Places
Desert Writing
Much of the literature that has emerged from Nevada has portrayed mountain and desert landscapes, and the human relationship with aridity, in vivid and insightful ways.The earliest literary commentators on Nevada's natural environment included such distinguished authors as Mark Twain and John... more
Desert Peak Geothermal Field
Places: Lyon County, Northern Nevada
The Desert Peak geothermal field is located in the northern part of the Hot Springs Mountains about 6.4 km southeast of Brady's Hot Springs, near Fernley, Nevada. It is named for a prominent peak 3-5 km to the northwest of the geothermal area. There are no surface thermal indications at the... more
Desert Inn
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Wilbur Clark was operating several bars and a hotel in San Diego, California in 1944 when he learned that the El Rancho Vegas hotel-casino on the emerging Las Vegas Strip was up for sale. Clark, who for years had his eye on running a casino, sold his interests and moved to Las Vegas. He quickly... more
Dennis Oppenheim
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Engagement, a sculpture by Dennis Oppenheim (b. 1938), marks the street-side entrance to the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. Comprised of two enormous steel rings topped by houses-as-jewels, it is apparently a monument to the institution of marriage. It also ties directly to Reno's history of... more
Delphine Anderson Squires
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Delphine Anderson Squires helped build the community of Las Vegas with her husband, Charles Pember "Pop" Squires. She was born in 1868 in Portage City, Wisconsin. As a child, Squires moved to Minnesota, where she met her future husband. She received a teaching degree in music from the... more
Delamar
Places: Lincoln County, Southern Nevada
Delamar is a ghost town near the center of Lincoln County that prospered from mining for about a decade after 1892. At a time when Nevada was in the middle of its "twenty year depression," the discovery of gold ore was highly promising. Delamar was a modest prelude to the discovery and... more
Dean Martin
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
A suave and handsome Italian crooner, Dean Martin had a sharp wit and tipsy stage presence that turned him into one of Las Vegas's most revered performers for nearly four decades.Born in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1917, Dino Paul Crocetti worked briefly as a blackjack dealer in an illegal casino.... more
Dayton
Places: Lyon County, Northern Nevada
Dayton is at the western end of the Twenty-Six Mile Desert at a bend in the Carson River. Immigrants stopping there for water would consider whether to follow the river south or continue west, giving the location its first name, Ponderers Rest. In 1849, Abner Blackburn, while heading for California... more
Daughters of Charity
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
The Daughters of Charity, also known as the Sisters of Charity, served the mining town of Virginia City from 1864 to 1897. They present a fascinating example of how religious women and traditional religious institutions adapted to life in remote Western towns. Led by Sister Frederica, Sisters... more
Dancers
From its earliest days, gambling halls used entertainment to attract people to casinos. In Nevada, showroom and lounge entertainment became the hot attraction that brought customers to the casinos over and over again during the 1950s. Virtually every show had a line of dancers that opened and... more
Cyril S. Wengert
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Cyril S. Wengert was a prominent banker, public utility manager, and civic leader who helped to turn Las Vegas from a town into a city. A second-generation German American, Wengert moved to Las Vegas with his family when he was seventeen, and began working for his father as an ice wagon driver in... more
Crescents
Distinctive, prehistoric stone crescent tools are found from Washington state to Southern California and from the Coast Range to Southern Arizona. By far, however, they are most commonly found in the Great Basin, where they are usually associated with playas. The function of these crescent-shaped,... more
Crandall v. Nevada
Admitted to the Union in 1864, the new state of Nevada was starved for revenue. An act of the legislature of March 8, 1865, imposed a variety of taxes, including a levy of one dollar for every person leaving the state on a common carrier, such as a stage coach or railroad. The tax was to be paid by... more
Coyotes
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are medium-sized mammals that belong to the dog family (Canidae). Prior to the arrival of European people in North America, coyotes were found only in the central part of the United States and in northern Mexico. However, today coyotes are found from Alaska to Costa Rica and... more
Coyote Willow
The Coyote Willow (scientific name Salix exigua) is a hearty tree commonly found throughout Nevada and is also known as Sandbar Willow. It has been used for many years by the Great Basin Indians, specifically the Washoe, Paiute, and Shoshone. It was extremely important as a part of their culture... more
Cowboy Poetry
Places: Elko County, Northern Nevada
Cowboy poetry is poetry by or about cowboys. Its direct origins are from the great cattle drives after the Civil War that brought beef from the isolated West to the populated cities of the North and East. This poetry blossomed as an insider's art form at the height of the cowboy in popular... more
Cortez Mining District
Places: Eureka County, Lander County, Northern Nevada
Nine prospectors led by Andrew A. Veatch organized the Cortez mining district in 1863 after finding silver in central Nevada's Cortez Mountains. Financier George Hearst invested heavily in the district's earliest development. After initially shipping ore to Austin, the miners constructed a... more
Cornish Immigrants
Cornwall, England's western-most county, is one of six Celtic nations that include Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, and France's Brittany, each sources of immigrants to Nevada. As early as the Bronze Age, Cornwall's tin mines won fame, but failure of Cornish mining in the... more
Cornerstones
Many public buildings in the United States have cornerstones featuring the date as well as an "AL" followed by a number. The AL is the abbreviation of the Latin words anno Lucis, meaning "in the year of light." It is similar to the AD, which means anno Domini or "in the... more
Control Tower - A Sculpture by Peter Shire
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Best known for his innovative work in ceramics, Peter Shire (b. 1947) is represented in Nevada by the sculpture Control Tower. Originally commissioned by the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, the sculpture was situated in the central staircase, rising from the ground floor to the main... more
Contemporary Las Vegas Poets
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Southern Nevada is home to many poets writing today. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas hosts an M.F.A. program for poetry and fiction writing and has hosted many contemporary poets through the years, including Seamus Heaney, Toni Morrison, and Robert Creeley. The city has also featured many local... more
Contemporary Great Basin Basketmakers
For the native people of the Great Basin, weaving carries both historical and contemporary significance. In their past, the Shoshone, Paiute, and Washoe people practiced a way of life based in part on the seasonal harvest of wild plant resources, and weaving provided most of their tools used to... more
Congregationalism (United Church of Christ) in Nevada
Introduction1621–2009By John MarschallThe origins of Congregationalism are deeply rooted in ancient notions that the local congregation is the autonomous embodiment of the ecclesia or church. In Elizabethan times, some members of the Church of England adopted Reformed principles of John... more
Comstock Mining Folklore
Miners possess their own oral traditions, beliefs, jargon, and customs. Mineral wealth also inspired folklore outside the occupation. Legends of lost mines, for example, belong to the general population. In contrast, only miners normally shared concerns about whistling underground or harming rats... more
Comstock Mining District
In 1849 while passing through the Great Basin to California, Abner Blackburn discovered gold at the junction of Gold Canyon and the Carson River, a place eventually called Dayton. He continued on his way, but his find marked the area for future exploration. The next year, placer miners began... more