Jacobsville Nevada
Jacobsville Nevada Overview
This station was known by several names, Jacobs Spring, Jacobsville Station, Reese River, Reese River Station, and Jacobs Well. This makes it hard to research this Pony Express stop located in Lander County, Nevada.
The stone foundations of Jacobsville are a one-half mile north of here.
The town was established in 1859 as an Overland Stage and Mail Station and became a Pony Express stop in 1860.
In the early 1860s, it boasted of having the first telegraph relay station and was the first county seat of Lander County.
Learn more about the Pony Express: The Route, The Riders, The Ruins Left Behind.
Year Established/Founded
1859
Jacobsville Nevada History
Historic Resource Study Pony Express National Historic Trail
Sources give this site several names, but generally, they agree on its identity as a Pony Express station.
Named for station keeper George Washington Jacobs, the station possibly began on the site of one of George Chorpenning’s 1859 mail posts near the Reese River.
In the summer of 1860, Indians burned the station and a new, incomplete adobe structure greeted Richard Burton when he arrived on October 13 of that same year.
The Overland Mail Company and other stage lines also operated a station at the site, which grew into the promising little town of Jacobsville.
When the silver boom began in Austin, Nevada, the Overland shifted its operations to that settlement in about 1864.
In 1986, the ruins of the adobe Pony Express station still existed northwest of Jacobsville
Timeline
- October 26, 1861 – The operations cease after the first transcontinental telegraph was established on October 24, 1861
Elevation
5,699′
Location
GPS Coordinates
39.492893, -117.183836
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Nevada Historical Marker Category
- Pony Express
- Telegraph
- Trail/Road
Nevada Historical Marker Marker Type
Blue marker
Nevada Historical Marker Number
Jacobsville Nevada is Nevada Historical Marker #66.
Click here to view the complete list of Nevada State Historical Markers.
County
Nevada Historical Marker Transcription
The site of Jacobsville is one-half mile north. George Washington Jacobs, the first sheriff of Lander County, founded the town on the banks of the Reese River in 1859. Jacobsville was the Overland Stage and mail station and became a Pony Express stop in 1860. In the early 1860s, it had a population of about 400 people and boasted of having the first telegraph relay station, a post office, courthouse, three stores and two hotels.
Jacobsville was the first county seat of Lander County which extended over most of northeastern Nevada. The county seat was moved to the more populated town of Austin the same year it was established in Jacobsville. The only remnants of the town are a few stones used in the foundations. The Reese River, just west of here, was discovered by the exploring party of John Reese in 1854.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER NO. 66
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
AUSTIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Photos and Videos
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