Winnemucca, NV

It's fair to say that the Central Pacific Railroad was responsible for bringing the country to Winnemucca, and Winnemucca to the rest of the country. The railroad reached the region Sept. 16, 1868, and was officially opened to Winnemucca three weeks later.

A stereo card, plate number 319, taken by Alfred A. Hart in Nevada circa November 1868. Three locomotives sit on the tracks at the Winnemucca Depot. Supplies are stacked next to the tracks, including large water tanks. Part of the "Scenes on the Humboldt River" stereo card album collection.

A stereo card, plate number 320, taken by Alfred A. Hart in Nevada circa November 1868. The town of Winnemucca is located 334 miles from Sacramento. Winnemucca Peak can be sen in the distance. Part of the "Scenes on the Humboldt River" stereo card album collection.

Photograph of a train station in Winnemucca, Nevada, taken in 1912.

Oddly, there was no celebration at the time of the rail's arrival, perhaps because so much more work was ahead as the railroad continued laying tracks on its eastward mission. By November, the railroad was completed through Humboldt County (when, in 1872, Winnemucca would be designated the county seat.) The actual naming of the town came earlier, named after a chief of the Piute tribe.

Once the railroad arrived, Winnemucca began to flourish. Charles Crocker, one of the original backers of the Central Pacific, thought it was a good place for the railway to intersect the stage lines that ran both north and south. By 1870, Winnemucca was a modern town, with nearly 300 citizens. It eventually had two hotels, five stores, two stables, two blacksmith shops and a brewery. The town's location — right on the Humboldt River — is nine miles west of the Big Bend, and about 61 miles below the mouth of Reese River. Winnemucca became a depot for trade with neighboring Idaho, and a stage for the mining region that ran through the city.

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