1500  

1519 -

•  Area claimed by Spain, Alta California (conquest of Mexico).

1542 -

• Voyage to California coast by Juan de Cabrillo.

1600   

1607 -

• English colonists settled in Virginia, forming Jamestown Colony. 

1609 -

• Town of Santa Fe established as Spanish-Indian trade center. It was held by the Pueblo Indians from 1680-92.

1668 -

• Hudson's Bay Co. established to open fur trade with Indians to provide beaver for hats for men and women.

1700   

1763 -

• St. Louis founded by trappers Pierre LaClede & R.A. Choteau.

1769 -

• Spanish began building Missions in California.

1775 -

• The Spanish missionary Francisco Garces became the first European to enter Nevada, crossing the southern part of the state on his way to California.
• Beginning of the American Revolution.

1776 -

• Spanish possibly entered the area now Southern Nevada.

1778 -

• Norwest Company established by Montreal (Canada) fur merchants.

1783 -

• U. S. western boundary extended to the Mississippi River.

1799 -

• Spanish priests may have explored the southern tip of Nevada.

1800   

1800 -

• New Mexican slave traders captured Southern Paiutes.

1803 -

• Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million - lands west of Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains less Texas, etc.
• 1803-06 - Lewis & Clark Expedition to the Pacific Ocean.

1808 -

• John Jacob Astor chartered the American Fur Co.

1810   

1812 -

• Missouri became a territory.
• 1812-15 - War of 1812 with Britain opened the Western States.

1819 -

• The 42nd parallel, which forms Nevada's northern boundary, was recognized as the dividing line between U. S. and Spanish territory by the Adams-Onis Treaty.

1820   

1821 -

• Mexican Independence and control of Alta California.
• Old Spanish Trail in use for purposes of trade.

1822 -

• Crude but permanent photograph produced in France.

1823 -

• Town of Independence, MO, founded - starting point for Western States.

1825 -

• Fur trapper Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson's Bay Company discovered the Humboldt River.

1826 -

• Entry of first North Americans - Canadian Peter Skene Ogden, and U. S. citizen, Jedediah Strong Smith, trappers and explorers. Jedediah Strong Smith led a fur-trapping expedition for the firm of Smith, Jackson & Sublette West across the Southern tip of Nevada and along the Colorado River (Clark) in search of new trapping grounds. Smith's expedition then crossed the mountains into California over Tejon Pass.

1827 -

• Jedediah Smith crossed central Nevada on his return trip. After spending the winter of 1826-27 in California, Jedediah S. Smith's expedition crossed Sierra Nevada mountains over Ebbett's Pass and traveled eastward across Nevada. His trip was the first crossing of the Great Basin by white men.

1828 -

• 1828-29 - Fur-trapping expedition of Peter Skene Ogden, explorer and businessman for Hudson's Bay Company, discovered Humboldt River (named Mary's River by Ogden) November 9, 1828, visited Humboldt Sink where he saw Indians with guns and horses early in 1829.

1829 -

• Establishment of Spanish Trail, later called Mormon Trail, the recognized route from Missouri into Mexico by the 1830's.
• Winter: Trading expedition of Antonio Armijo to Los Angeles from Santa Fe crossed southern Nevada (Clark).  First expedition to make commercial connection between southern California and New Mexico, later improved and developed as the "Spanish Trail". Ewing Young and Kit Carson, leading a fur-trapping party from Taos, also discovered portions of the trail at about the same time.
• 1829-30 - Peter Ogden possibly explored Humboldt Sink, Carson & Walker Rivers and Walker Lake.

1830  

1830 -

• 1830-31 - William Wolfskill led a trading expedition and pack train over the Spanish Trail between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Los Angeles - arrived February 1831. This expedition opened the Spanish Trail to commercial traffic. Wolfskill profitably exchanged New Mexican blankets for California mules.
• U. S. population - 12 million people.

1832 -

• Milton Green Sublette led a fur-trapping expedition with Nathaniel Wyeth for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to the Humboldt River and Oregon.

1833 -

• 1833-34 - Joseph Reddeford Walker, explorer and businessman, led fur-trapping expedition for Captain B. L. E. Bonneville to Humboldt River, Carson Sink, and Walker River. First battle between whites and Indians in Nevada at Humboldt Sink, October 4, 1833, many Indians killed. Walker crossed Sierra Nevada mountains over Walker's Pass; discovered Yosemite Valley and the Tuolumne or Merced grove of giant redwood trees. Second battle fought at Toulon Lake (Pershing) in June 1834 on Walker's return trip, trappers armed with rifles again defeated the Indians, probably Northern Paiutes

1835 -

• Republic of Texas - first loss of Mexican territory.

1837 -

• Publication of deBonneville's account of 1833 trip with map, proving the San Buenaventure River did not exist in the state.

1839 -

• Last rendezvous of the Mountain Men.

1840   

1840 -

• Western Emigration Society formed.
• Death of fur trade. Beaver hats replaced by silk.
• Development of paper from wood pulp by Germans.

1841-

• Congress passed Pre-emption Act, which recognized rights of 'squatters' who settled on surveyed portions of public domain land; repealed 1891. A man who had possession of such land and was using it had the right to buy it from the government at $2/acre prior to sale at public auction. This policy encouraged settlers to move onto the public lands west of the Mississippi River. Congress continued it with the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Land Act of 1877. Congress discontinued this policy with passage of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 and the Multiple Land Use Act of 1964.
• John Bidwell and John Bartleson led a party of overland emigrants from Missouri, including the first white woman and child to enter Nevada to Humboldt, Carson, and Walker Rivers, over the Sierra Nevada mountains at Sonora Pass, and into California; first overland emigrant party to California. First wagons to enter Nevada (these had to be abandoned before the Sierra Nevada crossing); first cattle to enter Nevada.
• First sheep in Nevada; 150 head driven along Spanish Trail, through Las Vegas Springs, by Workman-Rowland emigrant party from New Mexico en route to California.

1842 -

• Elijah White led the first wagon train to Oregon.

1843 -

• Lieutenant John C. Fremont led an exploring expedition approved by Congress to the Truckee and Carson Rivers; discovered Pyramid Lake January 10, 1844; crossed mountains into California over Carson Pass February 20, 1844. First winter crossing of the Sierra Nevada.
• Ft. Bridger established on Colorado River in Wyoming.
• Joseph B. Chiles (Bidwell-Bartleson group) with Walker as guide, led a group from Missouri via the Humboldt Route.
• 1843-47 - Fremont explorations with Carson & Walker as guides.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 38.

1844 -

• Northern Paiute Indian Chief Truckee and Caleb Greenwood guided the Elisha Stephens wagon train of overland emigrants into California over Emigrant Gap. First wagons to cross Sierra Nevada mountains. Opened Truckee River section of California Trail (road included much of present Interstate 80).
• Telegraph invented by Samuel Morse, using dots & dashes.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 53

1845 -

• Numerous emigrant parties as California was well-publicized.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 260.
• 1845-1846 - Second exploring expedition of John C. Fremont to Humboldt, Truckee, Carson, and Walker Rivers. Crossed Sierra Nevada mountains into California over Donner Pass November-December, 1845. Captain Truckee, Chief of the Northern Paiutes, accompanied Fremont as a guide into California.

1846 -

• Applegate-Lassen section of Oregon and California Trails opened by Jesse Applegate and Peter Lassen between Fort Hall, Idaho, and Willamette Valley, Oregon, by way of Nevada and northern California.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 1,500.
• Texas joined the Union.
• Great Britain gave up claims to joint control of Oregon with the U. S.
• Beginning of Mormon migration to Utah from Nauvoo, Illinois.
• 1846-1847 - Donner Party tragedy. Emigrant train, crossing Nevada late in the year, was caught by a heavy snowstorm October 28 and trapped near Donner Lake until February 19.  44 out of 89 persons traveling with the Donner Party died between Fort Bridger, Utah, and Johnson's Ranch, California.
• Mexican War began between U. S. and Mexico over disputed land in Texas.
• California revolution ("Bear Flag Republic") against Mexican rule began June 14 at Sonora.
• U. S. troops occupied Mexico City September 14, 1847. War ended with Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo in 1848.

1847-

• Establishment by Brigham Young of the Mormon Kingdom of Desert and Salt Lake City in Utah, then Mexican land.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 450.

1848 -

• By the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, which ended the War with Mexico, the United States acquired Nevada. It was then a part of California, known as the Washoe Country.
• Jan 24 - James Wilson Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento. This find was the first major gold strike in the United States. At least a quarter of a million men emigrated to California in 1849-1853, and many of them traveled overland across Nevada.
• Acquisition of Southwestern U. S. by U. S. for $15 million.
• Oregon Territory organized after end of joint U. S.-British control of area, dating from 1818.
• July-August - Lieutenant Samuel Thompson of the "Mormon Battalion" made first wagon crossing of Carson Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains and constructed a wagon road in Carson Canyon, opening the Carson River section of the California Trail.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 400.

1849 -

• March 18 - State of Deseret, including most of present-day Nevada and Utah, was organized by the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or LDS Church) with Brigham Young as Governor; was not recognized by Congress, and its petition for statehood was rejected.
• The first permanent settlement was established at Mormon Station, now Genoa, by H. S. Beatie.
• Gold Rush to California. Ships sailed from the East, and about 25,000 people formed a scattered line of wagons, walkers, and horsemen across Nevada for six months.
• Death Valley Party, with 107 wagons led by Lewis Manly & Jefferson Hunt from Salt Lake City to Calif. - one death.
• Spring-Autumn - Prospecting parties from California and overland emigrants discovered gold on eastern slope of Sierra Nevada mountains.

1850   

1850 -

• September 9. Most of Nevada was included in the newly organized Territory of Utah. California became a state due to population of 90,000.
• Overland emigrants discovered gold nuggets at the mouth of Gold Canyon (Lyon) near Carson River; one miner wintered there.
• Patrick Henness discovered Henness Pass over the Sierra Nevada mountains; a toll road for pack trains was built over the pass which linked the mining camps of the north and central Yuba River in California with the Truckee River section of the California Trail.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 44,000.

1851 -

• November 19 - An independent local government was formed. It lasted several months until the Utah authorities intervened.
• Establishment of Mormon Station as a trading post on the site of present-day Genoa by John Reese & a group of Mormons - 17 men and 13 wagons of supplies arrived July 7th. First known as Reese's Station. Israel & Eliza Mott arrived a week later & settled just south. She was the first non-Native American woman in the state.
• Mexican miners working in Gold Canyon area.
• Reese's teamster, James 'Old Virginney' Fennimore, began prospecting & mining in Gold Canyon.
• June - John Reese and others established a trading post in Carson Valley. First permanent settlement in Nevada, about 1/2 mile south of Old Mormon Station. Reese's trading post was called 'Mormon Station' (Douglas).
• Summer - California sent a militia expedition to Carson Valley during second El Dorado County Indian War. Small garrison commanded by William Byrne wintered at Mormon Station (Douglas).
• August-September - Indian fights along Humboldt River; William Hickman led emigrant party in battles, reportedly killing 82 Indians.
• September 9 - Congress established Utah Territory, which included most of present-day Nevada, with Brigham Young as Governor; territorial capitol at Fillmore, later moved to Salt Lake City.
• November - Eagle Ranch, now Carson City, first settled; established by California men as trading post along overland route.
• November - Absalom Woodward and U. S. Mail party ambushed and killed by Indians on Humboldt River; mail lost.
• James P. Beckwourth, a black mountain man, opened Beckwourth Pass road over the Sierra Nevada for overland emigration traveling to Marysville, California.
• U. S. Post Office awarded a contract to Absalom Woodward and George Chorpenning for carrying transcontinental overland mail between Sacramento and Salt Lake City. First overland mail left Sacramento May 1 for Salt Lake by way of Carson Valley; carried once a month; it was the first transcontinental overland mail service in U. S. Nicknamed 'Jackass Mail' because letters were carried in packs on mules.
• Carson Valley Settler's Government.
• First government in Nevada was established by public mass meeting. Initial public meeting November 12 at Mormon (Reese's) Station established government by committee of seven and system of making land claims.
• Second meeting November 19, made timber lands common property.
• Third meeting November 20 named a Justice of the Peace, Clerk, and Sheriff; fourth meeting May 22, 1852 encouraged construction of sawmills.
• Fifth meeting March 21, 1853 required actual occupancy and improvements on land claims.
• Sixth meeting May 27, 1854 defined water rights of settlers.
• This government ceased operation after arrival of Carson County government from Utah in 1855; was not recognized as official by either Utah or the U. S.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 1,100.

1852 -

• First land claims filed in Nevada at Mormon Station - Reese, Stephen Kinsey, E.L. Bernard, Jas. C. Fair, Win. Byrnes, J. Brown & J.H. Scott & Bros.
• John Reese built the 1st toll bridge in Nevada over the Carson River. Mottsville was growing up around Mott's Ranch, South of Genoa.
• Moses Job opened a store just south of Mottsville.
• Dec. 10 - 1st Post Office - Mormon Station, Carson County, Utah Territory.
• Arrival of more settlers in Carson Valley near Mormon Station.
• March 3 - Utah Territorial Legislature established counties with boundaries reaching to California State Line; these were the first official local government units in Nevada but were ignored by settlers in western Utah, who had formed a separate local government in 1851.
• Spring - Washburn Loomis and N. R. Haskell operated a trading post at mouth of Gold Canyon, near Carson River, for emigrants on the California Trail and local miners; later operated by Spafford Hall; now town of Dayton (Lyon).
• December 1 - First toll bridge and road franchise granted by Carson Valley settler's government to John Reese and Israel Mott for Carson Canyon section of California Trail.
• December - U. S. Post Office established winter transcontinental mail route between Salt Lake City and San Bernardino, California, using portions of the Spanish Trail across Nevada; post established at Las Vegas Springs (Clark) in southern Nevada as way station. This road was known as the Mormon Trail.
• Placer County emigrant road over Sierra Nevada mountains through Squaw Valley opened to overland travelers on the Truckee River section of the California Trail.
• First survey of California-Nevada boundary begun by Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves of California.
• Noble's Pass Route (Shasta emigrant road) over Sierra Nevada mountains opened to overland emigrants, connecting the Humboldt River section of the California Trail with the mining camps and settlements of northern California.
• H. H. Jameson established a trading station for overland emigrants in Truckee Meadows (Washoe).
• Alantheus Clark became the first settler in Washoe Valley (Washoe).
• First commercial sheep drive through Nevada; led by 'Uncle' Dick Wootton, 9,000 head, from Taos, New Mexico, to Sacramento, California.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 50,000.

1853 -

• First claims staked by Grosch brothers (Allan & Hosea) in the Comstock area. More prospectors in that area.
• Carson Valley settlers petitioned California for annexation.
• Henry Van Sickle opened a blacksmith shop.
• Land claims filed by J.H. Scott, Chas. Ferguson, J.H. Haynes & David Barry, Thos. & Elzy Knott, Chas. Daggett, L.M. Young, Jas. Greene, L. Olds, John Olds. Also, R.T. Hawkins of Jacks Valley. Sale of farm by Cary & Knott to W.J .Thorington for $600.
• December 31 - Nevada's first dance held at Spafford Hall's Station near Gold Canyon on New Year's Eve for miners, settlers and Washo Indians - who drove off horses.
• First wedding & birth of first child born in area recorded at station. McMarlin's Sta.1854.
• Fall - U. S. Post Office awarded a contract to George Chorpenning and Ben Holladay to carry monthly transcontinental overland mail with a wagon and four mule team between Sacramento and Salt Lake City, by way of Mormon Station.
• Benjamin Palmer arrived at Carson Valley and took up a ranch near Sheridan (Douglas); first black settler in Nevada. Palmer ranched, farmed, and prospered for over 40 years until his death.
• First bridge built over Carson River constructed on the California Trail at Carson Canyon by John Reese and Israel Mott.
• Johnson's Cut-off section of California Trail between Placerville and Carson Valley opened over Echo Summit; shortened Carson River section of California Trail to Placerville, California.
• Gold discovered by businessman Francis Xavier Aubrey's volunteer transcontinental railroad survey party in southern Nevada (Clark).
• Volcano Route of California Trail by way of Carson River opened to overland emigrants, linking the mining camps of Calaveras County, California, with the transcontinental route.
• Yreka Route of California Trail opened to overland emigrants, allowing travel to the northernmost parts of California.
• First post-office in Nevada established at Mormon Station in Carson Valley (Douglas).
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 20,000.

1854 -

• The formation of Carson County, Utah Territory, by the Utah legislature, with Judge Orson Hyde named probate judge for the county. It included all the settlements in the western area. The inhabitants tried to rid themselves of all connection with the people of the Salt Lake region. They petitioned Congress to annex them to California.
• Mormon Station settlers began squabbling over water rights.
• Thomas Knott began building a sawmill for John Cary, the 1st in Western Utah. Lumber sold for $100 per 1,000 feet.
• Rufus Adams bought farm; H. and Van Sickle opened way station.
• The town of Sheridan grew up.
• By July first 213 emigrant wagons went through Mormon Station.
• July - William H. 'Uncle Billy' Rogers started weekly pack and passenger mule train between Placerville and Carson Valley; passenger's fare was $12.
• July - Actress Lola Montez and party left Grass Valley, California, for an excursion to Truckee Meadows (Washoe) - Nevada's first tourists.
• October - Doctor Charles Daggett was empowered by settlers to present petition of Carson Valley residents to California Legislature, requesting that California annex  western Utah, including Carson Valley.
• Winter - First school in Nevada; children taught by Mrs. Allen at Israel Mott's house in Carson Valley (Douglas).
• John Reese and four soldiers discovered a new and shorter route across Nevada between Salt Lake City and Carson Valley, which bypassed the Humboldt River.
• Asa L. Kenyon started a permanent trading post at Ragtown, near present-day Fallon (Churchill), on Carson River section of California Trail; land claim filed January 12, 1855.
• Peter Haws operated a trading post on California Trail at confluence of Humboldt River and South Fork (Elko).
• Alpheus Haws became the first settler in Clover Valley (Elko); he kept a trading post there.
• Ira M. Luther made first wagon crossing of Luther's Pass over Sierra Nevada mountains, shortening the road to Placerville on the Carson River section of the California Trail.
• Thomas Knott built a grist and saw-mill at Mormon Station for John and Enoch Reese' - first manufacturing enterprise in Nevada (Douglas).
• Settlers began to move in and occupy land on the lower Carson River (Lyon, Churchill).
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 12,000.

1855 -

• Weddings in Genoa performed by Judge Hyde: Squire Mott & Mary V. Wheeler; H. van Sickle & Mary Gibson; Stephen Kinsey & Sarah Jane Thompson.
• Settlement by Mormons on the site of Las Vegas as farming mission to Native Americans under Win. Bringhurst.
• Importation by J. Reese, of 200 Chinese laborers who settled near Gold Canyon (present site of Dayton).
• Utah Superintendency established a number of farms or small reserves for the Shoshone Indians.
• Van Sickle's way station opened.
• June 15 - Carson County Probate Judge Orson Hyde, U. S. Judge George Stiles, U. S. Marshal Joseph Heywood, and 35 men arrived at Mormon Station (renamed Genoa in 1856) to set up Carson County government for western Utah; settler's government of 1851 ceased activity with last recorded land claim August 30, 1855.
• August 7 - Treaty of Friendship between U. S. and Western Shoshone Indians signed at Haws' Ranch (EIko) on Humboldt River by Indian Agent Garland Hurt and ten principal men of the Western Shoshone tribes. The treaty was not ratified by Congress.
• Treaty of Friendship between settlers of Carson Valley and the Northern Paiute tribe of Indians, represented by Chief Winnemucca. The terms of the treaty provided that Paiute tribal justice would punish Paiute Indians accused of killing or robbing whites, where the criminals could be identified, and likewise whites who killed or stole from Paiutes would be punished by the settler's government. The treaty expressly disapproved of indiscriminate revenge or reprisal; it was not ratified by Congress, but settled relations between the whites and Northern Paiutes until the Pyramid Lake War of 1860.
• Canavan & Stewart built Nevada's first irrigation ditch and dam for Moses Job at Brockliss Slough on the Carson River (Douglas). This was the beginning of large scale irrigation in Nevada, first developed by individual ranchers in Carson Valley. Settlers in Las Vegas (Clark) also began irrigating at about the same time.
• Trail over Daggett Pass between Lake Tahoe and Carson Valley was in use; it was built and maintained as a toll road by Doctor Charles D. Daggett of Carson Valley (Douglas).
• S. H. Marlette, John Day, and George Goddard surveyed Trans-Sierran wagon road routes and the eastern boundary of California; Utah Territory.
• Carson County Judge Orson Hyde, conducted a separate survey of the present California-Nevada border.
• Nicholas 'Dutch Nick' Ambrosia started a trading post on Carson River route of the California Trail which later became town of Empire (Carson City).
• Samuel Blackford started a trading station at Humboldt Sink (Pershing) for emigrants on the California Trail.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 1,500.

1856 -

• Establishment of Franktown & Washoe City in Washoe Valley.
• Mormon families moved to Bringhurst with completion of fort.
• Nathaniel V. Jones sent to Southern Nevada to mine lead near Bringhurst with Mormon Farmers as laborers. Quarrels & difficulties led to Nevada's first ghost town, Potosi.
• January - John A. "Snowshoe" Thompson began carrying mail between Genoa and Placerville on skis (2 days to Genoa, 3 return).
• Grosh Bros. found silver in Gold Canyon, but both died in tragic accidents in 1857 before mining the silver.
• Judge Hyde recalled to Salt Lake City.
• Big Tree Road completed between Stockton, California, and Carson Valley by way of Sonora; improved Carson River section of California Trail.
• Congress designated a National Wagon Road between Fort Kearney, Nebraska, and Honey Lake, California, by way of South Pass, Wyoming, in response to petition of 75,000 residents of California. The route followed the California Trail along the Humboldt River, and then cut west across the Black Rock and Smoke Creek Deserts to Honey Lake.
• Chinese brought by Mormon traders to build canal which diverted water from Carson River to Gold Canyon for placer mining; settled at Chinatown, later called Dayton (Lyon).
• First white child born in Las Vegas Valley; to Ellen Fuller, a daughter.
• Post office established at Bringhurst (now Las Vegas) (Clark).
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 8,000.

1857 -

• January 14 - Utah Territorial Legislature attached Carson County to Great Salt Lake County for election, revenue, and judicial purposes; court records taken to Salt Lake City. This effectively ended the attempt to establish Carson County and left western Nevada without a government. Carson County was reorganized in 1858-9.
• Feb. 3 - Potosi became Nevada's first ghost town.
• May-June - First stagecoach crossings of Sierra Nevada mountains; first between Oroville and Honey Lake (May); then Placerville and Genoa (June); and Murphy's and Genoa (June); regular stagecoach service soon followed.
• Mid-year - Brigham Young removed as Utah Territory Governor.
• July - Thompson took 1st silver sample to Placerville to assay.
• July-October - John Kirk's U. S. wagon road expedition for the Department of the Interior improved route along Fort Kearney - South Pass - Honey Lake section of the National Wagon Road.
• Aug - Election - only one non-Mormon elected.
• Recall of the 500 or so Mormons in Carson & Eagle Valleys by Brigham Young to defend Salt Lake from federal troops. About 450 in area answered the July 16th summons.
• Arrival in Genoa of Hank Monk to drive the Overland Stage between Genoa and Hangtown (Placerville). Major William Ormsby was the local agent.
• Elzy Knott, non-Mormon, killed by Mormon boy over saddle.
• Petition for territorial status claimed 7/8,000 settlers and 100/125,000 Indians (later revised downward to 25,000).
• No effective government, in control of the area. 
• Attempted organization of Sierra Nevada Territory by settlers along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains; primary organizational meeting held at Genoa August 3; mass meeting August 8 produced resolutions and memorial to Congress carried by delegate James M. Crane. Congress did not recognize this 'Territory'; a second territorial movement started in 1859.
• September-October - War scares between Washo Indians and settlers at Genoa and Honey Lake
• Hosea and Allen Grosh discovered rich silver deposits near Mount Davidson and Gold Canyon (Storey, Lyon); both died before their discovery could be developed.
• 1857-58 (November-May) - Expedition led by Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives explored the Colorado River aboard the steamboat 'Explorer'; reached Black Canyon, later site of Boulder Dam, demonstrating practicality of steamboat navigation on the river; survey done by expedition fixed later southern boundary of Nevada.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 4,000.

1858 -

• The first newspaper appeared in Nevada, the Territorial Enterprise. It was published at Genoa after press parts were packed over the Sierra by "Snowshoe" Thompson. The paper moved to Carson City in 1859 and then Virginia. City in 1860.
• Abandonment of Las Vegas mission of Bringhurst.
• "Execution" by hanging of "Lucky Bill" Thorrington.
• Virginia Mining District filing by James "Old Virginney" Fennimore a few months prior Ophir claim & boom.
• Carson City estate by Abraham Curry & Major W. M. Ormsby.
• January 1: The Columbia Mining District, first quartz mining district in Great Basin, was formed around Gold Canyon (Lyon) by miners in nearby hills and gulches; included provision for a miners' government to keep order in the district.
• Spring: Mormon exploring expeditions of William H. Dame westward from Parowan, Utah, and George Washington Bean westward from Fillmore and Beaver City, Utah. Dame's party explored the Virgin River Valley and Meadow Valley (Lincoln, Clark), while Bean's group scouted through the White River and Muddy River Valleys (Clark). Both expeditions were searching for areas where the LDS Church could establish farming settlements during the 'Utah War' panic of 1857-8.
• Transcontinental weekly overland mail by stagecoach started between Placerville and Salt Lake City by way of Genoa; first stagecoach left Placerville for the east June 5; service was discontinued after completion of transcontinental overland railroad in 1869.
• July: Construction started on Placerville & Humboldt Telegraph Company Line; completed between Placerville and Genoa 1858; extended to Carson City 1859; to Virginia City 1860; part of first transcontinental telegraph system. The California Legislature passed laws offering financial incentives 1859; Congress passed Pacific Telegraph Act June 16, 1860; first transcontinental system completed in 1861; followed Simpson or Central Overland route. This line was abandoned in 1888.
• Carson County reorganized and established by Utah Territory officials, despite opposition from local settlers. John S. Child appointed Probate Judge by Utah Territorial Governor Alfred Cumming in September; county elections held October 30; mass meeting by 'vigilance' or 'peoples' party' faction opposing election results held December 11; mass meeting in favor of reorganization under Utah Territory held December 23; Utah Territorial Legislature reorganized Carson County on January 13, 1859; U. S. Judge John Cradlebaugh assigned as District Judge January 21; Probate Court convened at Genoa (Douglas) September 12, 1859; elections held October 8, 1859 and August 6, 1860. County seat moved from Genoa to Carson City January 18, 1861. Carson County government ended when Congress established Nevada Territory on March 2, 1861.
• Abram Curry laid out site of Carson City, formerly Eagle Ranch (Carson).
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 6,000.

1859 -

• Jan 1:, gold found at Gold Canyon.
• Fuller's Hotel & Toll Bridge on Truckee River opened. It later was sold to Myron Lake who got the railroad routed there.
• Aug 30, 1st shipment from Ophir to San Francisco, $3,000 per ton.
• Pyramid & Walker Lake reserves set aside for Northern Paiutes. Shoshones got Ruby Valley and 2 Deep Creek reserves.
• Arrival on Comstock of John Mackay.
• Eilley Orrum Cowan & Lemuel Sanford (Sandy) Bowers wed. "Territorial Enterprise" moved to Carson City.
• Cattle, sheep & Basque sheep men arrived.
• May 8: Miners' convention at Camp Farwell on Walker River; mining district government formed.
• May-June: Captain J. H. Simpson surveyed Central Overland or Simpson (Camp Floyd 'Genoa') Wagon Road Route for the U. S. Army, which shortened California Trail by almost 300 miles; route included much of present U. S. Highway 50.
• June 11: Miners of Gold Hill (Storey) adopted 'Rules and Regulations' for mining in the region this document excluded Chinese from holding claims.
• June 12 or 13: Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin discovered rich gold and silver ore the Comstock Lode on slopes of Mount Davidson; camp of miners who quickly gathered there was named Virginia City by 'Old Virginny' Fennimore (Storey). Lode was named after prospector H. I. P. Comstock, one of the original claimants.
• July: 'Rush to Washoe' (Virginia City, Gold Hill, and other Nevada mining towns) began when California newspapers reported results of assay of Comstock Lode ore which paid $1,595 in gold and $3,196 in silver per ton.
• Provisional Territorial Government of Nevada organized by settlers after failure of Sierra Nevada territorial movement in 1858.
• July 14:  Election of delegates to Territorial Convention, which met at Genoa July 18-28, produced Declaration of Independence from Utah Territory and framed Territorial Constitution, ratified by popular vote in September 7 elections, which made Isaac Roop Governor and James M. Crane delegate to Congress. Crane died September 27 and John J. Musser was elected to replace him November 12. Territorial Legislature met December 15 at Genoa, but adjourned the same day. This Nevada Territory was not recognized by Congress or Utah Territory, and attempts to create breakaway government failed.
• August: Tim Smith became first permanent settler in Smith Valley, his ranch was on the west Walker River (Lyon).
• September: Construction started on Devil's Gate Toll Road between Dayton and Gold Hill (Lyon and Storey).
• Fall: Samuel S. Buckland started stagecoach and trading station on Carson River route of California Trail, near later site of Fort Churchill; toll bridge constructed winter 1859-60 was first bridge over Carson River below Carson Valley (Lyon).
• December 8: Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake Reservations set aside by U. S. Government for Northern Paiute Indians; reservations formally established by executive order of President U. S. Grant on March 23, 1874.
• Winter: Construction began on Kingsbury Grade (also called Van Sickle Grade, for the man who financed it) toll road between Carson Valley and Lake Tahoe over Daggett Pass (Douglas). Completed August, 1860, it shortened the old California Trail route between Placerville and Genoa and thus made rates for hauling freight to the Comstock mines less expensive.
• Silver City (Lyon) founded.
• William 'Uncle Billy' Rogers, Indian sub-agent, settled in Ruby Valley (Elko).  He was the first rancher there and established a farm for the Shoshone Indians.
• Rancher N. H. A. 'Hock' Mason became the first permanent settler in Mason Valley on Walker River (Lyon).
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 17,000.

1860   

1860 -

• Lapham's Hotel was open summers at Lake Tahoe.
• Establishment of Fort Churchill to preserve peace.
• Arrival on Comstock of William Morris Stewart, attorney, & "Territorial Enterprise."
• Men from every state and 39 countries on the Comstock but few original claim locators left.
• Stock Exchange reportedly at Washoe City.
• Mining boom at Aurora.
• Mills being built to refine ore - Washoe City had the first.
• Pony Express. Transcontinental overland express mail services started by the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell under contract with U. S.; first rider left Sacramento for Genoa, Carson City, and points east April 4; first rider arrived at Sacramento from Salt Lake City April 13. Pony Express terminated October 1861, after completion of transcontinental telegraph line. Letters cost $5 an ounce to send, and took 17-18 days to travel nearly 2,000 miles between San Francisco, California, and St. Joseph, Missouri.
• Pyramid Lake Paiute War. Started when Indians killed several whites at Williams Station (Lyon) on big bend of Carson River May 7-8; punitive force of whites led by Major William M. Ormsby and others were defeated by Northern Paiute Indians under Numaga ('Young Winnemucca') at first Battle of Pyramid Lake (Washoe) May 12; Ormsby and many others were killed. Second Battle of Pyramid Lake June 2 resulted in defeat of Indians by California militia and U. S. Army troops; Fort Churchill (Lyon) established on Carson River near Bucklands Station to protect travelers on the overland routes and to watch the Northern Paiutes; abandoned March 1870.
• Summer: First ore smelter in Nevada built by R. S. Hatch at Galena (Washoe) to process the ores of the Comstock Lode; first crushing or stamp mills were built in 1859 near Dayton (Lyon).
• August: Kingsbury or Van Sickle Grade Toll Road opened between Carson Valley and Placerville by way of Daggett Pass (Douglas) and Lake Tahoe; construction began in winter 1859.
• August 25: E. R. Hicks, James M. Brawley, and J. M. Corey discovered gold at Aurora (Mineral); town founded shortly thereafter when rush began.
• August-September: U. S. Decennial Census of Western Utah the first in Nevada' population 6,857.
• Winter: Aurora-Carson Valley Toll Road built by Clayton, Pugh, Dickson, and Company; connected the gold mines at Aurora with the Carson River section of the California Trail.
• December: Philip Deidesheimer invented square-set method of timbering mines at Virginia City (Storey); generally adopted by 1861, this method allowed underground mining on a scale much greater than ever known before.
• December: Potosi lead mines (Clark), abandoned 1858 by Mormons, re-opened by Californians.
• Wells, Fargo Express and Banking Company opened an office in Virginia City (Storey); Nevada's first bank.
• Como (Lyon) founded.
• First courthouse in Nevada was built of wood at Genoa, county seat of Carson County, Utah Territory (Douglas).
• Nevada's first daily newspaper, the Silver Age, published at Carson City.
• Ophir Grade Toll Road built between Virginia City and Washoe Lake to connect the mines of the Comstock Lode with the reduction mills of Washoe Valley; opened to the public 1874.
• F. W. Lander led expedition for U. S. Department of the Interior to improve Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake National Wagon Road between Humboldt River and Honey Lake, California.
• Total overland emigration to California numbered 9,000.

1861 -

• March 22: Utah Territory was divided, and the western portion was called Nevada. James W. Nye was appointed territorial governor. He served in this office until November 25.
• May: Chinatown renamed Dayton after surveyor.
• The following counties were established. Churchill, Douglas, Humboldt, Lyon, Ormsby, Storey, and Washoe. Churchill, with Fallon as its county seat, was named for Charles C. Churchill, a captain in the army. Douglas, with its seat at Minden, was named for Stephen Arnold Douglas, Representative and Senator from Illinois. Humboldt, with its seat at Winnemucca, was named for Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Humboldt, the German naturalist, explorer, and statesman. Lyon, with its seat at Yerington, was named for Nathaniel Lyon, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, who served in the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri on August 10, 1861. Ormsby, with its seat at Carson City, was named for William M. Ormsby, a major in the army who was killed in a battle with the Indians at Pyramid Lake in 1860. Storey, with its county seat at Virginia City, was named for Edward Fans Storey, a captain in the army who was killed in a battle with the Paiute Indians at Pyramid Lake in 1860. Washoe, with its seat at Reno, was named for the Washoe Indian Tribe.
• Salt mined at Columbus & transported to mills by camels.
• Mining strikes at Potosi and Unionville.
• Birth of the logging industry at Lake Tahoe - Glenbrook mill.
• Completion of overland telegraph, connecting East and West.
• October 1: Opening of first Territorial Legislature which sent 1st transcontinental telegram, pledging loyalty to the Union.
• "Old Virginney" Fennimore died after fall from a horse.
• 1861-65 - Civil War - In 1862 1,000 men training at Camp Ruby.
• January 18: Carson County seat moved from Genoa to Carson City.
• Spring: First log drive in Nevada; J. C. Russell and others floated cut timber down the Carson River from Alpine County, California, to Empire (Carson City); from there the logs were hauled to market on the Comstock Lode and used for firewood or mining timbers.
• July: Special Nevada Territorial census, 16,374 inhabitants.
• October 24: Transcontinental overland telegraph completed when east-west connection made at Salt Lake; first message sent was from Judge S. J. Field of California to President Abraham Lincoln.
• November 6: Legislature passed an act allowing construction of a railroad across Nevada from west to east, to encourage the building of transcontinental railroad.
• November 22: Territorial Legislature passed a law prohibiting gambling.
• November 28: Legislature passed act relating to marriage and divorce, with three month residence requirement; amended 1875; amended 1913 with one year residence required; amended 1923 after November 7, 1922 election to require six months residence; amended 1927 to require three months residence; amended 1931 to allow six weeks residence. The short residency requirement made Nevada a 'divorce Mecca' during the first decades of the 20th century.
• December: Heavy flooding of the Humboldt, Carson, and Truckee Rivers until January 1862.
• Nevada Territory. March 2, Congress created Nevada out of what had been western Utah Territory; James W. Nye of New York commissioned Governor March 22; Nevada Territory organized by proclamation of Governor Nye and officials appointed July 11; judicial organization completed July 17; first territorial election held August 31; Territorial Legislature met at Carson City October 1 - November 29; Territory divided into nine counties (Churchill, Douglas, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lyon, Ormsby, Storey, Washoe, and Lake) and the capital established at Carson City by Territorial Legislature November 25. Territorial government ended when Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864.
• J. A. Callahan built the first irrigation system on the Humboldt River; his dam and ditches watered the Callahan Ranch at Lassen Meadows west of Jmlay (Humboldt).
• First application of the steam engine to mining in the State, in the hoisting works of the Ophir mine, Virginia City (Storey).
• Gold discovered in El Dorado Canyon, near the Colorado River in southern Nevada (Clark); much of original site now submerged under Lake Mohave.
• Rancher W. M. Kennedy became the first permanent settler in Mound Valley (Elko).
• Central Pacific Railroad Company; incorporated formally June 28, 1861; route surveyed in August; Pacific Railroad Bill passed by House of Representatives May 6, 1862; passed by Senate June 20, 1862; signed into law by President Lincoln July 1, 1862; first ground broken in Sacramento January 8, 1863; first rail laid October 26, 1863; tracks reached Auburn May 13, 1865; Dutch Flat July 4, 1866; summit of the Sierra November 1867; Reno-Truckee May 1, 1868; mountain gap closed June 15, 1868; Wadsworth July 22, 1868; 40-mile Desert to Brown's August 21, 1868; Winnemucca September 16, 1868; Carlin January 25, 1869; Elko February 8, 1869; joined with tracks of Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, May 10, 1869, completing the first transcontinental railroad system in the western hemisphere.
• Station-keepers Jack Wright and Len Hamilton built a toll bridge over the west Walker River; site later became Wellington (Lyon).
• Way stations started at sites which later became Glenbrook (Douglas), Lovelock (Pershing), and Winnemucca (Humboldt); Unionville (Pershing), Ophir City (Washoe), and Washoe City (Washoe) founded.
• William Cradlebaugh constructed toll bridge and road in Carson Valley to connect Carson Valley with the Aurora mines, now part of U. S. Highway 395 (Douglas).
• John F. Kidder made boundary survey of California-Nevada border north from Lake Tahoe
• Territorial census of Nevada conducted; population was 16,374.

1862 -

• December. The territorial legislature passed an act which provided for the framing of a constitution and the establishment of a state government which was submitted to the people and subsequently adopted at the polls.
• December 19. Lander County, with its seat at Austin, was created. It was named for Frederick William Lander, a railroad surveyor and eventually chief surveyor of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He was commissioned a brigadier general at the beginning of the Civil War. He supervised the construction of wagon roads across Nevada.
• Nevada gained a slice of land (old St. Mary's County) from Utah. California-Nevada border established by public survey.
• Founding of Austin, Star City & Mill City.
• Ranching operation begun with many; cattle, then sheep.
• January 14: Nevada territorial election; voters chose interim county officers until September general election.
• January: Severe winter storms in Sierra Nevada; floods of Carson and Truckee Rivers wrecked most bridges; Slide Mountain landslide in Washoe Valley April 10.
• May: William Talcott discovered rich silver ore in Pony Canyon, later site of Austin (Lander), starting a 'rush.'
• May 20: Congress passed Federal Homestead Act allowing persons who settled on 160 acres of surveyed public land to buy it if they built a house on the property and lived there.
• May 23: Meeting of Governor James W. Nye with the principal chiefs of the Northern Paiute Indians, including Winnemucca and Numaga, at the big bend of the Truckee River, near Wadsworth (Washoe). As a sign of peace and friendship the Indians and whites exchanged presents. This meeting allied many of the Paiute chiefs to a peace policy.
• July 1: President Lincoln signed Pacific Railroad Bill into law after Congress passed it; provided for federal aid to private companies to construct a transcontinental railroad.
• July 7: Congress approved Land Grant Act providing for sale of public lands to subsidize agricultural education; eventually led to establishment of state university systems, including the University of Nevada.
• July 14: Eastern boundary of Nevada extended to 115th meridian by Presidential Proclamation.
• September 1: U. S. Army established Fort Ruby (Elko) to maintain peace along the overland routes.
• September 3: Nevada territorial general election; voters chose members of Territorial Legislature and a delegate to Congress; also voted in favor of statehood.
• Hannah K. Clapp and Ellen Cutler established Sierra Seminary at Carson City, first private co-educational school in Nevada; the school was chartered by Territorial Legislature November 14, 1861.
• Geiger Grade Toll Road completed between Virginia City (Storey) and Truckee Meadows (Washoe), connecting the mines of the Comstock Lode with the Truckee River section of the California Trail.
• Lake Tahoe Toll Road constructed along southeast shore of Lake Tahoe (Douglas); surveyed by Butler Ives.
• Mill City (Pershing) founded.
• Stillwater (Churchill) founded as stage station for overland mail.
• Gold Hill and Virginia City (Storey) incorporated as municipalities by the Territorial Legislature.
• First resort in Nevada, Walley's Hot Springs, started by David Walley in Carson Valley (Douglas); buildings restored after 1978.
• Territorial Fair at Carson City made annual event of Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Society; later became Nevada State Fair.

1863 -

• Second Comstock Boom.
• Election for statehood with 6,600 for, and 1,562 against after passage of the Enabling Act to make Statehood possible.
• Birth of lone, Cortez, Bullionville, other mining camps & towns.
• Walker Lake had a ferry operating.
• January 29: Battle of Bear River in Cache Valley, Idaho, between Shoshone Indians and California volunteer militia under General Patrick E. Connor; Indian defeat broke Shoshone power in northern Nevada.
• February 15: California-Nevada boundary dispute led to gun battle at Susanville, Honey Lake Valley, between sheriff's posses from Plumas County, California, and Roop County, Nevada; truce negotiated February 16; in 1864 Nevada Territorial Legislature conceded Susanville was in California and California Legislature agreed that Aurora (Mineral) was in Nevada.
• March 22: Goshute War (Elko, White Pine). Goshute Indians, led by Chief White Horse, attacked Eight Mile Station and the overland mail stagecoach, starting the Goshute War with white settlers of eastern Nevada; fighting on Duck Creek between May 1-5, and battle at Spring Valley May 6 resulted in defeat of Goshutes by Captain S. P. Smith's command of California volunteer cavalry; Indians attacked Canon Station in early July; campaign by soldiers in Steptoe Valley in August; Goshutes asked for peace in October. Seven stagecoach stations were attacked and burned during the war.
• October 1: Treaty between Governor James W. Nye and 12 principal men of the Shoshone Indians at Ruby Valley (Elko); later ratified by Congress.
• October: Indian war scare at Como when Paiutes protested against woodcutters destroying the Indians' pine nut groves (Lyon).
• October-December: Carson Sink Indian war scare over the murder of Walker Lake Paiute Chief E-zed-wa October 25 near Fort Churchill (Lyon, Churchill).
• Genoa-Aurora Telegraph Line built; dismantled 1873; it linked the mines of Aurora with the main transcontinental telegraph system at Genoa.
• Theophilus Lay and other local businessmen built a toll bridge over the Humboldt River; a second toll bridge was built nearby in 1865 by Joseph Ginaca. Site later became Winnemucca (Humboldt).
• Gas plant completed at Virginia City (Storey) and gas street lights installed.
• H. Robinson and William Shay became the first ranchers in Smoky Valley (Nye, Lander).
• Cortez (Lander), Echo (Pershing), Grantsville (Nye), and Union (Nye) founded.
• Ranchers Peleg Brown and Ervin Crane of Washoe County introduced alfalfa to Nevada. Alfalfa soon supplanted the harvest of wild grasses and later became the most important crop for the state's livestock industry.
• King's Canyon-Lake Tahoe (Lake Bigler) Toll Road over Spooner Summit (Carson City) opened; connected the road to the Comstock Lode mines with the timber and sawmills of Lake Tahoe.
• J. F. Houghton surveyed California-Nevada boundary line from Lake Tahoe to a point east of Mono Lake.
• Sawdust pollution of Steamboat Creek (Washoe) by sawmills led to first environmental lawsuits in Nevada, Atchison v. Wilson, Atchison v. Persons and Atchison v. Chapin.
• Miners' Union, first labor union in Nevada, formed at Virginia City (Storey).
• Failed attempt at statehood. Territorial elections September 2 picked delegates for Constitutional Convention held at Carson City November 2-December 11; proposed state constitution drafted but rejected by voters in election January 19, 1864.
• 1863-64: First settlers took up ranch land in Paradise Valley (Humboldt).

1864 -

• January 19. The citizens of the state defeated the constitution which had been drafted by the constitutional convention. It contained an unpopular clause which taxed all mining property, both unproductive and productive.
• February 16. Nye County, with its seat at Tonopah, was created. It was named for James Warren Nye, governor of Washoe or Nevada Territory and Senator from Nevada.
• March 21. Congress passed an act which enabled the people of Nevada Territory to form a state government.
• October 31. Nevada was admitted to the Union as the 36th state. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring this fact.
• H. G. Blaisdel, Unionist Republican, became governor of the state. He served in the office until 1870.
• Silver camps of Candelaria, Grantsville & Berlin booming.
• River traffic on the Colorado River and steamers on lakes.
• Construction of Bowers Mansion by the Comstock's 1st millionaires, Sandy & Eilley Orrum Bowers, in Washoe Valley.
• Bank of California and William Sharon on the Comstock.
• State Constitution ratified with 10,375 votes out of 11,659. Nevada admitted to the Union
• Washoe Process for refining silver developed.
• Nevada mining frontier's greatest era of prosperity & productivity.
• June 15: Dutch Flat Wagon Road over the Sierra Nevada mountains by way of Dutch Flat and Donner Lake opened; it improved Truckee River section of California Trail, and the route was later used by Central Pacific Railroad.
• September: Silver discovered at site which later (1869) became Eureka).
• October: Camp Nye established near Carson City for the Nevada Volunteer Cavalry, to keep peace along the overland routes.
• December 15: Legislature elected William M. Stewart (Republican) to serve as U. S. Senator; re-elected 1869, 1887, 1893, 1899.
• December 16: Legislature elected James W. Nye (Republican) to serve as U. S. Senator; re-elected 1867.
• June 6:  Election for delegates to second Constitutional Convention. Constitutional Convention held at Carson City July 4-27.
• Bank of California founded by W. C. Ralston and D. 0. Mills at San Francisco. Through William Sharon, Bank of California representative at Virginia City, the Bank formed the Union Mill and Mining Company which soon gained control of the mines of the Comstock Lode.
• American City (Storey) founded.
• With the assistance of an Indian guide, William Hamblin discovered rich silver ore in eastern Nevada; site later became Pioche (Lincoln).
• Mormon mission settled Muddy River Valley; Panaca (Lincoln) founded first town in southern Nevada; St. Thomas, the 'Cotton Mission,' founded by Thomas B. Smith to provide cotton to other Mormon towns; Muddy River missions abandoned by Mormons 1871.
• CallviIle (Clark) founded by Anson Call as Mormon trading outpost; later abandoned when steamboat navigation proved too difficult; site and buildings covered by Lake Mead following completion of Boulder Dam in 1935.
• First settlers took up ranch land in Lamoille Valley (Elko).
• Ebbett's Pass road between Angel's Camp, Murphy's, and Woodfords completed; had been improved trail since 1850.
• Legislature created Nye County, with county seat at Tone City, later moved to Tonopah.
• Churchill County, attached to Lyon County for county judicial and revenue purposes since 1861, was reorganized by the Legislature as an independent county, with the county seat at Bucklands, later moved to Stillwater and then to Fallon.
• Construction began on East Walker Toll Road connecting the road to Carson City with the mines at Bridgeport near Mono Lake, California; completed 1865.
• H. C. Blasdel (Republican) elected Governor, re-elected 1866.
• Austin (Lander) incorporated as a municipality by the Territorial Legislature.
• Nevada State Prison established at Carson City.

1865 -

• February 16. The state legislature ratified the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• U. S. Population at 35 million.
• Stock Market Crash & Comstock Panic.
• Birth of Belmont, Columbus and Hamilton.
• Arrival on the Comstock of James "Slippery Jimmy" Fair.
• February 7: Nevada legislature adopted eastern boundary of California as official border, ending long-running dispute.
• March-July: Paradise Valley Indian War (Humboldt). Fighting began with attacks along National Wagon Road; Captain A. B. Wells attacked and destroyed Paiute camp near Mud (Winnemucca) Lake March 14; raids began in Paradise Valley on white settlers by Paiute, Bannock, and Shoshone Indians led by 'Black Rock Tom' April 5; battle with Nevada volunteer troops April 6; battle with settlers near Kane Springs April 15; settlers formed paramilitary colonies in May; battle with Nevada volunteers July 26; fighting continued with Quinn River Indian War; 'Black Rock Tom' surrendered himself and was shot August 11 in Spring Canyon, near Unionville (Pershing).
• August-December: Quinn River Indian War (Humboldt), Colonel Charles McDermit ambushed and killed at Quinn River by Indians August 7; soldiers killed 35 Indians in battle September 12; 120 Indians of Black Rock Tom's Band killed November 17 by soldiers and Paiute Indians of Captain Soo's Band; army established Fort McDermitt on Quinn River, became Indian reservation 1889.
• Owen Farrell and Alonzo Monroe, aided by an Indian guide, discovered rich gold and silver ore at Ruby Hill (Eureka).
• Legislature established State Library; State Printer; State Geologist; and State Board of Military Auditors.
• Carson City Mint authorized by act of Congress; construction started 1866; completed 1869. Mint opened January 6, 1870; ordered closed 1893; operations suspended 1895; mint machinery dismantled 1899. Building now houses Nevada State Museum; was recognized as national historic site in 1975.
• Auburn (Washoe), Belmont (Nye), Columbus (Esmeralda), Hiko (Lincoln), and Silver Peak (Esmeralda) founded.
• James Lawson surveyed the California-Nevada boundary.

1866 -

• January:  Indians massacred company of Chinese travelers along Idaho Road in the Quinn River Valley - 95 Chinese killed, five escaped (Humboldt).
• February 26. Lincoln County, with its seat at Pioche, was created. It was named for Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States.
• Transatlantic Cable completed.
• Third Comstock Boom.
• Mining Law of 1866 legalized mining registrations & allowed filing of mining claims on public lands.
• Another slice of Utah (Pahranagat Mines) given Nevada to keep mine profits out of Mormon hands.
• January 12:  Soldiers of Captain C. D. Conrad's command killed 40 Indians in battle at Fish Creek (Humboldt).
• January 30: First black school in Nevada established in Virginia City (Storey); closed due to lack of public support.
• December 12: U. S. Army established Camp Winfield Scott in Paradise Valley (Humboldt); abandoned February 1871.
• Legislature created Lincoln County, county seat at Crystal Springs; moved to Hiko in 1868; moved to Pioche in 1871.
• Legislature approved state seal and motto 'All For Our Country.'
• Nevada's eastern boundary extended by Congress to 114th meridian; portions of Arizona Territory and Utah Territory annexed to Nevada.
• Congress passed Water Act of 1866, confirming state water rights laws and granting rights-of-way over public land to ditch and canal owners.
• Second transcontinental overland telegraph completed by Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Company; the line crossed Nevada along the route of the old California Trail, via Carson and Humboldt Rivers.
• Cargo barges first landed at Callville (Clark), the head of navigation on the Colorado River; steamboat transportation on the Colorado River opened up Arizona and southern Nevada to overseas commerce from Port Isabel, California, before railroads reached Arizona in the 1880's.
• J. W. Haines of Carson Valley (Douglas) invented the 'V' flume; subsequently hundreds of miles of flumes were erected to transport lumber from the logging camps of the Sierra Nevada to the towns and mines of the Comstock region.
• Idaho Road (roughly along route of U. S. Highway 95) built between Winnemucca (Humboldt) and Boise, Idaho, as stage and freighting route to the northern mines.
• Rancher W. C. Seamonds became the first permanent settler in Halleck Valley (Elko).
• Ranchers E. Orser and James and Samuel Gilson became the first settlers in Newark Valley (White Pine).
• Ranchers Jacob and Samuel Stainenger became the first permanent settlers in Monitor Valley (Nye).

1867 -

• January 18: Nevada Legislature accepted a congressional cession of land from Arizona Territory of about 18,000 square miles near the Colorado River.
• January 22. The state legislature ratified the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• White Pine Rush.
• Southern tip of Nevada added from Territory of Arizona. Industrial Revolution in U. S.
• 4,000 Chinese laying track over Donner Summit - 18 tunnels. First V-flume used in Nevada, located near Carson City.
• 1867-75: Bank of Calif. under Win. Sharron in control of Comstock.
• 1867-73: White Pine Co. strikes - Eberhardt Treasure City, Ward, Gold Creek, Shermantown, Cherry Creek, Mineral City & Osceola.
• June: Union Mill and Mining Company incorporated by W. C. Ralston, D. 0. Mills, and William Sharon of the Bank of California. The Union Mill and Mining Company consolidated some 17 mills mortgaged to the Bank of California; through control of prices charged to process ore, the Union Mill and Mining Company was able to acquire most of the richest mines of the Comstock Lode (Storey).
• July: Aided by an Indian guide, A. J. Leathers discovered rich silver deposits at Treasure Hill, starting a two year 'rush' to White Pine County.
• July 26: U. S. Army established Fort Halleck (Elko) near Humboldt River; abandoned December 1886; and Camp McCarry (Humboldt) at Summit Lake, converted to Indian reservation 1871.
• December: First railroad locomotive entered Nevada at Crystal Peak (now vicinity of Verdi, Washoe County).
• Treasure City (White Pine) and Tuscarora (Elko) founded.
• Octavius Gass acquired the Mormon Fort at Las Vegas Springs (Clark) for use as a supply station for travelers on the Los Angeles to Salt Lake road.
• First permanent settlers took up land for ranching in Railroad Valley (Nye); Starr Valley (Elko); South Fork Valley (Elko).
• Catholic Church started Nevada Orphans' Asylum at Virginia City (Storey).
• Nevada exhibits shown at World's Fair, Paris.
• 1867-68  Clarence King led U. S. Geological Exploration of the 40th parallel, involving extensive survey work in Nevada.

1868 -

• December-January: Severe flooding of Carson River and Humboldt River at Winnemucca (Humboldt), earthen dam at Humboldt Lake washed away.
• Arrival of the Central Pacific Railroad in Nevada, creating Verdi, Reno, Wadsworth
• Lovelock, Battle Mountain, Elko & Wells. Reno by railroad auction 1,500 people, spec. train.
• July: first aviation event in Nevada'Tony Ward's balloon ascent from Magnolia House, Carson City.
• Beowawe (Eureka), Carlin (Elko), Reno (Washoe), and Wadsworth (Washoe) founded on line of Central Pacific Railroad; tracks built across Nevada along Donner, Truckee, and Humboldt River routes of California Trail.
• Hamilton (White Pine), Pioche (Lincoln), and Shermantown (White Pine) founded.
• First settlers arrived to ranch in Steptoe Valley (White Pine).
• Elko-Hamilton Road opened (Elko, White Pine) by George Shepherd and Frank Denver; also known as Elko-White Pine Toll Road, it connected the newly discovered mines at Treasure City, Hamilton, and Shermantown with the transcontinental railroad line.
• U. S. Senate approved Burlingame Treaty giving Chinese citizens residing in the U. S. the same privileges as other alien residents right to unrestricted travel and to reside in the U. S. free of local restrictions. Anti-Chinese labor disorders among woodcutters near Carson City.
• 1868-69 Construction of Idaho Central Wagon Road between Carlin (Elko) on the trans-continental railroad line and the mines at Silver City, Idaho.

1869 -

• January: Labor riot at Unionville (Pershing); Chinese residents expelled by mob.
• March 1: The state legislature ratified the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• March 2: White Pine County, with Ely as its seat, was created. It became effective April 1, 1869.
• March 5: Elko County, with Elko as its seat, was established. It was named for the Indian word for "first white woman."
• Mining booms at Bull Run (Cope), Ruby Hills (founding of Eureka) and Pioche, soon to be famed for its lawlessness.
• Meeting of Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads W. of Ogden, UT, to connect Pacific Ocean & Eastern U. S. by rail.
• Disastrous Yellow Jacket Mine fire on the Comstock.
• Virginia &Truckee Railroad made its first run in November.
• Construction begun on Sutro Tunnel under the Comstock as the first big bonanza was exhausted.
• 14th Amendment gave citizenship to all native born or naturalized residents.
• September 29: Anti-Chinese labor riot on line of Virginia & Truckee Railroad; white workmen started the riot to protest V&TRR's hiring of 'cheap' Chinese laborers.
• October: Hill Beachey completed construction of Elko and Idaho Toll Road between Elko and the mines of Mountain City (Elko); road reached the mines at Silver City, Idaho, in 1870. One half the construction cost was donated by merchants of Elko.
• October: Adolph Sutro, with money borrowed from European backers, began construction on Sutro Tunnel from Carson River four miles underground to mines of Comstock Lode; designed to provide drainage and access for the mines, the tunnel was completed July, 1878. Sutro made a fortune and for 20 years was the most powerful landowner in San Francisco, where he was mayor 1894-1896.
• Velocipedes (bicycles) introduced to Nevada.
• Construction of Gilson or Hill Beachey Road between the transcontinental railroad line at Elko) and the mines around Hamilton (White Pine).
• Nevada Legislature passed bill to legalize gambling in the state over veto of Governor Henry Blasdel. The law required gaming establishments to have a license, paid with quarterly fees.
• Legislature established State Mineralogist.
• Legislature authorized State Capitol Building; construction started 1870, completed 1871 (Carson City).
• Third transcontinental overland telegraph system completed by Western Union Telegraph Company; the line followed the transcontinental railroad route.
• Virginia & Truckee Railroad built by Bank of California to link Comstock Lode mines with the transcontinental railroad; construction began February; tracks completed between Carson City and Virginia City November; line completed to Reno August 1872; extended to Minden 1906; abandoned between Carson City and Virginia City 1939; main line abandoned 1950.
• Eberhardt (White Pine), Eureka), Mound House (Lyon), Mountain City (Elko), and Pizen Switch (now Yerington, Lyon County) founded.
• Elko), Verdi (Washoe), and Wells (Elko) founded along line of Central Pacific Railroad; completion of transcontinental railroad May13 at Promontory Point, Utah.
• First settlers arrived in White Pine Valley (White Pine).

1870   

1870 - .

• Opening of U. S. Mint & the V&T Round House at Carson City.
• First train holdup in Nevada occurred near Verdi with $40,000 stolen from CPRR Co. Same train robbed as it neared Wells of $300 in registered mail receipts. 7 robbers at Verdi caught.
• 1870's - Sarah Winnemucca was lecturing in Calif. and writing. In 1883 "Life Among the Paiutes" and in 1885 her solution to the Indian Problem.
• April: Stage road to the mines of Mountain City from Dinner Station, via Independence Valley and the Columbia mines, opened (Elko). By 1875 this road was the main route from Elko to Tuscarora and Cornucopia's mines.
• Elko-Eureka Road opened, connecting the mines at Eureka with the transcontinental railroad.
• Toano-Boise Road built, linking the Boise, Idaho, mines with the transcontinental railroad at Toano (Elko).
• Elko-Boise Road opened, connecting the Boise mines with the transcontinental railroad at Elko (Elko).
• Battle Mountain (Lander), Bullionville (Lincoln), and Palisade (Eureka) founded.
• Start of Ghost Dances, inspired by Paiute prophet Wodziwob ('Fish Lake Joe') at Walker Lake Paiute Reservation; Washo tribe converted by Wodziwob's disciple Weneyuga 1871, movement later spread to California, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, and Washington; movement ended 1872. Wodziwob's disciple Tavivo was the father of Wovoka ('Jack Wilson'), who revived the Ghost Dance movement in 1889.
• Legislature established State Orphans' Home at Carson City.
• California Legislature granted Lake Tahoe dam rights to A. W. von Schmidt and Donner Boom & Logging Company; dam constructed at Tahoe City, California, controlled water level of Lake Tahoe and flow of the Truckee River.
• U. S. Decennial Census population of Nevada was 42,491.

1871 -

• L. R. Bradley, Democrat, became governor of the state. He served in the office until 1878.
• State Capitol completed and occupied by August
• Reno got the county seat from Washoe City.
• Tuscarora boom with 2 more in the 188O's and the last in 1903.
• Lewis R. 'Old Broadhorns' Bradley (Democrat) became Governor; re-elected 1874.
• Lieutenant George Wheeler's survey expedition in Nevada; in 1872 it became the U. S. Army's 'Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian,' later U. S. Geological Survey (1879).
• Congress made Camp McGarry an Indian reservation; land set aside for Summit Lake Paiute Reservation January 14, 1913 (Humboldt).
• First brand recorded in Nevada by E. Burner of Elko County.
• Washoe County seat moved from Washoe City to Reno.
• Ruby Hill (Eureka) founded.

1872 -

• Borax industry & Metallic City, Rhodes & Sodaville. Virginia & Truckee extended from Reno to meet tracks in Carson City.
• Winnemucca got county seat as Unionville mining camp dying.
• March 12: President U. S. Grant established Moapa Indian Reservation by executive order; cancelled and re-established in another spot by executive order February 12, 1874, original reservation included about 3,900 square miles; reduced by Congress 1875 to 1,000 acres; increased by executive orders in 1912; land allocated to Indians 1914.
• Eureka Mill Railroad constructed between Virginia & Truckee Railroad and quartz mills on Carson River; abandoned 1906.
• 1872-73:  A. W. von Schmidt survey of California-Nevada boundary.

1873 -

• March 1: Eureka County, with Eureka as its seat, was created. It became effective March 20, 1873.
• The Great Bonanza Mine was discovered, which helped to bring about a revival of industry and speculation in Nevada.
• Big Bonanza (4th & last boom) on the Comstock - 30,000 pop.
• Pioche & Bullionville Railroad transporting ore to mills.
• Comstock's second big fire, killing 6 men.
• March 4: Legislature elected John P. Jones (Republican) to serve as U. S. Senator; re-elected 1879, 1885, 1891 and 1897.
• May: Freight road established from Winnemucca to Austin (Humboldt, Lander), connecting the mines around Reese River with the transcontinental railroad at Winnemucca (Humboldt).
• June 11-August 1: Virginia City & Gold Hill Water Company built water system for the two Comstock towns; water conveyed through 21 miles of pipe and 45 miles of flumes from a dam and reservoir at Marlette Lake across Washoe Valley to the Comstock by way of Lakeview Ridge (Washoe, Storey). This system was considered a major engineering achievement at the time and in 1975 was designated a national landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
• October 27: Joseph F. Glidden of Illinois invented the first effective and economical barbed wire; invention had major effect on ranching and farming in Nevada. Legislature created Eureka County, county seat at Eureka.
• University of Nevada established by Legislature.
• Winnemucca-Boise road built, connecting the Idaho mines with the transcontinental railroad at Winnemucca (Humboldt).
• Legislature enacted cattle and sheep branding law for ranchers.
• Nevada Central Narrow Gauge (Pioche & Bullionville) Railroad built; abandoned about 1881.
• Wadsworth-Columbus road opened to wagon traffic; connected the mines of Esmeralda County with the transcontinental railroad at Wadsworth (Washoe).
• Discovery of 'the Big Bonanza' directly under the Consolidated Virginia Mine on the Comstock Lode at Virginia City (Storey); largest single silver and gold ore pocket ever discovered, it yielded more than $100 million over six years.
• "Crime of 1873''. Congress passed coinage act which discontinued minting of silver coins for domestic use and severely limited silver purchases by U. S. Government. When law took effect in 1875 price of silver fell heavily, affecting Nevada's mining industry.
• Humboldt County seat moved from Unionville to Winnemucca.
• Belleville (Mineral), Cornucopia (Elko), and Cherry Creek (White Pine) founded.
• Nevada State Agricultural Society chartered; became a state institution in 1885.

1874 -

• The University of Nevada was established at Elko.
• 3rd & 4th Comstock fires.
• Construction began on Eureka & Palisade Railroad designed to link rich mines at Eureka with the transcontinental railroad; completed 1875; abandoned 1938.
• Tybo (Nye) founded.
• Reno-Loyalton road opened. connecting the mining and agricultural communities of Sierra County, California, with the transcontinental railroad at Reno (Washoe).

1875 -

• Worst of six major fires on the Comstock.
• Panic of 1875.
• Big fire in Eureka.
• Eureka & Palisade Railroad completed.
• Wm. Sharron ousted Ralston from Bank of Ca. led to suicide.
• Establishment of Indian reservations by executive order.
• Lake Tahoe Railroad (Glenbrook) completed.
• March 4: Legislature elected William Sharon (Republican) to serve as U. S. Senator.
• April: Anti-Chinese labor riot at Cold Hill (Storey); Chinese workmen forced to leave their jobs by white laborers opposing employment of low-paid Chinese workers.
• August 26: Collapse of the Bank of California; financial panic in Nevada and California; mysterious death of Bank of California founder W. C. Ralston at San Francisco; many of the Bank's holdings were reorganized and taken over by William Sharon.
• September: Goshute Indian war scare in White Pine County.
• Anti-Chinese labor disorders at Carson City and along line of Virginia & Truckee Railroad.
• Logging at Lake Tahoe. Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company (later Lake Tahoe Narrow Gauge) Railroad built at Glenbrook; abandoned 1898. M. C. Gardner (Camp Richardson) Railroad built on south shore of Lake Tahoe; abandoned after 1885.
• Virginia City (Storey) nearly destroyed by fire.
• Elko-Tuscarora Road constructed (Elko); connecting the Tuscarora mines with the transcontinental railroad at Elko.

1876 -

• Top production year for the Comstock. $45,653,477.
• Wm. Sharon merged all Bk. of Ca. mines into Consol. Imperial.
• Invention of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.
• February: Labor strike on Virginia & Truckee Railroad over issue of Virginia & TruckeeRR using Chinese laborers; strike settled when low-paid Chinese employees were fired.
• May: White labor organizations attacked Chinese workmen cutting wood in Washoe County, protesting employment of Chinese laborers by logging companies.
• June: Large anti-Chinese riot in Carson City; leaders were arrested and convicted for their part in the disorder.
• October 12: Bishop Ozi William Whitaker of the Episcopal Church opened first private school for girls in Nevada, at Reno (Washoe); school closed 1894.
• Nevada products shown at U. S. Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
• Belmont-Eureka Telegraph Line built, connecting Belmont mines (Nye) with the transcontinental telegraph system at Eureka (Eureka).
• Gas street lamp system installed at Reno by private company (Washoe).
• Candelaria (Mineral), Pyramid City (Washoe), and Ward (White Pine) founded.

1877 -

• 1st important library opened by Virginia City Miners' Union.
• Dawes Allotment Act gave each Native American family 40 to 160 acres with balance of land surplus for whites.
• March: Congress passed Desert Land Act and Water Act of 1877, allowing sale of up to 640 acres of surveyed semi-arid public land to each settler who irrigated and improved the property.
• April 16: Executive order established U. S. Indian reservation at Duck Valley and Carlin Farms; Carlin Farms Reservation discontinued 1879.
• Legislature established Nevada Fish Commission.
• Wadsworth-Elko-Tuscarora Telegraph Line built, linking the mines of Tuscarora (Elko) with the transcontinental telegraph line at Elko.
• Electric telephones installed in mines at Virginia City after the invention was shown at 1876 U. S. Centennial Exhibition; first telephones in Nevada (Storey).
• Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company improvements, Marlette Lake Tunnel built, second set of pipes added to carry water to the Comstock Lode towns (Washoe, Storey)
• Bunkerville (Clark) founded under the principles of the 'United Order,' a Mormon cooperative concept of community life.
• Hannah K. Clapp and Annie Martin opened the first kindergarten in Nevada at Carson City, as a private institution; first public kindergarten in the state opened in 1895 at Reno (Washoe).

1878 -

• Invention of phonograph by Thomas A. Edison.
• Bland-Allison Act, boosting silver, enacted by U. S. Congress.
• Bannock Indian Wars.
• Eureka fire destroyed $1 million in property despite fire dept.
• February: Congress passed Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act over veto of President Rutherford B. Hayes, obligating U. S. Government to purchase fixed amounts of silver every year.
• March 1: Day school for Indians opened by Indian agent at Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation; enlarged to boarding school 1882.
• May 30: War began between whites and Bannock and Paiute Indians led by Bannock Chief Buffalo Horn; Indians were defeated after several pitched battles. Buffalo Horn was killed by U. S. Army troops commanded by General 0. 0. Howard. Nevada militia participated in the warfare which took place in the northern part of the state and southern Idaho.
• June 3: Congress passed the Timber and Stone Act allowing citizens to purchase up to 160 acres of public land unfit for cultivation, at $2.50/acre. This legislation effectively allowed a few companies to acquire much of Nevada's forest lands in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
• August 3: Reno's Chinatown burned; Workingmen's Association, a labor organization, ordered all Chinese out of town. Although a vigilance committee at Reno restored order, the Workingmen's Association prevented Chinese from rebuilding their homes and shops for over a month (Washoe).
• Grasshopper and cricket plague reported in Washoe, Humboldt, and Elko Counties, and in California and Utah; lasted until 1883, causing great damage to crops.
• Genoa-Bodie Telegraph Line built, connecting the mines of Bodie, California, with the transcontinental telegraph system at Genoa and Carson City.
• Soda pop (originally called 'soda gush') appeared in Nevada.
• George Wheeler's surveying expedition to Nevada; continued 1871 U. S. Army mapping survey of western states and territories. Wheeler's efforts ended in 1879 when Congress created U. S. Geological Service to take over his work.
• Nevada State Medical Association formed as a statewide organization of physicians at Carson City.
• Rich strike of ore started rush to Bodie, California; most supplies for Bodie, Bridgeport, and other camps around Mono Lake were brought in by railroads and wagons from Nevada towns.
• Bristol (Lincoln), Ely (White Pine); Lewis (Lander) founded; hotel started which became site of Gardnerville (Douglas).
• Construction began on Reno-Bridgeport toll road, designed to connect the mines around Mono Lake, California, with the transcontinental railroad at Reno (Washoe).
• John Wheeler and Oscar Ash built West Walker Toll Road from Antelope Valley to the mines around Bridgeport, California (Lyon, Douglas).
• Joseph Scott of Halleck (Elko) imported the first purebred Hereford cattle into
• Nevada.

1879 -

• J. H. Kinkead, Republican, who had been elected in 1878, became governor of the state and served in the gubernatorial office until 1882.
• Invention of electric light by Edison.
• An ostrich farm started by Theodore Glancy near Carson City.
• Bad fire in Reno destroyed elegant 3-story depot hotel.
• Bust period on Comstock, stocks fell 50 to 250% in price. Stk. Mkt. crash and beginning of decline of Comstock.
• Eureka's mines produced $10 million; brick courthouse built.
• February: Labor  disorders. Woodcutters in Washoe County demonstrated over employment of Chinese workmen by logging companies.
• April 8: Reno incorporated as a town (Washoe).
• August: Labor disorders at Eureka (Eureka); woodcutters' strike ended with pitched battle at Fish Creek ('Charcoal War') on August 18; 5 men were killed and 6 injured in a fight between a mob and a 9-man sheriff's posse.
• Construction began on Nevada Central Railroad between the mines at Austin and the transcontinental railroad at Battle Mountain (Lander); completed 1880, abandoned 1938.
• Eureka-Ruby Hill Telegraph Line built, linking the mines of Ruby Hill with the transcontinental telegraph system at Eureka (Eureka).
• Nevada Legislature passed bill prohibiting gambling licensees from allowing cheating in licensed games.
• Legislature passed acts prohibiting the State government from employing Chinese workers and prohibiting Chinese from owning property in Nevada.
• Spring City (Humboldt) founded.

1880   

 1880 -

• Sierra blocked for 14 days by snow with train passengers snow bound in Reno for 9 days.
• Nevada Central Railroad and Carson & Colorado RR going.
• Supreme Court judged Native Americans "non-persons".
• Old Chief Winnemucca died in Oct. Young 3rd wife stoned.
• Electoral Franchise - the right to vote for political candidates, extended to non-white males by popular vote.
• The waltz came to Nevada; dance was described by critics as 'like a Greco-Roman wrestling match.'
• Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company Railroad built at Incline, Lake Tahoe (Washoe); abandoned after 1894.
• Austin City Railway built between Austin and Clifton (Lander).
• Mormon colony started at Mesquite in the Virgin River Valley (Clark).
• Moapa Valley (Clark), St. Thomas (Clark), and Overton in the Muddy River Valley (Clark) re-settled.
• U. S. Decennial Census, population of Nevada was 62,266.

1881 -

• Big Bonanza exhausted; mines began closing down.
• Sutro Tunnel's north and south branches completed.
• 50 lead-silver mines producing in Eureka area. (pop. 5,000).
• Battle Mountain & Lewis Railroad running.
• Mormons resettling Muddy Valley in Southern Nevada.
• Establishment of 8-hour workday by Virginia City Miners' Union.
• February: Franktown (Washoe) destroyed by flood after dam broke on Franktown Creek.
• March 4: Legislature elected James C. Fair (Democrat) to serve as U. S. Senator.
• Reno-Alturas road opened, connecting the agricultural and pastoral communities of Modoc County, California, and southern Oregon with the transcontinental railroad at Reno (Washoe).
• State Insane Asylum and Board of Asylum Commissioners established by Legislature.
• Construction began on Nevada, California & Oregon Railroad, designed to link Reno (Washoe) and southern Oregon; reached Lakeview, Oregon in 1912. The railroad was sold in 1926 to the Southern Pacific.
• Battle Mountain & Lewis Railroad built to connect mines at Lewis with the transcontinental railroad at Battle Mountain; dismantled about 1890 (Lander).
• Carson & Colorado Railroad built between Carson City and Walker Lake to connect mines around Mono Lake and elsewhere with the transcontinental railroad; reached Owens Lake, California 1883; purchased by Southern Pacific Railroad, 1900; abandoned between Mound House and Fort Churchill 1934; between Mina and Benton 1938; ceased operations 1960.
• Luning (Mineral), Hawthorne (Mineral), and Wabuska (Lyon) founded on line of Carson & Colorado Railroad.
• Dayton, Sutro & Carson Valley Railroad built to connect Carson River Mills with the newly constructed Carson & Colorado Railroad; abandoned 1896.
• Safford (Eureka) founded.

1882 -

• Chinese Immigration Act passed U. S. Congress.
• Gold Hill mines flooded w/hot water at 2800-ft. level.
• Probably less than 1,000 Nat. Amer. living on 'trust lands.
• Sutro Tunnel completed February - Sold for $700,000!.
• Indian agent at Walker Lake Paiute Reservation opened day school for Indians (Mineral).
• Congress prohibited further Chinese immigration for ten years by passing the Exclusion Act; it was extended for another ten years in 1892 when Congress passed the Geary Act. The Exclusion Act was repealed by Congress in 1943.
• Sodaville (Mineral) founded.

1883 -

• Jewett W. Adams, Democrat, who had been elected in 1882, became governor of the state. He served in the office until
• Nevada Indian Agency established Indian police force.
• Esmeralda County seat moved from Aurora to Hawthorne; moved to Coldfield in 1907.
• Legislature merged Roop County into Washoe County.
• Garfield (Mineral) and Taylor (White Pine) founded.

1884 -

• May-June: Heavy flooding of the lower Humboldt River destroyed all road bridges below and including Humboldt House; dam at Humboldt Lake blown up June 24 by masked ranchers to relieve high waters swamping their land (Humboldt, Pershing).
• Nevada Livestock Association formed at Winnemucca (Humboldt).

1885 -

• The Nevada Silver Purchase Association was founded in order to advocate the free and unlimited coinage of silver.
• July: 275 tons of Nevada hay shipped to NY at cost of $200 ton.
• Carson City Mint closed temporarily.
• Legislature established Nevada Land Office for the sale of state school lands; proceeds of sale financed public education.
• Coldsprings (Clark) founded.

1886 -

• University of Nevada moved to Reno.
• Bad fire on Comstock, hastened end of the era.
• C. W. Chubbuck began construction of Lake Valley Railway on the southeast shore of Lake Tahoe; the logging line was dismantled 1898.
• Three judge Court of Indian Offenses established for Nevada Indian Agency to adjudicate crimes committed by Indians.
• Anti-Chinese associations reached their peak in their battle against Chinese labor in Washoe, Storey, Ormsby, Douglas, and Eureka counties.
• Frank Bell established first municipal telephone service in Nevada at Reno (Washoe).

1887 -

• Christopher C. Stephenson, Republican, who had been elected in 1886, became governor of the state. He served in the office until he left the position because of a disability on September 1, 1890. Stephenson died on September 21, 1890.
• The state legislature passed a law requiring all voters to take an oath against polygamy. The object of this measure was to disenfranchise the Mormons. The law was declared unconstitutional by the Nevada Supreme Court.
• February 8: Dawes or Indian Allotment Act passed by Congress, provided for allotment of reservation lands to individual tribal members; was intended to encourage Indians to give up wandering and instead to individually cultivate their own land. Of the approximately 138 million acres in Indian possession 1887, about 2/3 had passed to white ownership by 1934.
• February 14: The Reno Electric Light Co., a private power company, began operating the first electric street lamps in Nevada at Reno (Washoe).
• March 4: Legislature elected William M. Stewart (1887 Republican; 1893 and 1899 Silver Party) to serve as U. S. Senator; re-elected 1893, 1899. Stewart had served as U. S. Senator (Republican) from Nevada 1864-1875.
• Legislature established Nevada Weather Service; Immigration Bureau; Indian School Commission; Commission for the Care of the Indigent Insane (abolished 1951); and State Board of Capitol Commissioners.
• C. C. Stevenson (Republican) became Governor; became incapacitated September 1, 1890 and died in office September 21, 1890; was succeeded by Frank Bell.

1888 -

• Both political parties in the state declared that they were in favor of the free coinage of silver.
• Electric lights came into general use at Carson City.
• Nevada Government Building (now the State Library) built at Carson City.

1889 -

• Carson Mint opened with $1,600,000 in gold bars on hand.
• Ft. McDermitt Indian Reservation established.
• Wovoka (Jack Wilson, Paiute) revived the 'Ghost Dance' which spread through Midwest and frightened whites.
• Congress established Paiute and Shoshone Indian Reservation at Fort McDermitt; dispersed in allotments in Indians 1892; re-allotted 1903; enlarged 1936, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1956; allotments given up 1959 and 1957.
• Paiute prophet Wovoka ('Jack Wilson') revived 1870 Ghost Dance movement at Walker Lake Paiute Reservation; Indian war scares in Lander and Lyon counties; Wovoka's teachings influenced the Plains Indians and precipitated a battle between the U. S. Army and the Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Reservation in South Dakota on December 29, 1890. Last major Indian battle in U. S.; movement died out after 1891.
• Legislature established State Board of Reclamation and Internal Improvement (abolished 1891); and Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station at Reno.
• New invention shown at Ormsby County Fair at Carson City - the phonograph.
• 1889-90: Disastrously severe 'White Winter'; Nevada ranchers lost most of their cattle in heavy snowdrifts, which devastated the state's livestock industry. Over 100 inches of snow fell that year, the heaviest total recorded in northern Nevada.

1890   

1890 -

• September 1: Lieutenant Governor Frank Bell became governor of the state upon the resignation of Governor Christopher C. Stephenson, who left the office because of a disability. Bell served in the office until 1890.
• Aggregate 20-yr. yield Comstock mines $306 mil. from 7 million tons of ore. Dividends were $118 million.
• March-June: Flooding of the Humboldt River after the 'White Winter' of 1889-90.
• Indian lands allotted at Stillwater (Churchill); additional allocations 1893-94; cancelled August 15, 1906.
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act passed by Congress; obligated the U. S. Government to buy fixed amounts, twice as much as required by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878'of silver every year. The purchase requirement was repealed in 1893.
• Union Pacific Railroad began construction of Salt Lake route across Nevada, to connect Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The State Legislature passed a bill in 1901 allowing the railroad to build across southern Nevada. The tracks reached Caliente in 1903 and Las Vegas on October 20, 1904. Construction was completed January 30,
• U. S. Decennial Census, population of Nevada was 47,355.

1891 -

• R. K. Colcord, Republican, who had been elected in 1890, became governor of the state. He served in the office until 1895.
• Organization of Delamar Mining.
• Congress passed National Forest Reservation or Creative Act, authorizing creation of national forests and the withdrawal of valuable timber lands for administration of 'scientific management policies' by government foresters.
• Australian or Secret Ballot adopted for elections in Nevada.
• Stewart Indian School opened outside Carson City.
• Nevada Silver Party formed; controlled Nevada politics 1896-1906.
• Congress passed Water Act of 1891, which allowed use of public (unappropriated) water for irrigation on private lands subject to state water rights laws.

1892 -

• Reno-Incline Road (now Mount Rose Highway) opened between Reno and North Lake Tahoe (Washoe).
• First training encampment of Nevada Militia (now Nevada National Guard) at Treadway's Ranch, Carson City.
• Post Office established at Las Vegas (Clark).
• Nevada products exhibited at World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

1893 -

• March 6: Legislature established State Board of Health.
• Congress repealed the purchase clause of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, ending government purchase subsidies of western silver mines and depressing Nevada's mining industry.
• Final delineation of California-Nevada boundary began by U. S. Coast & Geodetic Survey; completed 1899.
• Congress began giving land allotments in Pine Nut Mountains (Douglas) to Washo Indians; ended 1910.

1894 -

• Congress passed Wilson Bill lifting tariff on imported raw wool, resulting in a collapse in prices for domestic sheep which affected many Nevada ranchers.
• Pullman national railroad strike paralyzed transcontinental railroad operations; U. S. troops sent to Reno, Winnemucca, and Wadsworth (Humboldt, Washoe).
• The Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Company installed first municipal telephone system in Nevada at Reno (Washoe); completed 1895.
• Delamar (Lincoln) founded.

1895 -

• John S. Jones, Democrat Silverite, who had been elected in 1894, became governor of the state. He served in the office until his death on April 10, 1896.
• Elko Co. Bd. of Education established 1st county high school.
• Movie projection developed simultaneously in several countries.
• Legislative provision for public libraries in Nevada.
• Legislature passed a rigid 'Purity of Elections' law providing for exact accounting of contributions and expenses in state political elections; repealed March 21, 1899.
• Legislature passed County High School Bill providing for a system of County higher education in the State; also a tax on sheep with exemptions for land-owning sheepherders, in an attempt to destroy 'tramp sheepherders' and reduce over-grazing on Nevada range land.
• Legislature established the Board of Dental Examiners; Board of Education; State Textbook Commission; and the University of Nevada State Analytical Laboratory.
• Legislature authorized first public library in Nevada, built at Reno (Washoe).
• Women's suffrage movement organized to advocate giving women the right to vote. In May a suffrage convention convened at Reno; in October the Nevada Equal Suffrage Association formed, with Hannah K. Clapp as president. Suffrage bills to give women the right to vote were introduced in the Nevada Legislature in 1883, 1885, 1887, 1895, 1897, and 1899, but women were not given electoral franchise until 1914.
• John E. Jones (Silver Party) became Governor; died in office April 10, 1896.

1896 -

• April 10: Lieutenant Governor Reinhold Sadler, Silver Republican, became governor of the state upon the death of Governor John E. Jones. Sadler served in the office until the end of the term on January 1, 1903.
• Development of cyanide process for silver at the University of Nevada.

1897 -

• Corbett-Fitzsimmons Bout at Carson City & prizefight boom. The sport legalized by legislature in time for the match.
• Klondike Gold Rush to Alaska.
• Spanish-American War.
• Austin mines closed.
• May 24: State court decision of Union Mill & Mining Company v. Dangberg et al. Nevada adopted legal doctrines of 'prior appropriation' and 'beneficial use' of  water in resolving lawsuit over rights to Carson River; lawsuit had been filed 1889. This established the state law for water rights of 'first in time, first in right,' so long as the water was continuously used for beneficial purposes.

1898 -

• 1898-99: Final closing of Carson City Mint; refitted for government assaying.
• Searchlight (Clark) founded.
• Spanish-American War began with destruction of U. S. battleship Maine at Havana February 15; war ended December 10, with the U. S. the victor; Nevada troops participated in fighting in the Philippine Islands.
• Construction of Colconda & Adelaide Railroad designed to connect the Adelaide copper mine (Humboldt) with the transcontinental railroad; dismantled after 1914.
• Telegraph line built between Reno and Lakeview, Oregon which connected the agricultural and pastoral communities of southern Oregon with the transcontinental telegraph system at Reno (Washoe).

1899 -

• Golconda & Adelaide Railroad.
• Legislature established Board of Medical Examiners and State Board of Taxation Commissioners.
• Legislature passed law recognizing that continuous beneficial use of water prior to 1899 created a vested right to the use of that water; law re-enacted 1913.
• Long distance telephone service became available for the first time in Nevada at Reno (Washoe).
• Southern Pacific Railroad Company purchased Central Pacific Railroad, acquiring millions of dollars in land, tracks, rolling stock, equipment, and buildings in Nevada.

1900   

1900 -

• Washoes given land allotments of 160 each in Pine Nut Mtns. National depression.
• Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and gang allegedly robbed the First National Bank in Winnemucca of $22,000.
• SP Railroad bought the Carson & Colorado Railroad.
• 1900-02-04-06:  Booms at Tonopah, Goldfield, Bullfrog and Rhyolite.
• 1900-08: Delamar (only mine open) produced $25 million in ore.
• 1900-64: Great copper boom centered at Ely. By 1910 dollar value of copper passed that of gold at Goldfield, silver at Tonopah.
• May 17: While searching for a lost mule, Jim Butler discovered rich deposits of silver ore at Tonopah (Nye), starting a 'boom' and a period of prosperity for Nevada.
• 1 September: David Bartley and Edwin Grey discovered rich copper deposits at Ruth (White Pine), which produced profits rivaling the Tonopah and Goldfield discoveries.
• Construction began on Boca & Loyalton Railroad connecting the forests around Loyalton and Portola, California, with the transcontinental railroad at Boca, California; completed 1901; abandoned 1918.
• Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation Company Railroad built between Tahoe City and Truckee, California; abandoned 1943.
• U. S. Decennial Census, population of Nevada was 42,335.

1901 -

• Transatlantic wireless telegraph invented by Marchese Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist.
• Caliente Mining District formed and town started.
• Any form of nickel slot machine became unlawful.
• March 16: Legislature passed Pitt Revenue Bill requiring uniform valuation of property among the counties for tax purposes.
• Legislature established Board of Pharmacy.
• Verdi Lumber Company Railroad built; abandoned 1926.
• Tonopah (Nye) and Wedekind (Washoe) founded.
• Nevada products shown at Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York.

1902 -

• Quartette Railroad built at Searchlight.
• National Reclamation Act passed.
• John Mackay died in London, England, at age 72.
• January 1: John Sparks. Democrat and Silverite, who had been elected in 1902, became governor of the state. He served in the office until his death on May 22, 1908.
• Construction began on San Pedro, L.A. & Salt Lake Railroad.
• 1903-05: Lahontan Dam, 1st National Reclamation Act project in U. S.
• December 4: Rich gold ore deposits found by William Marsh and Harry Stimler; site later became Goldfield (Esmeralda).
• Congress passed Interior Appropriation Bill with amendment providing for Walker Lake Paiute Indian Reservation to be allotted to individual Indians; allotment agreement concluded July 20, 71906 with huge Indian celebration at Walker Lake; reservation opened to settlement by whites after presidential proclamation October 29, 1906 (Mineral).
• Congress passed Reclamation Act creating the Reclamation Service under the Department of the Interior; bill was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt June 17.
• MiIler & Lux v. Rickey, later (Pacific Livestock Company v. Rickey) lawsuit filed in State court to settle water rights on Walker River; decided 1919.

1903 -

• March 4: Legislature elected Francis C. Newlands (Democrat) to serve as U. S. Senator; re-elected 1909, 1915; died in office December 24, 1917.
• Legislature established Board of Revenue and State Engineer's Office.
• John Sparks (Silver-Democrat) became Governor; re-elected 1906; died in office May 22, 1908.
• May 23-August 17: First transcontinental crossing of the U. S. by automobile; motorists crossed Nevada on their way from San Francisco to New York; reached Winnemucca June 21 and Flko on June 23.
• First motion picture house built in Nevada - the Vitagraph Theater, at Reno (Washoe).
• Eagle Salt Works Railroad built to connect the salt works (Churchill) with the transcontinental railroad at Wadsworth (Washoe); abandoned 1916.
• Construction began on Newlands (Truckee-Carson) Reclamation Project. Project authorized March; Derby Dam and Canal completed 1905.
• Caliente (Lincoln), Hazen (Churchill), and Ruth (White Pine) founded.

1904 -

• Southern Pacific RR moved shops from Wadsworth to outskirts of Reno. Tonopah Railroad built.
• Construction began on Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad connecting the Tonopah and Goldfield mines with the Carson & Colorado Railroad near Mina; completed 1905; abandoned 1946 (Nye, Esmeralda, and Mineral).
• Reno Traction Company built Municipal Railroad streetcar system in Reno (Washoe); line abandoned when buses began operating in Reno in 1927.
• Construction began on a portion of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad through Las Vegas Valley (Clark).
• Legislature added referendum process to the State constitution by amendment.
• Nevada Historical Society founded as a private institution by Jeanne E. Wier and others at Reno (Washoe).
• Nevada products exhibited at St. Louis World's Fair.
• Bullfrog (Nye), Goldfield (Esmeralda), Rhyolite (Nye), and Sparks (Washoe) founded.

1905 -

• Southern Pacific RR established the town of Sparks, first called East Reno, then Harriman for Southern Pacific RR owner; he changed it to honor Governor.
• San Francisco, Los Aangeles & Salt Lake RR completed.
• Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad completed to Goldfield.
• Beatty laid out as a freighting center. w/3 railroads (till 1910).
• Copper mill construction begun at McGill near Ely.
• Truckee-Carson Irrigation Project started.
• Birth of Las Vegas with a railroad auction of 1200 lots and revival of old mining camp of Manhattan.
• May 15: City of Las Vegas (Clark) founded as station on San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad; incorporated 1911.
• July 3: World heavyweight boxing championship at Reno (Washoe) between Marvin Hart and Jack Root; Hart won.
• Mount Rose weather observator