Sadler Ranch

Elko County

A survey map from 1872 lists this place as "Crawford's House". I was able to locate several newspaper articles from the 1870's and 1880's related to ranch activity by Joseph Crawford of Huntington. It also appears that Joseph Crawford had ranch interests in Diamond Valley. The Huntington Valley ranch was later owned by the family of future Governor Reinhold Sadler (1896-1902). Sadler immigrated to Nevada from Prussia. He spent time in Virginia City and Hamilton before settling in Eureka. He was elected Treasurer of Eureka County in 1880. The Sadler family also had interests in other area ranches. As with Joseph Crawford, the Sadler family owned a ranch in Diamond Valley. In October of 1885, the Eureka Daily Sentinel reported a fire at the Sadler Ranch in Diamond Valley. They lost three full wagon loads of hay that they had just received from Crawford's Diamond Valley ranch. The first article that I found that noted the ownership of the Huntington Valley ranch by the Sadler family was on August 10, 1889. It stated that a man named Johnny Fitzmaurice was in charge of the place. An article from the Elko Independent on March 8, 1899 was titled: "An Old Settler Dead". It stated that a man named Lyman Bugby had spent the last 27 years working on "what is now the Sadler Ranch in Huntington and worked there continuously...". This establishes two things. That the ranch had been in existence since at least 1872, and that it didn't always belong to the Sadler's. This coincides with the 1872 survey map. An interesting event took place here in August of 1900. While they were haying, a "young Italian" was carelessly handling a pistol. He shot Joe Minoletti in the leg. Joe's father removed the bullet with a razor knife and took Joe into town to see the doctor. Small articles continued to be written about the ranch throughout the early part of the 20th century. Reinhold Sadler passed away on January 30, 1906. On a date unknown to me, Herman Sadler took possession of the ranch. Herman was either a true gentleman, a lady's man, or both. An article from the Elko Independent on November 5, 1915 was titled: "Herman Sadler a True Gallant". It stated that Herman was en route to Elko from Huntington. While passing through Hylton (Jiggs), he discovered that three "school ma'am's" had no ride to Elko. He gladly volunteered to take them. While enroute, he ran out of gas. Herman walked into Elko for more fuel. The article stated that the school ma'am's didn't mind the wait, except that they were deprived of his company. By 1920, it appears that Herman was entertaining the sale of the ranch. An offer of $100,000 was made by a man named A. Filipino of Elko. This sale apparently fell through. By mid 1922, Herman began liquidating his ranch assets. He sold between 600 and 700 head of cattle to George Holland and Bert Stewart of the Elko Livestock & Wool Commission Company in Lamoille. In November of 1922, he sold the 5,000- acre ranch to John P. Holland. Mr. Holland was said to be taking possession of the ranch on November 26. The article stated that Herman had already sold all other ranch related items and livestock earlier in the year. Herman stated that his plans were to move to "Elko and go into the real estate business, along the line of exchanging as far as possible, Nevada property for California real estate."

Post Office: While other post offices did exist in the Huntington Valley, I couldn't find any reference to one being located at the Sadler Ranch. There was a post office at the Brown Ranch six miles north.

Last Trip/ Road Conditions: My last trip through here was in July of 2022. We have driven past this ranch to cut firewood for many years. As stated, this area was a major thoroughfare from Elko to Hamilton during that era. Different stage routes ran right through here, to include Beachey's and Denver-Sheperd. The major roads from that era met up at the Sadler Ranch. The roads split and branched out again about 1 1/2 miles to the south, just beyond Antelope Station. Today the road is dirt, but it is wide and well-maintained. This is the main thoroughfare from Elko to the massive Bald Mountain Mine. Coach buses carry employees to this mine all day and night, so it has to stay maintained. That doesn't mean that a huge storm can't temporarily create trouble on this road or any other. Travel accordingly.

Sources: U.S. Surveyor General's Office- 1872 Survey Map (Surveyors: C.C. Tracy, A.J. Hatch & J.G. Smyles); Eureka Sentinel/ Eureka Daily Sentinel/ Eureka Weekly Sentinel (Newspaper); Elko Independent (Newspaper); White Pine News (Newspaper); Carson Daily Appeal (Newspaper); National Governors Association- Gov. Reinhold Sadler; Carson.org- Reinhold Sadler.