Bailey Creek Park
14770 Granite Mine Court, Reno, NV 89521 (click here to view a map)
Park Ranger Office: (775) 849-2511
This three-acre park constructed in 2001 features a group picnic shelter (non-reservable), a play area, individual picnic tables, a basketball court, lawn area, walking path and access to Bailey Creek wash.
Park History
The area around the park is called Bailey Canyon, and is named after the Bailey family who lived at the foot of Geiger Grade. Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Bailey initially lived in Virginia City where Mr. Bailey was in the mining industry before the family moved down to the canyon in the early 1900s, then moved to Reno in 1917. According to his obituary, H.H. “Doc” Bailey was born in Vermont in 1845. Doc arrived in Virginia City after having sailed from Vermont around Cape Horn, followed by a stint trapping in Idaho until he was “driven out by the Indians.” After arriving in Nevada in 1873, he married Annie Olds and worked for the Consolidated Virginia mine under John W. Mackay. Doc’s most prized possession was an old six-shooter previously belonging to Mackay. Interestingly, their daughter Lilly married John L. Wedekind in 1902—a regional park north of Sparks named after Wedekind.
Image: Bailey Canyon and Creek: Virginia City in 1867 with the Geiger Grade wagon road. Source: Timothy O’Sullivan, Western Nevada Historic Photo Collection.
While the park is relatively new (2002), it is located in an area rich with Nevada history. Just a block away is the old Geiger Grade Toll Road. It is considered one of the oldest roads in the state. John Tilton and Davison Geiger were granted the franchise to build a toll road between Virginia City and Steamboat Springs in 1861 by the Nevada Territorial Legislature. Geiger was the surveyor and laid out the road up the canyon. Geiger is described as an expert surveyor, but you’d hardly know it if you hiked on the upper portion of the road with its sharp turns, steep inclines, and precarious drop-offs. Despite its precarious nature, this toll road was popular with teams of animals pulling wagons of food and supplies up to Comstock in Virginia City. Stagecoaches filled with people, and sometimes valuable treasure boxes from Wells Fargo & Co., buzzed up and down the road. Stores and hotels provided some services along the route; now they’re all long gone. Even today, the upper portion is not paved and not easy to travel, but back in the old days, snow and mud on the 2000-foot climb made the road impassable for part of the year. Stretches of the road were very narrow and tended to frighten horses, causing dreadful accidents. Because there were so many times the road was impassable due to heavy snow or mud, locals clambered for a more reliable road to Virginia City, which was the seat of Storey County. The replacement road called State Hwy 341 was completed in September 1936 and was funded by the Federal Bureau of Public Roads. The highway overlooks the old Geiger Grade Toll Road but is wider, has less dangerous curves, and eliminates the steep portions (although it still climbs close to 2000 feet in seven miles).