Potosi Mountain is about southwest of Las Vegas in the

Spring Mountains The Spring Mountains are a mountain range of Southern Nevada in the United States, running generally northwest–southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and south to the border with California. Most land in the mountains is owned by the Uni ...

of Clark County, southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. It is also called Double Up Mountain and Olcott Peak. Its main bedrock is

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

History

The giant cave of Potosi Mountain was used for

vision quest A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. It is usually only undertaken by young males entering adulthood. Individual Indigenous cultures have their own names for their rites of passage. "Vision quest" is an English- ...

s by the Chemehuevi shaman of the mid-19th century, ɁOomposi. Spanish missionaries may have opened silver mines here, but there is no good documentation of that. In 1855,

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

settlers found rich lead and other metal ore. The Mormon mine manager probably named the mine after his childhood home,

Potosi, Wisconsin Potosi is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 688 at the 2010 census. The village is in the Town of Potosi. History Potosi is located where Wisconsin's lead ore belt intersects with the Mississippi. The pos ...

, another mining town, itself named (directly or indirectly) after the Bolivian mountain ''

Cerro Potosí Cerro El Potosí is the highest mountain in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range of northeast Mexico. It is located in the state of Nuevo León, about 80 km (50 mi) south of Monterrey. Flora and fauna It is composed of limestone ...

'', the richest silver mine known. The

Potosi Mining District :''The current Potosi Mining District in Humboldt County, Nevada is a major world-class producer of gold and includes the Pinson, Twin Creeks, Turquoise Creek and Getchell mines. There was a Potosi mine in Lincoln County, Nevada.'' The Potosi ...

on the west of the mountain produced

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

. Potosi Mountain was the site of the

TWA Flight 3 TWA Flight 3 was a twin-engine Douglas DC-3-382 propliner, registration NC1946, operated by Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New York, New York, to Burbank, California, in the United States ...

air crash that killed 22 passengers, notably the actress

Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 2 ...

, on January 16, 1942.

Potosi Mountain broadcasting facility

Potosi Mountain serves as a major FM broadcast transmitter site for Las Vegas, with 7 full power

FM station FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

s transmitting from the top of Potosi, along with 1 FM Translator. The stations are

KNPR KNPR (88.9 FM, "News 88.9") is a non-commercial radio station located in Las Vegas, Nevada. KNPR airs news/ talk programming syndicated by National Public Radio (NPR). KNPR broadcasts in HD. History KNPR signed on for the first time on Mar ...

88.9,

KCNV KCNV (89.7 FM) is a listener-supported public radio station broadcasting a Classical music format. Licensed to Las Vegas, Nevada, the station is owned by Nevada Public Radio and features programming from American Public Media, National Public ...

89.7, KOMP 92.3,

KYMT KYMT (93.1 FM, ''93-1 The Mountain'') is a commercial radio station in Las Vegas, Nevada. KYMT is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a mainstream rock radio format. KYMT's studios and offices are on Meade Avenue in Las Vegas, a mile west of the Stri ...

93.1, and KXPT 97.1 all licensed to Las Vegas,

KFRH KFRH (104.3 FM) is a commercial radio station in North Las Vegas, Nevada, broadcasting to the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Its studios are in the unincorporated Clark County community of Enterprise and the transmitter is on Potosi Mountains west of ...

104.3 licensed to

North Las Vegas North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 216,961, with an estimated population of 251,974 in 2019. The city was incorporated on May 1, 19 ...

, and

KXTE KXTE (107.5 FM, X107-5) is a hot talk/alternative rock radio station licensed to Pahrump, Nevada. Owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, the station's studios are located in the unincorporated Clark County area of Spring Valley, while its transmitt ...

107.5, licensed to Pahrump, Nevada. A translator, K276BL, also operates from up here on 103.1, simulcasting

KSOS KSOS is a non-commercial radio station located in Las Vegas, Nevada, broadcasting on 90.5 FM. KSOS airs a Christian contemporary music format. History KILA 95.5 FM was founded by Jack French and signed on the air in 1972. KILA became Las Vega ...

90.5 from Las Vegas.

was the first tenant to broadcast from the top of the mountain and the first station in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to transmit in HD Digital. There is also an

amateur television Amateur television (ATV) is the transmission of broadcast quality video and sound reproduction, audio over the wide range of frequencies of radio waves allocated for radio amateur (Ham) use. ATV is used for non-commercial experimentation, pleasure, ...

repeater, with the call sign N7ZEV, located here. Along with FM transmitters, NOAA All Hazards Radio station WNG634 on 162.400 MHz, which is managed by the NWS Office in Las Vegas, NV, is located here as well.

References

External links

* Spring Mountains Mountains of Clark County, Nevada Mountains of Nevada {{ClarkCountyNV-geo-stub