Nevada Trivia & Tidbits - Page 7

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

Built in 1910, the state’s oldest surviving African-American church is the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Reno. After the congregation moved to larger facilities in Sparks (pop. 66,346) in 1993, the church building was converted into a shelter for homeless veterans. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

first appeared: 7/31/2005

An area off Highway 50 west of Silver Springs (pop. 4,708), Misfit Flats is named for the 1961 film starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Cliff. The Misfits featured a wild horse round-up scene filmed on the privately owned land.

first appeared: 7/17/2005

After losing a bet on an 1864 mayor’s race, Reuel Gridley was forced to carry a 50-pound flour sack through the streets of Austin, south of Battle Mountain (pop. 2,871). Gridley then took the sack on the road, raising $275,000 by auctioning it off again and again for the Sanitary Commission—a predecessor of the American Red Cross.

first appeared: 6/19/2005

The Nevada State Prison in Carson City (pop. 52,457) opened its Hobby Craft Store last November to sell moccasins, stuffed animals, purses and belts—all made by inmates. Proceeds benefit a local elementary school and Nevada Hispanic Services.

first appeared: 6/19/2005

A high-card draw was used in Ely (pop. 4,041) last November to break the tie between two White Pine County Commission candidates. Ray Urrizaga and Bob Swetich each received 1,847 votes on Election Day. Urrizaga won by drawing the queen of clubs, beating Swetich’s seven of diamonds.

first appeared: 6/5/2005

Richard and Carlene LeFevre call Henderson home when they’re not traveling the competitive eating circuit. Richard has set records by eating 6 pounds of Spam in 12 minutes, and 11.5 pounds of watermelon in 15 minutes. Carlene set a record by eating 110 ounces of posole in 12 minutes.

first appeared: 5/22/2005

Previous owners of Spring Mountain Ranch near Blue Diamond (pop. 282) include Chester Lauck, of the radio performers "Lum & Abner," German actress Vera Krupp, who raised a hybrid variety of white-faced Hereford and Brahma cattle there, and millionaire Howard Hughes. The ranch began in the 1830s as a campsite oasis for travelers, and today is a 520-acre state park.

first appeared: 5/8/2005

Each year since 2000, State Route 305 near Battle Mountain (pop. 2,871) has hosted the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, which combines technology, aerodynamics and athletic power to find out how fast a bicycle can be ridden. In 2002, Sam Whittingham, from Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada, rode at 81 mph on a Varna Diablo recumbent bike along the 200-meter distance that’s considered one of the world’s straightest, flattest and smoothest surfaces.

first appeared: 4/24/2005

In 1828, fur trappers working for Peter Skene Ogden first called the Humboldt River "Unknown." Later, Ogden named it Paul’s River after a trapper who had died along its banks, then Swampy River, and then Mary’s River after the wife of one of the trappers. In 1833, another fur party called it the Barren River. In 1848, John C. Fremont gave the river its present name, Humboldt, after German cartographer Baron Alexander von Humboldt.

first appeared: 3/27/2005

From Aladdin’s lamp to a cocktail glass, 10 restored neon signs from the 1940s to the 1960s compose the outdoor Neon Museum in the Fremont Street area of Las Vegas. Unrestored signs, many manufactured by the Young Electric Sign Co., rest at the 3-acre Neon Boneyard downtown.

first appeared: 3/13/2005

In 1910, rancher Harry Warren bet his friends that he could carry a 120-pound grain sack 10 miles from Wabuska to Yerington (pop. 2,883). Warren reportedly won $1,500 when he completed the distance in about 3.5 hours. To commemorate Warren’s feat, Yerington holds The Great Yerington Sack Race—whenever enough contestants can be rounded up.

first appeared: 2/27/2005

In the early 1900s, as mining fortunes declined, the wood-framed church in Belmont, once the seat of Nye County, was moved in several sections by ox-cart to nearby Manhattan, northeast of Tonopah (pop. 2,627), where it still stands. In 2001, Belmont opened a new church, built by residents along the same design as the original.

first appeared: 2/13/2005

The town of Fallon (pop. 7,536) boomed with the passage of the 1902 Reclamation Act, which called for the federal government to construct dams to provide water for irrigating desert lands. Work began on the Derby Diversion Dam in 1903, the Truckee Canal in 1905, and the Lahontan Dam in 1911. Homesteaders flocked to the area, and soon the town became known as "the oasis of Nevada."

first appeared: 1/30/2005

During the 1920s, 44 farms in the area around Fallon, the seat of Churchill County, grew jumbo-size sweet Hearts O’ Gold cantaloupes. Although the development of new hybrids that were less fragile and therefore easier to ship reduced demand in the 1930s, the melon variety is still grown in the area, which celebrates its heritage with a cantaloupe festival Labor Day weekend.

first appeared: 1/30/2005

Southern sympathizers established a small silver mining camp in the Buena Vista Canyon in 1861 and named their settlement Dixie. By 1862, Union sympathizers who had settled in the area prevailed, and the town’s name was changed to Unionville. The town served as the county seat of Humboldt County (pop. 17,969) from 1862 to 1872 and at its height boasted 1,500 residents, a telegraph office, two general stores and the Humboldt Register newspaper.

first appeared: 1/16/2005

The U.S. Army constructed Fort Churchill near Silver Springs(pop. 4,708) in response to the Pyramid Lake War or Paiute Indian War of 1860.Completed in 1861, the fort provided protection to settlers who had poured intothe area after the discovery of silver in the Washoe Hills. The fort is nowa state historic park.

first appeared: 1/2/2005

from it to build a two-story house that is still standing at nearby BucklandStation not far from Silver Springs. Buckland established his ranch on the CarsonRiver in 1859, providing supplies for pioneers, travelers and soldiers, andBuckland Station served as a Pony Express stop.

first appeared: 1/2/2005

Just outside Gerlach (pop. 499), on the edge of the Black Rock Desert, lies Dooby Lane, or Guru Road. DeWayne "Dooby" Williams, who died in the mid-1990s, spent years creating the mile-long collection of rocks and found objects onto which he etched sayings and advice, such as "The best things in life aren’t things" and "We are here for just a little while. Be nice."

first appeared: 12/19/2004

A 1.5-pound, 2,610-carat opal was found in the Virgin Valley, 125 miles northwest of Winnemucca (pop. 7,174), in 1917. Named for its owner, Col. W.A. Roebling—chief engineer on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge—the Roebling opal now resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

first appeared: 12/5/2004

On the morning of May 1, 1967, at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Anne Beaulieu, whom he'd met eight years earlier while on military duty in Germany. The ceremony took place in hotel owner Milton Prell's suite.

first appeared: 11/21/2004

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