From the Nye County, Nevada Photograph Collection (PH-00221) -- Series V. Smoky Valley, Nevada and Round Mountain, Nevada -- Subseries V.A. Carver, Carver-Duhme, and Carver-Book Families (Smoky Valley). Laura Stebbins Darrough, said to have discovered the gold deposit at Round Mountain, Nevada, while searching for an escaped milk cow. Man with back to the camera is unidentified.

With the explosive growth of the Las Vegas Valley over the past 30 years, it is rare to find someone who has deep battle born roots that go back to the early mining days of Nevada. Nancy Cummings-Schmidt is an example of that rare kind of gem. As a fourth generation Nevadan, her family came to the state in the 1800s form Ireland and England. Looking to capitalize off of the mining boom in Virginia City, they transitioned to ranching. She spent her first years in Reno and when her father went off to fight in the Second World War, her mother moved to Herlong, California and sent her to live with her grandparents. Upon moving to Vegas for fourth grade, her mother remarried and worked for the Las Vegas Sun while Nancy attended the Fifth Street Grammar School and later became a member Las Vegas High School’s first graduating class in 1956. After graduating from high school, Nancy invested in the spirit of wanderlust as it carried her to study theatre at Texas Christian University (which sh