Carson City

Carson City sits in the Eagle Valley at the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada, just east of Lake Tahoe, in the high desert of western Nevada. Named for the scout Kit Carson, it was laid out in 1858 and became the capital when Nevada achieved statehood in 1864 — wealth from the nearby Comstock Lode silver mines at Virginia City fueling its rise. It is one of the smallest state capitals.

The Sierra rises abruptly to the west, wringing the rain from passing storms and leaving the valley dry, while the Great Basin desert stretches east. Once a mint town stamping Comstock silver into coins, Carson City remains a compact government center in a dramatic setting between mountains and desert, dwarfed in population by Las Vegas and Reno.

• Nevada
  The Silver State, the driest in the nation located in
• Las Vegas
  A desert resort city in the Mojave same state