Carson City, Nevada

Oh, what a wonderful difference a few hundred miles and a few thousand feet in elevation make in the outside temperature.  We are enjoying a very pleasant, sunny day with temperatures in the low 70s.  No AC today.

We got our errands done this morning which included trips to the grocery, bank, pharmacy, post office and gas station.  With those things out of the way and a quick lunch under our belts, we went downtown Carson City to tour the Nevada Capitol Complex.

Kit Carson

Supreme Court building

The Washoe Indians were the first residents of this area until the Europeans came in the 1840s.  Carson City is named for Kit Carson in a round about way.  The explorer, Fremont, named the river Carson after his trusted scout Kit Carson.  Several years later, the settlement at Eagle Station Ranch, located on the river and a stopover for travelers on the California Trail, was renamed Carson City.  Like many places in Nevada and California, the discovery of gold and silver resulted in a population boom for Carson City.  Nevada became a state in 1864 and Carson City was named the capitol.  Those were the good times for the area.  Population began to decline when the Southern Pacific Railroad bypassed Carson City.  It took until the 1960s for the population to finally surpass what it had been in the 1880s.

Legislature building

Back side of the capitol

The current capitol building is the original built in 1871.  A major renovation in the late 1970s and an addition in 1905 of the octagonal building directly behind the main Capitol building give us what we see today.  The state legislature is not located in the Capitol building but next door.  With the State Supreme Court building located between and behind the Capitol and Legislative buildings, the Capitol Complex forms a triangle.

US Mint

Down the street a few blocks is the old Carson City US Mint Building.  The output from the gold and silver mines in the area plus the high cost of transporting bullion to San Francisco warranted a mint in Nevada.  It was in operation from 1870 to 1893.

We walked along Carson Street (US 395) for a few blocks in each direction from the Capitol building.  It is truly a small town with very little traffic, no highrise buildings, and no parking meters (parking is free and easy to find).  What a delight!

On our tour, we also stopped in at the Forest Service Office to inquire about hiking trails.  There are plenty of trails about, but most seem to be covered in snow at the moment.  We are going to drive over to Lake Tahoe tomorrow to see if we can find a trail low enough not to be buried in the white stuff.  If no hiking is available, then we’ll just walk along the lake shore.