State Library and Archives - A Division of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

Facing the truth about some of our best but tallest tales

by Guy Rocha, Nevada State Archivist 

•  Myth #134 - Dispelling Myths of State's First Native Female Lawyer
•  Myth #133 - Teddy Roosevelt was not at the Alamo (Stock Farm)
•  Myth #132 - Actor Who Killed John Wayne Married in Carson City
•  Myth #131 - Carole Lombard's Carson City Divorce
•  Myth #130 - Changing Murder Trial Venues
•  Myth #129 - Gambling Called Gaming, Nothing New
•  Myth #128 - More Urban Nevada
•  Myth #127 - "Y" All the Confusion
•  Myth #126 - Francis G. Newlands' Birth:  A Grave Solution
•  Myth #125 - Spanning Time and Place:  Community Arches and Slogans
•  Myth #124 - True Confessions:  The J.W. Rover Case
•  Myth #123 - Pronouncing Nevada
•  Myth #122 - What Mark Twain Didn't Say
•  Myth #121 - In Carson City There are Many Mansions
•  Myth #120 - Getting to the Bottom of Lake Tahoe
•  Myth #119 - Nevada's Oldest Family-Owned, Working Ranches and Farms
•  Myth #118 - Long Forgotten, Later Found:  The Johnson-Jefferies Fight Site
•  Myth #117 - First Female Principal in Nevada?
•  Myth #116 - Congressman Clarence Van Duzer's Troubles
•  Myth #115 - Plausible De-Nye-Ability: Just How Large is Nye County?
•  Myth #114 - Carson City's Freeway Bypass:  A Long Time Coming
•  Myth #113 - A Tennis Great's Life Started in Carson City
•  Myth #112 - In Cold Blood: The Nevada Connection
•  Myth #111 - Riding High:  Hank Monk and Horace Greeley
•  Myth #110 - Valley Confusion That's Not so Pleasant
•  Myth #109 - U.S. Grant Did Not Get into Hot Water in Nevada
•  Myth #108 - On the Edge:  The Sierra Crest Line
•  Myth #107 - What Didn't Happen in Carson City
•  Myth #106 - Knowing Your Boundaries
•  Myth #105 - The Mississippi of the West
•  Myth #104 - Will-ing But Not Able:  Will Rogers and Ely's Lincoln Highway Dedication
•  Myth #103 - What's in a Dam Name?
•  Myth #102 - Battle Born and Legal
•  Myth #101 - In Search of an Enterprising Mark Twain
•  Myth #100 - Getting Fired Up
•  Myth #99 - Caliente:  Hot Stuff on the Web, But is it True?
•  Myth #98 - Largest Historic District in the Nation
•  Myth #97 - Hard Hats at Hoover Dam
•  Myth #96 - Can You Get There Vya Here?
•  Myth #95 - Staging a Robbery Without a Coach
•  Myth #94 - Searching for "Sandy" Bowers
•  Myth #93 - So Who Was Actor Brad Dexter Anyway?
•  Myth #92 - Hillside Letters:  In Plain Sight But Not Intended for Planes
•  Myth #91 - The Last of the 19th Century Ferris Wheels 
•  Myth #90 - Height of a Mountain Tale
•  Myth #89 - Never the Twain Shall Meet
•  Myth #88 - Who was the First Governor of the State of Nevada?
•  Myth #87 - How Tall is Too Tall? A Capitol Tale
•  Myth #86 - Origin of Fernley's Name Shrouded in Mystery
•  Myth #85 - Gold Hill Hotel:  Nevada's Oldest Hotel Not Built in 1859
•  Myth #84 - The Mysterious Origin of Nevada's Territorial Seal
•  Myth #83 - Elliott Gould and Barbra Streisand:  A Capital Secret
•  Myth #82 - Confusing Names: The Naming of Gardnerville 
•  Myth #81 - Blowing Smoke:  Another State Seal Myth
•  Myth #80 - Bringing a Myth to a Grinding Halt
•  Myth #79 - Nineteenth-Century Presidential Visits to Lake Tahoe and Nevada
•  Myth #78 - Second Oldest Capitol Building West of the Mississippi?
•  Myth #77 - Eliza Cook: Not Nevada's First Female Doctor
•  Myth #76 - Dying To Know The Truth: Governor John Sparks
•  Myth #75 - Snow Job?
•  Myth #74 - "First Lady" Patricia Nixon: Her Life Began in Nevada, But Where?
•  Myth #73 - Nevada, Abe Lincoln, and Black Americans
•  Myth #72 - Stepping Up to the Bar:  Female Attorneys in Nevada
•  Myth #71 - Who's On First? Nevada's First Newspaper
•  Myth #70 - Asa W. Phelps: The War Hero That Wasn't
•  Myth #69 - Mark My Words - No Twain In Church
•  Myth #68 - Getting "Reno-Vated": The Ring of Truth
•  Myth #67 - Carson City's E. D. Sweeney Building: A Case of Mistaken Identity
•  Myth #66 - Douglas County Starts With D
•  Myth #65 - Gabbs?
•  Myth #64 - Getting the Facts Down Pat
•  Myth #63 - Jack Who?
•  Myth #62 - Canyon Confusion: Carson River not in Brunswick Canyon
•  Myth #61 - Peaking at Lake Tahoe
•  Myth #60 - Myths and "The Misfits"
•  Myth #59 - Shedding Light on Nevada's First Nobel Laureate
•  Myth #58 - The Court of First Resort: Getting Into Hot Water
•  Myth #57 - East is East, West is West and Where Was Carson City's Chinatown Anyway?
•  Myth #56 - No Disappearing Act for Harry Houdini at Piper's Opera House
•  Myth #55 - The Verdi Train Robbery Didn't Happen in Verdi
•  Myth #54 - "Sell The Sizzle And Not The Steak": Mark Twain In Carson City
•  Myth #53 - The George Washington Gale Ferris House--Or Is It?
•  Myth #52 - There Is No Bridge in Jarbidge!
•  Myth #51 - Going Out On A Limb - "Carson City's Oldest Tree"
•  Myth #50 - Taking Things For Granted: Dayton and U.S. President Grant
•  Myth #49 - Divorcing Myth From Truth: Mary Pickford's Divorce
•  Myth #48 - Virginia City's Silver Streets
•  Myth #47 - Who Was the First Woman to Run for the U.S. Senate?
•  Myth #46 - Reno's Methodist Church: Why the First or Oldest Something West of the Mississippi?
•  Myth #45 - Virginia City: The Biggest City West of the Rockies?
•  Myth #44 - Carson City's Jack's Bar: "A Saloon Since 1859?"
•  Myth #43 - Fort Churchill The Birthplace of Cavalry: Saddled with a Myth?
•  Myth #42 - The First Hotel Built in the World After World War II?
•  Myth #41 - Virginia City's Namesake: A Grave Issue
•  Myth #40 - More Old School Days
•  Myth #39 - Old School Days
•  Myth #38 - Levi's 501 Jeans: A Riveting Story in Early Reno
•  Myth #37 - Quoting Mark Twain
•  Myth #36 - Las Vegas' First Post Office Wasn't Named Las Vegas
•  Myth #35 - Dateline Genoa: 1855
•  Myth #34 - What Didn't Happen at Tonopah's Mizpah Hotel!
•  Myth #33 - Reno History Mystery Solved
•  Myth #32 - "Asscertaining" Tonopah's Origin
•  Myth #31 - Nevada's "Silver" Capitol "Dome"
•  Myth #30 - Seeing Justice in Virginia City
•  Myth #29 - Wanted: The Real Reno
•  Myth #28 - Las Vegas: Nevada's Next State Capital?
•  Myth #27 - Is Carson City the Largest Capital Area-Wise in the USA?
•  Myth #26 - "Would You Believe: The First Elevator West of the Mississippi?!"
•  Myth #25 - The Great Caruso Never Sang on the Comstock
•  Myth #24 - Eagle Valley and Carson City
•  Myth #23 - Old Radio Daze in Nevada
•  Myth #22 - Nevada's First Permanent Settlement
•  Myth #21 - Marilyn Monroe: Mystery and Myth
•  Myth #20 - Red Light Legend and Lore: Julia Bulette
•  Myth #19 - What's in a Name? Yerington Wasn't Always Yerington
•  Myth #18 - Is There Anything Traditional About Nevada Day?
•  Myth #17 - Carson City's Philips, Or is it Phillips Street?
•  Myth #16 - When is a State Flag Official?
•  Myth #15 - Who's Lyon?
•  Myth #14 - Sierra Nevada Means What it Says and Where is it Anyway?
•  Myth #13 - George W. G. Ferris, Jr. and The Ferris Wheel
•  Myth #12 - Why Did Nevada Become a State?
•  Myth #11 - "The First Electric Elevator West of the Mississippi"
•  Myth #10 - "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Carson City's Corbett School
•  Myth # 9 - A Capital Name: Kit Carson and Carson City
•  Myth # 8 - The "Trestle" on the State Seal
•  Myth # 7 - Carson City: The Nation's Smallest Capital?
•  Myth # 6 - T.R. and Wyatt
•  Myth # 5 - The Wild Bunch in Winnemucca
•  Myth # 4 - Hannah Clapp and The Capitol Fence
•  Myth # 3 - Key Pittman on Ice
•  Myth # 2 - Mark Twain Flees Nevada
•  Myth # 1 - Workers Buried in Hoover Dam
•  Myths and Realities: The Uses and Misuses of History