Impatient inhabitants of the counties south of Utah met in June, 1859 to set an election for delegates who would frame a constitution for a new territory. Four days after this election, a constitutional convention was held at Genoa, Nevada over a ten day period, and a document created. This "constitution" was ratified by referendum in September. A governor, Isaac Roop, was elected and a legislature assembled briefly in December, 1859 but never met again. The territory of Nevada would officially be created in March, 1861 by act of Congress. (By John Osborne)

Impatient inhabitants of the counties south of Utah met in June, 1859 to set an election for delegates who would frame a constitution for a new territory. Four days afterwards, a constitutional convention was held at Genoa, Nevada over a ten day period, and a document created. This "constitution" was ratified by referendum in September. A governor, Isaac Roop, was elected and a legislature assembled briefly in December, 1859 but never met again. The territory of Nevada would officially be created in March, 1861 by act of Congress. (By John Osborne)

Impatient inhabitants of the counties south of Utah met in June, 1859 to set an election for delegates who would frame a constitution for a new territory. Following this election, a constitutional convention was held at Genoa, Nevada, a document was created that was ratified by referendum in September. A governor, Isaac Roop, was elected and a legislature assembled briefly in December, 1859 but never met again. The territory of Nevada would officially be created in March, 1861 by act of Congress. (By John Osborne)

Several miners, working on land that Henry Comstock and Emanuel Penrod controlled on the slope of Mount Davidson in Nevada, discovered the first significant silver deposit in the United States. Silver had been found the previous year in the area but this huge discovery touched off a "silver rush" and Virginia City, Nevada grew up almost overnight. The discoverers of the so-called "Comstock Lode" all failed to profit, selling their interests for relatively small sums. Comstock, for example, shot himself in 1870 after numerous further prospecting failures. (By John Osborne)

The small stern wheel steamer Chippewa, followed by its sister ship Key West, passed old Fort McKenzie, the point reached the previous summer and continued on to Fort Benton where they landed troops and supplies. This again broke all records for navigation on the northern reaches of the river. (By John Osborne)