Jiggs, Nevada

Unincorporated community in the state of Nevada, United States

Unincorporated community in Nevada, United States

40°25′33″N 115°39′55″W / 40.42583°N 115.66528°W / 40.42583; -115.66528CountryUnited StatesStateNevadaCountyElkoGovernment

Population

(2000)

• Total2Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)GNIS feature ID845520^[1]

Jiggs is an unincorporated community in Elko County, Nevada, United States,^[1] in the Mound Valley at the south end of State Route 228. It contains a very small school.

The community is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area. Jiggs is located at the southwestern foothills of the extensive Ruby Mountains; the community is about 30 miles (48 km) south of Elko.

History

The site was formerly a year-round camp for Native Americans gathering pine nuts.^[2]

Prior names for the settlement had been Mound Valley, Skelton, and Hylton—unfortunately, all at the same time. Since no one could seem to agree on a name, postal authorities chose a new name from a list submitted by local ranchers for the new post office to be established December 18, 1918. One of the names was Jiggs, a character in the Bringing Up Father comic strip, who was always bickering with his wife Maggie.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The town was the headquarters for "King Fisher", a fictional character created by author Zane Grey.^[2]

The town was featured in a 1965 Volkswagen advertising campaign in which the entire population (5 adults, 4 children and a dog) was shown comfortably seated inside a VW Bus.^[5]

Notable residents

Lewis R. Bradley, 2nd Governor of Nevada^[6]
Edward P. Carville, 18th Governor of Nevada^[7]^[6]
Waddie Mitchell, Cowboy poet

References

^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jiggs
^ ^a ^b ^c Carlson, Helen S. (1985). Nevada place names: a geographical dictionary. Reno: University of Nevada Press. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0-87417-094-X.
^ Scriba, Jay (October 15, 1970). "From Sleepy Eye to Chicken Bristle, USA". The Milwaukee Journal. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
^ Federal Writers' Project (1941). Origin of Place Names: Nevada (PDF). W.P.A. p. 25.
^ "The Volkswagen Station Wagon holds the entire population of Jiggs, Nevada". Albuquerque Journal. April 15, 1965. p. 17. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b Glionna, John M. (January 3, 2016). "Oddly named towns hark back to Nevada's colorful past". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
^ "Jiggs, Nevada". Howard Hickson. 2000. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2009.