Our Original Inhabitants

While most people think of 1861 as the start of our local history it is far from the beginning.

What is now called Walker Lake, just outside of Hawthorne, Nevada, has long been the home of the "Agai Ducutta Numa" members of the Paiute tribe who's name means Trout Eater People. They called the Lake, Agai Ticatta, or Trout Lake. Another earlier influence were Spanish Miners who traveled this way from Mexico in the early 1800's. At the Mineral County Museum you can see a collection of Mission Bells that were found buried in the ground about 15 miles southeast of  Hawthorne, NV.

Aurora, Nevada was what we think of when considering "the real wild west." In 1860 gold was discovered in Aurora, 30 miles southwest of present day Hawthorne, Nevada. For a while both Nevada and California claimed that the rich gold fields of Aurora belonged in their state. Both states made Aurora the county seat for a new county, Mono County California and Esmeralda County Nevada. This led to great confusion during the next presidential election as citizens could vote at the Nevada polls then walk down the street and vote again at the California polls. This situation continued for over two years.

The Daly Gang of thugs operated out an Aurora, Nevada saloon between the years of 1862 to 1864.

Though called the Daly Gang the mastermind behind the group was actually "Three-Fingered Jack" McDowell who, along with John Daly, operated a saloon which quickly became known as a place where beatings, gunfights, mayhem, and murder were the norm. McDowell, Daly and two other men named William Buckley and Jim Masterson, bullied the town and cheated any card players that were foolish enough to frequent McDowell’s saloon. If a customer complained about the bullies or the underhandedness of the establishment, the gunmen simply took matters into their own hands. The outlaws terrorized the Nevada gold fields between Aurora and Carson City, using scare tactics known as “criminal vigilantism,” lynching anyone who resisted.

They operated without interference until the gang murdered a man named William R. Johnson on February 1, 1864, who had killed one of their associates named Jim Sears when he was attempting to steal a horse the previous year. Slitting Johnson’s throat and setting him on fire, they left the gruesome site for all to see. When one law-abiding citizen threatened to tell the local authorities the identities of the killers, the ruffians took quick action, cut the throat of the would-be informer and then threw the body of the man into the muddy street to rot. Fed up, the horror-stricken citizens soon formed a vigilante group and attacked McDowell’s saloon on February 5, 1864. Dragging McDowell, Daly, Buckley, and Masterson from the saloon, they locked them up while they quickly constructed a gallows. A short time later, all four men were hanged outside Armory Hall in Aurora

LegendsofAmerica.com

Samuel Clemens arrived in Carson City, Nevada Territory in 1861 with his brother, Orion. They traveled by overland stage from St. Joseph, Missouri. Sam had lost his job as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River due to the Civil War. Together they started buying shares of mining companies in the Esmeralda Mining District. The largest town in the District was Aurora, where Sam soon found himself working some of his claims himself, believing (like thousands of others) that that they would strike it rich. Like many of the others, however, he soon found out that most of the mines were worthless. He even worked briefly at a stamp mill (crushing ore), but he soon found that he couldn't make a living as a miner.

We lived in a little cabin and cooked for ourselves; and altogether it was a hard life, though a hopeful one.

-Mark Twain, Roughing It

After only about a week, Samuel wrote his brother to ask for writing materials. Soon Sam began sending stories about a miner's life in Aurora under the pen name "Josh" to the editor of the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. It didn't take long for Sam to be offered a job at the newspaper. His humorous articles about the Comstock's "flush times" were a hit throughout Nevada and California. It was here that he first began signing his work, Mark Twain, which refers to a shallow depth from his riverboat days. Five years later, after traveling throughout the gold country of Nevada and California he wrote, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and his career was launched. See the picture above of his friend, Bob Howland (far left) in front of a crude cabin in Aurora.