George Wingfield has been a major figure in Nevada history since 1912, when he turned down an appointment to the United States Senate. A political and economic titan, he made a fortune in the gold fields of central Nevada and promptly bought a chain of banks and several hotels. Wingfield was active in Republican party circles and influential among Democrats. In the 1920s he controlled both political parties. His power was legendary and prevailing, as demonstrated by the near collapse of the state when his chain of banks failed. For a number years Wingfield was described, without exaggeration,...

From Storey County's High Victorian Italianate-styled courthouse to Lander County's former schoolhouse, now a Neo-classical courthouse, Temples of Justice provides an architectural history of the courthouses of Nevada. Nevada has never had a published architectural history, and Temples of Justice helps fill the gap by treating the state's built environment as a series of documents from the past. By looking at the courthouses collectively, it is possible to understand the choices and influences that have affected Nevada's communities as they seek to protect an image of themselves and their...

Alan Bible served Nevada for 20 years in the U.S. Senate, from 1954 to 1974. A protege of Pat McCarran's, Bible believed that "all politics is local" and that the needs of his constituents superseded all other political or economic considerations. He often considered himself to be an ambassador for the Silver State and had a profound impact on land-use policy. Bible used the cloakrooms of the Senate halls to his advantage, quietly manipulating legislation that brought millions of dollars to Nevada for every conceivable project that would bolster the economy.

Contributors examine the nature of industrial illnesses, including silicosis in the Mountain West's hardrock mining industry, and the management of Native American health. The editors offer an overview of the circumstances that created the region's medical history and suggest topics for study.

In this study, historian Michael Allen examines the image of the rodeo cowboy and the role this image has played in popular culture over in the 20th century. He sees rodeo as a significant American folk festival and the rodeo cowboy as the surviving avatar of a nearly vanished authentic figure - the real cowboy, who embodies the skills and values of traditional western rural culture.

This work offers an analysis of the events leading to the creation and enactment of the 1934 Indian Regorganization Act. This act has been acknowleged as the most important statute affecting native Americans after the General Allotment Act of 1887.

High murder rates have always been considered an indication of a society in turmoil, and nineteenth-century California was no exception. A rapidly growing population, booming mining camps, insufficient or nonexistent law-enforcement personnel, and many ethnic groups with differing attitudes toward law and personal honor created a situation in which violence was common and legal responses varied broadly. Clare V. McKanna Jr. has published widely on the history of criminal justice in the West. For Race and Homicide in Nineteenth-Century California, he studied coroners' inquest reports, court...

Most histories of the California Mother Lode have focused on the mines around the American and Yuba Rivers. However, the Southern Mines - those centered around Calaveras County in the central Sierra - were also of importance in the development of California's mineral wealth. Calaveras Gold offers a detailed and meticulously researched history of mining and its economic impact in this region from the first discoveries in the 1840s until the present. Mining in Calaveras County covered the full spectrum of technology from the earliest placer efforts through drift and hydraulic mining to advanced...