Nevada
11 most endangered historic sites in Nevada in 2023
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Preserve Nevada has released their annual list of the 11 most endangered historic sites around the state. In partnership with UNLV, organizers are taking a look at the vulnerable cultural landmarks.
From concerns about increasing development, mining operations, modernization standards, and deteriorating buildings, preservationists have identified the following sites that will soon need action in a new release by Keyonna Summers with UNLV.
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort
The settlement dates back to 1855 and has been cited as the “birthplace of modern Las Vegas,” according to Summers. The fort, built by Mormon missionaries from Utah, has significance in the early establishment of Las Vegas as Indigenous people, Spaniards, and Americans traveled through the area due to a spring-fed creek flowing through the valley.
Preservationists are now concerned, however, with quick expansions happening in the Cultural Corridor of the valley, especially after the demolition of the Nevada State government offices across the street.
Peehee mu’huh, or Rotten Moon (also known as Thacker Pass)
Tribal leaders say the area saw the massacre of 31 men, women, and children (Winnemucca Grammar School/Facebook)
by government soldier in 1865. Now, growing development of what officials in the mining industry say is the largest lithium deposit in the nation could threaten the somber historic site.
Winnemucca Grammar School
The 1920s construction of this school marked an era for Winnemucca that departed from its mining past and as a bustling economic force for the region. Even today, the school is still in use and offers the community an example of Nevada’s early education investments.
Decades of limited funding have left the building in desperate need of repairs, including water damage, a deteriorating foundation, loose bricks, and crumbling molding. Now, administrators say they are concerned with finding funds to adapt the old structure to meet modern standards.
Southern Pacific Repair Shops (Warehouse)
The warehouse was built when the Southern Pacific Railroad relocated from Wadsworth, Nevada and is credited as playing a major role in the founding of Sparks, just outside Reno. The area sprung up quickly, with promises of $1 plots of land.
The bustling area was eventually separated from the rest of the city by the I-80 in northern Nevada. While many of the surrounding buildings were demolished, the steel, metal and brick frame building has become a symbol for the area’s history—eventually landing on the National Register of Historic Places in the early 1980s. It was delisted for unclear reasons, according to a UNLV report.
Now this final building from the era faces demolition as the Southern Pacific Railroad announced plans to tear it down.
Elko Water Company Canal System “Chinese Water Ditch”
After the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, thousands of immigrant laborers from China were laid off. However, ranching and mining were booming in eastern Nevada.
A major canal system project in the late 19th century provides a testament to the work and life of Chinese laborers in the region. However, little documentation or preservation has protected this piece of history.
Bethel Church and the City of Reno’s Northwest Quadrant
Jacobs Entertainment is transforming Reno with the Neon Line District development. Right in its path are historic buildings such as the Bethen African Methodist Episcopal Church. The location hosted NAACP chapter meetings during the segregation era and locals are concerned Jacobs Entertainment’s work will erase this building or its surrounding history.
Lemaire Store, Battle Mountain
The store popped up as the town of Battle Mountain was being established. Now, it is one of the oldest commercial buildings in the area. Preservationists say by preserving the storefront, the historic legacy of the town, and one of its leading families that ran the store for more than a century, would also be preserved.
The Battle Mountain Cookhouse Museum is leading efforts to highlight the town’s cultural history, including the Lemaire Store which hosted the 1912-1914 campaign to secure voting rights for white Nevada women.
1930s Motor Courts
Following the national push to develop two-lane highways from the 1910s onward, motor courts and motels popped up around the country. In Nevada, the themes reflect Western lore and aesthetics. By preserving them, the architectural styles of Mid Century Modern, Art Deco, and Googie influences will be preserved around the state.
UNLV points to rising land values and new development as threats to these buildings and businesses.
Historic Cemeteries and Burial Sites
Cemeteries quickly became integral to even the tiniest towns in Nevada as harsh mining conditions quickly lead to many deaths in short-lived towns in the mid 1800s. As mines ran dry entire communities left, with their loved ones left buried.
Decades of summer heat, and instances of vandalism, have left cemeteries in poor conditions. Preservationists say protection and stewardship are needed to keep the memories of Nevada’s founding industry miners alive for future generations. There were over 3,000 such cemeteries in Nevada identified in a 1962 study.
Mineral and Nye County Courthouses
Both courthouses in rural Nevada hold significant historic markers of their time. The Mineral County courthouse was the seat of two counties, the Hawthorne building previously served as the Esmeralda County seat.
Nye County’s courthouse was one of the most expensive construction projects of its era in Nevada. It cost $55,000 in 1905 dollars. Now, however, the building is in poor shape, with water damage and partial collapses leading to $200,000 granted just to stabilize the roof. Preservationists say more work is needed to keep the building safe.
Downtown Austin
Austin is located on the famed Loneliest Road in America on US-50. There are many buildings considered historically significant, but decades of neglect and vandalism have left the downtown area with declining character.
There is a push to commercialize downtown, with features that are considered inappropriate. Preservationists say a careful approach to revamping the area is essential in order to not lose the history of the early Nevada mining town.
Full article and photos with more information can be found here.
The semi-celebrities and quacks (not that they’re mutually exclusive) get a lot of attention, but one recent appointment announced by Donald Trump is cause for even more concern, and especially for historically anti-government states like Nevada.
Trump on Friday named Russ Vought his director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Of all the Project 2025 authors, none is more eager to create chaos within and dismantle much of the federal bureaucracy than Vought
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought has declared. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”
Minimizing the the federal workforce and traumatizing what’s left of it is Vought’s raison d’etre.
That might sound all “ooh, cool, that’ll teach ’em” — until the federal government can’t competently distribute grandma’s monthly Social Security benefit or process your federal income tax refund.
In Nevada, there are many dedicated state and local government employees who work hard to deliver a vast array of programs and services – from nutrition programs for low-income families to processing tax abatements for multi-billion-dollar corporations.
As in every state, those myriad programs and services and initiatives are contingent on federal money, or federal cooperation, or clarity and timeliness of federal rules and regulations.
And while there are many dedicated Nevadans working to provide and/or administer government programs and services the best they can, there are very rarely enough of them. Nevada can be very generous to big business. But when it comes to financing government, Nevada has always been a notoriously cheap state – bottom of the good lists, top of the bad lists, etc.
Vought’s – and Trump’s – crusade against federal civil servants promises to wreak havoc on the delivery of programs and services in every state, red and blue alike.
All states will struggle to compensate for the carnage Vought vows to inflict on the United States civil service.
The states that will have the best fighting chance of safeguarding continued and competent delivery of vital services will be those with something approaching adequately funded and staffed state and local government. Nevada has never been one of those.
***
A pleasant (if short-lived) surprise. But back to the aforementioned quacks and semi-celebrities… it’s as if Trump has been deliberately debasing his own supporters, nominating obviously outlandish and offensive people to jobs they have no business being anywhere near, for the depraved satisfaction of watching his followers – both those who are elected and those within the electorate – obsequiously go along with whatever he says or does.
Initially it looked as if Republican senators were prepared to surrender unconditionally, and grovel in submission while Trump insults their intelligence and rubs their noses in it.
So their willingness to tell Trump to shove his nomination of Matt Gaetz you know where, is a fine thing.
So that’s on the bright side.
On the not so bright side… Yes, though it’s a low bar – subterranean, even – Pam Bondi, the person Trump has named to be AG instead of Gaetz, is far more competent than Gaetz. But she’s also no less loyal to Dear Leader, meaning she could be even worse for the nation and the rule of law than Gaetz. And not surprisingly – her being an extreme Trump loyalist and all – she has documented dalliances with corruption (shielding the Trump University grift) and rejecting reality (election denier).
Stay strong, Republican senators,
Portions of this column were originally published in recent editions of the Daily Current newsletter, which is free and which you can subscribe to here.
A majority of Nevada voters rejected Question 3 on the Nov. 5 ballot. This complex amendment would have eliminated party primaries, advanced five candidates to general elections and introduced a new voting method in general elections
I moved to Nevada in 2021 to care for my aging mother. Before that time, I lived in Maine, where I led efforts that opened Maine’s primaries to all voters and protected the nation’s first statewide ranked-choice voting law.
My values and experience inform me that initiatives to change how we elect our leaders should make their way to voters as the result of home-grown and grassroots movements that are thoughtful, collaborative, strategic and patient.
I am dumbfounded that out-of-state donors and advocates would come into Nevada, steamroll stakeholders and potential allies, rush a constitutional amendment to ballot and spend millions to score a quick win for their preferred policy prescription to our political ills.
As a recent Review-Journal editorial noted, the national coalition behind Question 3 pushed similar initiatives in other states in 2024. Voters rejected each of these proposals.
Here are a few of my takeaways from these failed efforts:
■ Mission and strategy must align. Election reform is inherently hopeful and optimistic. Ramming through policy changes and seeking to buy elections are anti-democratic and deeply cynical approaches to politics. Coalitions with antithetical missions and strategies will almost always fail to achieve the real and lasting change that they seek.
■ Patience is practical. Process matters. How change is made can be as important as what change is made, especially when it comes to process reforms. Elections and voting reform initiatives must be organized by local leaders who will build coalitions and recruit volunteers to secure majority support for their cause, one voter and one conversation at a time. The proper role of national groups is not to lead or dictate, but to support.
■ There is no single solution to fix our broken politics. There are 50 states and more than 50 ways of conducting elections and voting in the United States. While policymakers and advocates should learn from one another, we should be skeptical of anyone or any group that promises a silver bullet or pushes a one-size-fits-all solution.
Voters aren’t stupid. We have a sense when politicians and special interests are trying to put one over on us. Question 3 didn’t pass the straight-face test.
That’s too bad because my experience with ranked-choice voting in Maine has taught me that it works to eliminate vote-splitting and ensure majority winners. You have the freedom to vote for the candidate you like best without worrying that your vote will be “wasted” or that you will help to elect the candidate you like least. In both Maine and Alaska, ranked-choice voting has stopped extreme candidates from winning congressional races.
Ranked-choice voting also increases voter turnout, reduces negative campaigning and encourages more women and minorities to run for office.
Surveys from the states and cities in which millions of Americans rank their vote indicate that voters find it to be simple and easy to use and preferable.
One of the most disappointing false attacks on ranked-choice voting is that communities of color might find it difficult to rank candidates. To suggest that white voters are intellectually superior to voters of color is a racist argument.
Nevadans are frustrated with politics as usual. We know that our system isn’t working like it should. We know that billionaires and corporations have too much power and influence over decisions that affect us all. We want to strengthen our democracy for future generations.
Had the national advocates behind Question 3 approached this effort differently, I believe that there might have been a different outcome.
Kyle Bailey moved to Nevada in 2021 and previously served in the Maine House of Representatives.
The Nevada state high school football championships are here. Here’s how you can watch any of the championship games online on NFHS network.
Watch: Nevada High School football championships
The NIAA state football championships will air from Nov. 23 to Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
How can I watch Nevada high school football? Fans can subscribe to NFHS Sports Network, a nationwide streaming platform for more than 9,000 high school sports. You can find the list of available schools here.
How much does an NFHS subscription cost? Is there a free trial to NFHS Network? An annual subscription costs $79.99, or you can pay monthly for $11.99 per month.
Can you watch NFHS on your phone or TV? NFHS Network is available on smart TVs like Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Google Chromecast, as well as on iOS and Android smartphones.
Nov. 23:
10 a.m. PT: 2024 NIAA 2A Football Championship Incline Vs. Pershing County
1:30 p.m. PT: 2024 NIAA 5A Div. II Football Championship Faith Lutheran Vs. Bishop Manogue
Nov. 25:
Noon PT: 2024 NIAA 5A Div. III Football Championship Galena Vs. Centennial
Nov. 26:
9 a.m. PT: 2024 NIAA 1A Football Championship Pahranagat Valley Vs. Tonopah
12:20 p.m. PT: 2024 NIAA 3A Football Championship Truckee Vs. SLAM Nevada
3:40 p.m. PT: 2024 NIAA 4A Football Championship Canyon Springs Vs. Mojave
7 p.m. PT: 2024 NIAA 5A Div. I Football Championship Arbor View Vs. Bishop Gorman
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust.
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