NEVADA 



4133 



NEVADA 



Wasatch mountains. Ranking sixth in size 

 among the states of the Union, Nevada has an 

 area of 110,690 square miles, about 3,000 square 

 miles less than that of Arizona and a little less 

 than five times the area of Nova Scotia. 



The People. There are fewer inhabitants per 

 square mile in Nevada than in any other state 

 of the Union, the average population being 

 per square mile in 1910, as compared to 

 30.9 for the United States. The inhabitants 

 numbered 81,875 in 1910, about one-sixth of the 

 population of Nova Scotia. Of this number 

 56,277 were native bora, 17,999 were whites of 

 foreign birth (chiefly Italian, German, Canadian, 

 English and Irish), 5,240 were Indians, 1,791 

 were Chinese and Japanese and 513 were ne- 

 groes. The population on January 1, 1917, was 

 estimated at 108,736. There are fifty cities of 

 t IK- United States having a greater number of 

 inhabitants than this entire state. The Indian 

 population consists of Piute, Shoshoni and the 

 remnants of a few other tribes. Reno is the 

 largest city, although its population in 1916 was 

 only 14,869 (Federal estimate). Goldfield, To- 

 nopah, Carson City, the capital, and Virginia 

 City, all having fewer than 5,000 people, are 

 the other chief towns. 



The number of Roman Catholics is more 

 than three times that of all Protestants, the 

 largest denominations of which are the Episco- 

 pal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist, rank- 

 ing in the order named. The Mormons, or 

 Latter-Day Saints, rank next to the Episcopa- 

 lians in the number of adherents. 



Education. Nevada has had to deal with the 

 problem of administering a school system cov- 

 ering an extensive and thinly-populated area, 

 public schools are well supported by the 

 :ue from government lands, a special state 

 tax and by local taxation. At the head of the 

 school system is the state superintendent of 

 I'tihlic instruction, who is elected by the people 

 for a term of four years. A compulsory educa- 

 law has been passed, but owing to the great 

 distance- h.twcrn town* and H-ttlemrnts. the 

 illiteracy is 6.7 per cent, over three times as 

 great as that in the adjoining state of Idaho. 

 ; is a total enrolment of about 12,000 pu- 

 pils in tli.- -I. -in. ntary schools. 



Mod* <ls have been introduced in the 



schools. In 1914 manual training was t audit in 



I* mentary and six high schools; instrne- 



.Ihjre \\-mt Kiven Hi M-vrr:il hl^ll 



schools, and some in.lu-tnal art was taunht in 



rural schools. Normal schools at Eureka, 



ngton and Tonopah.a mining school at Vir- 



ginia City and the state university, at Reno, 

 are maintained by the state. The rapid devel- 

 opment of Nevada is closely interwoven with 

 the growth of its university, which gives in- 

 struction in mining and other branches of terh- 

 nology, and maintains an agricultural experi- 

 ment station and model stock farms. The uni- 

 versity has been richly endowed by Clarence 

 Mackay of New York, whose father made much 

 of his wealth in Nevada gold. 



Other state institutions are a hospital for the 

 insane at Reno ; an orphans' home and the state 

 prison at Carson City and an industrial school 

 at Elko. In June, 1915, the Nevada School of 

 Industry, a reform school for boys, was opened. 

 Several industrial schools for Indians are main- 

 tained by the Federal government. The deaf, 

 blind and feeble-minded are cared for at the 

 state's expense in institutions in California. 



The Land. Nevada is an arid table-land, 

 2,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea, broken by 

 numerous mountain ranges rising to elevations 



OUTLINE MAP Ol M!\ ADA 

 Showing boundarU'*. rlili-f rlvcrn. nrlncli 



n of inin.-ral deposits and the hlffheat 



point r land In the - 



of 7,000 to 10,000 fort, by buttes and mesas, and 

 intersected by a scries of Ion*, i-aralh-l v.-ill.-ys. 

 The southeast corner i th< only part of tin- 

 state with an elevation of leas than 2,000 feet. 

 The lowest point, 700 feet above the sea, is in 



