Reno, Nevada

“ It is unlike the East or South, where one must prove oneself as to character and standing, before one can hope to be admitted into the better circles of society. Fully ninety per cent, of the people who come to Nevada to become bona fide residents with the expectation of taking advantage of Nevada's lenient divorce laws, are people of high character and standing. It is naturally well to mix with Reno's people, to keep oneself as straight and restricted as one would do at home, and to avoid the tendency to throw off all restraint when one passes west of the Rocky Mountains. ”

“ The various hot springs to me are the most wonderful part of nature's loveliness. Here one may watch lonely colonists and native maidens dive and play in the water whilst listening to their laughter. An early morning dip in the pool and a swift canter back to town will start your blood tingling; clear the city-cramped lungs and fill them with Nevada's fresh invigorating air. It will make one feel like a two year old and add ten years to one's life.....
Ricks, the famous road house, and training quarters of Jack Johnson, the black champion prize fighter, is within walking distance of Reno. ”

“ The state is expending $100,000 a year on new buildings at the University and it costs $170,205 a year to maintain from state and federal funds. Laboratory service is afforded the mining, agricultural and stock raising industries of the state and the University is looked upon with great pride by the citizens of Nevada.
Fishing and Hunting—The country surrounding Reno abounds in game and fish and outdoor life is the fashion. The streams and lakes are all well stocked with game trout and a good basket of trout can be caught in the Truckee river within the city limits of Reno. ”

“ At Reno is the Nevada State University, and as this is a silver region there are extensive smelting mills. Thirty-one miles southward is Carson, the capital of Nevada, and twenty-one miles farther the famous silver-mining town of Virginia City, with ten thousand people, built half-way up a steep mountain slope and completely surrounded by mountains. ”

“ But it made a mighty good job of it, for at the time of his decease in 1912, the Senator was worth several millions, and his beautiful residence situated at the top of a hill on the outskirts of Reno is said to have cost no less than $200,000. It does seem a pity, however, that as soon as a moderate sum of wealth is accumulated-with but few exceptions- there is a hankering to desert the State of Nevada in favor of some more populated, but surely not sunnier clime. And so young Nixon took his father's millions to the adjoining State of California, and Nevada knows not of them. ”

“ Send me men grit for the combat;
men who are grit to the core...."
It would be difficult to name a citizen of Nevada more popular with his fellow-men or enjoying to a greater degree the confidence and trust of those with whom he is associated than H. J. Gosse, proprietor and manager of the Riverside Hotel of Reno.
The colony has a real friend in H. J. Gosse, who is certainly an exponent of joy, giving optimism to the lonely wanderer who may find himself domiciled under the roof of the Riverside Hotel where the splendid personality of this old pioneer reigns supreme. ”

“ IRRIGATION AT LOVELOCK AND MANY OTHER PLACES IN NEVADA IS RAPIDLY SHOWING THAT NOT ALL ITS WEALTH LIES IN MINES
Reno, the most important and substantial Nevada cities, is 18,000 people and growing rapidly. To it the Virginia and Truckee Railroad brings business from the south, while the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway connects it with Northern California, Plumas and Modoc Counties (now being further developed by new lines under construction) and Southern Oregon. ”

“ I selected Reno as a central point for residence and decided to locate there. Eastern stock markets appeared to be beyond my ken. It seemed quite apparent that the Western game, as compared with the Eastern, was one of marbles as against millions. In New York's financial mart I felt like a minnow in a sea of bass. Without millions for capital, Nevada appealed to me as a more likely field of usefulness. I believed in Nevada's mineral resources. Having seen Goldfield evolve from a tented station on the desert with a hundred people into a city of 15,000 inhabitants ”

“ Dull in Reno? Absurd!
Nevada is necessarily a mining state. Apart from the $700,000,000 in gold and silver taken from the Comstock Lode, Nevada's mines have supplied the world with thousands of tons of other materials, such as lead, zinc, etc., and thus when one thinks of the industries in Nevada, it is quite natural to think of mining first. There it is in the air. Everywhere you are confronted with specimens of ore: in the offices of mining companies, in your lawyer's office, on the doctor's desk, on your friend's dressing table, next to the Bible in the minister's home. ”

“ The twenty miles in Nevada before reaching the California line gave us an opportunity to see first-hand some of the state’s resources of which they talked at Reno. The road was unexpectedly good, smooth and62 free from dust, with gently rolling grades. The view was quite unobstructed and permitted speed ad libitum, keeping a sharp lookout, of course, for an occasional rough spot or sandy stretch. A more desolate country than that which stretched away on either hand would be hard to imagine. ”

“ Average number of days without a cloud in the sky, 195; partly clouded, 105; and cloudy, 65. Doctors prescribe Reno's sunshine, dry atmosphere and altitude for health.
Railroads and Rates—Three railroads enter Reno; the Southern Pacific, the Western Pacific and the Virginia and Truckee, affording the city transportation facilities enjoyed by few Western cities. At the present time Reno enjoys full terminal rates or better for goods shipped from Eastern points and the distribution rates to the Nevada and Eastern California territory are also very favorable. ”

“ Nevada and California.
This narrow-gauge railroad starts at Reno and runs northward into Lassen County, California. It has now attained a length of about eighty miles, and is still in process of construction. It is penetrating a region of country containing vast forests of pine timber, good mines, and many fine mountain valleys. Eventually it will be run northward into the interior of Oregon. It will presently bring to Reno great quantities of lumber and timber to be shipped eastward into the timberless regions of the Great Basin country. ”

“ These shops do the general repair work of the Salt Lake Division of the Southern Pacific; they employ between five and six hundred men at an approximate payroll of $125,000 per month.
The Verdi Lumber Company near Reno employs from 350 to 400 men in its mills, box factories and logging camps, at a monthly payroll of approximately $25,000.
In addition to these industries there are the Reno and Riverside mills, and large stock yards and packing houses. Nevada is a noted stock growing state for great droves of sheep, hogs and cattle; Nevada's beef is famous throughout the United States. ”

“ In Nevada the decree is absolute the moment granted and the minister, if desired, may be waiting at the court house door to perform the new marriage ceremony.....
"With these few remarks I shall take up your questions by number:
"1. Where to go upon arrival?
"There are three good hotels in Reno; the Riverside Hotel, Hotel Golden and the Overland Hotel. Besides the hotels we have two or three good apartment houses. Many people go directly to the private boarding houses where room and board can be had at more reasonable figures. ”

“ Our trip from Carson in Nevada over the mountains into California was a delightful one. From Carson to Reno the scenery is no great shakes (although it was over hill and dale) , for the hills [Pg 12] looked lone and barren. The crops had just been gathered from these hills and dales. The leaves were turning color on the trees and it was the melancholy season of the year when nature looks blue. Me and Billy weren't melancholy, however, for we were good company to each other and never felt lonely. At Reno early one morning we crept into an unsealed boxcar and rode upward to the high Sierras. ”

“ However, it is quite outside my province to61 write a disquisition on the resources of Nevada, and I have been dwelling on Reno only because it seemed of unusual interest to me and was a stopping-place on our tour. Our hotel, the Riverside, is a huge red-brick structure standing directly on the banks of the Truckee so that its windows overlook the swift stream, which moves so rapidly that it does not lose its clearness even in the town limits. ”

“ In the Nevada State University, situated at Reno, there is a magnificent band of young men, working and teaching as professors, who regard all opportunities as sacred trusts, and who are making for their university a wonderful record of scientific achievement for universal benefit.
Located on the Nevada side of the Tahoe region line, at the northeast end of the Lake, is Mount Rose. It is one of the most salient and important of the peaks that surround Tahoe, its elevation being 10,800 feet. ”

“ Dairies, restaurants and bakeries are inspected regularly, and no refuse is allowed to accumulate in streets or yards. The water supply is pure.
Labor Conditions—Labor conditions are good in Reno, which is the shipping point for the labor of the mines, lumber mills, ranches and construction camps of the Nevada and Eastern California territory. There is always work to be found in the trades and unskilled labor markets. The supply of office and store positions is about equal to the demand. There are no strikes or other quarrels between employer and employee in Reno. ”

“ The state was separated from Utah in 1861, and admitted as a state in 1864. The first white men to visit it were the Franciscan friars in 1775. In 1825 Peter Ogden of the Hudson Bay Company came to Humboldt River, Fremont went through the state in 1843–5, and in 1849 a trading-post was established on the Carson River by the Mormons. The principal cities are Carson City, the capital (Pop. 2,466) , Virginia City, Reno, Gold Hill, Goldfield, Rawhide and Toriopah. About 5,216 Indians are still on the reservations in the state. Nevada has about 1,000 miles of railroad. ”

“ This is one of the great many splendid advantages of the beautiful city tucked away in the shadow of the Sierras; so cheer-up, you prospective exiles, the wilds have their untold fascinations.
In writing of Reno one feels a compelling desire to describe the principal points of interest around and near the city, as in these days of motor cars and good roads it is a never-ending joy to spend a day among the famous gold mining districts, visit the Indian homes and reservations, and other beautiful and interesting places. ”

“ Reno has developed into a cosmopolitan city with a cosmopolitan population. The cafes have cabarets with excellent talent, and there is dancing every evening in several of the hotels, where amid the bright lights, gay music, beautifully gowned women and well groomed men, one might easily imagine oneself in one of the swell cafes on Broadway: until one catches a glimpse of the moonlight on the Truckee, through an open window.... Here the people of Reno rub shoulders with those who constitute the "Divorce Colony," and to a new-comer, it is difficult to distinguish the one from the other. ”

“ And then we came to the Pacific Ocean which stretched far out into the infinite, reflecting the rose-colored sky just at sunset. The dream of it all is still with me. I could hardly realize that a week before I had been flying through the pure white sparkling snow in the same state; and yet, here I was only a few hours away.... One sojourning in Reno should not miss a trip through California while in the neighborhood of that glorious state. ”

“ These are resources that may be common to many other live towns, but Reno has several sources of income quite peculiar to itself that an indulgent state legislature, largely composed of Renoans, has made possible by shrewd enactments. Here it is still lawful to race horses as in the good old days with everything wide open and bookmakers galore. A solid month each year is devoted to the speed track, during which time the sportively inclined congregate in Reno from all parts of the West and squander much ready cash in the town. ”

“ Fights and shooting scrapes are common in the gambling places, but the Reno officers are alert and fearless, and soon put obstreperous people where the dogs won't bite them.
Notwithstanding its gambling and recklessness, Reno is a good business town, and full of orderly, respectable people. There are many wholesale and retail establishments in the town; ice plants, machine shops, breweries, ore reduction works and lumber yards. Besides, it is a great cattle shipping center. ”

“ RENO TO KLAMATH FALLS
Reno has acquired a nation-wide fame for its “wide open” proclivities and we fear that much of the prosperity we saw on every hand may be due to its liberal though generally deprecated practices. The 1910 census gave the town a population of about ten thousand and if we allow a gain of as much as fifty per cent since then, it is still no more than a good-sized village so far as people are concerned. ”

“ Here, the residents of Reno work side by side with members of the "Divorce Colony," women in all walks of life, from all parts of the world; women famous and beautiful, all working for the great cause of Humanity without any social prejudices, personal feelings, or pettiness.... So much for the Y. M. C. A.
[Illustration: Mt. Rose School]
Among the prominent and beautiful buildings are: the Nixon Building and the Nixon Home on the banks of the Truckee, both of which are artistic and worthy of mention. ”