| Show ' kimok404toa4k 4444 - ' kNirkk:kkka ' o- Only Ghosts Inhabit - i ('''s4" e '' 4' -- ' (i 7"i :''' - i 411) - littl it Old Fort Hailed ot-- 4 i" ' - '''' i :!' L'L ! cr'11':': y i'4)" ' ' ' 7 yr ' u' '4 ''"1'4'''' 7 s' ' I ri 1 )!' ' ' ':''' ' 414mi '44440k44m644kkaA 444 : ' (S''': f- it d c okkk4kkok "k''I'iLiYk''' :11)"::-- 1 low P - '::' ' ' : i ' ' t 1 t I ' -- "1"-'''-' : C"6 the 'post's "big6est" attack was a hoax with a design- 54 ' ' e:: i y t i 1 i 'i I i ! t - V) ONE northeastern Nevada a century ago Their young minds were nott wonder-strucby Indians brass band mounted cavalry drilling smartly on the parade ground or by the conglomerate of prospectors cattlemen farm' ers gamblers and emigrants the tramping post's shady streets The attraction was the first manicured grass ever seen by most youngsters whose hard- scrabble pioneering parents eliminated such necessarily niceties The lawn's velvet green seemed more marvelous than any of the frontier post's familiar character parade Fertile loam blessed the mill- tary reservation's near ninesqarea Cottonwood uare-mile (now Soldier) and Secret creeks hurried down from the Ruby's towering snow peaks and shortly after the camp's establish- ment in July 1867 on the reserve's northeast corner soldiers dug a supplemental ditch from a perpetually bubbling mountain spring to the post THOUGH HALLECK some- times chronicles monthly frosts and never more than two months' summer one summer a creek-parchin- e maximum was recorded Later note Halleck would - zero miniwinmums but during ter the post's mercury only dropped to 30 below Wild berries ripened along Cottonwood Creek in July but a winter morning's pogonip shroud (still white made the post menacingly unfamiliar to Capt Samuel P Smith's bride of two months and ruined her piano The commanding officer's quarters a double tent its dirt floor often a morass was scarcely a conventional bridal suite Capt Smith's orders directed that the post be a camp cavalry and infantry named for Maj Gen Henry Wager Halleck then commanding general of the Army's Department of the Pacific Its garrison would protect emigrants along the Humboldt Trail and railroad builders simultaneously laying steel from east and west SPRING 1868 BY LATE force had platSmith's ted the post's streets and its 200x320-parade ground dug the water trench planted garden transplanted trees and replaced tents with adobe and stockaded log buildings Frame 1867-68'- s fog-fros- ff - MEMORY stayed green for a lifetime with children who visited Ft Halleck in 1 ‘L ''' ' ' pt :4i 1 ' ::: 7 t '' if '':: 4 s ti 1 1!:t- t il e 'i f F' -- 0 t -i ' ‘ ' '''- ji 1'7 i " 1 7-- '' 0' ' : ' ' i 1 '- 4 - - r t : ' i " ' ': : 7 I t I ' l : !: 4 4 ''i5 'T''' - ' ' '' ') i 4 t 't ''' ' - I"' ' - ' - : '71' r ' 1 '" - - 4 i is : - ': 4:: :2- W ' j' ''-- ' 'i ': t k ' ' ' fit i : : i- 4 — - u t'''" 4 ' p - t ' t ' 't I : -- - t : e :eY''' ::i 'I — 4 11:t :- - 4- t-- 1 !' t "' '''t - t i t )' '- 1 ' '4 - F--- -- 4'fl 4: ! o LPLOPAlki a amitiniArAniallia i A k 44o ide16 - located south of Secret Pass at foot of Mt Roby's west slope buildings came when freight rates dropped after completion in 1869 of the transcontinental railroad Capt 'Smith aged 38 launched his Nevada saga when helping establish Camp Ruby at the southern end of Ruby Valley in 1862 His reputation delineated a ruthless foe and sadistically harsh disciplinarian in common with many Western post commanders Camp Ha Deck's construction dust had scarcely settled before the Golden Spike made Uncle Sam's string of Indian forts from Sacramento to St Joe obsolete Camp Churchill headquarters Nevada Military District was abandoned as IA as Camp Ruby in 1869 with both garrisons moving to Camp Hal-lee- k CAMP LIFE varied with the frequently changing personnel Some post commanders loathed whiskey Others hated gambling One or two loved dancing and an occasional all night supperdance with music by the post's brass band charmed settlers from all over Elko County Elkoites chartered railroad coaches parked them on a Hailed( Station siding and drove 12 miles to the fort In soldier-pilote- d horse-drawcarriages twinkled with oil The mess-hal- l Salt Lake City Utah October 29 1967 e'' - - n '''''' 1 i ' ' Fort Ha Heck marker :::rs T -- 1"4:44 ' - it t - 4 Ni-' - 2 4 44- ' - ':--:t ) ) '4 - ot ' ) ' ' - t'1i1' 11i i c lk ': 41 'k " ? 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