Eureka County, Nevada

Eureka County takes its name from its county seat. The State Historic Preservation Office marker at Eureka says a miner is said to have shouted “Eureka!” when he found rich ore there in September 1864. The district developed the first important lead-silver deposits in the nation. During the boom of the 1880s it had 16 smelters, more than 100 saloons, and about 10,000 people. Production began to fall in 1883, and by 1891 the smelters had closed. Their slag piles still mark both ends of Main Street. The Italianate county courthouse was built in 1879–80 of locally fired brick and nearby sandstone for about $38,000, and it still stands. Ore and freight moved on the Eureka and Palisade Railroad, a 90-mile narrow-gauge line finished in October 1875. Its northern terminus was Palisade, a Central Pacific town laid out in February 1870 in Palisade Canyon. Palisade peaked at about 300 people. The narrow gauge ran its last train in September 1938, and the post office closed in 1962. John C. Frémont mapped Diamond Valley, north of Eureka, in 1845. Colonel J.H. Simpson’s 1859 route through the valley’s north end became the Pony Express route in 1860–61. Other camps on this page include Ruby Hill, Mineral Hill, and Diamond City. At old mine sites, keep out of shafts and adits.