Plans are moving forward to rebuild Dayton's historical Carson & Colorado Railway depot. That's the one that was destroyed by arson two years ago. It's a day many residents will never forget. Historical Society of Dayton Valley member Linda Clements, who was spearheading a campaign to restore the building at the time, saw the fire burning from her office.

"Our president called and said it's gone, and I just broke down in tears," she said. "I had just won another $135,000 for restoration of the depot one week before the fire."

The depot, built in the 1880's and moved from its original home in Mound House, was a fixture in Dayton for more than a century.

"My friend was born in 1923 and she remembers how the trains used to stop at the depot originally over by the river and the whistle would go off," Clements said. "How it exciting it was, people could get on a train there and go all the way to San Francisco. Then it became a home, moved when Highway 50 came through, and there's a history of caring about that depot."

The Historical Society cared so much, it bought the property and transferred it to the county. Then began the process of taking the building, that had been converted to a home, back to its roots.

"It didn't look like a depot at all, it looked like a residential building," said Stony Tennant, member of the Historical Society of Dayton Valley. The old timers called it the depot, and a lot of people that had been here for 20 or 25 years, they didn't know why we called it the depot. But when we started demolition, taking it back to the original building, the roof had this big 10 foot overhang on both sides and they said, no wonder why you called it the depot!"

Restoration plans called for keeping the building as historically accurate as possible. A lot of materials for the project were off site and survived the fire. Now, with the help of insurance money, the plan is to rebuilt it the same way.

"It should be pretty close," Lyon County Comptroller Josh Foli said. "We should be able to provide something of huge value to the community and that feels good to everybody involved. We love to invest in our communities and improve them over time and keep our roots with them as well."

The Historical Society has pledged to continue their work, fundraising for the project and donating their time to improve the entire property that sits at the entrance to Old Town Dayton.

"It's heartbreaking, but we're not going to quit," Clements said. "Dayton didn't survive because we were fickle. Dayton survived because we're tough old birds. It's work for our community and we're proud of it. We were proud of the depot and we'll be proud of her again. She'll be back."

There is a GoFundMe page set up to boost rebuilding efforts and the Historical Society is always looking for volunteers. https://daytonnvhistory.org/