The How and Why of Fort Churchill

On January 24, 1848 gold was discovered in the Coloma, California area during the construction of a sawmill for John Sutter. A James W. Marshall had been detailed by John Sutter to build a sawmill utilizing water supplied by the South Fork of the American River. While in the process of building the sawmill Mr. Sutter discovered gold flakes or nuggets in the tailrace water and the rest is well known history!

Thousands upon thousands of Eastern and Mid-West Americans and along with immigrants from Britain, Europe, China, South America and even Australia poured into California looking to strike it rich as miners of the yellow metal. Along with the actual gold miners came farmers, ranchers, blacksmiths, merchants and unfortunately criminals & lawyers!

By 1860 the USA was about to be torn into shreds as the current president, James Buchanan, who was a northerner but who's sympathies were with the South. Buchanan knew he would not ne re-elected as a Democrat president due to his Southern (Slaveholding) sympathies.

A quote from Wikipedia:


The turmoil in the East only lead to more settlers coming across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to California (and Oregon also, remember the Oregon Trail, but that is another story). The High Sierra Mountains was the last major impediment for the pioneers & settlers. In the spring of 1849 a group of "frontiersmen" heading to California from Salt Lake City stopped at the Carson River near to the present day location of the town of Dayton, NV.

In this group of "frontiersmen" was a fellow named Abner Blackburn who decided to take a breadknife and pie pan and walk into one of the many ravines in the area to look for gold. The pack train that Abner Blackburn was accompanying had to wait here for the passes through the Sierra Mountains to clear of heavy snow before heading to "golden" California. What else was their to do while he waited for the snow to melt!

Yes, Mr. Blackburn found gold and when his camp buddies were told of his discovery all went out with Mr. Blackburn and together found about 9 or 10 dollars worth of gold. Mr. Blackburn and his pack train buddies could not stay and had to leave but it did not matter as the news was out, Nevada (still a part of the Utah Territory in 1849) had gold.

Jump to the year of 1860, and the fear of (not actual attacks) Indian attacks was at its peak in the North Western area of Nevada. Rumors of Indian atrocities at Williams Station AKA Honey Lake Smith's, a Carson River outpost about 30 miles east of Carson City. As the surely hyped news reports filtered back to Carson Valley settlers, the calls went out demanding immediate protection from the huge force of "savages".

The original Williams Station/Honey Lake Smith's was inundated by the newly formed Lake Lahontan (technically a reservoir) in 1912. A rather interesting and different view of the Honey Lake Smith's event can be found here: http://www.forgottennevada.org/sites/williams.html
This page also has some very unique photographs of Honey Lake Smith's when the Lake Lahontan was in an extremely low water condition due to the ongoing Western drought.

We can pick up the story here from the Fort Churchill brochure:


Williams Station was a Pony Express station kept by James O. Sullivan along the Carson River between stations 149 (in the Carson Sink) and 151 (Hooten Wells Station) (cannot locate on any map). The ruins were inundated by the Lahontan Reservoir created by the 1911 Lahontan Dam and were visible during a 1992 drought. This Wiki information may be incorrect for the location of Stations 149 and 151!

In December 1859 Captain Stewart took command of Fort Alcatraz, later to be known as Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. In the years immediately preceding the Civil War, Captain Stewart transformed Fort Alcatraz into one of the most powerful coastal defense in the Western USA. It was also during time that Alcatraz took on the role of a prison. Under Stewart's command 11 soldiers were imprisoned there and later other nearby forts were sending prisoners their prisoners to be housed in Fort Alcatraz.

The U.S. Army responded by sending a detachment of U.S. artillerymen (no cannons) and infantry from Fort Alcatraz, California to the Carson River area of what would become the state of Nevada. This contingent was known as the "Carson River Expedition" and was led by Captain Joseph Stewart.

Captain Stewart along with Colonel John C. Hays, a retired Texas Ranger, who had organized a force of local volunteer militia known as the "Washoe Regiment" defeated Numaga and the Paiute forces were scattered across the Great Basin. This was the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake.

After the second battle of Pyramid Lake, the federal forces built a small fort at the southern end of Pyramid Lake. In 1861 the fort at Pyramid Lake was abandoned in favor of Fort Churchill.

Picking up the story again from the Fort Churchill brochure:



By 1869 with the Pony Express mail service having ended and with the completion of the  transcontinental railroad the fort was abandoned. The adobe buildings were auctioned for a sum of only $750 having cost the American taxpayer a couple 10,000 dollars!

Samuel Buckland was a pioneer rancher/farmer who used the nearby waters of the Carson River to irrigate crops of fresh vegetables, barley, hay and other supplies, including cattle, to western emigrants and Fort Churchill staff during the 1860s.

Samuel Buckland had moved west from Kirkersville, OH in 1850 along with the mass movement of people looking to get rich in the California Gold Rush. I guess Mr. Buckland never actually made it to California because in 1859, he purchased land near the Carson River in an area called Pleasant Grove. Soon, his ranch became a stop for the Overland Stage. Then in 1860, he had signed a contract with Russell, Majors and Waddell (Founders of the Pony Express) to become a Pony Express station. 

In 1860, Samuel Buckland married Eliza Prentis. Together, they had eight children; but only three of the children survived into adulthood which was not uncommon in the pioneer West.

The post cemetery still had it's dead intact until 1884 when the remains of soldiers buried in the post were moved to Carson City. Today you will still see graves in the Fort Churchill post cemetery, but these are the graves of the Samuel S. Buckland family.

Navigation Map

Yep I know, the map is really jus a bit to small to see what you are clicking on.Not to worry folks, just go ahead and click on the map itself and boom of you go to the Navigation Page. So simple even a cave man can do it!

Fort Churchill Road
Derelict Feedlot
Mustang Alert
Nevada Automotive Test Center
Historic Fort Churchill