Nevada celebrates its 162nd anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 31, with a history rooted in a wartime push for statehood and an extraordinary telegraph transmission. Carson City’s Nevada Day Parade begins at 10 a.m. under the theme “Pumpkins, Pioneers and Tall Tales.” The Nevada State Archives will also display original constitutional drafts from 1863 and 1864 at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at 100 N. Stewart St.
The territory’s admission became urgent during the Civil War. Congress sought additional electoral support for President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection and stronger Republican representation, despite Nevada having roughly one-fifth of the population normally required for statehood. Lincoln also saw a Union ally that could support proposed antislavery amendments, contribute mineral resources and help counter possible Confederate advances toward California.
A missing document nearly delayed the process. Territorial Gov. James W. Nye had mailed certified copies of Nevada’s constitution, but learned on Oct. 24, 1864, that Washington had received only the vote count. Two days later, Carson City telegrapher James H. Guild began transmitting the 16,543-word constitution. Relayed through Salt Lake City, Chicago and Philadelphia, it cost more than $4,300 and interrupted military dispatches for over five hours.
The telegram reached Lincoln late on Oct. 28. Nevada officially joined the Union on Oct. 31, 1864, becoming the 36th state just eight days before the presidential election. Only West Virginia had also gained admission during the war. That history lives on in the flag’s “Battle Born” wording, although Nevada’s official motto is “All for Our Country.”
Nevada’s human history reaches much further back. People inhabited what is now Southern Nevada as long as 11,000 years ago. The Western Shoshone, Goshute, Ute, Paiute and Washoe of the Great Basin descend from communities established hundreds to thousands of years ago. The United States acquired the land that became Nevada through the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Mining accelerated settlement after the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode. Silver helped finance the state’s early expansion, but falling prices and mine closures later contributed to a population decline from 62,000 in 1880 to 47,000 in 1890. Discoveries near Tonopah, Ely and Goldfield revived mining after 1900. Gold now dominates, with Nevada Gold Mines producing about 2.6 million ounces in 2025.
Southern Nevada developed around different foundations. Railroad investor and U.S. Sen. William A. Clark secured spring water rights and auctioned land near a new Las Vegas depot in 1905. Gambling legalization in 1931 and construction of the dam later named Hoover Dam helped transform the town. The dam brought workers who visited casinos and supplied water and electricity for the growing city.
Federal ownership remains a defining feature of Nevada. A Congressional Research Service report puts the federal share at 79.8%, the highest among the states, while noting that its accounting covers only five agencies. Nevada’s statehood conditions required it to relinquish claims to unappropriated public lands. Later laws generally favored retaining federal land, although legislation enacted in 1998 permits sales of certain parcels in Clark County.
