About the town » Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada, United States

Fallon is a city in Churchill County, Nevada, United States, in the western part of the state. The population was 8,600 at time of the 2010 census. Fallon is the county seat of Churchill County, and it is located in the Lahontan Valley. Fallon and Churchill County are mostly agricultural areas. Although the area is arid, approximately 50,000 acres of its pastureland are irrigated with water from the Truckee–Carson Irrigation District. The principal crop grown here is alfalfa for livestock feed. The "Heart O' Gold" cantaloupes of Churchill County were once distributed across the U.S.A. , but these are now grown mostly for consumption in Nevada. The largest single employer in Fallon and Churchill County is the important Naval Air Station Fallon, a training airfield that has been the home of the U.S. Navy's so-called "Top Gun" air-to-air combat training program since 1996, when it was moved here from Naval Air Station Miramar what that Air Station was being transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps. U.S. Highway 50 (US 50, east–west) is one of the two the main highways through town. The other one is US 95 (north–south), so Fallon is at the crossroads of an important pair of U.S. Numbered Highways. Fallon is one of the towns on the so-called "Loneliest Highway in America", the stretch of US 50 across most of Nevada that is known for its remoteness. Eastbound travelers from Fallon must drive 110 miles to find the next town, Austin.