New Mexico and Utah Territories
1850
| This map is an 1854 map of the New Mexico and Utah Territories showing the counties in each territory. |
| A Governor was appointed over Utah but he was powerless with Brigham Young in the picture. Brigham Young acted like the Governor of Utah and so he was appointed as Governor by President Millard Fillmore. As part of the deal, Brigham named a county (Millard) after the president and he named the territorial capitol Fillmore, after the president. This did little to settle the tension between the Mormons and the US Government. |
| President Buchanan declared what was called the Utah war in 1857. He sent troops to Utah to occupy Utah and eliminate polygamy. The invading troops entered Salt Lake City on July 24, 1857 and found the city deserted. They thought it was some kind of ambush. Instead, the entire population had gone up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton to celebrate the 10th anniversary of arriving in the valley. |
In 1850 Brigham Young sent a group of Mormons to what is now Genoa just south of Carson City. This was the first settlement in Nevada and was called Mormon Station. Brigham established a presence in the western most part of the territory so he could collect the taxes. Brigham created the counties of St. Mary's, Shambip, Carson, Humbolt, Greaswood and Rio Virgin in 1855. The few residence in the area resented being ruled by Brigham from 500 miles away. The comstock lode was discovered in 1859. The rush to the Comstock in 1859 virtually shut down the mines of California. A new era dawned, scientifically, economically, and socially. The influx of miners to Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City was the greatest growth boom the Utah Territory had seen. Businesses, newspapers and politicians settled in the area. They elected their own government in Carson County. The friction between Virginia City and Salt Lake City was intense. |
By 1861 the population was great enough to establish a Territory and the residence petitioned congress to become the Nevada Territory. The western counties of Utah were taken to create the new territory. The eastern border with Utah was set a 116 degrees west longitude. In the Nevada of today, 116 West Longitude runs just east of Carlin Nevada on I-80 in the North. In the South, 116 West is about 3 blocks west of the business section of Pahrump even though back then, the Pahrump area was in New Mexico. About the time the Nevada Territory was created the New Mexico Territory was split into Arizona and New Mexico. |
| The original Nevada Territory of 1861 covered this area to 116 West Longitude. James Warren Nye of New York was appointed the territorial governor. The counties included St Mary's, Shambip, Carson and Humbolt. |
| The creation of the Nevada Territory didn't set too well with Brigham Young. Abraham Lincoln was asked what he planned to do with the Mormons in Utah. He responded that Brigham Young was an absolute dictator and he didn't need another war on his hands. He planned to leave them alone until after the Civil War. Even so, negotiations with Brigham continued. Brigham was told to obey the law and stop practicing polygamy or the Nevada Territory would be expanded eastward. Brigham didn't believe it. In 1862 the eastern border of the Nevada Territory was moved to 115 West Longitude. |
Nevada 1862-1866 |
| This is how Nevada looked in 1862 after the eastern boundary was moved to 115 West longitude. In the Nevada of today, in the North, 115 West runs about a half mile west of the western most I-80 overpass in Wells. In the South, 115 West is just west of Henderson, Nevada and runs north along the East side of the Las Vegas Valley. Nellis AFB is on the west side of the line. The speedway is about 1/4 mile west of the line. Continuing North, the area of Apex is on the East side of the line. |
 |
| The two maps above also show that Wyoming had taken a part of Utah and the eastern boundary of Utah was moved west from the continental divide (which was 1/3 of Colorado) to 109 degrees west longitude--the present-day boundary. |
The states of California and Nevada and the Western Territories in 1864 |
| This is another map of Nevada in 1864. Notice how poorly defined the boundary is between California and Nevada in the Northern area. The town of Aurora was the county seat of a California county and a Nevada county because they couldn't agree on where the boundary was. In Susanville, there was a California sheriff and a Nevada Sheriff. One day it led to a gun fight between the sheriffs about who was the real sheriff and what state they were in. The US congress commissioned a survey to solve the problem. Aurora turned out to be in Nevada and Susanville turned out to be in California. |
| The federal government kept negotiating with Brigham Young. He was told that if polygamy didn't stop the boundary of Nevada would be moved to 114 West longitude. In 1866 the boundary of the State of Nevada was moved to 114 West longitude which is the current boundary between Utah and Nevada. |
Nevada boundaries 1866-1867 |
| The map above shows how Nevada had grown by 1866. In 1867 Congress made a final modification and gave a part of Arizona to Nevada. |
Current Nevada Boundaries.
The area taken from Arizona became a part of Lincoln and Nye Counties. The folks in Arizona weren't very happy and threatened to go to court. They never went to court and the boundary of Nevada has been the same since 1867. Clark county was created from southern Lincoln County, February 5, 1908 - Named for the first US Senator, William A. Clark of Montana because he was the builder of the San Pedro/Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railway.
That's how a little town like Mesquite went from New Mexico to Arizona and ended up in Nevada.