Lida, Nevada

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox settlement

|name = Lida, Nevada

|official_name =

|settlement_type = Ghost town

|nickname =

|motto =

|image_skyline = Lida, Nevada abandon house.jpg

|imagesize =

|image_caption = Abandoned house in Lida

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|pushpin_map = USA Nevada#USA

|pushpin_label = Lida

|pushpin_label_position = top

|pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of Nevada

|pushpin_mapsize =

|image_map =

|map_caption = Location within Esmeralda county

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|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Nevada

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Esmeralda

|government_footnotes =

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|unit_pref = Imperial

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|population_as_of = 2000

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|population_density_km2 = auto

|timezone = Pacific (PST)

|utc_offset = -8

|timezone_DST = PDT

|utc_offset_DST = -7

|elevation_footnotes =

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|coordinates = {{coord|37|27|30|N|117|29|53|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}

|postal_code_type = ZIP codes

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{{designation list|embed=yes|designation1=Nevada Historical Marker|designation1_number=157}}

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Lida, Nevada is a small ghost town in Esmeralda County, Nevada, near the border with California. The GNIS classifies it as a populated place.{{GNIS|841625|name=Lida}} It is located on State Route 266, north of Magruder Mountain.

The first white settlers at Lida arrived in 1867.{{cite news |last1=Newton |first1=Marilyn |title=Tiny Lida, Nev., rich in gold history |url=https://www.rgj.com/story/life/2014/05/25/tiny-lida-nev-rich-gold-history/9497579/ |access-date=6 May 2023 |work=Reno Gazette Journal}}{{cite book | url=http://dwgateway.library.unr.edu/keck/histtopoNV/Origin_of_Place_Names_Files/1941NevadaOriginofNames-pt1.pdf | title=Origin of Place Names: Nevada | publisher=W.P.A. | author=Federal Writers' Project | year=1941 | pages=32}} The town was named for the wife of prospector David Buel of nearby Austin. It is located on the site of a former Shoshone and Northern Paiute camp.{{cite book |last1=Swift |first1=Earl |title=The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways |date=9 June 2011 |publisher=HMH |isbn=978-0-547-54913-2 |pages=98–99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59dQ_rwoh3UC&pg=PA98 |access-date=6 May 2023 |language=en}}

The first wave of settlement was fueled by the discovery of silver reserves. But most mining activity ended by 1880 with the exhaustion of local ore. Another boom came in 1905, driven by gold found in nearby Goldfield, bringing Lida's population to a peak of around 300.{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=David A. |title=Lida - Nevada Ghost Town |url=https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/lida.html |website=Ghost Towns |access-date=6 May 2023}} But the boom only lasted two years.

A third, smaller jump in activity came shortly before World War I. In 1913, the Roosevelt Midland Trail, one of the first marked transcontinental auto trails in America, routed through Lida on the way to California.{{cite web |title=Nevada Ghost Town - Midland Trail |url=https://forgottennevada.org/sites/midland.html |website=Forgotten Nevada |access-date=6 May 2023}} Both the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 and the Pershing Map of 1922 envisioned making the Lida route part of the growing national highway system. But when the United States Numbered Highway System was first set in 1926, Lida was nowhere to be found. Planners instead chose the Arrowhead Trail through Las Vegas to connect traffic to Southern California, redesignating it U.S. Route 91.

A post office was in operation at Lida between 1873 and 1932.{{GNIS|864821|name=Lida Post Office (historical)}} The site now rests on private property.