In addition to subsistence farming, these early residents could pick up business from travelers along the California Trail, which followed the Truckee westward, before branching off towards Donner Lake, where the formidable obstacle of the Sierra Nevada began.

To provide the necessary connection between Virginia City and the California Trail, Charles W. Fuller built a log toll bridge across the Truckee River in 1859.

[8] After two years, Fuller sold the bridge to Myron C. Lake, who continued to develop the community by adding a grist mill, kiln, and livery stable to the hotel and eating house.

[10] CPRR construction superintendent Charles Crocker named the community after Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain.

In the following decades, Reno continued to grow and prosper as a business and agricultural center and became the principal settlement on the transcontinental railroad between Sacramento and Salt Lake City.

[13] As the mining boom waned early in the 20th century, Nevada's centers of political and business activity shifted to the nonmining communities, especially Reno and Las Vegas.

[15] In the early twentieth century Nevada became a popular destination for migratory divorce in an era when most states had highly restrictive laws on the subject.

Legislation passed in 1931 completed the gradual reduction of residency requirement from six months to six weeks, and Reno openly advertised itself as the "Divorce Capital of the World".

Nevada's laws, which were fairly progressive for the time, allowed numerous grounds for divorce and Reno's courts quickly gained a reputation for handling cases with both celerity and sympathy for those seeking to "untie the knot".

[16] Numerous local businesses openly courted these visitors, such as R. Herz & Bro, a jewelry store that offered ring resetting services to the recently divorced and the luxurious El Cortez Hotel, which was built in part to accommodate the more affluent among Reno's six week guests.

[16] In addition to tens of thousands of ordinary people, Reno also became a major destination for celebrities, and the very wealthy looking to end their marriages as quickly as possible.

In Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead, published in 1943, the New York-based female protagonist tells a friend, "I am going to Reno," which was understood as declaring their intention to get a divorce.

[16] Reno took a leap forward when the state of Nevada legalized open gambling on March 19, 1931, at the same time as it liberalized its divorce laws.

[21] At 1:03 pm, on February 5, 1957, two explosions, caused by natural gas leaking into the maze of pipes and ditches under the city, and an ensuing fire, destroyed five buildings in the vicinity of Sierra and First Streets along the Truckee River.

Reno also is an outdoor recreation destination, due to its proximity to the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and numerous ski resorts in the region.

In February 2008, an earthquake swarm began to occur, lasting for several months, with the largest quake registering at 4.9 on the Richter magnitude scale, although some geologic estimates put it at 5.0.

[31] The unique high desert geological features cause many to "describe Nevada as a rockhound's paradise .... access to millions of acres of government land" allows geologists, miners, and amateur rockhounds in Nevada "to hunt to your heart's content .... being able to find agate, opal, jasper, fossils, fluorescent minerals, obsidian, chalcedony, wonderstone, malachite, petrified wood, limb casts, and much more means paradise.

It experiences moderately cold winters and hot summers; it is influenced by the Sierra Nevada mountains to the west and the more arid Great Basin to the east.

While Reno experiences a rain shadow effect from the surrounding mountains, its western portions can receive three to four times as much precipitation as those extending eastward.

[38] Annual rainfall patterns in Reno adhere to a Mediterranean climate, with most precipitation occurring in fall, winter, and spring, followed by long, hot, dry summers.

The area's low evapotranspiration stemming from its moderate annual average temperature also bears similarity to semi-arid climates found in Nevada's Great Basin.

[40] In addition, the region is windy throughout the year; observers such as Mark Twain have commented about the "Washoe Zephyr", northwestern Nevada's distinctive wind.

[59][60][61][62][63] The Tesla Gigafactory at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is one of the largest buildings in the country, purportedly covering 5.8 million square feet.

[66] In 2023 Tesla announced a $3.6 billion expansion[67] of the facility that would incorporate an additional four million square feet, including an all-new plant for Semis and a much larger one for battery development.

[77] Boxer Ray Mancini fought four of his last five fights in Reno against Bobby Chacon, Livingstone Bramble, Héctor Camacho and Greg Haugen.

Reno has a college sports scene, with the Nevada Wolf Pack appearing in football bowl games and an Associated Press and Coaches Poll Top Ten ranking in basketball in 2018.

The council has several duties, including setting priorities for the city, promoting communication with the public, planning development, and redevelopment.

The Glendale plant is alongside the river, and is fed by a rock and concrete rubble diversion dam a short distance upstream.

While treated, the effluent contains suspended solids, nitrogen, and phosphorus, aggravating water-quality concerns of the river and its receiving waters of Pyramid Lake.

To accomplish this successful outcome, the DSSAM Model was developed and calibrated for the Truckee River to analyze the most cost-effective available management strategy set.