NEVADA. 



531 



these lands by purchasers, such improvements may 

 be condemned for the uses and purposes of mining in 

 like manner as private property is condemned and 

 taken for public use. " Mining for gold and other 

 minerals is the paramount interest of the State and 

 is hereby declared to be a public use." 



Constitutional Amendments. Of the three 

 amendments, which were voted upon at the 

 November election in 1886, but were not le- 

 gally proposed or adopted, owing to defective 

 procedure in the Legislature of 1883 and at 

 the polls, only one, prescribing an easier meth- 

 od of constitutional amendment, was passed 

 again by the Legislature this year. As this 

 amendment was legally passed at the session 

 of 1885, it has now been legally adopted at 

 two successive sessions, as required by the Con- 

 stitution, and is ready for submission to the peo- 

 ple according to the method prescribed by the 

 Legislature. This method, as established by a 

 general law this year, provides for a popular 

 vote at the general election next after the sec- 

 ond passage by the Legislature. It will there- 

 fore be submitted to the people for the second 

 time in November, 1888. At that election ten 

 other amendments, which received the ap- 

 proval of the Legislature this year for the 

 second time, will be voted upon. These amend- 

 ments abolish the office of Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor; provide that the Senate shall elect its 

 own president, who shall succeed to the gov- 

 ernorship in case of a vacancy ; postpone the 

 meeting of the Legislature to the third Mon- 

 day of January ; revise the power of the Leg- 

 islature to pass local or special laws; permit 

 an increase of the special school-tax to two 

 mills, if necessary, and give the State, in- 

 stead of the counties, the duty of providing for 

 infirm and indigent citizens. The Legislature 

 also proposed this year, for the first time, four 

 other amendments, one of which deprives Mor- 

 mons of the ballot ; another authorizes lot- 

 teries in the State ; another permits the abo- 

 lition or consolidation of certain county offices ; 

 and another makes women eligible for school 

 offices. These amendments can not reach the 

 people before 1890. The Legislature finally 

 reached the conclusion that the whole Consti- 

 tution would better be revised, and accord- 

 ingly voted to submit to the people, at the 

 general election in November, 1888, the ques- 

 tion of calling a constitutional convention. 



Finances. The total amount of State tax paid 

 into the treasury by the counties during the 

 year was $225,374.88, with the accounts of one 

 county still unsettled. The total assessed valu- 

 ation of real and personal property, and of the 

 net proceeds of mines during the year, was 

 $27,997,339.23, an increase of more than $1,- 

 600,000 over 1886. The State tax of ninety 

 cents upon this amount yields a revenue of 

 $251,976.05 for the year. 



Education. Reports from all but four districts 

 show that the number of attendants on the 

 public schools for the year was 9,828, a gain 

 of 508 over the total from all districts in 1886. 

 The number of white children in the State un- 



der the age of 21 is 14,236. and the number of 

 children under the same age, white, colored, 

 and Chinese, is 14,537. During the year over 

 $63,000 was apportioned from the State school 

 fund among the schools of the State. The re- 

 mainder in this fund at the beginning of the 

 year was $147,632.53. 



The State University, which was removed 

 from Elko to Reno by an act of the Legislature 

 of 1885, has been established at the latter place, 

 and was put into full working condition this 

 year. The university building is a substantial 

 brick structure, erected at a cost of over $20,- 

 000, a short distance from the town. It was 

 first opened for pupils in March, 1886, and 

 fifty-six had been admitted before the close of 

 that year. The faculty then consisted of two 

 professors, and a president was added during 

 the present year. A preparatory course of two 

 years, a university course, and a normal-school 

 course are established. The legislative ap- 

 propriation for it in 1887 and 1888 amounts to 

 $22,600, exclusive of the building-fund. 



State Prison. The number of convicts in the 

 State Prison on the first day of the year was 

 132. The cost of maintaining the prison for 

 1885-'86 was $75,819.98, or $7,649.89 less than 

 for 1883-'84, and $21,553.98 less than for 

 1881-'82. A large part of the convicts are en- 

 gaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. 



Railroads. The Central Pacific Railroad en- 

 ters the State at Verdi, on the California line, 

 and traverses it from west to east. It is 450 

 miles in length, and is the grand trunk line, 

 from which several feeders run into the heart 

 of the country. The Virginia and Truckee 

 Rairoad runs from Reno, on the Central Pacific, 

 through Carson City to Virginia City, and is 

 52 miles in length. The Nevada and Oregon 

 begins at Reno, and runs north into California, 

 having a length of 28 miles in the State. The 

 Nevada Central runs south from Battle Moun- 

 tain on the Central Pacific to Ledley, 93 miles. 

 From this point the Austin City Railroad runs 

 to Austin, three miles distant. The Carson 

 and Colorado road runs from Mound House, 

 on the Virginia and Truckee route, southerly 

 into California. Its length in the State is 192 

 miles. The Eureka and Palisade is also a 

 branch of the Central Pacific, running south to 

 Eureka, 90 miles. The Eureka and Ruby Hill 

 is 5 miles in length, and the Lake Tahoe 10. 

 The total length of these lines is 922 miles. 

 There was no new construction during the year. 



Mining. The bullion produced from mines 

 on the Com stock lode in 1887 exceeded $5,000,- 

 000. Of that sum above $4,000.000 was the 

 product of the Consolidated California and 

 Virginia mine, out of which $1,800,000 was 

 disbursed in dividends to stockholders. During 

 the year the Ophir, Savage, Hale and Norcross, 

 Potosi, and Alta were added to the list of bull- 

 ion-yielding mines, and the total product in 

 1888 will probably exceed $8,000,000, which 

 is within a fraction of the total yield of the 

 State in 1886. 



