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is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 16,980 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Elko County.
Elko is the principal city of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Elko and Eureka counties and had a combined population of 46,942 at the 2000 census.
Elko was first inhabited in 1868, when it was at the East end of the railroad tracks built by Central Pacific Railroad (the portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad built from California to Utah). When the railroad crews moved on, Elko remained, serving as a ranch and mining freight and supply center.
Elko is said to have been named by Charles Crocker, a superintendent of the Central Pacific Railroad. He was especially fond of animal names and added o to Elk. There is no definitive evidence of this naming history, but it has become the widely accepted version.
In 1925, the Kelly Act (also known as the Airmail Act of 1925) authorized the U.S. Post Office to contract with private airlines for the feeder routes that fed the main transcontinental route. The first commercial airmail flight in the United States was on the 487 mile Airmail Route #5 from Pasco, Washington to Elko, Nevada on April 6, 1926. The flight was piloted by Leon D. Cuddeback and included a brief stop in Boise, Idaho to pick up more mail.
The 1910 replacement for the original courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The US Post Office-Elko Main, built in 1933, is also listed.