"There is no excuse why #185 should be missing. I'd like someone to explain this to me: why is a section of PUBLIC state-owned highway labeled as PRIVATELY owned? Even the NDOT official didn't understand. Clearly whoever "owns" the McCone's turnout really needs to an evaluation. At least we have found this marker for all to see. I just wish all MIAs turned up this way." -- May 2008

Along SR 342, 1/2 mile south of SR 341 -- Virginia City

Original Date Visited: 5/30/08
Last Confirmed: 11/14/22
Signed: No

The Conquering of Marker 185

In 2008, we made a left curtail onto the very rough Jumbo Grade west out of Virginia City to do a little rockhounding. Within seconds, we spotted the backsides of three old markers leaning up in the maintenance yard atop Ophir Grade! It turns out we'd found none other than Marker 185 - a marker that had been MIA for almost a decade. Of course, there had to be a reason why this marker had been displaced almost five miles from its original location.

We stopped all fun that day for a harmonious investigation and received a nice chunk of information from the NDOT official in the yard who permitted us to see the markers. Apparently, the turnout where 185 was placed fell under "PRIVATE PROPERTY" and NDOT was ordered by the SHPO to remove it to prevent further conflict. To this day, if you pass by that turnout you'll see it inundated with "No Trespassing" signs and warnings of hostility. We were told as long as that turnout remained under private ownership, there were no plans in the works to replace the marker. Strangely, even he was confused as to why that turnout was a privately-owned parcel of land considering that the highway itself is state-owned! (All turnouts and road shoulders along state highways belong to the state.) To help confirm our findings fellow marker hunter (Air Force) Dave S, was conducting his own investigation and contacted me for help. He sent this picture that he took in 2002, a rare photo of the marker's better days ...

According to the official, (NDOT) were "just waiting for the forces at be" to give them the okay to re-locate Marker 185 somewhere else.

We're convinced that our actions that day shedded some much needed light on this case. Fortunately in 2015, Marker 185 was brought back to life during the SHPO's statewide marker campaign that replaced or re-vamped the majority of Nevada's State Historic Markers: "Battle Born, 150th: A State Sesquicentennial." It can't be a coincidence that the marker was replaced at the very same spot that we found it! Regardless whether that we had something to do with it or not, we're glad to see this representation back along the roadside. McCone's Foundries is a rather forgotten piece of the Comstock that elicits practically no search results at all. It's view of a wrought-iron fencing and an NDOT maintenance station may be a bit intrusive, but we invite you to visit, stand, then stare beyond the marker toward the hills in the background and reflect what has been preserved. Sometimes, we can make a difference.

Street View

Here's what you'll see!

Exact Description:
Messers, Mead, McCone and Tascar first established a foundry in this area in 1862 at Johntown two miles southeast of here in Gold Canyon. After two years they moved their operation to this point and erected a large granite building. John McCone became the sole proprietor in 1866.

A fire on May 15, 1872, left nothing standing but the walls.

McCone then bought the Fulton Foundry in Virginia City and made it the largest in the state; 110 men were employed at its peak.

All the early castings of the Virginia and Truckee Railway were manufactured at Fulton's.

The largest casting (in its time) poured on the Pacific Coast was made at Fulton's on December 11, 1880.

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