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Tonopah, Nevada
Tonopah, Nevada
Tonopah, Nevada - Summer (DST) ZIP code Area code(s) FIPS code GNIS feature ID PDT (UTC-7) 89049 775 32-73600 0845985
Main Street & Mizpah Hotel
Nickname(s): Queen of the Silver Camps[1]
Mizpah mine, the leading producer in the Tonopah mining district Tonopah is a census-designated place (CDP) in Nye County, Nevada, United States. The population was 2,627 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nye County.[2] Tonopah Test Range is located nearby.
Location of Tonopah, Nevada
Coordinates: 38°4′9″N 117°13′50″W / 38.06917°N 117.23056°W / 38.06917; -117.23056 Country State Government - Senate - Assembly - U.S. Congress Area - Total - Land - Water Elevation Population (2000) - Total - Density Time zone United States Nevada Mike McGinness (R) Ed Goedhart (R) Dean Heller (R) 16.2 sq mi (42.0 km2) 16.2 sq mi (42.0 km2) 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) 6,047 ft (1,843 m) 2,627 162.1/sq mi (62.6/km2) Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
Geography
Tonopah is located 38°4′9″N 117°13′50″W / 38.06917°N 117.23056°W / 38.06917; -117.23056 (38.069058, -117.230502),[3] at the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 95 en route from Las Vegas to Reno. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 16.2 square miles (42.0 km²), all of it land.
History
The community started about 1900 with the discovery of gold and silver rich ore by prospector Jim Butler when he went looking for
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a lost burro (donkey) he owned. The burro had wandered off during the night and had sought shelter near a rock outcropping. When Butler discovered the animal the next morning, he picked up a rock to throw at the beast, but instead noticed the rock was unusually heavy. He had stumbled upon the second-richest silver strike in Nevada history. The ore eventually played out, and abandoned mines can be found throughout the area. In 1903, miners rioted against Chinese workers in Tonopah, which spurred a boycott in China of U.S. goods. Recently, Tonopah has relied on the nearby Tonopah Test Range as its main source of employment. The military has used the range and surrounding areas as a nuclear test site, a bombing range, and as a base of operations for the development of the F-117 Nighthawk. Tonopah’s current fame rests largely on the reference to it in the chorus of the song "Willin’" by Lowell George of Little Feat on the albums Little Feat, Sailin’ Shoes and Waiting for Columbus: And I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah. I’ve driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made; driven the backroads so I wouldn’t get weighed. It is also possible that the song is actually referring to Tonopah, Arizona, in which case that fame is misplaced.
Tonopah, Nevada
with no husband present, and 39.4% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 3.03. In the CDP the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 108.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.9 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $37,401, and the median income for a family was $47,917. Males had a median income of $40,018 versus $22,056 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $18,256. About 5.7% of families and 11.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.3% of those under age 18 and 19.1% of those age 65 or over.
References
[1] Town of Tonopah, Nevada- Queen Of The Silver Camps [2] "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/ Template.cfm?Section=Find_a_County&Template=/ cffiles/counties/usamap.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. [3] "US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2005-05-03. http://www.census.gov/geo/ www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. [4] "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
Demographics
As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 2,627 people, 1,109 households, and 672 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 162.1 people per square mile (2.59/km²). There were 1,561 housing units at an average density of 96.3/sq mi (37.2/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.24% White, 0.76% African American, 1.41% Native American, 0.42% Asian, 0.30% Pacific Islander, 2.82% from other races, and 3.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.17% of the population. There were 1,109 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder
Further reading
"A History of Tonopah Nevada", by Robert D. McCracken (1992), ISBN 1-878138-52-9
External links
• Tonopah photos and information at Western Mining History • Official State of Nevada Tourism site • Photos of Mizpah mine at Historic American Engineering Record
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• Central Nevada Museum
Tonopah, Nevada
Coordinates: 38°04′09″N 117°13′50″W / 38.069058°N 117.230502°W / 38.069058; -117.230502
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah,_Nevada" Categories: Nye County, Nevada, Census-designated places in Nevada, County seats in Nevada, Settlements established in 1900 This page was last modified on 19 April 2009, at 20:08 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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