Nevada State Route 206 is rural highway serving the community of Genoa in the eastern Sierra Nevada foothills of Douglas County. Nevada State Route 206 is 15.435 miles in length spanning from US Route 395 southward to Nevada State Route 88 near the California state line.
Genoa is the oldest community in Nevada having been founded as Mormon Station in 1851. Mormon Station bustled into a town which was located Carson Pass Highway and larger California Trail. By 1856 the community would be renamed as Genoa. Genoa would become a major transportation hub on the Carson Pass Highway and early Lake Tahoe Wagon Road. When Nevada Territory was first organized in 1861 the original capital was briefly located in Genoa before being relocated to Carson City.
Genoa lost the Douglas County seat in 1915 and was bypassed by early Nevada State Route 3 which was aligned through Minden. Genoa would enter the State Highway system in 1936 when Genoa Lane was designated as Nevada State Route 57. As part of the wider 1976 State Highway Renumbering Genoa Lane was renumbered as Nevada State Route 758. The same year Jacks Valley Road and Foothill Road were designated as Nevada State Route 206 which served the north/south highway through Genoa. Jacks Valley Road would later be relinquished to Douglas County in the early 1990s, and Nevada State Route 206 was realigned onto Genoa Lane.
Nevada State Route 206 is heavily tied historically to the Carson Pass Highway, Lake Tahoe Wagon Road and the town of Genoa. Genoa is considered to be the first modern town in the state of Nevada and lies in the foothills of the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada range.
What is now Carson Pass was an established crossing of the Sierra Nevada known by the Washoe tribe. During an 1844 expedition led by United States Army Officer John C. Fremont he learned of the pass from the Washoe. Fremont's expedition was encamped at Carson Valley on January 31, 1844, and looking for a way to cross the mountains to return to Sutter's Fort. The Washoe warned Fremont not to attempt to cross the snow-filled pass, but the expedition proceeded regardless. Frontiersman
Kit Carson served as the expedition guide on the journey into the Sierra Nevada.
Fremont's expedition westward to Carson Pass soon ran low on supplies and soldiers soon resorted to consuming their pack animals. On February 14, 1844, Fremont and cartographer Charles Preuss climbed Red Lake Peak where they became the first people of European descent to observe Lake Tahoe. The expedition cleared the snow west of the pass on February 21, 1844, and arrived at Sutter's Fort on March 6th. Despite the harsh wintery conditions, the expedition suffered no fatalities.
John C. Fremont wrote of his experiences crossing the Sierra Nevada which brought attention to what became known as Carson Pass. As the name implies, the pass was named after Kit Carson. Carson Pass became part of the southern branch of the California Trail. Following ill-fated Donner Party expedition of the winter of 1846/1847 the southern leg of the California Trail would see increased usage.
During 1848 former members of the Mormon Battalion who had served in the Mexican-American War opted to return to Salt Lake City. The group of 46 sought to plot a new wagon trail over the Sierra Nevada which incorporated Carson Pass. The expedition departed from the outskirts of Placerville during June up what is now the Mormon Emigrant Trail and would ultimately reach Carson Pass by July 28, 1848. The expedition would successfully cross the Sierra Nevada and reach Salt Lake City by September 1848.
Following the start of the California Gold Rush the Carson Pass Highway would become the favored crossing the Sierra Nevada. Approximately 40,000 gold seekers would cross Carson Pass to the gold mines of the western Sierra Nevada foothills. Carson Pass Highway would remain the favored crossing of the Sierra Nevada until a new routing over Johnson's Pass was established to the north near Lake Bigler (now Lake Tahoe).
The community which became Genoa was first plotted as a stage house known as "Mormon Station" in June 1850. H.S. Beatle along with several Mormon settlers constructed roofless log enclosure to serve as a corral and trade post. The original trading post was short lived and was abandoned by the end of the year.
In 1851 John Reese would arrive at the abandoned Mormon Station and would rebuild it a permanent trading post. The trading post would expand to a small town by 1852 which was complete with a Post Office, blacksmith shop and a sawmill.
In 1853 Congress ordered survey to locate a possible route for a railroad line over the Sierra Nevada range. The conclusion of the 1853 Congressional survey suggested any route over the Sierra Nevada was unfeasibly due to deep snows which occurred every winter. The State of California ordered its own survey by
April 1855 to investigate the feasibility of constructing a wagon road from Sacramento Valley east to Carson Valley.
By June 1855 enough money had been raised so that Sherman Day could scout potential wagon roads over the Sierra Nevada. The Day Survey concluded that the only viable options for a wagon road over the Sierra Nevada would be at Johnson's Pass or Carson Pass. Johnson's Pass was considerable favorable to Carson Pass due to the lower elevation potentially permitting all-year travel. The Day Survey was featured extensively in the September 1950 California Highways & Public Works.
The Goddard Survey later corroborated the findings of the Day Survey in that Johnson's Pass would be the desirable route of a Trans-Sierra Wagon Road.
The surveyed routes of Sherman Day over Johnson's Pass and Carson Pass.
Mormon Station having become a fully-fledged town would be renamed as "Genoa" in 1856. The name change was spurred by Orson Hyde as a reference to Genoa, Italy. The Mormon settlers would ultimately withdraw from Genoa in 1857. Nevada's first newspaper would open in at Genoa in 1858 and would later move to Virginia City where it would come to be known as the Territorial Enterprise.
During 1857 the counties of; Yolo, Sacramento and El Dorado contributed $50,000 dollars towards construction of a wagon road over Johnson's Pass. County officials hired noted stagecoach driver J.B. Crandall of the Crandall & Sunderland Company to drive surveyors over Day's route east through the Sierra Nevada range to Carson Valley via Johnson's Pass. The Crandall & Sunderland Company at the time operated as a stage line from the terminus of the Sacramento Valley Railroad in Folsom eastward to Placerville. The stage trip from Folsom originated on June 11, 1857, and proved that a wagon road over Johnson's Pass was indeed feasible.
The Lake Tahoe Wagon Road would be constructed on the Johnson's Pass route between 1858-1865. Following the completion of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road the Carson Pass Highway would see a decline in usage. The Carson Pass Highway was still close enough to established towns on both ends of the Sierra Nevada that never became fully defunct.
Genoa was connected to the eastern terminus of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road via the Kingsbury Grade. What was to become the Kingsbury Grade was originally known as the Georgetown Trail or Daggett Pass Trail. The land at the base of the Daggett Pass Trail was purchased in 1854 by John Daggett. In 1859-1860 David Kingsbury and John McDonald obtained franchise rights from Utah Territory to construct a toll road from Lake Tahoe to Genoa. Kingsbury and McDonald would spend approximately $70,000 to construct the Kingsbury Grade.
Genoa being located at the terminus of two major trans-Sierra Highways would be selected as the first capital of Nevada Territory when it was organized on March 2, 1861. The territorial capital would move to Carson City by the end of the year. Genoa was also selected as the first Douglas County seat which was created concurrent to Nevada Territory.
Genoa can be seen as the eastern terminus of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road and Carson Pass Highway on the 1873 Bancroft's map. Nevada would become a state on October 31, 1864.
The first single-lane wooden hanging bridge at the cliff-side Cave Rock on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe was constructed in 1863. This original span was soon expanded into a wooden trestle which was reinforced with stone buttresses. The bridge at Cave Rock allowed traffic to avoid the tolls of the Kingsbury Grade and provided a far more direct connection with Genoa. With the main path of Lake Tahoe Wagon Road traffic being rerouted along Cave Rock the town of Genoa would become reliant more on the Carson Pass Highway and Kingsbury Grade to bring trade.
The Cave Rock Bridge can be seen in a 1910 photo from the A Tahoe and Northern Nevada History Facebook group. The Cave Rock routing was later incorporated into the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway in 1913.
The Cave Rock Bridge would become part of US Route 50 by November 1926. The bridge was later bypassed by the first bore of the Cave Rock Tunnel in 1931. The buttresses of the Cave Rock Bridge remain in modern times and can be seen below in photos by Josh Schmid.
Genoa would ultimately lose the Douglas County seat to Minden by 1915. Thusly Genoa was passed over for location on the original run of Nevada State Routes. Nevada State Route 3 was designated in Carson City and was aligned directly southward to Minden as can be seen on the 1917-1918 Nevada Department Highways Biennial.
The intersection of Genoa Lane and Jacks Valley Road can be seen in an undated photo from the Life in Nevada Facebook page. California State Automobile Association highway signage can be seen on the bottom right of the photo.
Genoa was added to the State Highway System in 1936 when Genoa Lane west of US Route 395 was added to the system as Nevada State Route 57. Genoa Lane appears as a State Highway on the 1937 Nevada Department of Highways map.
Nevada State Route 57 appears on detail on the 1948 Nevada Department of Highways map of Douglas County.
During July 1976 the wider Nevada State Highway Renumbering took place. Nevada State Route 57 along Genoa Lane was renumbered as Nevada State Route 758. Jacks Valley Road and Foothill Road were adopted as Nevada State Route 206 which served Genoa as a north/south corridor.
Nevada State Route 206 can be seen on the 1978-1979 Nevada Department of Transportation map. The same map still displays Genoa Lane as Nevada State Route 57.
Nevada State Route 57 doesn't appear designated over Genoa Lane as of the 1982 Nevada Department of Transportation map. The 700-series State Highways likely were signed last after the 1976 Renumbering due to them being intended as secondary corridors.
Jacks Valley Road was relinquished back to Douglas County in the early 1990s. Nevada State Route 206 was realigned over Genoa Lane and consumed Nevada State Route 758. The current alignment of Nevada State Route 206 first appears on the
1995-1996 Nevada Department of Transportation map.
Part 2; a drive on Nevada State Route 206
Southbound Nevada State Route 206 begins as US Route 395 approaches Genoa Lane.
Nevada State Route 206 initially jogs west on Genoa Lane and crosses the Carson River. The highway enters Genoa on Genoa Lane and makes a left-hand turn on Foothill Road.
Nevada State Route 206 follows Foothill Road south of Genoa and intersects Nevada State Route 757 at Muller Lane.
Nevada State Route 206 south of Muller Lane has signage indicating it can be used to reach Nevada State Route 207.
Nevada State Route 206 intersects Nevada State Route 207 at Kingsbury Grade Road. The intersection is once the site of Mottsville which had been founded as stage house by Hiram Mott and his son settled in 1851.
Nevada State Route 206 continues south on Foothill Road and passes by the Sheridan town site near the Jobs Peak Ranch Trailhead. Sheridan had been founded at the bottom of Luther Canyon in the 1850s. By 1861 the community was reported to have a sawmill, boarding house and several saloons. Luther Canyon was named after Ira M. Luther who operated a sawmill in the area circa 1858-1865.
Nevada State Route 206 terminates at Nevada State Route 88 a short distance from the California state line.
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