Historic Coin Press No. 1 at the Nevada State Museum will mint a commemorative coin honoring John C. Fremont starting January 4th. 

Coin Press No. 1 was operated at the Carson City Mint from 1870-1893. Today, the old Mint building is incorporated into the Nevada State Museum complex, which houses the artifact that today mints commemorative medallions from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday during the year, except on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Coin Press No. 1 will mint the John C. Frémont Commemorative Medallion in recognition of Frémont’s birthday on January 21. The half ounce .999 fine silver medallion shows the American military officer, cartographer and politician on its obverse. The medallion’s reverse features historic Coin Press No. 1 and sports the famous CC mint mark. 

Frémont led multiple expeditions into the American West during the mid-19th century. His 1842-1844 expedition report was used by emigrants to Oregon and California during the Gold Rush. Geographic features in Nevada that he described and named include Pyramid Lake, the Carson River, the Walker River and Las Vegas (“the meadows”).

Frémont founded the California Republican Party and was nominated the national party’s first presidential candidate in 1856 on an anti-slavery platform, losing with 39% of the electoral votes to James Buchanan. President Abraham Lincoln commissioned Frémont to a major general in the Union Army at the start of the American Civil War. In that position, he issued an emancipation order freeing certain slaves.

In Nevada, Frémont often is remembered for his famous lost cannon, a 12-pound, U.S. Model 1835 Mountain Howitzer, which was abandoned in the West Walker River Canyon in 1844 during an expedition. A replica is fought over by the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, at their annual football game. The original cannon is part of the Nevada State Museum collection and on display in the Dema Guinn Concourse.

The Nevada State Museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday and is located at 600 N. Carson Street in Carson City with parking off Curry Street. Adult admission is $10. Museum members and children 17 and under are free.

(Nevada State Museum contributed to this report.)