Winnemucca, like most of the cities and towns in Northern Nevada, began as a stopping point on the long trail to the West, during the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 turned the slow move west into a mad rush.
In 1849, the flow was such that a traveler noted that from a hilltop the line of wagons stretched "as far as the eye can see." Originally called, "Frenchman's Ford," the town was renamed when the Central Pacific Railroad arrived in 1868, in honor of the famous Paiute Indian Chief, Winnemucca (meaning "one moccasin" or "river").
The biggest event in the town's history occurred in 1900 when Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch robbed the First National Bank and rode out of town.
Legend says that Cassidy and his gang went on to Forth Worth, Texas, to pose for a photograph in their new clothes and sent a picture to the bank president, thanking him for the $32,640 in gold coins they had withdrawn.