UTAH. 



729 



$1.299,130; of wool, $12,402,802. The bulk of the 

 commerce of 1SU8 was distributed among foreign 

 countries as follows: 



,> 



I 



The total value of merchandise imports in 1899 

 was about $24,000,000, and of exports $37,000,000. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at the port of Montevideo in 1897 from over the 

 sea was 1,120, of 1,904,620 tons; cleared, 1,024 

 vessels, of 1,790,529 tons; entered in the river and 

 coast trade, 2,439 vessels, of 621,400 tons; cleared 

 coastwise, 2,447, of 021,244 tons. The merchant 

 navy consisted in 1898 of 28 steamers, of 7,654 

 tons, and 72 sailing vessels, of 21,251 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads on Jan. 1, 1899, was 1,008 

 miles, and there were 89 miles of tramways. The 

 Government has guaranteed 3i per cent, interest 

 on 5,750,418, the capital cost of 882 miles of 

 railroad, the total capitalization of the entire net- 

 work being 11,150,857 sterling. 



There are 4,380 miles of telegraph lines, includ- 

 ing 982 miles belonging to the railroads. The 

 number of dispatches in 1898 was 346,359. 



The postal traffic for 1898 was 8,872,575 in- 

 ternal letters, newspapers, etc., and 6,970,238 in 

 the international service; receipts, 1,786,180 

 francs; expenses, 1,944,425 francs. 



UTAH, a Western State, admitted to the 

 Union Jan. 4, 1896; area, 84.970 square miles. The 

 population in 1890 was 207,905. In 1900 it was 

 270.749. Capital, Salt Lake City. 



Government. The State officers during the 

 year were as follow: Governor, Heber M. Wells, 

 Republican; Secretary of State, James T. Ham- 

 mond; Treasurer, James Chipman; Auditor, 

 Morgan Richards, Jr.; Attorney-General, A. C. 

 Bishop; Adjutant General, Charles S. Burton; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, John R. 

 Park ; Coal Mine Inspector, Gomer Thomas ; 

 State Engineer, Robert C. Gemmell; Board of 

 Equalization, Robert C. Lund, John J. Thomas, 

 J. E. Booth, and Thomas D. Dee ; Board of Labor, 

 John Nicholson, J. S. Daveler: Board of Agricul- 

 ture, J. A. Wright, Secretary ; State Art Institute, 

 created in 1899, H. L. A. Culmer, President. 



Finances. On May 31 the State Loan Com- 

 missioners offered the State's new issue of bonds. 

 Sealed bids were also solicited for the sale of the 

 State's lawful money issue of $300,000 twenty- 

 year 3-per-cent. bonds, to refund the old series 

 of 5-per-cent. bonds sold in 1890. The commission- 

 ers finally made the rate 3^ per cent., and sold the 

 whole at par, the buyers to bear all the expense 

 of calling in the old series and engraving and 

 floating the new issue. The money saved to the 

 State by reason of this rate of interest during 

 the period of the next ten years, which would be 

 the remainder of the old bonds, will be $52,500. 

 he Treasurer's report for December, 1900, showed 

 those receipts: Tax collections' and land sales, 

 $588,672.85; balance on hand. Dec. 1, $202,208.02; 

 total, $790,880.87. The disbursements were: Re- 

 payment of temporary loan, $175,000; general 

 fund warrants redeemed, $51,677.94; investments 

 of land funds. $11.233.03; total disbursements, 

 $237,910.97; balance on hand, Dec. 31, $552,909.90; 



total, $790,880.87. The balance on hand was ap- 

 portioned to the several funds, as follows: Dis- 

 trict school fund, $279,450.89; general fund, $211,- 

 472; university land fund, $37,193.06; school fund 

 investment, $10,230.51: sundry land funds, $14,- 

 617.44; total, $552,960.90. 



Valuation. In 1899 the total valuation by 

 the State Board of Equalization was *!<>. 7 13.499. 

 In 1900 it was $105,029,041. There is a gain of 

 $1,200,000 in the value of real estate, $1,400,000 in 

 improvements, $1,500,000 in personal property, 

 and $1,900,000 in corporation property. 



The value of horses and mules in Utah in 1899 

 was placed at $1,275,708; in 1900 the valuation of 

 the same class of property was $1,414,693. In 



1899 there were 183,015 cattle in the State; in 



1900 192,216 were assessed, and their valuation 

 was given as $3,199,789. There was a falling off 

 in sheep, but the statement is made that the 

 figures given do not cover all the sheep owned in 

 Utah, and that fully 1,800,000 sheep that graze in 

 Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana are 

 owned by Utah men, although they are assessed 

 in the States in which they range. An explana- 

 tion of this will be seen in the fact that although 

 the assessment for 1899 was for 1,621,733 sheep 

 and in 1900 for only 1.560,101. the valuation this 

 year is more than $000,000 above that of last 

 year. 



The sheep were never in better condition, the 

 pasturage has been fine, and the sheepmen are 

 well organized. 



Only 15,848 swine were owned in the State in 

 1900, against 15,9(51 in 1899. The valuation for 

 1900 was $45,656. 



Summing up all live stock within the State, 

 there is a gain of more than $1,250,000 for 1900, 

 according to figures furnished by Secretary 

 Thomas, of the State Board of Equalization. 

 These figures show that the total valuation of 

 live stock in the State is $8,600,090. 



Banks. The banks throughout the State make 

 an encouraging report; most of them show a ma- 

 terial increase in deposits, loans, and discounts. 

 Up to Nov. 30 the failures numbered 49. the 

 actual assets being $95,965 and the liabilities 

 $192,862. In 1899 there were 59 failures, the total 

 assets of which were $147.550, while the liabilities 

 were $359,629. The total bank clearings for 1900 

 were $106,734,563. 



Precious Metals. Utah has ranked as the 

 sixth in gold-producing and the third in silver- 

 producing States of the Union, but in 1900 she 

 leaped beyond all former records in the produc- 

 tion of her 4 chief metals gold, silver, copper, 

 and lead. Her silver output in 1899 was rated 

 at $9,696,969, and her gold output at $3,369,509. 

 In 1900 the output of gold increased $600,000, and 

 that of silver $1,600.000. The copper advanced 

 from $1,246,000 in 1899 to $2,514,597 in 1900. This 

 shows the silver gain about 25 per cent, and gold 

 15 per cent., while lead has made a gain of about 

 13 per cent. The whole output of the mines is 

 about one third of the total productive wealth of 

 the State. 



State Lands. The new purchasers of State 

 lands number 3,810. Some of these paid in full, 

 but the great majority availed themselves of the 

 opportunity of paying a tenth of the purchase 

 price yearly. Since statehood the State land 

 sales have aggregated 497.090.14 acres, represent- 

 ing a total sale price of $1,061,541.06. In 1900. 

 284.248 acres were sold, the total sale price being 

 $399,974.91. This shows that the business of the 

 State Land Board for the year was nearly 60 

 per cent, as much as for the whole period since 

 the State became possessed of lands to sell. 



