Pahrump

Nye County, Nevada.

Pahrump, an unincorporated town at the southern tip of Nye County, Nevada, grew from late-19th-century cotton and alfalfa ranches into the county’s population center.¹

Details

Founded: American settlers began settling the Pahrump Valley in the late 19th century on large ranch-style holdings.¹
Last checked: October 6, 2026.

Point at a dot to see the place.Tap a dot to see the place. Road map of Pahrump.

In Pahrump

All American Swap MeetPahrump · Flea marketYear-round Saturday open-air swap meet on the grounds of VFW Post 10054 in Pahrump, Nevada, opening at first light and folding when the day turns too warm.
Artesian CellarsPahrump · Winery and tasting roomArtesian Cellars, a winery and restaurant in a remodeled house on Highway 160 in Pahrump, Nevada, pours wine made mostly from grapes grown in the Mojave and northern Nevada.
Charleston Peak WineryPahrump · Boutique estate wineryA boutique estate winery at the top of Winery Road in Pahrump, Nevada, on the site of the state's first fully licensed winery, whose first vines wild mustangs trampled.

History

Tie Houses at the Foot of Nye County

On the museum grounds at 401 East Basin Avenue stand the Raycraft and Bowman Tie Houses, built entirely of railroad ties from the Tonopah-Tidewater Railroad.² Pahrump is an unincorporated town and the population center of Nye County, at the county’s southernmost tip about 60 miles west of Las Vegas.¹ The Nevada State Demographer counted 36,995 people there as of July 1, 2011.¹

Stump Spring and Chief Tecopa

A Clark County marker traces the main route of the Old Spanish Trail from Las Vegas Springs to Mountain Spring and Stump Spring in the Pahrump Valley, and on into California.³ The local museum dates the era of exploration and the Old Spanish Trail from 1776 to 1848.² State marker Number 171, in Pahrump, records that Chief Tecopa led the Southern Paiute Tribes and fought with vigor to save their land and traditional way of life.⁴ His life covered almost the entire 19th century, and the marker honors him for the peaceful relations he kept between the Southern Paiute and the white men who came to live among them.⁴

Cotton, Alfalfa, and the Pahrump Ranch

American settlers began taking up the Pahrump Valley in the late 19th century on large ranch-style holdings, where ranchers grew cotton and alfalfa and raised livestock.¹ The old Pahrump General Store came from the Pahrump Ranch, and the museum is setting it up beside the Pahrump One-Room Schoolhouse in a “Main Street Pahrump” display.² The town’s first winery was bonded in 1930 but never developed.⁵ The state guide lists the desert tortoise of the Pahrump Valley among Nevada’s turtles.⁶

Paved Road and Vineyards

Interest in Pahrump rose in the 1960s with large-scale land development and speculation, and with telephone lines and a paved road into the valley from Las Vegas.¹ Long-time resident Jack Sanders founded Pahrump Valley Winery in 1990 and sold it in 2002 to Bill and Gretchen Loken, who ran it until it sold again in 2019.⁵ Sanders kept making wine and opened Sanders Family Winery in 2009.⁵

The Museum on Basin Avenue

Harry “Button” Ford and Charles Gallivan established the Pahrump Historical Society in 1991.² The society was incorporated in 1992, and the Pahrump Valley Museum officially opened in 2003.⁷ The Pahrump Valley Museum applied for $439,000 in development grant funding from the Nye Community Downtown Development Grant, and the application was presented to the Pahrump Town Board on July 12, 2005.⁷ Its exhibits include early farming and mining equipment and Native American artifacts.² A Texaco Big Friend giant, said to have once stood at a Texaco station on the Las Vegas strip, was later made over as Robin Hood and advertised Valley Mobile Homes for more than 25 years. It barely escaped the cutter’s torch in a landfill and was then donated to the museum.⁸ Joel Baker bought it in 2016, and it now stands restored in Atlanta, Illinois.⁸

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