It was a popular stage station in the upper end of Long Valley on the Susanville–Reno Road. It was established in the mid-1860s by Jonathon C. Roberts. In 1873, Roberts sold to David F. Evans and for many years it was known as the Evans Ranch. In 1882, when the Nevada-California-Oregon (NCO) constructed its railroad there, they established a station named Oneida, for the Sierra County Township of Oneida. On June 6, 1889, a post office was established there named Purdys—for Solomon Purdy who came to Sierra County in 1852, from Oneida, New York and eventually sold to David F. Evans. In 1891, the Purdy Post Office was moved to a site known today as Bordertown. Travelers of U.S. Highway 395 between 1931 and 1976 will know the location of the old Antelope Station as the first site of the California Agricultural Inspection “Bug” Station.
What an awesome old Building. You had to dig real deep into Lassen County History to find this JEWEL.
One more thing: It wasn’t the Nevada California Oregon Railway Company that built a TERMINUS in ONEIDA, it was the Nevada & Oregon Railroad on September 1882. Oneida WAS about 30 miles northwest of Reno. Oneida and Antelope are GHOST TOWNS.
The NCO was established and incorporated by the Moran Brothers 1884 after the N&O went bankrupt.