Our resort is located in a town called Genoa (pronounced gen OH a), so we went to find out about it. It's a tiny place, but boasts some noteworthy history. Originally called Mormon Station, Genoa is Nevada's oldest town and was founded in 1851 as a settler's or squatter's government. The settlers adopted resolutions, by-laws, rules for taking up land and rules for water rights. Because of the large numbers of travelers and emigrants passing through the area, trading was the principal business. Nevada's first post office was established in Genoa in 1852 and its first printed newspaper was founded there. We also saw the Old Genoa Bar, the oldest continuously operating thirst parlor in Nevada. The courthouse, Nevada's first, was opened in 1865 and has been completely preserved and restored. It's a beautiful, quite large brick building with the courtroom on the second floor and the jail in the basement.
An interesting feature of Genoa is that it sits on the route of the Pony Express. One of Genoa's legendary heroes is John "Snowshoe" Thompson, who began delivering mail and other goods before the Pony Express was established. He made the trip, a treacherous 90-mile route through the Sierra from Genoa to Placerville CA twice a month from 1856-1876 on what was probably the first pair of wooden skis in the West. Despite his contributions and dangerous ventures, he was never fully compensated by the Postal Service. After driving on the mountains, I can only imagine how it must have been to walk it, especially in the winter.
From Genoa we drove south, through Minden and Gardnerville, to Lake Topaz. The scenery is beautiful no matter where you go: mountains all around, and wide valley floor covered with wildflowers, sage, grass. It's all very relaxing.
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