Nevada Rock Art Geocaching Historical Markers

Historical Marker #119

Located on U.S. Highway 50 in Austin, Nevada.

Reuel Colt Gridley
(Citizen Extraordinaire)

This simple stone structure, opened to the public in late 1863, was originally operated as a general merchandise store by the firm of Gridley, Hobart and Jacobs. Gridley is best remembered for his 1864 wager which prompted the auctioning of a sack of flour for donations to the "Sanitary Fund," the Civil War forerunner of the American Red Cross. The flour was sold again and again throughout Nevada and California, then taken east and eventually auctioned at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1864, after raising $275,000 for this fund.

Gridley died almost penniless six years later.

Notes on this marker:

This is on the east side of Austin, just before you begin heading up and out of town.

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