Reul Colt Gridley (Citizen Extraordinaire) Lander County   39.4895, -117.06295

"I've heard that the Gridley Store was open during the summer for tours. Well. It's summer. And no tours. Time to fill in the blank."
-- Journal Entry, June 2009

Along (Main Street) US 50 at the east end of Austin
* Find this one kiddy-cornerned at Main and Water Sts *

Original Date Visited: 6/20/09

Signed: No

Exact Description:
This simple stone structure, opened to the public in late 1863, was originally operated as a general merchandise store by the firm of Gridley, Hobart and Jacobs. Gridley is best remembered for his 1864 wager which prompted the auctioning of a sack of flour for donations to the "Sanitary Fund," the Civil War forerunner of the American Red Cross. The flour was sold again and again throughout Nevada and California, then taken east and eventually auctioned at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1864, after raising $275,000 for this fund. Gridley died almost penniless six years later.

Next Marker:

WALLEY'S HOT SPRINGS

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Related Links & Markers

 Nevada Towns: Austin   The Grand Austin Flour Sack (Emerging Civil War) 

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