Steamboat Springs in western Nevada is a small volcanic field of rhyolitic domes and flows, best known for its hot springs, steam vents, and fumaroles near Steamboat Creek. Sacred to Native Americans and a notable stop for Gold Rush emigrants, it developed from a modest bath site in 1859 into a resort with cottages, baths, a hospital, and later a larger hotel that attracted miners, tourists, and health seekers. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad reached it in 1871, briefly making it a transportation link. Earthquake and fire devastated the resort era, but the area continued as a health destination and remains both a historic hot-springs district and a geothermal energy site.