The river is named after John Reese, who explored the area in 1854 as part of the expedition of Colonel Edward Steptoe, and who later served as a guide to Captain James H. Simpson's survey of a military road through central Nevada.
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Created in 1861, Lander County sprang forth as the result of a mining boom on the Reese River, along the old pony express line; taking a considerable portion of Churchill and Humboldt counties with it.
A variation of the Washoe process was developed in the Reese River mining district around Austin, Nevada.