrope station on Mt. Wheeler by U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey

1887

White Pine County seat moved from Hamilton to Ely, Nevada

1890s

Town of Baker, Nevada established

1903

Town of Delta, Utah settled

1904

Nevada Consolidated Copper Co. begins underground mining in the Robinson District

1906 (September 29)

First trains arrive in Ely, Nevada

1909

Theodore Roosevelt designates Nevada National Forest including land that is now Great Basin National Park, White Pine County Courthouse construction completed

1914

Veteran underground mine in Robinson District closes

1920

Millard County Courthouse built

1922

President Warren G. Harding issued presidential proclamation establishing Lehman Caves National Monument

1924

American Indian Citizenship Act--granted full U.S. citizenship to America's indigenous peoples

1930

Ely Shoshone Indian Reservation created, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers re-open the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore, Utah as a museum

1940

Duckwater Indian Reservation created

1942 - 1945

Topaz Relocation Camp near Delta, Utah holds more than 8,300 Japanese-Americans behind barbed wire

1947

Utah State Legislature returns to Fillmore Territorial Statehouse for one session to commemorate the centennial

1958

Kennecott Copper Corporation acquires full ownership of Robinson District mining operations

1961 (November 5)

Fort Ruby receives designation from the Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark

1975

Indian Self-determination and Education Assistance Act—began the evolution of tribal self governance

1979

Kennecott Copper Corporation ceases operations in White Pine County

1986 (October 27)

President Ronald Reagan signed the Great Basin National Park Act

1991

Magma Nevada Mining, Co. purchases Robinson District mining operations from Kennecott Copper

1996

BHP Billiton merges with Magma Nevada Mining, Co. to become new owners of Robinson District mining operations

1999

Ely Renaissance Society forms and begins transforming downtown area with murals, sculptures, and historic renovation projects, BHP Billiton ceases operations in Robinson Mining District

2005

Great Basin Visitor Center is completed near Baker, NV to provide an interpretive center for the entire Great Basin region, Ely Renaissance Society purchases Geraghty Property near downtown Ely, NV and begins renovation of area now known as Renaissance Village

2006 (September 20)

Nevada Northern Railway - East Ely Yards receive designation from Department of the Interior as National Historic Landmark

2006 (September 29)

Nevada Northern Railway celebrates 100th anniversary of railroad reaching Ely

2006

Highway 50 from Millard County, Utah through White Pine County, Nevada receives national designation as Great Basin National Heritage Route

2007 (March 29)

Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) receives designation from Department of the Interior as National Historic Landmark

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Resources

Horst & Graben
Completed Projects Photobook
Millard County Guidebook

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Contact Info

Great Basin Heritage Area Partnership
PO Box 78
Baker, NV 89311

info@greatbasinheritage.org
775-234-7171

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