Gerlach: Difference between revisions

From Friends of the Black Rock High Rock Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(40 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Image:Gerlach_tazameir_aerial.jpg|frame|right|aerial photograph of Gerlach Nevada taken by Tazameir]]
[[Image:Gerlach_tazameir_aerial.jpg|frame|right|aerial photograph of Gerlach Nevada taken by Tazameir]]


Gerlach is named for [[Gerlach Land and Livestock Company]] from the [[Gerlach and Waltz Ranch]], owned by [[Louis Gerlach]].  The town was settled in 1906 when the Western Pacific [[Railroad]] was built.  The Gerlach Post Office was created on October 9, 1909.
Gerlach NV is at Highway 447 mile marker 75, and is 103 miles from Reno.  Highway 447 was formerly known as [[Highway 34]].
== Population ==
The population over the years.
* 1910: population 199 ([[Salt Marsh]] township). Source: "[[Nevada Place Names Population 1860-2000]]."
* Quarter ending on Dec. 31, 1912: Rural Liquor Licenses in Gerlach:<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EdxKAAAAMAAJ&dq=Gerlach%20Cafe%20nevada%20-bruno&pg=RA2-PA34#v=onepage&q=Gerlach%20&f=false Appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly ..., Volume 26, Part 2]], 1913.</ref>
** Scott Butler Gerlach $15.00
** W. R. Strong & Co Gerlach 15.00
** B. Moffitt & Co Gerlach 15.00
** Ostrander King Gerlach 15.00
** Hambley & States Gerlach 15.00
* 1913: population 500. Source: Sam P. Davis, "[https://archive.org/details/historyofnevada02davirich The history of Nevada (Volume 2)]," p. 1030, 1913.
* 1919: [http://books.google.com/books?id=8e1KAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA90&ots=9E21dlds2K&dq=Blancett%20gerlach&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=Gerlach&f=false Appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly ... of the ..., Volume 30, Part 2 By Nevada. Legislature],"  list of registered automobiles for the quarter ended June 30, 1919.
* 1920: population 450 (Gerlach township. Note: Gerlach township changed from [[Salt Marsh]] in 1928). Source: United States. Bureau of the Census, "[http://books.google.com/books?id=x-G2AAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA697&ots=xcOTIgz_Ho&dq=Gerlach%201920%20census%20population&pg=PA697#v=onepage&q=Gerlach%201920%20census%20population&f=false Population, Volume 1]," p. 697, 1931.
* [[Polk's Reno city, Washoe County and Carson City directory (1921)]]
* [[1925 Washoe County Directory]]
* 1930: population 441 (Gerlach twp.). Source: United States. Bureau of the Census , "[http://books.google.com/books?id=32pQAAAAYAAJ&lpg=SA28-PA6&ots=pP_0a4E_ia&dq=Gerlach%20Population%201940%20census&pg=SA28-PA6#v=onepage&q=Gerlach&f=false Census of Population: 1950: Number of inhabitants]", p.28-6.
* [http://distantcousin.com/Directories/NV/Washoe/1936/Pages.asp?Page=015 Washoe County, Nevada 1936 Tax List Page 015]
** [[Gerlach and Waltz Ranch | Gerlach & Waltz]]: Real Estate: $110, Personal: $1200
** [[Gerlach Land and Livestock Company | Gerlach Livestock Co.]]: Real Estate: $18435, Improvements: $250, Personal: $2780
** Gregory, Lewis: Real Estate: $650, Improvements: $250
** Hughes, Henry: Real Estate: $50, Improvements: $250
** Johnson, S. H: Real Estate: $615, Improvements: $250
** Schmitt, Leo F. Receiver: Real Estate: $2095
** Vener Est., Ella E.: Real Estate: $120, Improvements: $150
** [[Railroad | Western Pacific Ry. Co.]]: Real Estate: $1065
* 1940, population 417.  Source: Federal Writers' Project, [http://books.google.com/books?id=XRdZL0gd3QMC&lpg=PA308&vq=Gerlach&pg=PA141#v=snippet&q=Gerlach&f=false Nevada: A Guide to the Silver State],"
* 1940: population 448 (Gerlach twp.). Source: United States. Bureau of the Census , "[http://books.google.com/books?id=32pQAAAAYAAJ&lpg=SA28-PA6&ots=pP_0a4E_ia&dq=Gerlach%20Population%201940%20census&pg=SA28-PA6#v=onepage&q=Gerlach&f=false Census of Population: 1950: Number of inhabitants]", p.28-6.
* 1950: population 535 (Gerlach twp.). Source: United States. Bureau of the Census , "[http://books.google.com/books?id=32pQAAAAYAAJ&lpg=SA28-PA6&ots=pP_0a4E_ia&dq=Gerlach%20Population%201940%20census&pg=SA28-PA6#v=onepage&q=Gerlach&f=false Census of Population: 1950: Number of inhabitants]", p.28-6.
* 1960: population 1,141 (Gerlach twp. Note: Duck Lake twp annexed to Gerlach twp prior to 1950, but reported separately in 1950.  Duck Lake had a population of 5 in 1950.) Source: "[http://books.google.com/books?id=uYs5AQAAIAAJ&dq=Gerlach%20Population%201960%20census&pg=SA30-PA8#v=onepage&q=Gerlach%20Population%201960%20census&f=false Census of Population: 1960]," p. 30-8.
* 1975, Joe Ugalde quoted as saying that there are 75 people in town and 200 in [[Empire]].
== References ==
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerlach,_Nevada Gerlach, Nevada] (Wikipedia)
* Helen S. Carson, "[http://books.google.com/books?id=BixwbIM7ZvAC&lpg=PA119&ots=KPGpYf9-ta&dq=%22Gerlach%20Land%20and%20Cattle%20Company%22&pg=PA119#v=onepage&q=%22Gerlach%20Land%20and%20Cattle%20Company%22&f=false Nevada Place Names]," p. 119.
* [http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Gerlach,_Nevada&params=40_39_5_N_119_21_24_W_type:city(206)_region:US-NV Map]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/10111/sets/72157622455088065/with/4373948403/ Danger Ranger's Gerlach History images]
* [http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/Gerlach Pronunciation of the word "Gerlach"]
* [http://ndep.nv.gov/bffwp/gerlach.htm http://ndep.nv.gov/bffwp/gerlach.htm] [http://ndep.nv.gov/index.htm Nevada Division of Environmental Protection] water system upgrade
* [http://ndep.nv.gov/bffwp/gerlach.htm http://ndep.nv.gov/bffwp/gerlach.htm] [http://ndep.nv.gov/index.htm Nevada Division of Environmental Protection] water system upgrade
* [http://www.world66.com/northamerica/unitedstates/nevada/gerlach http://www.world66.com/northamerica/unitedstates/nevada/gerlach]
* [http://www.world66.com/northamerica/unitedstates/nevada/gerlach http://www.world66.com/northamerica/unitedstates/nevada/gerlach]
* [http://dcnr.nv.gov/markers/mark_152.htm Nevada Historical Marker 152: Gerlach]
* [http://dcnr.nv.gov/markers/mark_152.htm Nevada Historical Marker 152: Gerlach]
Situated between Black Rock Desert on the east and Smoke Creek Desert on the west,
Situated between Black Rock Desert on the east and Smoke Creek Desert on the west,
Line 13: Line 52:
The town was established when the Western Pacific Railroad was constructed in Nevada 1905-1909.
The town was established when the Western Pacific Railroad was constructed in Nevada 1905-1909.
It still functions as a railroad division headquarters.
It still functions as a railroad division headquarters.
* [http://www.nevadaobserver.com/History%20Of%20Washoe%20County%20(1912).htm THE HISTORY OF NEVADA, CHAPTER LVIII., WASHOE COUNTY, BY MAJOR G. W. INGALLS. From The History of Nevada, edited by Sam P. Davis, vol. II (1912)]
* [http://www.nevadaobserver.com/History%20Of%20Washoe%20County%20(1912).htm THE HISTORY OF NEVADA, CHAPTER LVIII., WASHOE COUNTY, BY MAJOR G. W. INGALLS. From The History of Nevada, edited by Sam P. Davis, vol. II (1912)]
Gerlach—A town on the Western Pacific Railway, 125 miles northeast of Reno, 438 miles northeast of San Francisco, 483 miles west of Salt Lake City, 94 miles west of Winnemucca, Nev. ; railroad division point. Stages from this town to Eaglesville, Cedarville, Bidwell-Modoc Co., California. Population, 500. Has express, Western Union telegraph, hotels, several stores, school house. Shipping point for many towns north and west.
Gerlach—A town on the Western Pacific Railway, 125 miles northeast of Reno, 438 miles northeast of San Francisco, 483 miles west of Salt Lake City, 94 miles west of Winnemucca, Nev. ; railroad division point. Stages from this town to Eaglesville, Cedarville, Bidwell-Modoc Co., California. Population, 500. Has express, Western Union telegraph, hotels, several stores, school house. Shipping point for many towns north and west.
* The 1914-1915 WPRR Descriptive Time Table states: "The substantial station of Gerlach marks the time change from the Eastern to the Western Division of the Western Pacific Railway. The locality is noted for its group of warm hot springs and their battered adobe fort, at the base of the hills a mile and a half to the right. Amidst high sandstone ridges scored by wind and weather, through soda and [[Borax | borax]] flats imprinted with antelope tracks the train passes into the lava district of the Black Desert"<ref>"[[Descriptive Time Tables, Denver and Rio Grande - Western Pacific, Winter 1914-1915]]."</ref>
* Trego, Robert, "[http://newspaperarchive.com/us/nevada/reno/nevada-state-journal/1955/10-23/ Black Rock Desert Roads]," Nevada State Journal, October 23, 1955, p10-11.  Mentions the Stanley Cafe at Gerlach.  Also mentioned are [[Trego]], [[Sulphur]] and [[Jungo]].
* Reno Evening Gazette, February 11, 1965, "[http://newspaperarchive.com/reno-evening-gazette/1965-02-11/page-22 Water System Study Set,]" p. 22. - Feasibility study for Gerlach to own and maintain its own water system.
* Reno Evening Gazette, September 8, 1965, "[http://newspaperarchive.com/reno-evening-gazette/1965-09-08/page-16 Little Gerlach Faces a Big Problem]," p. 16. Western Pacific Railroad, which owns the land, wants to sell.  There are about 35 to 40 people leasing land.
* New York Times, August 17, 1975, "Railroad sells town in Nevada for $18,000".  Papers were signed that week.  219 acres and the water system were sold.
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19750816&id=I_lYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VkYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4699,2739247 Residents buy town], August 16, 1975, Victoria Advocate.  Joe Ugalde quoted.


== maps ==
== Resources ==
 
* [http://www.almanac.com/weather/forecast/index.php?zipcode=89412 Weather]
* [http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=40.65167&lon=-119.35417&datum=nad27&u=4&layer=DRG&size=l&s=50 http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=40.65167&lon=-119.35417&datum=nad27&u=4&layer=DRG&size=l&s=50]
* [http://www.burningman.com/preparation/travel_info/gerlach_webcam.html Gerlach Webcam]
 
*
 
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/search?firstname=&middlename=&lastname=&birthyear=&birthyearfilter=&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&location=Gerlach%2C+Washoe+County%2C+Nevada%2C+United+States+of+America&locationId=city_98791&memorialid=&mcid=&linkedToName=&datefilter=&orderby=&page=1#sr-27762737 Findagrave: Gerlach Cemetery]
== railroad ==
 
* [http://budget.state.nv.us/clearinghouse/Notice/2006/E2006-109.pdf ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT, WINNEMUCCA FIELD OFFICE, OIL AND GAS LEASING, SEPTEMBER 2005]
Between 1907-1909, the Western Pacific Railroad built another
transcontinental line through northern Nevada. Gerlach, established as a depo ton this line at that
time, remains largely supported by railroad activities today.
 
== weather forecasts ==
 
* [http://www.almanac.com/weather/forecast/index.php?zipcode=89412 http://www.almanac.com/weather/forecast/index.php?zipcode=89412]
 
 
== earthquake ==
 
* [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/shakemap/nn/shake/2007108_204586/download/stationlist.txt http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/shakemap/nn/shake/2007108_204586/download/stationlist.txt]
    Earthquake 2007108_204586: 04/18/2007 08:42:55 GMT, M=3.30, 39.1852 -120.1364, 0.0000km depth, Bias: pga=-0.60 pgv=-0.60
    N07B: Gerlach, NV, USA (TA)
    Coordinates: 40.7797 -118.9711 Dist: 203.1 km
    BHE -0.0006 cm/s  0.0007 %g
    BHZ -0.0006 cm/s  0.0006 %g
    BHN -0.0005 cm/s  0.0007 %g


== Historic ==
== Images ==
* Paul L. Henchey, "[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt12903596/entire_text/?query=Gerlach,%20nevada Gerlach, Nevada]," UCD.PIC.D515.2010.0588, SV-588 1952 October 4 Physical Description: 1 photograph: negative, UC Davis.


* http://www.unr.edu/nevadasilverandblue/archive/2007/spring/NSBS07TellMe.pdf UNR's Nevada Silver & Blue: Tell Me How Nevada Was, From the files of the University of Nevada Oral History Program
== See Also ==
* [[Censuses]]
* [[Gerlach "Great Boiling" Springs]]
* [[Gerlach Water Tower]]
* [[World War II]] The experiences of Roy Nishiguchi's family in Gerlach during the war.


FiGHTiNG FOr THe SaMe Side
== References ==
Roy Nishiguchi, a Fort Ord, Calif.-based
<references/>
U.S. Army medic, saw his Japanese-American
family become outcasts during the war. His
father, Masaichi Nishiguchi, had been a section
foreman for the Western Pacific Railroad in
Gerlach, Nev., 70 miles north of Reno, since
1933. But after Pearl Harbor the railroad forced
him to leave his job and his property in 1942.
Roy Nishiguchi, who attended the University
for two years just after war’s end, picks up the
story in his own oral history, dictated in 1992.
He is a soldier in conflict, devoted to both fam-
ily and country. His excerpt about wartime in
this country tells the other side of the Art Smith
story, although both Smith and Nishiguchi,
ironically, were fighting for the same side.


Many years before the war my dad was
[[Category:Railroad sidings]]
carving a toy boat for me, whittling away and
[[Category:USGS Quads]]
talking about war. He said, “roy, if Japan and
[[Category:Washoe County]]
america fight who you
[[Category:Wikipedia articles]]
going to fight for?”
i said, “Japan.”
He said, “Baka (fool)! 
You were born in this
country; you are an
american. You fight for
your country.”
i was about �2 or
�3. “You told me how
Japanese would fight to the
death for their country,” i said. “i’m Japanese,
so i’ll fight for them.”
He said, “You are american. This is your
country — you fight for this country.”
dad wanted to be an american so bad that
he even adopted Sam for his first name; but
because of his race, he was out — immigra-
tion law prevented those born in Japan from
being naturalized. even though he was bitter
about this, he studied american history and
read american literature. “i’m going to keep
on reading,” he told me. “everything i read is
for me. Whether anybody else wants it or not
doesn’t matter.”
My dad loved his job and thought that be-
ing a section foreman for the railroad was all
a man could want. He had tried to persuade
me to follow in his footsteps: “You have your
house furnished; you have your coal, and your
kerosene for lighting,” he had said. “What
more could you ask? You can’t get that any-
where else.” The railroad was his life.
in January following Pearl Harbor, the
Western Pacific kicked my father out — took
his job away, claiming he was a security risk....
He and Mom were ordered to leave their
house and get off railroad property, and since
the railroad practically owned Gerlach, they
didn’t know what to do. Their other son, art,
had been inducted into the army the week
before, but one of my friends who hadn’t yet
been drafted helped them. He got a bunch of
fellows together and rented a little trailer for
Mom and dad. it was just big enough to hold
a double bed, and they moved it to a site that
was off railroad property, which meant it was
out in the desert, out in the sagebrush. Stuck
out there in the boondocks that’s what my
mother and dad lived in through the winter.
No toilet facilities, no nothing.
My sister Mary and her husband, Chad
Chadwell, journeyed from Tennessee to care
for my preteen sisters, who had been sepa-
rated from Mom and dad. When Mary wrote
to me and told me about the situation, i bor-
rowed money from army buddies and made
my way back to Gerlach. i walked out to the
trailer and knocked on the door. at first there
was no response: Mom and dad were scared!
They were afraid that someone had come out
there to blast them. i called out, “it’s roy,” and
my dad finally opened the door.
Well, there wasn’t a thing i could do for
them. i only had a seven-day furlough, and
no money. What could i do? i didn’t know
anything. My friend Paul Wayne told me, “Go
back to Fort Ord. We’ll look out for your mom
and dad.” So i went back to Fort Ord, and
eventually Mary was able to rent a house in
reno and move our family into it.
The army pulled all the Nisei off the West
Coast and transferred us to inland units.
although we didn’t know where we were
going, i, for one, thought that i would soon be
in combat. Boy, was i wrong! We Nisei were
americans, soldiers in the united States army;
but for a year following Pearl Harbor, my group
was given only the kinds of jobs that had been
performed by work details from the stockade. i
ended up assigned to the �85�st Service unit at
Camp Wolters, Texas, a trained medic serving
the army by emptying garbage cans.
* * *
after the war, Nishiguchi enrolled as a 30-
year-old at Nevada on the Gi Bill, but did not
finish his schooling. He became material fa-
cilities officer at Stead air Force Base, located
just north of reno, and then was warehouse
supervisor for K-Mart in reno. He retired
from K-Mart in �986 and died in 2002.  nN
In 1995, the program published excerpts from
Art Smith’s and Roy Nishiguchi’s oral histories in
War Stories: veterans remember WW ii.
Roy Nishiguchi

Latest revision as of 17:08, 27 June 2020

aerial photograph of Gerlach Nevada taken by Tazameir


Gerlach is named for Gerlach Land and Livestock Company from the Gerlach and Waltz Ranch, owned by Louis Gerlach. The town was settled in 1906 when the Western Pacific Railroad was built. The Gerlach Post Office was created on October 9, 1909.

Gerlach NV is at Highway 447 mile marker 75, and is 103 miles from Reno. Highway 447 was formerly known as Highway 34.

Population

The population over the years.

References

Situated between Black Rock Desert on the east and Smoke Creek Desert on the west, the townsite of Gerlach lies in country long occupied by prehistoric man. John C. Frémont traveled through Northern Paiute Indian lands when he camped here in 1843 and named "Boiling Springs" 1/4 mile north of town. This was also emigrant country; the Noble Road left the Applegate-Lassen Trail at Black Rock Springs, went past this site and southward through Smoke Creek Desert toward Susanville. The town was established when the Western Pacific Railroad was constructed in Nevada 1905-1909. It still functions as a railroad division headquarters.

Gerlach—A town on the Western Pacific Railway, 125 miles northeast of Reno, 438 miles northeast of San Francisco, 483 miles west of Salt Lake City, 94 miles west of Winnemucca, Nev. ; railroad division point. Stages from this town to Eaglesville, Cedarville, Bidwell-Modoc Co., California. Population, 500. Has express, Western Union telegraph, hotels, several stores, school house. Shipping point for many towns north and west.

  • The 1914-1915 WPRR Descriptive Time Table states: "The substantial station of Gerlach marks the time change from the Eastern to the Western Division of the Western Pacific Railway. The locality is noted for its group of warm hot springs and their battered adobe fort, at the base of the hills a mile and a half to the right. Amidst high sandstone ridges scored by wind and weather, through soda and borax flats imprinted with antelope tracks the train passes into the lava district of the Black Desert"[2]
  • Trego, Robert, "Black Rock Desert Roads," Nevada State Journal, October 23, 1955, p10-11. Mentions the Stanley Cafe at Gerlach. Also mentioned are Trego, Sulphur and Jungo.
  • Reno Evening Gazette, February 11, 1965, "Water System Study Set," p. 22. - Feasibility study for Gerlach to own and maintain its own water system.
  • Reno Evening Gazette, September 8, 1965, "Little Gerlach Faces a Big Problem," p. 16. Western Pacific Railroad, which owns the land, wants to sell. There are about 35 to 40 people leasing land.
  • New York Times, August 17, 1975, "Railroad sells town in Nevada for $18,000". Papers were signed that week. 219 acres and the water system were sold.
  • Residents buy town, August 16, 1975, Victoria Advocate. Joe Ugalde quoted.

Resources

Findagrave: Gerlach Cemetery

Images

  • Paul L. Henchey, "Gerlach, Nevada," UCD.PIC.D515.2010.0588, SV-588 1952 October 4 Physical Description: 1 photograph: negative, UC Davis.

See Also

References