CONTENTS.
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.