John C. Fremont's 1848 expedition with the ledgendary Kit Carson as principal scout opened the land that is now Nevada.

The region was then considered a part of the Republic of Mexico. It was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, and the first permanent settlement was established three years later. Mormons established a community in the Carson Valley at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the area was administered as a part of the Utah Territory.

During the 1850s immigrants and prospectors moved into the region. In 1857 relations between the federal government and the Mormon Church became tense and Brigham Young called his followers back to Salt Lake City.

Two years later gold was discovered on the south flank of Sun Mountain and the "Rush to Washoe" began. By then, California had been a state for nearly 10 years, yet there were scarcely 300 non-Indian people living in what is now Nevada. But the wealth of the Comstock Lode built Virginia City into a gaudy young metropolis in the wilderness, and financed banks, businesses and hotels in San Francisco, railroads in several western states, and the Atlantic Cable.

Although Nevada was short of the required population for statehood, it was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864. Several boundry changes had been made after the Nevada Territory had been organized in 1861 and the state assumed its final shape in 1867.

While mining camps went through their unpredictable swings from boom to bust, agriculture grew in importance as cattle and sheep outfits and hay ranches were established. Accessibility to markets improved with the improvement of the highway system. Las Vegas, established as a railroad depot in 1905, began its growth as a resort city forty years later.

Source: State of Nevada.