Nevada Territory

The Nevada Territory was an organized territory of the United States, which consisted of 2 March 1861 to 31 October 1864. At this time, the territory was admitted as 36th state with the name of Nevada into the Union. The territorial capital was first Genoa and was then moved to Carson City.

History

Prior to the creation of Nevada Territory, the area of the western part of the Utah Territory and was known as Washoe. The separation of the territory of Utah was important for the federal government, since prevailed between the majority Christian population in Nevada and the rest of the Mormons in Utah Territory severe tensions.

Due to the rich silver deposits in Nevada, there was an ever increasing population of miners, but was required for the statehood is not enough. However, the Union took the silver, and the general anti-slavery movement of its people trumped the population problem and led to statehood.

James Warren Nye was the only territorial governor of Nevada Territory. Prior Issac Roop held the office as the first provisional territorial governor. The Secretary of the Territory was Orion Clemens, older brother of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain ).

Limit

The eastern boundary of Nevada Territory was defined by the 116 longitude, but when gold was discovered in the east of Nevada, demanded territorial delegation in the U.S. Congress, the laying of the border to the 115 longitude, which was finally granted in 1862. As more gold deposits were detected then later, the border of the 114 longitude one more time in 1864 moved. This eastern boundary changes come at the expense of the Utah Territory.

The southern boundary of the Nevada Territory was defined by the 37th parallel, but asked Nevada in 1866 the U.S. Congress the border south to the Colorado River to lay. The U.S. Congress approved the request in 1867 and gave Nevada the whole western end of the Arizona Territory. Arizona protested strongly against it, but found little sympathy, since this part of Arizona was on the side of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

The exact location of the California - Nevada border, between Lake Tahoe and the intersection of the 35th degree of latitude with the Colorado River, was controversial and has been surveyed repeatedly, most recently in the 20th century. The U.S. Congress transferred a small piece of land west of the Colorado River including the Pah- Ute County, which belonged to the Arizona Territory, on May 5, 1866 the State of Nevada. This southern tip of Nevada was then renamed in Clark County and includes the present-day city of Las Vegas.