Verdi

Modern Verdi emerged with the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad through Nevada in 1867-’69. It became a major mill town and terminal for shipment of ties and construction timbers, supported by a network of logging railways extending into the timber north and west of the town. In 1860, a log bridge was built across the Truckee River near the present site, and known as O’Neils Crossing, it served as a stage stop during the 1860’s on the heavily travelled Henness Pass Turnpike and Toll Road and the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Road. In 1864, the Crystal Peak Company laid out a town on the site about two miles from Verdi’s present location, and because the company owned nearby mining and lumber interests, the settlement was then called Crystal Peak. Verdi remained an active lumbering center into the twentieth century through the exertions of men such as Oliver Lonkey of the Verdi Lumber Company, but a disastrous fire in 1928 and depletion of timber reserves led to its decline.

Verdi, Nevada · United States