[113]       

Wabuska

Lyon County
  39.14393, -119.18182

"Wabuska is one of two effective speed traps in Lyon County, the other being (ironically) at another historical marker -- #61 Mound House. I wish I had a quarter ... better yet, a dollar, for every time I've seen a Lyon Sheriff parked here catching people zooming through Wabuska's posted speed limit of 55mph. Even so, it doesn't deter many people and the county is quickly filling its pocketbook. Speaking of cars, there goes one. Poor little Wabuska." -- Journal Entry, September 2007

Along US 95 Alt, 8 miles north of Yerington

Original Date Visited: 9/20/07

Signed: Both lanes of US 95 ALT

  • Now an unassuming location was once one of the busiest railroad hubs in western Nevada
  • Marker 113 plaque

Exact Description:
Wabuska (The Washoe Indian term for white grass) was first established in the early 1870's as a station on the stage and freight road from Wadsworth on the Central Pacific to the roaring mining camps of Aurora, Bodie, Candelaria, Columbus and Belleville.

In 1881, the town served as the principal Mason Valley supply and distribution center on the newly-constructed narrow-gauge Carson and Colorado Railroad. The railroad was purchased and standard gauged by the Southern Pacific in the period 1900-1905. Tonopah and Goldfield mining booms greatly increased freight and passenger traffic.

When copper was discovered in Mason Valley, the town became the Northern terminus of the new Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, built in 1909-1911. Wabuska waned with declining mining activity in the 1920s.

Next Marker:

FRANKTOWN

Related Links & Markers

 [20] -- Columbus   [92] -- Candelaria & Metallic City   [154] -- Belleville   Carson & Colorado Railway 

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