| Montello, Nevada | |
| Settlement Type: | Census-designated place |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Nevada |
| Pushpin Label: | Montello |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the state of Nevada |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Nevada |
| Subdivision Type2: | County (United States) |
| Subdivision Name2: | Elko |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 0.41 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 0.41 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.00 |
| Area Total Km2: | 1.07 |
| Area Land Km2: | 1.07 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0.00 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Total: | 66 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 160.58 |
| Population Density Km2: | 61.96 |
| Timezone: | Pacific (PST) |
| Utc Offset: | -8 |
| Timezone Dst: | PDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -7 |
| Elevation Ft: | 4892 |
| Coordinates: | 41.2669°N -114.1969°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 89830 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 32-48400 |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 2583943 |
Montello is a small desert village in Elko County, Nevada, United States. It is home to Montello Elementary School, which is part of the Elko County School District. The population of Montello was 50 as of the 2018 American Community Survey.[2] Various cattle ranching operations surround the area.
Montello is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area and also a part of a census-designated place (CDP) named after it.
The first permanent settlement at Montello was made in 1869.[3] The town of Montello was established in 1904 as a "division point" (operations base) for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Montello's development was prompted by the construction of the Lucin Cutoff across the Great Salt Lake in Utah, a line that bypassed the area's former division point town of Terrace, Utah. Many of the original houses in Montello were moved there from Terrace and nearby Kelton, Utah. Montello was originally named "Bauvard", and received its current name in 1912. The word Montello is Italian for "little mountain" and was probably given by one of the early Italian settlers.
Montello was at its peak in the 1910s and early 1920s, with a population of perhaps 800. While the town's economic life was dominated by the railroad, it also served as a community center for local ranchers and as a supply point for the nearby mining camp of Delano. Montello began declining in the late 1920s, however; railroad employment began to lessen and a 1925 fire devastated the town's business district. The primary factor in Montello's decline, though, was the railroad's shift from steam to diesel locomotives, which took place in the 1940s and early 1950s. This rendered the servicing facilities at Montello obsolete, and they were removed by the Southern Pacific in the 1950s.
In February 2017, the town was flooded after a very wet winter. The failure of the "Twenty One Mile" earthen dam did not contribute to Montello flooding.[4] Sections of State Route 30, State Route 233, and U.S. Highway 93 were closed, some sections of road were washed out and rail traffic had to be re-routed.[5]
Montello is located in eastern Elko County along Nevada State Route 233, northeast of Interstate 80 at Oasis and southwest of the Utah border. Elko, the county seat, is to the west.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Montello CDP has an area of 1sqkm, all of it land. No information is provided for the village alone.[2]
Because the United States Census Bureau has included Montello in one of its census-designated places (CDP), published census information only applies to the entire CDP, not the village alone.