610 



NEVADA. 



our State may be truthfully said to be largely 

 dependent upon favorable legislation with re- 

 gard to this question. The agricultural re- 

 sources of Nevada have been underestimated. 

 Few of our own people apprehend even in im- 

 agination the possible material resources of the 

 State if they could be developed and fostered 

 by a liberal and comprehensive system of irri- 

 gation. It has been demonstrated by actual 

 experiment that, by the aid of water, land be- 

 fore supposed utterly worthless has been made 

 to produce good crops. A knowledge of this 

 fact has induced many people to secure and 

 monopolize the most accessible streams of wa- 

 ter in our State, one tendency of which is to 

 retard and perhaps prevent that immigration 

 which we so much need, as much of our land 

 is unproductive without irrigation. It is true 

 that there is much waste land in the State, and 

 vast tracts that are only fit for grazing pur- 

 poses; but wherever water can be obtained 

 the land is exceedingly productive. Nearly 

 every crop of grain, cereals, and fruit that can 

 be raised in the temperate zone can be pro- 

 duced in abundance upon the sage-brush lands 

 of Nevada when irrigated. The only impedi- 

 ment to settlement is the cost of the construc- 

 tion of hydraulic works for irrigation. Proba- 

 bly as much as 95 per cent, of the water in all 

 the streams of Nevada now runs to waste. If 

 it could be saved and used upon land, a good 

 many hundreds of thousands, and perhaps mill- 

 ions, of acres in this State might be reclaimed 

 and converted into homes for settlers." 



Shipments. The followirg is a list of the prin- 

 cipal articles exported from Nevada during 1885 

 and eight months of 1886 : 



bond in the State school fund, is $113,000; 

 accrued interest, outstanding warrants and, 

 deficiency claims, $30,244.11; total debt of 

 the State (exclusive as above) Dec. 31, 1886, 

 $143,244.11 ; cash in treasury applicable to 

 payment of debt, $226,732.65. 



The following statement gives the transac- 

 tions of the State Treasury for 1885 and 1886: 



* Cattle, estimated, 40,302. 

 t Cattle, estimated, 28,512. 



* Horses, estimated, 1,620. 



t Horses, estimated, 900. 

 * Sheep, estimated, 16,380. 

 t Sheep, estimated, 16,110. 



Finances. The total bonded debt, exclusive 

 of .tne $380,000 5-per-cent. irredeemable State 



The total disbursements from the State Treas- 

 ury for actual expenses were $473,294.23; de- 

 ficiency claims allowed, $13,118.88; amount 

 allowed for salaries of assessors and collectors, 

 $52,006.27; express charges on cash trans- 

 mitted to State Treasury, $1,013.25 ; amount 

 allowed for armories, $14,550; total actual 

 expenses for 1885 and 1886, $553,982.63; av- 

 erage expenses per annum, $276,991.31. 



The revenue collected during 1885 and 1886, 

 applicable to the payment of the actual ex- 

 penses of the State government, was as fol- 

 lows: 



By counties $508,767 10 



By State Comptroller for insurance licenses 8.590 28 



By State Comptroller for drummers 1 licenses. . . . 20.142 26 

 By Secretary of State, fees, sales of statutes, etc. 2,728 



By Clerk of Supreme Court for fees, etc 1,603 60 



Of State school fund for salaries, etc., in Land- 

 Office 13,449 61 



Of State school fund for salary of attorney at 



Washington 1,96049 



Of general school fund for salary of Superintend- 

 ent of Public Instruction 4,000 00 



Of general school fund for traveling expenses, 



Superintendent of Public Instruction 500 



By sale of lamp 



Total "$561,7-1401 



Receipts over expenditures for 1 885 and 1 886. $7,761 98 



The year 1886 shows a depreciation in prop- 

 erty valuations to the amount of $714,411.68, 

 as compared with 1885, and of $848,421.70 as 

 compared with 1884; and a decrease in the 

 taxable proceeds of mines of $384,989.57 as 

 compared with 1885, and of $899,339.71 as 

 compared with 1884; but this result was ex- 

 pected as to the taxable proceeds of the mines, 

 because of the legislation of 1885 making tax- 

 able only the actual net proceeds above all 

 costs ; and depreciation in property valuations 

 was also expected in some counties, but en- 

 tirely unlocked for in others where there seems 

 no good reason for it. The State tax on the 

 proceeds of mines in 1878 amounted to $20/,- 

 413.45, and there has been a steady decrease 

 until for 1886 it was only $4,989.09. 



