Nevada did not have a large enough population to become a state during the Civil War（1861－1865）．Partly to impose order on the lawless（非法的，违法的），wide－open mining towns，Congress made Nevada into a territory in 1861as migrant prospectors and settlers poured in．The territory was then enlarged by increasing its eastern boundary by one degree of longitude（经度，经线）in 1862．It was rushed into statehood in 1864，with Carson City as its capital．President Lincoln（in order to get more votes to pass the Thirteenth Amendment）had signed the proclamation（宣布）even though the territory did not actually meet the population requirement for statehood．On Oct．31，1864，Nevada became the 36th state of the Union with Carson City as its capital．
In 1866Nevada acquired its present－day boundaries when the southern tip was added and more eastern land was gained from Utah．
The state continued to be dependent on its precious ores，and its fate was affected so．During the late 1860s，several miners settled the northwestern counties of Nevada．The following decade，mines closed as the value of silver dropped．Thousands of miners left Nevada looking for work，others turned to ranching．The 1880s brought even harder years on the economy．Unusually cold winters killed much of the livestock（家畜，牲畜）and mines near Virginia City stopped producing gold and silver．
During the early 1900s，new mines near Tonopah discovered silver．Gold was found in Goldfield and copper near Ruth and Mountain City．These discoveries provided new jobs and strengthened Nevada’s economy．Railroad expansion opened new markets and the Newlands Irrigation Project made farming possible through irrigation．
After World War I had ended in 1918，attempts to suppress what others called immorality（不道德，无道义）gave way to the values of a commercially（商业上，通商上）oriented，wide－open frontier society that permitted such behavior．Illegal gambling，legalized prostitution（堕落，糟蹋），easy divorces，and the sale of alcoholic beverages（饮料）in violation of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States became features of life in Reno and the small railroad town of Las Vegas．These businesses grew after 1931when construction work began on Hoover Dam．In 1931，early in the Great Depression，gambling was again made legal，bringing jobs and tourists to the state，and state residency（住处）required to obtain a divorce was reduced to six weeks．
Social reform did not much interest Nevadans in the post World War I period．The death of Newlands in 1917dealt a severe blow to progressive reform in the state．Leaders who had begun their careers in mining towns dominated the state for the next 40years，when Nevada approved businesses（gambling and prostitution）that other states called immoral．
World War II（1939－1945）brought military air bases to Reno and Las Vegas．The Bureau of Land Management and the U．S．Forest Service managed much of the 86percent of the state still owned by the federal government．After World War II，thSe value of copper and lead dropped dramatically，causing many mines to close and the gambling and entertainment industries in Reno and Las Vegas expanded．The opening of the huge Flamingo Hotel in 1947changed the character of gambling near Las Vegas．By 1951there were five large hotel－resort casinos operating in Clark County，just outside of Las Vegas city jurisdiction and away from higher city taxes．During the late 1950s and 1960s low county tax rates encouraged a thriving resort economy based on the lure（引诱）of legal gambling casinos［娱乐场（供表演跳舞、赌博的地方）］that were open 24hours a day，big－name entertainers，lavish（过分丰富的）food buffets，and bargain room rates．Although organized crime had initially funded much of the gaming industry，Congress pressured the state to tighten gaming－license regulations in the mid－1950s．
In 1950，during the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics（USSR），the U．S．Atomic Energy Commission chose a Nevada site to test nuclear weapons in the 1950s，bringing additional jobs and prosperity to southern Nevada．
During the late 1900s，tourism remained the largest industry in Nevada．Las Vegas alone attracted more than 15million tourists a year．Reno also built large casinos and ski resorts were built at Lake Tahoe．Nevada’s population grew immensely（无限地，广大地）and water became a major concern．In 1963，the Supreme Court ruled on a water dispute of the Colorado River between Nevada and neighboring states．Later in 1983，the Water Project was created to provide increased water for expected growth within Las Vegas．
In 2000Nevada had 60，920km（37，854mi）of highways，including 901km（560mi）of the federal interstate highway system．U．S．Highway 50，which follows the route of the Pony Express of the 1860s，has been called the Loneliest Road in America because of its passage through some of the state’s most unpopulated landscapes．
The successes of the Nevada economy and the consequent（作为结果的，随之发生的）increase in population have created environmental problems．Air pollution has appeared in Reno and Las Vegas．Gold processing techniques that employ cyanide（［化］氰化物）leaching ponds threaten underground water supplies．
The gaming economy has also caused an increase in social problems．Crime has increased，and people who live in a 24－hour economy serviced by minimum－wage jobs have problems with high teenage－pregnancy rates，divorce，alcoholism（酒精中毒），drugs，gangs，and suicide．
The gaming industry，however，has occasionally argued that the mining industry should pay more in state taxes to lift some of its own tax burden．Nevada gaming has consistently paid over 40percent of the cost of state government．Its revenues have enabled the state to spend more on education and to support two major state universities and a community college system，but experts warn that the state’s tax base is too narrow to support major increases in education．
Governor州长
Guinn的少年时代是在加州的Exeter的中心小镇上度过的，在那里他和现已48岁的妻子相遇了。他毕业后获得弗雷斯诺州立大学体育学士学位。后来获得犹他州州立大学的教育博士学位。