The Pahranagat Valley is a
Tonopah Basin
The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin ...
landform in
Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,345. Its county seat is Pioche. Like many counties in Nevada, it is dry and sparsely populated, though notable for containing the Area ...
.
The more fertile part of Pahranagat Valley is a narrow ribbon of green (no more than wide) like an oasis in the vast Nevada desert. It is approximately long running north and south and is watered by three large natural springs of water (
Hiko Springs,
Crystal Springs and
Ash Springs) and many smaller ones as well. It has four lakes, two near the north end of the valley (Nesbitt Lake and Frenchie Lake) and two towards the south end (Upper Pahranagat Lake and Lower Pahranagat Lake). The southern half of the valley including the two lakes is home to the
Pahranagat Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Pahranagat Valley is bordered on the west by a range of mountains called the
Mount Irish Range and then the
Pahranagat Range
The Pahranagat Range is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada.
References
See also
* Pahranagat Valley
* Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge
* Alamo bolide impact
The Alamo bolide impact occurred 377–378 million years ago, when on ...
. It is bordered on the east by the
Hiko Range.
State Route 318 and then
U.S. Route 93 traverse the entire length of the valley.
The more inhabited areas in Pahranagat Valley include (from north to south)
Hiko,
Ash Springs,
Richardville and
Alamo, the town of Alamo being the largest and where all of the schools for the valley are located. The closest town to Pahranagat Valley is over to the east at
Caliente, Nevada.
History
The
Crystal Springs area, used as a watering spot and campsite, was a principal stop-over on the
Mormon Trail Alternate Route. In the late 1850s, the area was a haven for outlaws who pastured hundreds of head of stolen cattle and horses on its meadows.
Silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
ore was discovered in 1865 on
Mount Irish, and
Logan sprang briefly into existence. A mill to process the ore was built in
Hiko, the ruins of which are still in existence.
Since the late 19th century, Pahranagat Valley has been primarily an agricultural community. Presently it is also a bedroom community for many who work in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
even though the commute is over one way.
Geology
The geology of the region includes the
Alamo meteor impact which scattered layers of impact debris across the area near Alamo.
Flora and fauna
The Pahranagat Valley is home of several endangered species like ''
Fluminicola merriami'', ''
Bufo nelsoni'' and endemic subspecies of ''
Gila robusta'', ''
Rhinichthys osculus'', ''
Crenichthys baileyi'', and ''
Microtus montanus''.
References
External links
Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
{{Coord, 37, 17, 35, N, 115, 07, 28, W, display=title, source:dewiki
Valleys of Lincoln County, Nevada
Regions of Nevada
Valleys of Nevada