USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 26
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 26
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 26
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Something should be said here of the public sur- veys and land laws. I have already mentioned that John W. North was the first surveyor-general ap- pointed. Acts of March 14 and May 30, 1862, united Nevada to the California surveying service, to take effect July 1, 1862. On the 2d of July congress es- tablished the land district of Nevada, and authorized the appointment of a register and receiver. A joint resolution of the Nevada legislature protested against being united to California, and asked to have the office of surveyor-general restored, with an ap-
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LANDS.
propriation for the survey of the public lands. An act of congress approved July 2, 1864, at- tached Nevada to Colorado for surveying pur- poses. Another act, on March 2, 1865, attached Nevada once more to the California surveying dis- trict. It was not until July 4, 1866, that a United Stated surveyor-general of Nevada was again author- ized by congress with a salary of $3,000. The con- stitution of Nevada, adopted in 1864, provided for the election of a surveyor-general with a salary of $1,000. S. H. Marlette was chosen at the first state election to hold office, according to the constitution, for four years. By a special law of March 9, 1866, it was enacted that the state officers should be chosen at the general election for that year, and on every fourth year thereafter. Marlette was reelected. The du- ties of the state surveyor-general were to select and dispose of the lands granted to the state, and act as ex-officio register. The same law fixed the minimum price of the lands belonging to the state, except the lands embraced within the twenty mile limit of the Central Pacific Railroad, at $1.25 per acre, and the minimum price of all lands falling within that limit at $2.50; but the board of regents of the state had the power to fix a higher price upon any unsettled lands not already applied for. By an act of congress ap- proved June 8, 1868, Nevada was authorized to select from the alternate even numbered sections within the limits of any railroad grant, lands in satisfaction of the several grants to the state made in the organic act, the act of admission, and the act of July 4, 1866, granting university lands and agricultural college lands. The public lands of Nevada were not subject to entry, sale, or location under any laws of the United States, except the Homestead act of May 20, 1862, and preemption law, until after the state should have received her full quota of lands; and she should have two years after the survey should have been made in which to make her selection, in tracts of not
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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
less than forty acres, but could not sell in tracts of more than 320, and to actual settlers.
The state had selected all the land granted by the government in 1877, except the sixteenth and thirty- sixth sections, or common-school lands. In these sections was included a large amount of desert, alkali, and mountain land which the public surveyors pro- nounced unfit for cultivation, and therefore left un- surveyed. In 1877, 780 townships only had been surveyed, and the available area out of 17,971,200 acres was 10,762,237 acres. The state in consequence lost 7,208,963 acres, which were pronounced unfit for cultivation, and the school fund in proportion. Out of the 10,762,237 acres of land surveyed as cultivable, the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections contained 608,307 acres. Of this amount only 64,528 acres had been sold in 1877.
The whole state of Nevada contained 3,1135 town- ships, or an area of 71,737,741 acres, which upon the above basis would afford of available land 42,960,889 acres, and of school lands 2,428,252 acres, instead of 3,984,640 acres, which, if the whole were available, would belong to the school land. At the rate at which the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections were selling, it was evident that not more than 257,581 acres would have been sold within the time allotted for reserving the public lands for selection by the state, when the opportunity of securing indemnity lands would be lost. State surveyor-general Charles S. Preble recommended to the legislature to take some action to secure a grant of land in lieu of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections for school purposes. This advice was acted upon, and congress granted 2,000,000 acres of land to be selected by the state in place of those sections. For this service the state owes Mr Preble a lasting recognition of his talents. This grant placed the state as well as the school fund upon a better basis, no waste land being chosen, and sales being much more numerous. From July 1,
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COUNTIES.
1880, to January 1, 1883, 1,031 applications were filed, covering 166,800 acres of school lands.
The meridian and base of Mount Diablo were used for the standard in the survey of Nevada. Guide meridians were established in all the principal centres of population. The first land district was that of Carson. The second land-office was located at Aus- tin in 1867; the third at Aurora in a district includ- ing the counties of Esmeralda, Nevada, and Mono and Inyo, California, in 1868 ; the fourth at Belmont, in 1869, removed to Pioche in 1874; the fifth at Eu- reka, in 1873, removed from Austin; there being but four local land-offices in the state. In March 1872 the Elko land district was established.
The amount of mineral land in the state was ap- proximately given, from the incomplete returns of counties in 1876, as being 1,679 acres. The total amount of salt, soda, and borate of lime lands was re- ported in 1871 at 52,000 acres. The legislature of 1873 asked congress to permit Nevada to select saline lands under previous acts, and subsequently fixed the value of salt and borax lands at five dollars per acre, maximum. An act of congress concerning desert lands, passed in 1877, provides that a settler may acquire title to six hundred and forty acres by irri- gating the tract for three years, and paying $1.25 per acre. Capitalists were quick to see the advantages of this law to acquire large tracts of country, which by the simple cost of irrigating canals became of great value. In 1879 an act of congress provided for a public lands commission, to consist of the commissioner of the general land office, the director of the geological survey, and three civilians, to report to congress a system of classification of public lands, and a codifica- tion of existing laws relating to such lands.
The territory of Nevada established by a legisla- tive act, on the 25th of November, 1861, nine coun- ties, and on the 29th fixed their capitals. Douglas,
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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
with the county seat at Genoa, contained the oldest settlements, and is therefore entitled to the first place on the list. Extending on the west to the eastern summit of the Sierra, it includes 50,000 acres of tim- ber and wood lands, from which have been drawn vast quantities of wood and lumber by means of flumes constructed at great expense for this purpose. Glen- brook, situated on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, is the principal lumber manufacturing point in the state. It was first settled in 1860 by G. W. Warren, N. E. Murdock, and R. Walton. In 1861 A. W. Pray .erected a saw-mill, which was run by water conducted half a mile through a flume and ditch, which served until 1864, when a steam-mill was erected. Pray's mill was the second one built at Lake Tahoe, the first being on the California side, in 1860. Other mills followed, and in 1873 the firm of Yerington and Bliss began the lumber business at Glenbrook, and threaded the entire timber belt of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding slopes with flumes and chutes, conveying wood and lumber to the towns about. The lumber product of Douglas county was about 12,000,000 feet annually. It cannot be classed with the mining counties, although some mining en- terprises have been attempted there. Agriculturally it is one of the foremost sections of the state, pro- ducing grains, fruits, and vegetables in variety and abundance, and having about 40,000 acres of arable land, 200,000 acres of grazing land, and 100,000 of reclaimable desert lands. In 1885 the county had six saw-mills, two hundred miles of irrigating ditches, made forty thousand pounds of butter annually, and had farms to the value of over half a million. Genoa was made the county seat. The extraordinary snows of 1882 caused an avalanche which came near destroy- ing the town of Genoa. The towns and settlements not before mentioned are Bridge House, Carter, Car- son Valley, Cradlebaugh's bridge, Double Spring, Hot Springs, Hoyes' Store, Job, Mollville, Mammoth,
255
DOUGLAS, ORMSBY, AND WASHOE COUNTIES.
Mottville, Mountain House, Sheridan, Spooner Sta- tion, Sprague, Summit Camp, Thornton, Tisdell, Twelve-mile House, Valley View, Van Sickle's, Walker River, and Warren's.
Ormsby county, a small shire sandwiched between Douglas and Washoe, but of an importance not pro- portioned to its size, contains about ten thousand acres of arable land, half of which was under cultivation in 1885, and excellent grazing lands. It shared largely in the lumber and wood trade, was the seat of numer- ous quartz-mills, contained the capitol of the state, the penitentiary, mint, and other public institutions, and in 1876 paid taxes on $2,673,066. Carson City, incorporated in 1875, is both the county seat and state capital, and is pleasantly situated, with wide streets which are bordered with trees. It has, besides the public buildings, a number of fine structures for business purposes, half a dozen churches, and many handsome residences. Its water-works were erected in 1860. The towns and settlements not named are Brunswick, Clear Creek, Empire City, Lookout, Mc- Raey, Merrimac, Mexican, Mill Station, Santiago Mill, Swift's Springs, and Vivian Mill.
Washoe county, also one of the first subdivisions of Carson county, contains 75,000 acres of agricultural, 400,000 of grazing, 80,000 of timbered, and 20,000 of mineral lands, and pays taxes on $4,165,210 of real and personal property. One of the farm products in which Washoe excelled was honey. The crop in 1884 was not less than 37,000 pounds. Hops also did well in this county, which produced 40,000 pounds the same year. The first county seat was at Washoe City, but was removed to Reno by vote of the people in 1870, and an act of the legislature in 1871. Reno was founded by the Central Pacific Railroad company in 1868, in the Truckee valley, and nmed in honor of General Reno, who fell at the battle of South Mountain. It has been twice nearly destroyed by fire, once in 1873, and again in 1879. A court-house
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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
was erected of brick in 1872-3. A poor-farm and hospital were provided by the county commissioners in 1875, who purchased forty acres for the purpose on the south side of the Truckee, one mile east of Reno, with water for irrigating purposes. A free iron bridge was constructed across the river in 1877 in place of a toll-bridge, which had been in use since 1863. An asylum for the insane is located a short distance from the town ; also the state board of agri- culture, the state university, and a fine school for girls under the management of the episcopal church, named after Bishop Whittaker, who founded it. The Truckee river, which is near the town, will some day, no doubt, invite manufactures. The first settle- ment on the site of Reno was made by C. W. Fuller in 1859, who kept a hotel, and built the first bridge across the Truckee at this place in 1860. Fuller also owned a toll-road, and sold the whole of the property to M. C. Lake, from whom the place took the name of Lake's crossing. The name still sur- vives in Lake house, a hotel on the original location of Fuller. Among the prosperous stock-raisers may be mentioned Jacob Stiner, a native of Ohio, who came to California by sea in 1853, mined on the Yuba at Park's bar, subsequently settled in Sutter county on the Sacramento river, giving the name of Stiner's bend to that portion of the stream. The towns and settlements of Washoe county not named above are Anderson's, Brown's, Clark's, Crystal Peak, Essex, Galena, Glendale, Huffaker's, Lake View, Little Val- ley, Long Valley, Mayburg Store, Mud Lake, Ophir, Pleasant Valley, Poeville, Salvia, Steamboat, Three- mile Station, Two-mile Station, Vista, Verdi, Wads- worth, and Winnemucca valley.
Storey county, named in honor of Edward Faris Storey, who was killed in an attack on the Pah Ute camp in 1860, has been the theatre of the most stir- ring events of mining life in Nevada, and still main- tains much of the prestige acquired when the Comstock
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STOREY AND INYO COUNTIES.
was at its highest point of development. It was or- ganized in 1861, and contains seven hundred and fifty acres only of farming land, twenty thousand acres of grazing land, the remainder being classed with min- eral lands. Much of its history has already been given.
Virginia City, the county seat, being 6,205 feet above sea-level, and 2,000 feet above the Humboldt plains, perched on the eastern slope of an isolated mountain, whose altitude is 7,827 feet, the only water supply of the city came at first from natural springs. A few wells were added as the town increased in size. At length a company was formed, which collected in wooden tanks the water flowing from mining tunnels, and distributed it by means of pipes through the town. But in time the tunnels ran dry, and it became necessary to pierce the hills for new water deposits, which in turn became exhausted, until the town was threatened with a water famine. Prospecting for water brought out the fact in topography that it was in the flat-topped hills it would be found, rather than in the conical ones. Miles of tunnelling were done with no other object than to find water, and many thousands of dollars were expended in this work, and in dams and bulkheads to hold the water formed by meltingsnow.14
All the institutions of Virginia City were cosmo politan compared to other towns. The hotels, banks, churches, school houses, theatre, opera house, court house, city hall, odd fellows' hall, hospital, stores, and business places and residences still give evidence of the enterprise and money which have been expended there. "After the discovery of silver mines," says Clarke, " two enterprising men of San Francisco took advantage of the excitement, surveyed and staked out
14 In 1872 the Virginia and Gold Hill Water company employed H. Schussler, engineer of the S. F. water-works, to make a survey of the coun. try to the first available streams in the Sierra Nevada, twenty-five miles west of Virginia City. Athwart the route lay the Washoe valley, an obsta. cle requiring unmistakable skill to conquer. The works were completed in 1873 at an estimated cost of $2,000,000.
HIST. NEV. 17.
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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
all the unoccupied land where Virginia City now stands and sold off the lots as mining claims, though no mine existed there, nor any symptoms of it. They actually sold off $25,000 worth of stock." It was built upon ground with such a pitch that what was the second story of a house in front became the first at the back. The assessed valuation of the whole county of Storey, given in 1884, was $2,885,356, be- ing less than that of Washoe, but its finances were in a healthy condition, without debt of any kind. The towns and settlements in Storey county, aside from Virginia and Gold Hill, are American Flat, Baltic, Bonanza City, Gold Canon, Louisetown, Mound House, Washington, and Valley Wells.
Lyon county was organized in 1861, but had its boundaries changed in 1864. It has 128,000 acres of agricultural, 100,000 of grazing, 5,000 of mineral, and 2,000 of timbered lands. It has 200 miles of irrigat- ing ditches, which water 17,500 acres. Its property valuation in 1884 was $1,336,659. The general sur- face of the county is mountainous, all the arable land being upon the Carson river, except about eight miles of Mason valley in the southeast corner. Dayton, the county seat, is one of the oldest towns in Nevada. Being situated at the mouth of the cañon leading to the Comstock mines, it became the site of numerous quartz mills, and shared in the general prosperity of that lode. In the mineral district of Palmyra, south- east from Dayton about ten miles, in an elevated val- ley, in 1863-4, was the mining town of Como and its sister Palmyra. Como grew rapidly, its hopes being based on the supposed richness of its mines. It was made the county seat of Lyon county, and had a quartz mill and a newspaper, the Como Sentinel. Gradually the town was abandoned by every inhabi- tant except one, G. W. Walton. On the 22d of No- vember, 1873, the last inhabitant perished in the flames of his solitary residence. The deserted houses, haunted by the ghosts of dead hopes, open to the
259
ESMERALDA COUNTY.
winds of summer, and buried under the snow drifts of winter, offer a sad commentary on human expecta- tions. Silver City, settled before Virginia City, was incorporated in 1877. There were, in 1885, four quartz mills, six tailings mills, two arastras, and one smelting furnace in the county, and seven miles of mining ditches. The towns or settlements not men- tioned above in Lyon county are Buckland's, Cleaver, Eureka, Fort Churchill, Hayward's, Hot Spring, Johnstown, Mound House, Mountain, Palmyra, and Wabuska.
Esmeralda county, organized in 1861, has, approxi- mately, 100,000 acres of agricultural, 150,000 of graz- ing, 150,000 of timbered, and 300,000 of mineral lands. The value of its real and personal property in 1884 was given in by the assessor at $1,158,365, or nearly $200,000 less than the previous year. Mining began early, Esmeralda mining district, about the present town of Aurora, being organized in August 1860. No less than seventeen quartz mills, costing over $1,000,000 were erected at Aurora, and bullion to the amount of $16,000,000 has been produced in this district. Aurora, for twenty years the county seat, was first settled by J. M. Carey, James M. Brady, and E. R. Hicks in 1860. The value of its taxable property in 1880 was $200,000. One news- paper, the Esmeralda Herald, was published there. Hawthorne, a new town, twenty-eight miles distant on the Carson and Colorado railroad, was made the county seat in 1883. Belleville, situated at an alti- tude of 5,000 feet, on the slope of the Monte Christo mountains, was founded in 1873. Marietta, another mining camp, lies ten miles northwest of Belleville. Candelaria, the railroad terminus, had, in 1885, a school house, church, hotel, stores, and other places of business. It was named after a mine discovered in 1865 by Spanish prospectors, and was surveyed for a town in 1876 by J. B. Hiskey. The White Moun- tain Water company of Nevada was organized under
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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
the laws of New York to do business in Nevada, Henry A. Gildersleeve president, James A. Prit- chard secretary, John Aandroth treasurer. The dis- tance to the springs was twenty-one miles. The Can- delaria True Fissure newspaper was first published June 5, 1880, by John Dormer. Columbus was set- tled in 1765, and a quartz mill erected. In 1872 the Pacific Borax company commenced operations on the Columbus marsh, and in Fish Lake valley in 1875. This company suspended work on the borax marshes ; but the Teel salt marsh was worked by Smith Broth- ers, and Rhoades salt marsh by A. J. Rhoades. Walker lake, with a part of the Pah Ute reservation, is in Esmeralda county. The only agricultural town in the county is Greenfield, or Mason valley, in the bend of Walker river. It was first settled by W. R. Lee in 1869. Its growth has been permanent and healthy, with church, school, and mail privileges. The settlements not above mentioned in Esmeralda county are Birch Agency, Alida Valley, Alum Creek, Black Mountain District, Cambridge, Chase, Cory- ville, Coal Valley, Cottonwood Well, Dead Horse Well, Durant's Mill, East Walker, Elbow, Fish Lake, Five Mile Station, Gillis Mountain, Gold Net, Hog's Back, Hot Spring, Hulche Canon, Johnson, Lida, Lobdell, McGeer, Mammoth Ledge, Marietta, Me- tallic, Military Station, Miller, Montezuma, Mount Grant, New Boston, Nine Mile House, Palmetto, Pick Handle, Pine Grove, Rockland, Sand Spring, Santa Fe, Silver Peak, Soda Springs, Sweetwater, Sylvania, Virginia, Volcano, Walker River, Washing- ton, Wellington, Wheeler, Whiskey Springs, Wildes. Gold Mountain is a new town in the southern part of the county, which took its birth and growth from the recent development of an old gold discovery called the State Lime mine, remarkable for the richness and extent of the fissure on which it is located. This lode was discovered in 1864 by Thomas J. Shaw, who abandoned it on account of the distance from water
26
ROOP AND HUMBOLDT.
or mills. It was relocated in 1865, and sold to Jog- gles Wright, who worked it for some time, with only partial success, and it was neglected until recently.
Churchill county, created by the legislature of 1861, with the county seat at Buckland, was attached to Lyon for judicial purposes. Before it was organ- ized it lost a portion of its area by the creation of Lander county, and only came to be an independent district in 1864. It lost another part of its territory in 1869 to Nye county. What is left is largely desert, marsh land, and alkaline lakes, but contains 25,000 acres of excellent hay land, and 20,000 acres of arable land, of which there are perhaps 5,000 acres under cultivation, on Carson slough. The first flour mill in the country was erected in 1881 by J. T. Walker & Co. The first farm was started by Asa L. Kenyon in 1854, who settled on the Carson at Rag- town. The principal resources of Churchill county are salt, soda, sulphur, and stock-raising. Its asses- sable property is reported as less than that of any other county in the state, being only $486,432 in 1883.
La Plata, a mining town on the eastern confines of the county, was the first county seat after organiza- tion, but having become deserted by its inhabitants about 1866, the county seat was removed to Still- water, in the farming region, in 1868. The founder of Stillwater was J. C. Scott, who settled there in 1862. Wadsworth, on the Central Pacific railroad, was the shipping point for the agricultural region of Carson slough. The wood supply was obtained in the Silver Hill range, from twelve to twenty miles distant. In 1863-5 considerable gold and silver min- ing was done in the mountains of the east part of the county, but on the discovery of White Pine these mines were abandoned. They never paid higher than twelve or fifteen dollars to the ton. The settlements besides those mentioned are Alan, Clan Alpine Mill, Coates Wells, Cold Spring, Desert, Desert Well,
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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
Eagle Salt Works, East Gate, Hill's station, Hot Springs, La Plata, Mirage, Mountain Well, Murphy Station, Ragtown, Salinas, Shoshones Spring, Sink Station, Soda Lake, Soldiers' Spring, St Clair, West Gate, White Plains, and White Rock House.
Roop county has no separate existence, but is attached to Washoe for judicial and revenue purposes. It has thousands of acres of land valuable for farm- ing could water be brought to it. At present its valleys are used for the pasturage of stock, of which 20,000 head are herded in the county. The settle- ments in Roop are Buffalo Meadows, Chalk Hill, Church's Camp, Duck Flat, Fish Springs, Lewis Rancho, Millers, Sheep Head, and Smoke Creek Depot. Several land claims were taken on Duck Flat, at Dry Lake, Dry Valley, Little Winnemucca, and Winnemucca valley proper, and at Murphy's Salt Marsh. Grain is raised and dairy-farming car- ried on in the last-named valleys.
Humboldt, the last of the original nine counties, is of great extent and varied resources. It contains 30,000 acres of agricultural, 50,000 of grazing, 8,000 of timbered, and 508,000 acres of mineral lands. It has 10 miles of mining and 400 miles of irrigating ditches. The largest single enterprise of this kind was the Humboldt canal, projected in 1862 by J. Giuacca, an Italian, the founder of the town of Win- nemucca. He formed a company in San Francisco. The first 28 miles cost $100,000, and there was no more money forthcoming. Humboldt county had in 1885 10 quartz mills and 2 smelting-furnaces, 3 steam grist-mills, and 2 water-power mills. It had in 1884 of stock cattle 28,000 head, besides work oxen, 57,000 heeps, 866 hogs, a few cashmere and angora goats, 5,600 horses, 200 mules, 10 asses, 300 milch cows, 4,500 calves on the ranges, and 1,348 beef-cattle. The amount of land actually cultivated in 1884 was 9,218 acres. The wheat raised was 86,000 bushels; of barley, 125,000; of oats, 5,230; of corn, 40 bush-
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LANDER COUNTY
els. There were raised also 8,170 bushels of potatoes, and of hay, 21,175 tons were cut. The product of the dairy was 1,800 pounds of butter. The wool crop was 240,000 pounds. There were growing 5,000 apple, 2,500 peach, 250 pear, 200 plum, 50 cherry, 10 nectarine, 40 quince, 20 apricot, and 20 prune trees. Of shade or transplanted trees there were 6,020. Of the small fruits there were 7,000 bushels; grapes, 200 vines. Thousands of acres of wild sugar-cane grow about the sink of the Humboldt; and a textile called hemp, but of a stronger fibre and longer staple, is In fruit and
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