Dixie Valley, Nevada
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Dixie Valley, Nevada was a ranching community in Churchill County, Nevada. The community is located in a valley of the same name that runs north-south in the west-central part of the state. The valley lies between the Stillwater Range and the Clan Alpine Mountains. The community was reached by a road extending 35 miles north from a point on US highway 50, 40 miles east of Fallon. The ZIP Code of Dixie Valley, Nevada is 89406.
Although classified as a small town, Dixie Valley had no retail businesses and most of the residents lived more than a mile from their nearest neighbor. Up until the 1980s, the valley was home to a number of ranching families, mostly involved in growing alfalfa and raising cattle. Although the valley is a desert with little rainfall, ground water was plentiful. Some ranches were built around free-flowing artesian wells.
Children of the valley were served by a 1-room school hosting grades 1 through 8. The teacher lived in a residence attached to the rear of the school. The school also served as a meeting and dance hall and as a polling place. Students in grades 9-12 were taken by four-wheel-drive school bus to Churchill County High School, 75 miles away in Fallon.
In 1954 the Dixie Valley/Fairview earthquakes struck the valley with tremors of 6.6 to 7.1 on the Richter Scale. Although the earthquakes were severe and resulted in the appearance of large visible faults no injuries or fatalities occurred.
The valley is now a US Navy electronic warfare range. The Navy condemned most of the properties and bought out the ranchers so that the Navy's low-level supersonic flight operations could be continued without resident complaints.
Dixie Valley is also the home of a medium-sized geothermal power plant. With a dozen production steam wells and about twice that number of injection wells the power plant employs approximately thirty people.
[edit] External links
Dixie Land historical article by Michon Mackedon.
USGS Information about 1954 earthquake.
Article concerning the use of Dixie Valley as an electronic warfare range.
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