Question of the Day - 09 January 2021

Besides Boulder City, the only other place in Nevada that prohibits gambling is Panaca (pan-ACK-uh), one of the three small settlements in the "tri-city" area of Lincoln County in the southeastern part of the state, along with Caliente and Pioche, roughly 170 miles northeast of Las Vegas on US 93.

Panaca was settled in 1864 by Latter-day Saint missionaries and colonists from Salt Lake City. Actually, at that time, it wasn't part of Nevada at all; it still belonged to Washington County, Utah. A couple of years later, redistricting on the federal level made Panaca part of Lincoln County, Nevada. (Forty-five years after that, in 1909, Clark County was carved off of vast Lincoln County and Las Vegas became its seat.) 

Today, Panaca remains much as it has been for the 154 years of its existence: Lush irrigated fields of grains and vegetables, stacks of hay, barns, farm equipment, feedlots, long fences, and farmers frame the landscape. An incongruous but striking chalk formation known as Court Rock presides over the town of less than 1,000 residents.

Being Mormon throughout its history, gambling has never been permitted. Neither has drinking; Panaca is also the only dry town in Nevada.