Old Geiger Grade

In the canyon below is the Old Geiger Grade road.  Constructed by Dr Davison M. Geiger and John H. Tilton in 1862, this old toll road was the most direct connection between the Comstock Lode and the Truckee Meadows, until replaced by the present, New Deal-era highway in 1936.

Concord stages, mud wagons, and ten-mule freighters carried thousands of passengers and millions of dollars in precious cargo across this section of the Virginia Range.  There are many stories of unpredictable winds, snows, landslides, and the everlasting danger of lurking highwaymen involving this precipitous stretch of road.  Dead Man’s Point and “Robber’s” Roost, two of the most famous features of the road, can be seen from this marker.

STATE HISTORICAL MARKER NO.  211

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE