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Nelson | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 35°42′26″N114°49′34″W / 35.70722°N 114.82611°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Nevada |
County | Clark (Eldorado Valley) |
Area | |
• Total | 4.80 sq mi (12.43 km2) |
• Land | 4.80 sq mi (12.43 km2) |
• Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 22 |
• Density | 4.58/sq mi (1.77/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Area code(s) | 702 and 725 |
FIPS code | 32-50600 |
Nelson is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone. The location of Nelson is in El Dorado Canyon, Eldorado Mountains. The town is in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 37. [2]
Nelson is located along Nevada State Route 165, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of its junction with U.S. Route 95. Route 165 continues east 5 miles (8 km) to a dead end at Nelsons Landing on the Colorado River, 18 miles (29 km) by water north of Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Nelson is about 25 miles (40 km) from Boulder City by road.
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 22 | — | |
U.S. Decennial Census [3] |
The area known as Nelson was originally called Eldorado in 1775, by the Spaniards who made the original discoveries of gold in the area that is now Eldorado Canyon. The town was the site of one of the first major gold strikes in Nevada and one of the biggest mining booms in state history. Gold and silver were discovered here around 1859. The rush to the canyon began in 1861, several mining camps were established in the canyon, and a steamboat landing at the mouth of the canyon on the Colorado River, called Colorado City.
In its heyday, the area established a reputation for being rough and lawless. During the American Civil War, deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies would wander there, hoping that such an isolated location would be the last place military authorities would look for them.
Among the early mines established was the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Labor disputes, and disagreements over ownership and management, resulted in wanton killings so frequent as to be routine and ordinary. Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, it along with others in the town produced several million dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead. The mines in the canyon were active from about 1858 until 1945.
The community called Nelson was named for Charles Nelson, a camp leader who was slain in his home, along with four other people, in 1897 by the renegade Indian, Avote. [4]
Between 1901 and 1905, the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was built across southern Nevada, through Las Vegas, to Daggett, California where it connected to the AT&SF, and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. [5] Because this nearby railhead ended the need for steamboats at Eldorado Canyon, the landing and the mill there were abandoned. The town of Nelson was born near the head of the canyon nearest the road to the railroad, the post office of Eldorado was closed on August 31, 1907 and moved to Nelson. [6] : 53
Nelson's Landing, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Nelson at the downstream end of Eldorado Canyon, was the village and landing established on the Colorado River reservoir, Lake Mohave, where the canyon had its confluence with the lake. The wharf area of Nelson's Landing was destroyed during a flash flood on September 14, 1974. [7] 35°42′27″N114°42′42″W / 35.70750°N 114.71167°W
Nelson's Landing washed into Lake Mohave after a strong downpour in the regional mountains sent the runoff down the channels and produced a flash flood. There are five wide channels that run from the local mountains toward the river, all of which converge into a small outlet where Nelson's Landing was. The entire landing and village were destroyed and ten people died when the flood came through the wash. Among those killed was Ted Ducey, head coach of basketball at Claremont Men's College, now Claremont McKenna College. [8] The wall of water and debris was reported as about 40 feet (12 m) high as it reached the river.
The mines and the landing are accessible through the town of Nelson off US 95 about 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas. Much of Nelson, which was not impacted by the 1974 flood, remains today and is located near the top of the wash, away from the flood channels. The sparsely populated community consists mainly of privately owned ranch houses, and a river and mining tour business housed in a former Texaco gas station, north of the road from the Techatticup Mine, that has been used as a filming location for several feature films, including 3000 Miles to Graceland .
The fate of Nelson's Landing is a warning to visitors to this region who should watch for conditions leading to flash flooding. They should also be cautious of open mines and ventilation shafts.
Nelson appears in the 2010 videogame Fallout: New Vegas . [9]
Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada, which also comprises the Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The land area of Clark County is 8,061 square miles (20,880 km2), or roughly the size of New Jersey. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which has 2,196,623 people as of the 2020 Census. It is by far the most populous county in Nevada, and the 11th-most populous county in the United States. It covers 7% of the state's land area but holds 73% of the state's population, making Nevada the most centralized state in the United States.
Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United States.
Bullhead City is a city located on the Colorado River in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, 97 miles (156 km) south of Las Vegas, Nevada, and directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, whose casinos and ancillary services supply much of the employment for Bullhead City. Bullhead City is located at the southern end of Lake Mohave.
The Mohave Valley is a valley located mostly on the east shore of the south-flowing Colorado River in northwest Arizona. The valley extends into California's San Bernardino County; the northern side of the valley extends into extreme southeast Clark County, Nevada. The main part of the valley lies in southwest Mohave County, Arizona and is at the intersection of the southeast Mojave and northwest Sonoran deserts.
The Old Spanish Trail is a historical trade route that connected the northern New Mexico settlements of Santa Fe, New Mexico with those of Los Angeles, California and southern California. Approximately 700 mi (1,100 km) long, the trail ran through areas of high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons. It is considered one of the most arduous of all trade routes ever established in the United States. Explored, in part, by Spanish explorers as early as the late 16th century, the trail was extensively used by traders with pack trains from about 1830 until the mid-1850s. The area was part of Mexico from Mexican independence in 1821 to the Mexican Cession to the United States in 1848.
The Mojave Road, also known as Old Government Road, is a historic route and present day dirt road across what is now the Mojave National Preserve in the Mojave Desert in the United States. This rough road stretched 147 miles (237 km) from Beale's Crossing, to Fork of the Road location along the north bank of the Mojave River where the old Mojave Road split off from the route of the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road.
Beaver Dam is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, that is located in the Arizona Strip region and was settled on December 2, 1863. It is located along Interstate 15 approximately 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Mesquite, Nevada. It is located in the 86432 ZIP Code. It had a population of 1,552 as of the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 1,962 tabulated in 2010.
The Eldorado Mountains, also called the El Dorado Mountains, are a north-south trending mountain range in southeast Nevada bordering west of the south-flowing Colorado River; the endorheic Eldorado Valley borders the range to the west, and the range is also on the western border of the Colorado River's Black Canyon of the Colorado, and El Dorado Canyon on the river. The range is 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada; and the Eldorado Mountains connect with the Highland and Newberry mountains.
Sego is a ghost town in Grand County, Utah, United States. It lies in the narrow, winding Sego Canyon, in the Book Cliffs some 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Thompson Springs. Formerly an important eastern Utah coal mining town, Sego was inhabited about 1910–1955. The town is accessed via the grade of the Ballard & Thompson Railroad, a spur from the Denver and Rio Grande Western built by the founders of the town to transport the coal.
Eldorado Valley, or El Dorado Valley, is a Great Basin valley in the Mojave Desert southeast of Las Vegas and southwest of Boulder City, Nevada. The valley is endorheic, containing the Eldorado Dry Lake. The Great Basin Divide, transects ridgelines and saddles, on the north, northeast, east, and south around the valley, as the valley sits on the east of the McCullough Range, a Great Basin massif, on the Great Basin Divide at its north terminus and its south terminus. Much of the valley is protected as part of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.
The Piute Wash of extreme southeastern Nevada and northeast San Bernardino County California is the south-flowing drainage of the Piute Valley. The wash and valley are located northwest of Needles, California.
The Piute Valley is a 45-mile-long (72 km) north–south valley southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Needles. The north of the valley is at Searchlight, with some of the valley extending northwest from Searchlight. At the center-north lies Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada.
El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing.
Callville is a former settlement of Clark County in the U.S. state of Nevada. Abandoned in 1869, it was submerged under Lake Mead when the Colorado River was dammed, Callville Bay retaining the name. At one time, it was noted to be the southernmost outpost of the Mormon settlement.
Steamboats on the Colorado River operated from the river mouth at the Colorado River Delta on the Gulf of California in Mexico, up to the Virgin River on the Lower Colorado River Valley in the Southwestern United States from 1852 until 1909, when the construction of the Laguna Dam was completed. The shallow draft paddle steamers were found to be the most economical way to ship goods between the Pacific Ocean ports and settlements and mines along the lower river, putting in at landings in Sonora state, Baja California Territory, California state, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and Nevada state. They remained the primary means of transportation of freight until the advent of the more economical railroads began cutting away at their business from 1878 when the first line entered Arizona Territory.
El Dorado City, which is now a ghost town, was a mining camp in the Colorado Mining District at the mouth of January Wash at its confluence with El Dorado Canyon. It was located about a mile down the canyon from Huse Spring, at an elevation of 2,382 feet (726 m). Its site was located nearby to the south southeast of the Techatticup Mine the primary source of the ore its mill processed.
Colorado City is now a ghost town, in Clark County, Nevada, located under Lake Mohave at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon.
Boulder Canyon, originally Devils Gate Canyon, is a canyon on the Colorado River, above Hoover Dam, now flooded by Lake Mead. It lies between Clark County, Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona. It heads at western end of the Virgin River Basin of Lake Mead, at about 36°09′05″N114°32′51″W. Boulder Canyon divides the Black Mountains into the Black Mountains of Arizona, and the Black Mountains of Nevada. Its mouth is now under the eastern end of the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead, between Canyon Point in Nevada and Canyon Ridge in Arizona. Its original mouth is now underneath Lake Mead between Beacon Rock and Fortification Ridge on the southern shore in Arizona.
Cottonwood Island, a large island in the Colorado River, within Cottonwood Valley, in Clark County, Nevada. Cottonwood Island was a low-lying island about 10 miles long and up to 3 miles wide. It was forested by cottonwoods and also after the spring flood, cluttered with driftwood from the riparian woodlands along the upper watershed of the Colorado River, washed down and caught in the first wide valley where the river slowed and spread out. Cottonwood Island was important as a source wood and of fuel for steamboats on that river and for the early mills and mines in El Dorado Canyon.
Quartette or Quartette Mill or Quartette Landing, was a mining settlement, location of the stamp mill of the Quartette Mining Company, owner of the largest mine in the Searchlight Mining District and a steamboat landing on the Colorado River, in what is now Clark County, Nevada. It lay at an elevation of 646 feet.