History of Nevada facts for kids
The History of Nevada as a state began when it became the 36th state on October 31, 1864. This happened quickly, just before a big presidential election. Statehood was rushed to help Abraham Lincoln win reelection and give his party more power in Congress.
Nevada's tough but resource-rich environment has always shaped its story. Before 1858, there were small Mormon settlements near the Utah border. But everything changed when huge amounts of silver were discovered starting in 1858. This led to "boom towns" and many people becoming very rich.
After the early 1900s, mining profits went down. People hoped Nevada would become a place with universities and social improvements. But an economic downturn in the 1910s and a drop in population made it seem like Nevada was a "desert of buried hopes." The good times returned in 1931 when gambling became legal. With good transportation, easy divorce laws, and a "get-rich-quick" attitude, Nevada experienced many years of growth until a big financial crisis in 2008.
Contents
Nevada's Early Beginnings
Nevada's unique landscape, with its many mountains and valleys, was formed by ancient geological events. Long before Europeans arrived, Native American tribes like the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe lived in the Great Basin area for thousands of years.
Exploration and New Rulers
The first European to explore the Nevada area was Francisco Garcés in the 1700s. Nevada then became part of the Spanish Empire as part of New Spain. In 1804, it became part of a larger Spanish province called Alta California.
When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Alta California (including Nevada) became a Mexican territory. American explorers like Jedediah Smith (1827) and Peter Skene Ogden (1828) traveled through the area. After the Mexican–American War ended in 1848, Mexico lost Alta California to the United States.
Becoming a U.S. Territory
After the war, Nevada became part of the United States. At first, it was part of the Utah Territory. Then, on March 2, 1861, it became its own area called the Nevada Territory, named after the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The first Americans to settle permanently arrived in 1851. They were Mormons who set up stops for people traveling to the California gold fields. Because there was no official government, settlers created their own rules, called the "Washoe code," to handle land claims and other issues. When Mormons left in 1857, non-Mormons took over and pushed for Nevada to become a separate territory.
The early 1860s brought an end to an Indian war and the huge Comstock Lode mining boom in Virginia City in 1859. These events, along with the start of the Civil War, led Congress to create the Nevada Territory in 1861.
Nevada Becomes a State
Nevada became a state in 1864. A meeting in Carson City and a public vote led to statehood. Even though Nevada had far fewer than the usual 60,000 people needed, it was quickly made a state. This was partly to help President Lincoln during the Civil War.
The University of Nevada was founded in Elko in 1874 and later moved to Reno in 1885.
Important Water Sources
The Hoover Dam was built on Nevada's border with the Colorado River, starting in 1931. It created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. This dam and water source helped the population of Clark County (where Las Vegas is) grow from about 8,500 people in 1930 to over 1.3 million by 2000. The population of Reno also grew a lot.
Mining in Nevada
The discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859 started the era of silver mining in Nevada. Thousands of miners, many from California, rushed to the area. This discovery made Nevada famous for its mining.
There were many arguments over who owned what land in the mines. The legal system wasn't ready for such big demands. Judges were not paid well, and it was hard to keep track of property records. Even with these problems, mining continued.
A gold rush in 1860 created the town of Aurora. It was on the border between Nevada and California, and for a while, it was the county seat for both states! The border dispute was later settled, placing Aurora in Nevada.
In 1867, Nevada's southern border was expanded because gold was found there. Officials thought Nevada could better manage the expected gold rush. By 1872, Nevada's mining industry was known for its huge wealth. However, after 1870, the industry slowed down.
The discovery of silver and gold near Tonopah in 1900 brought another boom, helping Nevada's economy recover. Miners used the best technology available to get gold and silver from the ore. However, these old methods were not very efficient and caused chemical pollution. People at the time didn't understand the health problems that metals like mercury could cause.
The remains of old mining operations led to the Carson River Mercury (Superfund) Site being named a cleanup site in 1989.
The town of Rio Tinto developed after copper was found in northern Elko County. The town moved from mine to mine, going through cycles of boom and bust. Once the copper was gone, Rio Tinto, like many boom towns, disappeared.
Transportation in Nevada
Even though the transcontinental railroad crossed Nevada in 1869, most towns and mines were far from it. This meant people relied on wagons and stagecoaches to move goods and people. Many small companies provided horses, mules, and wagons to haul things like borax and silver ore.
Stagecoaches were uncomfortable on the rough roads, but they were the best option until railroads arrived. Robberies were rare because armed guards were used. Mail contracts helped stagecoach lines stay in business.
The Eureka and Palisade Railroad was a narrow-gauge railroad built in 1875. It was 90 miles long and carried silver-lead ore from Eureka to a larger railroad line. However, floods, fires, competition from roads, and less ore to carry eventually led to its closure. The last rails were removed in 1938.
Important historic highways include US 6 (from 1937) and US 50 (part of the Lincoln Highway, from 1919). The first air mail flight landed in Elko in 1926. Interstate 15 in Nevada was finished in 1974, and the last part of Interstate 80 in Nevada was completed near Lovelock.
Nevada's Mining Towns
Golconda was a mining town in northern Nevada. It grew when copper, silver, gold, and lead were discovered. People from many different backgrounds came to live and work there, including Americans, French, Portuguese, Paiutes, and Chinese. From 1898 to 1910, Golconda had a train station, hotels, a school, and newspapers. Its population reached about 600 people around 1907-1908. After 1910, the mines ran out, and Golconda became an area of ranches and farms.
Tuscarora was founded in Elko County after gold was found. Miners rushed to the town between 1867 and 1870. A fort was built for protection, and a water system was created. Many Chinese men who had worked on the railroad moved to Tuscarora and started mining for gold. A second boom happened when silver was discovered in 1876-1877.
New discoveries in Tonopah (1900, silver), Goldfield (1902–1919, gold), and Rhyolite (1904–1911, gold) brought Nevada back into the national spotlight. While the Comstock Lode made many owners rich, the gold in Goldfield made two people, George S. Nixon and George Wingfield, extremely wealthy.
Wingfield later made even more money from real estate, especially after moving to Reno. When gambling became legal in 1931, Wingfield continued to profit from his casino businesses.
Homesteading in Nevada
Most of Nevada's land (over 87%) is owned by the federal government. Early homestead laws allowed people to claim up to 640 acres, but this was usually not enough land for a successful farm in Nevada's dry climate. Instead, settlers would claim land around a water source and then let their cattle graze on the nearby public land, which was useless without water access.
Later efforts to encourage "dry farming" (farming without irrigation) near Wells, Nevada, were tried. However, low rainfall, short summers, poor soil, and bad decisions by settlers caused this experiment to mostly fail after 1916.
Nevada in the 1900s
Nevada was the smallest state in terms of population for a long time. In 1930, it had only about 91,000 people. Reno was the largest city with 19,000 people, and Las Vegas had only 5,000. Most people lived in small towns or rural areas.
Nevada's Politics
The discovery of gold in Tonopah in 1900 brought together a group of men who would control Nevada's politics for the next 50 years. These included George Wingfield (a mine owner and banker), George Nixon (a banker and newspaper editor), and U.S. Senators Key Pittman and Pat McCarran.
Governors like John Edward Jones and Reinhold Sadler, who were part of the Silver Party from 1895-1903, had similar backgrounds. They were immigrants who came to Nevada during the mining boom of the 1870s, became successful, and then entered politics. When the mining boom ended, they supported ideas like using both silver and gold for money and reclaiming desert land for farming to help Nevada's economy.
Religion and Different Cultures
Because Nevada was sparsely populated and had many economic ups and downs, Catholic churches faced challenges serving their scattered and moving members. Until 1900, Catholic church life in Nevada mostly reflected the Irish heritage of its priests and members. After 1900, people from Slavic, Italian, and Basque backgrounds moved to the state. By the 1930s, the strong influence of Irish Catholics began to lessen.
Italian Americans worked as miners in Nevada. Unlike many other immigrants, enough Italians stayed after the mining booms ended that they became the largest European ethnic group by 1910. Many of them became farmers and ranchers. They had a big impact on Nevada's society and economy.
Military Activities in Nevada
Military explorers like John C. Frémont (1843) and others surveyed the Nevada territory. During the American Civil War, Nevada supplied soldiers. There were also skirmishes with Native American tribes during the Snake War (1864–1868). Old forts in Nevada included Fort Churchill and Fort Halleck. The current Hawthorne Army Depot was created in 1930 to produce weapons.
World War II's Impact
During World War II, Senator Pat McCarran and other Nevada officials successfully pushed to open military bases in the state. Nevada had vast open lands, sunny weather, and good rail connections. The Las Vegas Army Gunnery School, the Basic Magnesium plant, Nellis Air Force Base, and other facilities brought thousands of people to Nevada for training and work.
Several airfields were created or expanded, including Las Vegas Army Air Field and Tonopah AAF. The United States Army Air Forces built four more airfields in 1942. These bases also had ranges and emergency landing strips. Camp Williston (1940–1944) near Boulder City protected the Basic Magnesium Plant and the Hoover Dam.
Nuclear Testing in Nevada
Nuclear testing began at the Nevada Test Site in 1951. Over 1,000 nuclear explosions were conducted there. The last test in the atmosphere was in 1962, and the last underground test was in 1992. In 2002, Congress approved the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository at the site.
Some military aircraft accidents have happened in Nevada, including the 1948 Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash and crashes involving the United States Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team. Secret spy plane testing began in Area 51 in 1955, and stealth fighter testing started at the Tonopah Test Range in 1982. The USAF Red Flag combat exercise began in 1975, and the United States Navy's TOPGUN school moved to Naval Air Station Fallon in 1996.
Nevada's Recent History
Nevada has a very individualistic political culture. This means people in Nevada often believe in personal freedom and limited government. The wealth from mining and gambling helped strengthen this way of thinking that early settlers brought with them.
Nevada has had ongoing disagreements with the federal government. These include long-standing disputes over water rights between Native Americans and Nevada's ranchers. Another big fight has been against building the nation's first permanent nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain.
In 1998, the largest industries in Nevada were services (like hotels and casinos), construction, and state/local government jobs.
.svg)
Nevada's state symbols include:
- Nickname: "The Silver State"
- Motto: "All For Our Country" (adopted in 1866)
- Flower: Sagebrush (adopted in 1917)
- Tree: Single-leaf pinyon (adopted in 1953)
- (The state flag from 1929 used the words "Battle Born," and "Nevada" was added in 1991).
Images for kids
-
A burro-drawn wagon hauling lumber and supplies into Goldfield, Nevada, around 1904. In 1903, only 36 people lived in the new town. By 1908, Goldfield was Nevada's largest city, with over 25,000 people.
-
The 1931 law that made gambling legal helped the Las Vegas area grow very quickly. Its population went from 5,000 in 1930 to 1.9 million in 2008.
.jpg)
