Events that took place in L. R. Bradley's term

1871 - 

• L. R. Bradley, Democrat, became governor of the state. He served in the office until 1878.
• State Capitol completed and occupied by August
• Reno got the county seat from Washoe City.
• Tuscarora boom with 2 more in the 188O's and the last in 1903.
• Lewis R. 'Old Broadhorns' Bradley (Democrat) became Governor; re-elected 1874.
• Lieutenant George Wheeler's survey expedition in Nevada; in 1872 it became the U. S. Army's 'Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian,' later U. S. Geological Survey (1879).
• Congress made Camp McGarry an Indian reservation; land set aside for Summit Lake Paiute Reservation January 14, 1913 (Humboldt).
• First brand recorded in Nevada by E. Burner of Elko County.
• Washoe County seat moved from Washoe City to Reno.
• Ruby Hill (Eureka) founded.

1872 - 

• Borax industry & Metallic City, Rhodes & Sodaville. Virginia & Truckee extended from Reno to meet tracks in Carson City.
• Winnemucca got county seat as Unionville mining camp dying.
• March 12: President U. S. Grant established Moapa Indian Reservation by executive order; cancelled and re-established in another spot by executive order February 12, 1874, original reservation included about 3,900 square miles; reduced by Congress 1875 to 1,000 acres; increased by executive orders in 1912; land allocated to Indians 1914.
• Eureka Mill Railroad constructed between Virginia & Truckee Railroad and quartz mills on Carson River; abandoned 1906.
• 1872-73:  A. W. von Schmidt survey of California-Nevada boundary.

1873 - 

• March 1: Eureka County, with Eureka as its seat, was created. It became effective March 20, 1873.
• The Great Bonanza Mine was discovered, which helped to bring about a revival of industry and speculation in Nevada.
• Big Bonanza (4th & last boom) on the Comstock - 30,000 pop.
• Pioche & Bullionville Railroad transporting ore to mills.
• Comstock's second big fire, killing 6 men.
• March 4: Legislature elected John P. Jones (Republican) to serve as U. S. Senator; re-elected 1879, 1885, 1891 and 1897.
• May: Freight road established from Winnemucca to Austin (Humboldt, Lander), connecting the mines around Reese River with the transcontinental railroad at Winnemucca (Humboldt).
• June 11-August 1: Virginia City & Gold Hill Water Company built water system for the two Comstock towns; water conveyed through 21 miles of pipe and 45 miles of flumes from a dam and reservoir at Marlette Lake across Washoe Valley to the Comstock by way of Lakeview Ridge (Washoe, Storey). This system was considered a major engineering achievement at the time and in 1975 was designated a national landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
• October 27: Joseph F. Glidden of Illinois invented the first effective and economical barbed wire; invention had major effect on ranching and farming in Nevada. Legislature created Eureka County, county seat at Eureka.
• University of Nevada established by Legislature.
• Winnemucca-Boise road built, connecting the Idaho mines with the transcontinental railroad at Winnemucca (Humboldt).
• Legislature enacted cattle and sheep branding law for ranchers.
• Nevada Central Narrow Gauge (Pioche & Bullionville) Railroad built; abandoned about 1881.
• Wadsworth-Columbus road opened to wagon traffic; connected the mines of Esmeralda County with the transcontinental railroad at Wadsworth (Washoe).
• Discovery of 'the Big Bonanza' directly under the Consolidated Virginia Mine on the Comstock Lode at Virginia City (Storey); largest single silver and gold ore pocket ever discovered, it yielded more than $100 million over six years.
• "Crime of 1873''. Congress passed coinage act which discontinued minting of silver coins for domestic use and severely limited silver purchases by U. S. Government. When law took effect in 1875 price of silver fell heavily, affecting Nevada's mining industry.
• Humboldt County seat moved from Unionville to Winnemucca.
• Belleville (Mineral), Cornucopia (Elko), and Cherry Creek (White Pine) founded.
• Nevada State Agricultural Society chartered; became a state institution in 1885.

1874 - 

• The University of Nevada was established at Elko.
• 3rd & 4th Comstock fires.
• Construction began on Eureka & Palisade Railroad designed to link rich mines at Eureka with the transcontinental railroad; completed 1875; abandoned 1938.
• Tybo (Nye) founded.
• Reno-Loyalton road opened. connecting the mining and agricultural communities of Sierra County, California, with the transcontinental railroad at Reno (Washoe).

1875 - 

• Worst of six major fires on the Comstock.
• Panic of 1875.
• Big fire in Eureka.
• Eureka & Palisade Railroad completed.
• Wm. Sharron ousted Ralston from Bank of Ca. led to suicide.
• Establishment of Indian reservations by executive order.
• Lake Tahoe Railroad (Glenbrook) completed.
• March 4: Legislature elected William Sharon (Republican) to serve as U. S. Senator.
• April: Anti-Chinese labor riot at Cold Hill (Storey); Chinese workmen forced to leave their jobs by white laborers opposing employment of low-paid Chinese workers.
• August 26: Collapse of the Bank of California; financial panic in Nevada and California; mysterious death of Bank of California founder W. C. Ralston at San Francisco; many of the Bank's holdings were reorganized and taken over by William Sharon.
• September: Goshute Indian war scare in White Pine County.
• Anti-Chinese labor disorders at Carson City and along line of Virginia & Truckee Railroad.
• Logging at Lake Tahoe. Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company (later Lake Tahoe Narrow Gauge) Railroad built at Glenbrook; abandoned 1898. M. C. Gardner (Camp Richardson) Railroad built on south shore of Lake Tahoe; abandoned after 1885.
• Virginia City (Storey) nearly destroyed by fire.
• Elko-Tuscarora Road constructed (Elko); connecting the Tuscarora mines with the transcontinental railroad at Elko.

1876 - 

• Top production year for the Comstock. $45,653,477.
• Wm. Sharon merged all Bk. of Ca. mines into Consol. Imperial.
• Invention of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.
• February: Labor strike on Virginia & Truckee Railroad over issue of Virginia & Truckee RR using Chinese laborers; strike settled when low-paid Chinese employees were fired.
• May: White labor organizations attacked Chinese workmen cutting wood in Washoe County, protesting employment of Chinese laborers by logging companies.
• June: Large anti-Chinese riot in Carson City; leaders were arrested and convicted for their part in the disorder.
• October 12: Bishop Ozi William Whitaker of the Episcopal Church opened first private school for girls in Nevada, at Reno (Washoe); school closed 1894.
• Nevada products shown at U. S. Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
• Belmont-Eureka Telegraph Line built, connecting Belmont mines (Nye) with the transcontinental telegraph system at Eureka (Eureka).
• Gas street lamp system installed at Reno by private company (Washoe).
• Candelaria (Mineral), Pyramid City (Washoe), and Ward (White Pine) founded.

1877 - 

• 1st important library opened by Virginia City Miners' Union.
• Dawes Allotment Act gave each Native American family 40 to 160 acres with balance of land surplus for whites.
• March: Congress passed Desert Land Act and Water Act of 1877, allowing sale of up to 640 acres of surveyed semi-arid public land to each settler who irrigated and improved the property.
• April 16: Executive order established U. S. Indian reservation at Duck Valley and Carlin Farms; Carlin Farms Reservation discontinued 1879.
• Legislature established Nevada Fish Commission.
• Wadsworth-Elko-Tuscarora Telegraph Line built, linking the mines of Tuscarora (Elko) with the transcontinental telegraph line at Elko.
• Electric telephones installed in mines at Virginia City after the invention was shown at 1876 U. S. Centennial Exhibition; first telephones in Nevada (Storey).
• Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company improvements, Marlette Lake Tunnel built, second set of pipes added to carry water to the Comstock Lode towns (Washoe, Storey)
• Bunkerville (Clark) founded under the principles of the 'United Order,' a Mormon cooperative concept of community life.
• Hannah K. Clapp and Annie Martin opened the first kindergarten in Nevada at Carson City, as a private institution; first public kindergarten in the state opened in 1895 at Reno (Washoe).

1878 - 

• Invention of phonograph by Thomas A. Edison.
• Bland-Allison Act, boosting silver, enacted by U. S. Congress.
• Bannock Indian Wars.
• Eureka fire destroyed $1 million in property despite fire dept.
• February: Congress passed Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act over veto of President Rutherford B. Hayes, obligating U. S. Government to purchase fixed amounts of silver every year.
• March 1: Day school for Indians opened by Indian agent at Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation; enlarged to boarding school 1882.
• May 30: War began between whites and Bannock and Paiute Indians led by Bannock Chief Buffalo Horn; Indians were defeated after several pitched battles. Buffalo Horn was killed by U. S. Army troops commanded by General 0. 0. Howard. Nevada militia participated in the warfare which took place in the northern part of the state and southern Idaho.
• June 3: Congress passed the Timber and Stone Act allowing citizens to purchase up to 160 acres of public land unfit for cultivation, at $2.50/acre. This legislation effectively allowed a few companies to acquire much of Nevada's forest lands in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
• August 3: Reno's Chinatown burned; Workingmen's Association, a labor organization, ordered all Chinese out of town. Although a vigilance committee at Reno restored order, the Workingmen's Association prevented Chinese from rebuilding their homes and shops for over a month (Washoe).
• Grasshopper and cricket plague reported in Washoe, Humboldt, and Elko Counties, and in California and Utah; lasted until 1883, causing great damage to crops.
• Genoa-Bodie Telegraph Line built, connecting the mines of Bodie, California, with the transcontinental telegraph system at Genoa and Carson City.
• Soda pop (originally called 'soda gush') appeared in Nevada.
• George Wheeler's surveying expedition to Nevada; continued 1871 U. S. Army mapping survey of western states and territories. Wheeler's efforts ended in 1879 when Congress created U. S. Geological Service to take over his work.
• Nevada State Medical Association formed as a statewide organization of physicians at Carson City.
• Rich strike of ore started rush to Bodie, California; most supplies for Bodie, Bridgeport, and other camps around Mono Lake were brought in by railroads and wagons from Nevada towns.
• Bristol (Lincoln), Ely (White Pine); Lewis (Lander) founded; hotel started which became site of Gardnerville (Douglas).
• Construction began on Reno-Bridgeport toll road, designed to connect the mines around Mono Lake, California, with the transcontinental railroad at Reno (Washoe).
• John Wheeler and Oscar Ash built West Walker Toll Road from Antelope Valley to the mines around Bridgeport, California (Lyon, Douglas).
• Joseph Scott of Halleck (Elko) imported the first purebred Hereford cattle into
• Nevada.

1879 - 

• J. H. Kinkead, Republican, who had been elected in 1878, became governor of the state and served in the gubernatorial office until 1882.
• Invention of electric light by Edison.

James Tollard was killed by Toba, a Gosh-Ute Indian, in September 1875. Tollard and his partner, A. J. Leathers, refused to pay $50 to two Indians who had promised to show the white men a rich outcropping of ore in the Schell Creek Range. The ore was of no value. Tollard was killed but Leathers escaped and made his way to the A. C. Cleveland ranch.

Settlers, worried that the Indians would retaliate because of the loss of their two men, formed volunteer troops from Pioche, Eureka and other areas. Governor L. R. "Broadhorns" Bradley, wired Major-General Schofield in San Francisco, CA., asking for federal troops, Major Dennis was sent to Spring Valley to quell the uprising. Dennis found only peaceful Indians who quickly proved they had no wish to make war upon the whites by surrendering To-Ba, the Gosh-Ute who had killed Tollard. To-Ba was hung for the murder.

MICHAEL HOWARD AT MH430@HOTMAIL.COM