Mineral County

Mineral County exists because the old county was too big to govern. Through the nineteenth century this was the northern end of Esmeralda County, but after Goldfield took the county seat in 1907, the people up here were left a long way from their own courthouse. In 1911 the legislature split the northern portion off as a new county and made Hawthorne its seat. The name was honest advertising: silver, gold, and more lay in these ranges. Walker Lake, the army's ammunition depot, and a scatter of old camps fill it now.

What the plaque says

Nevada's earliest maps show Walker Lake. Jedediah Smith, the first American into Nevada, passed near here in 1828 during his remarkable trip across the state. Peter Skene Ogden was here in 1829, then Fremont in 1845 with his guide, Joseph Walker for whom the lake is named. Until it's creation in 1911, Mineral County was part of Esmeralda. The first county seat was at Aurora but it was moved to Hawthorne in 1883, the year after the Carson and Colorado RR was built. The county had many well-known mining towns, Aurora, Bellville, Candelaria, Rawhide and others.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Hawthorne — 13 mi
• Carson and Colorado R.R. Freight Depot — 14 mi
• Walker River Reservation — 18 mi
• Wilson Canyon — 26 mi