Workers tackle Genoa vegetation during break in weather

 

Pioneer Genoans would have been right at home in Nevada’s oldest town this week as workers battled back vegetation.

On Thursday, the Genoa Cemetery Association had a tree that was knocking the gravestones in the Virgin plot askew.

The plot is home to pioneer Genoa family, including Judge Daniel Webster Virgin, wife Mary Raycraft Virgin, daughters Ellen Irene and Lillian Virgin Finnegan and son William T. Virgin.

Until Thursday, it was also the home to a crabapple that was removed by Battle Born Tree Service owner Mike Orlick using a remote control stump grinder.

According to the obituary published by The Record-Courier, Judge Virgin arrived in Carson Valley in 1863, the year before Nevada became a state. He was elected Douglas County’s first district judge and served 11 two-year terms as District Attorney, completing his final term in 2010.

It was the judge’s daughter, Lillian Finnegan, who won fame by co-founding the annual Candy Dance a century ago. Her statute stands in downtown Genoa and is clad in a Valentine’s Day frock.

Within sight of the cemetery, the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest Carson City District wrapped up a controlled burn while there was still snow on the ground.

“We work very hard on our fuels reduction efforts using prescribed fire as a proactive tool in the forest,” Carson District Spokeswoman Withanee Milligan said.

Genoa is located at very edge of the forest with several homes located in the pines.

Not far the former Virgin family home, the Pink House, state workers were trimming the cottonwoods that line Genoa Lane.

The stand of trees, including one that carries the plaque for the Hanging Tree, has been looming over the road and lost at least one good sized branch in the January storm.

The Nevada Department of Transportation, which oversees the road, has had the road down to one lane while trimmers from M.D. Tree Surgery worked to clear some of the larger branches.

“For driver safety, the overhanging branches were removed to reduce potential of falling into the roadway,” transportation spokeswoman Meg Ragonese said. “Crews will wrap up work Friday by cleaning any remaining debris and loose limbs from the work area.”
The Fremont cottonwood is native to Western Nevada, and grows naturally along streams and rivers where flooding is common.

Trees can reach up to 115 tall and live for up to 130 years. A popular poplar, old trees tend to die from the inside out and hollow out. Minden cleared the last of the cottonwoods growing around the town park in 2014. Those trees were estimated to be a century old at the time. The Genoa trees could be around that old. It’s unlikely any of the trees standing along Genoa Lane today were large enough in 1897 when accused killer Adam Uber met the end of a rope.