On this Leg of the TS cache run we will take you to new heights and scenery. You will see The Mason Valley and the Walker river running through it. We will take you to and through several old mines sites. Some very spectacular views await you on this trip. We will run you through the old Regan Mine and you will see how they mined here. It was an open pit mine so no holes to fall in. As always beware this is the desert and bring plenty of Liquid. This road will be for everyone but we will put the terrain as a 2 because in parts will be sandy and some steep but not real steep. Just when you get use to one style of Cache we will change up on you. If you do not see the usual then it will be a change up cache. Put your super caching Glasses and hat on and have fun.
Mason Valley History: During the year 1854, N. H. A. Mason with his brothers, who were driving cattle through to California, observed the value of the land for grazing purposes. Late in 1859, Mr. Mason returned and found that one William Dickson had, in October of that year, located in the Northern part of the valley. Mr. Dickson, no doubt being glad to see a white man, offered Mr. Mason half of his claim to remain with him. Mr. Dickson finally lost his property on account of being absent for some time. Mr. Mason, from whom the valley takes its name, located on what was known as the Mason ranch, now the property of Miller and Lux. In 1860, Mason built the first house here. It was 16x24 feet 8 feet high with sides of mud held in place by willows and roofed with tules. It was burned in 1866. Following Mason were the Wheeler brothers, who settled on what is now a part of the George Wilson ranch. Soon after them came Angus McLeod, Charles Sneider, and a man named Clement, also Charles D. Lane, Johnson, the Alcorn brothers and Jesse Woodcock. David Wilson, with his wife and four small children, came in the summer of 1863. Mrs. Wilson was the first white woman to remain in the valley. Mr. Wilson helped the Alcorn brothers cut hay with a scythe and put up the first of many haystacks built here. Mr. Wilson then bought Tom Wheeler's ranch and settled near his present home. For six months she lived without seeing the face of another white woman, and we may imagine her joy when Mrs. Sprague, with her husband and daughter Alice, moved in from Carson Valley. Mrs. Wilson, who was of a retiring nature, said, "When I heard there was a woman in the new tent I did not wait to be introduced, but just put on my bonnet and went to see her, and how we talked." Usually the Indians were friendly, but at one time, for some cause unknown, they put on their war-paint and executed a war-dance. Seven painted warriors camped opposite Mr. Wilson's house. He armed the six white men who lived with him, and they in turn stood guard several days and nights. All other white people in this valley fled to Fort Churchill, taking with them Mrs. Wilson's daughter, who was visiting the Sprague family. No shots were fired and the Indians peacefully withdrew to their camps. In the year 1864 the first white child, a son, was born to the wife of 952 THE HISTORY OF NEVADA Adam Herboldt, living near the Brady ranch. The weather was stormy and the wind whistled through their abode ; but the boy John grew to manhood. The discovery of gold by William Wilson in Pinegrove during 1866, materially increased the population of this country. As there was no established mail-route, Charles Sneider and Angus McLeod ran a four-horse stage from Pinegrove through Mason Valley to Virginia City, carrying letters by express. Mr. W. R. Lee in 1861 pre-empted 160 acres of land and built the first house in Yerington, which is at present occupied by Mrs. Barton. Soon after Mr. E. W. Bennett bought near and built a store. Mr. James Downey moved from Pinegrove, secured a large amount of land and built a saloon, thus forming a nucleus for the present town of Yerington. Before anyone settled there, the pioneer trading post was a small store located near the Rhymers ranch; but afterward moved to about a mile north of Yerington and called the Gieger store. Mail came from Wadsworth, Nevada, once a week to this place and it was known as the Mason Valley postoffice. About this time the first school was opened by Miss Mattie Wiley, who taught in the home of Alec McLeod, near the present town.