The Sagebrush State by Michael W. Bowers

Author:Michael W. Bowers [Bowers, Michael W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781647790271
Publisher: University of Nevada Press

The Second Period: 1900–1939

The end of Nevada’s mining depression came in 1900 when silver and gold were found near Tonopah and Goldfield in the southern part of the state. As had been the case in northern Nevada, mining towns in southern Nevada boomed and, eventually, busted. During that period of roughly a quarter century, however, various individuals in the state grew rich and powerful. Among the most influential were Key Pittman and Tasker Oddie, who started their political careers, and George Wingfield, who made his fortune during the Tonopah–Goldfield boom.

By 1912, silver and gold were being replaced by copper, needed to supply the electrical industry of the early twentieth century’s industrial revolution, as the state’s chief mining export. In 1900, a large vein of copper was discovered in White Pine County near Ely, which accelerated the construction of company towns in the region to house the men who would mine it. These company towns often included stores, schools, and hospitals; they were planned communities, quite unlike the muddy, disorganized, and often-dangerous tent cities that had sprung up during the earlier mining period. What is also notable about the mines of the copper era is that unlike the gold and silver mines in the north, they were not dominated by California companies. Those who made their fortunes from the copper mines tended to stay in Nevada and contribute to the state’s development. Demand for copper would continue to fuel the state’s mining industry through the two world wars and the Korean War, until copper prices dropped in the 1970s.

By far the most important political and historical aspect of the first two decades of the twentieth century in Nevada was the state’s support for Progressive Era reforms that gave the voters more control over their own government and reduced the power of the wealthy elite who often dominated the legislature and government officials. As noted in chapter 4, the state adopted the three direct democracy election methods of initiative, referendum, and recall from 1904 to 1912. The legislature established the office of mine inspector in 1909 to ensure mine safety for Nevada’s working miners, and a workman’s compensation bill was passed in 1911 to aid those injured on the job. In 1914, the efforts of Anne Martin, Jeanne Weir, and Sarah Emeline (Emma) Mack paid off when women were given the right to vote. The Direct Primary Law was passed in 1909, establishing democratic primaries rather than backroom caucuses as the means for party selection of candidates and requiring that the state legislature abide by a popular vote in its appointment of US senators. The ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, providing for direct election of US senators, put an end to vote buying in the state legislature by senate hopefuls.

The domination of the banks and railroads also began to falter during the Progressive Era. The legislature established the Railroad Commission in 1907 to regulate rates and, in that same year, created the Board of Bank Commissioners to oversee the state’s banks.

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