Fifty / Fifty: Nevada Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Nevada does mean snow capped in Spanish and is named after of the range Sierra Nevada mountains which lie principally to the west in California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. Nevada comprises several north-south mountain ranges with some mountains topping 12 000 feet in the north.

The northern part of the state is semi-arid, but the southern part around Las Vegas is right in the middle of the Mojave desert.

Answer: True

The Mountain States include: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The words "Mountain States" refer to the US States which encompass the US Rocky Mountains which stretch from Northern British Columbia to New Mexico though strictly speaking they do not cross into Nevada. Nevada has 172 mountain peaks over 2,000 feet (610 m). Nevada ranks second in the United States by number of mountains, after Alaska, and ahead of California, Montana, and Washington. (Note: California and Washington do not belong in the mountain states). Of the mountain states, Nevada has the fourth highest mean elevation behind Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

Answer: False

Nevada achieved statehood in 1864, in part to bolster Abraham Lincoln's chances of re-election. The eastern border of the Nevada Territory was moved east in 1862, and again in 1867 at the expense of Utah which, because of its predominance of Mormons was distrusted by the government.

However, Nevada lacked a navigable river so the northern part of the Arizona Territory was added to southern Nevada. This new boundary included the Colorado River which linked a trade route from Idaho and Montana to San Francisco.

Answer: False

When it was completed in 1935, Hoover Dam was the highest dam in the world. At 726 ft or 221 metres, the dam is is as tall as a 60-story building. Its base is as thick as two football fields are long. Each of two spillways can handle the volume of water that spill over Niagara Falls.

The amount of concrete used in building is enough to make a road stretching the width of contiguous USA from San Francisco to New York City. To build the Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Nevada, was constructed to house 5,000 dam workers. Lake Mead, created by the Hoover Dam damming the Colorado River, became the nation's largest reservoir, and covers 248 square miles and is capable of holding some 29 million acre-feet of water (One acre-foot is equals approximately 325,000 gallons).

Answer: False

U.S. Route 50 is a major east-west route of the U.S. Highway system (not the Interstate System), reaching over 3,000 miles or 4,800 km from West Sacramento, California, to Ocean City, Maryland. In the Western US, the route runs through mostly rural desert and mountains.

The highway traverses Nevada from west to east. The road runs through Carson City, the state capital, then crosses a series of north-south mountain ranges that divide the Nevada desert. East of Carson City, the road enters the middle of the Great Basin, passing by few small communities with only basic services, giving it the name "Loneliest Road in America".

This section then crosses the Utah border.

Answer: True

Most water sources in Nevada, (itself mostly covered by the Great Basin), end up draining into an endorheic basin which by definition "is a limited drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans".

The outflow is to swamps (not in Nevada) or lakes. Lake Mead is on the Colorado River which is the only river in Nevada that reaches the sea, in this case at the Gulf of California in Mexico. Ironically most of the water in the lower reaches have been diverted to southern California for agriculture, so the river is dry when it reaches the sea.

Answer: False

Nevada has a reputation for liberal legislature. This was a deliberate ploy. In 1930, with a population of 100,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws first introduced in 1931 transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination.

The stock market crash of 1929 and the Hoover Dam project created an economic depression in Nevada. The need for economic relief led to the legalisation of gambling. In 1931, Nevada legalised gambling when Assembly Bill 98 was passed, providing a much needed revenue for the state. The Pair-O-Dice opened as a nightclub in 1930 and became the first legalised casino after the gambling law was introduced in 1931.

It was the second resort on the Strip.

It changed its name to the Frontier and then the Last Frontier before it was demolished in 2007.

Answer: True

Reno, in the north-west of Nevada, is located at 119.8138° W. Los Angeles is located at 118.2437° W. This apparent anomaly is because LA is situated south of the diagonal boundary (the longest diagonal state border in the country) so you are travelling between a Pacific Coast state to a Mountain state but overall you are travelling ever so slightly west. To actually drive between these two cities you have to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains near LA or Reno and the rest of the trip you are driving north-west parallel to these mountains.

Answer: True

The Comstock Lode was a lode of silver ore located under Mount Davidson, a peak in Nevada (then western Utah Territory). It was the first major discovery of silver ore in the US and started a silver rush not seen since the gold rush of 1849. When Nevada gained statehood in 1864, it became the Silver State.
However gold is by far the most important mineral mined in Nevada. In 2004, the state accounted for 8.7% of world gold production. In 2016, Nevada produced 78% of the US gold. The US itself is the fourth largest gold producer in the world behind, China, Australia and Russia.

Answer: True

The statehood of Nevada was rushed as it was thought to be needed to re-elect President Lincoln. It would have been normal practice to send the state constitution to Washington overland but to save time the text of the State Constitution, in full, was sent by telegraph at a cost of $3,417. Statehood was then facilitated by October 31 1864 to assist in ensuring Abraham Lincoln's reelection on November 8. Ironically Mr Lincoln won easily and did not need Nevada's votes.