[131]       

Dresslerville

Douglas County
  38.90415, -119.70593

"#131 conquered and with it, another gripe about placement. I can see why it was placed alongside 395, but it somewhat takes away the bucolic nature of Dresslerville. It's hard to think about the native Washo and their "peaceful" lands when the whizzing of cars are grinding past you at 55mph. Just saying. Why not place this one at the Carson River bridge near Ruhenstroth Dam? Much quieter; much more symbolic of the Washo. It makes too much sense." -- Journal Entry, August 2007

Along US 395, 6 miles south of Gardnerville

Original Date Visited: 8/27/07

Signed: Dual signed with [125]. Both lanes of US 395

Notes: This marker was one of thirty markers that was re-vamped in 2015 in celebration of "Battle Born, 150th: A State Sesquicentennial" (as evident by the campaign's logo on the plaque)

  • Great views at Marker 131
  • Marker 131 plaque
  • Marker 131 honors the Washoe people of western Nevada itself rather than a community

Exact Description:
In 1917 State Senator William F. Dressler gave this 40-acre tract to Washo Indians, then living on ranches in Carson Valley. After a school was opened in 1924, it became a nucleus of settlement.

Before the intrusion of Caucasians in 1848, Washo lived in winter in the Pinenut Hills where they stored autumn harvested pinenuts. In summer, they lived in the Lake Tahoe Basin fishing the tributary streams and gathering roots and berries. In fall, they hunted jackrabbits and gathered seeds in Carson Valley.

Their only form of organization was that of kinship.

These stone age people lived in daily communion with giants, monsters, animals whose characteristics were interchangeable with those of people, and with water babies, "having the bodies of old men and the long hair of girls," who lived in the lakes of the High Sierra.

Next Marker:

MACKAY MANSION

Related Links & Markers

 [126] -- Double Springs   [181] -- The Washo Indians   [183] -- Walker River Reservation   [207] -- Carson Valley   Nevada Towns: Dresslerville 

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