Q 01/05

What is the capital of Nevada?

A) Las Vegas

B) Reno

C) Carson City

D) Henderson

Answer · why

C) Carson City

Carson City. Abraham Curry and his partners laid out the town in 1858, and he set aside ten acres for a capitol before Nevada was even a territory.

Q 02/05

Nevada's 1860s mining boom earned it which nickname?

A) The Golden State

B) The Copper State

C) The Treasure State

D) The Silver State

Answer · why

D) The Silver State

The Silver State. Silver struck near Virginia City in 1859 drew so many fortune-seekers that Nevada became its own territory just two years later.

Q 03/05

What does the name 'Nevada' mean in Spanish?

A) Sandy

B) Silver

C) Snowy

D) Wide

Answer · why

C) Snowy

Snowy. The name points to snow-capped mountains, a surprising label for the driest state in the country.

Q 04/05

Nevada was rushed into the Union just before the 1864 election to help re-elect which president?

A) Andrew Johnson

B) James Buchanan

C) Ulysses S. Grant

D) Abraham Lincoln

Answer · why

D) Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln. Republican-leaning Nevada was hurried in partly for its electoral votes, yet Lincoln won so comfortably that he never needed the new ...

Q 05/05

Which state, admitted in 1863, was the only one besides Nevada to join the Union during the Civil War?

A) Kansas

B) West Virginia

C) North Dakota

D) New Mexico

Answer · why

B) West Virginia

West Virginia. Its western counties refused to follow Virginia out of the Union in 1861 and won admission as a separate state two years later.