Palisade, Nevada
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Located 27 miles southwest of Elko, Nevada, Palisade (originally Palisades) was built around the Central Pacific Railroad in 1870, which plied the Chicago to San Francisco route. The Eureka and Palisade Railroad was a spur, built from 1873-75, that stretched 87 miles south to mines in Eureka. Activity died off by 1885, and the line existed marginally until its retirement in 1938.
A 1993 book by Kathryn Lindskoog listed Palisade as the site of an elaborate hoax during the early 1870s, probably to boost tourism in the town. Whenever a train arrived, the residents were said to stage rampant gunfights and bank robberies. Nobody was privy to knowledge of the hoax except the residents, and the showmanship died off after only several years.
References
- Lindskoog, Kathryn. Fakes, Frauds & Other Malarkey. Hope Publishing House, Pasadena, CA, 1993, p. 44.
- Nevada State Historic Preservation - Palisade (http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/shpo/markers/mark_65.htm)
- Elko Rose Garden Association - Palisade (http://www.elkorose.com/palisade.html)
- Eureka-Nevada Railway Company Records (University of Nevada) (http://www.library.unr.edu/specoll/mss/NC02.html)