Ragtown

Ragtown was never a town—just the first water after the Forty Mile Desert, a line of cottonwoods on the Carson River where parched emigrants and animals made their frantic dash to drink. The name came from the washed clothing draped to dry on every bush. Asa Kenyon set up a trading post here in 1854. So many died on the crossing just north that an 1862 flood tore open some two hundred emigrant graves. The cottonwoods still mark the river west of Fallon, the camp long gone.

What the plaque says

Ragtown was never a town, but the name of a most welcome oasis and hamlet. This mecca on the banks of nearby Carson River received its name from the appearance of pioneer laundry spread on every handy bush around. The Forty-Mile Desert, immediately to the north, was the most dreaded portion of the California Emigrant Trail. Ragtown was the first water stop after the desert. To the thirst-crazed emigrants and their animals, no site was more welcome than the trees lining the Carson River. Imagine, if you will, the moment when the animals first picked up the scent of water--the lifted head, the quickened pace, and finally mad, frenzied dash to the water's edge. Then, rest and repair for the arduous crossing of the Sierra Nevada that lay ahead. In 1854, Asa Kenyon located a trading post near Ragtown. Here he offered goods and supplies to the trappers. During the 1850's and 1860's, Ragtown was one of the most important sites on the Carson Branch of the California Trail.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Grimes Point — 17 mi
  Hundreds of desert-varnished boulders carved over eight thousand years — the Great Basin's most accessible rock art

More markers nearby

• Churchill County Courthouse — 7.9 mi
• Hazen — 7.9 mi
• Oats Park School — 8.3 mi
• Lahontan Dam — 8.5 mi