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Wikipedia - Beatty, Nevada
| Beatty, Nevada | |
|---|---|
| — CDP — | |
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|
| Nickname(s): Gateway to Death Valley[1] | |
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|
| Coordinates: 36°54'34?N 116°45'16?W? / ?36.90944°N 116.75444°WCoordinates: 36°54'34?N 116°45'16?W? / ?36.90944°N 116.75444°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Nevada |
| Area | |
| - Total | 175.6 sq mi (454.9 km2) |
| - Land | 175.6 sq mi (454.9 km2) |
| - Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 3,307 ft (1,008 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - Total | 1,154 |
| - Density | 6.6/sq mi (2.5/km2) |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| - Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP code | 89003 |
| Area code(s) | 775 |
| FIPS code | 32-05100 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0845356 |
| Website | Beatty, Nevada |
Beatty is a census-designated place (CDP) and town located on the Amargosa River in Nye County in the U.S. state of Nevada. It lies along U.S. Route 95 between Tonopah, about 90 miles (140 km) to the north, and Las Vegas, about 120 miles (190 km) to the southeast. State Route 374 connects Beatty to Death Valley National Park, about 8 miles (13 km) to the west. The population was 1,154 at the 2000 census.
Before the arrival of Euro-Americans in the 19th century, the region was home to groups of Western Shoshone. Established in 1905, the town was named after Montillus (Montillion), Murray "Old Man" Beatty, who settled on a ranch in the Oasis Valley in 1896 and became the town's first postmaster. With the arrival of the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad in 1905, Beatty became a railway center for the Bullfrog Mining District, including mining towns such as nearby Rhyolite.[2] Starting in the 1940s, Nellis Air Force Base and other federal installations contributed to the town's economy as did tourism related to Death Valley National Park and the rise of Las Vegas as an entertainment center.
Beatty is home to the Beatty Museum and Historical Society, a casino, and hundreds of motel rooms and recreational vehicle spaces. The ghost town of Rhyolite and the Goldwell Open Air Museum (a sculpture park), are both about 4 miles (6 km) to the west, and Yucca Mountain and the Nevada Test Site are about 18 miles (29 km) to the east.
Contents |
[edit] History
Before the arrival of Euro-American explorers, prospectors, and settlers, Western Shoshone in the Beatty area hunted game and gathered wild plants in the region. It is estimated that the 19th-century population density of the Indians near Beatty was 44 square miles (110 km2) per person. By the middle of the century, European diseases had greatly reduced the Indian population, and incursions by newcomers had disrupted the native traditions. In about 1875, the Shoshone had six camps, with a total population of 29, along the Amargosa River near Beatty. Some of the survivors and their descendants continued to live in or near Beatty, while others moved to reservations at Walker Lake, Reese River, Duckwater, or elsewhere.[3]
Beatty is named after "Old Man" Montillus (Montillion) Murray Beatty, a Civil War veteran and miner who bought a ranch along the Amargosa River just north of the future town[4] and became the town's first postmaster in 1905.[5] The town was laid out in 1904 or 1905 after Ernest Alexander "Bob" Montgomery, owner of the Montgomery Shoshone Mine near Rhyolite, decided to build the Montgomery Hotel in Beatty.[6] Montgomery was drawn to the area, known as the Bullfrog Mining District, because of a gold rush that began in 1904 in the Bullfrog Hills west of Beatty.[7] As word of the discovery spread, thousands of hopeful prospectors and speculators rushed to the area and established camps and mining towns including Rhyolite, Bullfrog, Gold Center, Transvaal, Springdale, and others.[8] When the gold rush ended and the mines closed a few years later, only Beatty, with ample water and a location in a transportation corridor, survived as a populated place.[8]
During the town's first year, wagons pulled by teams of horses or mules hauled freight between the Bullfrog district and the nearest railroad, in Las Vegas, and by the middle of 1905, about 1,500 horses were engaged in this business.[9] In October 1906, the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad (LV&T) began regular service to Beatty; in April 1907, the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad (BG) reached the town, and the Tonopah and Tidewater (T&T) line added a third railroad in October 1907.[2] The LV&T ceased operations in 1918, the BG in 1928, and the T&T in 1940.[2] Until the railroads abandoned their lines, Beatty served as the railhead for many mines in the area, including a fluorspar mine on Bare Mountain, east of town.[10] The town became the economic center for a large sparsely-populated region. Activities sustaining Beatty during the 1920s and 1930s included retail sales, gas and oil distribution, construction of Scotty's Castle, and the production and sale of illegal alcohol during Prohibition.[11]
Beatty's first newspaper was the Beatty Bullfrog Miner, which began publishing in 1905 and went out of business in 1909. The Rhyolite Herald was the region's most important paper, starting in 1905 and reaching a circulation of 10,000 by 1909. It ceased publication in 1912, and the Beatty area had no newspaper from then until 1947. The Beatty Bulletin, a supplement to the Goldfield News, was published from then through 1956.[12]
Beatty's population grew slowly in the first half of the 20th century, rising from 169 in 1929 to 485 in 1950.[13] The first reliable electric company in town, Amargosa Power Company, began supplying electricity in about 1940. Phone service arrived during World War II, and the town installed a community-wide sewer system in the 1970s.[14] Nevada's legalization of gambling in 1931, the establishment of Death Valley National Monument in 1933, and the rise of Las Vegas as an entertainment center, brought visitors to Beatty, which became increasingly tourist-oriented. As underground mining declined in the region, federal defense spending, starting with the Nellis Air Force Range in 1940 and the Nevada Test Site in 1950, also contributed to the local economy.[15]
[edit] After 1950
In 1962, the first commercially-operated low-level radioactive waste disposal site in the United States began operations about 17 miles (27 km) south of Beatty. Waste of this sort was buried at the site from then until 1992. In 1970, the site began accepting hazardous chemical waste for burial, and this use of the site continued as of 2009. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates the Amargosa Desert Research Site near the waste burial site to study arid-land hydrology.[16] The waste-disposal site, operated by a company called U.S. Ecology, "provides a steady source of employment for a dozen or so families in the area".[17]
In 1988, Bond Gold built an open-pit mine and mill on the south side of Ladd Mountain, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of town along State Route 374. LAC Minerals acquired the mine from Bond in 1989 and established an underground mine there in 1991 after a new body of ore called the North Extension was discovered. Barrick Gold acquired LAC Minerals in 1994 and continued to extract and process ore at what became known as the Barrick Bullfrog Mine until the end of 1998.[18] At the peak of the construction phase, the mine employed 540 workers. To accommodate them, Beatty added mobile home parks and a temporary camp housing 300 people. As a consequence, the town's population rose from about 1,000 in 1980 to between 1,500 and 2,000 by the end of 1990.[19]
In 2004, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named the closed Barrick Bullfrog mine site as one of six slated for pilot reclamation projects under the national Brownfields Mine-Scarred Land Initiative. A local group, the Beatty Economic Development Corporation (BEDC), in discussions with the EPA, suggested solar-power generation as a potential use for the site.[20] By May 2005, the Pahrump Valley Times reported that the Barrick Corporation, owner of the mine, planned to transfer 81 acres (0.33 km2) of its property to the BEDC.[21] In February 2009, the New York Times published a Greenwire article suggesting that part of the economic stimulus money from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act might finance the Beatty project. "Studies show that the Beatty area has some of the best solar energy potential in the United States, as well as a high potential for wind-power generation," the Greenwire story said.[22]
[edit] Geography and climate
Beatty lies along U.S. Route 95 between Tonopah, about 90 miles (140 km) to the north, and Las Vegas, about 120 miles (190 km) to the southeast. State Route 374 connects Beatty to Death Valley National Park, about 8 miles (13 km) to the west. Yucca Mountain and the Nevada Test Site are about 18 miles (29 km) to the east.[23] The town is located at 36°54'34?N 116°45'16?W? / ?36.90944°N 116.75444°W (36.909337, -116.754531)[24] at 3,320 feet (1,010 m) above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 175.6 square miles (454.9 km²), all of it land. The Amargosa River, a mostly intermittent stream that ends in Death Valley, flows on the surface through Beatty. The town lies between Beatty Mountain and Bare Mountain to the east and the Bullfrog Hills to the west.
Nevada's main climatic features are bright sunshine, low annual precipitation, heavy snowfall in the higher mountains, clean, dry air, and large daily temperature ranges. Strong surface heating occurs by day and rapid cooling by night, and usually even the hottest days have cool nights. The average percentage of possible sunshine in southern Nevada is more than 80 percent. Sunshine and low humidity in this region account for an average evaporation, as measured in evaporation pans, of more than 100 inches (2,500 mm) of water a year.[25]
Beatty receives only about 6 inches (152 mm) of precipitation a year. July is the warmest month, when the average high temperature is 97 °F (36 °C) and the average low is 61 °F (16 °C). January and December are the coolest months with an average high of 54 °F (12 °C) and an average low of 28 °F (-2 °C) in January and 27 °F (-3 °C) in December. The highest recorded temperature was 112 °F (44 °C) in 1989, and the lowest was 2 °F (-17 °C) in 1990.[26]
| Climate data for Beatty, Nevada | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Average high °F (°C) | 54 (12.2) |
58 (14.4) |
63 (17.2) |
71 (21.7) |
80 (26.7) |
90 (32.2) |
97 (36.1) |
95 (35) |
88 (31.1) |
77 (25) |
63 (17.2) |
54 (12.2) |
|
| Average low °F (°C) | 28 (-2.2) |
31 (-0.6) |
35 (1.7) |
40 (4.4) |
48 (8.9) |
55 (12.8) |
61 (16.1) |
60 (15.6) |
54 (12.2) |
44 (6.7) |
33 (0.6) |
27 (-2.8) |
|
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 0.7 (17.8) |
0.9 (22.9) |
1.0 (25.4) |
0.4 (10.2) |
0.4 (10.2) |
0.2 (5.1) |
0.4 (10.2) |
0.4 (10.2) |
0.4 (10.2) |
0.3 (7.6) |
0.4 (10.2) |
0.5 (12.7) |
|
| Source: The Weather Channel[26] | |||||||||||||
[edit] Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,154 people, 535 households, and 270 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 6.6 people per square mile (2.5/km2). There were 740 housing units at an average density of 4.2 per square mile (1.6/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.90% White, 0.09% African American, 1.47% Native American, 1.21% Asian, 3.12% from other races, and 3.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.93% of the population.[27]
There were 535 households out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.5% were non-families. 43.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 3.04.[27]
In the CDP the population was spread out with 26.1% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 119.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 121.6 males.[27]
The median income for a household in the CDP was $41,250, and the median income for a family was $52,639. Males had a median income of $44,438 versus $25,962 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $16,971. About 10.4% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 19.6% of those age 65 or over.[27]
[edit] Government
Under the terms of the Unincorporated Town Government Law of Nevada, Beatty is governed by the Nye County Commission assisted by a town board acting as a liaison between the citizens of Beatty and the commissioners.[28] The Beatty Town Advisory Board consists of five elected members who meet twice a month at the Beatty Community Center. In 2009, they are Mike Lasorsa, Bert Bertram, LaRene Younghans, Kay Handy, and Teresa Sullivan.[29] The Beatty General Improvement District manages the town's parks, swimming pool, putting course, and other recreational grounds.[30]
Andrew Borasky, Lorinda Wichman, Joni Eastley, Charles Hollis, and Fely Quitevis are the county commissioners in 2009.[31] The administration department, led by Richard Osborne, the county manager, and Lorina Dellinger, the administrative manager, carry out the policies adopted by the commission.[32] Among the many county departments are works and roads, building and code compliance, sheriff, animal control, planning, property assessment, the Fifth Judicial District Court, health and human services, senior centers including the Beatty Senior Center, and lower courts including the Beatty Justice Court.[33] The Nye County Sheriff's Office has a substation in Beatty.[34] Among other things, the office handles dispatch for the Beatty Volunteer Fire Department, which provides firefighting and ambulance services.[35]
Edwin (Ed) Goedhart, a Republican, represents Beatty and the rest of District 36 in the Nevada Assembly; his term runs through November 2010.[36] In the Nevada Senate, Beatty, as part of the Central Nevada Senatorial District, is represented by Mike McGinness, a Republican, through November 2012.[37]
Dean Heller, a Republican, represents Beatty and the rest of Nevada's Second Congressional District, in the United States House of Representatives. His term runs through November 2010.[38] Harry Reid, a Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican, represent Nevada in the United States Senate. Reid's term runs through November 2010[39] and Ensign's through November 2012.[40]
[edit] Infrastructure, culture
The town is home to the Beatty Museum and Historical Society, a casino, and many overnight accommodations. In 2009, the Chamber of Commerce web site described the town as the Gateway to Death Valley, a small rural community that has "everything the desert visitor needs", including more than 340 rooms and 108 recreational vehicle (RV) sites.[41] The ghost town of Rhyolite and the Goldwell Open Air Museum, a sculpture park, are about 4 miles (6 km) to the west. Bailey's Hot Springs and bathhouses are about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of town in the Oasis Valley. In addition to highways, Beatty has a general aviation airfield, Beatty Airport, about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of town. Beatty Medical Center, which opened in 1977, provides family medicine and other services.[42] The Beatty Library, a member of the Cooperative Libraries Automated Network, has a searchable online catalog.[43] Beatty has an elementary–middle school and a high school.
[edit] References
- ^ Waite, Mark (November 7, 2007). "Death Valley may choose Hafen Commercial Center for offices". Pahrump Valley Times. http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Nov-07-Wed-2007/news/17725240.html. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
- ^ a b c McCracken, History, pp. 56–59
- ^ McCracken, History, p. 8–12
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 21–22
- ^ McCracken, History, p. 6
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 48–49
- ^ Lingenfelter, p. 203
- ^ a b McCracken, History, p. xv
- ^ McCracken, History,p. 52
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 62–70
- ^ McCracken, History, p. 74
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 49–51
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 102–03
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 92–93
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 101–02
- ^ "Toxic Substances Hydrology Program: Amargosa Desert Research Site". United States Geological Survey. 2006. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://nevada.usgs.gov/adrs/images/adrsmap.gif&imgrefurl=http://nevada.usgs.gov/adrs/site.htm&usg=__Dd9zssieFCdYAATEsEC31Juibc0=&h=235&w=291&sz=16&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=DDef_SAOssoADM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBeatty%2BNevada%2Bsite:.gov%26as_st%3Dy%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
- ^ McCracken, History, p. 146
- ^ Kump, Dan; Arnold, Tim; Hustrulid, William A., ed.; Bullock, Richard L., ed.. Underground Mining Methods, Chapter 40, Underhand Cut-and-Fill at the Barrick Bullfrog Mine. Littleton, Colo.: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. pp. 345–50. ISBN 9780873351935. http://books.google.com/books?id=N9Xpi6a5304C&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&dq=barrick+mining+rhyolite&source=bl&ots=AECFpdQgVd&sig=eeLZuzmXYKtVZeaP_0jKV-Wo7_8&hl=en&ei=j7yhSal-go6xA5O8ub8J&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA345,M1. Retrieved February 22, 2009.
- ^ McCracken, History, pp. 155–57
- ^ "U.S. EPA selects former Nye County gold mine for national Brownfields pilot". United States Environmental Protection Agency. May 18, 2004. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/a883dc3da7094f97852572a00065d7d8/60f256158d5cb5e0852570d8005e1643!OpenDocument. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
- ^ Gomez, Phillip (May 25, 2005). "Beatty could go from mining gold to wind". Pahrump Valley Times. http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/05/25/news/wind.html. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
- ^ Streater, Scott (February 26, 2009). "Polluted mines as economic engines? Obama admin says 'yes'". New York Times (E&E Publishing). http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/02/26/26greenwire-polluted-mines-as-economic-engines-obama-admin--9896.html?pagewanted=1&%2334&%2359;&emc=eta1. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
- ^ Rand McNally & Company. The Road Atlas [map], 2008 edition. ISBN 0-528-93961-0. Section 64.
- ^ "U.S. Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". May 3, 2005. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ Nevada state climatologists. "Climate of Nevada". National Climatic Data Center. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/NEVADA.htm. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
- ^ a b "Monthly averages for Beatty, Nevada". The Weather Channel. http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/wxclimatology/monthly/USNV0007. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
- ^ a b c d "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=Beatty&_cityTown=Beatty&_state=04000US32&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "State and Local Government: Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau Research Division Policy Brief" (PDF). The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. January 2005. p. 244. http://www.celdf.org/Portals/0/PDF/Home%20Rule%20in%20Nevada.pdf. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Beatty Town Advisory Board". The Town of Beatty. 2009. http://www.beattynv.info/town.html. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "BGID – Parks and Recreation". The Town of Beatty. 2009. http://www.beattynv.info/bgid.html. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Board of County Commissioners". Nye County, Nevada. http://www.nyecounty.net/Directory.aspx?did=103. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Administration". Nye County, Nevada. http://www.nyecounty.net/Directory.aspx?did=27. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Staff Directory: Categories". Nye County, Nevada. http://www.nyecounty.net/directory.aspx. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Nye County Sheriff – Beatty Sub Station". The Town of Beatty. 2009. http://www.beattynv.info/sheriff.html. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Beatty Volunteer Fire Department". The Town of Beatty. 2009. http://www.beattynv.info/fire.html. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Legislative Biography - 2009 Session". Nevada Legislature. http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/Legislators/Assembly/Goedhart.pdf. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
- ^ "Legislative Biography - 2009 Session". Nevada Legislature. http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Senate/2010/Senators/McGinness.pdf. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
- ^ "Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV2)". GovTrack. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=412218. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)". GovTrack. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=300082. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)". GovTrack. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=300040. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Beatty, Nevada: Where Adventure Awaits You". Beatty Chamber of Commerce. 2007. http://www.beattynevada.org/. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
- ^ "Beatty Medical Center Nevada". Nevada Health Centers, Inc.. 2008. http://www.nvrhc.org/beatty.cfm. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
- ^ "Beatty Library District". Polaris Library Systems. 2007. http://www.clan.lib.nv.us/polaris/default.aspx?ctx=24.1033.0.0.1. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
[edit] Works cited
- Lingenfelter, Richard E. (1986). Death Valley & the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06356-2.
- McCracken, Robert D. (1992). A History of Beatty, Nevada. Tonopah, Nevada: Nye County Press. ISBN 1-878138-54-5.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beatty, Nevada |
- Beatty, Nevada USA
- Beatty Library search page
- Beatty Chamber of Commerce
- Goldwell Open Air Museum
- Beatty Museum and Historical Society
- Bertram's Corner
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