A few days ago I received a nice Christmas card from a long time friend who expressed her enjoyment of my posts on Nevada. She wondered if I had a Christmas story I could tell. My immediate thoughts were.....no..not really but , on my way home yesterday I took a short detour through old town Dayton and yes Virginia..there is a Christmas story and it happed in Dayton but before I can tell you of this personal experience of mine, we need to look at Dayton a little bit. Dayton was founded around 1850 by some pioneers headed to the California gold fields when they discovered a vein of gold in the canyon above Dayton. It was christened Gold Canyon and proved to be a trading point for pioneers, miners and others moving through the area. With the completion of the transcontinental railroad, masses of Chinese laborers were released where they stood and many made their way to Gold Canyon. In fact, the 1860 census called the area Chinatown. In 1859, the Comstock began its run and Virginia City became the preeminent town of the region and Gold Canyon faded into a sort of obscurity. It was never a ghost as the area was-and is-well suited to farming and ranching with adequate water from the Carson River. As Virginia City boomed, it became apparent that a good source of water was needed to run the mills processing VC gold and mills began to appear along the river. In 1861, newly formed Lyon County changed the name of Gold Canyon to Dayton, naming it after John Day...the surveyor general of Nevada. It was also declared the county seat of Lyon County and a fine courthouse was built. In previous articles Ive written about these old towns in Nevada, the twin Fs seemed to have a place in history. Of the twin Fs (fires and floods) fire was a major factor in Daytons decline. Several fires including one in 1909 which burned the courthouse allowing for the more prosperous agrarians of the Mason Valley (Yerington) to wrest away the county seat. Dayton has always sat in a sort of obscurity to its cousin 6 miles away; Virginia City. To me, that has always been Daytons charm. Until recent years, it has been a sleepy somewhat disheveled little town that offered a cold beer and some good conversation. In the 1970s and 80s the Comstock region along with Dayton and Silver City enjoyed a somewhat renaissance with the influx of counter culture refugees (my word) from the Bay Area of California. Among these folks were some very talented musicians and several great bands were formed. The Golden Gate Saloon in Silver City often hosted these bands and their appearance at events such as the Silver City firemans ball and Santa Maria Days in Dayton always provided a good time with some great rock and roll music. Im willing to bet that there are a few of my readers who remember this era and have a slight smile on their face as they read this. One of the great hang outs in Dayton was the End of the Trail Saloon. This was a great old bar that fronted for a top rate restaurant. They had innumerable nights of music in there too. Thats where my Christmas story starts...the End of the Trail Saloon...tomorrow....
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:19:18 +0000