Big Smoky Valley

Named for its hazy distances, this valley was a thoroughfare for the whole cast of the early West. The Shoshone knew it first; Jedediah Smith crossed its southern end in 1827, Frémont and Kit Carson came through in 1845, and in 1859 Simpson laid the central route that the Pony Express, the Overland Telegraph, and the Overland stages would all follow. Then Austin's silver lit the valley up with camps — Kingston, Jefferson, Ophir — and after the 1900 Tonopah strike, Manhattan and Round Mountain rose on its floor. The road still runs the length of it.

What the plaque says

Named for its hazy distances, this valley has seen a parade of famous men and stirring events. Prior to the white men, the valley and its bordering Toiyabe and Toquima Ranges were favorite Shoshone haunts. Jedediah Smith, intrepid trapper and trail-blazer, was the first white man here. Crossing the valley's southern end from the west in 1827. In 1845, came John C. Fremont, accompanied by such figures of the American West as Kit Carson and Basil LaJeunesse. In 1859, Captain James Simpson located the "Central Route" across the valley's northern end. Thus began the historic decade 1859-1869, which saw Chorpenning's Jackass Mail, The Pony Express, The Overland Telegraph, and the Concord Coaches of the Overland Mail and Stage Co. crossing the valley Silver strikes at Austin (1862-1863) initiated the valley's first mining boom. Numerous bustling mining camps sprang up: Bunker Hill, Kingston, Geneva, Santa Fe, Ophir Canyon, Jefferson, etc. Following the 1900 Tonopah silver strike, mining surged again. During this interlude, two new towns - Manhattan and Round Mountain - started with a brief revival of many earlier camps.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park — 24 mi
  A gold camp frozen in "arrested decay" since 1911, beside a quarry of fifty-foot ichthyosaurs left in the rock where they died — the Silver Trails' long exhale into deep time.

More markers nearby

• Round Mountain — 5.1 mi
• Ophir — 11 mi
• Tate’s Stage Station — 14 mi
• Manhattan — 15 mi