.jpg)
January 13, 2006
Nevada's Online State News Journal
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . | |||||||
Nevada History:
[From Thompson & West's History of Nevada 1881, With Illustrations And Biographical Sketches Of Its Prominent Men And Pioneers, pp. 75-86]
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION. 75
CHAPTER XII.
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION.
1861.
Political Events—Appointments by Governor Nye—Organization and Elections — Executive Proclamation —Judicial Organization—Legislative Organization—Census and Election Districts — First Territorial Election—Members of Territorial Council—Members of House of Representatives—Territory Divided into Counties—Special Election of January 14, 1862—Election of September 3, 1862—Election of September 2, 1863—Efforts to Become a State— Vote For and Against a State Government—Homographic Chart—Third House—The Constitution Defeated—Vote for Officers Under the Constitution—Second Attempt to Become a State—Constitutional Convention Elected June 6th, and Assembled July 14, 1864—Votes for Congressional Delegate —Constitutional Vote.
POLITICAL and other events in 1861, pertaining to Carson County, chronologically given until it is merged in the first county organization of Nevada by Act of her Legislature, approved November 25th of that year as follows:—
January 8. William O. Connor filed bonds as Deputy Sheriff for $2,000. The office of License Collector declared not warranted by law as the County Treasurer had those duties to perform ex officio.
January 18. Territorial law passed authorizing change of Carson County seat of justice from Genoa to Carson City.
February 11. The County Court declared that Honey Lake Valley was within the limits of Carson County, and appropriated $250 to assist any one in the legal resistance to the collection of taxes, within that valley, by the officers of Plumas County. California, and March 9th following, that section was organized as District No. 15.
February 13. Rates of taxation in Carson County fixed for 1861 at one and one-half per cent. for county and one-half per cent. for Territorial purposes. The latter was remitted on the following seventeenth of June because the new Territory of Nevada had been created in the meantime.
February 14. George McNeir, County Clerk and Auditor; salary fixed at $1,800 per year.
February 15. John L. Blackburn allowed $1,360 for services as High Sheriff, and J. P. Seto presented bill for services as Deputy Sheriff.
February 16. The appointment of Assessor and Collector in September being declared illegal and void, the Court appointed to those offices E. C. Cardoza. He was to collect taxes in St. Mary's and
76 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.
Humboldt Counties as well as for Carson, those counties having been added to the latter for revenue and judicial purposes.
On the same date Judge Child was authorized by the County Court to select suitable rooms in Carson City for holding the March term of Court, the county seat having been moved in the meantime from Genoa to that place; $200 was allowed to be expended in fitting up such rooms.
February 19. Date of last entry in United States District Court under Judge Cradlebaugh.
March 1. County Court met in Carson City for the first time. Its place of meeting was in a building rented of George Lewis for $175 per month.
March 2. Congressional Act approved creating Nevada Territory.
March 7. A tax of one-fourth of one per cent. levied to be continued from year to year, to raise a fund of not to exceed $15,000 with which to build a County Court House, also, one-half of one per cent. to raise that same amount with which to build a jail.
March 8. Poll-tax fixed at three dollars or two day's work.
March 22. James W. Nye commissioned Governor of Nevada.
April 10. George McNeir no longer County Clerk.
April 11. P. H. Clayton presented a bill for services as Prosecuting Attorney, and Thomas Winn as Deputy Sheriff.
April 12. Assessor and his Deputy allowed ten dollars per day for services, and eight per cent. on amount collected.
April 13. Selectman J. J. Coddington resigned and Wellington Stewart was appointed on the seventeenth to fill the vacancy. On this last date, William Alford resigned as Selectman, and May 14th, John W. Grier was appointed to fill the vacancy.
May 14. The salary of Probate Judge was fixed at $2,500 per annum, and that of Selectmen at $1,500.
July 8. Governor James W. Nye arrived in Carson City.
July 11. Governor Nye issued his proclamation organizing the Territory of Nevada.
APPOINTMENTS FOR CARSON COUNTY.
The following appointments by Governor Nye were made for Carson County during the year 1861 :
Probate Judge, L. W. Ferris, Virginia City, July 29.
Clerk, Nelson W. Winton, Virginia City, July 29.
Recorder, Samuel D. King, July 29.
District Attorney, Marcus D. Larrowe, August 12.
County Surveyor, S. H. Marlette, August 14.
Treasurer, Alford elm, August 20.
Selectmen, J. Williams, Chauncy N. Noteware, George W. Grier, July 31. John F. Long, September 2.
In the next chapter is given a detail of events that worked the change by which Carson County was absorbed and deprived of its separate existence. It was a gradual transformation.
[Chart: Stock and Agriculture in 1860]
DEATHS IN CARSON COUNTY.
The following deaths occurred within a year prior to June 1, 1860, and do not include those slain by either red or white men:—
FORT CHURCHILL.
Robert Murphy, age 26, drowned, soldier.
Charles P. Selmer, age 23, inflammation of bowels, soldier.
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION. 77
Charles Stapp, age 29, drowned, soldier. Fred. Acaidel, age 23, drowned, soldier.
WASHOE VALLEY.
John Calvin, age 29, typhoid fever, teamster.
Senira Perkins, age 16, typhoid fever.
Louisa Perkins, aged 4, typhoid fever.
Chester Barlow, aged 1, inflammation of bowels.
Harriet Parks, age 25, child bed.
Thomas J. Owsley, age 2, cholera infantum.
CARSON VALLEY.
Mary E. Jones, age 40, congestion of brain.
William Edwards, age 51, mountain fever, farmer.
Hiram Mott, age 29, by a threshing machine, farmer.
Sarah J. Robinson, age 21, typhoid fever, servant.
WAGES IN 1860.
Farm hands, per month, $50, or $3 per day with, and $3.50 without board.
Female help, per month, $40, with board. Carpenters, per day, without board, $7.
Board from $12 to $20 per week to laborers.
RUBY VALLEY, in St. Mary's County, has but one farm, run by William Rogers, Indian Agent. Last winter there was three feet of snow in the valley, and most of the stock died for want of feed. Mountains highly timbered with cedar and pine. No minerals yet discovered there.
HUMBOLDT COUNTY.-No inhabitants in the county except those connected with the mail service. The only things not human seen living are snakes, lizards, and crickets, upon which the Indians are forced to live a portion of the year. " The county is the most barren of any I ever passed over."
J. P. WATERS,
United States Deputy Marshal.
First, Congress created a new Territory including it, over which a new system of laws applied. Then came Governor Nye, who applied the new system to the old subdivision as they had existed under Utah. A Legislature then met, and on the twenty-fifth of November, 1861, the Territory was segregated into nine counties, among which the old names of St. Mary's and Carson found no place. The Legislature enacted that the records of the county erased should be turned over to the Secretary of State for safe keeping, where they are now to be found. Then the legal shadows of Utah passed from that portion of the Great Basin that is now known as the State of Nevada.
ORGANIZATION AND ELECTION.
James W. Nye, of Madison County, New York, was commissioned Governor of the newly-created Territory of Nevada, on the twenty-second of March, 1861; commissions being issued on the twenty-seventh of the same month to Orion Clemens, as Secretary; to Benjamin B. Bunker, as United States Attorney; and George Turner, as Chief Justice; his Associate Justices being Horatio M. Jones and Gordon N. Mott.
In July of that year Governor Nye issued the following, his first proclamation, to the people over whom he was appointed:-
EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION.
To all whom it may concern-
WHEREAS, By an Act of Congress of the United States of America, entitled "An Act to organize the Territory of Nevada," approved March 2, 1861, a true copy of which is hereto annexed, a Government was created over all the country described in said Act, to be called the "Territory of Nevada;" and whereas, the following-named officers have been duly appointed and commissioned under said Act, as officers of said Government, viz.:-
James W. Nye, Governor of said Territory, Commander-in-Chief of the Militia thereof, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs therein; Orion Clemens, Secretary of said Territory; George Turner, Chief Justice; and Horatio M. Jones and Gordon N. Mott, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of said Territory, and to act as Judges of the District Court for said Territory; Benjamin B. Bunker, Attorney of the United States for said Territory; D. Bates, Marshal of the United States for said Territory; and John W. North, Surveyor General for said Territory; and the said Governor and the other officers having assumed the duties of their said offices, according to law, said Territorial Government is hereby declared to be organized and established, and all persons are enjoined to conform to, respect, and obey the laws thereof accordingly.
Given under my hand and the seal of said Territory this eleventh day of July, A. D. 1861, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-fifth.
JAMES W. NYE,
Governor of Nevada Territory.
Governor Nye filled the several offices created by the first Legislative Assembly with the following-named gentlemen; and thus the swaddling-clothes of government were put upon Nevada, transforming her, an infant, into the sisterhood of Territories.
APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR JAMES W. NYE.
January 1, 1862, Warden of Prison, Abraham Curry.
February 1, 1862, Treasurer, John H. Kinkead.
February 1, 1862, Auditor, Perry G. Child.
February 24, 1862, School Superintendent, William G. Blakely.
September 8, 1863, Auditor, vice Child, resigned, William W. Rose.
December 24, 1863, Superintendent Public Instruction, for two years, A. F. White.
At a later date the following officers succeeded those in the positions named who arrived with Governor Nye:-
August 31, 1863, United States Attorney, Theo. Edwards
October 2, 1863, Judge First District Court, John W. North.
October 14, 1863, Assistant Justice Supreme Court, Powhattan B. Locke.
JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION.
On the seventeenth of July another proclamation
78 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.
was issued, this time to establish Judicial Districts, over which to assign the three Judges for duty, and the division was a peculiar one.
District No. 1, to which Gordon N. Mott was assigned, included all of Carson County lying west of the one hundred and eighteenth degree of longitude, and embraced what now is Washoe, Ormsby, Douglas, Storey, Lyon and most of Churchill, Counties. Within it was, practically, all the white population of the Territory.
The Second District embraced that part of Nevada lying east of No. 1, and between the one hundred and seventeenth and one hundred and eighteenth degrees of longitude, and to it was assigned Chief Justice George Turner to preside over a country inhabited by whites at the stage stations, Shoshones and Pah-Utes.
The third was given to Judge Horatio M. Jones, and included all the Territory lying east of the one hundred and seventeenth degree of longitude, within which were a few more stage stations, and quite a number of Shoshone and Gosh-Ute Indians.
The proclamation further stated, that the terms of Court in the First District were to last two weeks, commencing at Virginia City on the twenty-third of July, to alternate between Carson and that place, and closed with the following :-
The times and places for holding terms of the District Court, in the Second and Third District, will be designated in a subsequent proclamation.
LEGISLATIVE ORGANIZATION.
The next thing in order, after having insured an equitable dispensation of law, among the whites as well as among the Indians, by the assignment of Judges, was the organization of a Territorial Government, or to set the wheels of State in motion. In pursuance of this purpose, another proclamation was issued, July 24th, that districted as follows, the Territory, for census and election purposes, appointing Dr. Henry De Groot, of Carson City, to take charge of enumeration, and make returns of the number of population in Nevada, on the twenty-second of that month and year:
CENSUS AND ELECTION DISTRICTS OF 1861.
District No. 1, Genoa, including all of Carson Valley south of Clear Creek. Population, 1,057.
District No. 2, Carson City, including Eagle Valley, and that portion of Carson Valley north of Clear Creek, and to a point three miles south of Empire City. Population, 2,076.
District No. 3, Empire City and vicinity. Population, 628.
District No. 4, Silver City and vicinity. Population, 1,022.
District No. 5, Gold Hill and vicinity. Population, 1,297.
District No. 6, Virginia City and vicinity, including what is known as Flowery District. Population, 3,284.
District No. 7, Washoe, including the Washoe Valley, and all the territory south of the divide between Washoe Valley and Steamboat Creek. Population, 1,005.
District No. 8, Steamboat Creek and Truckee Valley. Population, 608.
District No. 9, Pyramid District, including all territory north of Truckee Valley, from a point where the Truckee River enters the mountains below Gates and Gage's Crossing, and west of Pyramid Lake. Population, 1,073.
District No. 10, Humboldt City and vicinity, including the valley of the Humboldt and Silver Hill, Population, 469.
District No. 11, Fort Churchill District, including the Carson Valley, from a point ten miles below Empire City to the sink of the Carson. Population, 569.
District No. 12, The valley of Walker River and all territory south and east of it. Population, 3,286. Making the total population, 16,374.
The number of population being ascertained, the next move in order was the calling of an election to choose a Delegate to Congress, and a Legislative Body for the Territory. This was done, and the election occurred on the thirty-first of August, 1861, resulting as follows :-
FIRST TERRITORIAL ELECTION DELEGATE TO CONGRESS.
The Union vote was 4,300; Democrat, 985.
John Cradlebaugh received votes 1,806
Charles E. Olney, " 1,593
Charles H. Bryan, " 901
William F. Anderson, " 985
Scattering 6
Total Vote 5,291
MEMBERS OF TERRITORIAL COUNCIL.
District No. 1, J. W. Pugh, 413 votes, two candidates; total vote, 642.
District No. 2, Ira M. Luther, 313 votes, three candidates; total vote, 313.
District No. 3, Wm. M. Stewart,* 557 votes, three candidates; total vote, 1,095.
District No. 4, John W. Grier,+ 477 votes, two candidates; total vote, 726.
District No. 5, Thomas Hannah, 220 votes, two candidates; total vote, 386.
District No. 6, A. W. Pray, 671 votes; J. L. Van Bokkelen, 635 votes; six candidates; total vote, _____
District No. 7, Solomon Geller,++ 134 votes, four candidates; total vote, 408.
District No. 8; none elected.
District No 9, Isaac Roop, 62 votes, two candidates; total vote, 68.
________________________________________________
* Resigned in 1862.
+ Resigned October 23, 1861, and a special election called in Lyon County, to choose his successor November 3, 1862.
++ George W. Hepperly contested for the seat, but failed to sustain the charge of illegal votes cast at Huffaker polls, upon which his claim depended.
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION. 79
MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
District No. 1, Samuel Youngs, 395 votes; William E. Teall, 320 votes; seven candidates; total vote, 1,327.
District No. 2, James McLean, 189 votes, two candidates; total vote, 316.
District No. 3, W. P. Harrington, Jr., 526 votes; John D. Winters, 652 votes; six candidates; total vote, 2,105.
District No. 4, William L. Card, 365 votes; R. M. Ford, 330 votes; five candidates; total vote, 1,341.
District No. 5, John H. Mills, 180 votes, three candidates; total vote, 394.
District N o. 6, Mark H. Bryan, 641 votes; Ephraim Durham,* 582 votes; Miles N. Mitchell, 623 votes; nine candidates; total vote, 3,333.
District No. 7, Edward C. Ing, 205 votes; J. H. Sturtevant, 297 votes; four candidates; total vote, 728.
District No. 8, William J. Osborn, 215 votes, three candidates; total vote, 462.
District No. 9, John C. Wright, 52 votes, two candidates; total vote, 58.
After the election, another proclamation was made declaring the result, and naming October 1, 1861, as the time, and Carson City as the place, for the members to " meet in Legislative Assembly."
Congress had named $20,000 in greenbacks as the amount that could be expended per year in supporting a Territorial Government for Nevada; and the fear of not over prompt pay added to the fact that greenbacks, the U. S. currency, were only worth about forty cents on the dollar, caused the people to look with reserve upon the new scheme of Government that came with officers imported to run it. The Assembly was called to meet at Carson, but there was no one there who would rent the Government a place on credit for the members to meet in.
Mark Twain, whose brother was Territorial Secretary at the time says in his " Roughing It":
But when Curry heard of the difficulty, he came forward solitary and alone, and shouldered the Ship of State over the bar and got her afloat again. I refer to "Curry—Old Curry—Old Abe Curry." But for him the Legislature would have been obliged to sit in the desert. He offered his large stone building just outside the capital, rent free, and it was gladly accepted. Then he built a horse-railroad from town to the capital, and carried the Legislators gratis. He also furnished pine benches and chairs for the Legislature, and covered the floors with clean saw-dust by way of carpet and spittoon combined. But for Curry the Government would have died in its tender infancy. A canvas partition, to separate the Senate from the House of Representatives, was put up by the Secretary, at a cost of three dollars and forty cents, but the United States declined to pay for it. Upon being reminded that the "instructions " permitted the payment of a liberal rent for a legislative hall, and that that money was saved to the country by Mr. Curry's generosity, the United States said that did not alter the matter, and the three dollars and forty cents would be subtracted from the Secretary's eighteen-hundred-dollar salary—and it was !
The following, also from Mark Twain's book, is in several particulars an exaggeration of facts, but for all that gives so strong an impression of the general surroundings at the time, that we give it in full:--
The matter of printing was from the beginning an interesting feature of the new Government's difficulties. The Secretary was sworn to obey his volume of written " instructions," and these commanded him to do two certain things without fail, viz.:-
1. Get the House and Senate journals printed, and,
2. For this work, pay one dollar and fifty-cents per " thousand " for composition, and one dollar and fifty-cents per " token " for press-work, in greenbacks.
It was easy to swear to do these two things, but it was entirely impossible to do more than one of them. When greenbacks had gone down to forty cents on the dollar the prices regularly charged everybody by printing establishments were $1.50 per "thousand," and $1 50 per "token," in gold. The "instructions" commanded that the Secretary regard a paper dollar issued by the Government as equal to any other dollar issued by the Government. Hence the printing of the journals was discontinued. Then the United States sternly rebuked the Secretary for disregarding the "instructions," and warned him to correct his ways. Whereupon he got some printing done, and forwarded the bill to Washington** with full exhibits of the high prices of things in the Territory, and called attention to a printed market report, wherein it would be observed that even hay was $250 a ton. The United States responded by subtracting the printing-bill from the Secretary's suffering salary; and, moreover, remarked, with dense gravity, that he would find nothing in his "instructions" requiring him to purchase hay!
Nothing in this world is palled in such impenetrable obscurity as a United States Treasury Controller's understanding. The very fires of the hereafter could get up nothing more than a fitful glimmer in it. In the days I speak of he never could be made to comprehend why it was that $20,000 would not go as far in Nevada, where all commodities ranged at an enormous figure, as it would in the other Territories, where exceeding cheapness was the rule. He was an officer who looked out for the little expenses all the time. The Secretary of the Territory kept his office in his bed-room, as I have before remarked; and he charged the United States no rent, although his "instructions" provided for that item, and he could have justly taken advantage of it (a thing which I would have done with more than lightning promptness if I had been Secretary myself); but the United States never applauded this devotion, indeed, I think my country was ashamed to have so improvident a person in its employ.
Those "instructions " (we used to read a chapter from them every morning as intellectual gymnastics,
________________________________________
* Was from Virginia City, and R. W. Billett contested with him the seat in the House, on the grounds of non-residence, but failed to maintain the position.
** We notice in those proceedings that Governor Nye's message to the Legislative Assembly, covering eleven pages in the book, was printed verbatim twice over, making twenty-two pages in all. It is an excellent message, filled with a patriotic fire so characteristic of the "Gray Eagle," as the Governor later came to be called; but it would seem that one insertion under the trying pecuniary circumstances would have been enough even for that message.
80 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.
and a couple of chapters in Sunday-school every Sabbath, for they treated of all subjects under the sun and had much valuable religious matter in them along with the other statistics), those "illustrations" commanded that pen-knives, envelopes, pens, and writing paper be furnished the members of the Legislature, so the Secretary made the purchase and distribution. The knives cost three dollars apiece. There was one too many, and the Secretary gave it to the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The United States said the Clerk of the House was not a " member " of the Legislature, and took that three dollars out of the Secretary's salary as usual.
White men charged three or four dollars a "load" for sawing up stove wood. The Secretary was sagacious enough to know that the United States would never pay any such price as that; so he got an Indian to saw up a load of office wood at one dollar and a half. He made out the usual voucher, but signed no name to it—simply appended a note explaining that an Indian had done the work, and had done it in a very capable and satisfactory way, but could not sign the voucher owing to lack of ability in the necessary direction. The Secretary had to pay that dollar and a half. He thought the United States would admire both his economy and his honesty in getting the work done at half-price and not putting a pretended Indian's signature to the voucher, but the United States did not see it in that light. The United States was too much accustomed to employing dollar-and-a-half thieves in all manner of official capacities to regard his explanation of the voucher as having any foundation in fact.
But the next time the Indian sawed wood for us I taught him to make a cross at the bottom of the voucher,
his
WAW-HO X NO-PAH.
mark
It looked like a cross that had been drunk a year—and then I " witnessed " it and it went through till right. The United States never said a word. I was sorry I had not made the voucher for a thousand loads of wood instead of one. The Government of my country snubs honest simplicity but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pick-pocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two.
That was a fine collection of sovereigns, that first Nevada Legislature. They levied taxes to the amount of thirty or forty thousand dollars and ordered expenditures to the extent of about a million. Yet they had their little periodical explosions of economy like all other bodies of the kind. A member proposed to save three dollars a day to the nation by dispensing with the Chaplain. And yet that short-sighted man needed the Chaplain more than any other member, perhaps, for he generally sat with his feet on his desk, eating raw turnips, during the morning prayer.
The Legislature sat sixty days, and passed private toll-road franchises all the time. When they adjourned it was estimated that every citizen owned about three franchises, and it was believed that unless Congress gave the Territory another degree of longitude there would not be room enough to accommodate the toll-roads. The ends of them were hanging over the boundary line everywhere like a fringe.
The fact is, the freighting business had grown to such important proportions that there was nearly as much excitement over suddenly acquired toll-road fortunes as over the wonderful silver mines.
This first Legislature held a forty-nine days' session, and adjourned November 29th, after having passed complete civil and criminal codes for the Territory. Their enactments and joint resolutions, after compilation, covered 518 pages of a royal octavo book, eight of which are devoted to toll-road franchises, only six of them having been granted. We mention these facts, because of the wholesale exaggeration in this particular by Mark Twain, which has left a false impression of the efforts and character of that first Assembly-
TERRITORY DIVIDED INTO COUNTIES.
By an Act approved November 25, 1861, the Territory was divided into nine counties by name as fellows : Churchill, Douglas, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lake (changed to Roop, December 5, 1862), Lyon, Ormsby, Storey, Washoe.
Humboldt, Churchill, and Esmeralda Counties included about four-fifths of the total area of the Territory ; the other counties the principal population.
After the division into counties it became necessary to breathe the breath of political life into those subdivisions, which was done in the following manner: The two branches of the Assembly met in joint convention, and nominated three Commissioners for each county, who were commissioned by the Governor. It was the duty of those appointed to meet in their respective localities and apportion the same into voting precincts, and prepare for a general election, to be held on the ensuing fourteenth of January, 1862, at which time county officers were to be chosen. Probate Judges and District Attorneys for the several counties were given a two years' appointment by the Governor, upon the recommendation of the joint House. For the result of that election see the several county histories in this work.
This election of January 14, 1862, was for the purpose of choosing county officers to serve until their successors were entitled to supersede them; and it was provided that their successors should be voted for on the third of September the same year. There were consequently three sets of officials in 1862 for some of the counties in the Territory; one by appointment, and two elected.
At the election of September 3d, twenty-six Territorial Representatives, five Councilmen, and a Delegate to the House of Representatives, were chosen. The votes cast, and names of successful candidates for the first two positions named, are given in the county histories, for the latter it was as follows:---
ELECTION OF SEPTEMBER 3, 1862.
Candidates for Delegates to Congress:
Gordon N. Mott 2,838
John D. Winters 1,682
J. J. Musser 1,710
J. H. Ralston 904
Scattering Votes. 35
7,169
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION. 81
EFFORTS TO BECOME A STATE.
At the session of the Legislature of 1862, an Act was passed that will be found on page 128 of the Statutes of that year, that authorized at the general election in September of 1863, the choice of Delegates to frame a State Constitution to be submitted to the people for their approval. At the same time the question was submitted of whether the people desired a State Government, with the following results:—
VOTE FOR AND AGAINST A STATE GOVERNMENT
SEPTEMBER 2, 1863.
FOR AGAINST
Churchill and Lyon Counties. 849 288
Douglas County 193 119
Esmeralda County 539 72
Humboldt County 563 489
Lander County 583 87
Ormsby County 602 147
Storey County 2,415 155
Washoe County 916 145
Totals 6,660 1,502
Majority for a State Government 5,158
The people having decided by such an emphatic majority in favor of putting on the robes of State, caused the Delegates to assemble at Carson City on the second of November after election, with a strong faith in the eventual adoption of whatever Constitution they should frame.
[HOMOGRAPHIC CHART]
The Convention sessions were continued until December 11th, and an instrument was framed that in most particulars was the same as the one under which Nevada later became a State in the Union. Due attention was paid by many Delegates to the chances of future preferment in a political way, this fact being particularly noticeable in William M. Stewart, of Storey County, who later became Nevada's United States Senator. Mark Twain was a reporter
82 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.
at the time for the Territorial Enterprise, and in his correspondence to that paper notes some of the peculiarities of members as follows:
CARSON, December 13th.
The Third House met in the Hall of the Convention at eleven P. M., Friday, immediately after the final adjournment of the First House.
On motion of Mr. Nightingill the rules were suspended, and the usual prayer dispensed with, on the grounds that it was never listened to by the members of the First House, which was composed chiefly of the same gentlemen which constitute the Third, and was, consequently, merely ornamental and entirely unnecessary.
Mr. Mark Twain was elected President of the Convention, and Messrs. Small and Hickok appointed to conduct him to the Chair, which they did amid a dense and respectful silence on the part of the House, Mr. Small stepping grandly over the desks, and Mr. Hickok walking under them.
The President addressed the House as follows, taking his remarks down in short-hand as he proceeded:—
GENTLEMEN: This is the proudest moment of my life. I shall always think so. I think so still. I shall ponder over it with unspeakable emotion down to the last syllable of recorded time. It shall be my earnest endeavor to give entire satisfaction in the high and bully position to which you have elevated me.
The President appointed Mr. Small, Secretary; Mr. Gibson, Official Reporter; and Mr. Pete Hopkins, Chief Page; and Uncle Billy Patterson, First Assistant Page. These officers came forward and took the following oath:
We do solemnly affirm that we have never seen a duel, never been connected with a duel, never heard of a duel, never sent or received a challenge, never fought a duel, and don't want to. Furthermore, we will support, protect and defend this constitution which we are about to frame until we can't rest, and will take our pay in scrip.
Mr. Youngs—"Mr. President, I—that is—."
The President—"Mr. Youngs, if you have got anything to say, say it; and don't stand there and shake your head, and gasp 'I—ah, I—ah,' as you have been in the habit of doing in the former Convention."
Mr. Youngs—"Well, sir; I was only going to say that I liked your inaugural, and I perfectly agree with the sentiments you appeared to express in it, but I didn't rightly understand what—."
The President—"You have been sitting there for thirty days, like a bump on a log, and you never rightly understand anything. Take your seat, sir, you are out of order. You rose for information? Well, you'll not get it; sit down. You will appeal from the decision of the Chair ? Take your seat, sir; the Chair will entertain no appeals from its decisions. And I would suggest to you, sir, that you will not be permitted here to growl in your seat, and make malicious side remarks in an undertone for fifteen minutes after you have been called to order, as you have habitually done in the other House."
The President--"The subject before the House is as follows. The Secretary will read."
Secretary—"A-r, t-i, ti, arti, c-I-c, cle—article—"
The President—"What are you trying to do ?"
Secretary—"Well, I am only a helpless orphan, and I can't read writing."
The Chair appointed Mr. Hickok to assist Mr. Small, and discharged Mr. Gibson, the Official Reporter, because he did not know how to write.
Mr. Youngs (singing)—"For the lady I love will soon be a bride, with the diadem on her brow-ow-ow."
President--"Order, you snuffling old granny,"
Mr. Youngs—"I am in order, sir."
The President—" You are not, sir—sit down."
Mr. Youngs—" I won't sir! I appeal to—."
The President—" Take — your — seat!"
Mr. Youngs—" But I insist that ' Jefferson's Manual'— ."
The President—" D—n 'Jefferson's Manual!' the Chair will transact its own business in its own way, sir."
Mr. Chapin—" Mr. President: I do hope the amendment will not pass. I do beg of gentlemen--I do beseech of gentlemen—that they will examine this matter carefully, and earnestly and seriously, and with a sincere desire to do the people all the good, and all the justice, and all the benefit it is in their power to do. I do hope, Mr. President— ."
The President—" Now, there you go What are you trying to get through your head?—there's nothing before the House."
The question being on Section 4, Article 1. (free exercise) of religious liberty.
Mr. Stewart said—" Mr. President: I insist upon it, that if you tax the mines, you impose a burden upon the people which will be heavier than they can bear. And when you tax the poor miner's shafts, and drifts, and bed-rock tunnels, you are NOT taxing his property; you are NOT taxing his substance; you are not taxing his wealth—no, but you are taxing what may become property some day, or may not; you are taxing the shadow from which the substance may eventually issue or may not; you are taxing the visions of Alnaschar; which may turn to minted gold, or only prove the forerunners of poverty and misfortune; in a word, sir, you are taxing his hopes, taxing the aspirations of his soul; taxing the yearnings of his heart of hearts! Yes sir, I insist upon it, that if you tax the mines, you will impose a burden upon the people which will be heavier than they can bear. And when you tax the poor miner's shafts, and drifts, and bed-rock tunnels, you are NOT taxing his property; you are NOT taxing his substance; you are not taxing his wealth—no, but you are taxing what may become property some day or may not; you are taxing the shadow from which the substance may eventually issue or may not; you are taxing the visions of Alnaschar; which may turn to minted gold, or merely prove the forerunners of poverty and misfortune; in a word, sir, you are taxing his hopes ! taxing the aspirations of his soul!—taxing the yearnings of his heart of hearts! Ah, sir, I do insist upon it that if you tax the mines, you will impose a burden upon the people, which will be heavier than they can bear. And when you tax the poor miner's shafts, and drifts, and bed-rock tunnels —"
The President—" Take your seat, Bill Stewart! I am not going to sit here and listen to that same old song over and over again. 1 have been reporting and reporting that infernal speech for the last thirty days, and want you to understand that you can't play it off on this Convention any more. When I want it, I will repeat it myself—I know it by heart, anyhow. You and your bed-rock tunnels, and blighted miners, blasted hopes, have gotten to be a sort of nightmare to me, and I won't put up with it any longer. I don't wish to be too hard on your speech, but if you can't add something fresh to it, or say it backwards,
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION. 83
or sing it to a new tune, you have simply got to simmer down for awhile."
Mr. Johnson—" Mr. President ; I wish it distinctly understood that I am not a candidate for the Senate, or any other office, and have no intention of becoming one. And I wish to call the attention of the Convention to the fact, sir, that outside influences have been brought to bear here, that —"
The President--" Governor Johnson, there is no necessity of your putting in your shovel here, until you are called upon to make a statement. And if you allude to the Engrossing Clerk as an outside influence, I must inform you, sir, that his battery has been silenced with Territorial scrip at forty cents on the dollar."
Mr. Sterns—"Mr. President . I cordially agree with the gentleman from Storey County, that if we tax the mines we shall impose a burden upon the people that will be heavier than they can bear. I agree with him, sir, that in taxing the poor miners' 'shafts and drifts, and bed-rock tunnels, we would not be taxing his property, or his wealth, or his substance, but only that which may become such at at some future day—an Alnascharian vision, which might turn to coin, or might only result in disaster and disappointment to the defendant ; in a word, sir, I coincide with him in' the opinion that it would be equivalent to taxing the hopes of the poor miner—his aspirations—the dear yearnings of his-"
The President—" Yearnings of his grandmother ! I'll slam this mallet at the next man that attempts to impose that tiresome old speech on this body. SIT DOWN ! you have been pretty regular about re-hashing other people's platitudes heretofore, Mr. Sterns, but you have got to be a little original in the Third House. Your sacrilegious lips will be marring the speeches of the Chair next."
Mr. Ralston—" Mr. President : I have but a word to say, and I do not wish to occupy the attention of the House any longer than I can help ; and, although I could, perhaps, throw more light upon the matter of our eastern boundary than those who have not visited that interesting but comparatively unknown section of our budding commonwealth, it is growing late, and I do not feel as I had a right to tax the patience—"
The President—" Tax ! Take your seat, sir, take your seat. I will not be bully-ragged to death with this threadbare subject of taxation. You are out of order, anyhow. How do you suppose anybody can listen in any comfort to your speech, when you are fumbling with your coat all the time you are talking, and trying to button it with your left hand, when you know you can't do it ? I have never seen you succeed yet, until just as you get the last word out. And then the moment you sit down, you always unbutton it again. You may speak, hereafter, Mr. Ralston, but I want you to understand that you have got to button your coat before you get up. I do not mean to be kept in hot water all the time by your little oratorical eccentricities."
Mr. Larrowe—" Mr. President: There are nine mills in Lander County already. Let me see—there is Dobson's, five stamp; Thompson's, eight stamp; Johnson's, three stamp—well, I cannot give the names of all of them, but there are nine, sir—NINE splendid steam-power quartz mills, disturbing, with their ceaseless thunder, the dead silence of centuries! Nine noble quartz mills, sir, cheering with the music of their batteries the desponding hearts of pilgrims from every land! Nine miraculous quartz mills, sir, from whose steam-pipes and chimneysascends a grateful incense to the god of Labor and Progress! Nine sceptered and anointed quartz mills, sir, whose mission it is to establish the power, and the greatness, and the glory of Nevada, and place her high along the —"
The President—"Now will you just take your seat and hold your clatter until somebody asks you for your confounded Reese River quartz-mill statistics? What has Reese River got to do with religious freedom ? and what have quartz mills got to do with it ? and what have you got to do with it yourself? You are out of order, sir—plant yourself. And, moreover, when you get up here to make a speech, I don't want you to yell at me as if you thought I were in San Francisco. I'm not hard of bearing. I don't see why President North didn't tone you down long ago."
Mr. Larrowe—"I think I am in order, Mr. President. It was a rule in the other Convention that no member could speak when there was no question before the House; but after the question had been announced by the Chair members could then go on and speak on any subject they pleased—or rather, that was the custom, sir; the ordinary custom."
The President—"Yes, sir, I know it has been the custom for thirty days and thirty nights in the other Convention, but I will let gentlemen know that they can't ring in these stamps and Reese River quartz-mills on the Third House when I am considering the question of religious liberty—the same being dear to every American heart. Plant yourself, sir—plant yourself. I don't want any more yowling out of you, now."
Mr. Small—" The Secretary would beg leave to state, for the information of the Con—."
The President—" There, now, that's enough of that. You learned that from Gillespie. I won't have any of that nonsense here- When you have got anything to say talk it right out; and see that you use the personal pronoun 'I,' also; and drop that presumptuous third person. ' The Secretary would beg leave to state!' The devil he would. Now suppose you take a back seat, and wait until somebody asks you to state something. Mr. Chapin you will please stop catching flies while the Chair is considering the subject of religious toleration."
Mr. Ball—"Mr. President: The Finance Committee, of which I have the honor to be Chairman, have arrived at the conclusion that it is 130 miles from here to Folsom; that it will take 230 miles of railroad iron to build a road that distance, without counting the switches. This would figure up as follows: Bars, 14 feet 3 inches long; weight, 800 pounds; 1,000 bars to the mile, 800,000 pounds; 130,000 bars for the whole distance, weight, 104,000,000 pounds; original cost of the iron, with insurance and transportation to Folsom from St. Louis, via Salt Lake City, added, say $3.50 a pound, would amount to a fraction over or under $312,722,239.42. Three hundred and twelve millions, seven hundred and twenty-two thousand, two hundred and thirty-nine dollars and forty-two cents, sir. That is the estimate of the Committee, sir, for prime cost of one class of material, without counting labor and other expenses. In view of these facts, sir, it is the opinion of the Committee that we had better not build the road. I did not think it necessary to submit a written report because—"
The President—" Take your seat, Mr. Ball; take your seat, sir. Your evil eye never lights upon this Chair but the spirit moves you to confuse its intellect with some of your villainous algebraical mon-
84 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.
strosities. I will not entertain them, sir; I don't know anything about them. You needn't mind bringing in any written reports here—or verbal ones either, unless you can confine yourself to a reasonable number of figures at a time, so that I can understand what you are driving at. No, sir, the Third House will not build the railroad. The other Convention's donation of $3,000,000 in bonds, worth forty cents on the dollar, will buy enough of one of those bars to make a breastpin, and that will have to satisfy this commonwealth for the present. I observe that Messrs. Wasson, and Gibson, and Noteware, and Kennedy have their feet on their desks, the Chief Page will proceed to remove those relics of ancient continental barbarism from sight."
Mr. Musser—"Mr. President: To be, or not to be—that is the question—"
The President—" No, sir ! The question is, shall we tolerate religious indifference in this community ; or the rights of conscience ; or the rights of suffrage ; or the freedom of the press ; or free speech ; or free schools, or free niggers. The Chair trusts it knows what it is about, without any instructions from the members."
Mr. Musser—" But, sir, it was only a question from—"
The President—" Well, I don't care, I want you to sit down. The Chair don't consider that you know much about religion anyhow, and consequently the subject will suffer no detriment from your letting it alone. You and Judge Hardy can subside, and study over the preamble until you are wanted."
Mr. Brosnan—" Mr. President : These proceedings have all been irregular, extremely and customarily irregular. I will move, sir, that the question be passed, for the present, and that we take up the next section."
Mr. Mitchell—" I object to that, Mr. President. I move that we go into Committee of the Whole on it."
Mr. Wasson—" I move that it be referred back to the Standing Committee."
Mr. North—" I move that the rules be suspended, and the whole article placed upon its final passage."
The President—" Gentlemen : Those of you who are in favor of adopting the original proposition, together with the various motions now pending before the House, will signify the same by saying aye.'" No one voting in the negative, the Chair decided the vote to be unanimous in the affirmative.
The President—" Gentlemen : Your proceedings have been exactly similar to those of the Convention which preceded you. You have considered a subject which you knew nothing about ; spoken on every subject but the one before the house, and voted, without knowing what you were voting for, or having any idea what would be the general result of your action. I will adjourn the Convention for an hour, on account of my cold, to the end that I may apply the remedy prescribed for it by Dr. Tjader-- the same being gin and molasses. The Chief Page is hereby instructed to provide a spoonful of molasses, and a gallon of gin for the use of the President."
THE CONSTITUTION DEFEATED.
It was provided in this Constitution that all of the offices created by it should be filled at the time when the instrument was submitted to the people. This was a serious mistake, for those disappointed in getting nominations for the positions they desired, and their names were legion, became hostile to its adoption. A Convention was called to assemble in Carson on the thirty-first of December, and place in nomination Union candidates to fill the various offices to be called into existence by the proposed organic law.
Right here the trouble began. In Storey County there was a serious split in the Union party, caused by a bolt at the County Convention, headed by the Daily Union. Eight delegates walked out of the Convention, declaring their intentions to oppose its nominations, because of the unfairness and slate action of the assemblage. The bolters held primary meetings in Virginia City; chose delegates who presented themselves to the State Convention, where a hearing was given them, and recognition denied. In the controversy that arose, when the two delegations were before that body asking preferment, a passage of wit and menace occurred between William M. Stewart and Baldwin, on the one side, and Tom Fitch, of the Daily Union, on the other, that gave a glimpse of the personal nature of the controversy, and character of some of the principal actors. The former charged Fitch with having offered to support the regular ticket on condition that he received the nomination upon it of Attorney-General. Fitch replied that he had remarked to those gentlemen on a certain occasion, "in a joking way," that if they would enter into $10,000 bonds to keep their word when given, that he might be induced to entertain a proposition to give them the influence of the Daily Union. To this Baldwin responded, that " everybody knew that when a little office was to be had, or a little money made, Tom Fitch never jokes."
The split was a serious one, and before the Convention had made its nominations a formidable movement in the Union ranks had arrayed itself in hostility to the Constitution, to which the secession element in the Territory immediately joined hands.
The Territorial Enterprise advocated one of its proprietors, J. T. Goodman, for State Printer; and the Daily Union desired one of its owners, John Church, in the place. Neither were successful; George W. Bloor being the choice of the Convention. The Enterprise was glad that Church was beaten, and Church was partially consoled because Goodman was defeated; but the nomination of Bloor made neither one happy enough to cause them to shake hands over the inky chasm.
John B. Winters, of Lyon County; Warren Wasson, of Ormsby County; James Stark, of Esmeralda County; and H. G. Worthington, of Lander County, were candidates for Congress; and the vote stood in the Convention, all the first day, Winters, 21 votes; Wasson, 16 votes; Worthington, 15 votes; Stark, 9 votes; and it required 26 votes to nominate. On the second day Winters won the coveted prize.
For Governor, the names of Judge Charles H. Morgan, and M. N. Mitchell were presented as rival aspirants, the latter gaining the nomination.
The Storey County delegation was in the Con-
TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION. 85
vention in the interests of Hon. John Cradlebaugh for U. S. Senator; and, in their preferment for State officials, advocated those who were favorable to their choice for Senator. Colonel John A. Collins, Henry Edgerton, and James W. Nye were also candidates for that distinguished honor. Collins withdrew before the election, and Almon Hovey became an aspirant. John Conness, who at that time was representing California in Washington, writes as follows to the Virginia City Daily Union, regarding the candidacy of Mr. Edgerton:—
If you send Henry Edgerton here as a Senator don't know what I wouldn't promise to do; and I do not hesitate at all, as a friend of Nevada Territory, to advise and ask that he be one of her Senators. Send that gifted and big-hearted man here as a Senator, and I will never cease to be thankful.
There were fifty-one delegates elected to that Convention, which lasted three days ; Chauncey N. Noteware was President, A. P. K. Safford, Secretary, and a full " State ticket " was put in the field.
[Chart: VOTE FOR OFFICERS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.]
The foregoing is the official returns of that election, held January 19, 1864, with Ormsby and Storey Counties left out ; they having neither made any, or left upon record, data, upon which the figures can be ascertained.
There were nine newspapers in the Territory at the time, all of which supported the adoption of the Constitution and election of the Union ticket, except the Aurora Times, Humboldt Register, Old Pah Ute, and Virginia Union. There was but one ticket in the field, the fight being made upon the organic law ; and the Stewart war-cry of injustice, contained in the clause that authorized the taxing of " the poor miner's shafts and drifts and bed-rock tunnels," enabled the opposition to carry with it the popular element, that resulted in an overwhelming rejection of the instrument.
SECOND EFFORT TO BECOME A STATE.
The first effort to become a State proving a failure, the ball was set in motion again within twenty days after the election, by Senator Doolittle, of Wisconsin, who introduced a Bill into the United States Senate, February 8th, that authorized the Nevadans to try it over again.
While the measure was before that body, Senator Conness, of California, remarked—" Nevada is a mining community exclusively, and can never be anything else. It must always be fed from adjacent Countries," and the Central Pacific Railroad Company has from the first been trying to demonstrate that Conness was a prophet.
March 21, 1864, the bill was signed by President Lincoln, and Governor Nye issued a proclamation, calling for an election on the sixth of June, to choose another set of Delegates, to frame a State Constitution, with the result given on the following page.
On the twenty-seventh of July, the Convention adjourned, and the question of a State Government was once more before the people, under widely different circumstances from those which had produced the former defeat. This time that obnoxious clause regarding the taxation of the "aspirations of the poor miners' soul, his shafts, and drifts, and bedrock tunnels," was so changed as to leave that class of the commonwealth free to enjoy, untrammeled, their hopes and aspirations. This time no State Officers were to be voted for, and the class of population who were aspirants for such positions, all joined hands in the effort for an affirmative vote. This time there was no general split in the ranks of the dominant party, although the old contest was continued in Storey County, resulting in the defeat of the regular Republican nominees for County offices.
There was another cause that exerted a powerful influence upon the public mind at this time ; it being openly, and with persistence, charged by the press, that one of the Supreme Judges of the Territory neglected his duty, and rendered decisions favorable to the " highest bidder for cash."
The charge was never judicially affirmed or negatived, and we do not know that the press was warranted in its assertions; yet it presented a strong
86 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.
circumstantial case, so strong, that about 4,000 names were signed to a petition asking the whole Bench to resign. The document was printed with its names, in the Territorial Enterprise, and filled six double columns of that paper. The people were called upon to adopt the Constitution, and in this way get rid of this unpopular Bench *
[Chart: Constitutional Convention]
The general Territorial election was to come off on the seventh of September, that year, at which time County officers, a Legislative Assembly and Delegates to the House of Representatives at Washington, were to be chosen.
A Territorial Republican Convention was held at Carson, on the tenth of August, consisting of fifty Delegates, twenty-six of whom were proxies ; and they put in nomination, on the regular Union ticket, Thomas Fitch, as Delegate to the House of Representatives. The Democrats put A. C. Bradford in the field, and Judge John Cradlebaugh ran independent for that position.
The Constitution was submitted to the people, on the day of the general election, and the following is the vote upon it, as well as upon the Congressional ticket.
VOTES FOR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE.
Thomas Fitch, Republican 1208
A. C. Bradford, Democrat 3716
John Cradlebaugh, Independent Union 3781
Scattering 4
Total 8709
CONSTITUTIONAL VOTE.
Yes. No.
Churchill County 178 100
Douglas County 470 76
Esmeralda County 859 72
Humboldt County 320 544
Lander County+ 1018 978
Lyon County 898 92
Nye County 148 53
Ormsby County 999 90
Storey County 5448 142
Washoe County 1055 115
Total 11,393 2,262
Majority in favor of the Constitution, 9,131
_____________________________
*See Gold Hill News, of August 6, 1864.
+ A large vote was polled at Amador, and rejected because of fraud.