Mineral County, Nevada

Mineral County is a county in Nevada, United States, in the west-central part of the state, roughly midway between Reno and Tonopah. It had a population of 4,554 at the 2020 census and covers 3,813 square miles (9,880 km2) centred near 38°32′N 118°26′W.

Hawthorne is the county seat, and its postal code is 89415. The county has no incorporated cities; its population lives in four census-designated places and a scatter of unincorporated mining camps and ghost towns. The county is in the Pacific time zone.

Towns & Villages in Mineral County

Mineral County’s landscape is dotted with active communities and the remains of mining camps that boomed and emptied across more than a century of silver, gold, and mineral extraction. The table below lists the county’s census-designated places (CDP) alongside its historic and unincorporated (Unincorp.) settlements; population figures are shown only where the Census Bureau counted the place separately.

Hawthorne, on the shore of Walker Lake, is the only community with more than a few hundred residents; it grew around the Hawthorne Army Depot, the world’s largest ammunition storage facility by area. Babbitt, immediately west of Hawthorne, was built as depot worker housing and is treated separately in local usage though the Census Bureau folds it into the Hawthorne CDP boundary in most tabulations. Marietta and Rawhide are recognized Nevada ghost towns with standing ruins but no year-round population; Qualeys Camp, Copper Run, Jaggersville, and Schweer Housing Area are small historic mining-camp names that appear on older maps but are not separately tracked by the Census Bureau today, so they are omitted from the table above rather than assigned a guessed population.

ZIP Codes

• 89415 — Hawthorne (also serves Babbitt and Walker Lake)
• 89422 — Mina
• 89427 — Schurz
• 89419 — Luning

The county’s smaller mining camps and ghost towns have no ZIP code of their own and are served by mail routes out of Hawthorne or Mina.

Geography

Mineral County sits in Nevada’s Basin and Range country, a series of north-south mountain ranges separated by broad desert valleys. Walker Lake, a large remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan, lies along the county’s eastern edge and gives the community of Walker Lake its name. The Wassuk Range rises along the lake’s western shore, culminating at Mount Grant, 11,285 feet (3,440 m), the county’s highest point. Much of the county is high desert basin used for grazing and mining rather than settlement.

Mineral County borders Lyon County to the north, Churchill County to the northeast, Nye County to the east, Esmeralda County to the south, and Mono County, California, to the west.

Demographics

Mineral County had 4,554 residents at the 2020 census, giving it a density of about 1.2 people per square mile, one of the lowest in Nevada. Hawthorne is by far the largest community, followed by Schurz, the seat of the Walker River Paiute Tribe’s reservation administration. Median household income in the county runs below the Nevada median of $76,364, reflecting the county’s dependence on a shrinking military and mining workforce.

Economy & Local Life

The county’s economy centers on the Hawthorne Army Depot, a U.S. Army ammunition storage and demilitarization installation that has been the area’s largest employer since World War II. Mining remains active on a smaller scale, continuing a tradition that dates to the county’s founding, along with ranching in the valleys and a modest tourism trade built around Walker Lake fishing and boating and the ghost towns at Marietta and Rawhide. Schurz anchors the Walker River Paiute Tribe’s reservation, which extends into the county along the lower Walker River.

History

Mineral County was organized in 1911, carved out of Esmeralda County after that county’s seat moved north to Goldfield, leaving the mining district around Hawthorne isolated from its own courthouse. The county’s name reflects its mineral-rich geology rather than any single strike. Hawthorne itself grew after the U.S. Navy (later Army) established a major ammunition depot there in 1930, following an explosion at a similar facility near Lake Denmark, New Jersey, that prompted the military to disperse its ordnance storage to remote sites; the depot has anchored the local economy ever since. Marietta, a silver-mining camp founded in the 1870s, and Rawhide, a short-lived gold boomtown of the early 1900s, are among the county’s best-preserved ghost towns.

Getting There

U.S. Route 95 runs the length of the county north-south, linking Hawthorne to Fallon and Reno to the north and Tonopah and Las Vegas to the south; U.S. Route 6 crosses the southern part of the county toward Tonopah and Ely.

• Reno — 135 miles northwest
• Carson City — 110 miles northwest
• Yerington — 70 miles north
• Tonopah — 100 miles southeast

The nearest commercial airport is Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Mineral County, Nevada?
It sits in west-central Nevada along the eastern base of the Wassuk Range and the shore of Walker Lake, roughly midway between Reno and Tonopah.

What is the population of Mineral County?
4,554 people, at the 2020 census.

How big is Mineral County?
3,813 square miles (9,880 km2), of which 60 square miles are water.

What is the county seat of Mineral County?
Hawthorne is the county seat.

How many towns are in Mineral County?
The county has no incorporated cities; it has four census-designated places (Hawthorne, Mina, Schurz, and Walker Lake) plus a number of small unincorporated communities and ghost towns.

What ZIP codes are in Mineral County?
The main ZIP codes are 89415 (Hawthorne), 89422 (Mina), 89427 (Schurz), and 89419 (Luning).

What is Mineral County’s biggest employer?
The Hawthorne Army Depot, a U.S. Army ammunition storage installation, is the county’s largest employer.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Nevada.