Eureka (Nevada)
| Eureka | |
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 Welcome sign in Eureka |
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| Location in Nevada | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1864 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Nevada |
| County : | Eureka County |
| Coordinates : | 39 ° 31 ′ N , 115 ° 58 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 ) |
| Residents : | 610 (as of 2010) |
| Height : | 1900 m |
| FIPS : | 32-23900 |
| GNIS ID : | 840384 |
Eureka is a small town in the heart of the US state Nevada . It was founded in 1864 when silver-bearing ore was discovered nearby. In 1990 the place had 650 inhabitants. Eureka is the only city in Eureka County and also its county seat .
The city has largely retained its original character as a mining settlement in the Wild West since the 19th century - including several saloons and the small opera house, which was built in 1880 and now used as a multi-purpose room. There is a small airport within the urban area.
geography
Eureka is 1900 m above sea level in the Diamond Mountain Range at the southern end of the Diamond Valley.
The city is on US Highway 50 , which is known as "The Loneliest Road in America" (the loneliest road in America): to the west, the nearest city Austin is 114 km away, to the east you drive to Ely 124 km. The closest settlement is the small Western Shoshone Reservation Duckwater , which is 94 km further south and can only be reached via an unpaved dust track.
The climate is typical of the Great Basin, hot, dry summers with occasional monsoon-like thunderstorms in July and August, and cold and relatively dry winters. The amount of snowfall varies from no snowfall at all in mild winters to 90 centimeters. Temperatures drop to −7 ° C in winter.
history
The urban area was first settled in 1864 by white people who were looking for silver. In 1873, Eureka became the county seat when the county was separated from the now neighboring counties of Lander County , Elko County and White Pine Counties .
The mining was the economic driving factor that brought forward the city. The nearby mountain ranges were found to be the second richest occurrence in Nevada, just after occurrences at Comstock Lode in the west of the state . The Richmond Mining Company and the Eureka Mining Company were among the largest in Eureka . The two societies often came into conflict with one another; in one case the dispute even reached the United States Supreme Court .
The population boomed during this time and reached more than 10,000 inhabitants in 1878; it later declined again when the yield from mining declined and changing sales conditions led to the closure of mines.
Sons and daughters of the place
- Leland M. Ford (1893-1965), politician
- Tony Mendez (1940–2019), intelligence officer as well as visual artist and book author
Web links
- Eureka Opera House (English)
- Western Mining History: Eureka (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ RICHMOND MINING CO. V. EUREKA MINING CO., 103 US 839 (1880) . Retrieved April 24, 2008.