The Pahranagat Valley is a Tonopah Basin landform in Lincoln County, Nevada. [1]
The more fertile part of Pahranagat Valley is a narrow ribbon of green (no more than 1-mile (1.6 km) wide), like an oasis in the vast Nevada desert. It is approximately 40 miles (64 km) long, running north and south, and is watered by three large natural springs of water (Hiko Springs, Crystal Springs, and Ash Springs) and many smaller ones as well. It has four lakes, two near the north end of the valley (Nesbitt Lake and Frenchie Lake) and two towards the south end (Upper Pahranagat Lake and Lower Pahranagat Lake). The southern half of the valley, including the two lakes, is home to the Pahranagat Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Pahranagat Valley is bordered on the west by a range of mountains called the Mount Irish Range and then the Pahranagat Range. It is bordered on the east by the Hiko Range. State Route 318 and then U.S. Route 93 traverse the entire length of the valley.
The more inhabited areas in Pahranagat Valley include (from north to south) Hiko, Ash Springs, Richardville, and Alamo, with the town of Alamo being the largest and where all of the schools for the valley are located. The closest town to Pahranagat Valley is over 50 miles (80 km) to the east at Caliente, Nevada.
Pahranagat has been derived by various linguists and others from the Southern Paiute language, although its meaning has been debated. [2]
The Crystal Springs area, used as a watering spot and campsite, was a principal stop-over on the Mormon Trail Alternate Route. In the late 1850s, the area was a haven for outlaws who pastured hundreds of heads of stolen cattle and horses on its meadows.
Silver ore was discovered in 1865 on Mount Irish, and Logan sprang briefly into existence. A mill to process the ore was built in Hiko, the ruins of which are still in existence.
Since the late 19th century, Pahranagat Valley has been primarily an agricultural community. Presently, it is also a bedroom community for many who work in Las Vegas, even though the commute is over 100 miles (160 km) one way.
The geology of the region includes the Alamo meteor impact, which scattered layers of impact debris across the area near Alamo.
The Pahranagat Valley is home to several endangered species, like Fluminicola merriami , Bufo nelsoni , and endemic subspecies of Gila robusta , Rhinichthys osculus , Crenichthys baileyi , and Microtus montanus .
Lincoln County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,499, making it the fourth-least populous county in Nevada. Its county seat is Pioche. Like many counties in Nevada, it is dry and sparsely populated, though notable for containing the Area 51 government Air Force base.
The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is 121 miles (195 km) long. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great Basin. Its waters are an important source of irrigation along its valley and adjacent valleys.
The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is 131 miles (211 km) long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length 205 miles (330 km), traversing five counties: Alpine County in California and Douglas, Storey, Lyon, and Churchill Counties in Nevada, as well as the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, Nevada. The river is named for Kit Carson, who guided John C. Frémont's expedition westward up the Carson Valley and across Carson Pass in winter, 1844. The river made the National Priorities List (NPL) on October 30, 1990 as the Carson River Mercury Superfund site (CRMS) due to investigations that showed trace amounts of mercury in the wildlife and watershed sediments.
The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. The Amargosa River is one out of two rivers located in the California portion of the Mojave Desert with perennial flow. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, into the Mojave Desert, and finally into Death Valley where it disappears into the ground aquifer. Except for a small portion of its route in the Amargosa Canyon in California and a small portion at Beatty, Nevada, the river flows above ground only after a rare rainstorm washes the region. A 26-mile (42 km) stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River. At the south end of Tecopa Valley the Amargosa River Natural Area protects the habitat.
The Harney Basin is an endorheic basin in southeastern Oregon in the United States at the northwestern corner of the Great Basin. One of the least populated areas of the contiguous United States, it is located largely in northern Harney County, bounded on the north and east by the Columbia Plateau—within which it is contained, physiographically speaking—and on the south and west by a volcanic plain. The basin encompasses an area of 1,490 square miles (3,859 km2) in the watershed of Malheur Lake and Harney Lake. Malheur Lake is a freshwater lake, while Harney Lake is saline-alkaline.
The Amargosa Valley is the valley through which the Amargosa River flows south, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada and Inyo County in the state of California. The south end is alternately called the "Amargosa River Valley'" or the "Tecopa Valley." Its northernmost point is around Beatty, Nevada and southernmost is Tecopa, California, where the Amargosa River enters into the Amargosa Canyon.
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 White River is a small and discontinuous 138-mile-long (222 km) river located in southeastern Nevada notable for several endemic species of fish. The river was named for F. A. White, a 19th-century explorer.
The Muddy River, formerly known as the Moapa River, is a short river located in Clark County, in southern Nevada, United States. It is in the Mojave Desert, approximately 60 miles (97 km) north of Las Vegas.
The Desert National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in northwestern Clark and southwestern Lincoln counties, with much of its land area lying within the southeastern section of the Nevada Test and Training Range. The Desert NWR, created on May 20, 1936, is the largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states of the United States, encompassing 1.615 million acres (6,540 km2) of the Mojave Desert in the southern part of Nevada. The refuge was originally established at 2.25 million acres. In 1940 840,000 acres were transferred to the Department of Defense.
Alamo is an unincorporated town in Lincoln County, Nevada, United States, about 90 miles (140 km) north of Las Vegas along U.S. Route 93. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,080.
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge located in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, in southwestern Nevada. It is directly east of Death Valley National Park, and is 90 mi (140 km) west-northwest of Las Vegas.
The Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR) is a protected wildlife refuge administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located in the Warm Springs Natural Area in the Moapa Valley of Clark County, Nevada. The refuge is east of Death Valley and 60 miles (97 km) northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, at the southern end of the Pahranagat Valley and administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is 90 miles (140 km) north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in Lincoln County, Nevada. The 5,380-acre (21.8 km2) refuge was created on August 16, 1963, and is part of the larger Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which also includes the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, and the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Crystal Springs is a ghost town in the Pahranagat Valley region of Lincoln County, Nevada in the United States. The ghost town is located at the junction of State Route 318 and State Route 375, just northwest of U.S. Route 93. It is a popular destination for passersby who want to visit the towns of Hiko and Rachel. The namesake of the ghost town, the Crystal Springs, lies nearby; it is a large group of marshes and springs along the White River. Crystal Springs provides irrigation for multiple nearby ranches and farms, some of which lie over 5 miles away from the springs.
Hiko Springs, also spelled Hyko Springs, is a natural spring located at the farming community of Hiko, in Lincoln County, eastern Nevada, United States. Its cool water flowing from the hillside spring supports the existence of the desert community.
The Mount Irish Range is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada. The range is bounded by the Coal Valley to the north, the Pahranagat Valley to the east, the Tikaboo Valley to the southwest and the Wild Horse Valley to the northwest. Surrounding ranges include the Seaman Range and Hiko Range to the east, the Pahranagat Range and East Pahranagat Range to the south and south east, the Groom Range to the southwest, the Timpahute Range to the west and the Golden Gate Range across Murphy Gap to the northwest.
The Seaman Range is a 30-mile (48 km) long mountain range in Lincoln and Nye counties, Nevada, in the western United States.
The Nellis Air Force Base Complex is the southern Nevada military region of federal facilities and lands, e.g., currently and formerly used for military and associated testing and training such as Atomic Energy Commission atmospheric nuclear detonations of the Cold War. The largest land area of the complex is the Nevada Test and Training Range, and numerous Formerly Used Defense Sites remain federal lands of the complex. Most of the facilities are controlled by the United States Air Force and/or the Bureau of Land Management, and many of the controlling units are based at Creech and Nellis Air Force Bases. Initiated by a 1939 military reconnaissance for a bombing range, federal acquisition began in 1940, and McCarran Field became the World War II training area's 1st of 3 Nevada World War II Army Airfields and 10 auxiliary fields. The area's first military unit was initially headquartered in the Las Vegas Federal Building while the WWII Las Vegas Army Airfield buildings were constructed.
Pahranagat Creek is a creek in Lincoln County, Nevada. The creek rises south of Alamo and Ash Springs, and flows south into the Upper Pahranagat Lake, which then flows into the Lower Pahranagat Lake. The creek runs parallel to U.S. Route 93 in the Pahranagat Valley.
In the Paiute language, Pahranagat can mean "feet sticking in water," an apt name for this wetland oasis straddling the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts.
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