| Details | Date | Location | Comments | |
| Born | June 4, 1834 | Ohio | ||
| Died | March 21, 1891 | Colorado Springs, Colorado | Burial: Lake George Colorado | |
| Marriage | December 27 1856 | Benton County Iowa | Sophia Ann Bysong | |
| Children | Effie Dora Snair (July 23, 1857 – OCTOBER 23, 1863) Johney Snair (January 30, 1863 – May 9, 1963) Ellie Cora Snair (August 19, 1864 – June 18, 1865) Inez Sarah Snair (November 7, 1868 – October 7, 1889) Walter Lafayette Snair (February 11, 1873 – 1938) | |||
| Census Records | 1860 | Eureka Gulch, County of Arapahoe, Territory of Kansas | Richard Snare – Teamster, ? Houck – Butcher? | |
| Census Records | 1870 | Nevada City, County of Gilpin, State of Colorado, Post Office : Bald Mountain |
Locations
Eureka
Nevada
Nevada is one of the mountain mining camps of Gilpin County and adjoins Central on the west. Traversing the surrounding mountains are some of the richest and best developed gold mines in the Territory. Many of these reach the borders of the town and shaft-houses, inclosing hoisting machinery, for a part of the structures that make up this important mining center. Like its neighbors, Central and Black Hawk, it was first settled in 1859 by miners and prospectors, who with mill-men, still form the largest portion of its inhabitants.
Nevada is located in a small valley nearly surrounded by mountains. The chief of these, Bald Mountain, is among the highest of the foot-hill range. The valley like those adjoining, was formerly gulch diggins, and has yielded largely in gold.
Mills for the reduction of the ores are numerous. Nevada is next to Black Hawk in importance as a milling town; but this is fully noticed elsewhere. Perhaps no town in the mountains or the Territory produces so largely in gold in proportion to its population and still the great mineral wealth of its mines is not fully realized, nor will it be until reduction works, for the treatment of low grade ores, become a success in Colorado.
The society of Nevada is like that of all mining camps in the Territory, and the usual attention is paid to religious and moral observances. Altogether, this mountain town is prosperous and its inhabitants rank among the first in the territory in wealth and social position and its surroundings are unusually beautiful and grand.
Source: U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.
Eureka is another one of the mining settlements in what is now Gilpin County. In 1860, it is actually part of the Kansas Territory as Colorado hasn’t become a state yet.
Nevadaville was a gold-mining town in Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. It was also known in the 1860s and 1870s as Nevada City. The post office at Nevadaville was called the Bald Mountain post office, to avoid confusion with other Nevadas and Nevadavilles. The community is now largely a ghost town, although not completely deserted. The Nevadaville Masonic Temple that started in 1861 still holds regular meetings.
History
Nevadaville started in 1859, soon after John H. Gregory found the first lode gold in what is now Colorado. At the time, the townsite was in western Kansas Territory. The town grew to house the miners working the Burroughs lode and the Kansas lode. The population was predominantly Irish.
The town was one of the most important mining settlements in the area. A Masonic lodge was organized in 1859 from the Kansas Grand Lodge, becoming Nevada Number 36. After only one regular meeting, the lodge relinquished their charter and came under the jurisdiction of the new Grand Lodge of Colorado who had taken over the territory. The new charter was granted and the lodge became Nevada Lodge Number 4. The lodge still holds meetings as the only Ghost town lodge in Colorado.
In 1861 a large fire destroyed 50+ buildings, (including naturalist and taxidermist Martha Maxwell’s boardinghouse). However, residents made effective use of TNT to save the remaining parts of the city from the fire. Nevadaville rebuilt after fire destroyed a large piece of the town. A more serious threat to the town was the fact that the near-surface oxidized portions of the veins were worked out in the early 1860s. The rudimentary ore mills had trouble recovering gold from the deeper sulfide ores. The continued prosperity of Nevadaville was assured by the construction of successful ore smelters in nearby Black Hawk.
“Teamsters,” were originally the owners and drivers of “teams” of horses and mules that moved people and goods in an era when “horsepower” referred not to the muscle of an engine but literally to the hauling capacity of a horse.