Eureka, Nevada

Sheryl Linn
Sep 10, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Jan 24

Roger and I traveled from Ely, Nevada, to Sparks, Nevada, last August (2023) on a road trip to California to see family and friends. We decided to take U.S. Route 50, nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America". It was an excellent choice for us. We traveled through a few historic towns along the way.

I took this photo from our windshield as we were traveling "The Loneliest Road in America."

Eureka, located in the southern part of Eureka County along "The Loneliest Road in America," sits 6,481 feet in the Diamond Mountains and is an unincorporated township. The town was first settled in 1864 by a group of silver prospectors from nearby Austin, who discovered rock containing a silver-lead ore on nearby Prospect Peak.

According to tradition, the town was named after an incident when a prospector exclaimed, "Eureka!" when he discovered deposits of silver ore. The town became the county seat in 1873. Mining, especially for lead, was the town's economic mainstay, as the nearby hillsides ranked as Nevada's second-richest mineral producer, behind western Nevada's Comstock Lode. The population in Eureka boomed, reaching a high of 10,000 by 1878, but shrank as decreasing mine production and changing market conditions led to the closing of mines.

Attractions we saw in downtown Eureka include the County Courthouse built in 1879.

The Eureka Opera House (built in 1880 and restored in 1993).

Raine's Market and Wildlife Museum (built in 1887).

Roger parking our car in front of Raine's Market

The Jackson House Hotel (built in 1877) is next door to the Opera House.

The Eureka Sentinel Museum

Below I'm sharing additional historical buildings along Route 50 in downtown Eureka. The first photo I took from the car windshield of the General Store as we arrived in town.

(Photos below are shown in slider mode, arrow to the right.)