Nelson, Nevada
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Clark census division. It lies in ZIP code area 89046. It lies near Copper Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Nelson quadrangle. 22 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresNelson fell from 37 to 22 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 37 | |
| 2020 | 22 | -15 (-41%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 29 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1886 USGS Camp Mohave quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Camp Mohave quadrangle1:250000, 8 printings
- 1926 USGS Nelson quadrangle1:96000
- 1942 USGS Camp Mohave quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Kingman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Kingman quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Kingman quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Kingman quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Kingman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Nelson quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Kingman quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1983 USGS Boulder City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Nelson quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
10 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Nelson between 1994 and 2016, burning about 2 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | HWY 165 |
| 20 September 1994 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Southern Nevada District Office | KNOB HILL |
| 24 August 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | NELSON |
| 23 August 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | TECHATTICUP |
| 20 August 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | AZTEC |
| 17 August 1996 | Natural | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | CRAYTON |
| 5 July 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | CCFD 3 |
| 10 July 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Nevada District Office | DITCH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 59 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 59 workings within 5 miles of Nelson: 33 past producers, 12 prospects, 10 occurrences, 2 unknowns. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Silver, Gold, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belmont-Phoenix Mine | Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Belmont-Phoenix Mine | Silver, Copper, Gold, Lead | Past Producer | 1940 | |
| Buster Claim | Copper, Gold | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Combination Mine | Gold, Silver, Zinc, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Cottonwood Iron Claim | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Eldorado District | Gold, Silver, Zinc | Producer | 1857, 1861 | |
| Eldorado Gold Property | Silver, Gold, Zinc, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | 1857, 1863, 1970 | |
| Eldorado Rover Mining Co. | Gold, Lead, Copper, Zinc, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Golden Empire Mine | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Jubilee Mine | Gold, Lead, Zinc, Silver, Copper | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
15 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Nelson in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2022: 12 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $100,000 | Highway 165 was washed out just past the town of Nelson, with 14 cars stranded beyond the washout. The debris flow down the canyon was 100 feet wide and six feet deep. A public bathroom structure was filled halfway with mud. |
| November 2019 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $20,000 | Eagle Wash Road (a dirt road) was obliterated by flooding and will have to be resurfaced. Nelson Landing Turnaround will also have to be repaired. |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $15,000 | Flood waters washed out two access roads in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Eldorado Canyon and Aztec Wash roads were closed for a few weeks while debris was removed and repairs were made. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $10,000 | Highway 95 was closed from mile marker 36 to 39, and Cottonwood Cove Road was damaged and closed by flooding. |
| August 2022 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $5,000 | Highway 165 was closed from Highway 95 to Nelson due to flooding in multiple locations. |
| August 2018 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $2,000 | Dirt berms were damaged, and rocks the size of basketballs were washed onto the road. |
| August 2015 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $2,000 | Portions of Highway 165 were washed out between mile markers 11 and 13. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $2,000 | Highway 165 was closed due to water and debris. |
| July 2011 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $2,000 | Mud and rocks were across Highway 95 near mile marker 46. |
| July 2022 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $1,000 | A video showed flooding on Hwy 95 south of the solar farms. |
| August 2022 | Flash Flood | Nelson | $1,000 | Highway 95 was closed due to flooding. |
| September 2017 | Funnel Cloud | Nelson | - | A funnel cloud was photographed between Searchlight and Nelson Landing. |
| August 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Nelson | - | A small tornado briefly touched down in open desert east of Highway 95 near the Nelsons Landing turn off. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Nelson | - | Personnel at the Nevada Solar One power plant reported one inch hail. |
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Nelson | - | Two inches of rain fell at Nelson Landing in about an hour. Four cars were stuck in mud on Placer Rd. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marie Camp | 0.4 miles | 29 | |
| Camp Duncan (historical) | 1.1 miles | 29 | |
| Lucky Jim Camp | 1.2 miles | 29 | |
| Camp Booth (historical) | 3.6 miles | 29 | |
| Eldorado Canyon (historical) | 6.0 miles | 32 | |
| Hills Camp (historical) | 8.1 miles | 32 | |
| Camp Dupont (historical) | 10.4 miles | 29 | |
| Copper Camp (historical) | 11.9 miles | 29 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Nelson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3473162 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 854542. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.












