Halleck is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in central
Elko County
Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...
,
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.
Geography
Halleck lies at the interchange of
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...
and
State Route 229 northeast of the city of
Elko. Its elevation is .
The community is part of the
Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Halleck has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
with the
ZIP code 89824. The post office was established April 24, 1873.
History
The community's name originates from Camp Halleck, established July 26, 1867 (1867-1879) by the U. S. Army, to protect the
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...
and the construction workers of the
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...
. It was named for Major General
Henry Wager Halleck
Henry Wager Halleck (January 16, 1815 – January 9, 1872) was a senior United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory: "Old Brains". He was an important part ...
.
It then became Fort Halleck (1879-1886).
Halleck came into being in 1869 when the Central Pacific Railroad was completed through the future townsite that immediately became the shipping point for supplies destined for Fort Halleck. During 1869, the town had erected two hotels and one saloon. The saloon catered to soldiers stationed at Fort Halleck. A store and a school were opened in 1874. The school remained open until the 1950s. By 1875, the population had grown to fifty and by 1900 had risen to 126.
At the time Halleck had twenty-six buildings and numerous businesses flourished. However, with the abandonment of Fort Halleck in 1886, the town had to rely on ranching and ranchers to survive. But the town was slowly dying as small ranches were bought by larger properties and combined into corporate operations. The Halleck post office continues to operate from one of the two remaining buildings in town as it serves the many local ranches.
See also
References
External links
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Elko County, Nevada
Unincorporated communities in Nevada
Populated places established in 1873
Elko, Nevada micropolitan area