Eureka is an unincorporated town and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Eureka County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, United States. Reprint. Originally published: San Francisco : H. Keller, 1879. With a population of 414 as of the 2020 United States census, it is the second-largest community in Eureka County. Attractions include the Eureka Opera House (built in 1880 and restored in 1993), Raine’s Market and Wildlife Museum (built 1887), the Jackson House Hotel (built 1877), and the Eureka Sentinel Museum (housed in the 1879 ''Eureka Sentinel'' Newspaper Building). Eureka is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography and climate

Eureka is located in the southern part of Eureka County, at in the Diamond Mountains, in a draw on the southern end of Diamond Valley, between

Antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

and Newark valleys. At the 2018 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the population of the

of Eureka was 480, while the total population of Eureka and the surrounding area (Eureka CCD, Eureka County, Nevada) was 1,313. The town is located along the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

, nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America": aptly named, as the nearest towns along the highway are

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

( west) and Ely ( east). The nearest town is Duckwater, south. The climate is typical of the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

: hot and dry with cool mornings in the summer with occasional

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

al thunderstorms from late July through August; cold and relatively dry in the winter. Temperatures drop to or lower on an average 3.2 mornings during the winter, though in the severe winter of 1916/1917 this happened twenty-five times. They drop to on an average 185.5 mornings, though maximum temperatures top freezing on all but 30.8 days during an average winter. During the summer temperatures rise to or hotter on 12.5 afternoons, though does not occur annually. However, the hottest temperature was on July 22, 1904. Snow accumulations vary from in mild winters to in excess of in more severe years; in the winter of 1906/1907, more than of snow fell. The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with and the driest 2020 with , whilst May 1917 with has been the wettest single month. The snowiest month has been March 1902 with of fresh snowfall. Under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Eureka has a cold semi-arid (''BSk'').

History

The town was first settled in 1864 by a group of silver prospectors from nearby Austin, who discovered rock containing a silver-lead ore on nearby Prospect Peak. According to tradition, the town was named from an incident when a prospector exclaimed " Eureka!" when he discovered deposits of silver ore. The town became the county seat in 1873, when Eureka County was carved out of adjacent Lander, Elko, and White Pine counties. The city rapidly grew throughout the 1870s. The Napias Post Office opened briefly in January 1870 and Eureka Post Office opened that same month. In July, the ''Eureka Sentinel'' began publication. By 1875, Eureka had become a major hub for stagecoaches to many other mining towns in rural, Northeastern Nevada. In 1878, the town's population had reached 9,000 (the second largest in Nevada at the time), and there were many

casinos Casinos may refer to: * Casinos, Valencia, municipality in Spain * David Casinos (born 1972), Spanish Paralympian athlete * The Casinos The Casinos was a nine-member doo-wop group from Cincinnati, Ohio, led by Gene Hughes and which included ...

, saloons, and many other businesses. However, production began to slow in 1880, and the population significantly dropped. In the mines, water was discovered so expensive pumps were required to continue mining activities. Silver prices dropped in 1890 and the smelters for ores closed.

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

, especially for

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

, was the town's economic mainstay, as the nearby hillsides ranked as Nevada's second-richest mineral producer, behind western Nevada's

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the U ...

. Two of the largest concerns in Eureka were the Richmond Mining Company and the Eureka Mining Company. These two companies often collided, and in one instance, their litigation reached the U.S Supreme Court. The town was serviced by the narrow gauge Eureka and Palisade Railroad from 1873 to 1938.

Demographics

Public services

Eureka is served by an all-volunteer fire department, which provides fire protection, rescue, and vehicle rescue services for Eureka and the surrounding areas. In 2009 a new brick and steel fire house was built on Main Street in Eureka. At the time of its building it was the second largest fire house in the state. In addition to being a modern fire fighting facility, it contains a museum of Eureka fire department equipment and vehicles dating back to the 1870s. The fire-museum may be viewed through the large glass windows, or a tour may be taken by contacting a local fireman. Eureka boasts three parks, a modern enclosed swimming facility, two baseball fields, a track, and football field. The 1880s Eureka Opera House was re-modeled in recent times and regularly schedules performers. The 1876 Eureka Court House is both historic and modern. It stands as the functioning governmental and legal center of Eureka County.

Education

Eureka County School District is the local school district. Eureka has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, a branch of the Elko-Lander-Eureka County Library System.

Transportation

* Eureka Airport

Notable people

John Cradlebaugh John Cradlebaugh (February 22, 1819 – February 22, 1872) was the first delegate to the United States House of Representatives from Nevada Territory. Biography Born in Circleville, Ohio, he attended the common schools; Kenyon College (in Gambie ...

, first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada TerritoryBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
/ref> * Warren J. Ferguson, who served on the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

* Antonio Mendez, CIA operative, who orchestrated the smuggling of six US hostages out of Iran.

Gallery

Image:Eureka, Nevada welcome sign.jpg, Welcome Image:Eureka! Nevada from hill.jpg , A view of Eureka Image:July 4th '06 009.JPG, Parade 2006 File:ORE SHUTES EUREKA, NEVADA - NARA - 524115.jpg, Ore chutes in 1871 File:Eureka Consolidated smelter ca1880.jpg, Eureka Consolidated smelter, ca. 1880 File:Historic American Buildings Survey, Nevada Professional and Service Projects June 1940 - First Methodist Church, Spring Street, Eureka, Eureka County, NV HABS NEV,6-EUR,1-1.tif, Old Hooper Garage in 1940

References

External links

Website for the town of Eureka, Nevada

link contains many modern and historical photographs of existing buildings, and historical tales of the area
Eureka, Nevada
at Western Mining History * $1.3 billion plan for moly mine at Mt. Hope {{authority control Census-designated places in Nevada Census-designated places in Eureka County, Nevada County seats in Nevada Populated places established in 1864 Elko, Nevada micropolitan area Unincorporated towns in Nevada 1864 establishments in Nevada Silver mining in Nevada