Peavine Mountain
Encyclopedia
Peavine Mountain is a mountain located in Washoe County
Nevada
, at the northwest corner of the Truckee Meadows
, forming one of the most dominant geographical features in the Reno/Sparks area. Early prospectors to the mountain discovered wild pea vines growing in the vicinity of Peavine Springs on the northeast flank of the mountain, near Poeville, hence the name.
Much of the northern Truckee Meadows is built atop Peavine alluvium
, most significantly from just west of Lake Park in Northwest Reno
, across the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno, and toward Proctor Hug High School
in Northeast Reno. Above these alluvial deposits, the sediments become coarser and are frequently interspersed with diatomaceous material.
Where the gentler lower slopes of the foothills join the significantly steeper slopes of the mountain proper, the sediments give way to their igneous parents. U.S. Highway 395 traverses the so-called Alta Formation, which is composed largely of pyroxene
andesite
flows, flow breccia
, and lahar
ic breccia. On the flanks of Peavine Mountain, the Alta Formation is frequently interrupted by rhyolite
plugs and hornblende
andesite
s of the Kate Peak Formation.
The higher reaches of the mountain display large outcroppings of granodiorite
, many of which predominate the features on the upper reaches of the south slope. In addition, one of the most common features of Peavine's geology is the so-called Peavine Sequence, mesozoic
-aged altered and unaltered metavolcanic rock
composed of a hodge podge of material including rhyolite flows & pyroclastics, dacite
, andesite, and laharic breccias.
(ca. 2000 B.C. to 500A.D.) cultures at sites primarily located within the Truckee River drainage.
One John Poe, allegedly a cousin of Edgar Allan Poe
came to the area ca. 1862, and soon established the Poe Mining Company, began work at the Paymaster Mine, and developed and platted the townsite of Poeville
on the northeast side of the mountain. Poeville maintained a post office from September 1, 1874 to March 22, 1878.
Aside from Poeville, at least two townsites developed, however briefly, on or immediately near Peavine Mountain:
, many miles of hiking and mountain bike trails have been added, and the varied geography provides a range of challenges. Peavine is also a favorite for off-road vehicles, although access has become increasingly restricted in the past fifteen years from Northwest Reno, due largely to residential building in that area. The HTNF maintains assorted access points across this area on the southwest flank of the mountain, some allowing for motor vehicles, with others designed for pedestrian traffic; access from the east and the north is substantially less regulated.
To service and install the towers and stations located at the peak and on several promontories, an access road was constructed, curling up the north and east faces of the mountain. Weather permitting, this road is passable by most two-wheel-drive vehicles with modest undercarriage clearance and extends to the uppermost summit.
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...
Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, at the northwest corner of the Truckee Meadows
Truckee Meadows
The Truckee Meadows is a valley in Northern Nevada which contains the cities of Reno and Sparks. The valley is approximately 10 miles square.Truckee Meadows is bounded by the Carson Range in the west and the Virginia Range in the east...
, forming one of the most dominant geographical features in the Reno/Sparks area. Early prospectors to the mountain discovered wild pea vines growing in the vicinity of Peavine Springs on the northeast flank of the mountain, near Poeville, hence the name.
Geology
The summit, known as Peavine Peak, is situated approximately 3.5 miles due east of the California state line at an elevation of 8,266 feet.Much of the northern Truckee Meadows is built atop Peavine alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
, most significantly from just west of Lake Park in Northwest Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, across the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno, and toward Proctor Hug High School
Hug High School
Procter R. Hug High School is a fully accredited public high school in Reno, Nevada, and belongs to the Washoe County School District. Hug High was built on a hillside in northeast Reno in 1968 to serve students from rapidly growing areas in northeast Reno, northwest Reno and the Northern...
in Northeast Reno. Above these alluvial deposits, the sediments become coarser and are frequently interspersed with diatomaceous material.
Where the gentler lower slopes of the foothills join the significantly steeper slopes of the mountain proper, the sediments give way to their igneous parents. U.S. Highway 395 traverses the so-called Alta Formation, which is composed largely of pyroxene
Pyroxene
The pyroxenes are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. They share a common structure consisting of single chains of silica tetrahedra and they crystallize in the monoclinic and orthorhombic systems...
andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
flows, flow breccia
Breccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
, and lahar
Lahar
A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. The term is a shortened version of "berlahar" which originated in the Javanese language of...
ic breccia. On the flanks of Peavine Mountain, the Alta Formation is frequently interrupted by rhyolite
Rhyolite
This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
plugs and hornblende
Hornblende
Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals .It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole....
andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
s of the Kate Peak Formation.
The higher reaches of the mountain display large outcroppings of granodiorite
Granodiorite
Granodiorite is an intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase than orthoclase-type feldspar. Officially, it is defined as a phaneritic igneous rock with greater than 20% quartz by volume where at least 65% of the feldspar is plagioclase. It usually contains abundant...
, many of which predominate the features on the upper reaches of the south slope. In addition, one of the most common features of Peavine's geology is the so-called Peavine Sequence, mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
-aged altered and unaltered metavolcanic rock
Metavolcanic rock
In geology, metavolcanic rock is a type of metamorphic rock. Such a rock was first produced by a volcano, either as lava or tephra. Then, the rock was buried underneath subsequent rock and was subjected to high pressures and temperatures, causing the rock to recrystallize...
composed of a hodge podge of material including rhyolite flows & pyroclastics, dacite
Dacite
Dacite is an igneous, volcanic rock. It has an aphanitic to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. The relative proportions of feldspars and quartz in dacite, and in many other volcanic rocks, are illustrated in the QAPF diagram...
, andesite, and laharic breccias.
Native American Presence
With the discovery of dozens of archaeological sites on Peavine and in the surrounding areas, it is apparent that aboriginal Great Basin cultures were active in this area. The predominant cultures were those of the Washo and Northern Paiute peoples, their artifacts having been found at locations ranging from Bull Ranch, at the southern terminus of Bull Ranch Creek on the southern flank of the mountain, to the shores of White Lake north of the Peavine (it is interesting to note that many of these sites have been found above the 6,000 foot level). Extant artifacts have been traced to both the Kings Beach (ca. 500-1500 A.D.) and MartisMartis people
The Martis were a group of Native Americans who lived in Northern California on both the eastern and western sides of the Sierra Nevada. The Martis complex lasted from 2000 BCE to 500 CE, during the Middle Archaic era. Evidence of Martis habitation has been found from Carson River and Reno, Nevada...
(ca. 2000 B.C. to 500A.D.) cultures at sites primarily located within the Truckee River drainage.
Modern History and Development
Mineral values were extracted from placer deposits as early as 1856 by prospectors returning to California. These small-scale operations lasted only as long as the water in the stream beds permitted, at which times the miners would clear off and move on. Such intermittent placer mining continued through the 1860s.One John Poe, allegedly a cousin of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
came to the area ca. 1862, and soon established the Poe Mining Company, began work at the Paymaster Mine, and developed and platted the townsite of Poeville
Poeville, Nevada
Poeville, also known as Peavine until 1863, is the site of a historical mining town, established in 1864. John Poe, a professional promoter from Michigan allegedly related to Edgar Allan Poe, discovered rich gold and silver veins in 1862 on the slopes of Peavine Mountain...
on the northeast side of the mountain. Poeville maintained a post office from September 1, 1874 to March 22, 1878.
Aside from Poeville, at least two townsites developed, however briefly, on or immediately near Peavine Mountain:
- Webster, named for Daniel WebsterDaniel WebsterDaniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
, was platted in August, 1873 by "Parties interested in the Peavine District, (who) laid out a town in the vicinity of the mines..."
- Brooklyn, named for the New YorkNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
BoroughBorough (New York City)New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
, was settled in March, 1875, on the southeast face of the mountain about midway between Reno and Verdi. Established by one Charles W. Bever, by 1876 the town was home to five families and contained a dozen or so buildings, although the 'boom' was to be short lived. Later that same year, John Poe persuaded Bever into a new found interest in another operation on the eastern flank of the mountain, and Brooklyn was finished. In March 1879, the remaining buildings were purchased and moved into Reno.
Recreation
Due to its proximity to the Reno-Sparks area, Peavine is attractive to and popular with all varieties of outdoor enthusiasts. Under the stewardship of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National ForestHumboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is the principal U.S. National Forest located in the U.S. state of Nevada. With an area of , it is the largest National Forest of the United States outside of Alaska...
, many miles of hiking and mountain bike trails have been added, and the varied geography provides a range of challenges. Peavine is also a favorite for off-road vehicles, although access has become increasingly restricted in the past fifteen years from Northwest Reno, due largely to residential building in that area. The HTNF maintains assorted access points across this area on the southwest flank of the mountain, some allowing for motor vehicles, with others designed for pedestrian traffic; access from the east and the north is substantially less regulated.
To service and install the towers and stations located at the peak and on several promontories, an access road was constructed, curling up the north and east faces of the mountain. Weather permitting, this road is passable by most two-wheel-drive vehicles with modest undercarriage clearance and extends to the uppermost summit.