XVIII

REINHOLD SADLER, GOVERNOR 1899-1902

After the Bryan campaign of 1896 the word "fusion" was a significant one in western politics, but on the whole it spelled disintegration rather than consolidation. The People's party as a national organization never recovered its strength after the attempt to fuse with the Bryan wing of the Democracy. In Nevada in 1898 silver was still the magic symbol of partisanship, though the voting statistics indicate that an increasing number were finding their way back into the ranks of the Republican organization. Freed from the dominating influence of a national election, the state campaign of that year presented four partial tickets for the consideration of the voters. The Silver party nominated for governor Reinhold Sadler, who sought the office as a just reward for his four years' administration as lieutenant governor and acting governor. The Republicans put up William McMillan, while George Russell was the Democratic candidate and J. B. McCullough the candidate of the People's party. The official canvass after the election on November 8 showed the following vote for each of these gubernatorial candidates: Sadler, 3,570; McMillan, 3,548; Russell, 2,057; McCullough, 833. Sadler won by a bare plurality of twenty-two votes over McMillan. A contest followed and McMillan in January, 1899, commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court to oust the governor-elect. But McMillan failed to sustain his contention and Reinhold Sadler served as governor for the full term 1899-1902.

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during this administration elected in 1898 were : Lieutenant-governor, James R. Judge ; secretary of state, Eugene Howell ; state controller, Sam P. Davis ; state treasurer, D. M. Ryan ; surveyor-general, E. D. Kelley ; attorney-general, W. D. Jones ; superintendent of state printing, Andrew Maute.

County Consolidation Proposed

Two other questions were decided by the voters in 1898. When the territorial Legislature defined the boundaries of the original counties the chief consideration was to provide for the civil necessities of the concentrated groups of population living in the shadow of the Sierra Nevadas. Here the counties were laid out on a small scale while the rest of the territory was blocked out in counties comprising thousands of square miles. In the heyday of prosperity this arrangement worked very well and for a long time Storey was not only one of the smallest but also the richest county in the state and well able to provide the expenses of county government. But in the lean years of the '80s and '90s, while state offices were being consolidated and every effort made to reduce the cost of government, the burden of maintaining county offices fell very heavily upon the people of Storey and adjacent counties. Consequently in 1898 the question was presented: "Shall Storey, Ormsby, Lyon and Douglas counties be consolidated?" Only one county, Ormsby, voted in favor of consolidation. In Storey the adverse vote represented a majority of only thirty-three, but in Lyon and Douglas overwhelming majorities were against consolidation and the proposition as a whole was defeated. At the same election the question was presented whether Lincoln County should be divided, but here, too, the sentiment was strongly against division.

Census of 1900

The close of the century found Nevada with the smallest population it had at any United States census. The figures for 1900 were 42,335, as compared with 47,355 in 1890, and 62,266 in 1880. About that time the opinion was frequently voiced in other states that Nevada was tending toward self-extinction. Governor Sadler reminded these critics that the population of the state was about equal to that when Nevada "was gladly admitted to the Union in 1864." He also argued that a small population was not synonymous with poverty and inefficient statehood. "The wealth of the state is happily not shared in very great disproportion by our people; a large majority are well-to-do, and none are in known distress. Our state institutions compare favorably with those of other states, and are fully commensurate with the requirements and purposes intended."

Finances

In his review of state finances the governor called attention to the condition of the security market, which was, of course, char-

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acteristic of the nation at large as well as Nevada. At that time the Federal Government was readily providing for its financial needs at a rate of interest approximating 2 per cent annually and older issues of 4 per cent bonds were being refunded at the 2 per cent rate. Even at that rate United States bonds commanded a premium running as high as 134. Consequently states like Nevada which owned large blocks of government bonds and depended upon the interest as an essential part of the annual revenues for current expenses, were faced with the difficulty of funding the state's capital in government securities at 2 per cent, as had been the long standing custom. It was a measure of safety so far as the security of the principal was concerned, but afforded a minimum interest income. It was the governor's opinion that instead of redeeming

[picture]

ANOTHER LANDMARK IN EARLY NEVADA HISTORY. THE OLD CAMPBELL HOUSE AT GOODSPRINGS NEAR LAS VEGAS

Nevada state bonds, bearing an interest rate of from 4 to 6 per cent, and turning them into government securities at 2 per cent, a better policy would be to divert the state's funds into securities that would return a larger income. "Why should the taxpayers of the state tax themselves to pay off their own bonds, drawing 4 per cent interest, and turn the money into United States bonds producing only 2 per cent or less?"

With the coming of the new century there occurred a quickening of enterprise all over the country, and a new recognition of the broad possibilities of publicity. Governor Sadler alluded to this in his message of 1901 when he cited the examples of other states in establishing mining bureaus, boards of trade and similar organizations for the purpose of compiling, publishing and distributing descriptive literature. The era of what is technically known as "national advertising" was inaugurated about this time, when publications of national circulation began carrying publicity broadsides concerning states and cities that were competing for dominating positions in the commercial field.

Mineral Displays

Nevada's mineral wealth had been represented at the Paris Exposition of 1900. By an act of the Legislature of 1899 a corn-

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For a number of years there had been some working of the soda and borax deposits, and during the '90s some attention had been attracted to other non-metallic minerals, including the natural sulphur deposits in Humboldt County, and the "infusorial earths" comprising several silicous deposits used for abrasive and polishing purposes.

Tonopah and Other Discoveries

Advertising of the type suggested by Governor Sadler, and the exhibits at the World's Fair, had undoubted value. But capital and enterprise move slowly under such impulses. Something explosive and spectacular in character was required to bring Nevada into the limelight for a routine and matter-of-fact world. For four or five years thousands and thousands of adventurers and seekers of wealth had been going up under the Arctic Circle under the magic influence of the world "Klondyke." Before the end of the Sadler administration, discoveries that had rewarded the long continued quest and patient prospecting of several Nevada men, a piano tuner among them and also one or two whose professional occupation was the law, made the barren mountains of Southern Nevada and a small district around Reno no contemptible rival of the gold bearing streams of the Yukon district.

When the surveyor-general drew up his report at the end of 1900, he could find little of encouragement to say on the subject of mining beyond the expression of the usual phrases concerning the blow which had been struck the silver mining industry by hostile legislation and a reference to the profitable working of several gold mines in various parts of the state. But two years later the same official under the subject of "mining revived," was able to write an interesting chapter of current history describing the initial discoveries which brought a tremendous influx of population to Nevada and a sudden uplift to the productive wealth of the state, in spite of the fact that in 1902 the average price of silver ($.528)

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reached the lowest mark recorded for the white metal except for one year before the World war. His account is as follows :

In the last two years there has been a mining revival throughout the State. This has been mainly due to the discovery of what is known as the Wedekind mines near Reno, the Tonopah mines in Nye County, the Searchlight and other mines in Lincoln County, the Bull Run and other mines in Elko County, and the development of mines located years ago in Humboldt, Esmeralda, Douglas, Lyon, Ormsby and White Pine counties.

            The Wedekind mines have added largely to the prosperity of Reno, near which city they are situated. The title to the principal mines in the new district has been acquired by Hon. John Sparks, Governor-elect of Nevada, who has erected reduction works, with all the modern processes and facilities for reducing the ores and saving their precious contents, in the immediate vicinity of the mines.

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The discovery has been of the greatest importance to the state, and it has attracted the attention of the mining men the world over to Nevada. It has instilled new life not only in Nye County, in which the mines are situated, but also in Esmeralda and Lyon counties. Before the discovery of Tonopah, trains, and light trains at that, were run tri-weekly on the Carson and Colorado Railroad ; now trains, heavily laden, are run daily over the road and the traffic and receipts increased a thousand per cent. Farmers along the railroad find ready sale for their products, grain, hay, flour, vegetables, fruits, meats, etc., being in demand to supply a population of three thousand or more persons, mostly able-bodied men.

The newly discovered mines and more extensive development of the Delamar and other old mines in Lincoln County have materially increased the population and taxable property of that county, and greatly benefited the farmers, besides giving steady employment to miners, teamsters and others.

The development of gold and copper mines, long since discovered, but never extensively worked, has added materially to the prosperity of White Pine County. Gold mines in northern Elko, which are operated by Utah and Montana companies, are said to be good producers. The Sheba at Star City and the Arizona at Unionville have been acquired by Salt Lake and California capitalists, respectively, and, were it not for the unprecedentedly low price of silver, could be worked as extensively and profitably as in former years, when they added millions of dollars to the wealth of the world.

In the latter part of 1896 and the early part of 1897, George Wedekind prospected more or less near Reno and located what is now known as the Reno Star mine. He commenced by digging small holes and running small trenches. Many people, who saw him digging on the little hillside, have heard the remark made, "The old fool is crazy," but such remarks never discouraged Mr. Wedekind. He kept on working and digging, getting assays that went from a trace to as high as $21 per ton. In the winter of 1900 he commenced work about 200 feet further down the hillside and with almost the first shovel of dirt he struck ore in paying quantities, assaying from $50 to $10,000 per ton. He immediately commenced shipping ore and continued to do so, until he had shipped some forty-odd carloads, when Mr. Sparks bought the mine.

In June, 1901, Mr. Sparks purchased the Wedekind mines, which comprise the Reno Star, Safeguard and Precaution, with adjoining lands, including a mill site. Soon after he made the purchase Mr. Sparks shipped eight carloads of ore from the mines, which netted him over $20,000. He soon discovered that he was paying too high a price for shipping and reducing the ores, and he immediately decided to erect reduction works of his own on the ground. He procured the services of competent metallurgists and erected works adapted

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to the reduction of the ores produced by the mines, at a cost of $45,000. These works have been in operation for over six months, and the results are satisfactory to the owner, 90 per cent of the assay value of the ores being saved. The reduction works are adjacent to the mine, and the ore is dumped from the cars in which it is loaded in the mine into the ore bins in the mill. The works and the pumps are run by electric power, transmitted from the Truckee River. The Orr Irrigating Canal, carrying 3,000 inches of water, runs over a part of the mine and within a few hundred feet of the mill are orchards, grain and alfalfa fields.

The Reno Star mine is situated within four miles of Reno, and three-quarters of a mile from the Central Pacific Rail-road. A public highway, which has been traveled for over thirty years, crosses the mine, and the land which carries the rich and extensive ore deposits was taken up originally for agricultural purposes.

Thus the stage was set for the rise of two new Nevada towns to temporary wealth and fame and the making of a new group of wealthy men. A number of Nevada's most influential citizens in the past thirty years discovered the road to distinction while prospecting, working in the mines or practicing law at Tonopah and Goldfield.

Public Health Measures

One section of Governor Sadler's concluding message bears the title of "Tonopah Epidemic," which was not a reference to the contagious gold fever, but to ravages made by disease coincident with the establishment of this mining camp in the middle of the winter season, when most of the inhabitants were sheltered in tents and where the water supply and general sanitary conditions made such an outbreak almost inevitable. Since its establishment the state board of health had found few important functions to perform, and the previous Legislature had reduced the appropriation from $1,000 to $250. But early in 1901 there had been a small epidemic of smallpox in Elko, with one or two cases in Reno. How-ever, the situation at Tonopah was the first crucial test for the state board. There an epidemic of pneumonia broke out December 31, 1901, and within two weeks thirteen inhabitants of the mining camp died of disease. The secretary of the board of health on his arrival found "a condition that amounted to panic." The Tonopah Company and the Miners Union hastily erected a small hospital. This epidemic, together with the numerous cases of smallpox over the state during 1901-2 served to emphasize the necessity of public health measures as a function of both the local and state governments.

The Legislature in 1895 had invested the state board of health with the duty of not only investigating disease and epidemics among human beings, but had made it responsible for warding off diseases among the lower animals. One of the duties of the board was to employ a veterinary surgeon to inspect and investigate diseased livestock. Thus up to 1901 the chief function of the board had related to the enforcement of quarantine regulations among the livestock owners. That this was a rather awkward grouping of duties and functions was admitted by Governor

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Sparks in his inaugural message : "Our law has vested in the state board of health all power and authority for the prevention and control of infectious diseases applicable to human beings and livestock. The board is appointed by the governor, and, of course, the interest of humanity and the health of the people demand first attention. Physicians of repute have always been appointed and have had control, but physicians who are skilled in the treatment of diseases prevalent among men are not likely to be the best veterinarians, and do not have the time to devote to such practice, and further under our law have no power over diseased animals until they get within our borders."

In a similar connection Governor Sadler in his concluding message discussed a matter which had received attention from the Legislature in resolutions for a number of years :

My attention has frequently been called during the last two years to the pollution of streams of water, and more particularly to the Truckee River. This is a stream of immense importance to the people residing thereon or contiguous there-to, and the question of control is the more difficult by reason of being interstate in character, and also that such impurities emanate from sources of business energy which no one desires to embarrass or oppose further than to preserve the public health and purity of the stream. (He referred to the dumping of refuse from the mills on the California side of the line into these waters). The people living along this stream are now suffering alarmingly from diseases which are said by physicians to have been propagated by this refuse and filth constantly being run into the river, and if the lives of the people are to be endangered and actually sacrificed by such means, some strenuous measure must of necessity be adopted to abate the nuisance.

State Board of Assessors

During the Sadler administration another step was taken toward the solution of the old problem of equalizing assessments over the state. "During the past two years," said the state controller in his report of January, 1901, "the question of properly collecting the revenues has caused a great deal of public discussion. The matter has been very thoroughly threshed over by the press until there is no dissenting opinion regarding the importance of a thorough overhauling of the tax system of the state." The heart of the problem was the fact that the state imposed a

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uniform rate of taxation on assessment values, but each county was a law unto itself in fixing the assessment values for that particular county. The primary object of the county authorities was to raise sufficient revenue for running the county government, and they therefore fixed the valuations without regard to any uniformity with other counties. "It is customary for the boards of county commissioners to fix the tax rate of the county before the assessor has ascertained the value of the property to be taxed. The result is that, as soon as he secured sufficient revenue to run the county government, upon the tax rate fixed by the commissioners, he lessens his labors, unmindful of the fact that the state also needs revenue with which to conduct its business. This ignoring of the state's interest compels the Legislature to advance the rate, and the more it advances the more are the assessors of the respective counties furnished an excuse to ignore the law which makes it obligatory on them to assess according to the full cash value of the property."

The Southern Pacific Railroad was then paying about one-third of the total state tax, but it was one of the interests which the controller claimed was paying less than its proper proportion of taxes, the other interests named by him being the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Wells, Fargo & Company Express, the Pullman Car Company, the livestock interests, the land owners, the banks. The controller claimed that the telegraph company and express company paid only a nominal tax, the first on its miles of wire, and the second only on office furniture, and paid no taxes at all on the business done in the state. The Pullman Company made no account whatever of its Nevada business. These "foreign corporations," and also outside land owners and other wealthy interests were, in the opinion of the controller, evading a large part of their responsibility as taxpayers for the support of the state government. Nevada banks were also offenders. Since the law permitted the producer of bullion to deduct all cost of mining, milling and transportation, and pay taxes only on what remained as net proceeds, the mining corporations that were doing business in this era of depression were getting off with a minimum contribution to the state. "The tax has been evaded by some companies by one and the same party owning the mine and the mill, and leasing the mill to a third party, charging a large sum for the lease and paying an exorbitant price for the milling. The money paid in excess of the actual cost of the milling represents the sum which comes back to the owner as lease money, and, being first charged up against the cost of producing bullion, represents the sum which reverts to the pockets of the mining company and escapes taxation."

These conditions produced the results which have been a source of complaint then and since, in Nevada and elsewhere, that the burden of taxation falls on "visible property, the value of which is easy to reach." No dependence could be placed upon the assessors' reports as to the approximate number of livestock in the state, and consequently statistics from this source were thoroughly unreliable. "It is a common thing for an owner of 5,000 head of cattle to report 1,500 to the assessor, who rates them at twelve dollars to fifteen dollars a head, and in a few weeks after the taxes are paid on that basis, the local paper congratulates the owner of the herd on selling the 5,000 head at an average of thirty-two dollars,

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As a means toward the correction of these inequalities the Legislature passed the act of March 16, 1901, "to provide for a more uniform valuation and assessment of property," This act required that the county assessors from the several counties should hold a meeting as a board at Carson City annually to "establish throughout the state a uniform valuation of all classes of property which, by their character, will admit of such uniform valuation." The governor ex-officio acted as chairman of the board, but had no vote. This "Pitt revenue bill," as it was known, had been framed and passed by the Senate, but it was only after a special message from Governor Sadler and on the final day of the session that the Assembly passed it. While it contained admitted weaknesses it was regarded as an advance on the old law, and under it valuations throughout the state rose over $4,000,000 in 1901. At the first meeting of the board of assessors in April, 1901, uniform valuations were fixed on live stock and railroad property. Whereas under the previous system the valuation of the main line of the Central Pacific Railroad had averaged about $13,000 a mile, the new valuation uniform throughout the state was fixed at $20,000 per mile. But the Southern Pacific interests at once took this valuation into the United States court. The court issued an injunction restraining the assessors from being guided by the action of the board, primarily on the ground that the board with respect to the railroads had fixed the valuations "by name" rather than by strict regard to more essential elements in arriving at a classification of such property. Other attacks were made on the law, both by railroad and live stock interests. Then in the meeting of the board in January, 1902, a deadlock arose when the assessors divided seven to seven on the valuation of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the governor acting as chairman of the board having no power to cast a deciding vote. Thus the work of the board was nullified, the fixing of the valuation for the following year being left to the county assessors as under the old law.

The 1903 Legislature amended the law, giving the governor as chairman the right to cast a vote in case of a tie and considerably broadening the functions of the board, so that it had power to

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value not only the railroads and rolling stock of such railroads, but "all telegraph and telephone lines, of all electric light and power lines," as well as cattle and sheep and all other kinds of property "which in the judgment of said assessors can be valued and assessed more uniformly by said assessors acting collectively than by the several county assessors acting separately." How-ever, the board made no attempt for several years to value the telegraph, telephone and electric light and power companies' property.

While by this new law and the agencies created thereby Nevada fell far short of realizing an ideal of uniform assessment and taxation, the assessment rolls and the total receipts into the state treasury in the first years of the present century reflect an increased efficiency on the part of the state's revenue machinery and of a growing prosperity that was raising the level of values independent of the board of assessors. The assessment roll of 1902 for real and personal property totalled about $29,300,000 as compared with $24,200,000 in 1900. The total receipts into the state treasury from all sources in 1902 approximated $500,000, though the rate under the law of 1901 had been reduced to eighty cents on the hundred dollars as compared with a one dollar rate in 1899 and 1900, the lower rate producing almost as large a total revenue. The state was still getting only about $4,000 annually from the state tax on the proceeds of mines, but more than half of this revenue was derived from the new bonanza in Nye County, where during the second quarter of 1902 a group of properties around Tonopah had produced nearly half a million dollars in gross yield or value.

Reclamation

During the Sadler administration private enterprise and capital effected considerable progress in extending the area of irrigation. Several wealthy land owners were showing the possibilities of farming on land irrigated from streams or flowing wells. The agricultural experiment station was doing work that contributed to a better knowledge of the use of water in this state. More important still was the legal foundation being laid as the basis for "a reclamation system" in the western states and territories. The Nevada Legislature in 1901 had passed an act providing that the state would act as agent for any citizen desiring to obtain lands in Nevada for reclamation and settlement under the provisions of the Carey act of 1894 and supplemental act of Congress. But the chief origin of the extensive reclamation projects started in different parts of the West during the early years of the century was the Newlands act of Congress approved June 17, 1902, in the passage of which Francis G. Newlands of Nevada had so influential a part. The essence of this act was that the proceeds from the sale of public lands in all the western states, after making the deductions of the portions set aside by previous legislation for educational and other purposes, should go into a "reclamation fund" to be used in the examination and survey for and the construction and maintenance of irrigation work for the reclamation of arid and semi-arid lands in the western states. Under this act the secretary of the interior could withdraw from entry such portions of the public domain as should be required for any of the reclamation projects contemplated by the act. This act was part

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of the conservation program that is one of the outstanding accomplishments of the Roosevelt era. It was the subject in which President Roosevelt himself probably took the greatest interest and pride. Since it promised a new extension of Federal functions, the program as a whole aroused bitter controversies. It involved a great change in the traditional attitude of the Federal Government, which had previously accepted an almost neutral role as to the disposition made of the public land resources. Almost immediately after he became President, Roosevelt championed the Newlands measure for government participation in the construction of irrigation works. In his first message to Congress he declared that while most of the opportunities of the pioneer were gone, there still remained areas of public lands which might be made available for homestead settlement, "but only by reservoirs and main line canals impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be built by the national government." It was the theory of the Newlands law that the cost of each irrigation project should eventually be transferred to the beneficiary, that is, the settlers who took up land in the reclaimed area. However, only a small part of the total cost of developing the score or more of projects over the West has since been repaid to the government.

Among other events that promised important results in the future agricultural development of the state should be chronicled the holding of the first Farmers Institute in Nevada. This institute was held at Elko in December, 1901, and most of the addresses and discussions were under the charge of members of the staff of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Among subjects discussed were the control of plant and animal pests and diseases, problems of the dairy and live stock ranch, and irrigation. The holding of the institute set a new mile stone in the progress of "extension work" on the part of the State University.

Election of 1900.

In the presidential election of November, 1900, Nevada cast a total vote of 10,165. This vote was divided between the Republican ticket headed by McKinIey and Roosevelt, and the Democratic ticket headed by Bryan and Stevenson, so as to give an average plurality for the three Bryan and Stevenson or "Democrat and Silver" electors of 2,526. The highest vote given to each ticket was: Democrat and Silver, 6,347; Republican, 3,849. Congressman Newlands was reelected over his Republican opponent E. S. Farrington by a vote of 5,975 to 4,190. A. L. Fitzgerald was the successful Democratic and Silver candidate for justice of the Supreme Court over Trenmor Coffin, Republican candidate.