Carson City

Carson City is an independent city and the capital of the US state of Nevada, named after the mountain man Kit Carson. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,274. The majority of the population of the town lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada. Carson City is about 30 miles (50 km) south of Reno and originated as a stopover for California bound emigrants, but developed into a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains to the northeast. The city has served as the capital of Nevada since statehood in 1864 and for much of its history was a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in the 1950s. Prior to 1969, Carson City was also the county seat of Ormsby County. In 1969, the county was abolished, and its territory was merged with Carson City to form the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City. With the consolidation, the city limits today extend west across the Sierra Nevada to the California state line in the middle of Lake Tahoe. Like other independent cities in the United States, it is treated as a county-equivalent for census purposes.

History

The first European Americans to arrive in what is known as Eagle Valley were John C. Fremont and his exploration party in January 1843. Fremont named the river flowing through the valley Carson River in honor of Christopher "Kit" Carson, the mountain man and scout he had hired for his expedition. Prior to the Fremont expedition, the Washoe people inhabited the valley and surrounding areas. Settlers named the area Washoe in reference to the tribe.

By 1851 the Eagle Station ranch located along the Carson River served as a trading post and stopover for travelers on the California Trail's Carson Branch which ran through Eagle Valley. The valley and trading post received their name from a bald eagle that was hunted and killed by one of the early settlers and was featured on a wall inside the post.

As the area was part of the Utah Territory, it was governed from Salt Lake City, where the territorial government was headquartered. Early settlers bristled at the control exerted by Mormon-influenced officials and desired the creation of the Nevada territory. A vigilante group of influential settlers, headed by Abraham Curry, sought a site for a capital city for the envisioned territory. In 1858, Abraham Curry bought Eagle Station and thereafter renamed the settlement Carson City.[not in citation given (See discussion.)] As Curry and several other partners had Eagle Valley surveyed for development. Curry had decided for himself that Carson City would someday serve as the capital city and left a 10-acre (40,000 m2) plot open in the center of town for a future capitol building.

Following the discovery of gold and silver in 1859 on the nearby Comstock Lode, Carson City's population began to rise. Curry built the Warm Springs Hotel a mile to the east of the center of town. When the territorial governor James W. Nye traveled to Nevada, he chose Carson City as the territorial capital, influenced by Carson City lawyer William Stewart, who escorted him from San Francisco to Nevada. As such, Carson City bested Virginia City and American Flat. Curry loaned the Warm Springs Hotel to the territorial Legislature as a meeting hall. The Legislature named Carson City to be the seat of Ormsby County and selected the hotel as the territorial prison with Curry serving as its first warden. Today the property still serves as part of the state prison.

When Nevada became a state in 1864 during the Civil War, Carson City was confirmed as Nevada's permanent capital. Carson City's development was no longer dependent on the mining industry and instead became a thriving commercial center. The Virginia & Truckee Railroad was built between Virginia City and Carson City. A wooden flume was also built from the Sierra Nevadas into Carson City. The current capitol building was constructed from 1870 to 1871. The United States Mint operated a branch mint in Carson City between the years 1870 and 1893, which struck gold and silver coins. People came from China during that time, many of them to work on the railroad. Some of them owned businesses and taught school. By 1880, almost a thousand Chinese people, "one for every five Caucasians," lived in Carson City.

Carson City's population and transportation traffic decreased when the Central Pacific Railroad built a line through Donner Pass, too far to the north to benefit Carson City. The city was slightly revitalized with the mining booms in Tonopah and Goldfield. The US federal building (now renamed the Paul Laxalt Building) was completed in 1890 as was the Stewart Indian School. Even these developments were not enough to prevent the city's population from dropping to just over 1,500 people by 1930. Carson City resigned itself to small city status, advertising itself as "America's smallest capital." The city slowly grew after World War II; by 1960 it had reached its 1880 boom-time population.

20th-century revitalization and growth

As early as the late 1940s, discussions began about merging Ormsby County and Carson City. By this time, the county was little more than Carson City and a few hamlets to the west. However, the effort did not pay off until 1966, when a statewide referendum formally approved the merger. The required constitutional amendment was passed in 1968. On April 1, 1969; Ormsby County and Carson City officially merged as the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City. With this consolidation, Carson City absorbed former town sites such as Empire City, which had grown up in the 1860s as a milling center along the Carson River and current US 50. Carson City could now advertise itself as one of America's largest state capitals with its 146 square miles (380 km2) of city limits.

In 1991, the city adopted a downtown master plan, specifying that no building within 500 feet (150 metres) of the capitol would surpass it in height. This plan effectively prohibited future high-rise development in the center of downtown. The Ormsby House is currently the tallest building in downtown Carson City, at a height of 117 feet. The structure was completed in 1972.

Points of interest

Museums

• Nevada State Capitol – original capitol still housing the governor's offices with museum exhibits
• Nevada State Museum – former state mint featuring rock, mining and prehistoric exhibits, and a recreated Wild West village
• Nevada State Railroad Museum – featuring the Inyo locomotive and relocated Wabuska Railroad Station
• Stewart Indian School – museum collection includes items from former faculty, students and school
• Foreman-Roberts House Museum – Gothic Revival architecture, tours available.
• Sears–Ferris House (not open to public) – home of George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., inventor of the Ferris wheel

• Yesterday's Flyers, an aviation museum located in Carson City.

Children's Museum of Northern Nevada - Carson City www.cmnn.org

In popular culture

Films

The following is a list of movies with scenes filmed in Carson City:

• The Shootist – John Wayne’s last film that was shot on location at the Krebbs-Peterson House
• Bonanza
• Honkytonk Man
• Pink Cadillac
• Misery
• The Motel Life
• An Innocent Man

The following is a list of films with scenes set in Carson City but filmed elsewhere:

• Carson City
• Con Air (actual scene filmed in Ogden, Utah)
• Shanghai Noon
• Tremors 4
• City of Bad Men (1953 film)
• Cobb

Television episode:

• Skip Homeier played a Carson City pastor, Ben Darniell, in the 1965 oddly-titled episode, "Fighting Sky Pilot," of the syndicated western television series, Death Valley Days. In the story line, the minister Darniell attempts to rescue a saloon girl, Claire Vernon (Carol Brewster), from her oppressive employer.

Events

• The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight
• Nevada Day Parade

Transportation

There are two highways in the city US Route 395 and US Route 50. Carson City is home to one under-construction freeway Interstate 580. Phase 1 of the Carson City Freeway Project from US 395, just north of the city, to US 50 was completed in February 2006 and Phase 2A, extending from Rt. 50 to Fairview Drive, was officially opened on September 24, 2009. Phase 2B, Fairview Drive to Rt. 50, awaits funding and, according to Director Martinovich at NDOT, completion is anticipated for the fall of 2017 Prior to 2012, Carson City was one of only five state capitals not directly served by an Interstate highway; the city lost this distinction when I-580 was extended into the city limits.

Carson City's first modern bus system, Jump Around Carson, or JAC, opened to the public. JAC uses a smaller urban bus that is ideal for Carson City. However, there is virtually no ground public transportation to other destinations. Passenger trains haven't served Carson City since 1950, when the Virginia and Truckee Railroad was shut down. Greyhound Lines stopped their bus services to the town in 2006 and Amtrak discontinued their connecting thruway bus to Sacramento in 2008. There is now only a limited Monday – Friday RTC bus service to Reno which is still served by both Greyhound and Amtrak.

Carson City is also served by the Carson Airport, which is a regional airport in the northern part of the city. Reno-Tahoe International Airport, which is 28 miles (45 km) away, handles domestic commercial flights.

Historic buildings

• Historic St Charles Hotel in Carson City
• Former Carson City Post Office
• The Governor's Mansion in Carson City

• Paul Laxalt State Building - formerly the U.S. Court House & Post Office, now home to the Nevada Commission on Tourism

• Nevada portal