Pioche, Nevada

[trish1]

I have a photograph of a gg grandfather taken in Pioche, Nevada. Google tells me this is an "unincorporated community". What does this mean? What is an "Incorporated community"?

thanks

Trish

[SarahND]

Hi Trish,
There are lots of these in the U.S., particularly in the West, where the population is more spread out. Nevada is a state with vast areas of emptiness… you don’t want your car to break down there. Similar to many parts of central Australia, I'd guess!

There is a good explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unincorpo ... ted_States

An unincorporated community is one general term for a geographic area having a common social identity without municipal organization or official political designation (i.e., incorporation as a city or town). There are two main types of unincorporated communities:
-a neighborhood or other community existing within one or across multiple existing incorporated areas (i.e., cities or towns). In this sense, a community is part of a municipal government, but not separately incorporated from it. For example, Hyannis, Massachusetts, is an unincorporated village within the town of Barnstable.
-a neighborhood or other community existing outside an incorporated municipal government. In this sense, the community is outside any municipal government, and entirely unincorporated. Examples include: Hovland, Minnesota; Ceresco, Michigan; Nutbush, Tennessee; and Yucca, Arizona; small rural settlements of low population.

Best wishes,
Sarah

[Currie]

Climate anyone?
http://imgur.com/a/lcRoE

Alan

[trish1]

Thanks Sarah - the terminology is different to what we have. Our wide open spaces with little population are called shires (although many are being amalgamated into even larger areas, upsetting the residents). A shire could cover a very large area & the municipal govt headquarters can be hundreds of miles distant. I assume these unincorporated towns have access to some form of local government - as to someone looks after the roads/services?

My relative was a tin miner from Cornwall & he is on the census as a miner living in Pioche. I see mention of silver mines - assume that was what he was looking for. I don't think he did very well, I found him buried in Salt Lake City & he never made it home to see his wife/children again. I do wonder how they survived.

Thank you for the climate details Alan - doesn't look as bad as I thought it may be - sure is in the middle of nowhere.

Trish

[Ina]

Trish here in California unincorporated areas are maintained by the county. I live in Palm Desert but my little area is unincorporated which I love as we don't have to pay the Palm Desert taxes. I live in a gated community so our roads are maintained by our homeowners association but all roads outside of our gates are maintained by the county.

Ina

[trish1]

Thanks Ina - that makes it easier to understand.

Trish

[SarahND]

Climate anyone?
http://imgur.com/a/lcRoE

I have been through there in temperatures over 110 degrees F (43 Celsius) and one memorable time in a blizzard in January... I recommend late spring for the best view of the country, while there is still a bit of green It can be a pretty harsh place - there were a lot of mining towns at one time that are now ghost towns.

Sarah

[trish1]

I have been through there in temperatures over 110 degrees F (43 Celsius) and one memorable time in a blizzard in January... I recommend late spring for the best view of the country, while there is still a bit of green It can be a pretty harsh place - there were a lot of mining towns at one time that are now ghost towns.

Sarah

I looked it up on the google - quite alot of very little between Pioche and Las Vegas which seems to be the major road route in and out. The town itself - on street view - looks to have memories back into the 1800s - just needs some horses instead of cars on the street If I were to travel again - unlikely - it would be a place to visit - although I wouldn't do the drive alone. Both of the family members (father & son) ended up in Salt Lake City - I guess they didn't make a fortune mining in Pioche.

Trish

[Currie]

A CHEERFUL MINING TOWN.
Wagga Wagga Advertiser and Riverine Reporter, 31 January 1872.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/artic ... rchLimits=

“There are about 1200 people here, the half of whom have been in the State prisons (stage and highway robbers, &c.), and the rest ought to be. Our graveyard has 41 graves, of which but two are filled by death from natural causes. The rest all died with their boots on-shot mostly; some cut.”

There's more about Pioche scattered about Trove.

Alan

[SarahND]

One of the places one might not choose to go to in a time machine...

Sarah