Fort Churchill, Nevada

We've been so busy since we arrived here at our friends' place in Gardnerville that I haven't gotten the last update posted...... so here it is!

We stayed two nights in the Fort Churchill campground, tucked away beneath cottonwood and Russian olive trees, swatting mosquitoes. It was a great place to relax, as we could stay in the RV and admire the scenery bug-free! The cottonwood trees were shedding their seeds so rapidly that at times it looked like it was snowing.

(Double click on the slide show for a larger version.)
Fort Churchill came into being in 1860, with the two-fold purpose of protecting the pony express route and protecting settlers from the native Indians. In actuality, the Paiutes who lived in this region really weren't a problem, but one rumor led to another and soon there was what has come to be known as the Paiute War or Pyramid Lake War, and this fort is the result.

This was not a bad post, as desert assignments go. The fort is on the Walker river, which supports a variety of wildlife. Hunting must have been pretty good back then. There would also have been the ready availability of water for the kitchens and laundry facilities at the fort. The fort was built with the idea of being a permanent facility, but as such things go, it was abandoned in 1869. A private buyer obtained rights to all the wood - doors and windows mostly - and dismantled it. The remaining adobe brick walls had pretty much melted due to neglect, as adobe buildings are known to do, until the CCC restored it in the 1930's. Some of their efforts have also returned to their original state, but thanks to a light coat of stucco there remains enough of the restored walls to fuel the vision of what the fort was like originally.