Luther Canyon, west of this site, was named for Ira M. Luther, who operated a sawmill there from 1858 to 1865, and the house behind the marker was his home. Luther also served as a delegate to the second Nevada Territorial Legislature. After 1865, the canyon became known as Horse Thief Canyon because John and Lute Olds, who owned the next ranch south, ran a station along the emigrant trail for several years and also stole horses from emigrants. They sent the animals up the canyon to drift over the ridge into Horse Thief Meadows, then after resting and feeding drove them down to Woodsfords Canyon to sell to other emigrants. A prospector called Sawtooth was allegedly murdered and buried in the barn south of the Luther house. In 1861, Sam Brown, described as a notorious bad man, was shot and killed in front of the Olds barn by a man he threatened. “Lucky Bill” Thorington, implicated in a murder in California and hanged by vigilantes in 1858, had a ranch two and a half miles to the south, and the pioneers called the school district Fairview.