Nelson, Nevada

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Nelson
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View of Nelson, from the west
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Nelson
Location within the state of Nevada
Coordinates: 35°42′26″N114°49′34″W / 35.70722°N 114.82611°W / 35.70722; -114.82611
Country United States
State Nevada
County Clark
(Eldorado Valley)
Area
[1]
  Total4.80 sq mi (12.43 km2)
  Land4.80 sq mi (12.43 km2)
  Water0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Population
 (2020)
  Total22
  Density4.58/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]

Contents

Geography

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.

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note
2020 22
U.S. Decennial Census [3]

History

Early history

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

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 / 35.70750; -114.71167

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.

Today

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]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark County, Nevada</span> County in Nevada, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohave Valley</span> Landform along the Colorado River in Arizona

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eldorado Mountains</span> Mountain range in Nevada, US

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piute Valley</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Dorado Canyon (Nevada)</span> Historic site in U.S. Highway near Nelson, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Callville, Nevada</span> Former settlement in Nevada, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steamboats of the Colorado River</span> Overview of steamboats on the Colorado River

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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.

References

  1. "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  2. "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Nelson CDP, Nevada". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  3. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  4. Las Vegas Age - Canyon Tragedy (November 26, 1910)
  5. Signor, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, p. 37.
  6. Don Ashbaugh, Nevada's Turbulent Yesterday, a Study in Ghost Towns, Western Lore Press, 1963.
  7. "15 Missing as Flood Wipes Out Marina In Nevada Canyon". The New York Times . AP. September 15, 1974. Page 41, column 6. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  8. "Nelson's Landing Nevada Flash Flood 1974". Disasters. I Dream of Genealogy. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  9. Petrovich, Erik (August 11, 2024). "Fallout New Vegas: All DLC Start Locations & Level Requirements". Game Rant.