The Record-courier. [volume] (Gardnerville, Nev.) 1904-current, 1916-09-22
NEVADA, BORN
WITH A REAL
silver SPOON
(By Robert II. Davis
In American Magazine

and others burst into being, like
Topsy But Nevada was battleborn.
She was admitted to the Union in
1864 when the Civil War was raging
and money was scarce. Bill Sher-
man had already uttered that cele-
brated dictum that war is hell; ="
while Washington, holding coincident
views, was looking Westward ho, for
what at that time, was knwon as the
.spondulix. Well, Nevada resondluix-
ed with ninety million dollars per
annum, which, for some years there
after, she poured into the lap of the
Government from her silver mines.
The story of the Comstock, Virginia
City. Gold Hill, Silver City and Bodie
need not be retold here. A few miners
lacerated the bosom of Mout David
son, SCARED up the hillsides along the
mother lode and, behold. a torrent of
treasure burst its rich veins and bill
lowed across the Union.
At the close of the war there was a
tremendous trek towards the Battle
Born from all sections. Ninety per
cent of the new population brought
picks and blasting powder, and many
q gap was blown into the breast of a
landscape richer. than South Africa
From far and near came the adven-
tnrer, the man of brawh. the gold
hungry, the seeker after inexhausti-
BILE wealth, to wrest from the earth
its bullion, to sift through their fing-
ers the yellow dust-the blackened
pyrites that unmistakable sign be-
tokened the presence of silver Cop
per, lead, platinum-all the known
metals studded her peaks and lay
like ponderons jewels along her river
beds.
Nevada was born, literally, with a
silver spoon in her mouth. 1t seems
th.t she was destined to become the
candy kid of the nation.
And then came along John Sher-
man. brother to the soldier, who, with
a few deft passes made in the Dis
trict of Columbia, sandbagged the
Battle-Born state with the Sherman
Bill which demonetized silver
More hell
Between John and William Sher-
man fell the PROSTATE remains of the
United States Mint at Carson, the
capital of Nevada.
Following long period of inde
cision mixed with hope Those who
wore no callous upon their hands, nor
blood in their hearts, left for parts
unknown.
The EncyclodRdia Britannica in
1876 called attention to the fact that
The fauna of the state is poor,
and illustrates with the fora the
aridity of the climate. King
badgers and rabbits are per-
haps the most abundant animals,
as they certainly are the most
characteristic.
At about this juncture, a humorist
living in Loveock placed a soap box
alongside the depot upon which he
had inscribed in handsome Gothic let
ters the following legend: Step up
and see the largest bat in the state"
Upon examination the box was
found to contain a nice, well-made
red brick Many tourist laughed
at this specimen of boundless wit and
passer on rumbling with mirth.
In the latter eighties another lineal
descendant of Joe Miller introduced
bill in the state legislature making
it a misdemeanor to buy drink for
friend. The measure was known as
the Anit-Treat Bill, and actually be-
came law. 1t created great con-
oentration only during the session OF
the legislature. | cannot say wheth-
er or not is was repealed, but there
are lots of people in Nevada who still
have friends-and hold them.
In 1897 the Nevada Legislature took
another step forward in the direction
of civilization and culture through
passing the Prize Fight Bill. a
measure authorizing unlimited pugil-
istic bouts anywhere within its bord-
ers.
II was here that Robert Fitzsin-
mons plucked the laurel wreath from
the pompadoured forehead of James
I Corbett and set it upon his own bald
bean.
The Lovelock brick joke and the
Anit-Treat bon not had not yet lost
SAVIOR; but the manly art measure
hastened them into discard The
Corbett- t-Fitzsimmons event drew at
least fifty thousand people to the
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