Washoe County, Nevada: History
Petroglyphs on the west side of the Winnemucca Lake basin are at least 10,500 years old and may be 14,800 years old. They are the oldest known petroglyphs in North America.
Trappers and explorers, along with several emigrant trails to California and Oregon went through Washoe County in the 1840s. In January 1844, Lieutenant John C. Frémont discovered and named Pyramid Lake, with the expedition going down to the Truckee River soon after. Later that year, the Stephens-Donner route opened, the route crossing the Humboldt Sink to the Truckee River and went over the Truckee Pass.
Mormons created the State of Deseret in 1849, a provisional state, that included much of Nevada and Washoe County. During the California Constitutional Convention, there was debate on whether to include the Great Basin in the state. One attorney argued "a great portion of it [the Great Basin] can be of no advantage to us. A vast deal of it is an immense unexplored region -- a barren waste." An attorney from San Francisco, Myron Norton, stated "Whatever the region may be, a barren waste or a land of promise, we
have no right to relinquish it. It may be rich in agricultural and mineral wealth, we know nothing to the contrary. No man knows whether it is worthless or not." Ultimately, the majority felt they would gain nothing by extending the border beyond the Sierra Nevada.
Migration to California attracted settlers to the Truckee Meadows, and just south of the Truckee River, the Junction House was established in 1850.
On September 9, 1850, Congress created Utah Territory, which included Nevada and Washoe County.
Washoe County was created on November 25, 1861, as one of the original nine counties of the Nevada Territory. It is named after the Washoe people who originally inhabited the area. It was consolidated with Roop County in 1864. Washoe City was the first county seat in 1861 and was replaced by Reno in 1871.
In 1911, a small band of Shoshone and Bannock led by Mike Daggett killed four stockmen in Washoe County. A posse was formed, and on February 26, 1911, at the Battle of Kelley Creek, eight of Daggett's band were killed, along with one member of the posse, Ed Hogle. Three children and a woman who survived the battle were captured. The remains of some of the members of the band were repatriated from the Smithsonian Institution to the Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in 1994.
In 1918, Washoe County elected the first woman elected to the Nevada Legislature, Sadie Hurst, a Republican.
As of 2013, "Washoe County is the first school district in the state to offer Paiute classes," offering an elective course in the Paiute language at Spanish Springs High School and North Valleys High School.