Editing Nye County, Nevada (section)

==History==
Nye County was established during the [[American Civil War]] in 1864 and named after James W. Nye, the first governor of the [[Nevada Territory]] and later a [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] after it was admitted as a state. The first county seat was [[Ione, Nevada|Ione]] in 1864, followed by [[Belmont, Nevada|Belmont]] in 1867, and finally Tonopah in 1905.

The county's first boom came in the early 20th century, when [[Rhyolite, Nevada|Rhyolite]] and [[Tonopah, Nevada|Tonopah]], as well as [[Goldfield, Nevada|Goldfield]] in nearby [[Esmeralda County, Nevada|Esmeralda County]], had gold- and silver-mining booms. In 1906, Goldfield had 30,000 residents, Tonopah nearly 10,000, and Rhyolite peaked at about 10,000. These cities were linked by the [[Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ghosttowns.com/|title=Ghost Towns and History of the American West|publisher=Ghosttowns.com|access-date=January 1, 2016}}</ref>

After the boom died, Nye County withered. By 1910, the population had plummeted to about 7,500 before sinking to near 3,000 in the middle of the century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/popcd/pc32023.htm |title=Nye County, NV Population by Decades |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713202043/http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/popcd/pc32023.htm |archive-date=July 13, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> With development at the military test site and increasing employment and resources, the population stabilized. After the 1990s, when Pahrump became a [[bedroom community]] for Las Vegas, it had high rates of population growth.

Periodically, discussions have arisen of moving the county seat to Pahrump, or splitting off the southern portion of the county, but neither of these ideas appears to have sufficient support in the county or state government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.viewnews.com/2001/VIEW-Jan-09-Tue-2001/pahrump/15162935.html |author=Mark Waite |title=View Newspapers: ''Resident proposes new county formation'' |newspaper=The Vie |date=January 9, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717202312/http://www.viewnews.com/2001/VIEW-Jan-09-Tue-2001/pahrump/15162935.html |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

From 1987 to 1989, [[Bullfrog County, Nevada]], was split off from Nye County to form a separate political region. Its population was zero; its creation was an attempt to stop a [[Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository|nuclear waste storage facility]] from being built in the region.<ref>Morell, Casey. "[https://knpr.org/knpr/2018-08/bullfrog-county-population-0 Bullfrog County, Population 0]", [[KNPR]]. August 28, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2020.</ref>