across the state of Nevada, is parallel with the Southern Pacific for
some distance in the eastern part of the state, and crosses the
mountains at Beckwith Pass 20 m. north of Reno. The San Pedro,
Los Angeles & Salt Lake railway, also an important factor in east
and west transcontinental traffic, opened in May 1905, has been of
special value in the development of the southern part of the state.
It crosses a section that is mostly desert, but is connected with the
Bullfrog District by the Las Vegas & Tonopah, which runs from
Goldfield through Beatty and Rhyolite, and meets the San Pedro,
Los Angeles & Salt Lake at Las Vegas. The Goldfield and Bullfrog
districts have a further outlet to the south through a second
railway, the Nevada Short Line (Bullfrog-Goldfield and Tonopah
& Tidewater railways) which connects with the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fé at Ludlow in California.
Population.—Nevada is the most sparsely settled state of the Union. Its population in 1860 was 6857; in 1870, 42,491; in 1880, 62,266; in 1890, 45,761; in 1900, 42,335; and in 1910, 81,875 (0·7 per sq. m.). In 1900 10,093 were foreign-born (mostly English, Irish, Germans, Italians and Chinese in almost equal proportions); and there were 35,405 white persons, 5216 Indians, 1352 Chinese, 228 Japanese and 134 negroes. There were then only three towns of importance: Reno, Virginia City and Carson City, the capital.
The Indian population consists of Paiute, Shoshoni and the remnants of a few other tribes of Shoshonean stock. On the Duck Valley reservation (488 sq. m.), established in 1877, in Elko county, between the forks of the Owyhee river and lying partly in Nevada and partly in Idaho, and under the western Shoshoni (boarding) school (55 pupils in 1908), there were 252 Paiute, 238 Shoshoni and 1 Hopi in 1908; on the Pyramid Lake reservation (503 sq. m.), established in 1874, in Washoe county, on the borders of the lake from which it is named, 486 Paiute; on the Walker river reservation (79·37 sq. m.), established in 1874 (partly opened to settlement in 1906) along Walker river and Walker Lake, 466 Paiute; on the Moapa river reserve (15·6 sq. m.), in the south-eastern part of the state, 117 Paiute.
In 1906, of the 14,944 members of religious denominations 9,970 were Roman Catholics, 1,210 Protestant Episcopalians, 1,105 Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), 618 Methodists and 520 Presbyterians.
Administration.—Nevada is governed under the original constitution of 1864, with the amendments adopted in 1880, 1889, 1904 and 1906. The constitution as adopted limited the suffrage to adult white males, but this provision was annulled by the fifteenth amendment to the Federal constitution; and in 1880 amendments to the state constitution were adopted striking out the word “white” from the suffrage clause and adding a new article granting rights of suffrage and office holding without regard to race, colour or previous condition of servitude. A residence in the state of six months and in the district or county of thirty days preceding the election is required of all voters. Persons guilty of treason or felony in any state or Territory and not restored to civil rights, idiots and insane persons, are excluded from the suffrage. An unusual provision in the constitution, a result of its adoption in the midst of the Civil War, gives soldiers and sailors in the service of the United States the right to vote; their votes to be applied to the township and county in which they were bona fide residents at the time of enlistment.[1] The legislature has the right to make the payment of the poll tax a requirement for voting, but no such provision is in force.[2] A law passed in 1887, requiring all voters to take an oath against polygamy, with the object of disfranchising Mormons, was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court. A governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, attorney-general, controller, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction and surveyor-general are chosen by popular vote every four years. Their functions are similar to those of the administrative officials in other states, with the exception that the governor does not possess the usual pardoning power but is ex officio a member of the pardoning board. The governor and lieutenant-governor must each be at least twenty-five years old at the time of election to office. The legislative department consists of a Senate, with members chosen every four years, about half of whom retire every two years; and an Assembly, whose members are chosen biennially. The constitution requires that the number of senators shall be not less than one-third nor more than one-half the number of members of the Assembly, and that the total membership of both houses shall not exceed seventy-five. Bills of any character may originate in either house. The legislative sessions are biennial and are limited to fifty days; special sessions are limited to twenty days. The judicial department consists of a supreme court with a chief justice and two associate justices, chosen for six years, and district courts, with judges chosen for four years.
The state is divided into fifteen counties, each of which is governed in local matters by a board of county commissioners, and is divided for administrative purposes into townships. The constitution requires that township and county governments shall be uniform throughout the state. For each township there is a justice of the peace, chosen biennially by its voters. The homestead exemption extends to a dwelling-house, with its land and appurtenances, with a value not exceeding $5000; but no exemption is granted against a process to enforce the payment of purchase-money, or for improvements, or for legal taxes, or of a mortgage to which both the husband and wife have consented. The exemption can be claimed by the husband, wife, or other head of the family, by a written declaration duly acknowledged and recorded in the manner prescribed for conveyances; and the homestead can then be mortgaged or alienated by a husband only with the wife’s consent, if the wife is at the time a resident of the state. The exemption is not affected by the death of the husband or wife, but inures to the benefit of the surviving members of the family. For divorce a residence in the state of six months is necessary; the grounds for divorce are desertion or neglect to provide for one year, conviction of felony, habitual drunkenness, cruelty or physical incapacity.
There are a number of unusual provisions in the constitution of Nevada. The assertion in the “Declaration of Rights” that “no power exists in the people of this or any other state of the Federal Union to dissolve their connexion therewith or perform any act tending to impair, subvert, or resist the supreme authority of the government of the United States,” is a result of the drafting of the instrument during the Civil War. There is also a provision that only three-fourths of the jurors may be required to agree to a verdict in civil cases, although the legislature has the power to require by statute a unanimous agreement. Amendments to the constitution must be passed by a majority of each house of the legislature at two consecutive sessions and submitted to a vote of the people at the next regular election. Under this provision an amendment cannot be adopted until nearly four years after it is first proposed. At the election of 1904 an amendment was adopted which provides that whenever 10% of the voters of the state, as shown by the votes of the last preceding election, express a wish that any law or resolution of the legislature shall be submitted to the people, the Act or Resolve shall be voted on at the next election of the state or county officers, and if a majority of the voters approve the measure it shall stand; otherwise, it shall become void. Nevada thus became the fourth American state to adopt the referendum.
Institutions.—The state maintains a penitentiary at Carson City and an insane asylum at Reno. The deaf, dumb and blind are cared for at its expense in the California institution for these defectives. The State University, established at Elko in 1874 and removed to Reno in 1887, is supported by the income from a Federal grant of two townships (72 sq. m.) of public land and an additional grant, under the Morrill Act of 1862, of 90,000 acres for the support of a college for agriculture and mechanic arts. An agricultural experiment station and a normal school are conducted in connexion with the university. The control of this institution is vested in a board of regents, chosen by popular vote. At Virginia City is a school of mines, established by the state in 1903. The Federal government maintains three boarding schools for Indians in the state. The public schools are supported by the income from a Federal grant of 2,000,000 acres of public land (given in lieu of the usual sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections) supplemented by state and local taxation. The constitution provides that a special state tax, at a rate of not over two mills on the dollar, may be levied for school purposes. All fines collected under the penal laws, all escheats and 2% of the receipts of toll roads and bridges go into the school fund, which is invested in state and Federal securities and the
- ↑ An interesting application of this provision was made in 1898, when Nevada soldiers on their way to Manila were allowed to vote at sea. It was discovered, however, that no statute had ever been passed to carry this provision into effect, and the votes were rejected.
- ↑ In 1897 a law was passed making the right of suffrage dependent on the payment of poll taxes for the preceding two years; but in the following year the State Supreme Court declared this act unconstitutional because the title was not descriptive of the matter.
