Dayton, Nevada

HISTORIC DAYTON, NEVADA
Dayton is at the western end of the Forty-Mile Desert at a bend in the Carson River. Immigrants stopping there for water would consider whether to follow the river south or continue west, giving the location its first name, "Ponderers Rest". In 1849, Abner Blackburn, while heading for California, discovered a gold nugget in nearby Gold Creek, one of the tributaries of the Carson River.
By 1850, placer miners settled at the mouth of Gold Canyon, working sand bars deposited over the millennia along the path of the creek. Because many Chinese immigrants eventually lived there, some called the community "Chinatown," but it also went by several other names. In 1861, the town officially adopted the name Dayton, after John Day, a local surveyor.
Throughout the 1850s, Dayton served as the commercial hub for miners working in the canyon. With the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, newly-founded Gold Hill and Virginia City, six miles to the north, assumed prominence. Dayton prospered by milling ore, using water from the Carson River.
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Sources of information:
Historical Society of Dayton Valley
Historical Society of Dayton Valley | Historical information about Dayton, Nevada and the surrounding area (daytonnvhistory.org)
Images of America, Dayton
By Laura Tennant and Jack Folmar
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.o...
Western Mining History
westernminingh...