Exploring Carson City’s Lone Mountain Cemetery

It’s probably no surprise that one of the best places to learn about historic figures from Nevada and Carson City’s rich past is the Lone Mountain Cemetery in the Capital City.

The 40-acre burial ground, which actually was once seven separate cemeteries including sections for Masons, Oddfellows, Catholics and children, contains the remains of many of the state’s most prominent pioneers.

The oldest part of the cemetery, known as the Pioneer Cemetery (or Walsh Cemetery) sits at the west end of Fifth Street and contains markers dating back to the early 1860s. Many of these headstones were made using sandstone from Abraham Curry’s quarries, which were located where the old Nevada State Prison now stands.

According to historian Cindy Southerland, who several years ago compiled an exhaustive inventory of the cemetery, Lone Mountain is the final resting place of several 19th century governors and many other prominent state political and business leaders.

In fact, one of the best ways to explore Lone Mountain is with a copy of Southerland’s inventory or an informative condensed version of the inventory that is sold at the cemetery office.

For instance, if you check out the Catholic section, located at the southeast end of the cemetery, you’ll encounter the graves of Mathias and Marcella Rinckel. Rinckel, who was born in Germany in 1833, was an early resident of Carson City, having established a successful cattle ranch in the area in 1863.

In 1876, Rinckel built a grand house for his wife, an elegant French Victorian structure, now known as the Rinckel Mansion (102 North Curry Street), which is now home of the Nevada Press Association.

Rinckel, who died in 1879, also helped finance Carson City’s first two opera houses as well as construction of the original St. Teresa de Avila Church. Marcella Rinckel, who died in 1933, was active in the women’s suffrage movement in the state.

The former Oddfellows section, found in the northeastern portion of Lone Mountain, contains other familiar names including Abraham Curry, who is generally described as the father of Carson City.

Curry, who was born in New York in 1815, arrived in Carson City in 1858. With partners John J. Musser, Benjamin Green, and Frank Proctor, he purchased about 1,000 acres in Eagle Valley and laid out the community of Carson City.

Additionally, Curry built the Warm Springs Hotel (located near the site of the present Nevada State Prison) as well as the prison, the Carson City Mint building and the Virginia and Truckee Railroad shops.

His political accomplishments included stints as a Territorial Assemblyman from 1862-63, a Territorial Senator from 1863-64, warden of the state prison and superintendent of the mint.

Curry died in 1873 and, despite his achievements, was buried in a modest grave with a wooden marker because his family did not have the financial means to do otherwise. The original marker disintegrated over the years and it wasn’t until 1964 that a more suitable one was erected.

Other prominent early Nevadans that can be found at Lone Mountain include:

• Henry Marvin Yerington, superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad and namesake for a western Nevada community. Yerington, who died in 1910, also constructed the first flume to send timber from Lake Tahoe to the Comstock mines.

• Denver S. Dickerson, who served as Nevada’s 11th governor from 1908 to 1910. Dickerson was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1906, then assumed the top job upon the death of Governor John Sparks in 1908. He was defeated when he sought a full term but later served as superintendent of the state police and warden of the state prison. He died in 1925 and is one of five governors buried at Lone Mountain.

• Abe Cohn, a Carson City businessman known primarily for his association with legendary Washoe basketmaker Dat So La Lee. Cohn, who died in 1934, sold Dat So La Lee’s magnificent handwoven baskets for more than 40 years.

• Hank Monk, a stage driver who was immortalized by writer Mark Twain, who wrote about a white-knuckle ride from Carson City to Placerville that Monk provided to Horace Greeley, editor of the “New York Tribune.” Monk supposedly traveled the 109-mile distance in less than ten hours.

• Jennie Clemens, daughter of Orion Clemens, who served as Nevada’s Territorial Secretary in 1863, and niece of writer Mark Twain. Jennie Clemens died of spotted fever in 1864 at the age of nine.

• Anne Hudnall Martin, a remarkable woman who served Carson City as a school teacher for 13 years, then as owner and editor of the “Carson Daily Morning News.”

A copy of Cindy Southerland’s excellent publication is available at the Carson City Library. For more information about the cemetery, go to its excellent web site at: www.carson.org/government/departments-g-z/parks-recreation-open-space/lone-mountain-cemetery.

Rich Moreno covers the places and people that make Nevada special.