This simple stone structure, opened to the public in late 1863, was originally operated as a general merchandise store by the firm of Gridley, Hobart and Jacobs. Gridley is best remembered for his 1864 wager which prompted the auctioning of a sack of flour for donations to the "Sanitary Fund," the Civil War forerunner of the American Red Cross. The flour was sold again and again throughout Nevada and California, then taken east and eventually auctioned at the St. Louis Sanitary Fair in 1864, in all raising $275,000 for this fund. Gridley died almost penniless six years later.

State Historic Marker No. 119
Division of Historic Preservation & Archeology
Lander County Civic & Historic Society