THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

CHAPTER I.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

BY SAM P. DAVIS.

            Within the memory of persons yet living, a large area between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean was left undeliniated on the maps, being simply designated as the Great American Desert.

            On all sides of it the principle was quite fully, if not very accurately charted. The Spanish adventurers and missionaries had explored and rudely mapped the country to the west, south and southeast; the Lewis and Clarke expedition and trappers that to the east, north and northwest, but no one had penetrated that forbidding and mysterious desert region. Less was known of it than of Sahara of which it was believed to be the American counterpart.

The rain of summer fell not on its breast

Bared ever more beneath a blazing sky.

The waterfowl could find no place of rest,

And mankind trod its deserts but to die.

            Yet so swift was the course of events, that before they reached ripe manhood, the same schoolboys who puzzled over those crude maps, helped to unearth from that nameless, mysterious region, the treasure that practically saved the nation in its hour of peril, the hour when a great Republic, retreating to the last ditch and with its back to the wall, called upon the desert for succor.

            The noise of conflict was stilled, the swords were beaten into plow-

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shares and the great unmapped section was converted into a flourishing commonwealth. From out of the very heart of that supposed American sahara has risen the State of Nevada, and the Great American Desert myth has shrunk, until now, the name applies only to a small district in the western part of Utah.

            Nevada lies on the western side of that big swale of the continent between the Sierras and the Wasatch mountains which Fremont happily named "The Great Basin," but apart from that general position and a slight point of contact with the Colorado river, it has no natural boundaries. Its limits were not fixed by mountain ranges, rivers or seas, but by Congress in bald terms of geodetic measurement.

            The act that organized it into a territory recommended that California cede to it her possessions on the eastern slope and establish the summit of the Sierras as the dividing line, but that State refused to make the cession and thus Nevada lost the opportunity of having at least one distinctly marked boundary. A slight compensation for this loss was the gift by Congress in 1866 of additional territory that carried with it a limited frontage on the Colorado river, the only natural frontage of which the State can boast.

            Concisely stated, the present boundary lines of Nevada are as follows : Beginning at a point in the middle of the Colorado river at the 35th parallel; thence in a straight northwesterly line to a point of intersection with the 39th parallel and the 43rd meridian from Washington, near the southern end of Lake Tahoe ; thence north on said meridian to the 42nd parallel to the 37th meridian, and thence south on said meridian to the middle of the Colorado river ; thence down the middle of the Colorado river to the point of beginning.

            Thus it will be seen that the State extends over seven degrees of latitude and six of longitude, but owing to the obliquity of its southwestern boundary, it presents square shoulders to only Utah, Idaho, Oregon and a part of California, descending on Arizona like a blunted wedge.

            Potentially Nevada is one of the great States of the Union, not only in area, but in the extent of its agricultural resources. Put Nevada on the Atlantic Coast and it would fill the space from Central Pennsylvania to Georgia, and from Delaware Bay to Ohio.

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MOUNTAINS.

            There are fully a hundred separate mountain ranges in Nevada beside detached peaks or buttes. Most of these ranges are short, few extending in an unbroken chain more than twenty miles, while the combined links of the largest do not exceed a hundred miles in length.

            This brevity, notwithstanding their number, averts any serious obstacles to communication between the different parts of the State, for where there are no passes through them, the longest can be skirted by a detour of a few miles. A remarkable parallelism characterizes these ranges which would give the whole surface of the State a fluted appearance if it could be seen from the proper altitude.

            The general trend of the mountains, is almost without exception, north and south, showing that they were elevated by the same lateral pressure, that uplifted the two great ranges between which they stand. While the general altitude is less than that of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, probably not averaging more than 7,000 feet above sea level, there are isolated peaks that shoot up in rivalry of those towering giants, as Pogonip Peak in the White Pine Range, 10,792 feet high, and certain peaks in Humboldt County estimated at 12,000 feet or more.

            The area of Nevada, which is approximately 120,000 square miles, classes it among the largest States in the Union, but so much of its surface is covered by mountains and deserts that many of the smaller States would outrank it in arable acreage. This is not an altogether regretable or irremediable misfortune. Its mountains do not possess the scenic attractions of which those of the eastern States can boast. Most of them are destitute of verdure and rise bald and brown from the plain, but in their rock-ribbed fastnesses are locked the treasure stores of precious metals that have enriched and will continue to enrich the world. On their lower slopes are found green pastures which feed thousands of browsing herds long after the native grass in California is withered by the sun. Even its deserts prove wonderfully fertile when irrigated, and of late years a great deal is being reclaimed under the Cary Act. Where the soil is hopelessly irreclaimable, depressions are found which yield fortunes in borax, soda, salt, sulphur nitrates and other valuable minerals in such quantities as to be practically inexhaustible, so that physical fea-

14        THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

tures which were originally regarded as signs of poverty have proven in reality vast sources of disguised wealth.

            In Lincoln county are found mountains of salt, and in some localities blocks of salt so pure as to resemble glass twenty feet thick through which objects can be seen.

STREAMS.

            But the most marked peculiarity of Nevada, in common with the whole Great Basin, is that the waters practically have no outlet to the sea. A few small streams at the extreme south—of which the Rio Virgin is the principal—empty into the Colorado; and from the extreme north the waters of the Owyhee and a number of small creeks eventually find their way into the Columbia; but with these exceptions all the streams in the State either sink or are dried up in their course, or, if of considerable volume, flow into lakes where the absorption and evaporation take place on a large scale. It was probably this fact that retarded the exploration of the vast tract between the Wasatch and Sierra ranges.

            Explorers of every kind, and trappers most of all, usually advance along water courses, ascending or descending them, and in that respect there was nothing to guide any one into the Great Basin. Not only do all the principal rivers flow inward, but they all flow toward a common point in the western part of the State and lose themselves within a radius of fifty miles.

            To reach that general center the Humboldt comes three hundred miles from the northeast, the Carson a hundred and fifty miles from the southwest, the Truckee a hundred and fifty miles from the west, and the Walker eighty miles from the south, speaking in round numbers.

GEOLOGY.

            The Geological character of the State shows less diversity than might be expected in so extensive an expanse. It is comprehensively described by Clarence King as follows :

            "Both the Sierra and Desert ranges are composed, first of crumpled and uplifted strata from the azoic period to the late jurassic; secondly, of ancient erupted rocks which accompany the jurassic upheaval; and, thirdly, of modern eruptive rocks belonging to the volcanic period family, ranging in date probably from as early as the late miocene to the glacial period. Folds of more or less complexity twisted and warped by longitudinal forces, often compressed with a series of zigzags, some-

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times marked by outbursts of granite or syenite, and lastly built upon by or buried beneath immense accumulations of volcanic material; these are the characteristic features of the mountain chains.

            "They are usually nuridimal and parallel and separated by valleys which are filled to a general level by quartenuary detritus, the result of erosion from the early cretaceous period down to the present time."

            Those desiring fuller or more special information concerning the geological or mineralogical features can readily find it in numerous reports and monographs on the subjects published by the government and individuals. Even the briefest resume of them would occupy more space than the plan of this work contemplates.

            The excess of minerals is ascribed by scientists to the fact that the Great Basin was once the seat of an impounded ocean, which during the course of geologic ages evaporated, leaving its solid properties—gold, silver, copper, iron, soda, sulphur, nitre, etc., deposited on the surface, or in fissures caused by the upheaval of mountains beneath the waters of a slowly evaporating inland sea. As to what conditions modified or controlled the deposits they are not so generally agreed.

            Simple precipitation and subsequent concentration by water currents might account for most of the readily soluble minerals, but powerful dynamic, chemical and electrical forces must have contributed to the formation of the ore bodies in the fissure veins.

CLIMATE.

            The climate generally is agreeable and healthful. The temperature seldom falls below and rarely mounts above 100 degrees, and the effects of both extremes is tempered by the dryness of the atmosphere. Neither the heat nor the cold is felt as keenly as in a moister atmosphere. There are exceptions to this, however, not only on account of differences in elevation and latitude, but, owing to some singular freak of Nature, the isothermal line which elsewhere girds the earth with such general uniformity makes an abrupt shoot-up into southern Nevada so that a part of Lincoln County has the same average temperature as the extreme point of Florida. Thus the climate ranges from the severity of that of the high plateaus of the north, where, owing to the almost constant frosts throughout the year, nothing but the hardiest products can be raised; to the softness of that of the southern valleys, where everything of a semitropical character flourishes.

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            The rainfall throughout most of the State is slight, probably not averaging more than ten inches, and in much of the interior not over half of that. In itself it is insufficient to insure crops, except in localities where dry farming is successful with grains and crops which require but a minimum of moisture.

            Nevada has no rainy season as has California, the winter partaking more of the character of that of the region to the eastward, snow predominating over rain.

            The snow-fall in the mountains is very heavy and it is from the moisture thus conserved that the streams draw their supply.

            What are termed cloudbursts are of common occurrence during the summer. Masses of water are suddenly precipitated from the clouds, and if the precipitation occurs on a mountain side or where two watersheds meet in a ravine, the water does considerable damage, in some instances human lives have been sacrificed.

            The clouds usually discharge their moisture when coming in sudden contact with a mountain side, but instances are cited of abnormal precipitation resulting without such contact.

            Violent wind storms—facetiously called Washoe zephyrs—are frequent, the eddying gusts at times carrying with them blinding clouds of sand and even pebbles. On the desert in the calmest days of summer can often be seen tall columns of dust lifting their heads hundreds of feet in the air and borne along by miniature whirl-winds.

            The course of these pillars of dust is generally in an onward sweep, as they seem like giants stalking the plain, but they occasionally take on a more complicated movement, and one observer tells of seeing twelve separate columns each revolving at great velocity on its own axis and all moving in a rotating circle which advanced across the desert from west to east with the speed of a swiftly moving railway train.

            The phenomenon of the mirage is of frequent occurrence in Nevada. It is claimed that they are the most realistic on the stretch of desert in Humboldt County between Winnemucca and the Black Rock Mountains. Lakes appear suddenly before the traveler's eyes whose waters reflect the trees growing upon the shores, and when they are approached, suddenly vanish into thin air or move away until they melt into the mountain ranges and disappear.

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            It has been the misfortune of Nevada to be known abroad chiefly from the descriptions of alien writers, who have seen her, if at all, with unsympathetic eyes. They miss the green and hazy landscapes to which they have been accustomed, and with a morbid taste, have singled out her most unattractive features to dwell upon.

            The first railroad which traversed the State did not select a scenic route and it passed over many miles of brown desert waste which is dreary and monotonous, and the traveler reaches the conclusion that this is but a fair sample of the entire picture.

            But even this railroad belt, once so unattractive, is now flanked with green fields, and the land long considered arid and worthless is becoming more and more beautiful as it responds to the magic touch of agriculture.

            Beyond on either side, out of the reach of the eyes of the people who are hurrying through the State to reach other destinations, can be found some of the grandest scenery in the United States.

            There is a sublimity about its mountain ranges, some of which are snow-capped the year round, that is not found elsewhere, and when a real student of nature views them it is with feelings of wonder and delight that God's hand has fashioned so grandly in laying the rough ashlers of the world.

            Even the deserts glow with beauty beneath the mellow sunshine and the pure atmosphere, and the picture painted in a key of gray and green never tires the eye.

            At night the stars seem nearer to the sleeping world and the moon larger. In the vastness and the solitude one's soul draws nearer to the Creator, walking as in a waking dream.

            Then when, as if by some wizardry of stage craft, the scene changes from calm to storm, the world seems blotted out until the lightning, rousing from its couch of clouds, cleaves the black curtain of the night, with its cimetre of flame and in a single instant reveals a thousand square miles of scenery which would baffle the painters of all time to reproduce. Here we learn that there is "one glory of the sun and another of the moon and stars."

DISCOVERY.

            The earliest claim to the presence of white men in Nevada is based upon the tradition that some Franciscan monks came into the southern

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part of Nevada as early as 1738 from Mexico for the purpose of doing missionary work among the Indians. There is nothing to show, however, that their efforts in behalf of Christianity were successful.

            For a long time it was claimed that the first white man's habitation in Nevada was a log structure in Douglas County in the town of Genoa which was destroyed by fire.

            The people of what is now Lincoln County dispute this claim, and point to an old adobe house which is still standing on the Stewart ranch which was built by the monks from Mexico. It is 16 by 30, and while the roof is gone the walls are still well preserved, and the existence of port holes, 18 inches square, indicate that its occupants had their differences with the Indians. It is also asserted that the monks left no signs of their habitations and that the adobe structure was erected by the Mormons.

            The ranch in question was on what is now the outskirts of Las Vegas, and this spot was the oasis in the desert on the old Mormon trail to California. Here the travel-worn caravans stopped to rest and recuperate their jaded horses and oxen.

            They left the arid plains behind where the skeletons of many animals and human beings whitened, and found the running water, the green grass and delightful shade of the ranch whose owner exemplified the lines of Homer.

"I will build me a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man."

            At times trains would arrive, one on the heels of another, until as many as three hundred people would be camped there.

            Some remained, attracted by the possibilities of mining and agriculture, and began the settlement of what is now known as Lincoln County.

            The Potosi mine, forty-three miles from Las Vegas, was discovered by James Morgan who worked it for quicksilver and zinc. It produced lead, used to furnish bullets for hunting and Indian fighting.

            When the Mormons settled in the southern part of what is now Nye County, they supposed it was a part of Utah. They found the fertile valley of Moapa, a veritable Valley of the Nile, and had it under a high state of cultivation when an edict of Brigham Young sent them back into Utah.

              In the vicinity of Moapa is found curious evidence of the early his-

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tory of the Indians by their picture-writing carved on the rocks. Near the outlet of the valley these pictures are the most numerous.

            It is claimed that the first alfalfa ever planted in Nevada came from the Sandwich Islands and was put in the ground by E. S. McGinnis in 1865. He also cultivated figs, apricots and peaches. He is still living where he planted crops forty-eight years ago and is known as "Overland McGinnis."

            Other settlers came into Nevada in 1825. Peter Skeen Ogden of the Hudson Bay Company was here in that year and also Jedediah Smith, an independent trapper and mountaineer. Ogden came into the country from Astoria and trapped along the Columbia until he reached the headwaters, of what is now known as the Owyhee river, about midsummer. The band headed by Ogden crossed the intervening country, and, reaching the Humboldt, named it the "Mary River," in honor of an Indian wife that had been picked up by one of the party shortly after they were joined by a company of trappers from the east headed by Bridges. The partisans of Smith claim that Ogden never saw the Humboldt, and the supporters of Ogden make the same assertion regarding Smith. It is generally supposed that Smith and his party worked their way down from the Yellowstone until they reached the Humboldt. They also by a queer coincidence named it the Mary River, this time after the Indian wife of Smith. They then proceeded southward through what is now the Walker River country, and by the pass of that name into California.

            It seems immaterial which of the parties first reached the Humboldt. Some-one got there as early as 1825, the first settlers to follow the Franciscan monks, and made a second mile-stone in the history of the State. It seems a pity for the sake of both sentiment and tradition that a river twice named after different Indian women should not have been allowed to retain its vestal appellation.