List of counties in Nevada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are sixteen counties and one independent city in the U.S. state of Nevada. On November 25, 1861, the first Nevada Territorial Legislature formed nine counties.[1] When Nevada joined the United States on October 31, 1864 it had eleven counties.[1]
Alphabetical list[change | change source]
| County |
FIPS code [2] |
county seat [3] |
Created [3] |
Origin [4] |
Meaning of name [1][4] |
Population [3][5] |
Area [3][5] |
Map |
| Carson City | 510 | (Independent city) | 1969 | Founded 1858, consolidated with rump Ormsby county in 1969. | Carson River, named in turn for Christopher Houston (Kit) Carson (1809–1868), the frontier scout and soldier. | 52,457 | 144 mi² (373 km²) |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churchill County | 001 | Fallon | 1861 | Original | Sylvester Churchill (1783–1862), a general in the Mexican-American War. | 23,982 | 4,929 sq mi (12,766 km²) |
 |
| Clark County | 003 | Las Vegas | 1908 | Lincoln County | William A. Clark (1839–1925), former United States Senator from Montana, and builder of a rail-road line through the area. | 1,375,765 | 7,911 sq mi (20,489 km²) |
 |
| Douglas County | 005 | Minden | 1861 | Original | Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813–1861), former United States Senator from Illinois. | 41,259 | 710 sq mi (1,839 km²) |
 |
| Elko County | 007 | Elko | 1869 | Lander County | A Shoshoni word meaning white woman. It is said, among the very old Shoshoni, that this is where they first saw a white woman. | 45,291 | 17,182 sq mi (44,501 km²) |
 |
| Esmeralda County | 009 | Goldfield | 1861 | Original | Esmeralda Mining District, named in turn for possibly the character Esmeralda of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Esmeralda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for emerald. | 971 | 3,589 sq mi (9,295 km²) |
 |
| Eureka County | 011 | Eureka | 1873 | Lander County | Greek expression Eureka, meaning I have found it!, in reference to deposits of silver found in the vicinity. | 1,651 | 4,176 sq mi (10,816 km²) |
 |
| Humboldt County | 013 | Winnemucca | 1861 | Original | Humboldt River, named in turn for Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), a German naturalist and explorer. | 16,106 | 9,648 sq mi (24,988 km²) |
 |
| Lander County | 015 | Battle Mountain | 1861 | Original | Frederick W. Lander (1821–1862), an American Civil War general and developer of the area. | 5,794 | 5,494 sq mi (14,229 km²) |
 |
| Lincoln County | 017 | Pioche | 1866 | Nye County and territory ceded by Arizona. | Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth President of the United States. | 4,165 | 10,635 sq mi (27,545 km²) |
 |
| Lyon County | 019 | Yerington | 1861 | Original | General Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861), who was killed in action at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. | 34,501 | 1,994 sq mi (5,164 km²) |
 |
| Mineral County | 021 | Hawthorne | 1911 | Esmeralda County | Mineral deposits in the area. | 5,071 | 3,757 sq mi (9,731 km²) |
 |
| Nye County | 023 | Tonopah | 1864 | Esmeralda County | James W. Nye (1815–1876), a governor of the Nevada Territory and U.S. senator from Nevada. | 32,485 | 18,147 sq mi (47,001 km²) |
 |
| Pershing County | 027 | Lovelock | 1919 | Humboldt County | John Joseph (Black Jack) Pershing (1860–1948), the World War I general. | 6,693 | 6,009 sq mi (15,563 km²) |
 |
| Storey County | 029 | Virginia City | 1861 | Original | Edward Farris Storey (1829–1860), a captain killed at Pyramid Lake in the 1860 Paiute War. | 3,399 | 264 sq mi (684 km²) |
 |
| Washoe County | 031 | Reno | 1861 | Original | The Washo, a small Indian tribe that inhabits the area. | 339,486 | 6,342 sq mi (16,426 km²) |
 |
| White Pine County | 033 | Ely | 1869 | Lander County | Heavy growth of pine trees in the area, thought to be white pine. | 9,181 | 8,877 sq mi (22,991 km²) |
 |
Former counties[change | change source]
- Bullfrog County, Nevada, formed in 1987 from part of Nye county. Creation declared unconstitutional and it was ended in 1989.[1]
- Lake County, Nevada, one of the original nine counties formed in 1861. Renamed Roop county in 1862. Part became Lassen County, California in 1864. The rest was added in 1883 to Washoe county.[1]
- Ormsby County, Nevada, one of the original nine counties formed in 1861. In 1969 added to Carson City, Nevada. It formed an independent city.[1]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Political History of Nevada". Nevada State Library and Archives.. http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/nsla/archives/political/historical/hist19.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
- ↑ "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". US Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/codes/ne.html. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "NACo - Find a county". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on 2007-07-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20070706204434/http://www.naco.org/Template.cfm?Section=Find_a_County&Template=/cffiles/counties/state.cfm&state.cfm&statecode=NV. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Counties of Nevada". Nevada-History.org. http://nevada-history.org/county.html. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Nevada QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/nevada_map.html. Retrieved 2007-08-16. (2000 Census)
