Miles of flat, desert-like vistas dotted with sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and an occasional juniper or pinion pine separate tiny towns in much of Nevada. Cliffs and canyons rise and fall to break up the repetitive terrain.
The state’s population of around 3.3 million is concentrated around the Las Vegas and Reno areas, but much of Nevada’s population is distributed across the state—many of them farmers or ranchers—congregating near towns that sprang up due to mining or pioneering in the 19th and early 20th centuries. What eventually connected them all was the railroad.
