Kershaw–Ryan State Park, on Nevada State Route 317 south of Caliente at the north end of Rainbow Canyon, occupies 265 acres first homesteaded in 1873 as Meadow Valley Wash Ranch by Samuel and Hannah Kershaw. Sold to rancher James Ryan in 1904, the land was donated to the state in 1926 for use as a public park. Its modern character emerged in the 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps built facilities in 1934, and it became one of Nevada’s first four state parks in 1935. A 1984 flash flood destroyed most facilities, but rebuilding led to its reopening in 1997 and later trail expansion.