Nevada Forts

American Forts: West

NEVADA

Last Update: 10/JULY/2006

Compiled by Phil and Pete Payette - Š2006 American Forts Network

Camp Austin
(1865), Austin
A military detachment was briefly stationed here.

Cold Springs Fort
(1860's), Cold Springs
A Pony Express and Butterfield Overland Stage Station. Intermittently occupied by the Army.

Camp Fish Lake
(1866 - 1867), Dyer
A temporary post that was intermittently occupied to protect settlers from Indian attacks. Also known as Camp in Fish Lake Valley.

Camp Aurora
(1862), Aurora
A temporary post for the CA Volunteers located one mile from the town. This is now a ghost town located southwest of Hawthorne.

Mormon Station (State Historic Park)
(1849 - 1857), Genoa
A town stockade, enlarged in 1851, that was renamed Stockade at Genoa or Fort Genoa in 1855. This was the state's first permanent white settlement. The Mormons sold the fort in 1857. The original structure burned down in 1910. There is a replica of the trading post here.

Camp near Carson City
(1860), near Carson City
A temporary Federal encampment.

Penrod Hotel Fort
(1860), Carson City
Townspeople fortified the hotel by surrounding it with barricades after the outbreak of the Pyramid Lake Indian War.

Camp Sadler (1)
(1860's), Carson City
A temporary training post located at Kings Canyon in the western part of town.

Camp Sadler (2)
(1898), Carson City
A Spanish-American War training camp established at a racetrack on the outskirts of town, east of the capitol building. The track owner wanted to utilize the course for the fall season, so the troops were transferred to Camp Clark (see below).

Camp Clark
(1898), Carson City
A Spanish-American War training camp located at Treadway Park on the west-side of town.

Camp Nye
(1861 - 1865), near Carson City
A depot for CA and NV Volunteers located in the Washoe Valley five miles north of town.

Fort Churchill (State Historic Park)
(1860 - 1871), near Silver Springs
Built to protect mail routes and to subdue the Paiute Indians. Also used as a relay station on the Pony Express Route, and as a recruiting station during the Civil War. This was the headquarters of the Military District of Nevada. Originally named Post on Carson River. Often called Churchill Barracks. Ordered abandoned in 1869, but remained garrisoned until 1871. The adobe fort was abandoned and now lies in ruin. An attempt was made in the 1930's to reconstruct several buildings for use as a museum, but that effort failed. Became a state park in 1957. Another website.

Camp Hays
(1860), near Fort Churchill
A temporary post of the Nevada Militia occupying a Pony Express station called Reed's Station. The post, located 20 miles east of Carson City, lasted only one month.

Williams' Station
(1860), near Silver Springs
A trading post on the Big Bend of the Carson River. Destroyed by Indians over a dispute with the operators about two Indian women. This attack started the Pyramid Lake War. The site is now underwater at the Lahontan Reservoir.

Camp Ormsby
(1860), near Nixon
A temporary Army post on the Truckee River, ten miles from Pyramid Lake.
(NOTE: there is a Fort Defiance Creek in this vicinity.)

Fort Storey
(1860), near Nixon
A temporary breastwork built by the local militia on the Truckee River eight miles south of Pyramid Lake.

Fort Haven
(1860), near Nixon
A temporary Federal earthwork built during the Carson River Expedition. Located on the Truckee River four miles above the town and one mile from Pyramid Lake. Replaced by Fort Churchill.

Fort Sage
(1870's), near Sutcliffe
A temporary Army post west of Pyramid Lake between Sutcliffe and Constantia, California.

Camp Smoke Creek
(1862 - 1864), near Robbers Roost
A temporary Army post that was intermittently occupied. Located near the Smoke Creek Depot (or Smoke Creek Station) on the Honey Lake stage route. The site is not shown on most maps, but it was located five miles from the state line west of Smoke Creek Desert and north of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation.

Camp McKee
(1865 - 1866), near Gerlach
Originally called Detachment at Granite Creek, the Army occupied the Granite Creek Station after Indians burned it and killed its employees. Located north of town and east of Granite Mountain.

Camp Deep Hole
(1865), near Gerlach
An abandoned stage station that became a NV Cavalry outpost. Located several miles northwest of town.

Camp Black (1)
(1865), Massacre Lake
A temporary Army post for the CA Volunteers in the extreme northwest part of the state.

Camp Soldiers Meadow
(1862), near High Rock Lake
A temporary Army post 20 miles south of Camp McGarry.

Fort McGarry
(1865 - 1868), Summit Lake Indian Reservation
Located on the Applegate Cutoff to Oregon. Originally called Camp at Summit Lake, then Camp McGarry until 1867. It was abandoned and the land given to the Indian Reservation in 1871. Ruins remain.

Fort McDermit
(Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation)
(1865 - 1888), McDermitt
Established by the CA Volunteers (Cavalry). Originally called Quinn River Camp, followed by Camp McDermit until 1879. The town name was misspelled through a mapmaker's error. After it was abandoned it was converted to the Indian reservation school. It now serves as the Indian Agency for the reservation.

Camp Black (2)
(1865), Paradise Valley
A temporary post for the CA Volunteers.

Camp Winfield Scott
(1866 - 1871), near Paradise Valley
An Army post consisting of only two adobe Officers' quarters, an adobe barracks, and storehouses. Located east of town on Martin Creek.

Camp Willow Point
(1865), Willow Point
A temporary post for the CA Volunteers on the Little Humboldt River south of Paradise Valley.

Camp Big Antelope Creek
(1863 ?), near Imlay
An Army field camp intermittently occupied during the Civil War by troops from Fort Churchill. Located 15 miles west of town.

Camp Dun Glen
(1863, 1865 - 1866), near Mill City
A CA Volunteer post to protect settlers from Indian attacks. Located six miles east of town.

Camp Overend
(1865), near Golconda
A temporary Army post that lasted only a few days. It was located south of town at Summit Springs.

Fort Carlin
(1874 - 1888), Carlin
A military reservation was established on Maggie Creek, one and a half miles north of the present-day town, but a fort was never actually built. The land was then later transferred to the Interior Department.

Camp Elko
(1871), Elko
A proposed post that never actually existed.
(thanks to Marshall Sitrin for providing info)

Fort Halleck
(1867 - 1886), near Halleck
Established after Fort Ruby was abandoned. Located 12 miles south of town on Cottonwood Creek. Known as Camp Halleck until 1879. In 1868 it became the headquarters of the Military District of Nevada soon before Fort Churchill was abandoned. Nothing remains at the site.

Fort Ruby
(1862 - 1869), near Ruby Valley
Known as Camp Ruby beginning in 1867, it was built by the CA Volunteers to protect the mail routes from Paiute and Goshute Indians. The actual location is at the south end of Ruby Lake, near the Overland Mountain Pass. The site is on Fort Ruby Ranch, where two original one-story log structures still exist.

Fort Schellbourne
(1860 - 1869), near Cherry Creek
First called Camp Schell. Troops were sent here to protect the mining town, the Overland Stage, and Pony Express Routes. The Schell Creek Stage Station was established here in 1859. The post was abandoned after the Union Pacific Railroad was completed. Remains of some structures still exist on a private ranch at Schell Creek, about 20 miles south of Lages.

Fort Trinity
(1863 - 1864), Eightmile
Located at the Goshute Indian Reservation between Tippett and the state line. Originally called Eight Mile Station, it was frequently occupied by troops from Fort Ruby.

Deep Creek Station
(1864), near Eightmile
A stage station that was garrisoned in 1864, it was called Detachment at Deep Creek Station. Located on the state line three miles northwest from Fort Trinity.

Antelope Station Post
(1864), Little Antelope Mountain
An important stage station located about 40 miles west of Ely, in operation during the 1860's and 1870's. Garrisoned by CA Volunteers in 1864.

Mormon Fort (State Historic Park)
(1855 - 1857, 1862), Las Vegas
Other names include Las Vegas Fort and Stockade at Las Vegas. It was a Mormon settlers' adobe stockade fort. California troops briefly occupied it during the Civil War, called Detachment at Las Vegas and then renamed Fort Baker. This is the oldest building in the state. It is also the site of the first permanent white settlement in the southern part of the state. Admission fee.

Fort Call
(1867), Callville
The old town was established by the Mormons on the Colorado River. Occassionally garrisoned by troops from Camp El Dorado. Also called Fort Callville or Detachment at Callville. Located 40 miles east of Las Vegas, and now under Lake Mead.

Camp Williston
(1941 - 1944), Boulder City
An Army Military Police Batallion security encampment, with several small outposts, to protect the Boulder/Hoover Dam and the power transmission lines against sabotage. The camp was originally named Camp Sibert before it was renamed. Three concrete observation stations were built at strategic locations, only one still exists.

Camp El Dorado
(1867), near Nelson
Also called Camp in El Dorado Canyon. A temporary Army post to protect gold miners in the area. Located seven miles east on the Colorado River. This area was once part of Arizona Territory.

NEED MORE INFO: Fort Defiance Creek (see Camp Ormsby)
Towns: Palisade in Eureka County