Poor Jacob Markley. Over a century and a half after his untimely death, the man who founded Markleeville remains largely a mystery.
Still, a few details of his life remain: We know he was born March 6, 1821 in Dundas, a town in Ontario, Canada. He emigrated to Virginia in his youth. And in the late 1840s, the footloose young man moved on to Taylors Falls, Minnesota, where he married Sarah Ambrosia DeAtley, daughter of a local carpenter.
Sometime around 1860 Markley left his wife and children behind while he ventured west to seek his fortune in California. With his brothers, he may have operated a slaughterhouse in Gold Country, supplying fresh meat to hungry settlers.
But in 1861 Markley ventured east of the Sierra crest again. And there, on September 12, 1861, he staked out his legacy: a 160-acre land claim embracing the future site of his namesake town, Markleeville. The location of the state line was still somewhat murky, and when Markley recorded his land claim the following June, he filed it in the wrong spot: Douglas County (now Nevada).
Markley built a fair-sized cabin, sixteen by twenty feet in size, covering it with shakes made of local sugarpine. He also built a bridge over the creek below his cabin, charging toll to travelers wishing to cross.
Not long afterward, the tiny mining camp just up the trail at Silver Mountain began to boom. Soon, Markley’s homestead became the “terminus of yee-haw navigation” – the spot where the wagon road ended and supplies had to be transferred to pack trains to reach Silver Mountain.
Markley was buried on “a little eminence” overlooking the stream and the townsite that bore his name. Trailblazer that he was, markley was likely the first person buried in the markleeville cemetery.
Story by Karen Dustman
Author of “A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Markleeville”