Panaca, NV

Panaca is an unincorporated town in eastern Lincoln County, about four miles east of U.S. 93 and near Cathedral Gorge State Park. Mormon settlers led by Francis C. Lee established it in 1864 around the springs of Meadow Valley, making Panaca the first permanent settlement in southern Nevada. The name comes from the Southern Paiute word “Pan-nuk-ker,” associated with metal, money, or wealth, after a deposit found near Panaca Spring. The town became part of Nevada in 1866 after a boundary change that had first placed it in Utah, and a long tax dispute followed. Panaca is an old agricultural and church settlement with a Nevada-border story that refuses to stay simple.