Nevada Historical Events

Date

Event

10,000 bc	The first people appear in Nevada.
8000 bc	Clovis points are made.
300 bc-ad 1100	Expeditions of Fathers Dominguez and Esclante and that of Father Garces approach Nevada.
1826	The expeditions of Jedediah Smith and Peter Ogden make the first known entries of white men into Nevada.
1827	The Great Basin is crossed for the first time by Jedediah Smith.
1841	The Bidwell-Bartleson party follows the Humboldt River route across Nevada to California.
1843	John Frémont begins the first extensive exploration of Nevada.
1846	The Donner party tragedy in the Sierra Nevada Mountains occurs.
1848	The territory of modern Nevada is ceded to the United States by the treaty ending the Mexican War.
1849	Thousands of prospectors cross Nevada on their way to the California goldfields.
1851	The first permanent white settlement in Nevada is established at Mormon Station (present-day Genoa).
1859	The Comstock Lode is discovered.
1860	The Pyramid Lake Indian War occurs.
1861	The Nevada Territory is created.
1864	Nevada becomes the 36th state (October 31).
1868	Reno is founded.
1877	The Comstock decline begins.
1900	Nevada's second mineral boom begins.
1905	The Salt Lake-Los Angeles railroad creates the town of Las Vegas.
1910	Gambling is made illegal.
1914	Women gain the right to vote.
1931	The residence requirement for divorce is reduced to six weeks and gambling is legalized.
1936	The Hoover Dam is completed.
1951	Nuclear testing begins at the Nevada Test Site.
1955	State gaming control begins.
1963	Reapportionment begins to shift political power toward urban areas.
1970	The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is formed.
1979	State legislature launches the Sagebrush Rebellion to acquire federal lands.
1990s	Massive theme resorts dominate the gambling industry in Las Vegas.