Nevada Trivia & Tidbits - Page 10

Looking for Nevada trivia? Try our list Nevada little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Known as the Silver State, Nevada is actually the largest gold-producing state, with 7.7 million ounces mined in 2002. That’s 64 percent of the nation’s total. Only Australia and South Africa produce more.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

From 1862 to 1868, Mark Twain wrote for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. He acknowledged later that much of the mayhem written about in those days was fiction. “We never hesitated about devising when the public needed matters of thrilling interest for breakfast.”

first appeared: 2/1/2004

Jackpot (pop. 1,500) owes its existence to the presidential ambitions of Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, who in the early 1950s crusaded against illegal slot machines around the country. When slot machines were turned to the wall and poker games closed down in Idaho, Jackpot was born as a log cabin full of one-armed bandits just across the Nevada state line.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

Dust devils, common in the state, occur when sun-heated air on a sandy desert surface suddenly pushes up through the cooler air above, causing air to rush in behind and spin about in a circle. The phenomenon can last from a few minutes to several hours, and develop winds up to 70 mph.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

At the bottom of a limestone cavern in the middle of the desert a few miles east of Death Valley is a pool of warm water of unknown depth fed by a spring. This pool, called Devil’s Hole, is the only known home to the Devil’s Hole pupfish, a species which has lived there for 10,000 years. It is thought to be the smallest habitat in the world containing the entire population of a vertebrate species.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

The state was admitted to the Union on Oct. 31, 1864, which is now a state holiday. Its name derives from the Spanish for “snow-capped.”

first appeared: 1/11/2004

Of Nevada’s 49,702 miles of streets and highways, 40,519 are country roads.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

The state didn’t have a slogan on its license plates until 1984, when the words “The Silver State” were added. Nevada also is known as the “Sagebrush State” for the wild sagebrush that grows prolifically there.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

In 1998, Herman Britz caught a record-setting 60-pound, 14-ounce striped bass in Lake Mohave. The fish is the largest ever caught in the state among 32 species for which records are maintained.

first appeared: 12/28/2003

Edna Purviance (1896-1952) is no household name despite her years as leading lady with one of the most famous movie stars in history, Charlie Chaplin. Raised in Lovelock (pop. 2,003), Purviance moved to San Francisco after high school, where she was known for taking her pet duck for a walk. She met Chaplin through a mutual friend and appeared with him in 40 films, beginning in 1915.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

The roadrunner bird, common in the state’s deserts, prefers walking or running over flying and can attain speeds of up to 17 mph. It is about 1 foot tall and 2 feet long. The bird’s diet consists of insects, lizards, centipedes, mice and snakes. It is quick enough to catch and eat rattlesnakes and dragonflies.

first appeared: 12/14/2003

The Ely Renaissance Society has turned downtown Ely (pop. 4,041) into an outdoor art gallery, having commissioned more than 10 murals and two sculptures that celebrate the area’s cultural heritage. The murals include depictions of cattle drives, copper mines and notable former residents, including former first lady Pat Nixon.

first appeared: 12/7/2003

The Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas features 15,000 items—one of the world’s largest collections of casino memorabilia. The hall of fame includes exhibits such as gaming chips and postcards from more than 700 casinos, 550 of which no longer exist, and honors Las Vegas notables such as Howard Hughes Jr., Frank Sinatra and showgirl Felicia Atkins.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

Wovoka, a Paiute Indian mystic who created the Ghost Dance religion, was born about 1856 in what is now Esmeralda County (pop. 971). He also was known as Jack Wilson, having been raised as a teenager by a ranching family named Wilson. Wovoka based his religion on a prophecy that a new age would dawn, bringing wealth, renewal and immortality to American Indians.

first appeared: 11/23/2003

Fred Balzar, who served as Nevada’s governor from 1927 to 1934, signed two bills into law in 1931 that resulted in increased tourism: one bill legalized gambling, which had been made illegal in 1910, and the other reduced the state’s residency requirement for divorce from three months to six weeks.

first appeared: 11/16/2003

Eva Adams, director of the U.S. Mint from 1961 to 1969, was born in the mining camp of Wonder, in Churchill County (pop. 23,982), in 1908. Adams was on the University of Nevada’s faculty in Reno when U.S. Sen. Patrick McCarran asked her to join his staff in 1940. Subsequently, both President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the U.S. Mint.

first appeared: 11/9/2003

Golfers playing the nine-hole Lincoln County Golf Course in Pioche (pop. 900) carry their own “grass” in the form of artificial turf, or indoor/outdoor carpeting, for teeing-off on the dirt course. Organizers have outfitted the ninth hole with artificial grass, and hope to continue installing it at each hole.

first appeared: 11/2/2003

Carrara, near Beatty (pop. 1,154), was named for the Italian source of marble used by Michelangelo in his sculptures, after marble was discovered there in 1904. Carrara’s quarry proved unprofitable, however, and was closed in 1919, with most of the population leaving the community by 1924. Foundations still remaining in the ghost town include the town fountain and hotel.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

Newspaper columnist and editor Ty Cobb was born in 1915 in Virginia City, the county seat of Storey County (pop. 3,399). He started as a sports reporter for the Nevada State Journal in 1938, but was well known for his column, “Cobbwebs,” which debuted in 1965 and continued until his death in 1997, often based on his memories of the Virginia City and Reno area.

first appeared: 10/19/2003

Sandstone was officially adopted as the state rock in 1987, resulting from a vote by the state’s elementary schoolchildren, after a fifth-grade class at Gene Ward Elementary School in Las Vegas suggested the symbol. Found as both ordinary sandstone and as quartzite, sandstone forms much of Nevada’s distinctive geography, including canyons and mesas.

first appeared: 10/12/2003

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