kids encyclopedia robot

Eureka, Nevada facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Eureka, Nevada
Unincorporated town & Census-designated places
2013-09-19 09 56 20 View of downtown Eureka, Nevada.JPG
Nickname(s): 
The Friendliest Town on The Loneliest Road in America
Eureka, Nevada is located in Nevada
Eureka, Nevada
Eureka, Nevada
Location in Nevada
Country United States
State Nevada
County Eureka
Area
 • Total 1.4 sq mi (3.6 km2)
 • Land 1.4 sq mi (3.6 km2)
 • Water 0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation
6,485 ft (1,977 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total 610
 • Density 436/sq mi (168.3/km2)
Time zone UTC−8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP code
89316
FIPS code 32-23900
GNIS feature ID 840384

Eureka is an unincorporated town and census-designated places in and the county seat of Eureka County, Nevada, United States. With a population of 480 as of the 2018 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, it is by far the largest community in Eureka County. Attractions include the Eureka Opera House (built in 1880 and restored in 1993), Raine’s Market and Wildlife Museum (built 1887), the Jackson House Hotel (built 1877), and the Eureka Sentinel Museum (housed in the 1879 Eureka Sentinel Newspaper Building).

Eureka is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography and climate

Eureka is located at 39°30′42″N 115°57′42″W / 39.51159°N 115.961723°W / 39.51159; -115.961723, in the southern part of Eureka County, at 6,481 feet (1,975 m) in the Diamond Mountains, in a draw on the southern end of Diamond Valley, between Antelope and Newark valleys. At the 2010 census the population of Eureka CDP (census-designated place) was 610, while the total population of Eureka and the surrounding area (census tract 1 — Eureka CCD) was 1,373.

The town is located along the Lincoln Highway / U.S. Route 50, nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America": aptly named, as the nearest towns along the highway are Austin (70 mi or 110 km west) and Ely (77 mi or 124 km east). The nearest town is Duckwater, 46 mi (74 km) south.

The climate is typical of the Great Basin: hot and dry with cool mornings in the summer with occasional monsoonal thunderstorms from late July through August; cold and relatively dry in the winter. Temperatures drop to 0 °F or −17.8 °C or lower on an average 4.7 mornings during the winter, though in the severe winter of 1916/1917 this happened twenty-five times. They drop to 32 °F or 0 °C on an average 181.3 mornings, though maximum temperatures top freezing on all but 26.3 days during an average winter. During the summer temperatures rise to 90 °F or 32.2 °C or hotter on 11.8 afternoons, though 100 °F or 37.8 °C has never been reached with the hottest temperature being 99 °F or 37.2 °C on July 14, 1955. Snow accumulations vary from 10 to 30 inches (0.25 to 0.76 m) in mild winters to in excess of 80 inches (2.03 m) in more severe years; in the winter of 1906/1907, more than 150 inches or 3.81 metres of snow fell.

The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with 23.86 inches (606.0 mm) and the driest 2008 with 5.64 inches (143.3 mm), whilst May 1917 with 5.73 inches (145.5 mm) has been the wettest single month. The snowiest month has been March 1902 with 54.0 inches or 1.37 metres of fresh snowfall.

Climate data for Eureka, Nevada (Elevation 6,500 feet or 2,000 metres); 1971-2000
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 61
(16)		 65
(18)		 75
(24)		 81
(27)		 91
(33)		 95
(35)		 98
(37)		 97
(36)		 90
(32)		 86
(30)		 72
(22)		 63
(17)		 98
(37)
Average high °F (°C) 36.9
(2.7)		 40.7
(4.8)		 46.9
(8.3)		 54.9
(12.7)		 64.5
(18.1)		 75.8
(24.3)		 84.5
(29.2)		 82.6
(28.1)		 73.5
(23.1)		 61.3
(16.3)		 46.0
(7.8)		 38.1
(3.4)		 58.8
(14.9)
Average low °F (°C) 16.3
(−8.7)		 19.3
(−7.1)		 24.0
(−4.4)		 28.8
(−1.8)		 36.5
(2.5)		 44.6
(7.0)		 52.4
(11.3)		 51.6
(10.9)		 43.7
(6.5)		 33.6
(0.9)		 23.4
(−4.8)		 16.7
(−8.5)		 32.6
(0.3)
Record low °F (°C) −26
(−32)		 −23
(−31)		 −9
(−23)		 5
(−15)		 10
(−12)		 11
(−12)		 29
(−2)		 30
(−1)		 5
(−15)		 3
(−16)		 −11
(−24)		 −21
(−29)		 −26
(−32)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 1.00
(25)		 0.91
(23)		 1.45
(37)		 1.16
(29)		 1.54
(39)		 0.74
(19)		 0.55
(14)		 0.83
(21)		 1.00
(25)		 1.05
(27)		 0.95
(24)		 0.88
(22)		 12.06
(305)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 12.7
(32)		 6.9
(18)		 11.4
(29)		 6.6
(17)		 4.0
(10)		 0.1
(0.25)		 0.0
(0.0)		 0.0
(0.0)		 0.7
(1.8)		 2.0
(5.1)		 7.3
(19)		 9.4
(24)		 61.1
(156.15)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) 5.9 5.3 7.6 5.9 6.2 4.2 3.3 3.9 3.8 4.5 4.7 5.6 60.9
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 inch) 5.2 3.8 4.7 2.6 1.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.0 2.7 4.4 25.9
Source 1: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Source 2: National Weather Service, Elko, Nevada

History

JacksonHouseHotelEurekaNV
The historic Jackson House Hotel, built 1877
Richmond Mine-Eureka NV
The historic Richmond Mine, one of the two major lead-silver mines in Eureka

The town was first settled in 1864 by a group of silver prospectors from nearby Austin, who discovered rock containing a silver-lead ore on nearby Prospect Peak. The town became the county seat in 1873, when Eureka County was carved out of adjacent Lander, Elko, and White Pine counties.

Mining, especially for lead, was the town's economic mainstay, as the nearby hillsides ranked as Nevada's second-richest mineral producer, behind western Nevada's Comstock Lode. Two of the largest concerns in Eureka were the Richmond Mining Company and the Eureka Mining Company. These two companies often collided, and in one instance, their litigation reached the U.S Supreme Court. The population boomed, reaching a high of 10,000 by 1878, but shrank as decreasing mine production and changing market conditions led to the closing of mines.

Celebrations

July 4, Independence Day, is a huge celebration in Eureka. Every year the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department puts on a parade followed by street events, which close off the heart of Eureka to all but foot traffic from 9am to 2pm. At 9pm the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department puts on a fireworks display.

Transportation

  • Eureka Airport (Nevada)

Gallery

  • My Moto Guzzi Holiday 1991

    Entering Eureka 1991

  • Eureka, Nevada welcome sign

    Welcome

  • Eureka! Nevada from hill

    A view of Eureka

  • July 4th '06 009

    Parade 2006

  • ORE SHUTES EUREKA, NEVADA - NARA - 524115

    Ore chutes in 1871

  • PROPERTY OF EUREKA CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY, NEVADA - NARA - 524114

    Eureka Consolidated Mining Co., 1871


Education

Eureka has a public library, a branch of the Elko-Lander-Eureka County Library System.

Notable people

Images for kids

  • Eureka Consolidated smelter ca1880

    Eureka Consolidated smelter, ca. 1880

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Eureka (Nevada) para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Eureka, Nevada Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.