Panaca Spring

Everything in Panaca starts with this water. The spring runs warm and steady, enough to turn a corner of the desert into the green of Meadow Valley — first noted by the lost Manly party fleeing Death Valley in 1849, then briefly cultivated in 1858 by Brigham Young's missionaries scouting a refuge against federal persecution. When Mormons founded Panaca in 1864, they built on this flow and drew every drop of domestic water from it for eighty years. The Meadow Valley Mining District, Pioche included, organized around the spring that same year.

What the plaque says

The large and constant flow of sweet, warm water from this spring makes possible the desert oasis of Meadow Valley. First noted by Manley's ill-fated Death Valley Party in 1849, the site was cultivated in 1858 by Brigham Young's White Mountain Mission men, who sought a desert refuge should U.S. persecution of Mormons occur in Utah. The site was abandoned that same year when this issue was resolved. Dependent on these spring waters, Mormons built the first permanent settlement in southern Nevada at Panaca in 1864. For 80 years this water was used for all domestic purposes. The Meadow Valley Mining District, including the Pioche area, was organized in 1864 with its center at Panaca Spring.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cathedral Gorge State Park — 2.2 mi
  A drained ancient lakebed eroded into buff-colored spires and narrow slot "caves" — one of Nevada's first state parks, and the gentle, otherworldly counterweight to the Silver Trails' ghost towns.
• Pioche — 10.0 mi
  The silver camp that, by legend, out-killed the Old West — Boot Hill's boots-on graves, the graft-ridden Million-Dollar Courthouse, and an aerial tramway still slung over Main Street.

More markers nearby

• Panaca Mercantile — 0.3 mi
• Panaca Ward Chapel — 0.3 mi
• Panaca — 0.4 mi
• Bullionville — 1.4 mi