American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-11-23
The State Of Nevada.

The people of Nevada having formed
a State Government in conformity with
the Enabling Act passed by Congress on
the 2lst of March last, the President haz
issued his Proclamation declaring that
the State of Nevada is admitted into
the Union on an equal footing with the
original States" Thus the thirty-sixth
Star is added to the constellation on our
National flag. In the law authorizing the
call for constitutional convention by the
people of Nevada the following condi-
tions were prescribed That the Consti-
tuition, when formed, shall be republican,
and not repugnant to the Constitution Of
the United States and the principle Of
the Declaration. of Independence; that
the convention shall provide by an ordi-
nance, ilrevocable without the consent of
the United States and the people of said
State.
: First. That there shall be no slavery
or involuntary servtude in the said State
otherwise than in punishment of crime
whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted
Secondly. That perfect liberation of
religious sentiment shall be secured, and
no inhabitant Of said State shall ever be
molcsted in person on account of his
mode of religious worship.
Third The public lands shall remain
at the disposal Of the United States; no
taxes shall be laid on the lands or prop
erty of the United States, and taxation
upon the property Of non-rcsideuts shall
not exceed that upon the property Of resi-
dent citizens Finally, when the fore
going conditions shall have been com
piled with. the Convention was required
to he submitted to the vote of the people
on the second Tuesday of October, 1864.
IF the Constitution should be adopted
then the President being notified of that
fact, was authorized TO proclaim Nevada
admitted into the Union as a State. The
election for members of the Convention
was held on the 2d of May last, the Con
yenton met on he 4h of July, aud hav-
ing framed Constitution in accordance
with the conditions prescribed, it was
adopted by the people on the ninth of
October, and by the Presidents procla-
nation of October 3lst, Nevada is now
State of the Union.
This event is one of the wonders in the
progress of American civilization. As re-
Gently as the early part of the year 1860,
what is now the State of Nevada then
the western part of the Territory of Utah,
was an uninhabited waste. 1t was not
only desolate and barren, but so forbid
ding was the aspect of nature there that
it was supposed it would forever remain a
desert The plains were treeless, the
rivers shallow and treacherous, vanishing
when most wanted; the mountains were
plies of bare volcanic rocks, the lakes
were mere marshes of salines and alkalies,
and the transit across the Territory was
most difficult and dangerous. In addi.
ton to all this il was walled in by two
formidable barriers-the lofty and rag
ged Sierra on the one side and the cheer
less Wasatch, on the other. Now. after
the lapse of four short years as if by
stroke of the enchanter's wand, that bar
rem and desolate waste has become popu-
lous, 1t is vocal with the hum of indus
try and enterprise. Mines of gold, of
silver, and of iron, have been opened, and
are yielding up their long hidden wealth
tain streams being turned upon the parch-
ed earth, fertile farms have sprung up.
Upon the heels of enterprise aud adven-
ture, civilization has followed The State
is already dotted with towns, villages,
cities, schools, churches, and seats of JUS
tice, and along with these the indispen-
sable and invaluable printing press is
found in every section of the young COM
monwealth. In that desolate and almost
inaccessible desert of four years ago there
has been already two agricultural fairs
The solitary traders along the old Indian
trails are now cheered by the presence of
fifty thousand white settlers. The trav-
eler who had to lower his team over the
crags by ropes has now the choice of half
dozen skilliully graded roads, over which
the stage coach bowls merrily along at
the rate of ten miles an hour. Carson
City, the seat of the Territorial Govern
ment, has population of about three
thousand; j. Humboldt the county seat OF