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ENLARGE
NEVADA TRAVELER
Rich Moreno
The village of Lamoille at the base of the Ruby Mountains just may be the most picturesque place in Nevada. Located about 20 miles southeast of Elko, Lamoille can trace its roots to prehistoric times, when the native Shoshone lived in seasonal villages in the area.
The first non-Indian settler were two miners from Austin, John P. Wallace and Thomas A. Water-man, who settled in the upper Lamoille Valley, near the Rubies, in 1865. The two erected a crude log cabin, which they shared, and planted grain to sell to travelers heading to California.
Waterman is believed to be responsible for naming Lamoille. A native of Johnson in Lamoille County, Vermont, Waterman is said to have named the valley because it reminded him of his home in Vermont.
The word, Lamoille, is believed to be an anglicized version of the French word, La Moitte, which means gull or mew, a type of bird usually found at the mouth of a river.
By the late 1860s, the Lamoille Valley had several dozen small farms. A school was established in the early 1870s—in fact, the old Walker-Waterman cabin served as the first schoolhouse. A more formal school was finally constructed a few years later.
The first church service in Lamoille Valley was a Presbyterian service conducted in the schoolhouse in 1872.
In 1905, the Presbyterian congregation was responsible for constructing what must be considered Lamoille's most recognizable landmark, the picturesque Lamoille Presbyterian Church. The impressive, high-steepled, whitewashed church, which originally cost $3,000, remains in use.
Lamoille was intially a grain-producing area, farmers soon branched into cattle and other agricultural products in order to meet the food demands of mining camps in the region.
The development of the actual town of Lamoille owes much to John Walker, who built the Cottonwood Hotel in Lamoille in 1869. The hotel included not only rooms, but also a blacksmith shop and a saloon.
Walker erected his complex at a place known as the Lamoille Crossroads, a spot on one of the routes of the Humboldt Trail, which many pioneers traveled to reach California and Oregon.
Within a few years, other businesses cropped up near Walker's hotel including the Lamoille Merchantile Co., which in addition to housing a store had a hotel and dance hall.
The owners of the Merchantile also erected a series of tent frames in a thick stand of cottonwood trees at the crossroads and set aside the grove of trees as a recreational area. The tents were rented on a weekly basis to vacationers from Elko, making it one of the area's first tourist-related services.
In the early 20th century, Lamoille gained a flourmill and a creamery, which for many years produced butter and ice cream.
Additionally, in 1912 the Elko-Lamoille Power Company was formed and a year later installed a small hydroelectric generating plant on the stream that flowed out of Lamoille Canyon.
The road into Lamoille Canyon, which today is an official scenic byway and one of the loveliest drives in the state, was constructed in the early 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal work program that during the Great Depression employed youths from economically depressed parts of the country.
The road remained dirt until 1973, when it was converted into an oiled road. In the 1980s, the route was finally paved, which finally opened up the area to visitors.
The first non-Indian settler were two miners from Austin, John P. Wallace and Thomas A. Water-man, who settled in the upper Lamoille Valley, near the Rubies, in 1865. The two erected a crude log cabin, which they shared, and planted grain to sell to travelers heading to California.
Waterman is believed to be responsible for naming Lamoille. A native of Johnson in Lamoille County, Vermont, Waterman is said to have named the valley because it reminded him of his home in Vermont.
The word, Lamoille, is believed to be an anglicized version of the French word, La Moitte, which means gull or mew, a type of bird usually found at the mouth of a river.
By the late 1860s, the Lamoille Valley had several dozen small farms. A school was established in the early 1870s—in fact, the old Walker-Waterman cabin served as the first schoolhouse. A more formal school was finally constructed a few years later.
The first church service in Lamoille Valley was a Presbyterian service conducted in the schoolhouse in 1872.
In 1905, the Presbyterian congregation was responsible for constructing what must be considered Lamoille's most recognizable landmark, the picturesque Lamoille Presbyterian Church. The impressive, high-steepled, whitewashed church, which originally cost $3,000, remains in use.
Lamoille was intially a grain-producing area, farmers soon branched into cattle and other agricultural products in order to meet the food demands of mining camps in the region.
The development of the actual town of Lamoille owes much to John Walker, who built the Cottonwood Hotel in Lamoille in 1869. The hotel included not only rooms, but also a blacksmith shop and a saloon.
Walker erected his complex at a place known as the Lamoille Crossroads, a spot on one of the routes of the Humboldt Trail, which many pioneers traveled to reach California and Oregon.
Within a few years, other businesses cropped up near Walker's hotel including the Lamoille Merchantile Co., which in addition to housing a store had a hotel and dance hall.
The owners of the Merchantile also erected a series of tent frames in a thick stand of cottonwood trees at the crossroads and set aside the grove of trees as a recreational area. The tents were rented on a weekly basis to vacationers from Elko, making it one of the area's first tourist-related services.
In the early 20th century, Lamoille gained a flourmill and a creamery, which for many years produced butter and ice cream.
Additionally, in 1912 the Elko-Lamoille Power Company was formed and a year later installed a small hydroelectric generating plant on the stream that flowed out of Lamoille Canyon.
The road into Lamoille Canyon, which today is an official scenic byway and one of the loveliest drives in the state, was constructed in the early 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal work program that during the Great Depression employed youths from economically depressed parts of the country.
The road remained dirt until 1973, when it was converted into an oiled road. In the 1980s, the route was finally paved, which finally opened up the area to visitors.
