4WD or high clearance desired
  Ledlie
MAP

39° 30' 31"N, 117° 10' 17"W USGS Vigus Butte Quad

VISITED 5/14/2005
DIRECTIONS Highway 50E from Fallon 101.5 miles;turn left onto dirt road (through gate) and proceed generally NE for about 1.5 miles.
From Fallon:
103 miles
WHAT WAS

Ledlie was a station on the Nevada Central Railroad. From here, cargo went out to several locations; the mines to the northwest, Ione and Grantsville, and in 1880 another line was planed to go south to Cloverdale in Nye County.

Ledlie was named after the infamous Civil War Brigadier General James H. Ledlie, whom U.S. Grant described as "... the greatest coward of the Civil War..." due to his drunken performance (or lack thereof) at Petersburg, Virginia on July 30, 1864. Instead of leading his men in battle and providing for their needs, apparently he was lolling around in his tent, drunk, which led to their being slaughtered and his being forced to resign. After the war, he returned to engineering, and was chief engineer of railways in both California and Nevada, which made it easy to get a siding named after himself.

Drunk or not, he did seem to know how to get a railroad built.

PROPOSALS for GRADING AND BRIDGING NEVADA CENTRAL RAILWAY
Contractor's Office, Battle Mountain, Aug 30th, 1879
Seal proposals will be received by the undersigned for the GRading and Bridging of the Nevada Central Railway until the 10th day of September, 1879, at his office in Battle Mountain. WOrk will be let in sections from five to twenty miles. Maps, profiles, Specifications, and all information required will be furnished upon application to Col. Lyman Bridges, Chief Engineer, and his office in battle Mountain. The right to accept of reject any or all bids is reserved.
James H. Ledlie, Contractor for constructing the N.C.R.R.
-Reno Evening GAzette, September 3, 1879

L.S. Foster, secretary of General Ledlie, the contractor of the Nevada central Railroad, arrived in Reno last night. He informed a Gazette reporter that forty miles of the road had been graded, and twenty miles of track are already laid. Track laying is going on at the rate of a mile a day. Gen. Ledlie is pushing forward with all possible speed.The whole road will be open for business by New YEars. ITs exact length will be 92 1/4 miles.
-Reno Evening Gazette, October 30, 1879

They no sooner got this one done then they started talking about another one.

The Nevada Southern as a party of engineers in the field, running a line south from Ledlie towards Ione and Grantsville. The men who are engaged in this enterprise are the same who built the Nevada Central.
-Reno Evening Gazette, March 6, 1880

The location of Ledlie lent itself to some businesses and services locating there.

W. R. Lee of St. Clair's Station, Churchill County, the man who recently put up the new flouring mill at LEdlie, in Reese Rover Valley, is in town today.
-Reno Evening Gazette, September 3, 1883

Austin Reveille: Joseph Blum, who has charge of the Ledlie Mill, has had machinery in running order and is now prepared to receive orders for grinding wheat. The ranchers can now bring their grain to the mill any time and unload it.
-Reno Evening Gazette, October 18, 1887

Two cars of Ramboullet bucks came in to the LEdlie stock yards on the Nevada Central railroad this week. Bill nicholas took delivery of the bucks which are for the Heath-Hayden flocks.
-Reno Evening Gazette, November 18, 1932

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the Depression helped the Nevada Central out the door.

The Nevada Central Railroad Company
SALE OF MATERIAL
Bid are invited at the office of the company, Austin, Nevada, for the following personal property:
(2) Ledlie-- Frame depot, frame and tie cabin, section house, water tank (10,000 gallon 13'8"x10'x2' redwood on 12"x12" frame) windmill (12' wheel - 4 post 40' tower "Aermotor") pump (Goulds Virn suction 3" cyl x 8" stroke, 3" suction and discharge)
-Reno Evening Gazette, September 8, 1938

 

POST OFFICE
NEWSPAPER
WHAT IS

While Paher mentions a single building still standing, we could find nothing save a single, solitary post marking the site. Fitting, perhaps.

 
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