Let Nevada trivia entertain you during these stay-in-place days

Let’s be honest — it’s difficult to write a column about traveling around Nevada when you can’t leave home. While we all hope the current restrictions on leaving home or congregating will pass soon, there are other ways to pass the time, such as quizzing yourself on Nevada trivia.

Several years ago, I wrote a book, “The Nevada Trivia Book,” which featured hundreds of questions and answers about the Silver State. For the next few weeks, I’d like to share a few of the items from that book. Questions will appear first with the answers below.

Now, let’s see how well you know your Nevada trivia!

1. What is the highest point in Nevada?

2. How many of Nevada’s counties are not named after men?

3. Which two Nevada counties are named after men who once ran against each other for president of the United States?

4. Where in Nevada will you find that Justice isn’t blind?

5. How many states touch Nevada?

6. Where did the last stagecoach robbery in the western U.S. take place?

7. Where did the first train robbery in the western U.S. take place?

8. When did women gain the right to vote in Nevada?

9. What was the result of the first election to approve a state constitution for Nevada, held on Jan. 19, 1864?

10. Approximately how many people lived in Nevada when it became a state in 1864?

11. By what popular name is the irritating Russian thistle, found throughout Nevada, known?

12. What former Nevada railroad camp was named for a directional sign to a saloon?

Answers:

1. At 13,143 feet, Boundary Peak in the White Mountain Range on the California-Nevada border is the highest point in the state.

2. Five: Elko, Eureka, Mineral, Washoe and White Pine counties.

3. Lincoln (for President Abraham Lincoln) and Douglas (after his opponent Stephen A. Douglas).

4. The Storey County Courthouse in Virginia City boasts a statue of Lady Justice that isn’t wearing a blindfold.

5. Five: Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon and Utah.

6. The West’s last stagecoach robbery occurred on Dec. 5, 1916, at Jarbidge Canyon in northern Elko County.

7. The first train robbery in the West occurred on Nov. 4, 1870, at Laughlin Springs, east of Reno. The crime was planned and perpetrated by “Smiling Jack” Davis, a Virginia City stable manager.

8. On Nov. 3, 1914, Nevada voters approved a measure granting the right to vote to women.

9. The measure failed by a wide margin — 8,851 votes against and 2,157 votes in favor. The reason it failed was that the document called for mines to be taxed at the same rate as other property, which was opposed by the mining industry. A second constitution was drafted in July 1864, which exempted mines and mining claims from being taxed like other property, and was approved by voters on Sept. 7, 1864, by a margin of 10,375 to 1,284.

10. Only an estimated 40,000 people resided in the newly created state of Nevada.

11. This pesky plant is also known as tumbleweed.

12. The railroad camp of “Tobar” in northeastern Nevada was named by Central Pacific Railroad officials for a directional sign to a saloon that they found in the area, which indicated, “To Bar.”

Rich Moreno writes about the places and people that make Nevada special.