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Welcome to the City Of Lovelock's Web Site. Inside you will find many links to things about Lovelock, from the history of Lovelock to current events and projects in the community, including the Restoration Project of the Old Railroad Depot and the Downtown Beautification Project. So please come in and look around.
The City Of
Lovelock, known as the
“Banana Belt”, was established in 1868 and incorporated on
September 26, 1917, is a community of approximately 2400 people located 90
miles east of Reno along Interstate 80.
Lovelock is 2 square miles in size, which includes 3 public parks,
skateboard park, a community swimming pool, hospital, elementary, middle
and high school, public library, community center and many businesses
ranging from feed stores to casinos.
The Story of George of Lovelock George Lovelock, pioneer, the founder of two towns which bear his name , honor and respected as the patriarch of the town of Lovelock, Pershing County, Nevada, had during his life of eighty-three years, a career of varied experience, passed in different climes, and of successful effort and accomplishment. He was born March 11, 1824, in Swansea, Wales, and was reared and educated in England. He married Mill Marry Forest, April 5, 1847, and shortly thereafter they took shop to Australia. Their first son, Frederick, was born while they were on passage. In Australia Lovelock was employed in the Copper Mines for over two years, after which he and his family embarked for the Sandwich Islands. Leaving his wife and child on the island in the Pacific, Lovelock set sail for San Francisco, California, arriving April 3, 1850. Lovelock had learned the carpenter trade, and for the first few weeks he was engaged in building houses in Happy Valley. In May he went to Sacramento, where, in June, he was joined by his wife and son. Soon thereafter they moved to Brown's Valley, and thence to Feather River, where he built the second house on what is now the city of Oroville. His son Thomas was the first white child to be born there, September 1851. In 1852 he moved to Marysville, California, for more healthful location for his family, and thence to Butte Creek. He built a store there and the place was named Lovelock in his honor. This little California town still exists. During his stay in the area he was engaged in placer mining, teaming, and also built a sawmill at Lovelock. At the beginning of the Civil War, however, the demand for lumber ceased and he abandon his California enterprise and struck out for Nevada. He was located at the mouth of Rocky Canyon, then Humboldt County, until 1866, when he moved to where the town of Lovelock has since been built. Upon arriving in the "Big Meadow", he bought the squatters' right, 320 acres for $2,250,000, from the Blake brothers and got with it the oldest water rights on the Humboldt River. He established his home and operated a newly acquired stage station in Hill Beachey's line at a point nearly opposite where the railroad depot now stands. So far as can be determined, in 1866 the Blakes and George Lovelock also completed one of the earliest irrigation canals in the Lovelock Valley. They harvested the Great Basin wildrye growing in the meadows and along the Lovelock slough with scythes each fall and used or sold the hay. The L.N. Carpenter priority in the Union Canal is based upon this early Blake-Lovelock water right. When the building of the Central Pacific Railroad reached the site of present Lovelock in early August of 1868, George Lovelock gave eighty-five acres for a town site which the company named Lovelock, The railroad company promised to give him a block in the town in exchange, an agreement that was not kept, and he had to pay five hundred dollars for half a block. Also, in return for giving the railroad the right of way, he was to receive a free pass - but he had only one free ride. George Lovelock was a tireless and faithful worker in the developing of the agriculture and mineral resources in the Humboldt County section. He was one of the first men in the county to engage in mining enterprise and at the time of his death his holdings were quite extensive. He was the discoverer and original owner of the American Nickel Company's nickel and cobalt properties at Cottonwood Canyon, and had valuable holdings there and in many other districts in the county. Mining was his life's work and study. in the delirium of fever, the night before his death, he was going down shafts, a candle in hand. "Uncle George" was a short stocky man with brush whisker. He is remembered sitting the the porch of his adobe home surrounded by ore samples and the town's children who gathered to hear stories of history and admire his collection. The well-versed pioneer with his extra wide suspenders and handkerchief around his neck was also noted for his unusual foresight of the future, his granddaughter recalls sitting on his lap watch pigeons, when he predicted "One day we will be flying through the air like birds. You will live to see this occasion but I will not". His prized possessions were an unusually large pocket watch and a chain that he had brought to his country from England; his "stogie" knife with its long sharp blade which he used to remove corks from various types of bottles; and his miner's eye glass, a tool of his beloved trade. He was never sick a day in his life prior to the three days before his death. His longevity was attributed to his daily ritual of dipping his penknife into a blue bottle of quinine powder and consuming all the knife point would hold. This was followed by a cup of tea which he made from the wild sagebrush of which he was so fond. Besides his extensive mining interests, George Lovelock was also engaged in the hotel business. In Lovelock he first owned the Big Meadow Hotel which he later "exchanged for a consideration" for the portion of land belonging to Ed Asher. This land beyond the Lovelock Slough is the present location of the Ruddell Ranch. He owned a hotel in Trinity when the town was in its her day and also operated a large hotel at Oreana. He never joined societies. His career was its own justification and eulogy. In politics he always voted the Republican ticket and he remained steadfast in the Christian faith of the Episcopal Church of his childhood. Above all, he was staunch in his belief and practice of the Golden Rule. "No one in need, be they of the 'paleface' brother, was ever turned from his door empty handed. Indured to the hardships of pioneer life, yet he had a tender or sympathetic nature, always glad to divide his last morsel with those in need." Marry Lovelock, first wife of George, mother of his children and sharer in his pioneer hardships, passed away July 6, 1881. She was 58. After a time a second companion, Mary Evans, was taken. No children were born of the second marriage and the wife accidentally drowned in the old river channel which passes back of their home three years after the union. The eight children born to George Lovelock included, Frederick, Thomas, George, Jr., Daniel, Stephen, Nellie Lovelock, Carpenter, Jennie Lovelock Ruddell, and Ellen Lovelock. George Lovelock passes away March 28, 1907, at the age of 83 following an attack of pneumonia. Information collected and compiled by Elaine Pommerening, Lovelock, Nevada Story from an article in the Lovelock Review Miner.
George Lovelock Contact Information
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Send mail to clerk@cityoflovelock.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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