[121]       

Mottsville

Douglas County
  38.93114, -119.84006

"Such an awkward location for such an important marker. Here we have a picteresque view of somebody's landscape border. Why not relocate this one to the old Mottsville cemetery just on the other side of this house? Although I can see the logic behind its placement, I can't shake it free. And we're wondering why our marker system is in such peril ..." -- Journal Entry, May 2007

Along SR 206, 6 miles south of Genoa

Original Date Visited: 5/15/07

Signed: Both lanes of SR 206

Notes: This marker was one of thirty markers that was re-vamped in 2015 in celebration of "Battle Born, 150th: A State Sesquicentennial" (as evident by the campaign's logo on the plaque)

  • Marker 121 plaque
  • Marker 121 represents quite possibly the first community in Nevada

Exact Description:
This is the site of the settlement on the Emigrant Trail known as Mottsville, where Hiram Mott and his son Israel settled in 1851. Their homestead was the scene of an impressive number of firsts in Carson County, Utah Territory:

1851: Israel Mott's wife, Eliza Ann Middaugh, was the first white woman settler.

1854: Mrs. Israel Mott opened the first school in her kitchen. The Mott's second child, Louisa Beatrice, was the first white girl child to be born.

1856: Judge W.W. Drummond held the first session of the United States District Court of the Third District of Utah Territory in the Mott barn built in 1855.

1857: The third child of the Motts died and was buried in the yard. This tiny grave was the first in what became the first cemetery. The cemetery, 300 feet east, is all that marks the site of Mottsville today.

Here's all that remains of what could be Nevada's first community. After a bit of scouring, I finally found the cemetery, (which is still unsigned from any street in the area) by late afternoon.

Next Marker:

SHERIDAN

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