Genoa Peak Road, James Canyon Road, Glenbrook

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NEV,3-SPSU.V,1D-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Toiyabe National Forest 3 miles south/southeast of Spooner Summit on Inter- state Highway 50 Douglas County, Nevada U.S.G.S. 7.5 minute Glenbrook, Nevada, quadrangle, photorevised Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: Zone 11, A: E, N B: E, N C: E, N D: E, N Date of Construction: circa Eng i nee r: Unknown Builder: Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company (C&TL&FCo.)

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NEV,3-SPSU.V,1D-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Genoa Peak Road spur segments were part of a major log transport network associated with the Comstock mining era. This secondary spur segment in James Canyon once intercon- nected an elaborate network of primary and lesser skid roads. The network was the main arterial system for wood transport to Spooner Summit, the key lumberyard for the C&TL&FCo. The period of significance for this lumbering activity is The spur road has retained its integrity and its overall character as a century Comstock-era haul road. Prepared By: John F. Elliott, Historian Elliott Research Associates P.O. Box 728 Three Rivers, California Date: July, GENOA PEAK ROAD, JAMES CANYON ROAD HAER No. NV (Page 2) A.

Physical History James Canyon Road was part of a complex of logging roads developed to access timber in the vicinity of Genoa Peak. This James Canyon spur road 1 inks a north and south trending network of smaller skid roads, trails, and log chutes. The 10-foot wt wide roadway is a graded earthen surface, and measures miles in length. The steeper areas contain some rock work reinforcing crossing sections. The average grade is less than six percent. It was constructed ca. The earthen dam is located near the junction of the Spur Road Segment 3 (James Canyon Road) and Genoa Peak Road. It is downstream from the Genoa Peak Road, in the James Canyon drain- age, in a climax stand of lodgepole pine.

The dam consists of a log and earth structure in a semi- circular configuration measuring approximately 200 feet in length. The site area contains associated artifacts including a wooden miter box, tin can fragments, barrel staves, milled lum- ber, nails, and logs. This type of earthen dam was typical in small scale river driving. Loggers would concentrate on felling and bucking until there was sufficient stream flow to move the logs to a pick-up point. Sometimes logs were cut in early spring and skidded to the stream to await the main snowmelt. The construction of dams was an attempt to regulate stream runoff (Wilson The James Canyon Cabin Sites are located south of and adja- cent to James Canyon Road, one-quarter mile east of the road's junction with Genoa Peak Road.

The archaeological site consists of the remains of two large cabins, a well, a tent platform, and associated artifacts. Cabin No. One is is the remains of a square-notched log structure fastened with wooden pegs. Milled lumber fragments are scattered in the vicinity. It appears to have contained two rooms; the larger of these measured 34 feet by 13 feet (E- W). The smaller room measured 7.5 feet by 13 feet (E-W): Cabin No. Two is the remains of a square-notched log struc- ture located approximately 160 feet southeast of Cabin No. One. The cabin consisted of a single room measuring (E-W) feet by feet This site area also contained milled lumber fragments.

Carson range woodchoppers, both Asian and Euroamerican, lived in groups of five to 10 in the in the the average group size was 10 to 20 (ibid.). Chinese woodcutters exhibited a social pattern typical of the American West. They lived separately from their Euroamerican counterparts in groups of adult males, ranging in age from The group was dominated by men in their twenties, group size varied (Lindstrom and Hall Previous studies indicate that the Chinese sites inferred a cross-cultural status difference between woodcutters and lumber- men. "Lumbermen" were involved in the milling industry, while GENOA PEAK ROAD, JAMES CANYON ROAD HAER NV (Page 3) "woodcutters" chopped and gathered wood.

Lumber production was a more skilled occupation centered at the mill site, while wood cutting was more labor intensive. Chinese immigrants tended to work in the outlying areas cutting cordwood (Hill B. Description General Characteristics The Genoa Peak Road Spur Segments are 10-foot wide graded earthen roadways approximately three miles in total length. The network of spur segments begins two miles south/southeast of Spooner Summit. Four associated historic features were also recorded as a part of this documentation. The historical integrity of these log-hauling spur segments is excellent; roadways have survived essentially intact. In the the Forest Service constructed waterbars for erosion con- trol .

These features consist of channels excavated across the roadbed to furnish drainage for stream runoff. The dirt from the channels was placed along the downslope side of the channel. C. Contextual History The Comstock mines would not have attained historical promi- nence without adequate sources of wood. The majority of this timber was supplied by the Tahoe Basin and the vicinity of Genoa Peak. In order to transport the logs to the Comstock district, lumber companies developed an elaborate system of roads, rail- roads, and flumes. At least 80 million board feet were consumed annually during the the peak of the excitement of the Comstock Era. The burgeoning demand for fuel wood attracted thousands of logging contractors who supplied large lumber companies.

The mines of the Comstock Lode (Virginia City, Nevada, region) are literally the tombs of the forests of the Tahoe Basin. In it was estimated that more than 600 million board feet had been buried in the Comstock mines, enough to build a town of six-room houses for population. The Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company established their key shipping and receiving yard at Spooner Summit. Wood was cut on the surrounding mountains. The logs were transported short runs in large wagons along haul roads. Longer distances necessitated the dragging of logsogs by team animals through chutes and on skid roads. The Glenbrook Railroad, established in delivered lumber from the Glenbrook mills in the Spooner Summit vicinity.

The Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company held a virtual monopoly over the wood and water resources of the area. GENOA PEAK ROAD, JAMES CANYON ROAD HAER NV (Page 4) D. Proposed Alterations Within the Genoa sale area, along the main trunk of Genoa Peak Road, some construction will be necessary. This work will include curve widening, installation of culverts for drainage, ditching, grading, and rock surfacing over a small segment. No historic sites, or artifacts were identified during the surface survey of the trunk road within the project area. A few segments of James Canyon Road will also be recon- structed. Alterations will include the installation of drainage culvert, widening of the right-of-way to an average width of 25 feet at one corner location.

Other work will include rock sur- facing and straightening of portions along the initial 500 feet of the segment. One stretch of 300 feet wi 11 be relocated to protect the archaeological integrity of the James Canyon Cabin sites. E. Sources Knowles, Constance Darrow A History of Lumbering in the Truckee Basin. Ms. on file at Forestry Library, UC Berkeley. WPA Official Project No. Forest Survey Division. Lindstrom, Susan G. Determination of Eligibility and Effect for the Spoon- er Timber Sale on the Toiyabe National Forest. Biosystems Analysis, Inc., Santa Cruz. Lindstrom, Susan G. and Jeffrey T. Hall Cultural Resources Inventory and Evaluation Report for the Proposed Spooner Summit and East Shore (Big Gulp) Timber Sales. Biosystems Analysis, Inc., Santa Cruz.

Olaetxe-Mallea, Jose History that Grows on Trees: The Aspen Carvings of Basque Sheepherders. Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, 35 Wilson, Dick Sawdust Trails in the Truckee Basin: A History of Lumbering Operations. Nevada County Historical Society, Nevada City, California. GENOA PEAK ROAD, JAMES CANYON ROAD HAER NV (Page 5) F. Project Information This documentation has been prepared resultant from the signing of a memorandom of agreement (moa) between the Forest Service and the Nevada State Office of Historic Preservation. The moa was, in effect, the acknowledgement that the completion of Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation would constitute appropriate mitigation for construction activi- ties associated with the Genoa Timber Salvage sale.

In July, field inspection and photo documentation of the project area was completed. Concurrent with the fieldwork, the USDA Forest Service contracted with Elliott Research Asso- ciates of Three Rivers, California to assist in preparing the written documentation and the final HAER submission.