Nevada Traveler: Our Capitol almost ended up elsewhere

Nevada’s birth might best be described as having been controversial. Established at the peak of the Civil War, it did not have the population of the other states — less than 7,000, at a time that most new states needed at least 60,000 people.

What it did have, however, was lots of silver and gold, and, once it gained statehood, three additional electoral votes that could help ensure President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection in 1864.

Since Nevada’s economic health, in its first half-century as a state, largely was dependent on mining, its population experienced fluctuations, depending on the state of its mining industry.

In the late 1880s, the situation had become so dire that one of the state’s U.S. senators, William Stewart, suggested annexing portions of the Idaho and Utah territories to the state of Nevada to provide it with a larger population base.

He also called for moving northern Idaho into the boundaries of the state of Washington.

His plan also sought to relocate the state capital from Carson City to Winnemucca, because of its location in the center of this new, expanded state of Nevada.

The proposal was shelved after opposition surfaced from President Grover Cleveland and, not surprisingly, the residents of the Idaho Territory.

Not content to drop the matter, Stewart made another attempt at annexation in the summer of 1888. Reasoning that most of southern Idaho’s opposition came from the citizens of Boise, he suggested dual state capitals of Nevada in both Boise and Carson City.

Idahoans, however, still preferred statehood and Stewart’s proposals died in Congress. In 1890, Idaho was finally admitted as the 43rd state.

About 20 years ago, there were discussions about moving the capital to Las Vegas, home of most of the state’s population. The state legislature responded by scheduling more of its meetings and hearings in Las Vegas during its biannual sessions.

The idea gradually faded away because of the enormous cost of building new state office buildings and facilities in Las Vegas and figuring out what to do with all the state-owned property in Carson City.

Of course, even prior to Sen. Stewart’s failed proposals, there were attempts to designate other communities, besides Carson City, as the state capital.

For instance, Genoa was the site of the original discussions about forming a Nevada Territory in 1857. Later, the town served as the home of the first territorial convention which formed a kind of renegade provisional government (at the time most of Nevada was part of the Utah Territory).

Two years later, however, Congress finally authorized creation of an official Nevada Territory. As part of that act, the seat of the territorial government was moved from Genoa to Carson City.

Carson City’s selection was aided at that time by influential Carson City attorney William M. Stewart (the same Stewart who would later try to move the capital), who promised county seats to potential rival communities in return for their support.

Additionally, Abraham Curry, one of Carson City’s founders, offered free land for a state capital.

But since the Capitol building wasn’t constructed until 1870-71, there was still plenty of time for others to try to steal the capital.

Opposition to authorizing funds to build a capital in Carson City came from Lander County officials, who thought booming Austin would be a better site. Lander’s State Sen. D.W. Welty went so far as to describe Carson City as “a swamp” and a “mud hole.”

Virginia City also made a few half-hearted tries at snagging the capital. Territorial Enterprise owner Joseph Goodman once wrote — tongue in cheek — of an 1864 attempt to claim the capital for Virginia City.

Goodman found that while the Assembly would go along with the move, there was a tie vote in the Senate. He decided to focus his attention on persuading “Uncle Abe Curry” to switch his vote in favor of Virginia City but was, in turn, convinced to drop his effort by a tearful Curry.

“The jig was up, I honored the old man’s sentiment, though it swept away our brilliant dream of empire,” he concluded.

Of a more serious nature was a handsome financial bid for the capital made that same year by the small mining town of American City (later known as American Flat), which was located a mile west of Gold Hill.

American City’s boosters were so certain of their camp’s future that they offered $50,000 to the territorial government it would relocate there. Despite support from Virginia City newspapers, the offer was rejected.

Much like the many dreams of snatching the state capital from Carson City, American City itself faded away within a few short years.