Nipton is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 town in San Bernardino County, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, on the northern edge of Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve is located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, USA, between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, 1994 with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act by the US Congress...

, west of Searchlight

Searchlight, Nevada

Searchlight is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, at the topographic saddle between two mountain ranges.-History:According to Nevada Senator Harry Reid, who has written extensively about his hometown, the most likely story as to how the town received its name was when George Frederick...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. It has a population of 20 people.

Nipton was originally founded in 1900, as a place for gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 miners

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 to reside. Nipton contains a five-room hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

, originally constructed in 1910, a trailer park

Trailer park

A trailer park is a semi-permanent or permanent area for mobile homes or travel trailers. The main reasons for living in such trailer parks are the often lower cost compared to other housing, and the ability to move to a new area more quickly and easily, for example when changing jobs to another...

, a small general store, and a café that is open on most days. The cafe advertises that they have the best burgers in Nipton, CA, even though there is only one hamburger

Hamburger

A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...

 restaurant there.

For many years, Nipton had the most lottery ticket sales in the state for the California State Lottery

California State Lottery

The California State Lottery, also known as the California Lottery, began on November 6, 1984, after California voters passed Proposition 37, the California State Lottery Act of 1984, authorizing the creation of a lottery...

. When a new office opened nearby, immediately outside Primm

Primm, Nevada

Primm is a tiny community in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 where it crosses the border between California and Nevada...

, Nevada, Nipton lost its number one ranking, as Primm was easier and faster for Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

 residents and others to get to.

In June 2010, Nipton unveiled a sun-powered generator that is expected to provide about 85 percent of the town’s electricity. The 80-kilowatt project is part of the one-time mining camp’s plan to become an eco-tourism mecca. Nipton is on the northern edge of the Mojave National Preserve, home of the popular Kelso Dunes. Some intend to make Nipton the gateway to the Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve is located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, USA, between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, 1994 with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act by the US Congress...

. Many park visitors favor environmentalism, and they often stay at campgrounds and hotels in Nipton. The town is betting that stepping up its environmental reputation will drive tourism growth.

Nipton in fiction

Nipton is featured in the video game Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas is a first person action role-playing video game in the Fallout series developed by Obsidian Entertainment, and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is based in a post-apocalyptic environment in and around Las Vegas, Nevada...

where it is wiped out by the fictional slaving organization Caesar's Legion. As a historical in-joke, the residents are forced to perform a lottery to see who would be spared. Also, the lottery in the video game alludes to Shirley Jackson's

Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson was an American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years...

 short story The Lottery

The Lottery

"The Lottery" is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in the June 26, 1948, issue of The New Yorker. Written the same month it was published, it is ranked today as "one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature"....

.