Facts about the state of Nevada, which is known as the "Silver State".
A 1794 silver dollar believed to be one of the first-ever minted is going up for auction by the owner in Las Vegas.
Known as the "Flowing Hair" silver dollar, it’s expected to fetch almost as much as the current owner paid for it in 2013 – $10 million dollars.
If the buyer is another Nevadan, that might not surprise UNLV history professor Michael Green because Nevada has a storied history with a strong connection to silver.
“The simplest way to put it is silver put us on the map,” Green said.
When people started pouring into California during the gold rush, Green explained, they also started looking for gold on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, thinking if there is gold on the west side there might be gold on the eastern side.
Some gold was found, but they also found a blue-gray gunk that most people thought was trash. In reality, it was silver.
In 1859, two miners Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin made the big discovery of the silver in Six-Mile Canyon near Virginia City.
“They found the big silver lode that became known as the Comstock Lode," Green said, "It was the largest silver discovery in the United States and I believe it still is. It was the first major silver discovery in the U.S. This inspired migration into the region."
An estimated 20,000 people poured into Nevada to strike it rich on the silver (read more).
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