Empire and the Carson River Mills

1864 - 1964

When the Comstock Lode was discovered in 1859, the problem of reducing the ore from the fabulously rich Virginia City mines had to be solved. Mills were built in Gold Canyon and Six Mile Canyon. In Washoe Valley, ...

Empire Mills

G. W. Woodruff began grist operations in 1861 on this site previously occupied in 1847 by E.T. Taylor Cotton Gin Company and in 1841 by William Waters Garrard’s cotton warehouse. Empire Mills ran night and day during the Civil War ...