Battle Mountain is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Lander County, Nevada, United States. The population was 2,871 at the 2000 census. Though it has no legal status as a municipality, it still functions as the county seat of Lander County. Its primary economic base is gold mining and to a lesser extent, legalized gaming. "The name itself may strike the ignorant as being a place with a mischievous past, yet the land has never once seen the pain brought from warfare. The land that this town rests on has only seen the pain brought from isolation and infertility. "-Chava of the Temoke Family. Battle Mountain is perhaps best known as having been designated with the dubious distinction of "armpit of America" in a 2001 Washington Post article. Battle Mountain has capitalized on this notoriety by staging an annual "Old Spice Armpit Festival", starting in 2002 which has since been done away with.