For those not familiar, this was a station along the Nobles Trail and also on the route to the Idaho Mines. You can read previous post here. As I mentioned earlier in the year, I had located some additional information.
In 1851, Eber Bangham (1834-1910) made the overland journey to California from Michigan. In 1852, he returned to Michigan. In 1859, he once again made the journey to California arriving in the Honey Lake Valley in July of that same year. In Bangham’s 1906 biography it states: “On a side trip he discovered Granite Springs and established a trading post with emigrants; the wells which he dug furnished the purest water and were well patronized. In 1862, he divided his interests with his partners and afterward farmed alone on the Susan River.” That area is now present day Johnstonville.
The station to the west of Granite Creek was Deep Hole, several miles northwest of present day Gerlach. Deep Hole Station dates back to 1856 when Ladue Vary located there. In 1861, Thomas Bare in legal proceedings stated he owned Deep Hole Station and the Granite Creek meadows. On September 7, 1861 he sued W. White for $199 for the sale of hay and special damages, i.e. unable to operate the station in pursuit of White. A trial was held in which there were some conflicting testimony. Bare had offered to sell one ton of hay to White for $25. White had hired five men and two wagons to cut and remove the hay which was worth four cents a pound. Of the five men who actually cut and hauled the hay, no one could agree as to how much hay ws cut, citing estimates between 400 and 1,000 pounds. After the testimony Judge V.J. Borrette rendered a verdict in favor of Bare, but only for the amount of $55. Bare, it should be noted moved to the lower end of Surprise Valley, Modoc County in 1864, and the ranch there still is known as the Bare Ranch.