Esmeralda County, Nevada

Esmeralda County is a in the west of  of. Its is. As of, the population is 1,262, making it the least populous county in the state. has no high school.

History
Esmeralda County is one of the original Nevada counties, created in 1861. Esmeralda is the word for "." An early Nevada miner, J. M. Corey, named the Esmeralda Mining District. It is believed that Corey named the district after the gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, from 's novel, . Esmeralda has had three county seats: until 1883,  from 1883 to 1907 and finally Goldfield.

Esmeralda grew from a mining boom in the first years of the. The mines were largely tapped out by the end of the and the economy and population declined afterwards.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 9,295 (3,589 ). 9,294 km² (3,588 sq mi) of it is land and 1 km² (0 sq mi) of it (0.01%) is water.

The county is dominated by the and  mountain ranges. Mountains in the county include:
 * , 13,147 feet (4,007 metres), the highest point in Nevada
 * Piper Peak, 9450 feet (2,880 meters)
 * Magruder Mountain 9044 feet (2,756 meters)
 * Montezuma Peak, 8373 feet (2,552 meters)
 * Emigrant Peak, 6790 feet (2,069 meters)

Major Highways
State Routes CA 264 and NV 266
 * [[Image:US 95.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 6.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Nevada 773.svg|20px]]

Adjacent Counties

 * - northwest
 * - east
 * - south
 * - west

Law and government
The county seat of Esmeralda County is. It was moved to Goldfield on,. The courthouse was opened on, and has been in continuous use since then. Currently, the Offices of the, /Recorder, , , , , , and Commissioner are located in the building.

Education
The has three elementary schools that currently serve approximately 90 students.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 971 people, 455 households, and 259 families residing in the county. The was 0/km² (0/sq mi). There were 833 housing units at an average density of 0/km² (0/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 81.98%, 0.10% or , 5.15% , 0.21% , 7.62% from , and 4.94% from two or more races. 10.20% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 455 households out of which 21.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.40% were living together, 6.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.90% were non-families. 36.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.79.

In the county, the population was spread out with 20.50% under the age of 18, 6.00% from 18 to 24, 23.40% from 25 to 44, 33.00% from 45 to 64, and 17.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 123.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 118.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,203, and the median income for a family was $40,917. Males had a median income of $39,327 versus $25,469 for females. The for the county was $18,971. 15.30% of the population and 7.50% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 9.70% are under the age of 18 and 11.40% are 65 or older.