By Mick Bailey

My wife Maria and I often like to take short trips around Southern Nevada and Nipton, California is our latest excursion. We love the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip, but there is more to Southern Nevada than gambling. This time we bring a little bit of railroad history back with us. Technically, Nipton is in California and not Southern Nevada. I included Nipton in our journeys because it is an easy 40 minute drive south on the I-15 freeway then 10 minute east on Nipton Road; only a stone through across the border of the two states.

Nipton has its own unique history just like all the other dusty little towns in the Mojave Desert. Originally it was named Nippeno Camp and was a crossroad for two overland wagon trails that served various mines in the area. In 1885 Nevada Senator William Clark (namesake for Clark County) proposed building a railroad crossing the wagon trails to connect Los Angeles to Salt Lake City by rail. In the winter of 1904/1905 the railroad was completed and named the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. The whistle-stop on the railroad was later renamed to from Nippeno Camp to simply Nipton.