being white, and frequently hardening until it glistens in the sun, give to these
spots a marked and desolate appearance ; so hard do these surfaces sometimes
become that a heavily loaded wagon fails to cut through them, and animals
passing over scarcely leave a footmark behind them. In other cases, these flats,
or a portion of them, remain soft the year round, the water coming within a few
inches of the surface. In these cases a constant efflorescence of saline matter
is going on, the sublimated particles being deposited upon the surface and on
the surrounding shrubbery, if there be any near by, which is not apt to be the
case, the soil being so much covered with water and so mixed with agents un-
friendly to vegetation that the wild sage and greasewood, the least dainty of all
plants, fail to get a foothold upon these flats. Not even a moss or lichen, or the
most lowly fungus, ever lives there. While these alkali flats and mud lakes
are found in nearly every section of Nevada, the most extensive are met with
in the northwestern part of the State, where in wet seasons they cover hundreds
of square miles.
Its rivers and streams. Nevada, considering the extent of its territory, is
remarkable for its lack of streams of any magnitude. It has not a navigable
river scarcely more than one or two streams that in most countries would be
called a river, within its borders. The Ilumboldt, the longest and largest river
in the State, is, at ordinary stages, fordable in many places, as are all the others,
nearly everywhere along them. The habit, common on this coast, of desig-
nating so large a class of diminutive streams as rivers, is apt to give them an
importance on the map which they do not deserve. Reese river, though having
a length, traced from its source to its sink, of nearly one hundred and fifty miles,
is not over ten or 'fifteen feet wide, with an average depth of about two feet ;
other streams, popularly termed rivers, being still smaller. As a general thing,
the rivers have a hurried current, with occasional rapids, though nothing like a
cataract or even "a tolerably-sized cascade is known to exist in the State.
Flowing through broad valleys the immediate banks of the streams are apt to
foe low in the case of the smaller ones, only a few feet above the water. Ileese
river, a good type of this class, flows through a canal-like channel, with parallel
banks, composed of clay and sodded quite down to the water, which at ordinary
stages is from two to ten feet below the adjacent plain. Except far down, it
never dries up and scarcely ever overflows its banks. It disappears at one or
two points along its course, there being here no channel above ground. At
these places large meadows are formed, and having diffused itself throughout
their whole extent, the water- reappears below, sometimes at several points, and
being again gathered into one channel, flows on as before. It is worthy of
remark, however, that in its passage through this meadow the water, from being
perfectly limpid as above, has been turned to a milky color, though not per-
ceptibly altered in taste, the discoloring matter being probably a species of clay
containing no deleterious or offensive properties. Reese river, after running
with no other interruptions than these for nearly one hundred miles, begins to
diminish, standing only in pools along its course, which are separated, often for
a considerable space, by the more elevated portions of its bed or patches of
meadow land. The stream only at high water continues to run along this part
of its route, when it makes its way nearly to the Ilumboldt, finally disappearing-
in a tule fen that dries up in the fall and winter, the seasons of greatest drought,
or at least of lowest water in this country. The Wemissa, Umashaw, and
many other streams terminate in a similar manner ; these marshy spots, like
those where the larger rivers find a terminus, being commonly called sinks.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 93
The water in most of the rivers and creeks is wholesome and palatable through-
out their entire course, that of the mountain rills being always excellent. The
lower 'the stage of water and the further we go down the stream the more im-
pure it becomes ; the water of the lower Humboldt being, late in the season,
hardly fit to drink, owing to the accumulated impurities here diffused through
a smaller volume. In consequence of the waste from evaporation and absorption,
most of the larger streams lose as much water from these causes as they gain
from their tributaries, of which they have very few, imparting to the rivers of
this region the further peculiarity of being quite as large, and sometimes even
larger, near their sources than they are at their points of termination. The
Humboldt supplies a good example of this kind, it being considerably smaller
where it enters the lake than it is two hundred miles above, throughout all
which distance it can hardly be said to have a single tributary, not a stream of
any size discharging directly into it, even in the wet season. As before stated,
most of these streams, as well as the valleys through which they flow, are
destitute of timber, the latter, with few and inconsiderable exceptions, being
confined to the mountains. In the Reese River valley proper, nearly one
hundred miles long, there is not a stick of timber large enough for a fence rail,
many others, of equal extent, being quite as badly off in this respect. Without
trees, and containing but little verdure, these immense valleys and plains pre-
sent for the most part a very dreary and monotonous appearance, many of the
latter justly meriting the appellation of desert, so often applied to them. The
water in the creeks running from the mountains is always good, and, as in some
of the ranges these are numerous" and occasionally quite large, they become
objects of importance, not only as supplying the ordinary wants of the inhabit-
ants, but as furnishing the means for irrigation and a considerable amount of
propulsive power, their descent being uniformly great. The narrow strips of
alluvial land found along some of these mountain rills, as well as the bottoms at
their mouths, are generally covered with a growth of scrubby trees, consisting
of birch, willow, cottonwood, &c. All the lakes, as well as the larger and some
of the smaller streams, contain fi>h, some of ^vhich, the mountain trout, are
excellent. The fish taken in most of the lakes and along the lower portions of
the streams, however, are of an inferior kind, or the better species deteriorated!
through the impurities of the water.
Springs thermal, mineral, and otherwise. In the matter of springs, Nevada
is considerably better off than in regard to streams of running water, the former
in some parts -of the State being quite numerous, many of them, either as to size,
temperature, or the composition of their waters, justly accounted geological
curiosities. They occur at all attitudes and under nearly every peculiarity of
condition, large and small, deep and shallow, cold, hot and tepid ; in a state of
ebullition and quiescence, impregnated with every variety of mineral and metallic
substance, and perfectly pure. Sometimes they are found isolated, and at others
standing in groups. Some send off steam and emit a gurgling or hissing noise,
while others dt> neither. Some of these groups contain as many as forty or fifty
springs, varying from one foot to thirty in diameter, and in depth from two
feet to a hundred or more. In shape they incline to be circular.
The mineral and thermal springs are usually situated upon a mound or tumulus
formed from the calcareous or silicious particles brought up and deposited by
their own waters. These mounds often cover several acres, their summits being
raised to a height of forty or fifty feet above the adjacent plains. In some cases
the sides of the springs are formed of these limy or silicious concretions, raising
them in huge basins several feet above the level of the mounds themselves,
while in others they are composed simply of earth or turf. The water in most
of them is soft and agreeable to the taste when cold, and so transparent that the
minutest object can be seen on the bottom of the deepest spring; even the
small orifices through which the water enters being distinctly visible. Fre-
94 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
qnently a hot and a cold spring are situate so close together that a person placed
between them rnay dip one hand into each at the same time. From most of them
a small stream issues, the water in many merely keeping even with the top,
while in others it does not rise so high. Occasionally one is met with that has
already become extinct, a condition to which others seem rapidly, and perhaps
all are gradually approaching. These fountains, both the thermal and mineral,
are much used by the Indians as a cleansing or curative means, and there is
little doubt* but some of them possess rare medicinal virtues. Several of them
have already become places of much resort with invalids, the sulphurous and
chalybeate waters being found particularly efficacious in a variety of diseases.
To the Steamboat springs, in Washoe county, the largest number have thus far
repaired, more because of their greater accessibility than their superior sanitary
properties. A few of these hot springs are subject to a tidal action, belching
forth at timts large quantities of water, followed by a subsidence that may last for
months or years.
A chemical analysis of the waters of Steamboat springs shows them to con-
tain in various proportions the chlorides of sodium and magnesium, with soda in
different forms, lime, silica, and a small per cent, of organic matter. Similar
tests made of the waters from other springs disclose nearly the same constituent
salts, with the addition in some cases of sulphur and iron. Some of the cold
springs, especially those found in the larger valleys, are quite as remarkable for
their depth and dimensions as the thermals. It frequently happens that the
streams from the mountains, after sinking, reappear in the form of springs along
the sides or out in the middle of the valleys. ' Some of these are of but ordinary
size, while others are immense pools, from twenty to eighty feet in diameter,
and over one hundred feet deep, some of them sending off considerable streams of
pure cold water. Not all the cold springs, however, are free from disagreeable
or deleterious minerals ; many of those found on the plains being highly offen-
sive and injurious. From some of them even animals, though suffering with
thirst, refuse to drink.
The salt beds. These constitute not only a notable feature in the chorogra-
phy, but also an important item in the economical resources of Nevada. There
are a number of these salt fields in different parts of the State ; they, like the
alkali flats and mud lakes, being confined to the valleys and plains in which
they cover the points of greatest depression, the most of them being adjacent to
or encompassed by a belt of alkali lands. The heavier deposits are, no doubt, of
lacustrine origin, occupying what were formerly the basins of inland seas or ex-
tended salt lakes. Their formation, it would seem probable, was brought about
by the subsidence of these lakes through evaporation or other more violent
causes, whereby the entire saline contents of their waters were collected and
precipitated at these points, the strata of clay interposed between the different
layers of salt being the result of floods occurring at various periods. Situate,
however, in valleys from which the waters, having no escape, spread out over
large surfaces and soon evaporate, leaving the salt and other solid substances
with which they are charged behind, the formation of these saliniferous beds
may, perhaps, be sufficiently accounted for by the agents and operations now in
action, without presupposing the existence of others about which less is known.
Of the considerable number found in the State, three of these beds at least
merit special notice, because of the abundance and purity of their product, and
the facility with which it can be gathered. That at Sand springs, Churchill
county, seventy miles east of Virginia City, extends over several hundred acres,
a portion of it being covered with water to the depth of a few inches. Under
this is a stratum of pure coarse salt nearly a foot thick, and which only requires
to be gathered in heaps or thrown on a platform in order to drain off the water,
which is soon accomplished, when it is ready for sacking. Under this top
layer is another composed of clay of equal, and, in places, of greater thickness
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 95'
beneath which again occurs another body of salt, but of what magnitude is
unknown, the ascertainment of this point being of no practical moment, inas-
much as the salt taken out above immediately reforms, the space soon filling up
with new depositions from the super-saturated water. This bed is owned by a
company who take out from it over half a million pounds of salt per month,
the mills and reduction works about Virginia City obtaining their supplies here,
and consuming the most of this large quantity, a little being ground up for table
use. The company dispose of this salt ready for sacking at $20 per ton on the
ground, the freight to Virginia being about $30. Having their own teams,
however, they are able to deliver it at the mills for $40 per ton, a sum consid-
erably below wBat the freight alone would be for transporting the article from
San Franciscor whence, for several years at first, it was wholly derived, the
freights at that time varying from $120 to $180 per ton. At these prices, ad-
ding first cost say $12 per ton many thousand tons were consumed by the
mills in Nevada prior to 1863, when they began packing it in from the salt
pools situate forty-five miles southeast of Walker lake, whereby the price was
somewhat reduced. These pools, like the water at Sand springs, being super-
saturated with salt, deposit it to a depth of several inches about their borders,
renewing it in a short time when taken away. After the discovery of the bed
at Sand springs, it being much nearer Virginia, salt ceased to be brought to
that place from these pools, though the mills about Aurora still continue to ob-
tain their supplies there. To the cheapened price of this community is the
present diminished cost of reducing silver ores in Nevada somewhat due, the
annual saving thus effected being in some of the larger establishments equiva-
lent to a hundred thousand dollars or more.
About fifty miles north of Sand springs, being also in Churchill county,
though near the line of Humboldt, is another and still more extensive salt bed
than that already described, its superficial area being nearly twenty square
miles, It does not differ, except in extent, from thcit at Sand springs ; the water
here also, instead of covering, coming only to within U few inches of the surface.
At this place there is first an inch of dry white salt on top, then six inches of
wet, overlying a stratum of tough mud, or blue clay, a foot and a half thick, and
filled with cubical crystals of salt, some of them several inches square and bear-
ing a strong resemblance to ice. Under this clay comes another layer of clean,
coarse salt, reaching downward to an unknown depth. This field is also owned
by a company who have erected a railway for running out, a platform for dry-
ing, and a house for storing their salt. Owing to its distance from the chief point
of consumption, Virginia City, but little of this salt has been sent to that place,
though the Humboldt .mills and those at Austin, in part, have drawn from here
their sifpply. Large as is this bed, it is surpassed by another situate in Nye, or
possibly in Esmeralda county, the location of the boundary between the coun-
ties being not yet well settled. This deposit is about one hundred and twenty
miles S. SW% from Austin, and seventy miles in the same direction from lone,
the shire town of Nye county. This bed covers more than fifty square miles,
over nearly all which the salt, clean, dry, and white, being the pure chloride of
sodium, lies to a depth varying from six inches to two feet. This is the surface
deposit, what there may be below never having been ascertained, nor does it
matter, the amount in sight being ample to supply the wants of the whole
world for centuries, could it but be readily furnished at the points where
required ; and though at present of so little avail, when railroads come to be
extended into these regions, there is no doubt but salt can be shipped to Califor-
nia, and perhaps to more distant localities with profit. Though sold on the
ground by the companies claiming these beds at one cent per pound, and some-
times for less, this salt should be afforded at a price scarcely more than the bare
cost of gathering it up in most instances a mere nominal sum. Upon the great
salmiferous field of Nye county millions of tons could be shovelled up lying dry
96 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
and pure upon the surface to a depth varying from six inches to three feet, with
most likely still more heavy bodies below. This, like the more limited beds
elsewhere, is claimed by private individuals, either under some of the various
land laws of the United States, or enactments of the State of Nevada, or per-
haps by -virtue of certain regulations similar to those adopted by the mining
community, and which hitherto have constituted the tenure of their mining prop-
erties. As a means of guarding against combinations that might unduly en-
hance the price of a commodity so largely used and so indispensable in the re-
duction of silver ores, it might be expedient for the general government to take
measures to prevent these salt beds being so completely monopolized by private
parties, as is otherwise likely to be the case. Besides these more extensive beds,
there are numerous plains upon which the salt is deposited to the depth of an
inch or more by the process of efflorescence, tbe soil being damp and impreg-
nated with saline matters to a greater or less degree. At these spots the salt,
generally mixed with a small percentage of foreign matter, such as soda, lime,
or magnesia, is gathered by simply scraping it in heaps upon the surface, which
operation must be performed in the dry season, the smallest amount of rain
causing it to dissolve and wholly disappear. It reforms, however, with fair
weather, and when removed is speedily replaced by new depositions, being in
this respect like the heavier beds, practically inexhaustible. This admixture
of foreign matter does not seem to impair its value for the reduction of ores,
though rendering it unfit for culinary uses. From one of these plains, situate in
Big Smoky valley, forty-five miles south of Austin, the mills at that place and
elsewhere in the Reese river region obtain their principal' supplies of salt, it being
furnished on the ground at one cent a pound ; and as the average cost of hauling
to the mills is not over twenty dollars per ton, the latter get this article at a
comparatively moderate price. Upon these salt fields there are no signs of ani-
mal or vegetable life, though it is a singular circumstance, that coming up
through the saline incrustation, near the edge of the largest of them, is a fine
spring of pure cold water; similar springs being found either upon or in close
juxtaposition to others. The deposits of salt in this region are not confined to
these beds or plains; it sometimes occurs in elevated positions, the strata often,
in the aggregate many feet thick, being imbedded in hills and mounds of such
extent as to almost justify their being called mountains. One of these, situate
In the newly created but not yet organized county of Lincoln, in the extreme
southeastern corner of the State, covers an area of several thousand acres, the
layers being composed of cubical blocks of salt, often a foot square, nearly pure,
and as transparent as window glass. There are elsewhere in the State other
mounds of salt, the strata separated by layers of earth, similar to this, but none,
so far as known, of equal magnitude.
Lumber and fuel. The only timber in the State capable of making really
good lumber is that growing on the eastern slope and along the base of the Sierra
Nevada mountains. A species of white pine is found in scattered groves on
some of the mountains in the interior and eastern part of the State, but the
trees are comparatively small, not more than two or three feet in diameter and
forty or fifty feet high, the wood being soft and brittle. As we have seen, there is
but little timber of any kind in the valleys, most of them containing none at all,
while many of the mountains are equally destitute. The prevailing tree, where
there is any east of the Sierra Nevada, is the pinon a species of scrubby pine,
having a low, bushy trunk, from six to twelve inches through and from fifteen to
thirty feet high. Having a close fibre and being full of resin, it is heavy and
burns well even when green, being equal to most kinds of hard wood in the
amount of heat it gives out, and constituting a very valuable kind of fuel.
Mixed with these forests of pirlon there are sometimes a few juniper trees and
mountain mahogany neither of any service for lumber, though the latter, when
dry, is an excellent fuel. Along most of the larger streams, as stated, there are
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 97
a, few cottonwoods and small willows; while, in some of the mountain canons,
these, together with birch, ash, and cherry, are found, all, however, of a dwarfish
growth, and, though serviceable for fencing, not of much use for making lumber.
With such a scarcity of good timber the better qualities of lumber command
high prices in most parts of Nevada. Thus, at Virginia City, though within
eighteen miles of the best timber lands, the price varies from $40 to $60, accord-
ing to kind and quality. The further we go east the higher the price rules;
the same quality of lumber that can be bought at the mills in the sierra for $20,
in Carson City for $30, and in Virginia City for $45, per thousand, costs $1 20 in Aus-
tin, where, at the same time, that made from the white-pine growing in the vicinity
can be bought for $60, and fire-wood for a little more than half the price it is
in Virginia. Much of the lumber employed in the erection of mills and the
construction of machinery about Austin, as well as a large proportion of that
used on other buildings in that place, has cost from $120 to $200 per thousand,
it being considerably cheaper now than it was several years ago. Worthless as
this piiion is for the purposes of lumber, many of the houses in the smaller towns
in the interior are built of it a face being hewn upon two sides of the stick,
which is then set on end, the houses being constructed on the stockade plan. It
is also used, where easily obtained, for building corrals, and to some extent for
fencing; but, bring hard and knotty as well as of small size, it requires much
labor to prepare it for even the most common use. Wherever this tree is at all
abundant, fuel can be obtained, delivered at the mills, for from $4 to $5 per cord,
and sometimes a little less. In most parts of Churchill and Humboldt counties
the price is higher, owing to the greater scarcity of timber or the difficulty of
getting it down from the mountains. In Star City and Unionville, Humboldt
county, juniper a very poor kind of fuel costs from $10 to $12 per cord.
Where timber is scarce, sage-brush and other resinous shrubs these being found
nearly everywhere in the country are used for fuel; even some of the mills, as
the Shtba in Humboldt, and several others, having employed them wholly or
in part for generating steam, for which purpose they answer very well, save the
trouble of keeping the furnaces supplied, because of the rapidity with which they
are consumed. In Virginia City and vicinity wood now costs from $12 to $16
per cord, the price varying with the quality. These are about the rates that
have obtained, there since the settlement of the place, though at times much
higher have ruled when the season was inclement or the article scarce. Coal,
or rather lignite, has been discovered at several places in the State, yet none of
these deposits have as yet furnished more than a few hundred tons of fuel, nor
have they thus far been sufficiently developed to determine their capacity and
value in this respect. At Crystal Peak, on -the Truckee, near the California line,
a' considerable amount of work has been done in the exploration of coal-beds