Liberal Arts Blog — State Capitals (VII) Carson City, Nevada — the Comstock Lode, The US Mint, Lake Tahoe
Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Miscellaneous Day
Today’s Topic — State Capitals (VII) Carson City, Nevada — the Comstock Lode, The US Mint, Lake Tahoe
Carson City, on the eastern edge of the Sierra Madre, started off as a way station for prospectors seeking their fortune during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Ten years later, discovery of the Comstock Lode (the biggest silver strike in history) turned the tiny trading post into a city. Five year later, in 1864, it became the state capital. Today, the city’s main attraction is the US Mint (now the Nevada State Museum). After a merger with Ormsby County in 1969, the city’s limits stretch to Lake Tahoe on the California border. Today, a few notes on the Mint, Lake Tahoe, and Nevada in general. This is the seventh in a series on state capitals that I have never visited. The idea is to get out of the Boston bubble. Never having driven cross-country, I thought it was time to do so virtually. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE CARSON CITY MINT, 1870–1885, 1890–1893) — Mecca for Coin Collectors
1. In 1863, a branch of the US Mint was established to facilitate the coinage of silver and gold from nearby mines. The San Francisco mint was inconveniently far away. The Carson City Mint was in operation from 1870 to 1885 and then again from 1890 to 1893. It served as an Assay Office (for purity testing) until 1933. In 1939 the building was sold to the state of Nevada for $10,000.
2. Silver denominations minted included Seated Liberty Silver Dollars, Morgan Dollars, and Trade Dollars. Gold denominations included: Double Eagles ($20), Eagles ($10), and Half Eagles ($5) gold coins.
3. Gold and silver coins marked “CC” are treasured and highly valued by numismatists. One special dime, for example, the “1873 CC without arrows” is now valued at $3.5 MM.
LAKE TAHOE — Largest alpine lake in the US, by volume the sixth largest after the five Great Lakes
1. Second deepest lake in the US (1645 ft), after Oregon’s Crater Lake (1949 ft).
2. “At lake level, the opposing shorelines are below the horizon at its widest parts; by nearly 100 feet (30 m) at its maximum width, and by some 320 feet (98 m) along its length.”
3. The Truckee River is the lake’s only outlet, flowing northeast through Reno, Nevada, into Pyramid Lake which has no outlet. It accounts for one third of the water that leaves the lake, the rest evaporating from the lake’s vast surface.”
NB: Lake Tahoe is about a 33 minute drive from the center of town.
NEVADA — Once Part of the Vice Royalty of New Spain (1521–1821), named for its snowy peaks
1. Part of Mexico from (1821–1848), then part of the Utah Territory (1848–1861), then its own territory (1861–1864) before statehood.
2. 81% owned and managed by the Federal government for military and civilian uses. Why? The state was too dry for homesteads. It’s mostly desert. The Nevada Test Site was the primary site for US nuclear testing from 1951 to 1992. Of the 992 tests, 828 were underground.
3. Demographics: total pop 2.7 MM, concentrated in Las Vegas (1.9 MM) and Reno (.4 MM). While 66% of Nevada’s population is white, 64% of children of age 1 are minorities. The Las Vegas white population is 48.7%.
NB: Nevada is the only state where prostitution is legal. Also one of the lowest church attendance rates of any state. It was the “divorce capital” of the US for decades, although it did have a “divorce trade war” with Idaho and Arkansas. The required residency rule declined from 6 months in 1909 to 3 months in 1927 to 6 weeks in 1931. Politically, Nevada is divided with the less populous north being strongly Republican and south Democratic. The state is considered a “bellwether” because is has picked the winner in 26 of the last 27 presidential elections, the highest ratio of any state. The Governor, Steve Sisolak, and the two US Senators (Catherine Masto and Jerry Rosen) are all Democrats as are three of the four US reps.
The History of the Carson City Mint | U.S. Mint
Here’s how land is used by the federal government in Nevada
YOUR TURN
So have you been to Helena? to Montana? Highlights of the trip? Anything miscellaneous to share from anywhere? Jokes? Practical life tips? Favorite foods? Random facts? This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind a memory that might otherwise disappear. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to the depth of thought.
