38° 43' 25"N, 118° 18' 03"W - WIN WAN FLAT quad

From Fallon, take Highway 50E 32.1 miles to SR839 (Rawhide Turn-off) ;Turn S on SR839 for 30.7miles; left on dirt road, head generally SE for 10.1 miles.

From Fallon: 72.9 miles

Midway was a station on the old Wadsworth - Columbus freight route, and it is--roughly-- half way between those two points. However, Sue Silver, Assistant Director of the Mineral County Museum, explains that "Midway Station was established after the discovery of the mines at Rawhide, or about 1907-1908, at which time the road was known variously as the Mina to Rawhide Road, Luning to Rawhide Road or simply 'road to Rawhide' from either of those two places."

From roughly 1873 to 1882, this route (not the station) was used for equipment and supplies from the Central Pacific Railroad at Wadsworth to the mining camps of Candelaria, Belleville, and Columbus. And of course, the results of mining from those towns were shipped back the same way. The trip took about eight days each way- that's an average of about sixteen miles each day. Slooooooooooow.

Not much is known about Midway Station. In his book, Wadsworth and Columbus Freight Route, Dr. Bill Davis mentions that there are the remains of seven rock buildings here. He also states that during the 1920's and 1930's, Midway station came into use again- by bootleggers and horse thieves who gained some temporary protection from its stone walls. Sue explains further that "The site of Midway was shown as such on maps of Mineral County published by Louis B. Spencer, a surveyor who was for many years the Mineral County Surveyor. Spencer did not arrive in the county until after the turn of the 20th century and the earliest map we have of his showing Midway was done about 1931. For more information about this site you might wish to refer to Mineral County, Nevada, Volume 3 - Early Transportation: Stagecoach, Steamboat & Narrow Gauge Rail (Silver, 2011). This volume discusses the waystations along the portion of the Wadsworth and Columbus road from Luning north to Deadhorse Well."

Today Midway is just some low rock foundations on a well-traveled, graded dirt road. Most probably pass by without a second glance. But I'll bet it was a welcome sight to some teamsters of the day.