Washoe County

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Washoe County was created on November 25, 1861, as one of the original nine counties of the Nevada Territory. It is named after the Washoe people who originally inhabited the area. It was consolidated with Roop County in 1864. Washoe City was the first county seat in 1861 and was replaced by Reno in 1871.  

Washoe County is the setting of the 1965 episode "The Wild West's Biggest Train Holdup" of the syndicated western television series, Death Valley Days. In the story line, deputy Jim Brand (Charles Bateman) places a locked chain on a Central Pacific Railroad engine until the company agrees to pay its tax assessment. Roy Barcroft played the aging Sheriff Jackson with Pat Priest as his daughter, N Brand. 

In 1911, a small group of Bannock under a leader named "Shoshone Mike" killed four ranchers in Washoe County. A posse was formed, and on February 26, 1911, they caught up with the band, and eight of them were killed, along with one member of the posse, Ed Hogle. Three children and a woman who survived the battle were captured. The remains of some of the members of the band were repatriated from the Smithsonian Institution to the Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in 1994.  

In 1918, Washoe County elected the first woman elected to the Nevada Legislature, Sadie Hurst, a Republican.
"For decades Paiute children growing up in northern Nevada were required by the federal government to attend a boarding school in Carson City where they learned English, not Paiute." As of 2013, "Washoe County is the first school district in the state to offer Paiute classes," offering an elective course in the Paiute language at Spanish Springs High School and North Valleys High School.

On Line Data

Cities Reno (county seat) Sparks Census-designated places Cold Springs Crystal Bay Empire Gerlach Golden Valley Incline Village Lemmon Valley Mogul Nixon Spanish Springs Sun Valley Sutcliffe Verdi Wadsworth Washoe Valley

Other communities Anderson Antelope Valley Arrowcreek Bartley Ranch Beulah Border Town Bronco Buffalo Ranch Caughlin Ranch Copperfield Damonte Ranch Deep Hole Diessner Dodge Flanigan Franktown Galena Glendale Grand View Terrace Heinz Hidden Valley Hot Springs Huffaker Jumbo Lawton Mayberry-Highland Park McCarran (partly in Storey County) Mira Loma Montreux Mustang New Washoe City North Valleys Northeast Reno Northwest Reno Olinghouse Palomino Valley Panther Valley Patrick

Other communities Phil Poeville Pleasant Valley Pyramid Raleigh Heights Rancho Haven Red Hawk Red Rock Reederville Saddlehorn Sand Pass Sano Steamboat Springs Upper Pyramid Virginia Foothills Vya Washoe City Washoe Summit Wedekind Winnemucca Ranch