McDermitt, NV

McDermitt is a Humboldt County CDP at the Nevada–Oregon line, with the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe's reservation extending across that border. The community's name points to Fort McDermitt, established in 1865 to protect the Virginia City–Quinn River–Oregon road and later converted into a reservation school. The surrounding caldera contains the Bretz, Cordero, McDermitt, Opalite, and Ruja mercury mines, giving McDermitt a working history that joins ranching and farming to mineral extraction. McDermitt Combined School now occupies a campus on Olavarria Street and serves elementary through high school students. The White Horse Inn, photographed on the state line in 1963, captures the community's unusual border setting.