VI

            These acts of the Legislature gave approval and legal status to municipal communities already in existence. The early settlers of Nevada had to provide their own community regulations and rules before any formal government could be set up, under the Utah laws, or afterwards from the seat of the Federal government. Even after the establishment of Nevada Territory the organization of local communities proceeded upon a somewhat informal basis, the "inhabitants" dividing and apportioning the lands, setting up a crude system of local government, before applying to the Legislature for charters.

            In the extension of the American frontier the government adopted a general and theoretical policy. First, no lands could be opened for settlement until negotiations had been completed for their formal cession by the nominal possessors, the Indian tribes. After the Indian title had been quieted, the full title was then vested in the Federal government, and they were "public lands" in fact. In the administration of United States lands the government theory has been that on them the public has had "privileges, but no rights," until the lands were surveyed and put on the market. But in practice the "privileges" were generously interpreted. The contempt shown by the pioneers for Indian treaties was the cause of many costly border wars. Government red tape and regulations were powerless to keep the land hungry settlers away from the choice tracts until the lands could be surveyed and disposed of in orderly manner. The laws had to be revised to accommodate and protect the "squatters," and very early in the development of the West special preemption laws were enacted, and finally, about 1840, a general preemption act was passed, under which settlers could acquire rights in advance of a formal opening and sale of lands. As the wave of settlement advanced to the Great Plains, new conditions made the preemption and homestead laws impracticable. The great cattle men were satisfied to use the public lands, for their free grass and free water, and they would have accepted a policy of annual rental and lease, but they could not acquire title from the government to a sufficient quantity of land to suit the nature of their business.

            Nevada was preeminently a mineral country. Some preemption claims were filed, chiefly in the valleys adaptable to agriculture and grazing, but most of the early stock men, here as elsewhere, turned their live stock loose on the open range of the public lands. In the early development of Nevada the general preemption law of 1841 and the free homestead act of 1862 were of less importance than the regulations and rules adopted by the general land office for the administration of the mineral lands.

            The law regulating the appropriation of mining claims developed from experience rather than a system imposed from outside.

165

NEVADA        167

            The miners and prospectors in Nevada therefore did not wait upon some formal legislative enactment in order to set up for themselves a system which would safeguard their individual property rights and which would permit them in a general way to act as a community. When the territory came into existence it found these self-constituted communities and their rules. There are no territorial statutes defining the method of locating claims or organizing mining districts, but one or two acts give legal authority to these informal organizations. Thus in the "act concerning conveyances," approved November 5, 1861, it was expressly provided that nothing in the act should be construed so "as to interfere or conflict with the lawful mining rules, regulations, or customs in regard to the locating, holding or forfeiture of claims." By various acts of Congress, including that of July 4, 1866, lands valuable for minerals were to be reserved from the sale under the provisions of the homestead laws. Yet, the act of Congress of July 26, 1866, expressly provided that the mineral lands of the public domain were to "be free and open to exploration and occupation . . . subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law," and

168      NEVADA

subject also "to the local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same may not be in conflict with the laws of the United States." Under this act an individual or company, after having conformed with the rules of the district, embraced in the "local laws, customs and miners' rules," as to the recording of claims and initial development work, might "enter such tracts and receive a patent therefor."

Nevada's Influence on National Mining Legislation.

            The discovery of gold on the Pacific Coast and the incorporation of the vast California region into continental United States produced many new problems and national issues. It was a principle of Spanish and Mexican law that the mineral products of the soil belonged to the nation, and not to the proprietor of the surface. But only a small portion of the distinctive gold region of California was included in any of the vast ranchos which had been granted by Spain or Mexico. While the American Government recognized the validity of the Spanish grant, all lands not subject to these claims became a part of the United States public domain. Since the other rights inhering in Mexican sovereignty also passed to the United States, there was authority for the assumption that the minerals beneath the surface also belonged to the United States. Under that interpretation as accepted by the Federal officials after the conquest, "the theory was developed that the mines were United States property and the miners trespassers without shadow of legal right to the gold."

            In the attempt made by Congress during 1848-49 to deal with the knotty problems of California land titles, the discussion turned to methods of providing an orderly and legal disposition of mining claims. One proposal was to survey and sell at public auction mineral claims in two-acre lots. Senator Benton of Missouri, while recognizing the fact that the miners were trespassers, held to the theory that the gold deposits were not "mines" but "placers," and would be "washed out" before the lands could be surveyed and parceled out. In order to provide an orderly system, the government might issue permits for the working of the placers, but in his demand that otherwise the working should "be as free as possible," he stated for the first time the policy of "free mining."

            However, no legislation was produced at this Congress.

            In the following Congress, the senators from the newly admitted State of California took their seats. Senator Fremont presented and ably advocated a bill based on the principle of "free mining." In the debate that followed it was urged by some of the senators that the mines should be made a source of revenue and thus help pay the national debt, while Senators Benton and Fremont and others of their western colleagues argued that every encouragement should be given to the fullest production of the natural resources of the earth both on the surface and underground. Summarizing the work of this Congress Miss Herhiser says:

NEVADA        169

            The first session of the Thirty-first Congress closed, having passed two contradictory measures in regard to mines, having enacted no new code and having shown in debate a wide difference of opinion on the future policy of the Government. The Senate, by passing Fremont's bill, seemed to favor a kind of leasing system, granting possessory rights, but leaving the title in the Federal Government. This session, however, influenced mining law as radically as if statutes had been enacted. This is the opinion of Senator Fremont's biographer, Charles Wentworth Upham, who says : "The great service of Colonel Fremont to his constituents and the country, while in the Senate of the United States, was in securing to the miner the entire product of his labor, and preventing a tax being laid upon the precious metals." Again Mr. Lord, in his Comstock Mining and Miners, says : "Shortly after the admission of California into the Union, in 1850, the question of the advisability of free mining was debated on the floor of the Senate, by Fremont, Benton, Seward and others ; . . . . and the general feeling appeared to be in favor of unrestricted liberty, though it was expressed by no formal resolution." Mr. Shinn declared that "it is chiefly to Senators Seward and Benton that the tacit acceptance by the Nation of the policy of free mining is clearly due." Whether the credit for the delay and inaction of Congress is due to Senator Fremont or Senators Benton and Seward or possibly to the greater pressure of the all-absorbing slavery issue, the fact remains that opportunity was given for the phenomenon of the "Mining District."

            An important phenomenon of American history has been the promptness with which a group of people, advancing beyond the frontier into a region to which state and national laws have not been extended have adapted themselves to rules and order and have prescribed rules governing property rights and informal courts for the processes of civil and criminal justice. Consequently it was only the fundamental principle of law and order which asserted itself in the early days of California. The rules formulated for the protection of personal and social rights were also extended to property. Thus the "rules and regulations of mining districts," adopted in miners' mass meetings, "bridged the time from 1850 to 1866, when national policy became a statute." Miss Herhiser describes the typical process of organizing these mining districts :

            When gold was discovered in a stream, in a gulch, or on a mountainside, the first men on the ground met in mass meeting, elected officers, declared a mining district, and adopted rules for the tenure of claims. These meetings were conducted in customary American style. The usual officers, a president or chairman and a secretary, were elected, also a recorder. The recorder was elected for one year and it was his duty to keep a book and record all notices of claims and transfers of locations in the district. The "district" was declared by naming and defining boundaries. It was intended to cover the discovery and was therefore large or small according to the extent and richness of the deposit. The "mining district" was sometimes coextensive with a county or township. It was sometimes very large, as the Reese River District in

170      NEVADA

Nevada, which was about twenty-five miles from north to south. The miners at this meeting also adopted "rules and regulations" which were sometimes drawn up on the spot or those of another and earlier district were adopted. At first these rules were customary, later they were written down, or by the '60s even printed, with blanks for insertion of the names of the district officers.

            As has been noted, Nevada Territory recognized the authority of these customary practices and rules, and the decisions of State and Federal courts, in the absence of definite statutory enactments, showed no disposition to set aside rights so deeply rooted in popular sovereignty. One such decision declared : "the taking up of mineral land in pursuance of the mining regulations of the vicinage, gives possessory title to the claims, just as an entry in the land office, or the following of the prescribed rules given by statute, gives a possessory title to public or agricultural land."

            The conditions established by the self-constituted law of the mines, as Miss Herhiser explains, "might have continued indefinitely, if the Civil war had not increased the national debt with such alarming rapidity. The reports of the secretaries of the interior, to which department mineral lands were assigned at its organization in 1849, beginning with 1861 mentioned the richness of the metals in the West and recommended to Congress, action for securing revenue from the mines as royalty or taxation." As will be noted later, these proposals on the part of the Federal Government, either to sell the mines or to license and tax them, aroused a great deal of apprehension throughout the far West. One of the early actions of the first Nevada State Legislature was to pass a resolution requesting that Congress should take no action on the bill to tax mines until Nevada's senators and representative took their seats. In the debates and the parliamentary procedure leading up to the enactment of the federal laws affecting mining, Miss Herhiser's thesis proves the tremendous influence exerted by Nevada's congressmen, in particular Senator William M. Stewart, who has often been called the "Father of the Mining Laws of the United States." The principle of taxation and to a less extent the sale of mineral lands was strenuously opposed by all the western interests. The first important legislation enacted by Congress was in the form of a supplementary section to a bill for another purpose, and had nothing to do with the problem of securing revenue from the mines. This section projected into a Federal statute the theory of possessory rights which had already been recognized in the courts. The section declared "that no possessory action between individuals in any of the courts of the United States, for the recovery of any mining title or damage to any such title, shall be affected by the fact that the paramount title to the land on which such mines are, is in the United States, but each case shall be adjusted by the law of possession." This bill became a law February 27, 1865, and in December of the same year the United States Supreme Court, in an opinion based on an action that originated in Storey County, Nevada, ratified and confirmed the prevailing rules and regulations governing possessory mining rights.

            The main question as to whether the Federal Government should derive a revenue from the precious metals on the public

NEVADA        171

domains was deferred for the consideration of the Thirty-ninth Congress in 1865-66. The several bills introduced in both the House and Senate, when under consideration produced a variety of opinion and frequent amendment illustrating the several policies for disposing of the natural resources. The final enactment was in the nature of a compromise, and was the result of not only long continued debate, but the work of conference committees from the House and Senate. It was also an interesting example of Congressional procedure, being "tacked on" to a measure whose title proclaimed it as an act "granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners." In the parliamentary battle leading up to the passage of the bill Senator Stewart was accused of using the tactics of a slave driver in forcing the measure through the Senate.

            As has been noted above, this first national mining law of July 26, 1866, recognized the principle of "free mining," and the chief revenue producing feature was the payment for the transfer of title when the mine was patented. "All the miners were opposed to a sale at auction, but, while California miners wished no title but the possessory, the Nevada miners, on account of the quartz, desired a fee title, provided vested interests were protected. This the authors of the bill realized and aimed to satisfy."

            As to the Nevada men whose influence was most strongly impressed upon this legislation, Miss Herhiser says : "Henry G. Worthington was an efficient representative during the sessions of 1864 and 1865 and Delos R. Ashley during the later session. Senator Nye retained the traditional attitude of the miner, not wishing Congress to legislate upon mines. He did not realize the necessity for action as did Senators Stewart and Conness and so was an indifferent supporter of the mining bill. . . . It is mainly through the impress of his (Stewart's) personality that the influence of Nevada, in connection with its rich quartz mines, was brought to bear upon the national mining law of 1866."

            The equivalent for Nevada of what would be described in agricultural states as the settlement and development period would consist in the record of the opening of claims and the organization of mining districts. These mining districts usually antedated the establishment of counties after the territory was first divided into counties in 1861. Facts and dates regarding these districts therefore become valuable historical material in noting the progress of the territory up to statehood. The first territorial census in 1861 probably enumerated very few persons eastward from. Fort Churchill. But in the next two or three years individuals and groups scattered to every section of the territory where any promise of mineral wealth was displayed. It will be recalled that Mark Twain was twice the victim of mining fever, the first time going to the camps along the Humboldt, and later to the district around Aurora. Thousands of other men, afflicted with a similar fever, examined every foothill, gulch and valley to the eastern boundary of the territory and south to the Colorado River. By noting when and where the principal mining districts were organized, it is possible to afford something like a graphic index of Nevada's progress and history during the territorial period.

The Sierra Nevada Counties.

            The reports of the State Surveyor General for 1865 and 1866 and the report of the State Mineralogist for 1866 supply the

172      NEVADA

data showing the developments that took place during the territorial period in the regions outside the central points of mineral development, at Virginia City and Gold Hill. Neither Douglas nor Ormsby County, lying along the base of the Sierra Nevadas, was preeminently a mining section, their chief resources being agricultural. It was from the slopes of the Sierra Nevadas that were taken the immense quantities of pine lumber used in the mines of Virginia and Gold Hill. "In the foothills of the Sierras, near Clear Creek, considerable work was done in 1859 and 1860, and many locations were made west of Carson, and in the foothills immediately west of the Carson River, but none of these held out sufficient inducement to warrant any extensive outlay of capital." The only two districts mentioned by the mineralogist in his report for 1866 on Ormsby County, were the Sullivan district, located in the summer of 1860, lying in the mountains east of the Carson River and west of El Dorado Canyon ; and the Argentine district, in the mountains east of Washoe Valley and west of Virginia and immediately north of Eagle Valley. In Douglas County likewise there were only two districts regarded as worthy of notice : Genoa district, located in 1861 in the mountains west of Genoa ; and Eagle district, in the mountains southeast of Carson Valley.

            In Esmeralda County, with its dry and barren soil, its mountains covered with sage brush, pine and cedar trees, there was very little, said the surveyor general, to "invite the attention of settlers until the discovery of the very extensive and rich mines within its bounds, the first which of importance was the discovery of the well known Esmeralda mines, by a party of prospectors in August, 1860." It was the fame of these mines that brought thousands to the district and resulted in the establishment of Aurora, which became the county seat upon the organization of the county. The ores were found in three distinct hills—Silver Hill, in which was located the Mother Ledge, Esmeralda ; Middle Hill ; the Last Chance Hill, on which were the celebrated Wide West Ledge, the Del Monte, Golden Age and Empire and others. Beginning in 1861 half a dozen or more mills were constructed by 1863 to handle the ores blasted from these hills and also in some case transported from other mines along or over the California border.

Churchill and Humboldt.

            In Churchill County outside the agricultural settlements along the Carson River and other water courses, some work had been done in the development of the mineral resources, starting with the location of the Silver Hill district in 1860. By 1865 there were several other districts, including the Clan Alpine, the Desert, and the one which was then the center of development was the Mountain Wells district, in which was located La Plata, the county seat.

            The rush to the Humboldt mines started in the winter of 1861-62. In the course of a year or so nearly all portions of that vast county, stretching north to the Oregon and Idaho lines, had been covered by prospectors. In the northwest part of the county were located the Pueblo, Vicksburg and Black Rock mining districts. The Pueblo district, just south of the Oregon line, was located in the summer of 1863, and a small mill was built in the summer of 1864, but was burned by the Indians, and the settlers in

NEVADA        173

the district driven out. These hostilities were charged to the Bannock Indians. South of the Pueblo was the Vicksburg district, located in the summer of 1863, and south of that was the Black Rock district.

            But the most important mineral section of the county was the Southeastern, lying south and east of the Humboldt River. In this region, to quote the state mineralogist's report of 1866, "probably thirty districts have been laid off containing several thousand locations. . . . Of these ranges the most important are the two lying immediately east of the Humboldt River, and known respectively as the East and West ranges. This extensive district was early settled by immigrants from the northern portion of California, and long maintained the reputation of being one of the richest mineral districts in Nevada. Various causes have tended to retard its progress in Nevada, among which has been, and by no means the least important, an inordinate desire on the part of prospectors to make new locations, instead of developing promising ones already discovered." In what he called the West Range, situated a few miles from the Humboldt River and about fifty-five miles north and south, were located the Prince Royal district, in which a small town named Prince Royal Canyon had been laid out ; Humboldt district, with Humboldt City located about at its center ; El Dorado district ; Echo district ; Sacramento district ; Santa Clara district, in which was the little Town of Santa Clara ; the Star district, in which on Star Canyon was

NEVADA        175

located Star City, the second town of importance in the West Range ; then south of the Star district was the Buena Vista district, with the Town of Unionville about at its center ; the Indian district and the American district.

            What was described as the East Range in Humboldt County was separated from the west by a valley about ten miles wide, and in this were the Sierra district at the northern extremity of the range, with the Town of Dun Glen as the central business point ; Harmony district, located in June, 1863. In the northeastern section of Humboldt County, much of it then comparatively unknown and dangerous because of the hostile character of the Indian tribes, the two districts that had been located, in the vicinity of the Humboldt River, were the Winnemucca and Santa Rosa districts.

Washoe.

            In the southwestern section of what was then Humboldt County, from the Sink of the Humboldt to Pyramid Lake, the only mining development undertaken during territorial times was in the Trinity district, in the mountains west of Humboldt River and about fifteen miles from Unionville. West and south of Humboldt County lay Washoe County, in which some development work had been undertaken in the Peavine district, about ten miles north of the Truckee River, while about three miles north of that river was the Washoe Consolidated Company's claim. Of this county the surveyor general wrote in 1865:

            The county of Washoe, perhaps, more eminently deserves the name of an agricultural county than any other in the .State of Nevada. Extending from the ridge that divides Eagle and Washoe valleys to the Oregon line (Lake County having been included in the bounds of Washoe, a distance of nearly 3 degrees of latitude, and from the California line nearly a degree of longitude, being almost equal in area to the State of Massachusetts ; and yet in all its broad surface there is not a mine in successful operation. Many attempts have been made to open mines, but have been suspended in all cases (except the two undertakings above noted.

Reese River Region.

            After the nine original counties, including Lake, had been laid out by the First Legislature in 1861, a portion of the eastern part of the territory was in 1862 made into Lander County. The establishment of Lander County illustrates best of all the movement and push of eager prospectors into all sections of the territory. Through it ran the Simpson route, with its overland stage stations, telegraph lines, and these stations were convenient starting points for those who were exploring the mineral wealth of the district. North of the Humboldt River as late as 1866 the greater portion of the county was still comparatively unknown, according to the statement of the state mineralogist. The principal mining districts were south of the river, and along the western and southern boundaries. The state mineralogist quoted the following account of the discovery of silver and the origin of the Reese River mining district :

            Early in the month of May, 1862, William M. Talcott, an attaché of the stage station at Jacob's Spring, while hauling

176      NEVADA

wood from the hillside, now within the limits of the City of Austin, discovered a vein of metal-bearing quartz, and carried a small quantity with him to the station. The rock proved to contain silver, the ledge was located as a mining claim, and named the Pony, as the discoverer had formerly been a rider of the Pony Express. On the tenth day of May, 1862, a mining district was formed, including an area of seventy-five miles east and west, and twenty north and south, and named the Reese River mining district. A code of laws was adopted, William M. Talcott was elected recorder, and the claims already discovered were recorded.

            In a short time Austin became a "metropolis," most of the country round about for miles and miles was located, machinery was hauled in, mills were set up, the ore was crushed and from this source went a steady stream of silver into the markets of the world. Perhaps in no other section of the territory did the fever of speculation rage more extensively, resulting in scores of wildcat projects and glowing prospectuses designed to lure the dollars from investors in the East and Europe.

            The original Reese River district was repeatedly subdivided and in the course of two or three years practically the entire county was divided into districts. The state mineralogist in 1866 enumerated twenty-eight districts, all described with respect to their distance from Austin. The table includes, of course, many localities in what are now the counties of Eureka, White Pine and Elko. Some of the localities have survived through the years since this early mining rush, the names have been kept in local geography, but many of them are reminiscent of "ghost camps," and even the once popular City of Austin has shrunk to an unincorporated locality with only a few hundred inhabitants. Yet at the close of the territorial period there were a score or more of quartz mills, saw mills, hoisting works, most of which had been erected in 1863. The table mentioned affords a graphic picture, one suggestive of groups of men working under a common impulse, either as individual prospectors and miners or in the employ of corporations in San Francisco or New York, burrowing and blasting in all the promising leads and ledges over a radius of many miles around Austin. The table divides the districts according to their location, beginning with those on the western side of the county and on the western slope of the Toiyabe Range :

            Washington District, twenty-five miles south of Austin. Big Creek District, twelve miles south of Austin.

            Reese River District, containing the towns of Austin and Clifton.

            Amador District, six miles north of Austin.

            Mount Hope District, twelve miles north of Austin.

            Cumberland District, fifteen miles north of Austin.

            Columbus District, twenty miles north of Austin.

            Mount Vernon District, thirty miles north of Austin.

            On the eastern slope of the Toiyabe Range, from south to north were located :

            Bunker Hill District, twenty-five miles south of Austin.

            Summit District, twenty miles south of Austin.

            Santa Fe District, twenty miles south of Austin.

NEVADA        177

            Smoky Valley District, twelve miles south of Austin.

            Simpson's Park District, east of Austin.

            Indian District, fifteen miles north of Austin.

            Callaghan Ranch District, sixteen miles north of Austin.

            Wall Street District, twenty-five miles north of Austin.

            Cortez District, sixty-five miles north of Austin, discovered and located in 1863.

            Yreka District, seventy-five miles north of Austin.

            The next group of districts were in the "second range east of Toiyabe Range," largely in what is now Eureka County :

            Eureka District, sixty miles east of Austin.

            Newark District, seventy miles east of Austin.

            Diamond District, eighty miles east of Austin.

            White Pine District, ninety miles east of Austin.

            Cascade District, ninety miles east of Austin.

            Still farther east and north toward the eastern boundary of what was then the territory was the "Ruby Valley Region," in which were two districts, the Ruby, 125 miles east of Austin, and Wolf Mountain District, 120 miles east. The Eureka District had been located in 1864. At distances between 150 and 160 miles east of Austin was the Egan Canyon section, including the Gold Canyon District and Hercules District. In the extreme eastern part of the county was the Kinsley District.

Nye County.

            By the close of 1864 the mining rush had been extended to many sections of Southern and Southeastern Nevada, some exploring parties having pushed downward to the Arizona line and eastward to make contact with the Mormon settlements along the Muddy River. All of this region had been embraced in Esmeralda County until Nye County was formed in 1864. In the eastern section of Esmeralda County discoveries and locations were made in the Columbus district, about fifty miles east of Aurora, centering about the Town of Columbus. Some discovery and development had been instituted in the mountain ranges along the boundary line between Esmeralda and Nye counties during 1863-64. On the Shoshone Mountains the Union and North Union districts were located in the summer of 1864. The Town of Ione, which became the first county seat of Nye County, was laid out on the west side of these mountains. To the south about ten miles lay Grantville. About ten miles west of Ione in the Mammoth Range was located the Mammoth District, in which was the Town of Weston. Further east on the eastern slope of the Toiyabe Mountains, was the Twin River district. The Ophir Canyon silver mine in this district was discovered in June, 1864. Farther south in the Smoky Valley was the San Antonio district, which was discovered in October, 1863. At the little settlement known as Indian Spring a stamp mill was erected. By 1865 the progress of discovery had linked up the Colorado Valley with the traveled route of the overland trail and with the older and more populous sections of the territory around Carson City. The following interesting account of the location of the Pahranagat district is found in the state mineralogist's report for 1866:

178      NEVADA

            The district was located in March, 1865, by T. C. W. Sayles, John H. Ely, David Sanderson, Samuel F. Strutt, William McClusky, and Ira Hatch, Indian interpreter. When at Panacker (Panaca) City, in Southern Utah (but now in Nevada) they had heard reports of a silver mountain near a lake, and being on their return from the Colorado River, prospected this section of country. On showing specimens of float rock to an old Indian, he told them that he knew where there was plenty more of the same kind, and led the party to the "Ely and Sanderson" lode. This was on the seventeenth of March, and during the next three days a large number of locations were made. At that time the want of provisions compelled them to return to Meadow Valley, about sixty-five miles to the eastward. In June of the same year, a second party arrived in Pahranagat Valley, but in July, when there were only nine men left in the mines, the Indians, who had at first been greatly frightened, mustered in such numbers, and in so threatening a manner, that the camp was again deserted, the prospectors returning to the Mormon settlement. In October a permanent location was effected ; and during the year 1866 from one to two hundred men have been in the district. . . . Pahranagat district lies in a lofty range of mountains running nearly north and south, and is distant from Callville on the Colorado River, about 140 miles in a southerly direction. A good road is open the whole distance, following the Pahranagat Valley, the Muddy River and the Rio Virgin, crossing the road from San Bernardino to Salt Lake. On the Muddy River there are three flourishing Mormon settlements, numbering probably 600 persons.

            By 1866 there were settlements in the valley, Hico [Hiko] and Crystal Springs, while in the adjacent mountains were Silver Canyon and Springers' Ranch, and some enterprising parties had set up a stamp mill at Hico Springs.

            By the time Nevada took its place as a state in the Union bold and enterprising men had invaded every section and had uncovered enormous stores of potential wealth in the form of gold, silver, copper and other minerals. Most of these resources awaited development, but it is evident, from what has been said, that by no means all the wealth of the "Silver State" was concentrated in the Comstock Lode.

Depression in the Mining Districts.

            Before the end of the territorial period mining development in Nevada had completed a distinct cycle. "So universally have the mining districts of the state, outside of Virginia and Gold Hill, sprung into short-lived notoriety, exciting great hopes by promises of unbounded wealth, only to lapse again into obscurity, that a universal distrust in mining enterprises in those sections had obtained but a short time ago," said the state mineralogist in 1866. "In the earlier months of our history scarcely a day passed without some new district being discovered, which, according to the reports of the fortunate locators, possessed not only an abundance of rich ores, but every requisite for their reduction ; and even today our prospectors still come in from their adventurous wanderings through the wilderness with accounts equally prom-

NEVADA        179

ising." The mineralogist then endeavored to analyze the causes of decay of mining enterprises in many portions of the state. A few quotations and a brief summary of his observations will serve to indicate the sharp recession that occurred in mining enterprise just at the close of the territorial era.

            "The original population of the state came from California, and had there been engaged more or less in placer mining. As a body they were ignorant of the details of vein mining, unacquainted with the appearance and characteristics of mineral lodes, and but few indeed had any knowledge of the distinguishing features of any minerals except gold, or the means of extracting them from the gangues with which they were associated. With an adaptiveness essentially American, much has been accomplished in the way of acquiring the requisite knowledge on these points ; but we may undoubtedly trace to this source most of the difficulties which have befallen us." He enumerated the reasons for failure under three heads : First, errors in judgment by prospectors ; second, errors in judgment by superintendents and trustees ; and third, swindling transactions perpetrated on foreign capital. Enormous quantities of labor and money were wasted through a lack of knowledge of the essential principles in mineralogy. "Within a few miles of Virginia, numerous tunnels have been run in a deposit of silicate of alumina, under the impression that it was quartz ; clay jasper, mixed with iron pyrites in minute crystals, was probably thought to be cinnabar and gold by the man who dug out and broke up a large quantity of the rock ; micaceous red hematite, a peculiar ore of iron, deceived some one by its resemblance to some of the silver sulphuret found in the Comstock Lode ; and in many places throughout the state, volcanic rocks have been taken for coal, and extensive work projected thereon." Great sums of money were also squandered in expensive litigation, largely due to ignorance concerning the structure of mineral veins. Still another source of waste was the premature erection of mills for the reduction of the ores, before the resources of a district had been fully determined.

            This expenditure of capital on objects which did not and could not yield a return in bullion, absorbed so large an amount of money that the time was inevitable when no more would be furnished, capital being shy of investments which failed to yield a speedy return or the promise of one adequate to the risk incurred. This time arrived in Nevada in the summer of 1864. It was accelerated by the wild, baseless speculation in mining stocks which had raged for two or three years previously. . . .  The crisis came rapidly. Money suddenly became less abundant than formerly. For want of the necessary funds, work was suspended on thousands of locations, the universal distrust refusing money for the further development of even promising claims, which went down in the universal crash with those which were utterly worthless. Work on many such has not been resumed from that day to this.

            The author of the article then proceeds to analyze some of the statements made in a prospectus published in London descriptive of a property in the Reese River region. The property it was claimed with within half a mile of a railway, though such a railway

180      NEVADA

was only one of several lines then proposed. A statement of even more glaring exaggeration was made with regard to the location of the property, which was described as in the "immediate vicinity" of some of the famous properties at Virginia and Gold Hill, though any one in Nevada knew that the distance was at least 200 miles. "Again and again have facts been wilfully misrepresented, and property painted in glowing colors, which was totally unknown, even to old residents of the locality in which it was said to be situated ; and is it cause for surprise that agent after agent, sent out to examine such locations, should return disgusted with his experience, or that mining men abroad should come to look at all our possessions of unlimited mineral wealth as a complete farce, if not altogether an intolerable swindle?"