TheHistory of Nevada as a state began when it became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, aftertelegraphing theConstitution of Nevada to theCongress days before theNovember 8 presidential election (the largest and costliest transmission ever by telegraph). Statehood was rushed to help ensure threeelectoral votes forAbraham Lincoln's reelection and add to the Republican congressional majorities.[1]
Nevada's harsh but richenvironment shaped its history and culture. Before 1858 smallMormon settlements existed along the border ofUtah, with the western part stumbling along until the greatsilver strikes beginning in 1858 created boom towns and fabulous fortunes. After the beginning of the 20th century, profits declined whileprogressive reformers sought to curbcapitalism. They imagined a civilized Nevada of universities, lofty idealism, and social reform. But an economic bust during the 1910s and disillusionment from failures at social reform and apopulation decline of nearly one-fourth meant that by 1920 Nevada had degenerated into a "beautiful desert of buried hopes."[2] The boom returned when big-timegambling arrived in 1931, and with good transportation (especially to California metropolitan areas), the nation's easiestdivorce laws, and a speculative get-rich-quick spirit, Nevada had a boom-and-bust economy that was mostly boom until the2008 financial crisis revealed extravagant speculation in housing and casinos on an epic scale.[3][4]
Geologic events formed the state'sBasin and Range topography, the "Nevada Basin" physiographic region,[6] and the central Nevada desert (e.g., the recession of thePleistoceneLake Lahontan changed theHumboldt River course), andGreat Basin. ThePaiute,Shoshone,Quoeech,Washoe, andWalapai tribes had inhabited Nevada for millennia beforeEuro-Americans arrived in the 18th century.[7]
During the LatePrecambrian, eastern and southern Nevada was being gradually covered by a shallowsea, which continued to expand into the state through theDevonian. More than 500 kinds ofPaleozoicinvertebrates are known to have inhabited Nevada during theCambrian, Devonian, andCarboniferous periods of the Paleozoic era.[8] Near the end of the Devonian, an interval of mountain building called theAntler Orogeny began, and it continued into the Early Carboniferous. Dropping sea levels exposed regions of Nevada as dry land, contributing to the formation of environments in eastern Nevada such aslagoons andbeaches. Nevada's sea level continued to drop during theTriassic period, but the western part of the state was still relatively deep.[8] By theJurassic, the only deep marine habitats of Nevada were in the northwestern part of the state, central Nevada was only under shallow water, and eastern and southern Nevada were characterized by other types of environment such aswetlands. During theCretaceous, a volcanic island chain formed in far western Nevada.[8]
During theCenozoic geologic upheaval,Basin and Rangephysiographic province was created, which formedwoodlands harboring trees likeoaks,redwoods, andwillows and wildlife includinghorses,mammoths, andrhinos. Nevada'sSierra Nevada Mountains were later also formed, with wildlife in the region includingcamels, horses, mammoths, andgiant ground sloths. The Cenozoic period was high in volcanic activity, anderuptions regularly shook.[8] Nevada'strace fossil record from thePleistocene is very rich, and creatures includedbirds,giant sloths, horses,lions,mastodons, andwolves.[9] In the present day, some fossils from these two periods are preserved at state parks in Nevada such asIce Age Fossils State Park andTule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, both near Las Vegas.[10][11]
The oldest knownpetroglyphs in North America are in the Great Basin. Near the banks ofWinnemucca Lake in Nevada, this rock art dates between 10,500 and 14,800 years ago.[12]
Archaeologists called the local period 9,000 BCE to 400 CE the Great Basin Desert Archaic Period. This was followed by the time of theFremont culture, who werehunter-gatherers andagriculturalists.Numic language-speakers, ancestors of today'sWestern Shoshone and bothNorthern Paiute people andSouthern Paiute people entered the region around the 14th century CE.[13]
In the 1770s, Franciscan missionaryFrancisco Garcés, born in Morata del Conde, Aragon, Spain in 1738, was the first European in the area.[14] Nevada was annexed as a part of the Spanish Empire in the northwestern territory of New Spain. Nevada became a part ofAlta California (Upper California) province in 1804 whenthe Californias were split.With theMexican War of Independence won in 1821, the province of Alta California became a territory ofMexico. In later years, a desire for increased autonomy led to several attempts by the Alta Californians to gain independence from Mexico.
Jedediah Smith entered theLas Vegas Valley in 1827, andPeter Skene Ogden traveled theHumboldt River in 1828. As a result of theMexican–American War and theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,Mexico permanently lost Alta California in 1848. The new areas acquired by the United States continued to be administered as territories. As part of theMexican Cession (1848) and the subsequentCalifornia Gold Rush that usedEmigrant Trails through the area, thestate's area evolved first as part of theUtah Territory, then theNevada Territory (March 2, 1861; named for theSierra Nevada).[15] The capital isCarson City.
Nevada became part of the United States with theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico in 1848. Mexico had never established any control in Nevada, but American mountain men were in Washoe (the early name for Nevada) as early as 1827. A permanent American presence began in 1851 when the Mormons set up way stations en route to the California goldfields. In the absence of any governmental authority, some 50 Mormons and non-Mormon prospectors and cattle ranchers drew up the "Washoe code" to deal with land claims; its coverage eventually covered other governmental issues. There still was no federal presence in the area so religious tensions worsened and petitions of complaint went to Washington. Non-Mormons sought annexation to California.Utah Territory countered this by incorporating the area as a county. When Federal troops were sent to Utah in 1857, the Mormons left Washoe. The non-Mormons took over and launched a move for separate territorial status.
The early 1860s saw the end of an Indian war, the greatComstock mining boom of 1859 inVirginia City and the coming of the Civil War. The provisional territorial government led to the creation of theNevada Territory by Congress in 1861. The pragmatic attempts to establish workable frontier institutions had failed and the paternalistic territorial system was welcomed.[16]
Statehood came in 1864 following aCarson City convention (July 4–28) and a public vote on September 7 (the population of 6,857 in 1860 increased to 42,941 in 1870), although Nevada had far fewer than the 60,000 people usually required.
TheUniversity of Nevada was founded inElko in 1874 and moved to Reno in 1885 (extensionclasses began at Las Vegas in 1951).
The largest United States reservoir (Lake Mead) was created by theHoover Dam on the state's 1867Colorado River border (construction began in 1931). From 1930 to 2000, theClark County population grew from 8,532 to 1,375,765; while theReno population increased from 18,529 to 180,480.
The 1859Comstock Lode discovery opened the era ofsilver mining in Nevada, and attracted thousands of miners—most from California. It was discovered by James Finney in Carson County. Disputes over the legal limits of a claim soon went to court, as the Law of the Apex, used to determine those limits, was unworkable for the deep ore bodies in the Comstock. The legal and judicial system of Carson County was unprepared for the tremendous demands placed on it. Judges were underpaid and underqualified, bribery of witnesses and jurors was commonplace, vague record-keeping created nearly insurmountable difficulties with property titles, and evidence was often destroyed. Though workable mining laws still were needed, the resignation of the entire territorial supreme court in 1864 did cause litigation to stop and allowed mining work to resume.[17]
There was a gold rush that createdAurora in (1860). Located on the disputed border with California, at one time Aurora was the county seat of counties in California and Nevada until the boundary dispute was settled locating Aurora in Nevada.
The 1867 expansion of the state's southern boundary was prompted by the discovery of gold in the area since officials thought Nevada would be better able to oversee the expectedgold rush. By 1872, Nevada mining was an industry of speculation and immense wealth.[18][19] After 1870, however, the mining industry went into eclipse, as the state'sSilverite politicians worked to secure laws to require the federal government to purchase silver.
The discovery of silver and gold in 1910 near Tonopah set off a boom that ended Nevada's Economic depression.
The operators used the best available technology to recover gold and silver from ore, but by modern standards, there were many inefficiencies and chemical pollution. Methods included the use of thearrastra, thepatio process, the Freiberg process, and theWashoe pan process. Estimates of value lost through recovery processes ran as high as 25%. Mine operators sought improved technology but were unwilling to wait years or decades for it to arrive. No one at the time understood the health problems such metals asmercury could cause.[20]
Although thetranscontinental railroad crossed the state in 1869, most towns and mines were remote from it and required a network of wagon freight and stagecoaches. Numerous small companies supplied the horses, mules, and wagons for hauling borax and silver ore. Stagecoaches were notoriously uncomfortable across the roadless land, but were better than the alternatives and flourished until a railroad finally arrived. Hold-ups were rare and usually involved petty theft since armed guards were an effective deterrent. Mail contracts kept stage lines afloat and allowed the emergence of a class of entrepreneurs who won contracts and subcontracted the actual work.[21]
TheEureka and Palisade Railroad was a narrow-gauge railroad ninety miles long built-in 1875 to carry silver-lead ore from Eureka, Nevada, to theSouthern Pacific Railroad trunk line that ran through Palisade. Traffic on the line gradually decreased due to the effects of flood, fire, competition from road traffic, and dwindling amounts of ore extracted in Eureka. The rails and rolling stock of the last surviving narrow-gauge railroad in Nevada were removed in 1938.[22]
Historic highways include the 1937US 6 and 1919US 50 (Lincoln Highway). The 1926 destination of thefirst airmail flight wasElko.Interstate 15 in Nevada was completed in 1974, while theLovelock bypass was the last completed section ofInterstate 80 in Nevada.
Amtrak'sDesert Wind served Las Vegas until 1997. When service ended, Las Vegas became one of the country's largest metropolitan areas without long-distance passenger rail service. Since 1997, numerous proposals have been made to reintroduce passenger service in some form, including theLas Vegas Railway Express ("X-Train"). In 2024 construction started on ahigh speed rail project byBrightline West to link Las Vegas with Southern California.
During construction of theSutro Tunnel, thecompany town ofSutro was created at the lower end of the tunnel. At one time, boasting a population of 600–800 people some speculating up to 3,000. A church, a weekly newspaper, and a post office that was in operation from March 1872 until October 1920.
Golconda was a mining town in northern Nevada built when the discovery ofcopper,silver,gold, and lead brought entrepreneurs who opened mines and mills in the district. A diverse society of native-bornAmericans,French,Portuguese,Paiutes,Chinese, and other people came to Golconda to live and work. From 1898 to 1910, the town had a train depot, several hotels, a school, businesses,newspapers, and two brothels. Its population peaked at about six hundred in 1907–08. Although boosters predicted growth for Golconda, after 1910 the mines played out, leaving the region as an area of ranches and farms. Most of the town's buildings from its mining heyday are gone, and Golconda today is a minor stop on Interstate 80.[23]
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Tuscarora was founded inElko County after an expedition by trader William Heath discovered gold. As miners flocked to the town in 1867–70, a fort was built to offer protection from Indian raids and a water ditch was created to supply the town with water. Many Chinese men who had been employed by the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) relocated to the town and began placer mining. A second boom began following the discovery of silver in 1876–77.[24]
A strike atTonopah (1900, silver) was followed by strikes inGoldfield (1902–1919, gold) andRhyolite (1904–1911, gold). The strikes brought Nevada to the forefront of the nation again, just as the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, had in the late 1800s. While the Comstock made dozens of owners rich, the gold in Goldfield and the stock sold on speculation made two people exceedingly rich.
George S. Nixon andGeorge Wingfield were worth $30 million after taking their Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company public in 1906.[25] The partners had a loss the following year and Nixon's Nye County Bank struggled.
Wingfield, however, reaped an even greater fortune from real estate, especially after moving to Reno, Nevada. After gambling was legalized in 1931, Wingfield again had money coming in from his leases and a partnership in several casinos.
As many Nevada towns went through the boom and bust cycle, gambling keep the state's economy strong. However, remnants of mining resulted in the1989 designation of the Carson River Mercury (Superfund) Site
Rio Tinto was developed after the discovery of copper in Northern Elko County's Cope Mining District. The town moved from mine to mine and it went from boom to bust in regular cycles. In 1919 Frank Hunt discovered copper in the area and later named his claim Rio Tinto. Once investors and big mining companies became interested in Hunt's copper, the town soon developed and filled with homes to house the miners. After all the copper was removed, Rio Tinto suffered the same fate as most boom towns and vanished.[26]
Over 87% of the Nevada area is owned by the federal government, ashomesteads of maximum 640 acres (2.6 km2) in the arid state were generally too little land for a viable farm. Instead, early settlers would homestead land surrounding a water source, and then graze cattle on the adjacent public land, which is useless without access to water. The Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909, the establishment of a state dry-farming experiment station, and private promotional efforts stimulated dry farming within a fifty-mile radius of Wells, Nevada, but a combination of low precipitation, intense flash flooding, short summers, abundant jackrabbits, mediocre soil, and the faulty judgment of the settlers themselves virtually ended the ill-favored experiment after 1916.[27]
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The state was by far the smallest in terms of population. The 1930 census reported 91,000 people, with Reno the largest city at 19,000 and Las Vegas at 5,000. 62% of the people lived in towns with fewer than 2,500 people or in rural areas alongside the 340,000 cattle and 830,000 sheep.
The gold discovery in Tonopah in 1900 brought together a group of men who dominated Nevada politics for a half century. They included George Wingfield (mine owner, banker and behind-the-scenes player); George Nixon (banker, editor and cofounder of the Silver party);Key Pittman (U.S. Senator),Vail Pittman (Key Pittman's brother; governor);Pat McCarran (U.S. Senator) and George Thatcher (a leader of the state Democratic party)[28]
John Edward Jones andReinhold Sadler, Silver Party governors of Nevada, during 1895–1903, shared like backgrounds and rose to political power by the same route. Each was a European immigrant who came to the state in its mining boom of the 1870s, prospered financially, and engaged in politics until the boom collapsed late in the 1870s. Then Jones and Sadler embracedbimetallism and a companion cure-all for Nevada's economic ills—reclamation of desert land in order to provide an economy based partly on agriculture.[29]
Because most of Nevada was sparsely populated and was subject to economic booms-and-busts accompanied by population fluctuations, Catholic churches faced difficulties in serving spiritually their scattered and mobile communicants. Nevada Catholic parish life until 1900 reflected theIrish heritage of its parish clergy and the bulk of their flocks. Slavic, Italian, and Basque Catholics moved to the state after 1900 and sometimes allied with native-born Americans so that the traditional dominance of Irish Catholics diminished markedly by the 1930s.[30]
Italian Americans worked in Nevada as miners, but, unlike many other immigrants, enough Italians stayed after the mining booms collapsed; they became the largest European ethnic groups by 1910. Many operated farms and ranches. Besides exercising significant economic clout, they have fundamentally influenced the Nevada social order in other ways, in part because of their persistent anticlericalism.[31]
Because of hostility from miners and their sympathizers, Nevada's territorial and state antigambling laws were mostly unenforced from 1859 until the Comstock Lode mining booms collapsed in the 1870s. After 1881, the state attempted to restrict gambling through licensing and other statutory controls. Opponents of gambling and prostitution became organized and in theProgressive Era at last persuaded state legislators to prohibit gambling statewide in 1910 as part of anationwide anti-gaming crusade.[32]
During theGreat Depression in the United States, Nevada legalized gambling—terming it "gaming"—in 1931; (theNorthern Club received the first license).[33] At the time, the leading proponents of gambling expected that it would be a short term fix until the state's economic base widened to include less cyclical industries. However, re-outlawing gambling has never been seriously considered since, and the industry has become Nevada's primary source of revenue today. Gambling taxes account for 34% of state revenue.[34]
Also in 1931, the residence requirement for divorce was reduced to six weeks, makingReno, Nevada a famous mecca for the quickie divorce and people from all over the country to "take the cure." In the 1930s, Reno's Bank Club was the state's largest employer. It was also the largest casino in the world until Harold's Club surpassed it in the 1950s.[35]
The Second World War was good to Reno economically, as local bases and those in Northern California helped boost the economy. In the late 1940s "Bugsy" Siegel helped get Las Vegas on the map by first building the most expensive casino in the world, the Flamingo, and then by being gunned down in his Beverly Hills home.
Las Vegas casinos of the 1950s were mostly low-rise building taking advantage of the wide-open spaces that Reno didn't offer in the downtown area of Virginia Street. However, Las Vegas boomed with new luxurious hotels in the 1960s and the city's gambling casinos drew players from all over the world, and away from Reno and Lake Tahoe. The 1931 gambling law helped enable the explosive growth of the Las Vegas area, where the population grew from five thousand in 1930 to over two million by 2013.[36]
Brothels have been tolerated in Nevada since the middle of the 19th century; one inElko has been in business since 1902. In 1937, a law was enacted to require weekly health checks of all prostitutes.Reno andLas Vegas hadred-light districts, when the federal government prohibited all prostitution near military bases in 1942 (lifted in 1948). In 1951, both Reno and Las Vegas had closed their red-light districts as public nuisances. In Clark County, prostitution is illegal.[37]
Military and other government exploration of the territory included efforts byJohn C. Frémont (1843),Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith (1854),[40] and theFortieth Parallel Survey (1867).[41]During the American Civil War, the territory musteredinfantry and cavalry, and skirmishes of theAmerican Indian Wars occurred in Nevada during theSnake War (1864–1868).American Old Westforts in Nevada includedFort Churchill,Fort Halleck,Fort McDermit, andFort Schellbourne. The currentHawthorne Army Depot was established for munitions production in 1930.
SenatorPat McCarran and other Nevada officials campaigned successfully in Washington to open military installations in Nevada. It had vast 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 the area for training as well as workers to construct housing, air strips, and other military installations.[42]
Las Vegas Army Air Field andTonopah AAF were created from existing airfields, and theUnited States Army Air Forces built four additional Nevada airfields in 1942,[43] includingIndian Springs AAF,Reno Army Air Base, anda facility near Fallon. Ranges and emergency strips included theBattle MountainFlight Strip, theBlack Rock Desert gunnery range (part of theLovelock Aerial Gunnery Range during theCold War),Churchill Flight Strip, andOwyhee Flight Strip. Both Tonopah AAF and Indian Springs AAF each had 5 auxiliary airstrips including Indian Springs' atForty-Mile Canyon Field andGroom Lake Field. Camp Williston (1940–1944) atBoulder City provided security forHenderson's Basic Magnesium Plant (14,000 employees) andHoover Dam[44] (a concrete observation station still exists).[45]
Nuclear testing began at theNevada Proving Ground in 1951 with a one-kiloton bomb dropped onFrenchman Flat. Over 1000 nuclear detonations were conducted until the site's last atmospheric detonation in 1962 and last underground detonation in 1992. In 2002, Congress approved theYucca Mountain nuclear waste repository at the site.
Notable military aircraft accidents in Nevada include the1948 Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash, the1949 Stead AFB F-51 crash, and severalUSAF Thunderbird demonstration team crashes, including the 1982Indian Springs AFAF formation that killed four pilots. Spy plane testing inArea 51 began in April 1955, and stealth fighter testing began in 1982 at theTonopah Test Range, where in 2008 the lastF-117 Nighthawk was retired in secure storage. TheUSAF Red Flag combat exercise was first held in 1975 at theNellis Air Force Range, and theUnited States Navy'sTOPGUN school was moved toNaval Air Station Fallon in 1996.
Nevada favors a highlyindividualistic political culture, giving it alibertarian–conservative political philosophy in anopen society. Wealth from mining and gambling reinforced the individualistic ethic that early settlers brought with them. The libertarian ethic appears in the opposition of most Nevadans to big government, big labor, and big business. Labor unions, especially theSEIU which organizes hotel and casino workers, thrive among the minority workers in Las Vegas. Belief inlimited government leads to an electorate that backs a pro-choice position onabortion while opposing theEqual Rights Amendment for women. The state's ongoing battles with the federal government involve the longstanding water rights dispute between Native Americans, backed by the federal government, and Nevada's ranchers; and the decade-long fight against the establishment of the nation's first permanent nuclear waste depository atYucca Mountain.[46]
In 1998, the largest industries were services (40.7% of earnings), construction (11.6%), and state/local government (10.0%).[47]
TheCOVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Nevada on March 5, 2020. Because of concerns aboutcoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Nevada governorSteve Sisolak declared astate of emergency on March 12, 2020. Four days later, Nevada reported its first death. On March 17, 2020, Sisolak ordered the closure of non-essential businesses in the state, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Grocery stores were among the businesses considered essential, and restaurants were allowed to provide drive-thru, takeout, and delivery services. At the end of March 2020, Sisolak announced a 90-daymoratorium on evictions and foreclosures for commercial and residential tenants. The moratorium would be extended several times over the next year.
Various protests were held against Sisolak's shutdown order beginning in April 2020.Las Vegas mayorCarolyn Goodman was also critical of the shutdown and its length, urging Sisolak to reopen the state. Goodman was widely criticized after suggesting that Las Vegas become acontrol group to test the effectiveness ofsocial distancing. Nevada launched the first phase of its reopening on May 9, 2020. Restaurants, retailers, outdoor malls, and hair salons were among the businesses allowed to reopen, but with precautions in place, such as limiting occupancy to 50 percent. A second phase went into effect on May 29, 2020. It allowed for the reopening ofstate parks and businesses such as bars, gyms, and movie theaters. Casinos began reopening on June 4, 2020.
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{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)Fallon AAS also used ranges at Black Rock, Sahwave, Lovelock Gunnery Range, Pyramid Lake (torpedo bombing range) and Bravo 19(in the Blow Sand Mountains).
