EDUCATION.

There is in the State, a Board of Education, which consists of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Treasurer, and five other persons appointed by the Governor. This Board has the charge of the Normal School, appoints its teachers and makes general regulations for it. The Superintendent of Public Instruction has the general supervision of the schools of the State. In 1867, the trustees of the Seminary at Peru, Nemaha County, offered the seminary building to the State for Normal School purposes. The liberal offer was accepted by the State, and the Legislature, by an act passed, June, 1867, established the Normal School, and located it at Peru. The site includes sixty acres of land on high rolling ground, in view of the Missouri river for sixteen miles. The building is of brick, eighty feet long and forty feet wide, and three stories high. The estimated value of the site and the building complete is $25,000. The Legislature at its last session appropriated three thousand dollars to aid in fitting up the new building, and also twenty sections of land for an endowment. Prof. J. M. McKenzie was elected Prin. cipal. Two assistants were also appointed, and the school was opened Oct. 24, 1867.

POPULATION, WEALTH AND INDUSTRY.

The population of Nebraska in 1860 was 28,841; the inviting features of the country stimulated immigration to such an extent, that in 1867 the State was admitted into the Union, having attained the requisite number of inhabitants.

The soil of the eastern portion is exceedingly fertile; the prairies are covered with a heavy sod, the matted growth of ages of vegetation, several teams of oxen being required to break it; the subsequent tillage is comparatively easy, the ground being rendered light and mellow. Along the rivers are groves of oak, walnut, cottonwood, hickory and willow. In 1860, the farms of Nebraska embraced 118,789 acres of improved land and 512,425 of unimproved. The peculiar character of soil and climate indicate that stock-raising will become a very important and remunerative branch of its agricultural enterprise. The public lands remaining undisposed of, are equal to about forty-two and a third million of acres.

Thin coal-beds, fifteen to eighteen inches thick, have been found in various localities, and worked with considerable profit; an out-crop at Nebraska City having been advantageously worked by drifting in a distance of three hundred yards.

The counties of Otoe, Nemaha and Richardson contain more timber than any other portions of the State. Considerable attention has been given to the cultivation of fruit and forest trees.

Products in 1866. Indian corn, 2,095,030 bushels, value, $1,424,620; wheat, 257,839 bushels, value, $317,142; Oats, 450,138 bushels, value, $207,063; potatoes, 120,319 bushels, value, $210,558.

Banks. There were, in 1868, four National Banks, with $350,000 capital.

Capital, Carson City. Area, 112,090 square miles. Population, (1860), 6,857. The region from which this state was formed was a portion of the territory acquired by the United States from Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, belonging previous to its transfer to the department of Alta California. The first settlements were made in 1848. Nevada was organized

as a territory, March 2, 1861, and admitted into the Union as a state, October 31, 1864. It extends from the 37th to the 43d meridian of Longitude west from Washington, and from the 42d degree of Latitude to where the Colorado river first meets the boundary of California, about latitude 35°.

The members of the executive government are chosen by the qualified voters of the state, and hold office for four years. The term of office of the present government will expire on the first Monday in January, 1871. - The Legislature is composed of 57 members, 19 Senators and 38 Assemblymen, chosen by the qualified voters of the counties. Every white male citizen of the United States 21 years of age, who has resided six months in the state, and thirty days in the county, is entitled to vote. Persons convicted of treason or felony and not restored to civil rights, idiots and insane persons are excluded.

JUDICIARY.

The judicial power of the state is vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in justices of the peace. The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, who hold their offices during a period of four years. For District Court purposes the state is divided into nine districts, in each of which one of the Justices of the Supreme Court holds the sessions. The Supreme and District Courts have Chancery as well as common-law jurisdiction. The Judges and county officers are elected by the people.

UNITED STATES COURTS.

Circuit Judge, Stephen J. Field. District Judge, Alexander W. Baldwin. District Attorney, Wm. Campbell. Marshal, Edward Irwin.

Chief Justice, H. O. Beatty. F. Lewis-term expires 1873.

SUPREME COURT.

Associate Justices, J. Neely Johnson-term expires 1869; James
Salary of each, $7,000.

TERMS OF COURTS.

Supreme Court, 1st Monday in January, April, July, and October. First Judicial District, 1st Monday in January, March, June, and October. Second Judicial District, Ormsby Co., 1st Mon

day in March, June, September, and December. Second Judicial District, Douglas Co., 1st Monday in February, May, August, and November. Third Judicial District, 1st Monday in February, May, August, and November. Fourth Judicial District, 1st Monday in March, June, September, and December. Fifth Judicial District, 1st Monday in April, August, and December. Sixth Judicial District, 1st Monday in March, June, September, and December. Seventh Judicial District, Nye Co., 1st Monday in January, April, and August. Seventh Judicial District, Churchill Co., 1st Monday in March, July, and November. Eighth Judicial District, 1st Monday in February, May, August, and November. Ninth Judicial District, 1st Monday in March, August, and December.

The Governor in his message to the last Legislature, recommended the negotiation of a loan of $300,000, which with accruing revenues, would provide for the indebtedness of the state and the current expenses until the next meeting of the Legislature in 1869.

EDUCATION.

While Nevada existed as a territory, important steps were taken towards the organization of a system of public education, and since its admission into the Union as a state, this system has been farther perfected. The school laws of 1865, as amended in 1867, provide for a State Board of Education, which consists of the Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Surveyor General of the State. This Board has a special supervision of the State School Fund, and holds semi-annual sessions for the purpose of devising plans for its improvement and for the management and the better organization of public schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction has a general supervision of Public Schools.

There is in each county, a county superintendent elected for two years, who apportions the school money in the county treasury to school districts, and exercises a general supervision over all the public schools of his county, visiting each at least once in each year. He appoints the school trustees, where districts fail to elect, presides over and conducts county teachers' institutes, and reports annually to the State Superintendent.

There are in each school district three trustees, one of whom is appointed annually by the qualified voters of the district for a term of three years. The Board of Trustees is a body corporate, with power to purchase, hold or convey school property, and it has the care of all in its district. The trustees employ teachers, provide school-rooms with maps, furniture and other necessary appendages, grade the schools, apportion the school fund, suspend or expel insubordinate pupils, and report annually to the county superintend

ent. A Board of Examiners consisting of three competent persons, is appointed for each county by the State Superintendent. This Board examines all applicants and grants certificates of qualification to teachers of public schools.

This state has received from the United States 3,661,680 acres of government lands, which are appropriated to educational purposes.

CHARITABLE AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS.

Governor Blasdel in two messages to the Legislature has recommended that provision be made for the care of the insane, by creating a fund for this purpose to be drawn upon until the state is provided with an Asylum, and permanent arrangements have been made for the treatment of this unfortunate class.

Before being admitted into the Union as a state, Nevada was provided with a territorial prison, and the prison buildings have thus far been found sufficient for the state.

POPULATION, WEALTH AND INDUSTRY.

For ten years after the first settlement, the population increased slowly, there being less than 1,000 inhabitants within the limits of the state in 1859. The discovery of silver that year attracted immigration to such an extent that in 1861, there were nearly 17,000 inhabitants. The estimated population in 1866 was 40,000.

The principal aboriginal tribes occupying this state are the Washoes and Pah Utahs in the western part of the state, and the Sashones in the eastern part. These tribes or nations are divided into many small communities or families, sparsely scattered over the country, who are generally peaceful and inoffensive. Some of the Indians are employed by the whites, and are found useful in many kinds of unskilled labor.

Nevada is mostly an elevated plateau, having a general altitude of more than 4,000 feet above tide water. It has numerous chains of mountains from 1,000 to 5,000 feet above the common level of the state. These are mostly covered with forests of pine, spruce, and fir, from which superior lumber is obtained. Between the ranges of mountains are valleys from 5 to 20 miles in width, some of which are very productive, yielding from 30 to 60 bushels of wheat, and from 40 to 80 bushels of barley to the acre. The leading industrial pursuit is mining, the silver mines constituting the great source of wealth to the state. Gold was first discovered in 1849, near the Carson river, and the mines were worked with profit for several years, but have generally been abandoned for the richer silver mines. Silver was discovered in 1859, near what is known as the Comstock ledge in Storey county. This is still the most valuable silver-bearing lode found in Nevada. It has been developed to the depth of more than 700 feet, and the Sutro tunnel projected and partly completed will, when finished, enable the lode to be worked to the depth of three thousand feet or more with prospective profit. This tunnel will be 19,000 feet long, and its estimated cost is from four to

five millions of dollars. The great body of valuable ores contained in the Comstock ledge consists in the black and gray sulphurets of silver. Native silver is found diffused through the vein, but no large masses have been obtained.

A small amount of gold has been extracted, though the proportion now is less than at first. The unexampled richness of the ores of the White Pine District attracted the attention of miners during the autumn of 1868, and caused a large accession to the population.

Copper and iron mines exist in some parts of the state, and lead and coal have been discovered. Salt is abundant. The salt bed at Sands Springs in Churchill county extends over several hundred acres, much of which is a stratum of pure, coarse salt nearly a foot thick, which only requires to be gathered in heaps or thrown on a platform in order to drain off the water, when it is ready for sacking. About 50 miles west of this, is another and still more extensive salt bed, its superficial arca being nearly 20 square miles, while in Nye or Esmeralda county, there is a bed covering more than 50 square miles, over nearly all of which the salt, clean, dry and white, lies to a depth varying from 6 inches to 2 feet. This mineral so extensively used in the reduction of silver ores, is an important source of wealth to the state.

In 1866, there were in the state 170 mills completed for the crushing and reduction of ores, and a number more in the process of construction. These mills carry 2,564 stamps, weighing from 400 to 800 pounds each, the average being about 600 pounds, and have an aggregate capacity equal to 6,322 horses; average cost, about $60,000; aggregate. $10,000,000. The Gould and Curry, carrying 80 stamps and supplied with two large engines, has cost, with grounds, alterations and surroundings, over $1,000,000; several others have cost from $150,000 to $250.000, the Ophir, in Washoe valley, having cost much more. Of this number, 35 are driven by water, and the balance by steam, a few of each class using both water and steam. Of these mills, 36 are in Storey county, 34 in Lyon, 10 in Washoe, 8 in Ormsby, and 1 in Douglas, a total of 89, all of which are running on Comstock ore; Esmeralda county contains 21 mills, Nye 8, Lander 22, Humboldt 5, and Churchill 4. The annual product of the Comstock lode is about $16,500,000.

23. NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Capital, Concord. Area, 9,280 square miles. Population (1860), 326,073. New Hampshire was settled at Dover and Portsmouth in 1623, by the English. The settlements were annexed to Massachusetts in 1641, and continued until 1679, when New Hampshire received a separate charter. It was again connected with Massachusetts in 1689, but in 1741 it became a separate province. It was one of the original thirteen states, framed a constitution in 1776, and ratified the United States Constitution, June 21, 1788.