Liegan was one of those typical Nevada-California-Oregon (NCO) stations. It was known for something, but then again for nothing. On September 10, 1888 it became the new terminus for the railroad a bit north and east of Herlong today. It was a desolate outpost to say the least, surrounded by miles and miles of sagebrush, but not a single living soul in the immediate region. Of course, the decision to bypass the west side of Honey Lake for the east drew lots of criticism, a topic for another time. Its location was too remote for the railroad to generate any quantity of freight traffic at that point. One of its biggest claim to fame occurred on January 1, 1890 when numerous sight seers from Reno ventured there to view the eclipse of the sun. By that summer, the railroad extended its line farther north to Amedee, which quickly overshadowed Liegan. In the fall of 1890, Elmer Koken who traveled to Amedee on the NCO remarked that the Liegan station consisted of a box car. On April 9, 1891, the Liegan Post Office closed after an existence of eight months.

There was a glimmer of hope and Liegan was revived briefly during 1909-10 by the railroad. The Standish Water Company had just built a pumping plant on Honey Lake, with the intention to reclaim the sagebrush plain into a major sugar beet production region. That failed, and Liegan’s hopes went with it.

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