During 1865 in Lincoln County, a number of mining camps came to life in an area called Pahranagat Valley, an Indian word for “Valley of the Lakes.” There were twenty-six small silver mines in the valley in 1866. A William Raymond purchased several of these mines, built the first mill, and laid out a townsite and named it “Hiko,” an Indian expression meaning “white man's town.” By the end of 1866, Hiko and the area around it had attracted a few hundred residents but by 1871 the mining activity west of Hiko had begun to die out. Lawlessness ran rampant throughout the valley during this period with cattle rustlers and horse thieves. As if this wasn't enough, it soon gave way to notorious gun-play. The town still exists on state highway 36 just north of the junction of state highway 25.