Main Street In a Nevada California Trail Town. Later, the Town Turned Into a Trans-Continental Railroad Town. Looking East Toward Salt Lake City. RR Is ON the Left. Buildings Were For the RR Business Coming Into Town and This “Whistle Stop”.
Wells, NV. A Wells Nevada info sheet says: “But elsewhere bulldozers, growth, have plowed under or built over one transcontinental town after another. High rise traffic choked developments have swallowed their old towns whole. Yet in Wells the gook is still open to that transcontinental chapter of America’s past.” Yes, having been there, this is exactly true. Just for the record, both the Pony Express and the first Trans-Continental Telegraph line came through here before the railroad got here! Once the California Trail and the Oregon Trail were open and well established, communities and infrastructure followed in an otherwise dangerous wilderness. Thus, it was natural for a succession of commerce to follow, each in turn helping provide support and resources to build the next more complicated step. Trail becomes Pony Express becomes telegraph line becomes (mostly) transcontinental railway. Even modern highways often follow “Trail”, especially in towns. This is because in towns, the buildings force preservation of the street location. However, in the open country side, other priorities move the paved main highways, so they often don’t follow the exact “trail”, or even near it. The reason for this was the wagons had only to go West, irrespective of where was best for towns. But primarily, the reason modern paved roads do not follow the “trail”, is because the trail, after the rail road came in, was unused and abandoned. This was because it did not “connect up” anything. Needed main roads were placed to connect the towns that later cropped up. County and township roads often followed surveyed county, township and agriculture property lines. The trail, already forgotten, was plowed under, especially in areas where crops could be grown or the land fenced in for cattle.
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(Photo = 123-2358 ...... ZMM Page = None ...... WayPt = 083 5653ft)
