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Lincoln County NVGenWeb is a free genealogical site about the history of the county. We hope you find helpful clues for your research of Lincoln county ancestors.

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COUNTY FORMATION

Lincoln County was created 25 Feb 1866 from the eastern part of Nye County when the boundaries of Nevada were extended to the east and south incorporating land formerly in Utah and Arizona territories. Although the original legislative bill had proposed the name Stewart County, the county was named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln County is located in southeastern Nevada and is bordered by White Pine County on the north, Millard County (Utah) on the northeast, Beaver County (Utah), Iron County (Utah), and Washington County (Utah), all on the east, Mohave County (Arizona) on the southeast, Clark County on the south, and Nye County on the west. Lincoln County lost territory from its southern half when Clark County was created in 1909. The county has a total area of 10,637 square miles, and in the year 2000 it had a population of 4,165.

The county has always been sparsely settled. After settlements were initially begun by the Mormon Church and mining, ranches became predominant. Caliente is the largest town in the county. Other towns or former towns include Alamo, Ash Springs, Carp, Elgin, Hiko, Panaca, Rachel, Ursine, and others. Like other areas of the Great Basin, the altitude is high. The weather is generally dry and especially hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

The original county seat was Crystal Springs until 1867. Hiko was the county seat from 1867 to 1871, and Pioche became the county seat in 1871. Pioche which was named in honor of F. L. A. Pioche, a French banker of San Francisco, who was associated with Meadow Valley Mining. The new town was laid out in 1869 or 1870 by P. McCnnon, L. Lacour and A. M. Bush. This town was reported to be one of the wildest of the Old West. It is said that between sixty to seventy-five men were slain before anyone in the town died of natural causes. Early Pioche was estimated to have a population of 15,000 at one time and had two thousand claims by 1873. During a second population boom in 1939, the Pioche Mining District produced over $70,000,000 mainly in lead and zinc. Pioche is also a terminal of a branch of the UP Railroad.