NEVADA DAY: State's admission to union took twists

Nevada Day now mostly celebrated in north

October means Halloween, candy and costumes for many Las Vegas Valley children. But Nevada residents don't get a free Friday before the haunted holiday just to prepare for a night of candy seeking.

It just so happens the holiday is celebrated at the same time as Nevada Day, or the day the Nevada territory became a state. The admission to the union at that time had more to do with the presidential election than trick-or-treating.

In 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln was concerned about his re-election. The administration also needed more votes in Congress for Reconstruction and for the 13th Amendment that ended slavery. At the time, Nevada only reached 20,000 in population, 40,000 people short of the federal requirement for statehood, said Michael Green, professor of history at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

"The electoral vote looked like it would be as close as they think this one will be, but good politicians run scared," said Green, comparing the closeness of the 2004 presidential race to the one of 1864. "The silver attracts the people who made it possible to create a state, but it had nothing to do with the state itself.

"A lot of people think it's all about the silver. If you stop and think, Nevada was a territory. We were U.S., or Northern, territory. Lincoln didn't need for us to be a state to have our silver. He had it."

But what he didn't have were enough votes to make him comfortable. So, numbers were stretched and a lackluster population was brushed aside.

"Legally, we shouldn't have been a state," Green said. "Congress put out the law that let us do it, and we took advantage of it. And more power to us, I say."

By today's standards, allowing a state into the union to sway a presidential race would cause tickers to flash on CNN. In 1864, it was just politics. The Nevada depression hit from 1880 to 1900 and one-third of the population left after the state barely reached 60,000 people, the original population requirement for admission. The government considered a revocation of Nevada's statehood, Green said.

"Happily, for us, I guess, they discovered gold and silver in Tonopah and Goldfield, and more people started coming in," Green said. "I don't think it would've gotten too far, but it was brought up."

Southern Nevada was a part of the New Mexico, and then the Arizona, territories and wasn't included in the state of Nevada until 1867. This spawned the division between Northern and Southern Nevada, Green said.

"You don't have any real significant settlement here until 1905. We were part of the railroad that connected Salt Lake City and Los Angeles," Green said. "Back then, there wasn't much of a connection, period. What mattered to them wouldn't necessarily matter to us."

Carson City, the state's capital, is located about 430 miles from Las Vegas. It takes about eight hours to drive between the two cities.

"It's a big state and Northern Nevada has always benefited from seniority," Green said.

Nevada Day has been celebrated in Carson City since 1938 and federally since 1939, although Admission Day, Oct. 31, was legislatively declared a judicial holiday in 1891.

Many native Las Vegans remember as children having Halloween off from school, no matter the day of the week. In 1998, voters advised the 1999 Legislature to move the holiday to the last Friday of October. The change took effect in 2000.

"I loved getting Halloween off," said Green, who moved to Las Vegas at age 2. "I never forgave them for changing the day."

The celebration of Nevada Day is also a source of division in the state. The growth in Clark County during the past 30 years has contributed largely to the low Southern Nevadan attendance during Nevada Day festivities in Carson City, said Guy Rocha, state archivist with the Department of Cultural Affairs' Nevada State Library and Archives.

"There are no parade entries from Las Vegas. The closest parade entries are from Pahrump. There's not a single parade entry from Clark County. It's now Northern Nevada Day," Rocha said. "It wasn't always that way. It seems that Las Vegas used to send a contingent. There used to be Las Vegas bands and floats in the 1930s, 1940s. It's fallen away big time.

"It's a quick flight but a long drive. The connectivity, it broke off."

Rocha cited the lack of money available to send school organizations to participate in the festivities, along with a closer proximity to Southern California attractions, also leads to the separation.

"The biggest problem is ... they've moved there in the last five years, 10 years, 15 years. (New residents) don't know about Nevada Day," said Rocha, a native Las Vegan. "The Mason Dixon Line is at Pahrump. That's another world, and their world is in Clark County.

"It's not a complete event celebrated statewide. Las Vegas is the city in the state. Something's missing."

School children throughout the state learn "Home Means Nevada," the state song, along with other state tidbits in the classroom. The learning curve is more shallow for adults.

Growing up in Las Vegas, Rocha's real-life exposure to state history came by accident while visiting Carson City for state athletics tournaments.

"Southern Nevada is a cocoon when it comes to knowing the rest of the state. It's almost like we're two states," Rocha said. "I'd like to see that change."

Maryland, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Alaska and Delaware all have days to commemorate their admission to the union. Hawaii and West Virginia celebrate the state holiday, but Nevada's festivities are the largest of the three, Rocha said.

"There's nothing like Nevada Day in the country. We have the largest admission day in terms of events and attendance in the United States," he said. "The town is absolutely filled with activity, but you won't see many people from Southern Nevada."


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