628 



NEVADA. 



sions are worth as much to them as the taxes 

 which are to be exacted from them." The 

 officers whose duty it is to inspect property and 

 assign to it a value for taxation purposes have, 

 of themselves, taken the present state of things 

 into consideration, and in preparing their lists 

 for 1881 generally assessed at a reduced valua- 

 tion as compared with the assessments of pre- 

 vious years. The various mining companies in 

 Storey County also severally applied to the 

 Board of Equalization for a reduction of their 

 assessments ; and the representative of the 

 Virginia and Truckee Railroad Company re- 

 quested the board to reduce the assessment of 

 tftat road in Storey County from $16,000 to 

 $12,000 per mile on the main track, and from 

 $5,000 to $4,000 on the side-track. 



The Nevada mines yielded in 1881 several 

 millions less than in the preceding year. The 

 statement of the precious metals produced in 

 the States and Territories west of the Missouri 

 River during the year 1881 shows the yield 

 from the Comstock to have been $1,726,182, 

 as against $5,312,592 in 1880 a decrease of 

 $3,586,420 ; and the product of Eureka Dis- 

 trict is set down at $4,127,265, as against 

 $4,639,025 in 1880 a decrease of $511,760. 



Active work in the mines, however, has been 

 pursued in 1881 without abatement generally, 

 and a large proportion of it was preparatory 

 dead work of heavy expense, to serve as an 

 opening for future operations, which are stated 

 to afford a very promising prospect. The Con- 

 solidated Virginia, the California, and the Sier- 

 ra Nevada, prominent among the numerous 

 mines in the State, are now worked at the 

 levels, the first-named one of 2,500 feet, the 

 two others of 2,700 feet below the surface, and 

 all of these depths were reached in 1881. In 

 the annual reports of the superintendents of 

 these three mines, giving an account of their 

 operations, receipts, and expenses, they sever- 

 ally state that the work done in them from De- 

 cember 31, 1880, to December 31, 1881, "has 

 been mostly of a preparatory nature," and a 

 large amount of it " necessary dead work." 

 As to means for "prosecuting their explora- 

 tions in depth," all of the said mines are rep- 

 resented " to be now in a better condition than 

 at any previous time." On this point the Su- 

 perintendent of the Sierra Nevada concludes 

 his report, saying : " At no time during the last 

 two years have the prospects of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada mine looked more promising than they do 

 at the present time. . . . The mine is fully 

 equipped with all necessary machinery for use 

 under-ground and on the surface, which is now 

 in first-class working order." 



Respecting the location of " lodes," or " min- 

 ing claims," and the time within which certain 

 expenditures must be made on them to secure 

 the possessor's title, local usages of doubtful 

 origin and validity have been introduced in dif- 

 ferent mining districts, which the locator is 

 required to comply with, or forfeit his claim. 

 The Commissioner of the General Land-Office, 



to whom inquiries on the subject were ad- 

 dressed, has given the subjoined important 

 answer, saying : 



In reply to your communication I have to state that 

 the United States mining laws provide that the locator 

 of a lode or mining claim must make the annual ex- 

 penditures necessary for the maintenance of the pos- 

 sessory title at any time within one year from the 1st 

 of January next succeeding to the date of location, 

 and the miners of a mining district have no authority 

 to make any rules conflicting with this law. If the 

 mining laws of your district require that $50 shall be 

 expended within sixty days after the location, such 

 provision is wholly without force. Suppose a location 

 to have been made July 1, 1880, the $100 worth of 

 expenditure is required by the United States laws to be 

 made between the 1st of January, 1881, and the 31st 

 of December, 1881, and the expenditure made prior 

 to this date, viz., within sixty days after the location, 

 would not be in conformity witn the provisions of 

 this law. 



In consequence of the law enacted by the 

 Legislature at the session of 1881, uniting the 

 two municipal governments of the city of 

 Virginia and of the town of Gold Hill in Storey 

 County into one government, under the admin- 

 istration of the commissioners of that county, 

 the city of Virginia has ceased to exist as a 

 separate corporate body, and her property, 

 with the papers and effects belonging to all the 

 departments of her government, has been for- 

 mally transferred to the hands of the said board. 



Other acts of a public character were passed 

 at the same session, as follows : An act to re- 

 apportion the State for representation in her 

 Legislature. By the new apportionment the 

 members of that body are numerically reduced 

 from seventy-five to sixty twenty Senators and 

 forty Assemblymen distributed among the 

 fourteen counties of Nevada as senatorial and 

 representative election districts. An act "to 

 aid the Nevada Benevolent Association " was 

 passed. It authorizes the said corporation to 

 give public entertainments, not exceeding five 

 in number, and to distribute among the holders 

 of admission-tickets certain valuable articles 

 enumerated in the act. This law, which was 

 commonly termed "The Lottery Law," and 

 much commented upon, has been declared to 

 be unconstitutional and void by the State Su- 

 preme Court. The decision was rendered in 

 a case brought before it by the Attorney-Gen- 

 eral for adjudication. It expresses the unani- 

 mous sentiment of all the three members of 

 the court, and is of considerable length, being 

 a full and exhaustive review of the laws of 

 Nevada and of other States relative to lotter- 

 ies, and minutely surveys the whole field of ju- 

 risprudence on that subject. "Lotteries," as 

 coming under the prohibition of the organic 

 law of Nevada, the decision defines to be " a 

 game of hazard in which small sums are vent- 

 ured for the chance of obtaining greater " ; 

 thus including within the signification of that 

 word aU schemes intended for the distribution 

 of prizes by chance, even though every one of 

 the ticket-holders should draw a prize. An 

 act to establish a State Asylum for the Insane 



