Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
775-687-4322 or media@TravelNevada.com
www.TravelNevada.com
Updated July 2011
Nevada’s History
Nevada’s history is rooted in the Wild West, from cowboys and Indians to train robberies and
silver and gold mines. Though much has changed over the decades — Nevada now draws around 50
million visitors each year and attracts international audiences — much of the state’s allure still is found
in its Western heritage and wide-open spaces.
Originally belonging to the American Indian tribes Washoe, Paiute and Western Shoshone, the
area now known as Nevada was claimed by Mexico before becoming part of Utah Territory and later,
Nevada Territory. Statehood was attained in 1864.
In the early to mid 1800s, such explorers as Jedediah Smith, John Fremont and Kit Carson
ventured into the vast expanse of what would become Nevada, seeking a fast route from the eastern
United States into the wild frontier of California. Peter Skene Ogden explored what would become
southern Nevada in 1826, followed by Smith and his party just a few months later. In 1829, Antonio
Armijo led a group into the present site of Las Vegas by way of the Old Spanish Trail from what is
now New Mexico to Los Angeles. In 1844, Fremont and Carson trekked through what is now northern
Nevada and discovered Pyramid Lake.
Many temporary towns and trading posts were established throughout the rough frontier; what
is now northern Nevada was settled primarily by Mormons and gold miners. The distinction of
Nevada’s first town often is given to Mormon Station, founded in 1851 near present-day Carson City
and later renamed Genoa. A nearby settlement in what is now Dayton, just a few miles from Genoa,
was founded earlier than Genoa but did not flourish, and the debate over which town was Nevada’s
first settlement lingers. However, Dayton holds the claim as the site of the first gold discovery in the
state in 1849.
Just a few years later, more Mormon settlers moved into what would become southern Nevada,
and in 1855, a group of those settlers built a fort near what is now downtown Las Vegas. However, in
1857, relations between the federal government and the Mormon Church became tense and Brigham
Young, president of the church, called his followers back to Salt Lake City. Nevada’s sparse
population plummeted.
Two years later, gold (and, eventually, silver) was discovered on the south flank of Sun
Mountain, near what is now Virginia City. The discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859 was the first
of Nevada’s many mining booms and attracted thousands of new people to the state. In 1860, the Pony
Express was established to carry mail between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif., and was a vital
link in Nevada’s development. Today, U.S. 50 roughly follows the old Pony Express route.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
775-687-4322 or media@TravelNevada.com
www.TravelNevada.com
Nevada Territory was created by an Act of Congress on March 2, 1861. The state continued to
grow as the mines yielded more and more wealth and by 1863, more than 10,000 miners, prospectors
and settlers lived on the Comstock. Later, on Oct. 31, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed
Nevada’s admission to the Union as the 36th state. The Nevada State Constitution was sent to Lincoln
in the longest telegraph message in history up to that time.
The railroad roared into Nevada’s history in 1868, when the Central Pacific Railroad crossed
the state line from California into Nevada. Soon, other railroads were constructed throughout the state
to carry supplies to the miners and towns, as well as money and gold. This brought a wave of Chinese
immigration, and at one time, 90 percent of the Central Pacific Railroad workers were Chinese. The
completion of most of the West’s railroads is attributed to the Chinese craftsmen who worked tirelessly
to link Western towns by railroad.
The Gold Rush and Nevada’s rich mining began to fade by the 1880s. Nevada’s population
gradually declined and in the 1890s, it plummeted. At the turn of the century, major silver and gold
deposits again were discovered, this time in the southern-central Nevada towns of Tonopah (1900) and
Goldfield (1902), signaling another boom.
At the same time, agriculture began to play an increasingly important role in the state’s
economy. In 1902, Congress approved the nation’s first water reclamation act, and the Newlands
Reclamation Project was built near the northern Nevada towns of Fallon and Fernley. Fallon’s
Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge is now an essential oasis along the Pacific Flyway for migratory
birds.
While Nevada is known in part for its history of legalized gambling, it was actually illegal
before 1869 and again after 1910. In 1931, Nevada again legalized casino gambling, this time as a
means of raising tax revenues and stabilizing the state’s economy. With the legalization of gambling
came the first casinos on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, known in its day as “Glitter Gulch.”
In 1941, the first hotel-casino on the future Las Vegas Strip opened its doors as the El Rancho Vegas.
The construction of the Hoover Dam in the early 1930s cemented Las Vegas as a viable,
thriving community. The constant supply of water from the Colorado River made farming dependable
and profitable and added an inexpensive source of electricity, allowing for growth and development.
In the northern end of the state, Reno was making a name for itself as the Divorce Capital of
the World. The city got its start in the 1860s as a place to cross the Truckee River; in 1868, it was
named to honor the fallen Union general Jesse Lee Reno.
While the rest of the nation instituted stringent restrictions and longer residency for divorce,
Nevada maintained a short six-month residency for those who wished to divorce. Reno went a step
further, adopting liberal grounds for divorce and in 1927 shortening the residency requirement to 90
days. The minimum residency was shortened further in 1931 to only six weeks. Word quickly spread
about Reno’s permissive regulations, and by the early 1920s, the town had become a haven for those
seeking divorce. Between 1929 and 1967, there were more than 159,000 divorces granted in Reno.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
775-687-4322 or media@TravelNevada.com
www.TravelNevada.com
Reno also was growing as a gambling town. It saw the opening of Harold’s Club in 1935 and
Harrah’s Casino in 1937. The passing of a corporate gaming act in 1969 laid the groundwork for largescale resorts run by major corporations. In 1966, eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes arrived in Las
Vegas and began buying casinos, changing the face of The Strip. Always desiring to be the biggest and
best, Hughes set a new standard for the hotel and casino industry. Following the Hughes example of
striving to always one-up the competition, the MGM Grand opened its doors in Reno in 1978 as the
largest casino in the area while casino moguls such as Steve Wynn opened mega-resorts on the Las
Vegas Strip.
While Las Vegas and Reno were booming, the desert 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas was
undergoing another kind of explosion. In 1951, the U.S. military began testing atomic weapons, first
above ground and after 1963, only underground. The testing ended in 1992, and in 2004 the test site
began offering tours of the area.
Nevada has changed over the years, but for the most part, tourism has remained its No. 1
industry — one that the Nevada Commission on Tourism continually develops. In 2004, the Nevada
Commission on Tourism became the first United States entity to be licensed to advertise in China. The
China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) estimates that 90 percent of Chinese travelers to the
United States go to Nevada, part of the reason that it awarded the license to Nevada. Within just a few
years, eight Chinese cities or provinces signed friendship agreements with Nevada to further promote
tourism between Nevada and China. In 2010, more than 50 million visitors came to Nevada, generating
$47 billion in total travel spending.
As the Silver State continues to evolve and grow, there are new things to do, places to go and
sights to see. Visit www.TravelNevada.com for suggestions on ways to spend a few days or a few
hours in Nevada.
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