Places
Red Rooster
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
The Red Rooster was one of the most famous nightclubs in Las Vegas from the early 1930s to the early 1950s on present-day Las Vegas Boulevard, where as a "speakeasy" it was once raided by federal government agents for selling liquor during Prohibition.In the 1920s and early 1930s, while... more
Recall Elections
Introduction: The right to recall a public officer was added to the Nevada Constitution in 1912. By circulating a petition and qualifying for the ballot, voters can remove any elected official except a United States Senator or Representative in Congress. Between 1993 and 2004, 108 notices of recall... more
Raymond I. (Pappy) Smith and Harold Smith Sr.
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Raymond I. "Pappy" Smith, one of the foremost pioneers of Nevada gaming, and his son Harold Smith Sr. were the two men chiefly responsible for the creation of Harolds Club. Harolds was one of the first modern American casinos, and it put Nevada gaming on the national and even... more
Rathole Mining
Rathole, or coyote hole, mining refers to inexpensive excavations that were technologically simpler than their larger nineteenth-century industrial counterparts. Usually only a few people undertook a rathole mine, working independently of corporate ownership.The term "rathole" is an... more
Ralph J. Roberts
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Ralph Roberts is best known as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologist who performed extensive regional geologic mapping in northern Nevada and published research on the geologic framework of northern Nevada that led to the discovery of the Carlin trend gold-producing province.In 1960, Roberts... more
Ragtown/Leeteville
Places: Churchill County, Northern Nevada
Along U.S. Highway 50 west of Fallon, a historical marker designates the site of old Ragtown/Leeteville. Although neither survives today, they were of paramount importance to early-day Nevada travelers. At the end of America's westward push, Ragtown was little more than a seasonal tent city,... more
Pyramid Lake War
Places: Washoe County, Northern Nevada
The Pyramid Lake War of 1860 was the single greatest confrontation between American Indians and whites in Nevada's history. It was caused by the onrush of thousands of settlers to the Washoe country, lured by reports of valuable silver and gold deposits on the Comstock, combined with the lack... more
Pygmy Rabbits
Pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis) are the smallest members of the rabbit family in North America and are found in the sagebrush communities of the Great Basin in parts of California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, with the greatest portion of their range in... more
Purple Sage
Found in many of the Western state deserts, the purple sage grows well throughout the Great Basin, particularly in Southern Nevada. There are three primary varieties of purple sage found in Nevada: the carnosa, argentea and dorrii, the primary variation being in leaf size and location. The purple... more
Pueblo Grande de Nevada: Lost City
Places: Clark County, Southern Nevada
Beginning about 300 BC, a native culture developed and flourished for over 1000 years in the Moapa Valley of Southern Nevada. This culture's development paralleled the well-known Puebloan cultures of the Southwest in the Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. It was... more
Protest, Dissent, and Witness at the Nevada Test Site
Places: Nye County, Southern Nevada
Since the late 1950s, the Nevada Test Site has been the subject of criticism, protest, and civil disobedience. Organized protest actions have ranged in size from fewer than ten people to groups of thousands during the large demonstrations of the 1980s. Individuals have observed private desert... more
Pronghorns
Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) are one of the few living links to the Ice Age. They are an ancient species dating back about 20 million years and are the lone survivors of a family of hoofed mammals found only in North America (Antilocapridae).Pronghorns may have survived in part because they... more
Preston and Lund
Places: White Pine County, Northern Nevada
Preston and Lund are small communities in southwestern White Pine County established by Latter-day Saints in 1897 and 1898, respectively. Situated west of the Egan Range in the White River Valley, they are relatively isolated from other communities in White Pine, Lincoln, and Nye counties. Ranching... more
Presidential Primaries in Nevada
In 2006, the Democratic Party approved plans to hold a presidential caucus in 2008 in Nevada, just after the first caucus in Iowa and before the first primary in New Hampshire. It was the latest maneuver in a long history of presidential primaries and caucuses in Nevada.Primary elections became... more
Prehistoric Trade at Lost City
Many artifacts found in the Lost City sites at Pueblo Grande de Nevada in the southern part of the state were transported long distances by prehistoric people. Members of the Anasazi community may have traveled seasonally or traded with other travelers for "exotic" items. Some of the non-... more
Plaza Hotel
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
[VR Morph by Howard Goldbaum]The construction of the Union Plaza Hotel-Casino, now the Plaza Hotel, was a turning point for downtown Las Vegas. It replaced the Union Pacific Railroad depot, built in 1940, and the park just east of it. It signified how downtown Las Vegas was changing and touched off... more
Players on the Strip
The Las Vegas Strip of the 1940s and 1950s epitomized its times. Hollywood was peaking and television was entering every household, and Las Vegas enjoyed close ties to Los Angeles and Hollywood. Highway 91 provided the majority of visitors from Los Angeles, and Hollywood stars were frequent... more
Placer Mining
With the California Gold Rush, fortune seekers flooded into the West. Thousands scattered into every Sierra ravine looking for widely distributed gold flakes and nuggets in placer sands deposited by creeks and rivers.Placer miners moved from one place to the next. They used inexpensive, movable... more
Pioneer Club
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Las Vegas has its share of icons, but few are better known or longer lasting than "Vegas Vic," the huge neon-lit cowboy figure that has greeted visitors for many decades. Although he has been part of downtown for more than half a century, the casino he towers over predates him."Vic... more
Pioche
Places: Lincoln County, Pioche, Southern Nevada
Pioche, the county seat of Lincoln County, is a twice-active, now-dormant mining camp near the Highland Range of eastern Nevada. Located about one hundred and seventy-five miles north of Las Vegas near the Utah border, it is one of the Silver State's more remote communities.The discovery of... more
Pinyon-juniper Woodlands
Pinyon-juniper woodlands comprise one of Nevada's most extensive vegetation types, occupying 14,178 square miles, or approximately thirteen percent, of the state's land area. From Nevada's main highways, these woodlands appear as tree-covered hill slopes on distant mountain ranges.Over... more
Pinyon Jays and Pinyon Pines
In a dry woodland a high-pitched, nasal call is heard in the distance, then another and another. As the calls become louder and more numerous, birds that look like small, stocky, blue crows appear, streaming past in a loose flock of dozens or even hundreds. These are Pinyon Jays (Gymnorhinus... more
Philipp Deidesheimer
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
Philipp Deidesheimer, the Comstock inventor of the square-set timber system, made deep hardrock mining a possibility throughout the world, thereby becoming a respected mining engineer. Deidesheimer was born to Jewish parents in Darmstadt, Hesse in 1832 before German unification. He attended the... more
Peter Ranne of the Jedediah Strong Smith Party
Peter Ranne was the first known man of African descent to enter the boundaries of the modern state of Nevada. As a member of Jedediah Smith's traveling party, Ranne took part in the Smith party's 1826-27 trailblazing journey through the region that would become Nevada.In 1826, Jedediah... more
Pershing County Courthouse
Places: Lovelock, Pershing County, Northern Nevada
Pershing County was carved out of Humboldt County's southern region after arguments over public funds necessitated a division of the territory. The state legislature created Nevada's seventeenth county in 1919 and designated Lovelock as the county seat. The county was named after General... more