PAGE.
The State of Nevada 11
Boundaries and Areas 11
Physical Aspect of the State 13
THE RIVERS OF NEVADA 17
Humboldt River 17
Truckee River 19
Carson River 21
Walker River 23
Owyhee River 23
Reese River 24
Other Nevada Rivers 24
Mineral Treasures of Nevada 26
Agricultural Resources 28
The Comstock Mines 31
The Discovery of Silver 32
Placer Mining on Gold Canyon 32
The Grand Rush over the Sierras 38
The Discoverers and Their Fate 39
Early Mining and Milling 40
Mining Difficulties and Inventions 42
Various Mining and Milling Appliances 44
The Comstock as a School for Miners 45
VIRGINIA CITY AND SURROUNDINGS 45
City Improvements 50
The Great Fire 52
Virginia City at Present 55
Views from the City and Vicinity 58
The View from the Summit of Mount Davidson 59
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad 59
The Days of Bull Teams 61
The Comstock System of Water Supply 63
The Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Works 63
The Big Water Pipes 65
Additional Great Pipes 66
The Sutro Tunnel 68
The Reduction Works of Early Days 70
The First Silver Mill 70
The Many Mills of the Early Days 72
Reduction Works of the Present Day 74
Description of the Process of Working Comstock Silver Ores 74
The Two California Mills 80
The River and Canyon Mills 81
THE COMSTOCK LODE 82
Hoisting Works, Shafts and Mining, Past and Present 82
The Three Lines of Hoisting Works 84
The Combination Shaft 86
The Deepest Workings on the Lode 88
A Return to the Second Line of Works 89
The Old First Bonanzas 91
The New Departure 92
Present Yield of the Comstock Mines 93
Vicissitudes of Fortune in Mining 96
TOWNS OF WESTERN NEVADA 98
Virginia City 98
Gold Hill 99
Silver City 101
Dayton 102
Sutro 104
Carson City 105
Empire City 109
Genoa 110
Reno 111
Other Towns in Washoe County 113
Washoe City 113
Ophir 114
Franktown 114
Wadsworth 114
Verdi 115
LAKE TAHOE AND SURROUNDINGS 115
Emerald Bay 121
Fallen Leaf Lake 123
Silver Lake 123
Cornelian Bay 123
Agate Bay 123
Crystal Bay 123
Shakespeare Rock 123
Cave Rock 124
Glenbrook 124
Cascade Mountain 124
Rubicon Springs 124
Routes to Lake Tahoe 125
The Route from Truckee 125
Distances from Tahoe City to Points on the Lake 126
The Route from Reno 127
THE TOWN OF TRUCKEE 128
Donner Lake 129
The Donner Disaster 130
Surrounding Points of Interest 131
Independence Lake and Surroundings 132
Webber Lake Wonders 133
Pyramid Lake 134
Winnemucca Lake 136
Washoe Lake 138
THERMAL AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS 138
Steamboat Springs 139
Shaw’s Springs 141
State Prison Warm Springs 141
Walley’s Springs 142
Other Nevada Springs 143
RAILROADS IN NEVADA 144
The Central Pacific 145
Virginia and Truckee Distances 146
The Carson and Colorado 146
Wabuska 147
Hawthorne 148
Luning 148
Bellville 148
Candelaria 148
Benton 149
Bishop Creek 149
Independence 149
Keeler 150
Owens Lake 150
Mono Lake 151
Eureka and Palisade Railroad 151
Town of Palisade 151
Eureka 151
Nevada Central Railroad 152
Town of Battle Mountain 152
Austin 153
Nevada and California Railroad 154
Proposed Railroads 154
Salt Lake and Los Angeles 155
Nevada, Central, and Idaho 155
NEVADA A LAND OF GREAT POSSIBILITIES 155
The State of Nevada.
Boundaries and Area.
Nevada is formed of the region of country formerly known as Western
Utah. The whole of Utah, prior to its acquisition by the United States,
was a portion of the Mexican Department of Alta California. All this
vast region was acquired from Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, which was consummated in 1848, and which treaty also gave to
the United States, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and a part of
Colorado. Nevada was constituted a Territory in March, 1861, and was
admitted into the Union as a State in October, 1864. The State extends
from the 35th to the 42d degree of north latitude, and from the 114th to
the 120th degree west longitude from Greenwich. The State in its
greatest dimensions is 420 miles long by 360 miles wide. Nevada is
bounded on the north by Idaho and Oregon, east by Utah and Arizona, and
south and west by California. Previous to its acquisition by the United
States, the region now constituting the State of Nevada was wholly
occupied by tribes of wild Indians. The country was then known only to a
few white men, trappers and Indian traders, whose business at certain
seasons led them into what was then almost a _terra incognito_, and
which was marked upon the maps of that day as the “Great American
Desert,” or the “Unexplored Region.”
The area of the State is, by the most reliable estimate, 112,190 square
miles, or 71,801,819 acres. This includes what is known as the “Colorado
Basin,” in Lincoln County, on the southern boundary of the State, and
which embraces an area of about 12,000 square miles lying north of the
Colorado River. This basin region was taken from Arizona and given to
Nevada by an Act of Congress in 1866. Assuming the water surface of the
numerous lakes in Nevada to cover an area of 1,690 square miles, or
1,081,819 acres, there remain 110,500 square miles, or 70,720,000 acres
as the land area of the State. The vastness of this region is not at
once grasped by the mind of the reader. It may be more readily realized
by comparison with some of the well-known Eastern States. The area of
Nevada is 2,578 square miles greater than the combined areas of Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware,
West Virginia, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Indeed, after giving to
each of the States named its full measure of acres, there would be left
enough land to make two additional Rhode Islands. In all this great
territory, however, there are only about 62,000 souls. Belgium, with an
area of 11,373 square miles, has a population of 5,253,821, or about 462
persons to the square mile, and there the rural population is to that of
the towns as three to one. Were Nevada as densely peopled as Belgium it
would contain 51,749,780 souls, a number almost equal to the present
population of the whole United States. It will therefore be seen that
before becoming as thickly settled as is Belgium, Nevada still has room
for 51,687,780 persons within her boundaries.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains from the western boundary of Nevada for a
distance of over 300 miles, constitute a stupendous snow-capped granite
wall between the State and California. The mean height of this part of
the Sierra Nevada Range is about 7,000 feet. This towering range has a
marked effect on the climate of Nevada. But for its intervention the
climate of the whole State would be much the same as that of California.
The Physical Aspect of Nevada.
Though the western edge laps up onto the Sierra Nevada Range, the
greater part of the State of Nevada lies to the eastward and is embraced
in that Great Basin region which extends to the western base of the
Rocky Mountains. This interior region forms an immense plateau which has
a mean elevation of four thousand feet above the level of the sea. In
Nevada, however, the average altitude of the plateau may safely be set
down at five thousand feet. The altitude of White Plains Station, west
of the sink of the Humboldt, is 3,894 feet, and it is the lowest point
on the overland railroad between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky
Mountains. Owing to this great elevation there is in all parts of Nevada
an atmosphere pure, dry, and free from even the slightest malarial
taint. It is such an atmosphere as in many other lands can only be found
by going to the mountain tops. The average level of the State is higher
than many of the noted mountain resorts in the Atlantic States. It is
owing to this altitude that the nights in summer are always cool and
pleasant, however warm the weather during the hours of daylight. The
extremes of heat and cold are not great.
Running north and south through the elevated plateau which forms the
general base or floor of the State are numerous parallel ranges of
mountains. These interior ranges are quite regular in course and
recurrence, and rise to a height of from one thousand to seven thousand
feet above the general level of the country. Among these interior
mountains are a few peaks that attain an elevation of from 9,000 to
12,000 feet above the level of the sea. Between these mountain ranges
lie valleys ranging in width from one mile to thirty miles. As these
valleys are hidden by the high, rocky ranges, and are not to be seen in
a general survey of the country, even from an elevated position, the
aspect of the country is sterile and austere, all being apparently a
succession of barren, rocky hills.
The majority of the valleys lying between these rugged, parallel ranges
are susceptible of cultivation, and many are wonderfully productive. The
bench lands bordering the valleys are also exceedingly fertile and yield
large crops wherever water for irrigation is led upon them. For all
uses, those of the horticulturist as well as the agriculturist, these
bench lands will yet be found the best in the State. The benches possess
a warm and willing soil.
The interior mountains, rugged and timberless as they are, have their
uses. From the summits of many of the ranges flow springs and small
streams that afford a supply of water for the irrigation of the valley
and bench lands below. They are also conservators of a supply of
moisture. On the summits of the higher ranges snow falls in winter to a
great depth, and from the melting of this in spring and summer is
derived a considerable supply of water for use on the arable lands on
either side. These reserves of snow are also of great benefit to the
mountain pastures, causing grass to spring up along the courses of a
thousand ravines and little valleys, or laps of land, on the slopes and
tops of the hills. This water supply may be made infinitely more
valuable than it is at present by the construction of suitable
reservoirs at proper points in the large canyons for storing it up till
needed in summer.
The construction of such reservoirs has already been commenced among the
interior ranges, as well as in places along the main Sierra Nevada
Range, and year by year more and still more such improvements will be
made. Already Nevada holds a high place as an agricultural and
stock-growing State, though for nearly the whole term of her existence
mining for the precious metals has been the all-absorbing business of
the majority of her people, and has been the business which has
attracted the attention of nearly all the wealthy men of the country.
The State annually produces immense quantities of hay, and the beef
cattle of Nevada are the finest and fattest to be found on the Pacific
Coast. A great part of the beef supply of California is obtained from
Nevada. The horses of Nevada are also very fine and noted for their
“staying” qualities, as they have much broader chests and larger lungs
than the animals reared in valley regions near the level of the sea. The
State is also beginning to make its mark in the business of
wool-growing, not only on account of the quantity but also the quality
produced. In price Nevada wool leads the wools of all the new regions of
the West. Fine wheat and good grain of all kinds will everywhere be
found in Nevada, and the apples, peaches, pears, plums, and all other
kinds of fruit have a piquancy of flavor not to be found in that grown
in the sweltering valleys of California. The same may be said of all
kinds of kitchen vegetables, strawberries, and other small fruits. In
the way of potatoes the State produces such as have no superiors in any
part of the world. This elevated region seems as much the natural home
of the potato as were those high valleys in the Andes where it was first
found growing wild, and where it is said the wild tuber is still to be
seen.
The Rivers of Nevada.
Nevada has within her borders no large rivers. In the Middle and Western
States, her so-called rivers would be rated as large brooks or creeks.
In England and some other European countries her streams might pass for
rivers. The largest river we have is but a rill in comparison with the
rivers of the West and South. Our Nevada rivers, too, are peculiar in
that they nearly all remain in the State. But one goes outside of our
boundaries to wander away in search of the great ocean. Most of our
streams stay at home. Rather than run away to be tossed about and lost
in the sea, they go down into the ground or up into the air.