A version of this article first appeared in the Reno Gazette Journal in 1984.

Nearly seven decades after statehood, Nevada still had no official state song.

Several compositions had been offered over the years for official status, but it was a piece by Bertha Eaton Raffetto of Reno that was ultimately chosen.

In the early summer of 1932, Raffetto was asked to sing a Nevada song at the annual picnic of the Nevada Native Daughters scheduled to be held at Bowers' Mansion on July 31. She assembled her notes, but family matters and the arrival of guests from out of town forced her to lay the work aside until the day before the promised performance.

Working from 10 a.m. July 30 to 4 a.m. the next morning, she wrote the song and set it to music. She then got a few hours sleep before driving o

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