Eureka (Nevada)
Eureka County
32-23900
Eureka is a small town in the heart of the U.S. state of Nevada. It was founded in 1864, when they came near to silver -bearing ore. In 1990 the city counted 650 inhabitants. Eureka is the only town in Eureka County and also its county seat.
The city has largely retained its original character as miners settlement of the Wild West since the 19th century - including several saloons and today used as a multipurpose room small opera house, which was built in 1880. Within the urban area there is a small airport.
Geography
Eureka is located 1900 m above sea level in the Diamond Mountain Range at the southern end of Diamond Valley.
The city is located on U.S. Highway 50, known as " The Loneliest Road in America" ( the loneliest road in America): to the west is the nearest town Austin 114 km far away, to the east you drive to Ely 124 km. The nearest settlement is the small Western Shoshone Reservation Duckwater, the south is 94 km further and can only be reached via an unpaved dirt road.
The climate is typically hot for the Great Basin, dry summers with occasional monsoonal thunderstorms in July and August, cold and relatively dry winter. The snowfall amounts vary from no snowfall in mild winters up to 90 centimeters. The temperatures drop in winter to -7 ° C.
History
The city was first settled in 1864 by whites, who were in search of silver. 1873 Eureka became the county seat when the county from the neighboring counties today Lander County, Elko County and White Pine County was separated.
The mining industry was the economic driving factor in advancing the city. The nearby mountain ranges proved to be the second richest deposits in Nevada, just after the occurrence in Comstock Lode in the west of the state. Among the largest companies in Eureka included the Richmond Mining Company and the Eureka Mining Company. The two companies came frequently in conflict with each other; in one case reached the dispute even to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The population boomed during this period, reaching in 1878 more than 10,000 inhabitants; she went back later, as the income from the mining declined and led to the changing marketing conditions for closure of mines.