Fallon, Nevada: A Visitor’s Guide to amenities, attractions and history
from The Complete Nevada Traveler
Guide to
Fallon
Population: 6,400
Elevation: 4,500 feet
Fallon goes about its business with an air of quiet
satisfaction, an easy, amiable, tree-shaded town. Meals and lodging are easy
to find, and all automotive services are available.
Fallon, Nevada
Calendar of Annual Events
MAY
Desert Oasis Bluegrass
Festival775-423-4556
JULY
Silver State International High School
Rodeo775-423-3968
All-Indian Stampede & Pow
Wow775-423-2544
SEPTEMBER
Hearts of Gold Cantaloup
Festival775-423-4556
Lions Club Junior
Rodeo775-423-2546
Labor Day Parade775-423-2546
OCTOBER
Greater Fallon Air
Show775-423-2544
NOVEMBER
Desert Challenge775-423-2546
Welcome to Fallon
These businesses are pleased to welcome you
Local Area Information
FALLON CONVENTION & VISITOR AUTHORITY
Fallon. 1-800-874-0903. 55 Minutes from Reno and historic Virginia City
on Alt Highway 50 East. Attractions: Sand Mountain (off-road playground),
Lake Lahontan, Churchill County Museum, Hidden Cave, Grimes Point (rock
writings), Pony Express Stations. Events: Fallon Air Show, Bluegrass Festival,
Cantaloupe Festival, Rodeos, Top Gun Drag Racing.
Casinos
DEPOT CASINO & RESTAURANT
875 W. Williams Street. 775-423-2411. Depot Casino, historic Fallon Southern
Pacific Depot, converted and expanded for your gaming pleasure. Video Poker,
Keno and Multi-Game machines, slots, blackjack and featuring the “Midnight
Flyer” Fallon’s hottest night club and bar. Homestyle cooking in our restaurant.
Special Attractions
CHURCHILL COUNTY MUSEUM
1050 S. Maine Street. 775-423-3677. On I-80 exit 48 at Fernley. Follow
Highway 50 to Fallon, turn right on Maine Street. Learn the history of Lahontan
Valley by viewing exhibits on early pioneers and Native Americans. Admission
is free. Open daily April-December, closed Thursdays January-March.
A brief History & Description of
Fallon, Nevada
by
David W. Toll
When
Mike Fallon built a crossroads store on his ranch property in 1896, the
sparsely settled region of the Carson Sink had a nucleus for the first time
since Kenyon’s trading post at Ragtown, to the west, served the wagon trains.
In the same year the county renovated the old Virginia City-to-Fairview telegraph
line (for which it had paid $975 in 1889) to serve as a single-line telephone
system linking the farms and ranches in the area. As a consequence, you can
have an almost unique experience here for a dime: make a phone call. The
telephone system is still owned and operated by the County, the only one
in the USA still run as a public utility.
Sand Mountain, a few miles east of Fallon
Creation of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District by the U.S. Reclamation
Service shortly after the turn of the century prompted a tremendous spurt
of settlement in the region to be provided with irrigation water, and the
tiny settlement at Fallon became the seat of suddenly vigorous Churchill
County in 1902. A bank was established in 1908, and Fallon was incorporated.
By
this time the intensive agricultural development had begun to pay satisfying
dividends. Fallon’s Hearts O’Gold cantaloupes graced the menus of fine hotels
and restaurants in the biggest cities of the nation, and Fallon turkeys brought
premium prices.
For
the Fourth of July celebration of 1911 the town fathers imported a wrestler
who challenged all comers after lying down in the dirt and gravel of Maine
Street and permitting his trainer to drive an automobile over his rigid body.
In
1915 the Nevada State Fair was held in Fallon, and the townspeople built
an enormous “palace” of hay bales at the intersection of Maine and Center.
The roofless structure measured sixty feet square and its walls rose eighteen
feet high. At night dances were held within it while the king and queen of
the fair presided on thrones of Fallon hay. Construction of Lahontan Dam
was also completed that year.
Prices
turned down after World War I, and Fallon fell into 20 years of dull times.
Even the mining excitements in the nearby hills did not entirely lift the
depression. In June, 1942, however, the Navy began construction of a small
air station southeast of town, and Fallon’s economy jumped up again. The
station was closed in 1946, but reopened during the Korean War. In 1958 it
was dedicated to Lt. Cdr. Bruce Van Voorhis, a Navy pilot from Fallon awarded
the Medal of Honor. The 14,000-ft. runway is the Navy’s longest.
It
is also one of the busiest just now. The Navy’s use of the air space over
a big part of the country to the east, to train pilots in combat techniques
has made the region uninhabitable. Oil and fuel spills, as well as bomb drops,
have accumulated enormous environmental damage. And at the same time, the
base has expanded its activities (and its payroll) with accompanying benefit
to the local economy.
For
all the uproar, Fallon goes about its business with an air of quiet satisfaction,
an easy, amiable, tree-shaded town. Meals and lodging are easy to find, and
all automotive services are available. The Depot Casino, the Bonanza,
the Fallon Nugget and the Stockmen’s are “full service” casinos. There are
Mexican, Italian and Chinese restaurants as well as more common fare.
On
a warm summer’s evening, after a scurrying rain squall has wet down the fresh-cut
alfalfa and dusk has set the frogs and crickets to singing, Fallon is at
its comfortable best. Take the kids swimming at the pool, or watch a Little
League game at the City Park. One of the pleasantest images in my memory
is from this park, of a little leaguer wearing number 7, the tail tucked
halfway down his pants, and waving a glove the size of a satellite dish at
the baseballs flying over his head.
If
you’re in town on a Wednesday, take in the livestock sale at the Gallagher
Stockyard on Allen Road. The auction begins at 10 am and attracts livestock
buyers from around the country. Cattle are the main attraction, but horses,
sheep, hogs and goats are auctioned as well, and once in a while a burro.
Somebody even paid $6.50 for a duck one slow Wednesday afternoon. After you’ve
bought your limit of livestock you can have a snack or a meal with the cowboys
downstairs at Cow Pattie’s Cafe.
The Churchill County Museum is on south
Maine StreetFallon is the only Nevada town to add the stately E to
its big street’s nameand admission to the 14,000 square feet of engaging
and vivacious exhibits is free. You’ll see a reconstructed Native American
camp, an antique fire truck and a thousand items in between, ranging from
arrowheads and neolithic tools through a hand-pumped vacuum cleaner and leather
post cards.
Stillwater,
briefly and long ago the Churchill County seat, is headquarters for the
Stillwater Indian Reservation and home of one of the region’s most celebrated
citizens, Fortunate Eagle. A few years ago Fortunate Eagle flew to Rome,
descended to the runway and planted his lance in the asphalt, claiming Italy
on behalf of the American Indians by right of discovery.
The
celebrated storyteller “Squaw Tom” Sanders lived near Fallon for many years,
and many of his tales were of the local Indian life. He is buried in the
Indian cemetery at Stillwater.
In
the early 1950s Fallon’s literary tradition was further enriched when a “poor,
skinny, dreamy kid” of 21 from Portland, Oregon, showed up at the door of
the Eagle Standard on Williams Streetthe poet Richard Brautigan.
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