Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864
and this year is celebrates its Sesquicentennial so I thought I’d share a few
facts about the Silver state.
·
Although it is called the Silver state, it is
also known as the Sagebrush state and the Battle Born state.
·
The name Nevada came from the Spanish word nieve meaning "snow-capped”.
·
It is the seventh largest state in the union and
the most mountainous.
·
Over 90% of Nevada is owned by BLM (the Bureau
of Land Management).
·
In 1999 Nevada had 205,726 slot machines, one
for every 10 residents.
·
Nevadans usually pronounce the second syllable
of their state name using the /æ/ vowel of "bad". Many from outside
the Western United States pronounce it with the /ɑː/ vowel of
"father" /nəˈvɑːdə/.
·
Samuel Clemens moved to Virginia City and took
the penname "Mark Twain" as a reporter working for the
"Territorial Enterprise.”
·
Carson City is one of the smallest state
capitals in the country.
·
Nevada is the largest gold-producing state in
the nation. It is second in the world behind South Africa.
·
Hoover Dam, the largest single public works
project in the history of the United States, contains 3.25 million cubic yards
of concrete, which is enough to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to
New York.
·
The state's Highway 50, known as the Loneliest
Highway in America, received its name from "Life" magazine in 1986.
There are few road stops in the 287 mile stretch between Ely and Fernley.
·
Nevada tribes include the Shoshone, Washo and
Paiute.
·
Area 51 is acknowledged with State Route 375
officially christened "The Extraterrestrial Highway" in a ceremony
featuring the director and cast of the movie "Independence Day." The
highway runs between Alamo and Tonopah. There is a tiny restaurant stop at the
Little Ale' Inn at Rachel.
·
The only Nevada lake with an outlet to the sea
is man made Lake Mead.
·
Las Vegas has more hotel rooms than any other
place on earth.
·
The longest morse code telegram ever sent was
the Nevada state constitution. Sent from Carson City to Washington D.C. in
1864. The transmission must have taken several hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment