Pioche, NV

Pioche is Lincoln County’s seat, a Nevada mining town named for San Francisco financier François Louis Alfred Pioche. A silver mine opened here in 1864, and the town’s most famous civic landmark followed in 1872: the Million Dollar Courthouse, whose bond financing eventually reached nearly a million dollars. U.S. 93 now bypasses the center, while Nevada Routes 321 and 322 lead into town. Pioche’s early years were rough enough to empty the settlement at times, but the courthouse and the county-seat role kept its name on the map. It is Nevada mining history with a courthouse bill that became part of the legend.