Eureka, Nevada

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Sign at entrance to town.

Eureka is a city located in Eureka County, Nevada, in the United States. As of the 1990 census, the city had a total population of 650. Eureka is by far the largest of the 2 towns in Eureka County, and is the county seat. Attractions include the Eureka Opera House (built in 1880 and restored in 1993), Raine's Market and Wildlife Museum (built 1887), the Jackson House Hotel (built 1877), and the Eureka Sentinel Museum (housed in the 1879 Eureka Sentinel Newspaper Building).

A view of Eureka

Entering Eureka in winter

1 Geography
2 History
3 Public Services
4 Celebrations
5 Sports
6 Transportation
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Geography

Eureka is located at 39°28′12″N, 115°58′48″W^[1], in the southern part of Eureka County, at 6,481 feet (1,900 meters) in the Diamond Mountain Range, in a draw on the southern end of Diamond Valley, between Antelope and Newark valleys..

The town is located along U.S. Highway 50, nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America": aptly named, as the nearest towns along the highway are Austin (71 miles (114 km) west) and Ely (77 miles east). The nearest town is Duckwater, Nevada, 59 miles (94 km) south.

The climate is typical of the Great Basin: hot and dry in the summer with occasional monsoonal thunderstorms from late July through August; cold and relatively dry. Snow accumulations vary from virtually none in mild winters to in excess of 3 feet in more severe years. Temperatures routinely drop to -20F or lower in the winter.

A large housing development was built beginning in the 1990's in a floodplain know as the "Slough Creek" area of Diamond Valley approximately 8 miles from Eureka. To this date it has survived due to the providence of a string of mild winters. Inevitably this poorly placed housing development will meet with the fate of all such developments on floodplains.

[edit] History

Miners in Eureka working beside an ore chute in 1871.

The town was first settled in 1864 by a group of silver prospectors from nearby Austin, who discovered rock containing a silver-lead ore on nearby Prospect Peak. The town became the county seat in 1873, when Eureka County was carved out of adjacent Lander, Elko, and White Pine.

Mining, especially for lead, was the town's economic mainstay, as the nearby hillsides ranked as Nevada's second-richest mineral producer, behind western Nevada's Comstock Lode. Two of the largest concerns in Eureka were the Richmond Mining Company and the Eureka Mining Company. These two companies often collided, and in one instance, their litigation reached the U.S Supreme Court. [1] The population boomed, reaching a high of 10,000 by 1878, but shrank as decreasing mine production and changing market conditions led to the closing of mines.

[edit] Public Services

Eureka is served by an all Volunteer Fire Department, which provides excellent fire protection, rescue, and vehicle rescue services for Eureka township and the surrounding areas.

[edit] Celebrations

July 4th, Independence Day, is a huge celebration in Eureka. Every year the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department puts on a large parade followed by street events, which close off the heart of Eureka to all but foot traffic from 9am to 2pm. At 9pm the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department puts on a large fireworks display that is the envy of many cities dozens of times the size of Eureka.

Parade 2006

[edit] Sports

The Eureka County High School had a $8,000,000 renovation in 2006. The high school mascot is the Vandals, and school colors are green and gold. The school offers academic olympics, basketball, wrestling, football, softball, volleyball, baseball, and track. In 2005 the football team went to the state championships.