The Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area provides public access to

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s created by prehistoric people living near Hickison Summit at the north end of the

Toquima Range The Toquima Range is a mountain range, located primarily in Nye County with a small extension into Lander County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reaches a maximu ...

and the south end of the Simpson Park Mountains in the U.S. state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. The recreation area, maintained by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

, is east of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

along

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

. The site, at above sea level, is on the west edge of the Monitor Valley in the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

. The park features a self-guided tour along a trail with multiple petroglyph panels, high-desert flora, and views of the Toquima and Toiyabe mountain ranges and the

Big Smoky Valley The Big Smoky Valley is a landform of the Tonopah Basin between the Toiyabe and Toquima mountain ranges. It is about 100 miles (160 km) in length. Big Smoky Valley was so named on account of haze which frequently settles there. It is known ...

."Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area" (brochure distributed at the site), Battle Mountain Field Office, Bureau of Land Management. Amenities include 16 campsites, a day-use area, toilets, grills, picnic tables, and trash cans but no water.

Name

Hickison Summit is named for ranch owner John Hickerson. (''Hickerson'' is an alternate spelling for the summit.) The road to the Hickerson ranch passes over the summit.

History

In the general vicinity of Hickison Summit are multiple prehistoric hunting and living sites dating to 10,000 B.C. as well as more recent sites such as mining camps and ranches. Trails used by mid-19th-century explorers

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

and

James H. Simpson James Hervey Simpson (1813–1883) was an officer in the U.S. Army and a member of the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers. Early years He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 9, 1813, the son of John Simpson and Mary Bru ...

pass through the area as do the routes of the

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pik ...

and the Overland Stage. At the time of the earliest prehistoric sites, the Great Basin contained large lakes, including Lake Toiyabe and Lake Tonopah in the Big Smoky Valley west of the summit. As the climate became drier, the lakes evaporated, and the former lake-dependent cultures were replaced by hunter-gatherers. When the first European-Americans arrived in about 1850,

Western Shoshone Western Shoshone comprise several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863. They resided in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Utah. The tribes are very closely related cultural ...

people lived in the region.

References

External links

Petroglyph at the Hickison site
– Online Nevada Encyclopedia {{commons cat Parks in Nevada Protected areas of Lander County, Nevada Historic sites in Nevada