Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in McGill, NV

McGill is a census-designated place in White Pine County, Nevada, with a population of 1,010 at the 2020 census, down from 1,148 in 2010.

The community began as a ranch established by John Cowger in Steptoe Valley in 1872, and William Lyons and William McGill bought the ranch in 1886, with a post office opening at McGill Ranch in 1891.

The Nevada Consolidated Copper Company and the Cumberland and Ely Mining Corporation formed the Steptoe Valley Smelting and Mining Company to build a smelter at McGill, chosen for its plentiful water supply, and a nine-mile pipeline was built in 1906 to bring water from Duck Creek to reservoirs near the smelter site.

The smelter was completed and began operations on May 15, 1908, and the first copper was shipped from it on August 7 of the same year.

The town was briefly known as Smelter before being renamed McGill after the ranch, and its population grew to 1,904 in 1910 and 2,864 in 1920.

Kennecott Utah Copper acquired the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, including the McGill smelter, in 1932, and McGill remained a company town owned by Kennecott until the 1950s, when the company began selling its homes and businesses to individuals.

In 1983, falling copper prices and low-grade ore led Kennecott to close the smelter and demolish it, and with its main employer gone, McGill's population fell to its current level.

The McGill Drug Store Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

McGill covers 1.21 square miles, all land, at an elevation of 6,247 feet, and its ZIP code is 89318.

McGill's climate brings an average of 36.9 inches of snow a year, with a record high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit and a record low of minus 25 degrees.