interest apportioned among the counties according, to their school
population. The administration of the school system is in the
hands of a superintendent of public instruction.
Finance.—The bonded debt of the state on the 31st of December 1908 amounted to $550,000, of which the state held an irredeemable bond for $380,000; the actual redeemable bonded debt of $170,000 was due to the investment of the school and university funds in the bonds of the state. The actual borrowing capacity of the state is limited by its constitution to $300,000, except for the extraordinary purpose of repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection. Practically all the revenue is derived from the taxation of real and personal property. Mines and mining claims are exempt from taxation, but a quarterly tax is levied on the net proceeds of mines, and is not to be paid a second time so long as the products remain in the hands of the original producer. The rate of taxation for state purposes is fixed by the legislature, and for county purposes by the board of county commissioners. A poll tax is required of all males between the ages of 21 and 60 years, one half of which goes to the county in which it is collected and the rest to the state. At the close of 1908 the state receipts for the year amounted to $1,004,041, and expenditures to $875,941.
History.—The first recorded person of European descent to enter the limits of Nevada was Francisco Garcés (1738–1781), of the Order of St Francis, who set out from Sonora in 1775 and passed through what is now the extreme southern corner of the state on his way to California. Half a century later a party of trappers of the Hudson’s Bay Company entered Nevada and plied their trade along the Humboldt river. American trappers came about the same time. Emigrants to California followed the trappers, and many crossed Nevada in the early ’forties of the 19th century. During 1843–1845 John C. Frémont made a series of explorations in this region. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, negotiated in 1848, at the close of the war with Mexico, Nevada became United States territory. It was then a part of California known as the Washoe Country, and remained so until the 9th of September 1850, when most of the present state was included in the newly organized Territory of Utah. In the meantime the discovery of gold in California had swelled the stream of westward migration across the Washoe Country, and had resulted in the settlement of traders, mostly Mormons, along the routes to the gold fields. The first settlement in what is now the state of Nevada was planted in the valley of the Carson river in 1849. The earliest recorded public meeting was held at Mormon Station (now Genoa) on the 12th of November 1851. The object of this gathering was to frame a government for the settlers, as the seat of the Territorial government of Utah was too remote to afford protection for life and property. Congress was petitioned to organize a separate Territory. An independent local government was formed a week later, and this lasted for several months, until the Utah authorities intervened. In 1854 the Utah legislature created the county of Carson, which included all the settlements in western Utah; but the inhabitants sought to rid themselves of all connexion with the people of the Salt Lake region, and petitioned Congress to annex them to California. In 1858 Carson City was laid out, and in the following year the people of Carson county held a mass meeting and chose delegates to a constitutional convention, which met at Genoa on the 18th of July 1859, and in ten days drafted a constitution. The instrument was submitted to a vote of the people and was adopted, and a full set of state officers was chosen. This attempt to create a new state proved abortive, however, and it was not till the mineral wealth of the Washoe Country became generally known that Congress took any action. On the 2nd of March 1861 the Territory of Utah was divided at 39° W. (of Washington) and the western portion was called Nevada. As then constituted, the northern boundary of Nevada was the 42nd parallel, its southern the 37th, and its western boundary was made to conform to the eastern limits of the state of California. James W. Nye (1814–1876) of New York was appointed Territorial governor. In December 1862 the Territorial legislature passed an act “to frame a constitution and state government for the state of Washoe.” This was submitted to the people and adopted at the polls. Delegates to a constitutional convention accordingly drafted a frame of government, which on the 19th of January 1864 was submitted to a popular vote and overwhelmingly defeated. The instrument contained a very unpopular clause taxing all mining property, unproductive as well as productive. Moreover, as state officers were to be chosen at the same time that the constitution was voted on, disappointed candidates for party nominations fought against ratification. As a result, the constitution was rejected while officers to act under it were at the same time duly elected.
Early in 1864, when it became evident that two more Republican votes might be needed in the United States Senate for reconstruction purposes, party leaders at Washington urged the people of Nevada to adopt a constitution and enter the Union as a patriotic duty, and on the 21st of March 1864 Congress passed an act to enable the people of the Territory to form a state government. The third constitutional convention in its history now met at Carson City and drew up a constitution which was duly ratified. On the 31st of October President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring Nevada a state. By the Enabling Act Congress had extended the eastern boundary to the 38th meridian (W. of Washington), and in 1866 still farther extended it to the 37th and fixed the southern boundary as it exists at present. The additions eastward were made from Utah and those to the south from Arizona.
Being “battle-born,” Nevada was loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War, and in spite of its scanty population furnished a company of troops in 1861, which were joined to a California regiment. In 1863 the Territory raised six companies of infantry and six of cavalry (about 1000 men), which saw no actual service against the Confederates but were useful in subduing hostile Indians.
The history of the state since its organization has been largely a history of its mines. The period from 1860 to 1864 was one of rapid development accompanied by the wildest speculation. This was followed by a reaction and a general collapse of inflated values until 1873, when the discovery of the Great Bonanza mine brought about a revival of industry and of speculation. A second period of decline followed the working out of this mine and lasted until 1900, when the discovery of a new mineral belt in southern Nevada brought renewed prosperity. Until 1870 the state was regularly Republican, but in this year the Democrats gained most of the offices, including the seat in the national House of Representatives. The Republicans, however, secured the electoral votes of Nevada in 1872 and in 1876, and in 1878 were again in full control, only to suffer defeat in 1880. Not until the silver currency question became a political issue did Nevada take a prominent part in national politics. In 1885 the Nevada Silver Association was formed for the purpose of advocating the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Both parties in the state in 1888 declared in favour of free coinage, and in 1892 instructed their delegates to the national conventions to oppose any candidate who did not favour this policy. As a means of asserting their views effectively, the citizens, irrespective of party, organized local silver clubs, and these eventually led to the formation of the Silver party of Nevada, which drafted a “platform” and nominated a state ticket and presidential electors who were instructed to support the Populist national ticket. The Republicans in the state divided, and the majority of them went over to the Silver party. At the national election in this year the Silver ticket received in Nevada 7264 votes; the Republican 2811; the Democrat 714; and the Prohibitionist 86. In the state election of 1894 the Silver party was again victorious, and not a Democrat was returned to the legislature. In the election of 1896 all the parties in the state declared in favour of the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. The Democratic and Silver parties united, with the result that the state’s electoral vote went to Bryan and Sewall, the Democratic nominees, while the Silver party retained most of the state offices. In the presidential election of 1900 the Nevada Republicans pursued a non-committal policy with regard to the silver question, declaring in favour of “the largest use of silver as a money metal in all matters compatible with the best interests of our government.” The Democratic and the Silver parties again
