Ever wonder how the places and geographic features of Nevada were named?  

In her new book, "Nevada Heartland: The Place Names of Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey Counties, Nevada," Mary Ansari has combined, updated and expanded material from her previous works on the origins, meanings and data on these places of Nevada.

Ansari discloses the historical origins and explanations of 1,500 names of various landscapes in Nevada, revealing the stories behind the naming of valleys, rivers, canyons, mountain ranges, and lakes. There are also explanations and background information on names of towns, cities, counties, parks, public buildings and historical sites.

"One reason for bringing the name information I had on four counties into one book is that my Carson City and Storey County books were out of print," Ansari said. "This brings everything together in one place for the reader."

The "heartland" of Nevada is where the state's initial 19th century community, economic and political development took place. The book is a discussion of the beginnings of two of Nevada's major industries, mining and ranching.

"I feel very strongly that because Nevada is undergoing such rapid growth and cultural and economic change, it is important to document place-name origins before the information is lost," Ansari said. "I found it disturbing that there is no conclusive documentation on the origin of the name, Fernley, a name that had come into use as recently as 1904."

Ansari's book is full of history and contains significant information about the names of the specific places in the four-county area with stories and interesting facts. Overall, the book serves as a guidebook for this important region of our state.

The book includes the story of a once nameless dry lake bed to the south of U.S. Highway 50 about 10 miles east of Dayton. The area was used for filming scenes of wild mustang round ups for the classic film, The Misfits, starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. The movie was the last feature that Monroe and Gable made together before their deaths and now that dry lake bed is officially named Misfits Flat.

Another interesting story that is included in the book is the history of the name Lake Tahoe. From 1870 until 1945, Lake Tahoe was officially known as Lake Bigler. The name Bigler came from California Governor John Bigler and in the early 1850s, it was first officially used after Bigler led a rescue party from Placerville over Echo Summit to aid those that were stranded on the south shore of the lake.

"By the early 1860s there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the name Bigler for the lake, but all attempts to change the name were unsuccessful until 1945 when the California Legislature made Tahoe, a corruption of the Native American name for the lake Da'ow or Da'au, the official name," said Ansari.

The book was published in November, 2015 by LeRue Press in Reno and is dedicated to the memory of the late Alvin R. McLane, Ansari's place-name mentor. It is available online at the Bureau of Mines and Geology website, or can be ordered and picked up at the Great Basin Science Sample and Records Library at 2175 Raggio Parkway in Reno. It is also available from LaRue Press and onAmazon.

Ansari was a member of the University of Nevada, Reno faculty for 25 years and held an assortment of different administrative positions in the University Library. She was tenured in 1973 and during that time, published extensively in the library and place-name literature and was also the national president of the Geoscience Information Society.

Ansari was promoted to the professor position in 1983. She later retired as Director Emerita of Administrative Services and Branch Libraries in 1994 and now lives in Incline Village.