Mason's Tavern
During the spring of 1863, Capt. George W. Mason and Charles S. Lytle took up 163 acres of grazing and timber land at a spring along the old Overland Mail Route in what was known as Overland or Telegraph Cañon. Lytle's involvement may have been short-lived, but Mason established a hospitable tavern along the road by mid-summer. The Reese River Reveille of August 1, 1863 told of a pleasant ride to Mason's Tavern:
The Captain not only had the beverages usual in this country, but also a large, pure fountain of cold water and a pot filled to the brim with ready cooked greens, vegetables and other wholesome fare—tempting viands to us beef-eating townsmen...Mr. Mason has a considerable garden, with almost all the common growth in it. He has also completed a "stockade house" which is about 50 by 20 feet and well put together. His station or trading post is a pleasant one and must be very profitable while emigration continues and the country fills up around him with miners.
Around the same time as the aforementioned visit, the new road through Austin became preferable to the older route and business at Mason's likely faltered. He sold to the New York & Reese River Mining Company in September 1864, and water from the spring was subsequently used to power the Company's 16-stamp Midas Mill completed a short time later.
