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The Mountain Canyon of the Sun
May , 2008
By John Evanoff
Long before European settlers or even mountain
men ever saw the mountains around Virginia City the area was inhabited
by several different bands of Indians, most notably within the last
three thousand years, the Washoe Tribe. The family congregations
of this relatively small tribe, an offshoot of the Northern Paiute
Indians, moved to the beat of the seasons of food supplies constantly
making their way from the east side of Washoe Lake which was a marsh
plentiful in game during the spring and fall to the southeast side
of Tahoe for the summer, where fishing and deer hunting was plentiful
and the families could get away from the heat. Throughout the centuries,
the Indians also harvested the pinion pine nut every autumn from
the then vast Pinion forests along the Virginia Mountains. Many
of the families grouped in communities of forty to fifty individuals
met in mid autumn each year to enjoy each other’s company,
tell stories of the following year’s adventures and journeys
and occasionally sponsor some of their young girls or boys in bids
to tie the families together. It is said the legend of two young
Washoe lovers was the basis for tales eventually leading to the
gold and silver finds of the Comstock Lode.
Thousands of years ago, the two tribes of the
north, the three tribes of the south and the four families of the
east came together for an annual Pow-Wow at present day New Washoe
City. Many saw the young chief of the local family as the most powerful
and good looking of all the tribes and a young girl who came from
the furthest southern and most prosperous family as the prettiest.
The problem was that another young brave had been promised to the
hand of the pretty young girl a year before in bargaining between
families of another band. The elders were at odds over this for
political reasons and several young boys came up in more discussion
to also be in the contest to wed the young maiden. With all this
talk, the young girl found time during one of the narration dances
to speak with the young chief and thus began an immediate relationship.
The young chief was smitten and the girl grew infatuated with the
strong, young, handsome brave. When the young chief asked to wed
the young girl, the tribes were in an uproar. Both knew their love
was deep and they decided to elope when the arguments led to infighting
between families.
The tale goes that the young couple woke up early
the next morning and began traveling east up the mountainside (Mt.
Davidson) and then down into present day Gold Canyon. The sun rose
into this unexplored canyon they were heading down into and they
came upon rocks that reflected the rays of the sun so brightly,
they could barely keep their eyes open. The young girl fell from
a steep outcrop and the young chief tried to save her and fell himself.
Both died instantly and tragically, the rest of the tribe finally
found them much later when some of the search party discovered the
same reflections and had halted their advance. From that day on,
the tale of this mountain canyon of the sun and the two lovers was
told and retold, a constant reminder of the grief from that heartbreaking
loss.
In the early fall of 1848 it is said a Mormon
Wagon Train met up with the tribe and negotiated some trades of
their glass beads for pinion balls and rabbit meat. The trust between
the two was necessary because more Mormons were to move on this
route to establish a system of settlements throughout the west part
of the soon to become Utah Territory. The tale of the yellow rocks
that glowed brightly from the eastern sunrise captivated the Mormons
who ventured a guess that this was actually a canyon full of gold
the Indians were discussing. Although the Mormons were by no means
experts in mineral sciences, a few of them went up the canyon from
the Carson River and discovered gold everywhere they panned. The
word got out to other Mormon trains moving through to Genoa and
points west in the next couple years from wagon leaders who constantly
made the round-trip back and forth to pick up more Mormon settlers
from the Salt Lake Valley. When the story spread to other pioneers
and eventually California prospectors, thousands of men and women
made the pilgrimage back over the Sierras and to the Carson River.
Within a few years, Gold Hill and Silver City were full of miners
seeking riches and people servicing the needs of the prospectors.
The gold mining was for the most part haphazard
by this time and many of the prospectors grew exceedingly tired
of trying to rock out the sticky blue mud that constantly hampered
their gold mining operations. A few miners even went crazy or broke
trying to get rid of the blue stuff. Among these were Henry Comstock
himself who gave up his claim and eventually ended up killing himself
after futile attempts at retail and mining, a common saga of the
day. What happened next brought on a major boon to mining in the
United States. The blue mud was found to be a high grade form of
pure silver.
Between 1858 and 1880, more than 400 million dollars
of gold and silver were taken from the Comstock Lode. Virginia City
and San Francisco became wealthy overnight from the strikes and
new advances in mining technology followed. But because of the antiquated
way the minerals were moved or leeched from the earth in processing
and milling, some mineralogists say more than a half billion dollars
of gold and silver found its way down the Carson River and beyond
into the Carson Sink. What is also known is that the Comstock Lode
vein still exists in huge shafts of rock hundreds of feet thick
although buried deep under Gold Hill and Six Mile Canyon in an almost
volcanic hot sulfurous state.
The best way to see the canyons is to hike along
the crest of the Virginia Range between McClelland Peak southwest
of Gold Canyon to the top of Mount Davidson just West of Virginia
City. Looking east down into the canyons in the early morning sunrise,
you can take some great pictures. You may even see the glint of
shiny sunshine upon the rocks and reflect on the tale of the Mountain
Canyon of the Sun.
Next month, the mines play out, but life goes on.
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Nevada History
John
C. Evanoff was born in Reno in 1947. He attended and graduated
Reno High School, the University of Nevada and later, Truckee Meadows
Community College. He has won awards for his writing and has written
for international, national and local publications. John published
a book of poems entitled HeartJazz and is working on a book of short
stories, a novel/screenplay and another book of poems. He and his
wife Sharon of 23 years are avid outdoor adventurers, golfers, photographers
and explorers of Nevada/California history and geography. He has
been a member of many charitable organizations and several associations
in the region. He writes these columns about the area he's known
and loved so that you can get a better appreciation of the land,
its history and its people. If you'd like to contact John with questions
or comments, please use 