It's been some years since the last big one--the New Year's flood of 1997. I believe our local flood problems date back to 1862 and Orson Hyde.

Utah Territory
The story begins in 1850 when Congress established the Utah Territory. It consisted of what is now Utah, most of Nevada, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, became the first Territorial Governor and dispatched Mormon settlers throughout the new territory. His people established the first farming operations and trading posts in the region.

In the spring of 1851, John Reese, Stephen Kinsey, and 14 others arrived on the Carson River with 10 wagons full of flour, butter, eggs, and other supplies. There were no permanent settlers in the Carson Valley, but six miners were already digging in nearby Gold Canyon when Reese arrived. Twelve of Reese's companions caught gold fever, quit the wagon train, and joined the miners who were searching for nuggets.

Carson Valley
Looking for land, not gold, Kinsey explored the head of the Carson Valley near present-day Genoa; he decided that area was best for a trading post and settlement. Earlier the spot had been named "Mormon Station" for a failed settlement attempt in 1849-50, but no trace remained. Indians had burned the few shacks constructed in the effort.

In order to protect themselves against attack by Indians or renegade whites, the Mormon emigrants built a two-story store and hotel, and enclosed it all within a sturdy 12-foot-high stockade. In1851 this was the first permanent settlement in the western Utah Territory.

Life was quiet and prosperous for both religious and secular settlers until 1855, when Salt Lake City's government regulations blew in like a tempestuous Washoe Zephyr. The blast of hot air took form primarily in the fiery tongue of Orson Hyde, a stern Mormon elder and Carson Valley's first duly appointed probate judge.

Orson Hyde Arrives
Polygamist Judge Hyde, accompanied by his fourth wife, led a column of 35 fellow missionaries on horseback into Carson Valley. Their arrival greatly increased the Mormon presence. He was there to organize the district into a county under the laws of Utah, which included polygamy. Stately and aloof, Orson Hyde quickly called an election and filled the all-important county offices such as sheriff, constable, prosecuting attorney and tax collector.

In 1857, the Mormon faithful were recalled to Salt Lake City to defend it against military action by United States government troops. Judge Hyde and his followers had built a sawmill, made and purchased several land claims, and significantly improved their properties in both Carson and Washoe Valleys. The Mormons tried to sell their real estate to the secular pioneers remaining behind, but no one would pay.

The Curse
Five years later, there still had been no property payments from the settlers. Orson Hyde, now living in Salt Lake City, felt ripped off by the "squatters" who had freely taken over the Mormon homes and crops. In his rage, he put a terrible curse on both the Carson and Washoe Valleys--as well as on the Sacramento Valley for good measure. In a public letter addressed to the people in the valleys, Hyde said he had been waiting for a sign from God on how to punish those who had wronged the Mormons.

Accusing the settlers with crimes of abomination, drunkenness, and corruption, he quoted from the bible and wrote, "You shall be visited of the Lord of Hosts with thunder and with earthquakes with floods..." His scathing indictment, dated Jan. 27, 1862, was timely. The Carson, Washoe, and Sacramento Valleys were all under deep water at the time, the result of heavy rain melting the Sierra snow pack. The overflowing Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers devastated western Nevada, while runoff from the Sierra west slope had transformed the Sacramento Valley into a vast inland sea.

Hyde's Curse and our region's volatile flood pattern may not be linked, but myth or no myth, climatologically, the next flood is just around the corner.

Editor's Note: Mark McLaughlin is a Tahoe historian who can be reached at mark@thestormking.com.