150 Years of Douglas County Progress

A publication of The Record-Courier
Page 10 | Sunday, January 29, 2012 | www.recordcourier.com

VOLUNTEERS
OF THE
MONTH
What are your duties?
- Douglas County Disaster Team Lead: Coordinate and
deploy response teams to disaster events in Douglas
County and portions of Lyon and Carson counties. Assist
in volunteer recruitment. Coordinate American Red Cross
participation in community events including the Halloween
Safe Streets and Parade of Lights events.
- Northern Nevada Logistics Team: Coordinate logistic
support to disasters in northern Nevada. Locate and
process facilities & food service providers willing to partner
with the American Red Cross when disasters occur in our
communities.
- Service to the Armed Forces: Coordinate the Holiday Mail
for Heroes program in Douglas County. Last year Douglas
County provided over 750 greeting cards to active service
members during the holiday season.
- Certifed Trainer of disaster services operations for
volunteers.
How much time do you volunteer per month?
Approximately 25 hours
Favorite aspect of volunteering?
Being part of something larger than myself, ofering help
and support to people in need and making our world a
little better one service at a time.
Why and how did you become a volunteer?
I was inspired by my grandmother, Madeline DiCaita who
always stressed my responsibility to be in service to others
in my community. I started volunteering as a teenager
helping the elderly and have volunteered in music, forestry,
and childrens programs and now with disaster services.
I fnd life is a richer adventure when I am helping other
people.
What would you say to others to encourage others to
volunteer?
We all have the opportunity to help someone else. In
doing so, we are not only are we helping humanity we are
helping ourselves.
December 2011
Karen Davis
American Red Cross
How long have you lived here in
Douglas County?
10 years.
Town of residence
Minden.
Where did you live before moving here
to Douglas County?
Camarillo, California.
Family
Husband-Wayne and Sons - Matt & Josh
Are you currently working or retired?
Retired.
If retired, former profession?
Owner of LSR Enterprises; a data process-
ing company in Minden.
How long have you been a volunteer?
Over 30 years.
Where do you currently volunteer?
American Red Cross
November 2011
Daisy Morgan
Kids & Horses
Therapeutic
Riding Center
How long have you lived here in
Douglas County?
Since 1999
Town of residence
Minden
Where did you live before moving here to Douglas
County?
Las Vegas
Family
My daughter Sandy developed normally until she was 2
and then she started regressing. A doctor recommended
a program for her to be tested. She was diagnosed with
Autism. We moved to Minden in 1999 to be part of a
research program for my husbands illness. We love the
community. When I was diagnosed with cancer and I felt
like I needed to fnd a recreational program for Sandy. I
hadnt found anything for her in Minden until a neighbor
recommended Kids & Horses. We were on the waiting
list for three years and then Sandy started riding in July of
2005. We both fell in love with the program and a horse
named Tennessee. He would lick Sandy. Sandy has loved
Kids & Horses from day one. She has made such progress.
Her frst words have been walkand Whoa!and she just
started using her reigns! The program is phenomenal.
Are you currently working or retired?
I work at Minden Emergent Care.
Where do you currently
volunteer?
I have been captain of the Min-
den Emergent Care relay for life
team since 2003. Sandy also
helps with that. I have been
in remission for 9 years. I have
been a volunteer at Kids &
Horses since Sandy has started
riding in July of 2005.
What are your duties?
I am a side-walker for other
students in the program and I do
whatever else needs to be done. I also keep up with weeds
and help volunteer at fundraiser events.
How much time do you volunteer per month?
About 20 hours a month.
Why and how did you become a volunteer?
Kids & Horses has meant everything to my daughter, Sandy.
She has developed so much it has been like a night and
day diference. When I volunteer I see what it does for the
children. The kids here overcome so much to be able to get
on their horse and ride. That is why I volunteer.
Favorite aspects of volunteering?
I love the kids. I like it when I see their accomplishments.
What would you say to others to encourage others to
volunteer?
If everyone saw what I see everyday they would love to come
out here and volunteer. One of the students that I side-walk
for overcomes so much to get on that horse and ride. I see her
anticipationit is phenomenal. And I see the glow that the
program gives my daughter; and the sparkle in her eyes.
A.V.I.D. is a non-proft group that promotes, maintains and supports volunteerism in Douglas County and provides avenues for
recognition and encouragement of volunteers.
For more info, contact A.V.I.D. at : 775-783-6450, or write to: AVID P.O. Box 1057, Minden NV 89423,
or view online at www.douglasvolunteers.org
Any of the 149 Douglas County residents appearing in the
following pages is deserving of a feature article of their own.
Thats why they were listed as among the most influential peo-
ple of the last century and a half.
The project began when we were looking for a way to recog-
nize Douglas Countys place in Nevada and the
upcoming sesquicentennial.
The committee who first worked on the list
consisted of Mike Fischer, Laurie Hickey, Renee
Mack, Shannon Hickey, Bill Chernock and my-
self and met for the first time last summer to try
and come up with a list, which underwent many
revisions over the intervening months. Thanks
to those folks for their contribution.
There have been a few changes since the list
was published on Nevada Day.
For instance, George Springmeyer, who made the top 10,
was apparently never on the list of 150 in the first place. He has
replaced his father H.H. Springmeyer.
One of the challenges of researching some of the older resi-
dents in the Valley was that fathers and sons sometimes shared
a name.
I got at least one call asking to be sure and clarify we were
talking about the gentlemans father.
Thanks also to the writers who made this work possible.
Sheila Gardner, Caryn Haller, Joey Crandall, Scott Neuffer, Jo
Rafferty, Jack Carrerow, and one of the 150, Joyce Hollister.
The source for most of this material comes from The Record-
Courier and its predecessors, which if the Carson Valley News
is included, have been around for all but the first 14 years.
But we would be remiss if we didnt note that many clues to
where things were in the paper came from outside sources.
We know that this list and the list of families dont cover
everyone wed like to see or who we think is influential from our
perspective in the modern day. But this place has been here for
a long time by Nevada standards, and there are a lot of people
who had an outsized effect on what Former State Archivist Guy
Rocha calls the countys human landscape.
I hope weve managed to capture some of them.
Kurt Hildebrand
editor
Welcome
Kurt
Hildebrand
Adams Family
Bernard Family
Bliss Family
Borda Family
Brockliss Family
Byington-Galeppi Family
Chichester Family
Dangberg Family
Dressler Family
Etchemendy Family
Falcke Family
Felton Family
Ferris Family
Godecke Family
Hawkins Family
Heise Family
Henningsen Family
Hickey Family
Hussman Family
Jacobsen Family
James Family
Jepson Family
Johnson Family
Kimmerling Family
Kizer Family
Lekumberry Family
Mack Family
Mott Family
Neddenriep Family
Park Family
Rabe/Sarmans
Raycraft Family
Scossa Family
Schwake Family
Settelmeyer Family
Smokey Family
Springmeyer Family
Stodieck Family
Thran Family
Trimmer Family
Virgin Family
Wennhold Family
Wyatt Family
INFLUENTIAL
FAMILIES
1861-1870
Statehood for Nevada
1871-1880
Founding of Gardnerville
1881-1890
Genoa Avalanche
1891-1900
Carson Valley Creamery Incorporated
1901-1910
Founding of Minden
1911-1920
Minden becomes County Seat ~ High School is
placed in Gardnerville
1921-1930
United States vs. Alpine Land and Reservoir Com-
pany litigation begins
1931-1940
Gaming Legalized
1941-1950
Harveys Wagon Wheel Founded
1951-1960
Death of the V&T
1961-1970
Gardnerville Ranchos Founded by Red Swift
1971-1980
Harveys Bombing
1981-1990
Highway 395 Expanded to Four Lanes
1991-2000
New Years Flood of 97
2001-2010
GE Buys Bently
Most significant events of each
decade in Douglas County history
Douglas County Historical Society
Moved by Lawrence Gilman from Genoa in 1879, the Gardnerville Hotel was the first building in Douglas
Countys second oldest town, seen here in its first decade.
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John Quincy
Adams &
Rufus Adams
Not to be confused with the for-
mer president, John Quincy
Adams and
Rufus Adams
partnered in a
ranch with
Poker Brown in
1852. The
group split up
the ranch in
1857, with the
Adams brothers building their
ranch farther north on the west
side of Jacks Valley Road. There
they engaged in ranching and
brick-making. Rufus Adams
kilned bricks for the Genoa
Courthouse Museum, which was
constructed in 1865. The broth-
ers also made the bricks for the
Genoa Saloon. The Adams
ranch was one of the longest
continuous family ranches in the
Valley. The Adams House was a
hotel for five years on the Car-
son River Route.
Andy Aldax
Aldax was born in Carson Valley
in 1934 and managed the dairy
and alfalfa farm nestled be-
tween Airport Road and John-
son Lane until 1997. His par-
ents were Basque immigrants
who settled in the Valley in
1920. Known as a modest and
knowledgeable rancher within
the agricultural community,
Aldax was recognized in 2007
as the first recipient of the Car-
son Water Subconservancy Dis-
tricts new Andy Aldax Award for
exemplary service in conserva-
tion and protection of the Car-
son River watershed.
John Ascuaga
Perhaps Northern Nevadas
most famous businessman, As-
cuaga opened the Nugget Cafe
in Sparks in
1955. The
restaurant
quickly became
known for its
hamburgers
and, over time
developed into
a large hotel
and casino resort.
He made his home at a ranch
he bought in Jacks Valley and
became a longtime benefactor
to Carson Valley, even bringing
the Nuggets world-famous
Bertha the Dancing Elephant
down for Carson Valley Days
and other community events.
Ed Atencio
Atencio, known as Mr. Ed,
taught and coached in Douglas
County and Coleville. The U.S.
navy veteran
founded the
Douglas County
Ski Club in
1958 with the
purpose of get-
ting Valley kids
out on the
Sierra slopes to ski. He was
named the Valleys 1989 Man of
the Year. He died in December
of 2009.
Ted Bacon
Bacon moved into Carson Valley
in the 1950s and opened the
Jubilee Ranch. He was a cattle
rancher for 60
years until his
death in 2010.
He was also in-
strumental in
creating the
National Auto-
mobile Museum
in Reno, which opening in 1989.
He served on several commit-
tees before the museum opened
and officially joined the board of
trustees in 1993. He housed his
own extensive car collection on
County Road in Minden.
Dr. Franklin Baker
Baker was an early Carson Val-
ley veterinarian who used a sci-
entific approach in his work. He
served both Minden and Gard-
nerville for more than 40 years
dating back to as early as
1919.
David & Charlotte
Barber
Born in 1878, David Barber was
a pioneer farrier to the early
settlers of the Valley. He ran his
business out of the Sozzi Barn.
In 1853, he also took out land
claims on the west side of Car-
son Valley five miles south of
Genoa with Ben Palmer, a freed
black man whose sister, Char-
lotte, was Davids wife. Char-
lotte was known across the Val-
ley for her hospitality, to the
point where the newspaper re-
ported in 1887 that her funeral
procession was One of the
largest-ever witnessed in Dou-
glas County.
Wanda Batchelor
In October of 2010, Batchelor,
of Stewart, became the first
woman elected to lead the
Washoe Tribe.
She is an ac-
tive member of
the California
Basket Makers
Association.
She had
served on the
Tribal Council the four years
prior and had previously served
as the vice chairwoman of the
Stewart colony.
Milos Sharkey'
Begovich
Begovich was a longtime,
beloved Gardnerville casino
owner who cut his chops in vari-
ous positions at Bill Harrahs
Lake Tahoe casino from 1956-
63. He purchased the Golden
Bubble in Gardnerville in 1972,
renaming it Sharkeys Nugget.
Over time, the establishment
became known
for its prime rib
dinners, Ser-
bian Christmas
celebrations,
collection of
fine saddles
and its collec-
tion of Western
memorabilia, boxing memorabil-
ia and kitsch. Known as a fan-
tastic, witty storyteller, Begovich
became a Carson Valley legend.
He was also well-known in the
entertainment community as nu-
merous celebrities visited the
casino over the years. Their
signed pictures adorned the
casino walls. He sold the casino
in 2002 and died Aug. 10,
2002.
Don Bently
Bently is an internationally-
renowned mechanical engineer,
inventor and entrepreneur who
founded Bently Nevada in Min-
den in 1961. He has long since
been one of Douglas Countys
largest employers between his
varied portfolio of local and re-
gional companies. He estab-
lished himself as a pioneer in
the field of instrumentation for
measuring the mechanical con-
dition of rotating machinery and
sold the company to GE Energy
in 2002. At the time, the com-
pany employed 1,800 worldwide
with locations in 40 countries.
He also founded, among others,
Bently Rotor Dynamics Research
and Bently Pressurized Bearing.
In the last six years, he estab-
lished Bently Biofuels, an alter-
native fuel company which pro-
duces biodiesel gasoline from
such materials as discarded
restaurant grease or canola
seeds grown by Bently Agrow-
dynamics. The company also
distributes its renewable fuels
from a station and convenience
store on Buckeye Road.
Among his many contributions
to the Valley over the years are
his concerted efforts toward
protecting and preserving the
Carson River and the wildlife of
the Valley. He has continuously
promoted awareness of sustain-
able living, sustainable crop fer-
tility and sustainable sources of
alternative energy, particularly
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Louis Bergevin
The longtime Carson Valley
rancher carved a long career in
public service
that included
14 years in the
Nevada State
Assembly.
He was born in
Gardnerville in
1922 and later
served as a
major in the Army Air Force dur-
ing World War II.
He returned to the Valley after
the war and served on the Dou-
glas County School Board for
eight years.
He then served nine years on
the Nevada State Board of Edu-
cation and moved on to a four-
year stint on the state tax com-
mission starting in 1970.
In 1978, he won a seat in the
state assembly, where he
served until 1992.
During that span, Bergevin
served on a number of commit-
tees in leadership slots, includ-
ing government affairs, taxation,
ways and means. Along the way,
he developed a reputation as a
tax expert.
On the ranching side, he was a
member of the Nevada and na-
tional cattlemens associations
and was Nevadas Cattleman of
the Year in 1971.
F. Gregory Betts
Betts was a long-time superin-
tendent of the Douglas County
School District, serving from
1979 to 1992. His tenure was
the second-longest in the histo-
ry of the district behind Gene L.
Scarselli.
Betts was known as a motivator
who fostered positive attitudes
among employees within the
district and reached out to the
community to find resources to
assist students. Among his ac-
complishments was establishing
the Douglas County Education
Foundation in 1984 as a means
to provide financial assistance
to teachers who wanted to de-
velop programs in the class-
room but couldnt due to budget
constraints.
After his stint as superintendent,
Betts served as a lobbyist for
rural school districts.
Aldo Biaggi
Biaggi is a 94-year resident of
Carson Valley. He has raised
sheep and rabbits on his two-
acre ranch near the west end of
County Road in Minden for the
past 53 years and served as
the Valleys milk distributor. He
has volunteered with community
organizations, like the Carson
Valley Food Closet, for the past
20 years.
Gerry Bing
Since moving to the Valley in
1963, Bing has tirelessly given
back to the community through
donations and volunteer work
with many or-
ganizations.
Having owned
Bing Materials
and run Bing
Pit off Kimmer-
ling Lane in the
Ranchos for
decades, he has been known to
give monetary and material do-
nations to essentially al-comers,
from the Sierra Philharmonic
League to the model place club.
He is a founding sponsor of the
Summer Family Concert Series,
a member of the Homes of Our
Own program, and the Commu-
nity Builder and Bob the Builder
series. In 2005, he was named
Nevadas Small Business Cham-
pion of the Year and was named
the Elks Citizen of the Year in
2007.
The Stanford graduate served
in the Marines, the Douglas
County Republican Central Com-
mittee, the Minden Town Board,
the Carson Valley Chamber of
Commerce and the Douglas
County Building Industry Associ-
ation.
D.L. Bliss
Known as the Glenbrook Lumber
King, Bliss started the Carson &
Tahoe Lumber & Flume Compa-
ny in 1873.
Considered the largest and
most extensive lumber opera-
tion serving the mines of the
Comstock, its holdings included
50,000 acres of timber at Lake
Tahoe, three mills at Glenbrook,
two steamers, two logging rail-
roads, logging camps and a
narrow gauge railroad at its
peak. The company owned sev-
eral flumes used to transport
lumber from the mountains to
the railroad depots.
Much of the companys activity
centered around Glenbrook,
Spooner Summit and Clear
Creek Canyon.
Logging operations ceased in
1896 due to the depletion of
timber on company lands and
the decline of mining on the
Comstock.
Anthony Richard
Brockliss
Anthony Richard Brockliss, born
in Northamptonshire, England,
Aug. 14, 1820; died April 13,
1892, buried in Mottsville Ceme-
tery. Listed in Thompson &
Wests History of Nevada 1881
chapter on the history of Dou-
glas County as A.R. Brockliss
on the west fork of the Carson,
one-and one-half miles east of
Sheridan, with 840 acres valued
at $16,000.
George &
Charlie Brown
The Brown brothers came to
Genoa in 1880 with a circus in
which they performed as musi-
cians. They built the East Fork
Hotel in Gardnerville in 1893,
improving the facility in 1895. In
1904, the Brown brothers built
a brickyard and formed a band.
The East Fork still stands, but
has been closed since its last
proprietress, Gorgonia Borda,
died in 1981.
H.P. Burnham
Elected Nevada House
Sergeant-at-Arms, Jan. 2, 1866,
the second session of the Neva-
da State Legislature; also elect-
ed Douglas County Sheriff, Nov.
6, 1866, and re-elected Nov. 5,
1872.
George Byers
Former Douglas County Sheriff,
1958-1966, presided over in-
vestigations of some of the
countys major events including
the December 1963 kidnapping
of Frank Sinatra Jr. at Stateline;
the March 1964 crash of a Par-
adise Airlines plane at the top
of Kingsbury Grade, killing all 85
persons aboard, and the August
1968 bombing death of casino
owner Richard L. Chartrand by
an unemployed bartender.
Dal Byington
Carson Valley rancher, Dec. 30,
1932-May 28, 2009. Dal Bying-
ton was a longtime Carson Val-
ley rancher and native Nevadan.
He was a rancher and conser-
vationist in Carson Valley for 50
years. He served in the Nevada
Army National Guard for 31
years and retired as a colonel.
Byington was chosen Man of
the Year by Carson Valley 20-
30 for the year of 1974. He was
a Cub Scout leader and coached
a Little League baseball team.
He was a member of the Neva-
da Beef Council as well on the
National Beef Board. He served
over 20 years on the Nevada
Beef Board and was also chair-
man. He served on many local
boards also and was on the
Douglas County Planning Com-
mission for 14 years and
served as president of the
board for seven of those years
while Douglas County was doing
their master plan. Byington be-
longed to the Masonic order
and was a member of Carson
Valley Lodge No. 33, a past
master of the lodge and at-
tained his 50-year pin.
Biaggi
Byington
Bergevin
Bing
Ansel Casentini
1904-February 1995, owner of
the Minden Inn. Cas Casentini
purchased the Minden Inn in
1961 and operated the historic
building for 12 years. They
closed the building for remodel-
ing in 1973. Ansels son, Bill,
took over in 1977 and operated
the building until February 1987
when the State Fire Marshals
Office closed down the inn for
safety hazards.
Ellsworth
Chappell
Sept. 25, 1912-June 5, 1997,
Tahoe Township Justice of the
Peace for 28 years and devel-
oper at Lake Tahoe.
Rhoda Chichester
Longtime Valley rancher, 1925-
2006; Carson Valley native and
rancher, honored in 2003 by
Carson Valley Historical Society
Women in History Remembering
Project. She was the third and
last generation of her family to
ranch 220 acres that is now
home to Chichester Estates.
Patty Clark
Century 21 owner, a lifetime
Nevadan and real estate broker,
Clark has been licensed for
nearly 30 years and an active
broker since
1983. She
also is the
driving force
behind the
Austin Kirby
Foundation
and Austins
House, follow-
ing the 2005 death of her 15-
year-old grandson.
Eliza Cook
First licensed female doctor in
Nevada, Feb. 5, 1856-Oct. 2,
1947. She moved to Sheridan,
Nevada, with her family in 1870,
when she was 14. She became
Nevadas first
licensed female
doctor and was
a strong sup-
porter of
womens rights.
She retired
from the prac-
tice of medicine at age 65 in
1921 and died in her sleep at
the age of 91. She considered
herself to be the first woman
doctor in Nevada. Even though
she received her medical de-
gree in 1884, she did not re-
ceive her Nevada medical li-
cense until April 1899 when the
state began issuing them.
(Source: Nevada Womens His-
tory Project)
Frieda Cordes
Godecke
1900-1980, Valley chronicler.
Born just two months before the
turn of the 20th century she
was the daughter of German im-
migrants who worked and lived
off the land in
Carson Valley.
As a girl, Frie-
da watched
Centerville be-
come a town,
with a black-
smith, saloon,
a store and a
cheese factory. She wrote From
Friedas Files in the 1970s for
the Gardnerville Record-Courier.
It was a simpler time, and read-
ing Friedas memories takes us
back to a place where people
survived and thrived on what
they could grow here and,
where hard work and determi-
nation was enough to create
something special.
Keith Cornforth
Longtime Valley veterinarian,
member of the Lions Club, pres-
ident of Rotary Club, president
of Douglas
County School
Board, Gard-
nerville Gun
Club, Mosquito
Abatement
Board. He
served as a
local meat in-
spector, coached Little League
Baseball and was a court-ap-
pointed special advocate.
Father John
Corona
Longtime St. Gall pastor, Coro-
na, born in 1933, came to
Gardnerville as pastor of St. Gall
Catholic Community in July
1977. He served as pastor until
his retirement in
1999, and con-
tinues to live in
Carson Valley.
Under his lead-
ership, the
parish acquired
11 acres of
property and
built a new church in 1984.
Several years later, a 22,000-
square-foot pastoral center was
added. As a retired priest, Fa-
ther John continues to offer
Mass occasionally at St. Gall and
participate in other parish activ-
ities.
John Cradlebaugh
U.S. District Judge, 1819-1872,
first delegate to the U.S. House
of Representatives from Nevada
Territory, in March 1859,
Cradlebaugh convened a grand
jury in Provo, Utah concerning
the Mountain Meadows mas-
sacre and several other un-
solved murders and crimes that
occurred in the territory, but the
jury declined any indictments.
Cradlebaugh moved to Carson
City, Nevada, and upon the for-
mation of the Territory of Neva-
da was elected a Delegate to
the 37th Congress, serving from
Dec. 2, 1861, to March 3,
1863, during the first years of
the American Civil War. He was
the colonel of the 114th Ohio
Infantry and served from April
27, 1862, until honorably dis-
charged on Oct. 20, 1863, after
being wounded in the Battle of
Vicksburg. Cradlebaugh re-
turned to Nevada and engaged
in the mining business until his
death at Eureka; interment was
in Forest Cemetery, Circleville,
Ohio.
Henry Crippen
Henry Crippen is featured in
Thompson & Wests History of
Nevada 1881 chapter on the
history of Douglas County as an
ex-sheriff and farmer at the
Twelve-mile House, 12 miles
from Genoa, who owned 240
acres valued at $8,000.
Charles Daggett
Born in Vermont in 1806,
Charles Daggett graduated from
Berkshire Medical College in
Massachusetts, where he also
received a law degree. In 1851
he moved west. Daggett Pass,
located at 7,375 feet elevation
on Kingsbury Grade, is named
after Daggett whose tollhouse
stood at the foot of Haines
Canyon. Dr. Daggett became
Nevadas first resident attor-
ney on Nov. 2, 1855, hours be-
fore he tried his first case. One
of his last known distinctions oc-
curred when he was appointed
a member of the Committee of
Arrangements for the formation
of the Second Convention to
form a separate territory out of
the Utah Territory. With
Daggetts persistence, this terri-
tory became the State of Neva-
da. After his political career, he
settled down in the Genoa area.
John Dangberg
Born Jan. 10, 1871, he was the
last surviving Dangberg brother.
He served as president of the
H.F. Dangberg Land & Livestock
Company from 1904 until his
death in 1958. His primary in-
terest was farming the irrigated
lands on the companys east
side ranches, Buckeye and
Sheep Camp. He was director of
Farmers Bank of Carson Valley,
Alpine Land Reservoir Company,
East Fork Water Users Associa-
tion and Minden Milling Compa-
ny. He resided in Minden in the
John Dangberg House, built in
1911, which is still standing in
Minden.
Clarence Oliver
Dangberg
Born March 30, 1879, he was
the youngest of the Dangberg
children. He worked as a fore-
man in the familys business
until he left to work as a sales-
man for an oil burner company
in San Francisco. After he re-
turned in 1912, he founded the
C.O.D. Garage in Minden. He
hired Fred Brick Hellwinkel as
his lead mechanic. During the
1920s, the C.O.D. Garage be-
came well known throughout the
Valley and beyond. At one time
it was the only garage between
Sacramento and Bodie. After
hours, it was the only tow serv-
ice in an area extending from
Lake Tahoe to Mono Lake. Upon
Clarences death in 1938, Hell-
winkel became sole owner of
C.O.D. Garage.
Grace Dangberg
Grace Dangberg was born in
1896, the first child of H. F.
Dangbergs son, John. Her
childhood was spent on family
ranches and in the nascent
community of Minden. She is a
graduate of the University of
California. Dur-
ing a postgrad-
uate year at
Columbia she
worked with
Lowie and with
Franz Boas.
Upon returning
to Carson Valley, she developed
an interest in the history of Car-
son Valley and in the history of
the Dangberg family. She was
one of the founders of the Car-
son Valley Historical Society, and
she wrote or edited a number of
works relating to the history of
the area. Among her many pub-
lications are Washo Tales
(1968), Carson Valley
(1972), and Conflict on the
Carson. (1975).
H.F.
Dangberg Jr.
The eldest Dangberg son, who
lived his entire life at the Dang-
berg Home Ranch. He served
as Secretary-Treasurer for the
family company from 1904 until
his death. He was instrumental
in the founding
of Minden.
Henry served
as Douglas
County State
Senator from
1903-05 and
was vice-chair-
man of the
State Board of Livestock Com-
mission for 30 years. Member
and Director of the Nevada
State Livestock Association; Di-
rector the Federal Land Bank;
active member of the Wool
Growers Association; member of
the State Planning Board; and
member and served as Presi-
dent of the Rotary Club.
Harold Dayton
He was born in Massachusetts,
on Jan. 22, 1923, and moved to
Reno with his family at an early
age, where he attended B.D.
Billinghurst Elementary School
and Reno High School.
He graduated from the Universi-
ty of California at Berkeley in
1944 with a bachelor of science
in electrical engineering. He
served as an engineering officer
aboard the destroyer USS Guest
in the South Pacific from 1944
to 1946. Following the war, he
worked in the retail hardware
and lumber business in the
Reno and South Lake Tahoe
area. He served as a Douglas
County commissioner from 1968
to 198 and president of the
Tahoe Douglas Chamber of
Commerce, president of the
Lake Tahoe Area Council, He
served as a director of Ameri-
can Federal Savings from 1964
to 1994 and as director of Sier-
ra Pacific Power Co. from 1967
to 1999.
Jack Dayton
Lake Tahoe businessman and
Rotary member who has the
Jack Dayton Service Above
Self award named after him.
He was a founding member of
the Tahoe-Douglas Rotary club
back in the 1950s. He was
president of the club and
served on the governing board
for many years. Jack, along with
his brother, owned and operat-
ed Dayton Floors at Roundhill
for many years. His son John
eventually joined the business.
He was an avid swimmer in the
Lake- almost daily regardless
of weather. He also served on
the board of trustees for the
Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection
District for many years.
Susie Dick
Washoe-Paiute basketmaker
who lived in Carson Valley her
entire life. She worked for the
Dangberg family for more than
30 years. She earned $1 a day,
and walked 1.5 miles one-way
to work. Susie became famous
locally for her basket-weaving
skills, and would make extra
money selling them for up to
$10 each. One of her baskets
recently sold on eBay for
$1,755.
Fred Dressler
Frederick (Fred) Hugh Dressler
was born August 3, 1898 to
William (Bill) Frederick Dressler
and Margaretta Ann Park
Dressler. His paternal grandfa-
ther, August Frederick Dressler,
arrived in Car-
son Valley in
1860 from
Muhlhausen,
Germany. Au-
gust home-
steaded some
land and accu-
mulated other
property throughout the Carson
and Smith valleys; eventually the
family had upwards of 80,000
acres. Fred graduated from
Douglas County High School in
1918, where he met his wife,
Anna E. Neddenriep (died
1987). They married in 1920
and had two children: Frederick
William Dressler and Luetta
Dressler Bergevin. Fred as-
sumed his parents business in-
terests and assumed responsi-
bility for the ranch at an early
age. He served as secretary of
9c/ a
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whether you want your second pair for a different look
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Clark
Cordes
Cook
Cornforth
Corona
Dangberg
Dressler
Dangberg Jr.
the West Fork Water Association
and West Fork Farmers Union
and as livestock loan inspector
for the Carson, Mason and
Smith Valleys. He served on the
local school board from 1932-
1957, was president of the Na-
tional Cattlemens Association,
was a member of the Nevada
State Board of Agriculture, and
inducted into the Hall of Great
Westerners of the National Cow-
boy Hall of Fame. Among his
many honors were: Nevada Cat-
tleman of the Year, 1954; Distin-
guished Nevadan Award from
the University of Nevada, 1960;
Citizen of the Year for Carson
Valley, 1969; National Golden
Spur Award, 1980.
Dar Ellis
Born in the Gardnerville Hospi-
tal in 1917 to Norma Dangberg
Ellis and John R. Ellis. He grew
up in Minden in a house at
Third Street and Mono Avenue.
After graduating from Douglas
County High School in 1935, he
worked on the Buckeye Ranch
as a mechanic. In 1938, he
went to work for his family in
the Minden Mercantile. He met
and married Elizabeth DAlle-
sanders in 1941. In 1943 he
volunteered for the U.S. Navy.
He became an aviation machin-
ists mate and was stationed in
the Northwest. After the war,
Ellis returned home to work with
his parents until 1966, when he
became Douglas Countys first
full-time fire chief earning $650
a month.
John Etchemendy
Born in 1886 in Arneguy,
France, he came to the United
States through Ellis Island in
1907. He arrived in Reno by rail
and met his two brothers as
planned. His first job in America
was working for the Western Pa-
cific Railroad in Spring Garden,
Calif. building tunnels for $1.25
a day. In 1916 he married his
wife Jeanne Trounday, and they
had five children together. They
bought the Overland Hotel in
1921, and operated it until
1967. They also ran a bar in
Mono Lake, Calif., and tended a
band of sheep that ran between
Bodie and Topaz. He was the
oldest person in Nevada at the
time of his death March 25,
1990 in Reno at the age of
103.
Leander
Socrates Ezell
Born in Kentucky in 1836, Mr.
Ezell journeyed westward with a
covered wagon train in
1856/1859. In company of Mr.
McKisck he wintered a band of
cattle in Honey Lake Valley and
the following spring moved them
to the meadows where Reno
now stands and sold the ani-
mals. The Comstock mines had
been discovered and Mr. Ezell
worked in the mines and mills
for some time and then located
in Carson Valley and engaged in
farming. When Gardnerville was
established, all of the east side
of Main Street comprised a por-
tion of his farm. He donated the
lot upon which the Carson Valley
United Methodist Church stands,
where his funeral was held. In
the early 1880s, he served on
the board of county commis-
sioners and for 20 years was
the Justice of the Peace of East
Fork Township. He also served
for many years as a member of
the Republican County Central
Committee.
Isaac Farwell
Isaac Farwell came out of New
England in 1858, through the
California gold fields and then
into Carson Valley with his part-
ner and nephew Ira M. Luther.
The men set up a mill and
claimed property in an unsur-
veyed area about nine miles
south of Genoa. Their proper-
ties straddled the emigrant road
through the Valley and became
a stop for the travelers. On the
west side, up the creek and
mountain, in what became
known as Luther Creek and
Luther Canyon, the men set up
milling both lumber and grist. In
1859 they grubstaked so many
of the miners prospecting to the
south on Walker River, that the
enclave became known as Camp
Farwell. Isaacs influence and
personality had almost instantly
won him the 1858 election as
Justice of the Peace for the
precinct from Genoa to the
south. It was flattering, but the
elections were largely ignored
because the vigilantes were still
ruling. By 1860, he had devel-
oped profitable holdings and
garnered investments in the
earliest Comstock mines.
Paul Felten
Moved from Wisconsin to Carson
Valley in 1921
to become
pastor of the
original Trinity
church on
Highway 756
in Gard-
nerville. He
spent years
searching for a location to build
a larger building. During World
War II Felten was instrumental in
getting the Minden-Tahoe Air-
port built. In 1945, the congre-
gation settled on the new
churchs location, and on Oct.
4, 1953 the new building on
Douglas Avenue was dedicated.
Two years later, Felten an-
nounced his retirement. During
his 34 years at Trinity he per-
formed 406 baptisms, con-
firmed 214 children and adults,
performed 87 marriages and of-
ficiated at 133 funerals.
George
Washington
Gale Ferris Jr.
The man who invented the Fer-
ris Wheel only lived in Carson
Valley for a short time, but leg-
end has it enough time to come
up with the ride that bears his
name. After leaving the Valley
and studying engineering, he
came up with the idea of build-
ing a giant wheel for the 1893
Worlds Columbian Exposition.
Its claimed he got the idea from
watching a water wheel on the
Carson River. Ferris died in
1896 at age 37.
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Lillian Virgin
Finnegan
A Genoa native and the
youngest daughter of attorney
Daniel Webster Virgin, she was
born in 1878
and attended
school in Dou-
glas County.
She attended
the University
of Nevada and
on graduation
married a
Goldfield mine operator, living in
Southern Nevada during the
boom years. When she returned
home to Genoa, she organized
the first Candy Dance in 1919
as a fundraiser for new street
lights and their maintenance.
She patterned her dance after a
river-cruise dance. Town women
made candy and then sold it at
the dance. Finnegan lived in
Genoa until her death in 1938.
She directed her last Candy
Dance from her deathbed. Her
obituary calls her the towns
fairy godmother.
Milton & Ethel
Fleischer
Carson Valley couple who
moved here in 1952. Milt owned
the Gardnerville Drug from
1952-1982, near where
Sharkeys stands today. Ethel
opened Aladdin Flower and Gift
Shop in the old Harris Building
in 1960 and operated it on its
own until 1985 when her
daughter took over.
Clara Frank
Washoe elder who participated
in the 1961 centennial in
Genoa. She also appeared in a
film called
Washoe shot
in 1966. She
was a consult-
ant on the lan-
guage of the
Washoe. She
was born Oct.
15, 1876 in
Mountain House in the Pine Nut
Mountains, she moved to
Dresslerville when she was 10
years old. She said there were
only two buildings there and
one of those was a store. She
continued to sew rabbit blankets
and spoke Washoe. She was the
step-daughter of Capt. Jim, one
of the last leaders of the
Washoe before the arrival of
settlers. She received a letter
from President Ford congratu-
lating her on her 100th birthday
just before her death on April
17, 1976.
John & Mary
Gardner
The couple came to Carson Val-
ley in the 1860s and staked a
claim to a large piece of land
where Gardnerville now sits.
They ranched the property,
building a large home and
barns on the property. On April
5, 1879, they sold a section of
their land to Lawrence Gilman,
who moved the Kent House to a
location just west of where the
J.T. Basque Bar & Dining Room
now stands and named it the
Gardnerville Hotel. They sold the
rest of the ranch in 1880 to
Henry Van Sickle and moved to
Clear Creek Canyon.
Roy Godecke
Born in the Gardnerville Hospi-
tal in 1922, the unofficial mayor
of Centerville died Aug. 1, 1994.
He was founding member of the
Lions and served as the orga-
nizations first president. He
served as a Douglas County
commissioner 1970-74 and on
the school board from 1978 to
1982. In 1967, he was named
Rancher of the Year. He was a
graduate of Douglas High
School who served in the U.S.
Army during World War II.
Harvey Gross
A Sacramento meat wholesaler
who founded
Harveys Wag-
onwheel in 1944.
He built the first
high rise tower in
Stateline in
1963. He was a
Carson Valley
rancher who owned the ranch
where the northern Genoa
Lakes Golf Course now sits. He
died in Nov. 2, 1983, at age 78.
Robert Hadfield
First Douglas County manager,
he was head of Nevada Associa-
tion of Counties for 20 years
until his retirement in 2005. He
was Douglas County manager
from 1977 to 1985, and re-
turned several years later as in-
terim county manager for nine
months while Douglas officials
sought a permanent replace-
ment. He served on the Minden
Town Board for nearly a quarter
of a century.
J.W. Haines
According to the History of
Nevada by Russell Elliot and
William Rowley, Genoa resident
Haines is credited with invention
of the V-flume. Haines was
elected Douglas first state sen-
ator, serving in the legislature
from 1864 until 1869. Haines
was a member of the first Neva-
da Constitutional Convention,
and was an elector for Grant at
the first and second elections.
Dr. Ernest G. Hand
Dr. Hand spent his last Christ-
mas on Earth tending to acci-
dent victims. Two days later, in
1957, he died. Hand arrived in
Carson Valley in 1934 and
served as the county health offi-
cer for both Douglas and Alpine
counties.
He went into the office early one
day and found patients who saw
his car outside waiting to see
him, thus setting up hours from
7-8 a.m.
He would spend Tuesdays tend-
ing to the Washoe in
Dresslerville. According to his
obituary, he never hesitated to
use his own vehicle as an ambu-
lance and would often drive pa-
tients to Reno in inclement
weather.
Anna & Mose
Harris
Mose Harris came to Genoa in
1876, and first commenced
business there. He kept general
mercantile establishment under
Masonic Hall, and was the
owner of the lower story of Odd
Fellows Hall and the old Klauber
Building. He first came into Car-
son Valley in 186I.
Dr. Ernest H.
Hawkins
Dr. E.H. Hawkins built Carson
Valleys first hospital as a sani-
tarium in 1914. It housed an
operating room, scrub room,
nursery, kitchen and several
hospital rooms both upstairs
and down. The building served
the valley as a hospital for 10
years until 1924. The brick
building, which is listed on the
National Register of Historic
Places, was a boarding house
from 1930 to 1946.
The first tenants were single
teachers who taught at Douglas
County High School across the
street. From 1946 to 1958, the
house was a private residence.
After that it was empty for 20
years.
Don & Marlena
Hellwinkel
Born in 1922, Don was a volun-
teer fireman with the Douglas
Engine Company. He was instru-
mental in starting the first am-
bulance service in the county,
and he served as ambulance
dispatcher. If the ambulance
driver didn't show up in a timely
fashion, Don would get into the
ambulance and drive it himself.
About 1955, Don married Mar-
lena Neddenriep. Don joined
Commerce soon after leaving
military service (he was a grad-
uate of the U.S. Naval Academy
at Annapolis), and he also
served on the Minden Town
Board, where he eventually
worked to establish open space
policy for new developments.
Both Don and Marlena support-
ed the Douglas County Historical
Society, the Alpine County His-
torical Society, and the National
Pony Express Association. Mar-
lena continues to contribute to
the historical society.
Fred Brick
Hellwinkel
Was an18-year-old mechanic for
Clarence Oliver Dangberg when
he opened the C.O.D. Garage in
1912. He was paid in part in
shares of the company by Dang-
berg and as the garage pros-
pered, his share of its owner-
ship did, too. By the time he
was 25, in 1919, hed become
an equal partner with Dangberg
in the garage. A member of the
fire brigade, he kept the towns
water pumps running. He was a
founding member of the new fire
department as a countywide
service. When Dangberg died,
Brick became the sole owner of
the garage. When he died in
1964, his sons took over the
garage.
Dan Hellwinkel
Born in 1926 in Minden to Fred
Brick and Josephine Raycraft
Hellwinkel, he operated the
C.O.D. Garage with his brother
Don, managing the repair de-
partment. He served on the
Minden Gard-
nerville Sanita-
tion District
board, was a
member of the
Carson Valley
20-30 club,
the Carson Val-
ley Lions Club,
and the Carson Valley Historical
Society (now the Douglas Coun-
ty Historical Society). He was
also an honorary member of the
Gardnerville Gun Club and the
Elk's Lodge. He joined the vol-
unteer fire department after he
was discharged from the U.S.
Navy in 1946. He donated his
time to maintaining the fire
equipment. He served as assis-
tant chief from 1955 to 1976
and chief from 1976 to 1991.
His dedication was recognized
in 1997 with a plaque from Gov.
Bob Miller for 50 years of serv-
ice.
Carsten
Henningsen
An immigrant from Denmark, he
acquired the Hennigsen ranch in
1878. The barn was built in
1890. The ranch passed from
Henningsen to his son Clarence
and from Clarence to his son
John. John operated the ranch
as a dairy up until 1992. Cur-
rently the ranch is operated as
a cattle and hay operation by
John and Virginia Henningsen,
their daughter Caroline and son-
in-law Don Frensdorff.
Lynn Hettrick
Lynn Hettrick represented Dou-
glas County in the Nevada As-
sembly from 1993-2006. He
was minority leader of the Re-
publicans from 1997-2006 and
co-speaker of the Assembly in
1995 when Republicans and
Democrats
were split 21-
21. Hettrick
was named
outstanding
freshman leg-
islator in 1993
and received
the distin-
guished Nevadan award from
the Nevada System of Higher
Education in 2008. In addition
to his service in the Assembly,
Hettrick was honored as leader
of the year by the National Re-
publican Legislators Association
in 2001 and served as national
chairman of the Council of State
Governments in 2005.
He was also instrumental in es-
tablishing the CSGs Western
Legislative Academy, an educa-
tional forum for new state law-
makers. In 2009, Hettrick was
named deputy chief of staff to
then Gov. Jim Gibbons. He
served in that position until
2010.
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2 night stay at
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Finnegan
Frank
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Gross
Brick Hellwinkel
Hadfield
Hellwinkel
Hettrick
Don Marlena
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Joyce Hollister
Genoa resident Joyce Hollister
was The Record-Couriers first
people editor and spent a quar-
ter-century
writing about
Carson Valley
and its inhabi-
tants. She
came to work
at The Record-
Courier in
1976 and did-
nt leave until 2001 when she
accepted an associate editor
position at Nevada Magazine.
She worked as both associate
editor and managing editor be-
fore being named publisher in
2007. In 1993, she was the
second person to be named an
outstanding weekly journalist by
the Nevada Press Association.
In 2003, she was inducted into
the Nevada Journalism Hall of
Fame. But Hollister was more
than a journalist. She served on
the early boards of the Douglas
County Public Library, East Fork
Swimming Pool, and Family Sup-
port Council. In 1999, she re-
ceived the Distinguished
Nevadan title for her support in
establishing a Douglas County
campus of Western Nevada Col-
lege. She also was named a
Women in History honoree in
2002.
Lew Hymers
National cartoonist and one-
time Genoa resident Lew
Hymers, who died in 1953, is
credited with drawing the Car-
son Range used in The Record-
Courier banner on and off since
1928. In 1912, at the age of
20, Hymers joined the art staff
of the San Francisco Chronicle,
where he shared offices with
Robert Ripley, later of Believe it
or Not fame, and John Terry,
creator of the popular Terry-
toon cartoon series in Holly-
wood. In 1917, Hymers took a
position with the Washington
Post and three years later he
became an animator for Walt
Disney Studios in Los Angeles.
In 1932, Hymers moved to
Nevada and opened his own
studio. From 1934 to 1944, he
lived in Genoa and commuted to
work at the Reno Evening
Gazette. During the period
around World War II, his car-
toons were seen widely in news-
papers and magazines and in
local advertisements. The Seen
About Town column featured
eight local community leaders,
not only from Reno but also
from Carson City or Yerington or
Minden or another Nevada
town. He also caricatured the
Douglas County High School
Class of 1940. Hymers was ac-
tive in Carson Valley life and was
affectionately called the Unoffi-
cial Mayor of Genoa.
Lawrence and
Betty Jacobsen
Lawrence Jake Jacobsen, the
longest serving legislator in
state history, was one of two
Carson Valley children born on
July 1, 1921. He grew up during
Depression-era Carson Valley,
learning his famed conservatism
the hard way.
Jake graduated from Douglas
County High School in 1939 and
quickly joined the U.S. Navy. He
was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,
1941, when the Japanese at-
tacked. In 1954, he became the
delivery man for Union Oil. He
was first elected to the Nevada
Legislature in 1962. He served
in the Assembly from 1963-
1978. He ran for the State Sen-
ate and served in that office
until redistricting eliminated his
position in 2003. A Republican,
Jacobsen served under seven
governors and, as president of
the Senate, was acting governor
on at least 20 occasions. He
was known for his involvement
in veterans affairs and also for
his bipartisanship. After his
death in 2006, a wetland in
Minden was named in his honor.
Wife Betty Jacobsen was named
a Women in History honoree in
2002. Known as Mrs. Republi-
can to residents, Jacobsen has
been active throughout the
community as a business-
woman, volunteer, member of
the Douglas County School
Board, political campaign man-
ager, fund-raiser for community
organizations, northern director
of the Nevada Federation of Re-
publican Women, and Republican
of the Year in 1995.
Theresa Jackson
Theresa Smokey Jackson was a
Washoe Tribe elder who lived at
the Dresslerville Indian Colony
and was famous for her willow
basket-weaving. She made a va-
riety of baskets, including the
bicoos, Washo for cradle-
board, round baskets, burden
baskets, seed beaters and win-
nowing trays. Contributing to the
Renaissance of Washoe Cul-
ture, Jackson and her sister,
JoAnn Smokey Martinez, were
selected to offer a traditional
Washoe blessing at the opening
ceremonies of President Bill
Clintons July 1997 visit to Lake
Tahoe. Jacksons daughter, Sue
Coleman, who learned basket-
weaving from her mother, was
invited to the Smithsonian Folk-
life Festival in Washington D.C. in
2006. Besides art, Jackson was
an active supporter of the tribe,
including being a member of the
Dresslerville Senior Center Site
Advisory Council.
Arendt Jensen
Arendt Jensen was a prominent
banker and merchant in the
early days of Gardnerville. Pres-
ident of the Arendt Jensen Com-
pany, he founded the Douglas
County Farmers Bank in 1902
and owned the General Mercan-
tile, built in 1896, where
Cheshire Antiques is now locat-
ed. From the store, Jensen
could have walked the few
blocks to his mansion on Ezell
Street. Built in 1910, the colo-
nial revival-style dwelling and its
garage has been on the Nation-
al Register of Historic Places
since 1989.
Mathias Jepsen
Mathias Jepsen was an early
settler of Gardnerville. In the
1890s, Jepsen purchased the
Gilman Ranch from fellow settler
Peter Wilder. The two men also
forged a partnership in store-
keeping. Jepsen built his family a
permanent home in Gardnerville
around 1900, which his descen-
dants would use for years to
come. His most lasting legacy
was donating land for the Gar-
den Cemetery, located behind
Douglas Avenue and Spruce
Street.
Moses Job
Moses Job was an early settler
of the west side of Carson Val-
ley. Around 1855, he founded
the town of Sheridan at the
base of the Carson Range, what
is now considered the Sheridan
Acres area of the Foothills. Job
bestowed his name on the most
prominent mountain peak over-
looking Carson Valley, Jobs
Peak, which cast a shadow over
the town of Sheridan. Within five
years, the small town already
had a blacksmith shop, a store,
a boarding house and two sa-
loons. Although Job later sold
the town assets to businessman
James Haines, Sheridan was
considered the metropolis of the
Carson River West Fork farmers
in the biennial report of 1889-
90.
Mimi Jobe
Mimi Jobe is a famous Carson
Valley artist
who has been
painting the
local landscape
for more than
40 years. Jobe
began illustrat-
ing women
when she was 12 years old in
the 1930s. She started design-
ing clothes and won an art
scholarship at the age of 16.
From the 1940s through the
1970s, Jobe traveled with her
husband, Harley Jobe Jr., and
drew and painted along the way.
In 1966, she moved to Carson
Valley and did a flurry of pencil
sketches of people and children.
For 31 years, she has offered
her work in Christmas card
form, usually a wintry Carson
Valley scene, at Joyces Jewelry
in Gardnerville. Jobe also has
worked on beautification proj-
ects in the community, including
the facelift of a caboose that
used to be the Carson Valley
Chamber of Commerce office.
Her son, Barry Jobe, owns Lone
Tree Gallery in downtown Min-
den.
Al Jackpot
Johnson
Al Jackpot Johnson was a Car-
son Valley businessman. He
owned the Golden Bubble in
Gardnerville, a popular restau-
rant and casino, in the 1950s
and 60s. In the early 70s,
Sharkey Begovich bought the
Golden Bubble and renamed it
Sharkeys Casino a name
thats survived to present day.
Lawrence Jobe
Hollister
Betty
Elizabeth Johnson
Elizabeth Johnson was an advo-
cate of art and literature in Car-
son Valley. In the 1960s, she
worked with a group of citizens
to raise money, build a facility,
and hire a librarian for the Dou-
glas County Public Library. John-
son died in 2000, and shortly
after her death, a meeting room
in the Minden library was
named in her honor. She also
was one of the original mem-
bers of the East Fork Gallery in
Gardnerville and the Carson Val-
ley Art Association. The $1,000
Elizabeth Johnson Memorial
Scholarship was established in
2000 and is still awarded annu-
ally to a high school student
planning to pursue a career in
art.
Knox and Stella
Johnson
Knox and Stella Johnson were
Carson Valley pioneers who
homesteaded a ranch off
Mottsville Lane. There were
among the Danish immigrants
who settled in Gardnerville in
1879. The couple had three
children: Marjorie, to become
Marjorie Springmeyer, Knox Jr.
and William. Knox Sr. died while
his children were still young.
Stella donated two acres of fam-
ily-owned land in South Lake
Tahoe for the Happy Homestead
Cemetery, which opened in
1952. Both she and her hus-
band are buried nearby.
Beatrice Jones
Of the 16 decades of recorded
Carson Valley history, Beatrice
Fettic Jones lived 10 of them.
The Carson Valley native died in
2010 at the age of 100. A de-
scendant of the pioneer Mott
family, who first arrived in Car-
son Valley in 1851, her parents
were the own-
ers of the Fet-
tic Exchange in
Genoa. Jones
was one of the
first students
to attend
school in the
old Genoa
Courthouse after the Douglas
County seat was moved to Min-
den. After graduating from high
school in Gardnerville, she mar-
ried Myron Jones, whose family
operated the Jones Ranch at
the foot of Kingsbury Grade.
Jones started traveling after her
husband died in 1963. She did-
nt turn in her drivers license
until 2005 when she was 95
years old, and she lived on her
own in her house until she was
98 years old. A charter member
of the Carson Valley Historical
Society, later the Douglas Coun-
ty Historical Society, Jones
served as president. She gath-
ered donations for the American
Red Cross. She was a member
of the Genoa Homemakers,
which Myron Jones nicknamed
the Homewreckers. She
served on the Farm Bureau
Board. She was a longtime
member of the Carson Valley
United Methodist Church, and
was one of the driving forces in
building the new church on Cen-
terville. Jones founded the Re-
tired Senior Volunteer Program
in 1974 and served as a field
representative for the organiza-
tion for 31 years.
David Jones
According to author Cindy
Southerland, David Jones was
born in Wales in 1817. He immi-
grated to America and settled in
Carson Valley around 1863. He
and his wife Mary were one of
the first ranching families on the
west side of the Valley. They had
five children and operated a
freight line over Daggett Pass.
Jones died in 1896.
Max Jones
the Douglas County Sheriff's
Mounted Posse and a former
East Fork Justice of the Peace.
Jones, who died March 28,
2008, at age 91, was the first
presiding elder for the Carson
Valley Branch of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
One of 16 brothers and sisters,
he married Lura Miller while at-
tending Weber College at
Ogden, Utah. During his lifetime
he worked in gold mines, at a
dairy farm, and managed the
Gardnerville Safeway store. He
opened the Gardnerville Food
Store which he operated for 22
years before going into the in-
surance business. Besides the
aforementioned accomplish-
ments, Jones was president of
Commerce, director of Douglas
County Civil Defense, scout mas-
ter of Boy Scouts of America
troop 140, served on the Dou-
glas County School Board, was
president of the Carson Valley
Active 20-30 Club, a member of
the Carson Valley Lions Club,
served in the Merchant Marines
and was a volunteer firefighter.
Hugh Killebrew
The original Heavenly Valley at-
torney, he was a majority owner
of the resort by the mid-1960s.
A world traveler, Killebrew and
his wife, Ellie (one of the origi-
nal Doublemint Gum television
commercial twins), would send
post cards from the countries
they were visiting. Instead of a
ZIP code, Killebrew would scrib-
ble "Heavenly" as the address.
In 1977 Killebrew and three
other resort employees were
killed in a plane crash near
Echo Summit.
Robert A. Pat
Kimmerling
After nearly 60 years in Carson
Valley, Robert A. Pat Kimmer-
ling still considers himself a
newcomer. He arrived in Carson
Valley in 1953 and purchased
the property between Highway
88 and where the Gardnerville
Ranchos now stands. When I
came here the Valley was in the
same pristine state it had been
for 150 years, he said. There
werent any subdivisions. If you
wanted to buy a house you had
three choices, Gardnerville, Min-
den or Genoa. It was County
Planner Ray Smith who gave
Kimmerling Road its name, be-
cause it crossed Kimmerlings
property. He was involved in the
development of Country Lane
Estates and Chambers Field.
Stephen A. Kinsey
An early settler who traveled
from the Salt Lake City area with
John Reese and his company to
settle at Mormon Station on
June 6, 1851. He built a cabin
that became the station and
had quite a number of horses
and cattle there. He held the
positions of Carson County, Utah
Territorial Probate Court Clerk
and county recorder beginning
in 1856. After Douglas County
was created in November 1861
by the Nevada Territorial Legis-
lature, he held the positions of
county commissioner, county
clerk, and county recorder. Kin-
sey died in Genoa in 1903, a
revered Carson Valley pioneer.
Ken Kjer
Ken Kjer was elected to a two-
year term on the Douglas Coun-
ty commission in 1976. He was
one of the first commissioners
to serve on the newly created
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
under the old bistate compact.
He moved to Douglas County in
the early 1960s and by the time
he ran for
county com-
mission he
served as
chairman of
the Kingsbury
Grade Im-
provement Dis-
trict, a director on the Tahoe-
Douglas Chamber of Commerce,
served on the grand jury and
was a member of the Carson-
Douglas Board of Realtors. He
was re-elected to the commis-
sion in 1978.
Abraham Klauber
Born in Zdeslav, Bohemia in
1831, by the time Abraham
Klauber was 19, he had heard
the tales of California's gold
rush and of freedom in America.
In 1850 he left his homeland to
make his fortune in the New
World. In 1852, Klauber set sail
from New York for California. He
eventually set up a store in Vol-
cano, Calif., called "The Sacra-
mento Store, Abraham Klauber
& Co." The store in Volcano did
very well during the Gold Rush,
and soon Klauber opened an-
other group of stores over the
Sierra in Genoa Nevada Territo-
ry. Klaubers store in Genoa was
used by Wells Fargo to conduct
its business.
Brian Krolicki
A Stateline resident, Brian K.
Krolicki (born Dec, 31, 1960) is
the 33rd and current Lieutenant
Governor of Nevada, elected in
2006. Krolicki was elected State
Treasurer in 1998. During his
tenure, Krolicki worked to make
college education more afford-
able, and considered it "a cor-
nerstone of his administration."
He created the State Treasur-
ers College Savings Plan and
Nevadas Prepaid College Tu-
ition Program, and oversaw the
set-up of the Gates Scholarship
in Nevada.
William Lampe
Born 1894, died June 1992.
Lampe was married to Frances,
who died in 1972. Son of
William Lampe, he was a lifetime
Gardnerville resident, member
of Kiwanis and Trinity Lutheran
Church. He served on the Dou-
glas County School Board for 16
years. He graduated from Dou-
glas County High School in
1912. An early Valley rancher,
Lampe Park is named for the
family. The elder William Lampe
died Sept. 27, 1951, at age 93.
He was a lifelong member of
Trinity Lutheran Church, who ar-
rived during pioneer days and
had ranched ever since. William
Lampe closed a deal in January
1915 with D. Winkelman for the
purchase of the Pettigrew place
and was one of the oldest on
the East Fork. According to The
R-C report at the time the prop-
erty consisted of about 125
acres of the best cultivated
and most productive land in this
Valley and sold for a figure in
excess of $30,000. Mr. Winkel-
man purchased the property
some 18 years ago from Mrs.
A. Pettigrew for $8,000, which
at that time was considered a
high price.
Emil Leising
Trinity Lutheran Church pastor
from 1955 to 1981. He served
more than 60 years in the pas-
toral ministry. After leaving Trini-
ty Lutheran Church in 1981,
Leising filled pastoral vacancies
in Nevada, California and Ore-
gon and installed a total of 34
new pastors. He acted as inter-
im pastor in Elko, Yerington,
Hawthorne and Tonopah, and in
California towns including
Auburn, Susanville, Bieber and
Portola, where he has served at
the St. Luke Lutheran Church
for 13 years.
Julian Larrouy Sr.
A Gardnerville resident for 62
years. Larrouy was born in
1904 in San Francisco and died
in 2005. He moved to France
with his father and sister, where
he lived for 10 years. He re-
turned to Reno in 1918. He
married Sybil Brenton in 1927,
and they moved to Gardnerville
in 1943, where they operated
the JSV Bar, later called the Val-
ley Bar, for many years. During
that time the bar was named
the "Pride of the West." The Val-
ley Bar was destroyed in a fire
in 2006.
James A. "Jim" and
Gerry Lawrence
Jim Lawrence pursued careers
in both commercial photography
and advertising in San Francis-
co before settling in Nevada in
1949. Lawrence, primarily a wa-
tercolorist, and his wife, Gerry,
also a painter, established their
home/studios at Rock Creek
Ranch outside of Gardnerville,
and were founding members of
the East Fork Gallery. Lawrence
exhibited his art in places such
as the Art Institute of Chicago,
Los Angeles County Museum, H.
M. De Young Museum in San
Francisco, and Stanford Univer-
sity, as well as Nevada Art
Gallery (now Nevada Museum of
Art); University of Nevada,
Reno; and Northeastern Nevada
Museum in Elko. He helped or-
ganize the Carson City chapter
of the Nevada Artist Association
and Carson Valley Art Associa-
tion.
Jean Lekumberry
The JT Basque Bar & Dining
Room, 1426 Main St., Gard-
nerville, was brought from Vir-
ginia City to Genoa in 1895, and
then later to Gardnerville. It was
purchased in 1954 by John and
Grace Jaunsaras and Jimmy and
Grace Trounday, thus its name
the JT (Jaunsaras and Troun-
day). In 1960 Jean (and Shirley)
Lekumberry and Jean's brother
Pete Lekumberry bought it and
kept it Basque. Pete returned to
the Basque Country and Jean
continued the operation until
1993 when he died of a heart
attack. Since that time his chil-
dren Mary Louise and Jean Bap-
tiste Lekumberry have contin-
ued the business.
Glenn Logan
Glenn Logan was president of
the Carson Valley Historical So-
ciety during the time that the
original Douglas County High
School, built in 1915, was reno-
vated and became the museum.
It reopened in 1995. The for-
mer Carson Valley Hospital, now
the Logan building, also was
renovated by Logan. He and his
wife E-ann worked at the muse-
um on a daily basis along with
dozens of volunteers. Logan
was fire chief of the Gardnerville
Fire Department for 17 years
and a volunteer for 33 years.
He was a charter member of
the sheriff's posse, past presi-
dent of the Carson Valley Active
20-30 Club, past president of
the PTA at Gardnerville Elemen-
tary School and was clerk for
the Gardnerville Town Board. He
owned an accounting firm for
30 years in Gardnerville. He
was a member and treasurer for
Trinity Lutheran Church. Logan
was born in Genoa. He died in
2001 in Gardnerville at the age
of 70.
Jones
Kjer
James and Gerry Lawrence
Lekumberry
Max Jones
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
RE/MAX Realty Afliates
Gardnerville
Carson City
Coldwell Banker Best Sellers
Carson City
Realty Executives Nevadas Choice
Carson City
Carson Valley
Century 21 Clark Properties
January 2011 to December 2011
Total Units Sold Carson Valley & Carson City Ofces
21 Agents 253
31 Agents 106
15 Agents 381
33 Agents 255
34 Agents 578
33 Agents 339
OUR NUMBERS SPEAK VOLUMES
Source: No. NV Regional
MLS statistics as of 12/31/11
RE/MAX Realty Aliates
Gardnerville
775.782.8777
1320 Hwy 395 N
Garnderville, NV 89410
RE/MAX Realty Aliates
Carson City
775.885.2200
2310 S. Carson Street, #1
Carson City, NV 89701
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Gardnerville
Carson City
Coldwell Banker Best Sellers
Carson City
Carson City
Carson Valley
Century 21 Clark Properties
January 2011 to December 2011
Total Units Sold Carson Valley & Carson City Ofces
21 Agents 253
31 Agents 106
15 Agents 381
33 Agents 255
34 Agents 578
33 Agents 339
150,000,000
130,000,000
110,000,000
90,000,000
70,000,000
50,000,000
30,000,000
10,000,000
0
RE/MAX
Realty Afliates
Gardnerville
RE/MAX
Realty Afliates
Carson City
Coldwell
Banker
Best Sellers
Carson City
Realty
Executives
Nevadas Choice
Carson City
Realty
Executives
Nevadas Choice
Carson Valley
Century 21
Clark
Properties
2011 Year-To-Date Market Share Carson Valley and Carson City Ofces
143,092,184
61,896,285
44,406,338
58,035,847
24,340,611
55,588,632
Duane
Scotchie Mack
Born in Carson City on July 24,
1909, while his father repre-
sented Douglas County in the
Nevada Senate. Mack graduat-
ed from Douglas County High
School in 1926 and from the
University of Nevada, Reno in
1930. He also attended Stan-
ford Law School in California. He
married Mary McCulloch in
1935 in Reno and the couple
lived in the ranch house built in
1883 and continued to operate
the family ranch. Mack was the
third generation in his family to
serve in the Nevada Legislature
at which time he was instrumen-
tal in establishing the Douglas
County Airport. He served in the
South Pacific in World War II.
Mack also was chairman of the
Nevada Beach Committee that
acquired and dedicated the land
for Nevada Beach at Lake
Tahoe. He also donated the
land for the Douglas County
Public Library and the Carson
Valley Methodist Church and the
water pump for the Town of Min-
den. He was a member of many
service organizations and was
named 1990 man of the year by
the Minden-Gardnerville Elks.
Noel Manoukian
A two-time class president at
University of the Pacific (1958-
59 and 1959-60), Noel
Manoukian graduated in the
spring of 1961 with degrees in
both political science and phi-
losophy. Manoukian went on to
earn his Juris
Doctorate from
Santa Clara
School of Law
in 1964, then
began a highly
decorated ca-
reer, first as an
attorney, then as a judge in
Nevada. Manoukian left a pri-
vate legal practice in 1974 for a
Nevada District Court Judge po-
sition. Three years later he
moved into the Nevada
Supreme Court as the Chief Jus-
tice. Noel retired as the Chief
Justice in 1985, choosing to re-
turn to private practice. Finally
in 2003, Manoukian returned to
the bench as a Nevada Senior
Judge, a position he still holds.
Jerry Maple
Former Douglas County Sheriff
Jerry Maple was 31 years old
when John Birges and his ac-
complices wheeled a 1,000-
pound bomb into the executive
offices of Harveys Hotel Casino
in August
1980. "The
easiest part,
the greatest
part about it is
that no one
was injured,"
he said of the
explosion that
caused $15 million damage to
the hotel-casino, in an interview
with reporter Sheila Gardner
that was published Jan. 28,
2005, in The Record-Courier.
Maple had been called at his
Mountain Home, Ark., home, by
representatives of the television
show "City Confidential", who
asked Maple to appear in a
segment on the 25th anniver-
sary of the disaster.
JoAnn Smokey
Martinez
Washoe Tribal elder JoAnn
Smokey Martinez was an out-
spoken advocate for education
and tribal traditions. She attend-
ed Stewart Indian School and
nursing school in Las Vegas.
Her family was one of the first
to live in Dresslerville when
William Dressler deeded the
land to the tribe. Martinez lived
in Las Vegas for a while and
supported herself as a maid
cleaning houses for reputed
mobsters. She returned to
Dresslerville in the 1980s and
became part of the renaissance
of Washoe culture. Martinez and
her older sister Theresa Smokey
Jackson were selected to offer a
traditional Washoe blessing at
the opening ceremonies of
President Clinton's July 1997
visit to Lake Tahoe. Martinez
died in 2006. She was 85.
Wynne Maule
Wynne Maule graduated from
Douglas County High School in
Gardnerville in 1943 and joined
the U.S. Navy through the end
of the war in 1946. He enrolled
in Oregon State University's
forestry program and went to
work for the U.S. Forest Service
upon his graduation in 1950.
After he retired in 1980 he re-
turned to Minden to write defini-
tive work on
the town, in-
cluding "Min-
den, Nevada:
The Story of a
Unique Town".
He was in-
volved with St.
Mark's
Methodist Church in Santa Bar-
bara, past president of Pollock
Pines Rotary & Minden Rotary,
member of the Society of Ameri-
can Foresters, Commonwealth
Club of San Francisco, and the
Historical Society of Douglas
County. He also was a member
of the planning committee for
the Minden Centennial. Maule
was born July 17, 1925, to
Mono National Forest Supervi-
sor William Maule and Gard-
nerville teacher Rose Todd
Maule. He died in 2006 in Min-
den.
Howard McKibben
Born in Virginia, Illinois, Howard
McKibben received a B.S. from
Bradley University in 1962, an
M.P.A. from the University of
Pittsburgh in 1964, and a J.D.
from the University of Michigan
Law School in 1967. He was in
private practice in Minden,
Nevada from 1967 to 1971. He
was a deputy district attorney of
Douglas County from 1969 to
1971. He was Douglas County
District Attorney from 1971 to
1977. He was a judge on the
Ninth Judicial District Court of
the State of Nevada from 1977
to 1984. McKibben is a senior
judge on the U. S. District Court
for the District of Nevada. He
was nominated for the position
by President Ronald Reagan on
Sept. 28, 1984.
Bill Mendes
Bill Mendes owned Carson Val-
ley Meat Co., a slaughterhouse
in Gardnerville, until early 1998.
Mendes bought the company,
which was located behind Car-
son Valley Mid-
dle School, in
1965 from
Fred Dang-
berg. Mendes
was a native
Nevadan, born
in Ely and
raised in Duckwater until his
family moved to Fallon after he
came home from fighting in the
Marine Corps. He and his wife
Earlene met when she was
working as a waitress at the
Golden Bubble, where Sharkey's
now stands. The 20-30 Club
used to dye eggs for the annual
Easter egg hunt at Mendes'
slaughterhouse and Mendes
would lend his refrigerated
truck to causes ranging from
Carson Valley Days and Candy
Dance to events in Markleeville
and the dogsled races in Hope
Valley.
Charles Coval
Meneley
C.C. Meneley Elementary School,
which opened in 1979, took its
name from Charles Coval Mene-
ley, an educator who helped
build the education system in
Carson Valley. He and his wife
Helen were teachers in the
building that now houses the
Carson Valley Historical Museum
starting in 1929. Meneley later
taught at Gardnerville Grammar
School and became principal, a
job he kept for 14 years. He in-
troduced music to Douglas
County schools while promoting
athletics and teaching shop
class. A violinist, Meneley start-
ed a school band in 1934 and
within four years Carson Valley
folks were able to enjoy a con-
cert presented by combined
bands from the Gardnerville and
Minden elementary schools and
Douglas High School. He also
staged operettas, was a car-
penter and cabinet maker and
taught shop at the high school
in the early '40s. He retired
from teaching in 1955, but con-
tinued his construction work
and was a Scoutmaster and vo-
cational trainer. He died in
1969.
Manoukian
McKibben
Mendes
Maple
Maule
Hans Meyer-Kassel
Hans Meyer-Kassel, a classically
trained artist from Germany, ar-
rived in Nevada in 1937. From
his studios in Reno, Carson City,
and finally, Genoa, flowed a
steady stream of landscapes
(numerous landscapes of Genoa
and Carson Valley), still lifes,
nautical scenes, and the paint-
ings for which he was most
noted portraits. He received
commissions for portraits of
Clarence Mackay, James Edward
Church, for whom the fine arts
building on the University of
Nevada, Reno, campus is
named, and representations of
four Nevada governors that
hang in the old Nevada State
Capitol in Carson City. Meyer-
Kassel died in 1952. Today
many Meyer-Kassel portraits of
Nevada dignitaries are on public
display, but most of his Nevada
work, while still in the state, is in
private collections. Reference:
Online Nevada Encyclopedia
www.onlinenevada.org
Jimmy Miller
Jimmy Miller bought the market
that would later carry his name
in August 1960 from the Yim
family. On Dec. 8, 1960, Millers
Complete Food Center opened
to much fanfare. Miller was
raised and educated in Carson
Valley. After graduating from
Douglas High School he worked
for Dangberg Meat Co. until Feb.
1, 1957, when he opened his
own butcher shop. Miller ex-
panded the market to Genoa
and Kingsbury before selling
out. The Genoa Country Store
now occupies the location of
Millers market there. The
Record-Courier stands on the
site of the original market.
Hiram and
Israel Mott
Historical Marker No. 121 is on
the site of the settlement on the
Emigrant Trail known as
Mottsville, where Hiram Mott
and his son Israel settled in
1851. Mott was among a group
of gentiles who
settled in what
was then called
Carson County,
Utah Territory,
which had re-
cently been
settled by a
group of Salt
Lake City Mormons, including a
man named John Reese. On No-
vember 12, 1852, the settlers
formed an organization, peti-
tioned Congress to create a ter-
ritory, adopted rules for taking
up land, and elected John Reese
recorder and treasurer.
Cerissa Mott Fettic
Cerissa Mott Fettic was born in
Mottsville in 1862 to Israel and
Eliza Mott, who arrived in Car-
son Valley in a covered wagon.
She married stage driver Frank
Fettic on March 20, 1881, and
the couple moved to Genoa,
where she was remembered as
one of the first to come help the
sick, or comfort those in mourn-
ing. She was one of the Valleys
oldest residents when she died
on May 13, 1950.
Eliza Mott Taylor
Israel Mott's wife, Eliza Ann Mid-
daugh, was the first white
woman settler when the family
arrived in 1851. Three years
later she opened the first
school in her kitchen. The
Mott's second child, Louisa
Beatrice, was the first European
girl child to be
born in the
Valley in 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. When Is-
rael died in 1864, Eliza married
A.M. Taylor until his death in
1890. When Eliza Mott Taylor
died in 1909 her funeral was
held at the Mottsville school-
house.
Patrick and Jeane
Mulreany
In 1983, Patrick and Jeane Mul-
reany had the idea of opening a
small restaurant. This notion
soon grew into the Carson Val-
ley Inn. The Inn opened in 1984
with 100 rooms, a coffee shop,
a few slots and a wedding
chapel. Today the Carson Valley
Inn boasts a 152-room hotel,
75-room motor lodge and 59-
site RV resort. It features 650
slot machines, 11 game tables,
a poker room, a sports book
and 550 employees, as well as
a coffee bar and two restau-
rants. In 2009, the Mulreanys
sold Carson Valley Inn to the
owners of Bodines Casino in
Carson City.
Pastor Pete Nelson
Hans Pete Nelson has been
pastor of Carson Valley United
Methodist Church for 28 years,
arriving July 1, 1983, after he
graduated from seminary at Pa-
cific School of Religion in Berke-
ley. A Reno native, he graduated
from Reno High School in 1966
and attended the University of
Nevada Reno, first when he
graduated, and again in 1975.
He served in the Air National
Guard during the Vietnam War,
specializing in electronics. He
graduated from Nevada in 1979
and then went to seminary
school. He married wife Cathy in
1978 and they had three chil-
dren, Angela, Holly and Kevin.
He is a member of the Carson
Valley Ministers' Association. In
September 2008 his 25th an-
niversary was recognized with a
proclamation by the Douglas
County Board of Commissioners.
Cherie Owen
Douglas Animal Welfare Group
celebrated its 10th anniversary
in 2010. Cherie
Owen, the
group's founder
was named
DAWG President
Emeritus. Owen
started the or-
ganization in
2000. During
its first decade, DAWG volun-
teers were responsible for ap-
proximately 1,500 dog and cat
adoptions. In 2005, DAWG re-
ceived the Nevada Appeal Orga-
nization of the Year Award and
in 2006, DAWG earned the Ser-
vice Club of the Year award.
Ben Palmer
At his death in 1908 at the age
of 82, Ben Palmer was a long-
time, highly respected Carson
Valley rancher. Palmer, also
known as Parmer, was among
the first black
settlers in
Nevada. He
claimed 320
acres near
Genoa in
1853. He and
his sister,
Charlotte Bar-
ber, her white husband, David,
and seven children, raised cattle
and introduced the Bonner
stock of horses to the Valley.
Palmer and the Barbers were
well known for their hospitality,
having given food and a place
to sleep to many a passing trav-
eler. When, in the 1870s, the
right to vote was extended to
non-whites in Nevada, Palmer
and his nephew Benjamin Bar-
ber registered to vote, and
Palmer served on the Douglas
County Grand Jury.
Brooks Park
Wallace Brooks Park (1911-
2000) was the son of David
Wallace and Margaret Hickey
Park and a descendant of
1870s Carson Valley settlers.
The Park family purchased
property at Tahoe and Carson
Valley. Parks attended Douglas
County High School, St. Ignatius
High School in San Francisco
and graduated from the Univer-
sity of Nevada. He began the
Park Livestock Co. in 1935 with
the purchase of a ranch near
Topaz Lake. In the 1960s, he
leased Tahoe pastureland to
casino operators; today, Har-
vey's Resort & Casino, Caesars
Tahoe and Horizon Casino Re-
sort lease from the Park family.
The Park Cattle Co. built Edge-
wood Tahoe Golf Course in
1965. Park married Jeanne Car-
dinal in 1937. They raised their
family in a house across the
highway from where Brooks
Park grew up.
Wallace Park
David Wallace Park (1876-
1964) was the son of pioneers
David Brooks and Unity Park.
He attended the Mottsville
school and the University of
Nevada, then joined his father in
the sheep business after spend-
ing a year as Carson River wa-
termaster. He married Margaret
Hickey, daughter of a Carson
Valley pioneer family, in 1908.
They purchased property from
the Dangberg Company, which
became their home ranch, and
additional agricultural land, in-
cluding a ranch in Antelope Val-
ley, Calif. Park was on the board
of directors of the Farmers
Bank of Carson Valley, and when
the bank became the First Na-
tional Bank of Nevada, he was
appointed a director. He served
as a member of the Nevada Tax
Commission for 20 years.
William Park
William Alton Park, fourth gener-
ation member of a pioneer fami-
ly, was born in 1921 to Arthur
and Christine Jesperson Park.
He attended Douglas County
schools and served in the Navy
during World War II. In 1943 he
married Viola Silvester of Gard-
nerville. He retired in 1977 as a
Nevada National Guard adminis-
tration technician. He also
worked for 20 years for the
Gardnerville Town Water Co.
Park was a member of the Car-
son Valley Methodist Church,
where a military service was
held for him when he died in
1981. Active in community life,
Park was a charter member of
the Douglas County Sheriffs
Posse, a volunteer for the Gard-
nerville Fire Department and a
member of the National Guard
Association.
Dr. John Pasek
Dr. John Pasek, a beloved Car-
son Valley physician, was known
for his gentle sense of humor. In
the early years of his practice,
there were few doctors here,
and he got to know his patients
and their families well. Dr. Pasek
graduated from medical school
in Southern California in 1939,
completing his residency in os-
teopathic medicine, then re-
turned for surgical training in
1941. He hung out his shingle
by opening a hospital in the
basement of the Minden Inn in
1943. The hospital closed after
just three years, but Dr. Pasek
continued to serve patients
from Douglas County and south
to Lone Pine, California. After he
retired, his former patients
would call him anyway. He died
June 14, 2005, at age 91.
Frieda Sarman
Pitts
Frieda Pitts was born into the
Sarman family in 1906. After
her husband died, Dr. E.G. Hand
asked her to open a maternity
home. In
1943, she did-
-using her own
living room
and a bed-
room. She
watched over
women in
labor, calling Dr. Hand when the
time came for him to attend.
The home closed in 1954 after
the state required that births
take place at hospitals. Mrs.
Pitts cheerfully cared for 159
babies and their mothers, doing
laundry with a wringer washing
machine. She died in 1991.
When Pitts was conferred the
Carson Valley Historical Soci-
etys Women in History award in
2009, it was noted that Frieda
never had children of her own
but was often known as the
mother of many.
Walt Powers
The coach who brought Friday
night football to Douglas County
High School in 1946 was a star
athlete himself. Walt Powers
(1916-1997) was hired as Dou-
glas athletic coach and science
teacher after he got out of the
Army Air Corps in 1945. He let-
tered in football, basketball and
track at the University of Neva-
da, where he graduated in
1939, and at Sparks High
School, earning all-state honors
in 1933 and 1934. Powers was
named to the universitys Athlet-
ic Hall of Fame, the Douglas
High School Basketball Hall of
Fame, and the Nevada Inter-
scholastic Activities Association
Hall of Fame. He coached at
Douglas 1945-1953 and again
1956-1962, then served as
athletic director until his retire-
ment in 1973. Son Gary is head
baseball coach at UNR.
A.C. Pratt
Many Carson Valley history buffs
know A.C. Pratt published the
Carson Valley News from 1875
to 1880 in his Genoa home and
served as county district attor-
ney beginning in 1876. Not
many know that he also was
Surveyor General of Nevada,
1895 to 1899, and according
to the Oct. 19, 1894, Genoa
Weekly Courier, he served one
term in the Nevada Assembly,
18831884, and was its chief
clerk in 1891; was clerk and
bookkeeper for the State Prison;
was deputy secretary of state;
and has in fact been employed
in nearly every office in the
State Capitol. Pratt never at-
tended school, yet he was a
self-taught mining expert and
assayer and constructed the
first telegraph line into the min-
ing camp of Bodie, Calif.
Robert Pruett
Robert Lloyd Pruett (1911-
2010) was born in Los Angeles
to Christian missionaries to
Japan. He attended school in
Hawaii and Los Angeles and en-
rolled in the University of Neva-
da in 1931, where he played
football. He returned to Hawaii
and worked for his sister at the
Honolulu Star Bulletin, earning
his degree from the University
of Hawaii in 1935. Pruett re-
turned to Nevada and married
Margaret Park. A successful
rancher, in 1948 he was elected
to the Nevada Assembly and
served many terms as Douglas
County commissioner, two terms
as chair. Pruett obtained land
from George Whittell for Whittell
High School and designed the
clubhouse for Lake Tahoes
Edgewood Golf Course, which
was developed by Park Cattle
Co. Pruett was a pilot, inventor,
big game hunter and author.
Spec Rahbeck
The family of Franklin Kjer
Spec Rahbeck (1922-2007)
owned the Rahbeck Hotel, origi-
nally the Gard-
nerville Hotel
and now the JT
Basque
Restaurant. He
attended Car-
son Valley
schools and
studied at the
University of Nevada before
serving as a naval aviator dur-
ing World War II. After the war,
Spec married Irene Plimpton
and joined her brothers in the
Plimpton and Rahbeck Lumber
Co. of Tahoe Valley, later the
Nevada Lumber Co. Irene died
of cancer in 1956, leaving Spec
with two children.
He married Pat Martin in 1957.
Selling the lumber business, he
operated the Outdoorsman
Sporting Goods Store, South
Lake Tahoe, 1961-1979, and
was active in the community.
The couple purchased a ranch
in the Valley, where they moved
in the 1980s.
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Palmer
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Pitts
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T.B. Rickey
Known as the Cattle King of the
West, T.B. Rickey (1836-1920)
is a study in how fortunes rise
and fall. In 1859 Rickey drove a
small herd of cattle into Ante-
lope Valley from Amador County,
Calif. In a few years Rickey and
his family owned thousands of
acres. He and his partner,
wealthy Reno banker Richard
Kirman, acquired more interests
that allowed them to control the
water they needed to irrigate
their huge holdings. After Kir-
mans death, Rickey started the
reservoir that is now Topaz
Lake, but lost the project to the
Miller & Lux Co. in a case before
the U.S. Supreme Court. Banks
that Rickey organized in early
1900s failed, and his ranches
were sold. He died in Oakland,
Calif.
Jacob Rodenbaugh
Jacob Jake Rodenbaugh, 16,
headed West with other gold
seekers in 1858. He soon wea-
ried of the California goldfields,
and in 1860 came to Carson
Valley, where he was the first to
discover gold in the Pine Nut
Range. Jake operated charcoal
kilns, utilizing the pinon pines in
the area, and supplied charcoal
to the Carson City Mint and the
Comstock, Aurora and Bodie
mines. His way station, known
as Jakes Place, sitting just
below the top of Jakes Hill,
was a popular stop on the way
to the Esmeralda mines from
1877-1915. As the mines de-
clined, Rodenbaugh concentrat-
ed on his 800-acre ranch and
served as county commissioner.
His estate sold the ranch to
Louis Ruhenstroth in 1916, giv-
ing the area its current name.
Hank and Jane
Rosenbrock
Although Henry Hank (1916-
1995) and Jane Rosenbrock
(1917-2001) were divorced,
most Gardnerville residents of
their generation will forever link
the two together. The couple
was married Nov. 30, 1941.
Hank made a name for himself
as an expert sharpshooter while
a teenager; she opened Janes
Beauty Salon in 1936 not long
after graduating from Douglas
County High School. Hank suf-
fered a hunting accident in
1935 that left him with a limp.
He said that if it werent for his
wallet breaking some of the
force of a shotgun blast, he
might not have lived. He served
as Gardnerville postmaster for
34 years and was co-owner of
the Outdoorsman for many
years. Diagnosed with epilepsy,
Jane was a tireless advocate for
people with the disease and ac-
tive in many community affairs,
among them the successful ef-
forts to build the public library
and the senior citizens center.
Gene Scarselli
Gene L. Scarselli (1918-1986)
didnt often talk about his World
War II experiences. He escaped
the Japanese in Bataan, the
Philippines, in April 1942, was
recaptured in Corregidor and
was a prisoner of war until
1945. After spending a year in
the hospital, the Wells native
graduated from the University of
Nevada in 1947. He taught in
Reno and was coach and princi-
pal at Eureka High School. When
county superintendent positions
were created in Nevada, he
signed his Eureka contract at
midnight so as to be the first in
the state. He brought his wife
Eva and their children to Dou-
glas County in 1956 where he
served as superintendent until
1975, expanding and opening
several new schools. Scarselli
Elementary School is named
after him.
Melvin Schwake
Melvin Henry Schwake, Sr., a
general engineering contractor
in Nevada and California, served
as a Douglas County commis-
sioner from 1949 to 1953.
Schwake also operated ranches
in both Nevada and California.
Schwake was born in 1913 in
Centerville and was baptized
and confirmed in the Trinity
Lutheran Church in Gardnerville.
He was a member of the team
of volunteers who built the cur-
rent church in the early 1950s
and was responsible for hauling
187,000 bricks from Reno to
the job site on Douglas Avenue.
He married Edrie Cross Jan. 16,
1947, in Virginia City. Active in
the contracting industry, he was
founder of Nevada Contractors,
Inc. He died at the age of 83
and was buried in Mottsville
Cemetery.
Arnold
Settelmeyer
Third-generation Carson Valley
rancher Arnold Settelmeyer
graduated from Douglas County
High School in 1958. He attend-
ed Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo,
Calif., where he majored in agri-
cultural engineering technology,
then returned to Carson Valley
to continue the family ranch. He
served as president of the Fed-
eral Land Bank for 10 years
and was a member of the Car-
son Valley Conservation District,
the Carson River Water Subcon-
servancy District, the Douglas
County Water Conveyance Advi-
sory Committee and the Nevada
State Conservation Commission.
the Douglas County Education
Foundation and selected Man of
the Year by the Carson Valley
Active 20-30 Club and served
two terms on the Douglas Coun-
ty School Board. Settelmeyer
died in 2007.
Frank Settelmeyer
Born in Nevada in 1892, he
was named the Outstanding
Conservation Farmer in the Car-
son Valley Soil Conservation Dis-
trict for 1959. Settelmeyer was
singled out for the special
recognition because of his land
leveling, drainage, alkali recla-
mation, river channel improve-
ments and other conservation
measures applied on his ranch
located two miles east of Genoa.
He died in 1964.
Fred H.
Settelmeyer
Fred H. Settelmeyer was born in
Carson Valley, Nevada in 1892.
He attended local schools and
Gettysburg College in Pennsylva-
nia. He returned to Nevada in
1915 and engaged in ranching
on the Settelmeyer family ranch
in Douglas County. A leader in
community and political affairs,
Fred Settelmeyer was elected to
the Nevada State Senate in
1946 and served until 1961.
When the California-Nevada In-
terstate Compact Commission
was established in 1956, Gov.
Charles Russell recognized Set-
telmeyer's expertise in water
matters and appointed him to
the Nevada Commission repre-
senting the Carson River stream
system. He served on the Neva-
da Commission and the Joint
Commission until 1959 when he
became advisor to the Nevada
Commission. In 1969 his abilities
were again recognized by Gover-
nor Paul Laxalt and he was ap-
pointed to represent upper Car-
son River interests on the Pyra-
mid Lake Task Force. Through-
out his political and public serv-
ice, Fred Settelmeyer remained a
conservative thinker and a
staunch defender of Carson
River interests. He completed an
oral history for the University of
Nevada in 1971 which may be
consulted for further biographi-
cal information.
Grace Adams
Settelmeyer
Grace Adams Settelmeyer was
instrumental in founding the
Douglas County School System
hot lunch program. She was a
past president and member of
the Douglas County School
Board. She is credited with
starting Red Cross swimming
lessons for children. She was a
charter member of Minden Fort-
nightly and the Daughters of the
American Revolution. In 1956
she was a delegate to the Na-
tional Republican Convention in
San Francisco.
Jane Rosenbrock
Arnold Settelmeyer
Raymond Smith
Raymond Smith was a city and
regional planner who was active
in shaping Carson Valley and
Northern Nevada over the last
50 years. He
was involved in
regional plan-
ning in 10 Neva-
da counties, was
the first execu-
tive director of
the Lake Tahoe
Area Council, a
private, regional planning or-
ganization, was engaged in the
planning of Incline Village and
later named the North Lake
Tahoe community.
Marjorie Johnson
Springmeyer
Marjorie Johnson Springmeyer's
father Knox William Johnson,
who settled in Carson Valley
from Ohio in the 1920s, died in
1931, leaving his wife, Stella
Van Dyke Johnson, her two
sons, Bill and Knox Jr., and Mar-
jorie, age 10. The Johnson cat-
tle grazed on about 1,000
acres at the lake. In her
teenage years, she met her fu-
ture husband, Melvin "Buzz"
Frederick Springmeyer, a mem-
ber of another pioneer Carson
Valley ranching family. They
were married in 1945 upon his
return from serving in the Army
during WWII. They opened a
garage and small, eight-stool
hamburger stand shaped like a
covered wagon where Izzy's
Burger Spa is now located in
South Lake Tahoe. Buzz and
Marjorie and her brothers Knox
Johnson and William Johnson
ran the Johnsons J Lazy J
Ranch cattle operations in Car-
son Valley and South Lake
Tahoe. Cattle drives went from
the valley over Kingsbury
Grade, to summer range at
South Lake Tahoe. Springmeyer
and her family donated to the
city of South Lake Tahoe
through her ranching family's
estate, including the property
on which Lake Tahoe Communi-
ty College was built. At 90,
Springmeyer was a real estate
agent with Springmeyer Realty
in Gardnerville.
Papa Starke
Papa Starke came to Nevada
from Westphalia, Germany, dur-
ing the 1890s. Papa was a
baker by trade, and soon after
his arrival in Nevada he was in
the bakery business in Carson
City. It wasn't long, however, be-
fore he bought property on the
south end of Main Street in
Gardnerville and established his
business there. Papa was a
baker by trade, and soon after
his arrival in Nevada he was in
the bakery business in Carson
City. It wasn't long, however, be-
fore he bought property on the
south end of Main Street in
Gardnerville and established his
business there. With the capa-
ble help of Mama, he supplied
the community with bread,
cakes, pies, and other delec-
table items, all baked in large
brick ovens and sold in the little
shop nearby. He was an excel-
lent caterer and was much in
demand at weddings and par-
ties of all sorts throughout the
Valley. During the winter months
he went from farm to farm to
help with butchering and
sausage making. It wasn't long
before he was financially able to
realize his dreamto own and
operate a saloon of his own. He
built that saloon next to his
bakery and called it Pop's
Place. It is the brick building
now occupied by V & T Discount
Liquors.
Frederick William
Stodieck
Frederick William Stodieck
bought the piece of land the
Carson Valley rancher calls
home for $2,800 in gold coins
in 1868. The deed on the prop-
erty bears the signature of
Abraham Lincoln. His house
dates to 1899, and the main
house, built in 1874, with some
of its gingerbread detailing, still
remains along with a brick
pump house, the original log
cabin the Stodiecks first occu-
pied, a hog barn and bunk
house, among other structures.
Stodieck is a board member of
the Carson Water Subconser-
vancy District. The Stodieck
ranch has been featured in the
annual Douglas County Histori-
cal Society Great Barns of Car-
son Valley Tour and Carson Val-
ley Eagles and Agriculture
event.
Garry Stone
Born in Lovelock, Garry Stone
started as out as a ditch rider.
He came to Carson Valley to
manage the Carson Water Sub-
conservancy District when they
were working on the Washoe
Project for a dam at Horseshoe
Bend. He became federal water
master in September 1984.
Stone served as a Douglas
County commissioner.
Roy Storke
Roy Storke, the honorary mayor
of Centerville, was born in
1921, met his
wife at the
Candy Dance
in Genoa and
was married at
the old Luther-
an Church in
1944. He was
the last char-
ter member left in the Lions
Club and member of the Car-
son Valley Historical Society. It
was Storke who donated the
manure for the Lions Clubs an-
nual sale, which served as an
important fundraiser for the
club.
Jim Stratton
Jim Stratton purchased Carson
Valley Drug in historic down-
town Minden in 1963 and
moved to Gardnerville in 1977.
Stratton was a partner in the
construction of the Stratton
Center, where the pharmacy
was located until 2005, when it
closed.
Bill & Marsha
Tomerlin
The Tomerlins have been mar-
ried for 38 years. She was cho-
sen as a 2004 Ronald Reagan
Republican Gold Medal Award
winner by the National Republi-
can Congressional Committee.
Tomerlin received many awards
over the years. To name a few,
she has received the State of
Nevada Attorney General's Sil-
ver State Citizen Award, she
was the Carson Valley Active
20/30 Club No. 85's 1999 citi-
zen of the year, the 1997 out-
standing member of the Dou-
glas County Building Industry
Association and received a Ser-
vice to Mankind Award from the
Carson Valley Sertoma Club. Bill
Tomerlin developed the Meridi-
an Business Center at the Min-
den-Tahoe Airport.
David Towell
Gardnervilles last congressman
Nevada representative for the
United States Congress and
longtime resident of Carson Val-
ley, David G. Towell Sr., died
June 10, 2003, at Washoe
County Med-
ical Center
after a two-
year battle
with cancer.
Towell moved
to Douglas
County in
1965 where he worked in real
estate for 40 years, most re-
cently with Prudential Nevada
Realty. He was Nevada's only
representative in the U.S. Con-
gress during the 1973-74 ses-
sion and lost a bid for the U.S.
Senate in 1976. Towell au-
thored hundreds of poems and
two published books: "Conver-
sations with the Captain in
Washington D.C." (2001), and
"From Jennys to Jets" (2002).
Henry Van Sickle
According to Grace Dangberg,
Henry Van Sickle came to Car-
son Valley in 1852. He took a
claim in 1855
and had
Charles Hol-
brook build
him a house
on it in 1857
near where the
Daggett Pass
road would
eventually come down. He was
a blacksmith, innkeeper, was
justice of the peace. He served
on the Douglas County board of
commissioners and as county
treasurer. Van Sickle shot bad
man Sam Brown on July 6,
1861. He built Van Sickle Sta-
tion where it still stands along
Foothill Road today in 1857.
Daniel Webster
Virgin
Daniel Webster Virgin was ad-
mitted to the California bar in
1861 and practiced law for two
years before relocating to Car-
son Valley, Nevada Territory, ar-
riving in Genoa on March 19,
1863.
He was first elected Douglas
County District Attorney on
Sept. 3, 1863, less than six
months after his
arrival. Virgin
served as first
elected judge of
Douglas County
from 1864
66. Later on he
served again
as District At-
torney from 1874-76, 1882-
94, 1901-03 and 1909-11 and
was Superintendent of Schools.
While in the practice of law he
was considered one of the fore-
most jurists of his time and was
engaged in the famous case of
Van Sickle vs. Haines.
Mary Raycraft
Virgin
Born in Illinois in 1842, Mary
Raycraft Virgin crossed the
country with her parents Joseph
and Ellen Raycraft and was a pi-
oneer settler in Genoa. The
family started managing a hotel
and livery stable in Genoa
owned by D.W. Virgin. After two
years the family purchased the
hotel from Virgin and within a
few years Virgin married daugh-
ter Mary. She died in Genoa on
Dec. 1, 1918.
Henry Walker
Henry Walker, a retired rancher
and resident of Genoa, was
born in Cottonwood, Utah, on
Nov. 24, 1852. Mormon Station
was the name of the town now
called Genoa when Walker was
brought to the place that be-
came his home for life.
David &
Harriet Walley
In 1860, David and Harriet Wal-
ley, former New Yorkers, discov-
ered the hot springs and at one
point a tent was erected on site
and travelers were charged 50
cents for a bath. In 1864, the
Walleys received a land grant
deed from President Abraham
Lincoln and construction of the
luxurious resort was in full
swing. The resort, built around
the many thermal pools, had a
hotel with 40 bedrooms and 11
bathrooms, a livery stable, sa-
loon and wine cellar, a ballroom
and beautiful flower and veg-
etable gardens. A reputed
$100,000 was to have been
spent on the project, no small
amount of money since a good
ranch at the time, with 800
acres of land and buildings,
could have been valued at
$15,000. One writer in 1881
described Walley's Hot Springs:
The location is extremely
pleasant, the scenery grand
and the climate in summer in-
vigorating and healthful. After
David's death in 1875, Harriet
ran the resort, then called
Genoa Hot Springs. Following
her death in 1896, Walley's was
sold by heirs within the year to
John and Richard Raycraft for
$5,000.
William Wennhold
William Wennholds family came
to Nevada in 1897, he left
home at 13 and started doing
odd jobs. His parents died with
in six months leaving seven or-
phaned children. He worked for
the Heise Ranch in 1907 and
then in1909 for the Minden
Milling Co. He went to work for
the Farmers Bank of Carson
Valley as a janitor in 1914 and
six years later was made assis-
tant cashier. In 1928 he was
promoted to bank manager and
secretary to the board of direc-
tors. He was manager when the
Great Depression hit. While
state examiners closed Gard-
nervilles bank, the Minden
bank was found to be one of
the strongest in the state, and
reopened early. He was named
to the banks board of directors
in 1936 and continued until he
retired in 1952.
George Whittell Jr.
Lake Tahoe philanthropist
George Whittell Jr. was an heir
to one of San Francisco's
wealthiest families. In 1935
Whittell purchased almost
40,000 acres of the Nevada
shore of Lake Tahoe, from the
California/Nevada border to
Zephyr Cove. The Thunderbird
Lodge (also known as the Whit-
tell Estate) is a 6-acre water-
front estate located on the east
shore of Lake Tahoe. It was
built in 1939 as Whittells sum-
mer home. Whittell died in 1969
and much of the property that
he still owned went to the state
or the U.S. Forest Service. The
Lodge is currently owned by the
Thunderbird Lodge Preserva-
tion Society, and is now a popu-
lar tourist attraction. George
Whittell High School in Zephyr
Cove is named after Whittell.
Dabert Wyatt
Dabert Wyatt served as vice
chair of the tribe and chair as
well as vice chair of the Douglas
County Democratic Central Com-
mittee. He was a Vietnam veter-
an, having served two tours in
the Army. He was a founding
member of the Washoe Devel-
opment Corp. and served on
the Washoe enterprise board
until two months ago. He was a
founding member of the Washoe
Cultural Foundation and, since
the early 1980s, he promoted
Washoe homeland repatriation
at Lake Tahoe. He was a long-
time member of the SITE coun-
cil, an advisory board for the
Washoe Tribe Senior Citizens
Center. Wyatt was recognized as
Distinguished Washoe Citizen of
the Year in 1994, an honor that
is bestowed annually on a tribal
member.
Frank
Yparraguirre
Frank Yparraguirre was born of
Basque parents in San Francis-
co in 1903. His father was a
Sweetwater rancher who had
emigrated to America from
Echelar, Spain, in 1877 and
married a young immigrant
from Cilveti in 1892.
When only a few weeks old,
Frank was taken by rail and
stagecoach to the Sweetwater
home of the family, where he
lived the first ten years of his
life. The period 1913 to 1921
was spent in San Francisco dur-
ing school terms, and back on
the ranch when school was out.
While still a young man. Ypar-
raguirre lost his enthusiasm for
the life of a rancher, and in
1924 he moved to Carson Val-
ley.
Yparraguirre was in the general
store and dry goods business
for 60 years, first as a clerk in
Minden and then as owner of
his own establishment in Gard-
nerville.
He gave a detailed description
of the operations of the Farm-
ers Co-op and the Minden Mer-
cantile in the 1920s and
1930s. Shortly before the out-
break of World War II, Ypar-
raguirre purchased his own
store.
Marjorie Springmeyer
Smith
Storke
Bill and Marsha Tomerlin
Starke
Towell
Van Sickle
Virgin
Mary Cioffi
Broker/Sales Manager
Cioffi@charter.net
1657 Highway 395 N
Minden 782-2205
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Should I move now?
I have answers to your
Short Sale Questions
Mary Cioffi 720-8200
The harder I Work The Luckier I Get!
Select Real Estate
The Trimmer Family is proud to be
named one of Douglas Countys Most
Inuential Families
Since 1909, the Trimmer
Family has been raising
quality beef in the Carson
Valley.
The Ranch now offers a way
for everyone to enjoy the
tastiest beef in the Valley.
Come visit us at the
family run Trimmer Outpost.
Open Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm
2276 Main Street Genoa, NV 775.782.2518
V
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H.F. Dangberg Sr.
H.F. Dangberg Sr. arrived in Car-
son Valley in 1856, where he es-
tablished a ranch but his claim
was jumped and
pre-empted by
Lucky Bill
Thorington.
Dangberg start-
ed the home
ranch in its cur-
rent location in
1857. He was
elected to the Assembly for three
terms beginning in 1869. In
1878, he defeated J.W. Haines
for one of the Douglas County
senate seats by two votes, but
the Legislature chose to seat
Haines instead. Dangberg was
again elected to the state senate
in 1882. During his life in Carson
Valley he amassed a ranching
empire that encompassed nearly
20,000 acres. H.F. Dangberg
Land and Livestock Corp. was
formed late in Dangbergs life
and one of its acquisitions was
the ranch taken by Thorington
more than 40 years earlier.
Dat So Lah Le
Renowned Washoe basket weav-
er and one of the most famous
Native American artists of the
20th century. Born near Sheri-
dan in Carson Valley, she is
probably best known for her
degikup or day-gee-coop bas-
kets. This type begins with a
small, circular base, extends up
and out to a maximum circumfer-
ence, then becomes smaller until
the opening at the top is roughly
the same diameter as the base.
She wove baskets for Cohn's Em-
porium for approximately 30
years until her death in 1925. It
is now generally accepted that
some of her designs were in-
spired by other weavers, proba-
bly Pomo and Miwok Indians.
Most of her designs were her
own. She used symbols like
words to tell a story.
Original biographical sketch
by Sally Wilkins from an
unpublished research paper by
Kim Von Aspern.
Sen. William
Dressler
Sen. William Dressler is the man
for whom Dresslerville is named,
after he donated 40 acres to the
Washoe Tribe for a reservation.
Dressler served
in the Nevada
Senate from
1919 to 1945
and was for
many years the
longest serving
state senator.
Dressler was
an unabashed supporter of agri-
culture and politically influential
on both a state and national
level. His ranching empire was
large and second only to that of
the Dangberg corporation in the
area. It had property in multiple
counties in both California and
Nevada. Dangberg and Dressler
were rivals who understood
when it was beneficial to cooper-
ate even buying land jointly
in Hope Valley when it was un-
feasible for them to buy it sepa-
rately.
Lawrence Gilman
Gardnerville may carry the Gard-
ner name, but it was Lawrence
Gilman who founded the town in
the middle of Carson Valley in
April 1879 by moving the Kent
House from Genoa. It became
the Gardnerville Hotel and, inter-
estingly, a small brick building
dating to the early hotel still ex-
ists at the J.T. property. Gilman
had been a builder and rancher
in Genoa. He served as postmas-
ter of the town until 1885, when
he resigned and sold half of it to
Victor Lundergreen.
Bill Harrah
Gaming pioneer Bill Harrah
turned a $100 a week game,
also known as the Reno Game, in
Southern California into a
$50,000 a year business. He
opened his first club in Reno the
day before Nevada Day 1937.
Harrah bought Georges Gateway
Club in Stateline in January
1955. The next year he sold the
club to Harvey Gross and then
purchased the Sahati brothers
interest in the Stateline Country
Club, and later the Nevada Club,
both of which were across the
street from George's. Harrah
was not averse to bringing in
busloads of customers for the
day. In 1973, Harrah opened an
18-story hotel, which earned the
first five-star diamond rating in
casino and Douglas County histo-
ry. Harrah was influential in how
the gaming industry operated in
Nevada. He used his influence to
create the Nevada Gaming Con-
trol Board in 1955, an organiza-
tion used to regulate gaming in
Nevada. In 1959, Harrah creat-
ed an even stronger Gambling
Commission to regulate the casi-
nos in Nevada with the intent of
ridding them of corruption and
crime.
William Harrah was known for his
relations with both his customers
and employees. The William F.
Harrah College of Hotel Adminis-
tration is named after him.
Harrah had an extensive collec-
tion of classic cars. After his
death, Holiday Inn planned on
breaking up the collection at
auction. An outcry by the people
of Reno and Sparks led to Holi-
day Inn donating 175 vehicles to
establish the National Automobile
Museum in Reno, a collection
also referred as The Harrah Col-
lection.
Stephen Kinsey
Stephen Kinsey traveled from the
Salt Lake City area with John
Reese and his company to settle
at Mormon Station on June 6,
1851. He built the log cabin that
later became Mormon Station.
He served as territorial probate
court clerk and county recorder
for the Utah territory and then
after the county was created was
a county commissioner, clerk and
recorder. He was the editor of
the first, handwritten newspaper
in Genoa, The Scorpion.
Guy Rocha
Brooks Park
A rancher and president of Park
Cattle Co., who developed Edge-
wood Tahoe Golf Course on the
property his grandfather pur-
chased in 1896. He was in
charge when the family built the
Park Tahoe Hotel Casino, later
Caesar's and now the Montbleu,
in Stateline. Known for herding
cattle using his Cadillac as the
horse and his Cousin George
Hickey on the hood as the
herder, Brooks was a colorful
character, who had a keen in-
sight for business and the poten-
tial for Stateline corridor. The
Carson Valley native also over-
saw the purchase of the former
Dangberg property in the mid-
1990s.
Bert Selkirk
Served as Record-Courier owner
and editor from 1908 to 1944.
He was East Fork Justice of the
Peace from 1948-1954. He is a
member of the Newspaper Hall
of Fame. He arrived in Genoa on
July 4, 1893, and worked as a
hired hand for the Dangbergs.
He worked in the Genoa Courier
printing shop until he joined the
U.S. Army to serve in the Span-
ish American War.
On Jan. 1, 1908, he purchased
The Record-Courier from H.H.
Springmeyer. He operated the
newspaper for 37 years, regular-
ly winning honors as a member
of the Kappa Tau Alpha national
journalism honor society. He was
elected president of the Nevada
Press Association in 1927 and
1928, winning the golden make-
up rule from the press associa-
tion in 1945. Selkirk was an
early member of the Gardnerville
Fire Department and a charter
member of the Carson Valley Ki-
wanis Club. He was the epitome
of the respectful newspaperman
in a small community.
George
Springmeyer
He grew up on the H.H. Spring-
meyer ranch in the Carson Valley.
After being expelled from Nevada
State University, he attended
Stanford where he later received
his law degree and attended
Harvard for post graduate work.
He served as the editor of
The Record-Courier prior to join-
ing the rush to the Goldfield min-
ing boom.
He later served as an Army cap-
tain in World War I, and became
U.S. Attorney during the Prohibi-
tion era in the 1920s. He was a
longtime foe of the Wingfield ma-
chine and its connection to boot-
leggers William Graham and
James McKay; this opposition
likely cost him the position of
U.S. Attorney for Nevada.
Sally Zanjani
Snowshoe
Thompson
(Jon Torsteinson-Rue) A native of
Norway, between 1856 and
1876, he delivered mail between
Placerville, California and Genoa,
Nevada and
later Virginia
City, Nevada.
Despite his
nickname, he
did not make
use of the
snowshoes that
are native to
North America, but rather would
travel with what the local people
applied that term to: 10-foot
(longer than 3 meters) skis, and
a single sturdy pole generally
held in both hands at once.
Thompson delivered the first sil-
ver ore to be mined from the
Comstock Lode. He was never
paid for delivering the mail.
Country and folk singer Johnny
Horton recorded a song about
Thompson's adventures as a
mail carrier in his 1956 song
Snowshoe Thompson.
Ten most influential people in Douglas County history
Bert and Sue Selkirk
Thompson
Photo courtesy of Gatekeeper Museum
Dat So Lah Le
Dangberg
Dressler
1417 Industrial Way Gardnerville, NV 89410 775.782.1958
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150 Years of Douglas County Progress

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A publication of The Record-Courier

Page 10 | Sunday, January 29, 2012 | www.recordcourier.com

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