This small collection contains 49 documents related to the Nye County District Court and Nye County Justice Court in the mining boom town of Nye, Nevada, between the years of 1865 and 1890. Documents chiefly consist of criminal court documents, as well as some bonds and oaths and correspondence.

Nye County, Nevada was created by the state legislature in February of 1864 and named in honor of the Nevada Territory's first governor and later U.S. Senate representative, James W. Nye. The county seat and first county courthouse were built in Ione in 1864, and served the resident population of between 1,000 and 1,500 mostly migrant gold and silver miners. In 1867, following the shifting fortunes of boomtown mining, the Nye county seat and courthouse were relocated to neighboring Belmont. Mining in the area began with the discovery of silver along the Reese River in 1862. While the most productive ore-processing mills were located along the northern length of the river in Lander County (founded 1861), some prospectors followed the river southward, discovering modest amounts of silver, quartz, and mercury in the rocks and rivers. The county's fortunes were intimately linked to the economy of mining and metal, and an enduring bust followed a short turn-of-the-20th century boom. By the 1950s, only around 3,000 people occupied Nye County's 18,159 square-mile territory, a fact which may have contributed to the Federal Department of Energy's choice to establish the Nevada Test Site - for nuclear energy and weapons testing - there in 1951. Nye County only achieved sustained growth at the end of the 20th century, with the rise of Las Vegas bedroom communities.

49 items in 1 box.

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