Places
Bonanza Television Show
Places: Virginia City, Incline Village, Storey County, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Bonanza, the long-running NBC television series, features Lake Tahoe and Virginia City settings. The series gives Nevada its strongest tie with westerns since it has been watched by millions for more than five decades in its original telecasts and in syndication. The series began in 1959 and... more
Bonanza Group
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
The term Bonanza Group, together with the names "Big Four" and the "Irish Four," refers to a group of immigrants who outmaneuvered William Sharon and broke the monopoly of his Bank of California until they controlled much of the Comstock Lode. Two Irish miners, John Mackay and... more
Bonanza Airlines
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
The first all-jet powered airline in the United States was Las Vegas-based Bonanza Air Lines. Though the milestone was not reached until 1960, the airline began as part of an experiment in post-World War II commercial aviation service.In 1945, Edmund Converse, Charles Keene, and June Simon founded... more
Bob Stupak
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Bob (Robert) Stupak (1942–2009) was one of the most flamboyant and controversial casino operators in Las Vegas, a risk-taker and self-promoter whose quirky Vegas World evolved into the 115-story Stratosphere Tower, the nation's tallest observation platform, with thrill rides and a... more
Bob Brown
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Few journalists and political figures have been more involved in Nevada politics than Bob Brown. Born in Glendale, California, he was the son of a newspaperman and started working in a pressroom when he was nine. He worked his way through college as a press operator for newspapers in New Mexico and... more
Bob Bailey
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Dr. William H. "Bob" Bailey came to Las Vegas as an entertainer at a historic hotel-casino, and stayed to make history as a civil rights pioneer and contributor to Las Vegas' transformation from a small, segregated gambling town to an integrated metropolis.Bailey demonstrated his... more
Blue Mountain Geothermal Area
Places: Humboldt County, Northern Nevada
The Blue Mountain geothermal area, located in central Humboldt County, Nevada, was originally explored for gold potential. High temperatures were noted during exploratory drilling, and as a result, the area has been examined for geothermal potential from the late 1990s to present.Nevada Geothermal... more
Bitterbrush
Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) is found throughout the Nevada deserts, and has several other common names, including Antelope Bush, Antelope Bitterbrush, Buckbrush, and Quininebrush. It is a hearty plant, but quite flammable. Following wildfires, however, the plant is able to regenerate from the... more
Biscuitroot
The fernleaf biscuitroot, scientific species name Lomatium, is very common to the sagebrush steppe region in Nevada. Most species produce small, yellow flowers in umbrella shaped clusters and are easily recognizable by their leaves. The leafy, fern-like nature of the leaves and the general look of... more
Billy Wilkerson
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
William R. "Billy" Wilkerson was the original developer of the Flamingo Hotel, considered by historians the most important and influential resort to open on the fledgling Las Vegas Strip in the 1940s. The importance of his role, however, is often overshadowed in popular history by a... more
Bill Maloy
Places: Carson City, Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Bill Maloy was a quiet presence in Nevada's cowboy gear-making community for over fifty years, crafting exquisitely tooled saddles for those in the know.Maloy was born in 1936 in Visalia, California, a center of vaquero-style saddle making and silver engraving, giving him a head start in his... more
Big Sagebrush
Big sagebrush is the state flower of Nevada and the characteristic shrub of the Great Basin's intermountain valleys and low mountain ranges. It has a wide distribution and occurs in a variety of habitats, and its characteristic aroma has become emblematic of the American West. Big sagebrush can... more
Big Bonanza
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
The Spanish term "bonanza" means prosperity and also a rich vein of ore. Mines or communities were said to be in bonanza when profits ran high. The contrasting Spanish word "borrasca" refers to times of depression. Together, bonanza and borrasca hint at the importance of Spanish... more
Bertha Ronzone
Places: Clark County, Manhattan, Nye County, Tonopah, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Bertha Bishop Ronzone presided over what was once the largest, privately-owned chain of department stores in Nevada. Born in Iowa on April 16, 1885, Bishop moved with her family to California when she was a child. In 1901, at age sixteen, she married Attilio "Ben" Ronzone, a gold... more
Bert Goldwater
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Bertram Mortimer (Bert) Goldwater lived most of his life in Reno as a criminal and civil lawyer. He was a passionate defender of civil liberties and served as first chairman of Nevada's Equal Rights Commission. For many years he was a United States bankruptcy judge–a position held until... more
Bernard Schopen
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Bernard Schopen was born in 1942 in Deadwood, South Dakota. He earned bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees at the University of Washington, and completed his PhD in English at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he has taught since 1990. Schopen is truly a western writer. His books deal... more
Berlin
Places: Nye County, Southern Nevada
While the Cincinnati Mining Company discovered silver in the Shoshone Mountains of Nye County as early as 1887, Berlin did not form until 1897. A thirty-stamp mill was built and Berlin steadily grew until it had a population of 300 by 1905. However, a miner's strike in 1907 ended the boom. A... more
Beowawe Geothermal Field
Places: Eureka County, Lander County, Northern Nevada
The geothermal area at Beowawe Geysers straddles the Eureka-Lander County line in Whirlwind Valley, about 10 km west of the small community of Beowawe, Nevada. It is one of the largest geothermal fields in Nevada with some of the highest reported subsurface temperatures in the state (reservoir... more
Belmont
In 1865, a Native American discovered a quartz vein of silver in Nye County's Toquima range at 8,000 feet. Miners, many from Austin, then settled the area and christened their new town Belmont, the center of the Philadelphia Mining District. The legislature moved the seat of county government... more
Behind the Desert Inn
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
[VR Morph by Howard Goldbaum]In the 1950s, when the Desert Inn was the most elegant establishment on the Las Vegas Strip, the view to the north and east was largely barren. In the 1920s, the grassy area and trees along what is now Paradise Road had been the site of Rockwell Field, the first Las... more
Battle Mountain
Places: Battle Mountain, Lander County, Northern Nevada
Battle Mountain owes its early existence to railroads and mining. When the Central Pacific Railroad came to the area in 1868, it encountered a loose community of mining camps inspired by the boomtown of Austin, ninety miles to the south. Mining activity increased with the coming of the railroad,... more
Basque Folklife
Many of the Basque folkways that we see today in Nevada formed part of the cultural baggage of Basque immigrants, and first found collective expression here within the context of ostatuak, or Basque boarding houses. These establishments, which began to open their doors as early as the 1860s, served... more
Barbara Vucanovich
Places: Nye County, Tonopah, Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada, Southern Nevada
Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich was elected in 1982 to represent Nevada's Second Congressional District. She retired in 1996 after seven terms, having served the second longest term of any Nevadan in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Walter Baring served ten non-consecutive terms).... more
Bank Crowd
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
"The Bank Crowd" refers to the group of entrepreneurs who dominated the economic life of the Comstock from 1867 to 1875. The name refers to the Bank of California, which was opened in San Francisco, on June 5, 1864, by William C. Ralston and Darius Ogden Mills. Ralston and Mills in... more
Western Air Express
Places: Southern Nevada
The first and, for many years, the largest commercial airline to serve Las Vegas, Western Air Express was instrumental in putting Las Vegas on the commercial airlines map. Las Vegas had the good fortune to lie on a natural air route between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.In 1925, the federal Kelly... more