Politics, Not Silver Got Nevada Its Statehood

Who hasn't heard ad nauseam that our state was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864 because its silver and gold production were needed to help finance the Civil War. Anyone who has attended Nevada's schools has heard the story from a teacher or read it in a textbook. It's a wonderful tale, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Our state's history has too often been embellished and transposed into myth, and the claim of Nevada's mineral wealth triggering statehood ranks as one of the most pervasive fictional stories in the annuals of the Silver State. The reasons for Nevada's statehood were political, not economic. Earlier writers were so caught up in romanticizing Nevada's role in the Civil War they decided to re-invent history.