Mineral County
Mineral County, Mineral County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Mineral County. Nevada’s earliest maps show Walker Lake. Jedediah Smith, the first English-speaking American in what is modern-day Nevada, passed near here in 1828 during his remarkable trip across the Great Basin. Peter Skene Ogden traveled through the region in 1829, and then John C. Frémont arrived in 1845 with his guide, Joseph Walker, for whom the lake is named.Until its creation in 1911, Mineral County was part of Esmeralda. The first Esmeralda County seat was at Aurora but it was moved to Hawthorne in 1883, two years after the Carson and Colorado Railroad was built. Goldfield took the county seat in 1907, but Hawthorne became a government seat once again with the creation of Mineral County. The county includes several well-known mining towns, including Aurora, Belleville, Candelaria, Luning, Marietta, Mina, and Rawhide as well as other smaller mining camps.
Erected by Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
The Story
Walker Lake appears on Nevada's earliest maps, and this corner of the Great Basin drew a parade of famous explorers: Jedediah Smith passed near here in 1828, Peter Skene Ogden in 1829, and John C. Frémont arrived in 1845 with guide Joseph Walker, the lake's namesake. Carved from Esmeralda County in 1911, Mineral County restored Hawthorne to prominence as a government seat. Its landscape is dotted with storied mining towns like Aurora, Candelaria, and Rawhide.
Why it matters
This region traces the arc from first American exploration of the Great Basin to the mining camps that populated Nevada.
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Related people
- · Jedediah Smith
- · Peter Skene Ogden
- · John C. Frémont
- · Joseph Walker
Themes & tags
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