478 



NEVADA. 



Finances. The Treasurer's report, published in 

 February, gives the following details : The cash on 

 hand Jan. 1, 1897, was $272,890.32, and the receipts 

 during the year from all sources $450.127.85, 

 making the total $723,017.67. These receipts in- 

 clude the cash received for sale of State school 

 lands, for interest on deferred payments of State 

 school lands, sale of State bonds, interest on bonds, 

 receipts from penal and eleemosynary institutions, 

 county payments to district judges' salaries, county 

 settlements, and miscellaneous sources. 



The disbursements for 1897 were $465,635.25, 

 which included salaries of State officers and em- 

 ployees, support of State Prison, Hospital for 

 Mental Diseases, Orphans' Home, expenses of Legis- 

 lature, indexing and printing Supreme Court re- 

 ports, State Printing Office, support of public 

 schools, buildings ;md other expenses at the State 

 University, militia, etc. 



The balance in the treasury Jan. 1, 1898, was 

 $257,382.42, of which $133.780.02 was in the general 

 fund and applicable to the payment of State ex- 

 penses, $22.634.94 in the State" school fund, $50,- 

 702.99 in the general school fund, and $36,910.34 

 in the State and Territorial interests funds, both of 

 which are applicable for school purposes. 



The cost of the State government in 1898 was 

 $436,423.39. 



The amount of taxable property in the State was 

 $19.996.99 more in 1898 than in 1897. 



Education. The school population in 1898 was 

 8.996. The largest number recorded in any year 

 was 10,592, which was in 1880. The apportionment 

 to the counties from the school fund in 1898 was 

 $119,539.45. The balance in the educational fund 

 Dec. 31 was $1.413,738.91. During the year $203,- 

 339.93 was expended for education, of which $162,- 

 321.65 was for salaries. 



The number of students in the State University 

 has risen from 75 in 1874-'75 to 366 in 1898, of 

 whom 302 are residents of the State. The expendi- 

 tures for salaries, administration, new buildings, 

 and improvements during the past biennial term 

 amounted to $88,980.63. The endowment fund is 

 $128,600. 



Penitentiary. The number of convicts in the 

 State Prison Jan. 1, 1897 was 70, and at the end of 

 that year 75. At the end of 1898 there were but 

 60. They were maintained at a cost of 44 cents a 

 day per capita, salaries of employees not included. 

 The total cost for the biennial term, including 

 repairs to buildings was $59,500. Of this sum 

 $9,006.65 was charged to the Government for United 

 States prisoners. The State board granted 14 par- 

 dons and the President 1 during the term, and 2 

 convicts died. 



Military. There were 6 companies in the Na- 

 tional Guard, and but 4 were called for to form an 

 infantry battalion for service in the war. By July 

 4 men to the number of 337 had been enlisted, of 

 whom a small number, it seems, were of those al- 

 ready enrolled in the State militia. 



Railroads. The annual report of the Nevada. 

 California and Oregon Railway for the year ending 

 June 30, 1898, shows an earning by the company 

 of $84,738.05. Operating expenses, "$65,069.83; ne't 

 profit, $19,668.22. This is the little road that runs 

 north from Reno toward Alturas ; ground has been 

 broken for an extension. 



The -Oregon Short Line is to be extended from 

 Milford, Utah, through southern Nevada. 



Mining. Preparations have been made for rais- 

 ing the water by pumping from the flooded levels 

 of the Comstock mines to the height of the Sutro 

 Tunnel, which has been put into condition to carry 

 it off. With the resumption of deep mining, the 

 draining of old workings and development of new, 



it is expected that the Comstock mines will at least 

 regain their old prosperity. The expense of pump- 

 ing by modern methods is estimated to be not more 

 than one twelfth of what it was costing when pump- 

 ing was suspended. This saving, or a large portion 

 of it, will be accomplished through operating pump- 

 ing and hoist plants by electricity, the power for 

 generating which will be supplied by Truckee river. 

 The pumps are to lift 12,000 gallons of water a min- 

 ute, or 17,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. 

 The maximum quantity pumped when all the old 

 Comstock pumps were in operation was only 5,000,- 

 000 gallons in twenty-four hours. A statement in 

 regard to the products of famous mines says that 

 the Comstock lode, though worked only about thirty 

 years, has yielded $500,000,000. 



The gold product of the State in 1898 is given by 

 the director of the mint as $2,959,731. 



The copper mines, 12 miles south of Golconda, 

 Humboldt County, are being rapidly developed. The 

 smelting and roller-crushing plant has a daily ca- 

 pacity of 300 tons. The lowest workings are on 

 the 250-foot level. The railroad from the mine to 

 the reduction plant will be completed by Dec. 1, 

 when arrangements for more extensive operations 

 will begin. 



The town has now six hotels and several business 

 houses, and many neat cottage residences. The hot 

 springs at Golconda are becoming noted, and a hotel 

 has been erected there. 



Near Lovelock, in the same county, are large de- 

 posits of iron. 



It is published that infusorial earth is found in 

 large quantity 8 miles from Carlin. The borax 

 production of Humboldt and Churchill Count ies 

 this season is expected to exceed that of any former 

 year. 



The niter deposits of the State, although so far as 

 discovered showing only limited quantities, are re- 

 ceiving attention from prospectors, as that product 

 in its refined state is quoted at 7 cents a pound. 



The amount of sulphur mined in 1898 is given as 

 about 1,236 short tons. 



The English company operating the Cornhill 

 County nickel mines, 45 miles south of Lovelock, 

 has recently perfected a process of producing nickel 

 salts directly from the ore. The salts is used exten- 

 sively in nickel plating, and the process perfected 

 by the company enables the placing of the product 

 on the market at a price that shuts out competition. 

 There are large resources of nickel ore in the mine. 



Mob Law. The lynching that took place at Genoa 

 in December, 1897 (see "Annual Cyclopaedia'' for 

 1897, page 546), was made the subject of investigat i< >n 

 in January. The reports show that the crime was ac- 

 companied with unusual cruelty and atrocity. Yet a 

 petition upholding it and denouncing those who were 

 trying to bring the lynchers to justice received 

 many signatures, among which were the names of 

 four of the grand jury. The justice therefore or- 

 dered a new jury to be drawn, and said they should 

 not only endeavor to find out who the lynchen 

 were, but also whether it was true that the sheriff 

 made no attempt to protect his prisoner, and n<m 

 to form a posse and arrest the murderers: and, fur- 

 ther, whether the county commissionersdid their duty 

 in refusing to offer a reward for the apprehension 

 of the lynchers. The foreman, in his report to tin 

 judge, Jan. 25, said : " We have thoroughly inve-ti 

 gated the Uber lynching case. We have exnminet; 

 70 witnesses, and discovered the names of tho 

 pnrties who did the lynching, and have uncoverei 

 sufficient evidence to "insure a conviction in even 

 case, but the jury refuses to find indictments, and I 

 consider it useless any longer to trifle with them.' 

 He did not think it would be worth while to briiij. 

 before them the cases of the sheriff and the commie- 



