Devil’s Gate
Devil’s Gate Overview
Devil’s Gate marks the boundary line between Storey and Lyon Counties.
From 1850-1860 Gold Canyon was busy with placer mining.
During the brief Paiute War of 1860, residents of Silver City built a stone battlement on the eastern summit and a wooden cannon for protection.
Later on, miners traveled through here on their way to the gold and silver mines of the Comstock Lode.
Category
- Mining
- Native American
Marker Type
Concrete marker
Nevada Historical Marker Number
Devil’s Gate is Nevada Historical Marker #223.
Click here to view the complete list of Nevada State Historical Markers.
County
GPS Coordinates
39.266623, -119.643199
Nevada Historical Marker Transcription
It gives … “a forcible impression of the unhallowed character of the place.” J. Ross Browne . 1860
This rugged reef of metamorphic rock was once one of the famous landmarks of the Nevada Territory. In June of 1850, John Orr and Nicholas Kelly unearthed a gold nugget nearby, the first ever found in Gold Canyon. For the next ten years, the can was the scene of placer mining and one of the first stamp mills in the Territory was erected just to the south of Devil’s Gate during the summer of 1860.
During the brief Paiute War of May, 1860, the people of Silver City built a stone battlement atop the eastern summit and constructed a wooden cannon for protection.
Devil’s Gate marks the boundary line between Storey and Lyon Counties. Through this narrow gorge paraded thousands of the most adventurous souls of the mining West as they made their way to the gold and silver mines of the Comstock Lode.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 223
DIVISION OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND ARCHAEOLOGY
SPONSORED BY:
RENO CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN COLONISTS