Hot Springs Post Office
Hot Springs Post Office is the a former post office, probably located at present-day Trego.
GNIS has the post office at 40.8604554 -119.3329642, which is near Fly Geyser, which is probably incorrect.
The Hot Springs Station GNIS cites "Bancroft's Map of California and Nevada: 1868, scale 1 inch=24 miles. H. H. Bancroft & Co., Booksellers & Stationers, San Francisco, Calif. Entered according to an act of Congress, A.D. 1868, by H. H. Bancroft & Company in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of California." The GNIS entry indicates that the location is approximate. Presumably Hot Springs Station is what is now known as Trego.
The Map of the Western Division of the Fort Kearney South Pass and Honey Lake Road," 1857 shows the location of Trego as "Hot Spr"
Amesbury reports two 1861 entries from the diary of Edith Lockhart:
"August 18: Pleasant day. Started at noon and went 18 miles to Rabbit Hole Springs, rested a couple of hours and went 18 more miles by the next day to Hot Springs."
"Aug. 19. A warm day - got into camp at 10 oclock in this morning, laid over till evening - when we went 12 miles to Granite Creek or Wells."
In June 1864, Company D of the Nevada Volunteer Calvary passed through Rabbit Hole Spring and then traveled twenty miles to "Hot Springs, now another Western Pacific Railroad village."[1]
William H. Van Alstine was the postmaster of Spring City in Roop County in 1867 (see image below).[2]
Harris (1973), states that Hot Springs Post Office was at:
- Roop County 4 Oct 1866 to 6 Aug 1867
- Churchill County 26 Mar 1873 to 21 Oct 1874
Harris states that they were likely the same place as the boundaries of Roop County are uncertain as it was never organized. The map in Harris has Hot Springs down near Humboldt House.
Page 29 of Harris continues that Hot Springs was known as Spring City "4 Oct 1866 to 6 Aug 1867" which are incorrect dates, p. 48 of Harris has these two entries for Spring City
- Roop County 13 June 1866 to 4 Oct 1866
- Humboldt County 3 Feb 1879 to 14 Mar 1895 and that it was previously known as Siskron.
Smith et al cite Harris (1973) and state:
- "Hot Springs Both probably at same location; Roop County was never organized and its boundaries were uncertain. Hot Springs was previously known as Spring City. Same location as Humboldt House."[3][4]
Despite what Harris writes, because there are two maps that show Hot Springs as being near present-day Trego, it seems more likely that from 13 June 1866 to 4 Oct 1866 there was a Spring City Post Office located in what was then Roop County at what was later Trego. On October 4, 1866, the name was changed to Hot Springs and that post office closed on 6 Aug 1867.
The borders of Roop County are vague, but it seems likely that Roop County did not extend into Churchill County. In 1862, the parts of Nevada parts of Roop County were ceded to Washoe County.[5] Another point is that all the post offices listed in the Postmaster Appointments for Roop County, Nevada image below are fairly close to each other and the location in Churchill County is quite far from the other locations.
Another opinion is presented by Patera (1992) who states that Spring City was established at Double Hot Springs.[6] There were definitely two towns, one at Hardin City (renamed to Harveyville after Judge Harvey from Susanville) and a town at Double Hot. Patera quotes the July 14, 1866 Sierra Advocate from Downieville states "The population of the two little towns recently started out there, are obliged to gool the water from some hot springs, in order to supply themselves with that necessary article."
Mark (2020) agrees with Patera that Spring City was at Double Hot.[7]
Hot Springs, Churchill County
Page 1 of the August 30 1873 Eureka Daily Sentinel has an article that states that the manager of the Saxon-American Borax Company at Hot Springs Churchill County was Gustav Opitz and that he badly hurt is knee.
The 1890 Wadsworth 1:125k map shows Hot Springs at being what later became Bradys Hot Springs at what is now the Nightingale Rd. exit of I-80. This is probably where Harris got the location of the Hot Springs Post Office being in Churchill County 26 Mar 1873 to 21 Oct 1874.
Hot Springs, Humboldt County
Note that there was a Spring City (aka Siskron) near Paradise Valley, though the first newspaper articles start in 1878.[8] This is likely the Spring City that had the Humboldt County Post Office from 3 Feb 1879 to 14 Mar 1895.
References
- ↑ The Sagebrush Soldiers," Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, map on p. 65, Vol. 5, No.3-4, 1963.
- ↑ A Century of Nevada Post Offices, Walter N Frickstad, Edward W. Thrall with Ernest G. Meyers, "Register of Officers and Agents" for September 30 1867. p. 38. 1958.
- ↑ Prehistory and History of the Winnemucca District: A Cultural Resources Literature Overview," Regina C. Smith, BLM 1983.
- ↑ Nevada Postal History 1861 to 1972, Robert Harris. "List of Nevada Post Offices and Postal Routes and dates of operation. Map included." 1973.
- ↑ "General history and resources of Washoe County, Nevada, published under the auspices of the Nevada Educational Association," p. 6, 1988. It is odd that the date if the ceding is 1862, yet in 1866 the post offices are still listed as being in Roop County.
- ↑ "Harden City (Harveyvill) and the Black Rock Excitement", Allen H. Patera, Western Places Chronicle of Western Settlement, vol 1, no. 2, June 1992.
- ↑ "Stories of the Humboldt Wagon Road," Andy Mark, p. 53, 2020.
- ↑ "Spring City," forgottennevada.com.
External Links
- GNIS Hot Springs Post Office (historical)
- GNIS has the post office at 40.8604554 -119.3329642
- History: "Spring City Post Office Jun 1866-Oct 1866, Hot Springs Post Office Oct 1866-Aug 1867"
- Citation: "Gamett, James, and Paher, Stanley W. Nevada Post Offices. Las Vegas: Nevada Publications, 1983, 176 pp. Discusses historical background of Nevada post offices. p43"
- Variant: Spring City Post Office. Citation: "Gamett, James, and Paher, Stanley W. Nevada Post Offices. Las Vegas: Nevada Publications, 1983, 176 pp. Discusses historical background of Nevada post offices. p120"