Oral histories, books, census rolls, photographs, cemetery records and films from the third largest county in the contiguous United States. Free to read, built for research.
This site is not an official Nye County site. It was created as a home for the oral histories, documents, newspapers, materials and general information used for research and enjoyment by the general public and scholars.
Suzy McCoy mentioned what a privilege it was to be working with other Nye County historians to bring together this very diverse, exciting history of Nye County, Nevada. Today this site is kept in her memory. Information is no longer being added, but the information that is here will be maintained for those who visit our area and want to know more about the history of select towns.
We include Goldfield, Esmeralda County in this site. It is impossible to separate the town that became the largest city in Nevada in the early 1900s. To do so we would lose so much rich history that affected Nye County and its citizens. One cannot even begin to understand the history of Southern Nye County without also including Goldfield.
Investigate, read, marvel, but most of all enjoy the history of Nye and Esmeralda Counties in Nevada.
Every collection on the site, sorted the way a researcher works. Start with the people, check the records, then go look at the places.
The people who lived it, in their own words. Interviews conducted and edited by Robert D. McCracken, readable online or downloadable for Kindle and e-readers.
Read the interviewsMining camps, main streets, ranches and family albums from across the county, plus donated family collections.
Browse the photographs
Nye County census rolls by decade and district. Find who lived where, and when.
Search the rolls
Burial listings from Tonopah, Belmont, Beatty, Rhyolite, Manhattan and more.
Find a grave
Town histories of Tonopah, Beatty, Amargosa Valley, Pahrump and more, free to read.
Open the bookshelfNewspapers, papers and paperwork from the county’s early days.
See the documents
Documentaries and feature films with ties to Nye County.
Roll the films
Goldfield and its neighbors. You can’t tell Southern Nye’s story without them.
Cross the lineA few markers to get your bearings before you go digging.
Nye County is carved out of Esmeralda County and named for James W. Nye, first governor of the Nevada Territory. Ione is the first county seat.
The county seat moves to the silver camp of Belmont.
Jim Butler’s silver find starts the rush that builds Tonopah.
Gold in the Bullfrog Hills gives rise to Bullfrog, Rhyolite and Beatty.
The county seat moves from Belmont to Tonopah, where it remains.
The first atomic test is set off at the Nevada Test Site.
Boomtowns, ghost towns and the places that are still hanging on. Pick a name and ride on in.