We last left Nevada mining history in 1919 following the state’s first mining renaissance with the emergence of new mine sites in Tonopah, Goldfield and Ely and the impact minerals from these mines had on the United States’ arms effort in World War I.
Prosperity continued in Nevada throughout the 1920s. Aside from the booming mineral industry, ranchers also expanded their operations, by raising more cattle and sheep throughout the state as demand and prices for these commodities increased.
Good times around the nation and Nevada, however, came to an abrupt end with the stock market crash of 1929. Nevada’s mineral and agricultural industries suffered throughout the Great Depression, and the state turned elsewhere to boost its sagging economy. Hoping to attract visitors, Nevada made gambling legal in 1931, giving birth to the Nevada tourism industry which overtook mining as the state’s premier business.
Additionally, the federal government sought to combat skyrocketing unemployment through public works programs. In 1930, construction on the Hoover Dam began bringing more than 5,000 workers to southern Nevada before the project was completed in 1936.
The construction of the Hoover Dam relied greatly on materials mined in Nevada. The structure, which contains 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete, over 5,000,000 barrels of cement, 45,000,000 pounds of reinforcement steel, 18,000,000 pounds of structural steel and 5,300,000 pounds of miscellaneous metals, wouldn’t have been possible without the use of Nevada minerals.
World War II (1939-1945) was instrumental in the overall recovery of the United States from the Great Depression. The war also greatly increased the need for minerals – once again boosting the Nevada mining industry. Nevada mines were called upon to produce the minerals desperately needed to build planes, tanks and other weapons in support of the war effort. Magnesium – a material used to make bombs – was produced in Henderson in a new factory opened by the government.
The mining industry went through many ups and downs during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, but, as it always has, mining weathered the storm of the Great Depression and found innovative ways to remain one of Nevada’s strongest industries.
