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2005-IRS Form 990

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History Timeline

• 12,000-9,000 B.C. - Sites have been found indicating Paleo-Indian habitation within the Great Basin. They were small hunting groups following the mammoth, bison, camel and horse herds.
• 9,000 B.C - 400 A.D. - Implements found in this area from this "Great Basin Desert Archaic Period" include millingstones and manos.
• 3,000 B.C. - The lives of the oldest bristlecone pine trees in the Great Basin National Park began.
• 500-800 A.D. - The Fremont Culture emerged, leaving behind well-preserved sites indicating agricultural activity as well as hunting and gathering.
• 1300's - Numic-speaking peoples entered the Great Basin -- the ancestors of present day Western Shoshone and the Southern and Northern Paiute peoples. 
• 1776 - Escalante-Dominguez party passes through Pahvant Valley near Delta, Utah.
• 1826 - Jedediah S. Smith expedition crosses Great Basin through present-day Millard County on their way to California in search of beaver pelts. In the summer of 1827 they came back in a direct line across Nevada and passed through White River, Spring and Snake valleys.
• 1842-45 - U.S. Army Captain John C. Fremont expedition encircled the area and reported the internally draining basin as "truly a great basin." His document was the first to explain the many secrets of this land of "contents almost unknown."
• 1849 - Howard Egan first brought livestock into the Snake Range.
• 1851 - Governor Brigham Young designates Fillmore as the capital of Utah.
• 1852 - Construction of Fillmore Statehouse begins.
• 1853 - Eight members of an exploration team headed by Captain John W. Gunnison were killed at Gunnison Massacre site west of Delta.
• 1853 - Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Steptoe investigated the Gunnison massacre and named Mt. Wheeler Jefferson Davis Peak.
• 1853 - Martial law was declared at the Fillmore Fort due to conflicts with the Indians which became known as the Walker War.
• 1855 - First wing of Fillmore Statehouse was completed.
• 1855 - Brigham Young sent a group of elders to establish a mission and plant crops in "Grease Wood Valley" (present-day Snake Valley near Garrison, Utah). Ezra Granger Williams was the first of a party to climb to the top of Mt. Wheeler. 
• 1858 - Utah capitol moved from Fillmore back to Salt Lake City.
• 1858 - White Mountain Expedition explores the Snake Range (including Wheeler Peak) and other mountain ranges then establish a mission near present-day Panaca, Nevada.
• 1859 - Captain James H. Simpson passes through White Pine County near what would become Schellbourne station. He called Mt. Wheeler Union Peak.
• 1859 - Overland Stage and Mail station built at Schellbourne.
• 1859 - Virginia City rush begins.
• 1859 - Thomas Robinson discovers ore what will become the Robinson Mining District.
• 1860 - Wildens establish Fort Willden at Cove Creek.
• 1860 - Pony Express begins using Schellbourne Station.
• 1861 - Pony Express Service terminated.
• 1861 - First settlers arrive in Snake Valley.
• 1863 - Telegraph runs through Schellbourne Station.
• 1865 - Wildens abandon Fort Willden at Cove Creek.
• 1865 - Fort Deseret constructed.
• 1867 - Deseret Telegraph establishes office at abandoned Fort Willden.
• 1867 - Cove Fort settlers arrive at Cove Creek.
• 1869 - Lieutenant George M. Wheeler began comprehensive survey of southwest starting with Mt. Wheeler which now bears his name.
• 1869 - Mineral City (Lane City) established.
• 1870 - Absolom S. Lehman and Olive S. Lehman settle at 600-acre ranch near Lehman Creek.
• 1871 - Aurum Mining District (silver) established east of Schellbourne.
• 1871 - Leamington, Utah settled.
• 1872 - Gold-bearing quartz rock belt found in Osceola District.
• 1875 - Absolom Lehman's younger brother Benjamin S. Lehman and his wife Mary started a ranch at what is now Baker, Nevada.
• 1878 - Naturalist John Muir explored Nevada and climbed Mt. Wheeler.
• 1881 - It is approximately this time that Absolom S. Lehman is believed to have found and explored Lehman Caves.
• 1881 - U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey set up a heliotrope station on Mt. Wheeler.
• 1885 - Aurum Mining District, Nevada abandoned.
• 1887 - White Pine County seat moved from Hamilton to Ely, Nevada.
• 1890's - Town of Baker, Nevada established.
• 1903 - Town of Delta, Utah settled.
• 1904 - Nevada Consolidated Copper Co. begins underground mining in the Robinson District.
• 1906, Sept. 29 - First trains arrive in Ely, Nevada.
• 1909 - White Pine County Courthouse construction completed.
• 1909 - Theodore Roosevelt designates Nevada National Forest including land that is now the Great Basin National Park.
• 1914 - Veteran underground mine in Robinson District closes.
• 1920 - Millard County Courthouse erected.
• 1922 - President Warren G. Harding issued presidential proclamation establishing Lehman Caves National Monument.
• 1930 - Daughters of the Utah Pioneers re-open the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore, Utah as a museum.
• 1942-1945 - Topaz Relocation Camp near Delta, Utah holds more than 8,300 Japanese-Americans behind barbed wire "For their own safety."
• 1947 - Utah State Legislature returns to Fillmore Territoral Statehouse for one session to commemorate the centennial.
• 1958 - Kennecott Copper Corporation acquires full ownership of Robinson District mining operations.
• 1961, Nov. 5 - Fort Ruby receives designation from the Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark.
• 1979 - Kennecott Copper Corporation ceases operations in White Pine County.
• 1986 - October 27, 1986 - President Ronald Regan signed the Great Basin National Park Act.
• 1991 - Magma Nevada Mining, Co. purchases Robinson District mining operations from Kennecott Copper.
• 1996 - BHP Billiton merges with Magma Nevada Mining, Co. to become the new owners of the Robinson District mining operations.
• 1999 - BHP Billiton ceases operations in the Robinson Mining District.
• 1999 - Ely Renaissance Society forms in Ely, Nevada and begins transforming the downtown area with murals, sculptures, and historic renovation projects.
• 2005 - The Great Basin Visitor Center is completed near the town of Baker, NV to provide an interpretive center for the entire Great Basin region.
• 2005 - The Ely Renaissance Society purchases the Geraghty Property near downtown Ely, NV and begins renovation of the area now known as "Renaissance Village."
• 2006, Sept. 20 - The Nevada Northern Railway - East Ely Yards receive designation from the Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark.
• 2006, Sept. 29 - The Nevada Northern Railway celebrates the 100th anniversary of the railroad reaching Ely.
• 2006 - Highway 50 from Millard County, Utah through White Pine County, Nevada receives national designation as the Great Basin National Heritage Route.
• 2007, March 29 - The Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) receives designation from the Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark.

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