Mormon Station State Historic Park

Mormon Station is the site of Nevada’s first permanent non-native settlement. A replica of the original trading post, built in 1851, houses a museum with pioneer-era artifacts. Picnic and group use facilities are available. Mormon Station is located in the small town of Genoa, 12 miles south of Carson City via U.S. 395 and State Route 206. The museum and group use area are open May through mid-October. The museum is open Wednesday-Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 started the frantic migration west to California. After facing many challenges along the journey, the final obstacle on the California trail was tackling the Sierra Nevada mountains. Weary and thirsty travelers often rested and purchased supplies in the fertile oasis of the Carson Valley. In June of 1850, two members of the Mormon Battalion, Abner Blackburn and Hampton Beatie, established a temporary trading post on the west side of Carson Valley. Their stories of this beautiful area on the emigrant trail intrigued their Salt Lake employer, John Reese, and his nephew, Stephen Kinsey. In the spring of 1851, Reese and Kinsey loaded more than a dozen wagons full of supplies and set out for the Carson Valley. The Reese Company built a permanent trading post, approximately one mile south of the temporary trading post established by Blackburn and Beatie. Reese’s Station soon had a blacksmith shop, livery stable, and flour and saw mills nearby.