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Place Name
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Nevada
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Place Status (Type)
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state
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Capital is
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CARSON CITY
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Population
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1,530,108 (1995)
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Location
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Nevada, United States, North America
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Latitude
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39°59'N
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Longitude
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117°01'W
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Nevada
, state (
110,566 sq mi/286,366 sq km;
1995 est. pop. 1,530,108), W U.S., admitted as the 36th state of
the Union in 1864; 
Carson City; 39°59'N 117°01'W.
Elev. 5,500 ft/1,676 m.
Las Vegas is the
largest city, and
Reno is the 2d largest. Nev. is bounded on
the W and SW by Calif., on the N by Oregon and Idaho, on the E by Utah,
and on the SE by Ariz. (with the Colorado R. marking most of the
border). Most of the state lies within the Basin and Range region, or
“Great Basin” or “Intermountain West.” The rivers in the SE
belong to the Colorado R. system, while those of the extreme N drain
into the Columbia system (Snake). Like the Humboldt, Truckee, and
Carson rivers, most Nev. rivers flow into brackish and intermittent
lakes or dry sinks—which have no outlet to the oceans, where
water loss due to evaporation, absorption, and human use is greater
than inflow and precipitation—except where they have been
diverted for irrigation and reclamation. About 500,000
acres/202,350 ha of land are being reclaimed by the Humboldt
project, the Newlands project, and the Truckee R. storage project. The
alkali sinks and great arid stretches clothed with sagebrush, tule
(bulrushes), and creosote bush typify Nev.'s valley landscapes. There
are more than 200 ranges in Nev. Its mt. chains generally run N and S,
further segmenting the state. In its angled corner on its W boundary
with Calif., are part of the Sierra Nevada range, practically the only
exception to the state's dry basin and range landscape. The driest
state in the nation, the days and nights are generally clear, and the
temp. varies with the season as well as the elev. In the N and W the
winters are extremely cold, while in parts of the S the summers
approach ovenlike heat. Many of the high plateau areas are utilized for
grazing; cattle and sheep raising are important industries in the
state. Because of the prevailing dryness and the steep slopes, agr. is
not highly developed, but is devoted mainly to growing forage crops,
such as alfalfa and hay; however, potatoes, vegetables, cantaloupe, and
barley are grown in irrigated valleys in W and far S; dairying and
poultry are also important. Much of the state's foodstuffs
are imported. The pop. has been sparse since the Paiute and other
Native Amer. tribes eked out a living from the land and the animals.
The fortune of Nev. has been not in its land but in the almost
incredible wealth below the surface of the land. Mining drew people to
Nev., swelling some mining districts to 20,000 and more. Nev. is the
leading producer of gold, silver, diatomite, and mercury in the U.S.
Copper mining, once a major industry, is now virtually nonexistent.
Sand and gravel are also mined. Petroleum was discovered in 1954, and
commercial exploitation began in the 1970s. There is also some mfg.
(gaming machines and prods., aerospace equipment, military supplies,
lawn and garden irrigation devices, seismic monitoring equip.). Nev.'s
economy is now overwhelmingly based on tourism, especially the gambling
(legalized in 1931), resort entertainment, and convention industries
centered in Las Vegas and, to a lesser extent, Reno and Lake Tahoe.
Gambling taxes are a primary source of state revenue; gambling and
associated services account for half the state's employment. In
addition to major gambling destinations like Las Vegas and Reno,
several border towns have developed during 1970s and 1980s, some from
nothing, to provide services to travelers entering and leaving the
state: Laughlin, Mesquite, West Wendover, McDermitt, Jackpot, and
Stateline. Liberal divorce laws made Reno “the divorce capital of the
world” for many years, until other states liberalized their laws. The
state has become a distribution center for the W U.S., including Calif.
In the 1770s several Span. explorers came near the area of present-day
Nev. but it wasn't until half a cent. later that fur traders venturing
beyond the Rocky Mts. publicized the region. Jedediah S. Smith came
across S Nev. on his way to Calif. in 1827. The following year Peter
Skene Ogden, a Hudson's Bay Company man trading out of the Oregon
country, entered NE Nev. Joseph Walker in 1833-1834 went along the
Humboldt and crossed the Sierra Nevada to Calif. With Kit Carson, John
C. Fremont had explored much of the state bet. 1843 and 1845, and
his reports gave the Federal govt. its 1st comprehensive information on
the area, which the U.S. acquired from Mexico in the Mex.-Amer. War.
Later many wagon trains crossed Nev. on the way to Calif., especially
during and after the gold rush of 1849. Travelers going to Calif. over
the Old Span. Trail also crossed S Nev., and Las Vegas became a station
on the route. Reports from these sources possibly aided Brigham Young
when he was shepherding the Mormons W to build a new home in Utah. When
in 1850 the Federal govt. set up the Utah Territory, almost all of Nev.
was included except the S tip, which was then part of N.Mex.
Non-Mormons had been averse to settling in Mormon-dominated territory,
but after gold was found in 1859 non-Mormons did come into the area. A
rush from Calif. began and multiplied manyfold as news of the Comstock
Lode silver strike spread. Most of the newcomers preferred to consider
themselves as still being within Calif., and a political question was
added to the general upheaval. Meanwhile, miners came helter-skelter,
raising camps that grew overnight into such booming and raucous places
as Virginia City. Partly to impose order on the lawless, wide-open
mining towns, Congress made Nev. into a territory in 1861 as migrant
prospectors and settlers poured in. The territory was then enlarged by
increasing its E boundary by 1 degree of long. in 1862. It was rushed
into statehood in 1864, with Carson City as its capital. President
Lincoln (in order to get more votes to pass the 13th Amendment) had
signed the proclamation even though the territory did not actually meet
the pop. requirement for statehood. In 1866, Nev. acquired its
present-day boundaries when the S tip was added and more E land was
gained from Utah. Communications with the East, which had been briefly
maintained by the pony express, were firmly established by the
completion of the transcontinental RR in 1869. The state continued to
be dependent on its precious ores, and its fate was affected
by new strikes such as the “big bonanza” (1873), which enriched the
silver kings, J. W. Mackay and J. G. Fair, and the discovery (1900) of
silver deposits at Tonopah, of copper at Ely, and of gold at Goldfield
(1902). In the 20th cent. the Federal govt. has played an active role
in Nev., and in 1990 owned over 85% of the state's land. The Newlands
Irrigation Project (1907) was the nation's first irrigation project
built by the Federal govt. The Hoover Dam was completed in
1936. The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (now the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission) began nuclear tests in Nev. at Frenchman Flat and Yucca
Flat in the 1950s. In 1987, the U.S. Dept. of Energy named Yucca Mt. as
a prospective site for the storage of high-level nuclear waste. The
state bitterly opposed the decision and has continued to fight it.
Nevada's pop. was the fastest growing in the nation during the 1980s
and increased 650% from 1950 to 1990. A large influx of retired
citizens has swelled pops. of existing cities and has led to creation
of new communities, such as Pahrump and Gardnerville Ranches, and
increased demand for water to the desert environment. Nevada's
constitution was adopted in 1864. The legislature is composed of 20
senators elected for 4-year terms and 42 assemblymen elected for 2-year
terms. The governor is elected for a 4-year term. The state elects 2
U.S. senators and 2 representatives; it has 4 electoral votes. Besides
Reno and Las Vegas, there are many points of interest. Hoover Dam
impounds L. Mead, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. L.
Mead Recreational Area has facilities for fishing, swimming, and
boating. Other attractions include L. Tahoe, on the Nev.-Calif. state
line, part of Death Valley Natl. Monument (mostly in Calif.), Great
Basin Natl. Park (includes the former Lehman Caves Natl. Monument), and
restored mining ghost towns like Virginia City. The state's leading
institution of higher education is the Univ. of Nev., at Reno and at
Las Vegas. State has widely scattered units of 2 natl. forests;
Toiyabe, in center, W and S, and Humboldt in N and E; part of Inyo
Natl. Forest is on SW boundary. Indian reservations: Pyramid L. and
Walker R. in W, Summit Lake in NW, part of Duck Valley on N boundary (W
Idaho), South Fork in NE, part of Goshute on E boundary (Utah), Moap R.
Indian Reservation in SE. Nev. has 16 cos.:
Churchill,
Clark,
Douglas,
Elko,
Esmeralda,
Eureka,
Humboldt,
Lander,
Lincoln,
Lyon,
Mineral,
Nye,
Pershing,
Storey,
Washoe, and
White Pine; and 1
independent city,
Carson City, (
Ormsby co. until
1969).
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