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Esmeralda County, population of only 1,262 souls in 2006, is the sparsest peopled county in Nevada
with almost three square miles (more than seven square kilometers) for each person. The land is mountainous
and contains Nevada's highest elevation, Boundary Peak, 13,147 feet or 4,007 meters above sea level. Just west
of Esmeralda County the mountains descend into Death Valley, California.
Esmeralda County was created in 1861 as one of the nine original Nevada counties and took its name from the Esmeralda Mining
District which had been named by the miner J. M. Corey. Although the word esmeralda is Spanish for emerald,
Corey probably named the mining district not after the precious stone but after the gypsy in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Goldfield, the county seat, is situated on US 95, The Silver Trail, between Tonopah and Las Vegas.
Goldfield was incorporated in 1902 when gold was discovered nearby. By 1906, eight hundred tons of gold had been mined
in the district. At the apex of its glory in 1907, Goldfield was the largest and most powerful city in Nevada
with its population somewhere north of 15,000. Today Goldfield has fewer than five hundred souls.
Wyatt Earp was a deputy sheriff in Goldfield for a few months. He left town in 1905 when his brother
Virgil died.
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