An illustrated map of the Carson River watershed may point the way to Western Nevada's future as well as serve as a link to its past.
State Archivist Guy Rocha called the Carson River drainage the cradle of civilization in Nevada and potentially the state's future savior.
"This is the beginning of the major arterial to California," he said. "Carson was founded to reroute immigrants through Kings Canyon. That never really took off."
What might take off, Rocha pointed out, was the movement to turn the Carson River drainage into a tourist destination.
Rocha was guest speaker at the unveiling of the map, titled "The Carson River Watershed: Our Lifeline in the Desert," by Greg Brady. It decorates one side of a brochure developed to educate residents of the Carson River drainage.
"People don't know there is a river out there," said JoAnne Skelly, chairwoman of the working group that developed the brochure. "We've come up with a way to raise awareness of the watershed out there."
Twenty thousand brochures were printed to be used in presentations about the river.
Money to print the brochure came from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection and the Carson River Subconservancy District.
On Tuesday, nearly 40 people attended the unveiling by Lyon County commissioner and subconservancy member Bob Milz and Environmental Protection director Allen Biaggi at the U.S. Geological Survey in Carson City.
Rocha took the gathering on a winding tour of the history of the Carson River basin, starting with its naming by John C. Fremont.
"The biggest myth is that Kit Carson came to Carson Valley during the 1843-44," Rocha said of the expedition that first saw the river just downstream from Fallon. "Then they went south to Bridgeport and over to Hope Valley."
In fact, Carson never visited the city that bears his name. He camped here in 1853 with 7,000 sheep and goats. But the state capital did not win its name until Frank Proctor, one of its founders, named it years later.
The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and Western Nevada Resource, Conservation and Development Inc. contributed to the development of the map.
A phone call is all it takes to obtain an illustrated map of the Carson River from Ebbett's Pass to the Carson Sink.
INFORMATION
To obtain a copy of the Carson Drainage Map, call Genie Azada at 887-9005, or e-mail her at genie@cwsd.org
