50 Fun Facts About Nevada

What is the capital of Nevada?

It is an independent city that functions as both a city and a county, created when Ormsby County was dissolved in 1969.

Nevada's official nickname is what?

It is also called the Battle Born State because it joined the Union during the Civil War, and the Sagebrush State after its native plant.

What does the name 'Nevada' mean in Spanish?

Spanish explorers named it for the snow on its mountains, echoing Spain's own Sierra Nevada.

On what date did Nevada become the 36th state?

It was admitted eight days before the 1864 presidential election, despite having fewer than the 60,000 residents Congress usually required.

Nevada was the second state admitted during the Civil War. Which was the first?

West Virginia had broken away from Confederate Virginia in 1863.

Since 2000, when is Nevada Day, the state holiday marking admission, observed?

It was moved from October 31 in 2000 to create a three-day weekend; Carson City holds a downtown parade.

Which 1859 silver discovery led to Nevada Territory being carved out of Utah Territory?

It was the first major silver deposit found in the United States, under Mount Davidson at Virginia City.

The great 1859 silver lode under Virginia City is named after which Canadian miner?

The rush produced mining innovations like square-set timbering and the Washoe silver-extraction process.

Which famous writer lived in Nevada during the mining boom and described it in Roughing It?

He wrote for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City and first used the name Mark Twain there.

On what date in 1931 did Nevada re-legalise gambling?

Governor Balzar signed it eight days after the federal government awarded the contract to build Boulder (Hoover) Dam, along with the country's most liberal divorce laws.

Nevada is the only US state where what is legal, though not in its most populous counties?

Brothels are illegal in Clark County (Las Vegas), Washoe County (Reno) and Carson City.

Roughly what share of Nevada's land is owned by the US federal government?

That is the highest proportion of any state, covering everything from military ranges to BLM desert.

What is Nevada's ranking among US states for annual rainfall?

It sits in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and gets some of the strongest sunshine in the country.

Nearly three-quarters of Nevadans live in which single jurisdiction?

It contains the Las Vegas metropolitan area and drew an estimated 44 million visitors in 2014.

The Las Vegas Strip is mostly NOT inside the city of Las Vegas. Which unincorporated town is it in?

Most Strip resorts sit in Paradise and Winchester, which is why the city's downtown casinos cluster on Fremont Street instead.

What does 'Las Vegas' mean in Spanish?

Spanish traders applied it to the fertile lowlands around the Las Vegas Springs, a Southern Paiute winter home.

In what year was Las Vegas founded, when railroad land was auctioned off?

It incorporated in 1911 and by the end of the 20th century was the most populous North American city founded in that century.

Which is the oldest continuously operating hotel and casino in Las Vegas?

It opened downtown on Fremont Street in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada.

Downtown Las Vegas's Fremont Street is named after which explorer?

He camped at Las Vegas Springs in 1844; Jedediah Smith had reached the valley in 1827.

Hoover Dam was built in which gorge of the Colorado River?

Boulder Canyon was rejected as a site because of a geological fault, though the project kept the name Boulder Dam for years.

Which president dedicated Hoover Dam in September 1935?

His administration called it Boulder Dam; Congress had named it for Hoover during construction.

Which consortium won the contract to build Hoover Dam?

They finished more than two years ahead of schedule and handed the dam to the government in March 1936.

Which Nevada town was purpose-built to house Hoover Dam's construction workers?

It remains one of only two Nevada communities where gambling is illegal.

Tahoe, shared with California, is the second-deepest body of fresh water in the US. Which is deeper?

Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and, by volume, trails only the five Great Lakes.

Roughly what fraction of Lake Tahoe's surface lies in Nevada?

The state line runs through the lake to the Carson Range, part of the Sierra Nevada.

The Nevada Test Site, opened in 1951, is known for what?

The first test was a bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on January 27, 1951, about 65 miles from Las Vegas.

What did Congress designate Yucca Mountain as in 1987?

The plan has been fought by the state ever since and the repository was never opened.

Area 51 is officially known as what?

The CIA acquired it in 1955 to test the U-2 spy plane and only publicly acknowledged it in 2013.

In what year did the CIA publicly acknowledge that Area 51 exists?

It came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed eight years earlier.

Nevada State Route 375, near Area 51, carries which official nickname?

The tiny town of Rachel along it is a stop for UFO tourists.

Which US highway across central Nevada is nicknamed 'The Loneliest Road in America'?

It follows the old Pony Express and Lincoln Highway routes through Ely, Eureka, Austin and Fallon.

Since 1990, the Burning Man festival has been held on which Nevada playa, north-east of Reno?

The temporary Black Rock City rises north-east of Reno each year in the nine days up to Labor Day.

Where did Burning Man begin in 1986, before moving to Nevada?

Larry Harvey and Jerry James built and burned the first Man there on June 22, 1986.

Nevada is one of the world's leading producers of which metal?

Mining is still a major sector outside Las Vegas and Reno, and the McDermitt Caldera may hold the largest lithium deposit ever found.

Which volcanic basin on the Nevada-Oregon border may hold the largest lithium deposit ever discovered?

Geologists estimate 20 to 40 million tons of lithium there.

Which NHL team began play at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip in the 2017-18 season?

The Raiders followed in 2020 at Allegiant Stadium, and the Athletics plan to move from Oakland by 2027.

Which Major League Baseball team won league approval in 2023 to relocate to Las Vegas?

Owners approved the move in November 2023; it would give the valley teams in the NHL, NFL, WNBA and MLB within a decade.

What was the first permanent settlement in what is now Nevada, built by Mormons in 1851?

Mormon missionaries also built an adobe fort near present-day downtown Las Vegas in 1855.

What is Nevada's state bird?

The state animal is the desert bighorn sheep and the state flower is sagebrush.

Which immigrant sheepherders left a lasting mark on Nevada towns like Elko and Winnemucca?

Their culture survives in Basque restaurants and festivals across northern Nevada.

Nevada's second mining boom around 1900 began with a rich silver strike at which town?

Goldfield and Rhyolite followed; Rhyolite is now a ghost town with a house built from 50,000 bottles.

Which is the largest Asian American group in Nevada?

Filipinos make up about 6.4% of the state, and Tagalog is the second most-spoken non-English language after Spanish.

Nevada's Native American peoples include which three main tribes?

The Washoe are the people of the Lake Tahoe region.

Nevada gained its southern tip, including the Las Vegas area, from which neighbour in 1867?

The transfer of Pah-Ute County west of the Colorado River was prompted by a gold discovery.

Because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, Nevada is nicknamed the what?

Its other nicknames include the Sagebrush State, after the native plant, and the Sage-hen State.

How did Nevada's governor finally send the state constitution to Washington in October 1864?

The full text cost $4,303.27 to transmit, the most expensive single telegraph dispatch on file at the time, after overland and sea mail attempts failed.

Roughly how many residents did Nevada have at statehood, short of the usual 60,000?

Statehood was rushed through on October 31, 1864, eight days before the election, to help secure Abraham Lincoln's re-election.

In which year was gambling outlawed in Nevada, before being re-legalised in 1931?

The ban came amid a nationwide anti-gambling crusade; the Depression-era decline of mining and farming prompted the reversal under Governor Fred Balzar.

In a 1942 case about a Nevada divorce, which state was told to give it 'full faith and credit'?

Williams v. North Carolina upheld the Nevada decree; the state had adopted one of the most liberal divorce statutes in the nation, earning a reputation as a 'divorce haven'.

In 1940, Nevada had fewer than half the residents of which next-least-populous state?

With just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state before gambling and lenient marriage laws turned it into a tourist magnet.