USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 3
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 3
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 3
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Rosita (Colo), Index; Sierra Journal.
Ross (James), and George Gary, From Wisconsin to California and Return. Madison, 1869.
Rossi (l'Abbe), Souvenirs d'un Voyage et California. Paris, 1864.
Rontt (John L.), Territory and State. MS.
Rowell (Charles .J.). Leadville, Colorado. MS.
Rowell & Co.'s Gazetteer.
Rudd (Anson), Early Affairs in Canon City. MS.
Russel (A.), Irrigation and Indian Affairs in Colorado. MS.
Ryan (John J.), Laramie Co. MS.
Sacramento (Cal.), Bee: Record: Record-Union; Union; Transcript. Safford (A. K. P.), Narrative. MS.
XXX
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Salida (Colo), Mountain Mail; Sentinel News.
Salt Lake (Utah), Herald; Tribune.
San Francisco (Cal.) Newspapers: Alta; Bulletin; Cal. Courier; Cal. Farmer; Call; Chronicle; Courier de San Francisco; Examiner; Golden Era; Herald; Mercantile Gazette and Prices Current; Mining Review and Stock Ledger; News Letter; Post; Report; Stock Exchange; Stock Re- port; Times.
San José Archives. MS.
San José (Cal.), Mercury; Pioneer.
San Juan and Other Sketches. MS.
San Rafael (Cal.) Journal.
Santa Fé Trail.
Saunders (William), Through the Light Continent. London, 1879.
Scenes in the Rocky Mountains. Philadelphia, 1846.
Schell (H. S.), History of Fort Laramie. MS.
Scibird (George A.), Biography. MS.
Scott (Charles H.), Report of the County Clerk.
Scribner's Monthly Magazine and Century Magazine. New York, 1871 et seq. Seely (W. L.), The Nichols Mining Company. MS.
Selig (Joseph), Dictation. MS.
Seligman (Henry), Short Biography of Jesse Seligman. MS.
Sheldon (M.), South Pueblo. MS.
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Silver (Samuel D.), The Mines of Cororado. MS.
Silver City (Nev.), Times.
Silver Cliff (Colo), Miner; Prospector; Tribune.
Silversmith (Julius), Practical Hand-book for Mines. New York, 1866. Silverton (Colo), Democrat; Herald; Miner.
Simonin (L.), in Revue des Deux Mondes, Nov. 1875, 305-12.
Simpson (James H.), Exploration of the Great Basin. Washington, 1876.
Slater (M. H.), Indian Troubles in the Early Days of Colorado. MS
Slaughter (John), Life in Colorado and Wyoming. MS.
Slaughter (Wmn M.), Early Experiences in Colorado. MS.
Smith, Report on Development of Colorado, 1881-2, in State Geologist's Report.
Smith (J. Alden), and M. Beshoar, Coal and Iron Lands near Trinidad, Col- orado. Print and MS.
Smith (Jas P.), Statement. MS.
Smith (Samuel T.), Dictation. MS.
Smithsonian Annual Reports. Washington, 1853 et seq.
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Snyder (A. C.), Dictation. MS.
Solly (S. Elwin), Colorado for Invalids. Colorado Springs, 1880.
Sonoma (Cal. ) Democrat.
Sopris (Richard), Settlement of Denver. MS.
Spence (Thomas), The Settlers' Guide in the United States. New York, 1862.
Stallcup (John C.), Statement. MS.
Standart (Stephen H.), Live Stock in Colorado. MS.
Stanley (Edwin I.), Rambles in Wonderland, etc. New York, 1878.
Stansbury (Howard), Expedition to the Valley of Great Salt Lake. Phila- delphia, 1855.
Stanton (I. N.), Statement. MS.
Stead (J. H.). Town Building in Colorado. MS.
Stebbins (T. C.), Statement. MS.
Steele (Alden H.), With the Rifle Regiment. MS.
Stewart (James G.), Settlements in Colorado. MS.
Stewart (Wm M.), Speech on Courts in Nevada. Washington, 1865.
xxx1
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Stewart (Wm M.), Lecture on Mineral Resources. New York, 1865. Stewart (Wm M.), The Silver Question. San Francisco 1885, also MS. Stockton (Cal.), Evening Mail; Independent.
Stoddard (Win), Biography. MS.
Stone (W. F.), General View of Colorado. MS .; Land Grants. MS .; Inter- view with W. F. Stone. MS.
Storey County Records. MS.
Story (Wm), Biographical Sketch. MS.
Strahorn (Robt E.), Gunnison and San Juan. Omaha, ISS1; Hand-book of Wyoming. Cheyenne, 1877; Montana and Yellowstone Park. Kansas City, 1881; Resources of Montana Territory. Helena, 1879; To the Rockies and Beyond. Chicago, 188].
Strait (W. W.), The Pueblos. MS.
Stuart (Granville), Montana as It Is. New York, 1865.
Sturgis (Thomas), The Ute War of 1879. Cheyenne, 1879; Common Sense View of the Sioux War. Cheyenne, n. d.
Summering in Colorado. Denver, 1874.
Sutro (A.), Advantage, etc., of Deep Drain Tunnel. San Francisco, 1865; Mincral Resources of the United States. Baltimore, 1868; The Sutro Tunnel.
Sutro (Nev.) Independent.
Sutro Tunnel, Bank of Cal. against Sutro Tunnel, Argument and Statement of Facts.
Sutro Tunnel and Railway to the Comstock Lode, 1873.
Sutro Tunnel Company, Superintendent's Report, 1872; Annual Reports, 1880-82. Sweetwater Miner.
Syracuse (N. Y.) Journal.
Tabor (Mrs), Cabin Life in Colorado. MS.
Tabor (H. A. W.), Early Days in Colorado. MS.
Tarryall (Colo) Miner's Record.
Taylor (W. S.), Statement. MS.
Telluride (Colo) Journal.
Tenncy (E. P.), Colorado and Homes in the New West. Boston, 1880.
Texas Prairie Flower, 1885.
Thomas (John J.), Colorado Cavalry in the Civil War. MS.
Thomas (L. R.), Biographical Sketch. MS.
Thombs (P. R.), Mexican Colorado. MS.
Thompson (Charles I.), Progress in Colorado. MS. Thompson (Julius), Statement. MS.
Thompson and West, History of Nevada. Oakland, Cal., 1881.
Thornton (J. Q.), Oregon and California in 1848. New York, 1849.
Tice (J. H.), Over the Plains and on the Mountains, 1872.
Toft (B. A.), Biography. MS.
Tombstone (Ariz.) Epitaph.
Tourists' Hand-Book of Colorado. New Mexico and Utah. n. p., 1SS5. Townsend (F. T.), Ten Thousand Miles of Travel. London, 1869. Travis (Wm), The Ben Butler Mine. MS. Treaties with Indians. MS.
Tucson (Ariz. ) El Fronterizo.
Tucker (Selden H.), Statement. MS.
Tullidge (E. W.), History of Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City, n. d.
Tuscarora (Nev. ) Times-Review.
Twain (Mark), Roughing It. Hartford, 1874.
Tyler (Daniel), History of the Mormon Battalion. Salt Lake City, 1881.
Unionville (Nev.), Gazette; Humboldt Register; Silver State.
United States Geolog. Explo. of 40th Parallel by Clarence King. Washing- ton, 1870.
xxxii
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
United Geog. Surveys West of the 100th Meridian (Geo. W. Wheeler); Bulletin; Reports and Various Publications. Washington 1874, et seq. United States Government Documents: Accounts; Acts and Resolutions; Agriculture; Army Regulations; Army Meteorological Register; Banks; Bureau of Statistics; Census; Charters and Constitutions; Commerce and Navigation; Commercial Relations; Congressional Directory; Educa- tion; Engineers; Finance; Indian Affairs; House Executive Documents; House Journal; House Miscellaneous Documents; House Committee Reports; Interior; Land-office; Laws and Treaties; Message and Documents; Mint Reports; Official Register; Ordinance; Pacific Rail- road; Patent-office; Postmaster-general; Post-offices; Quartermaster- General; Revenue; Secretary of War; Senate Executive Documents; Senate Journal; Senate Miscellaneous; Documents; Senate Committee Reports; Statutes.
Utah Hand-book of Reference. Salt Lake City, 1884.
Valdes (J. A. J.), Biographical Sketch. MS.
Valverde y Coces, Diario y Derrotero, 1719.
Van Diest (P. H.), The Grand Island Mining District of Boulder County, Colorado. Denver, 1876.
Van Sickle (H.), Utah Desperadoes. MS.
Van Tramp (J. C.), Prairie and Rocky Mountain Adventures. St Louis, 1860.
Vickers (W. B.), in Hayden's Great West, p. 98.
Victor (Mrs F. F.), River of the West. Hartford, 1870.
Victor (F. F.), in Overland Monthly, August 1869.
Virginia City (Nev.), Chronicle; Occidental; Territorial Enterprise; Union. Virginia City (Mont.) Montana Post.
Virginia Mining District Records. MS.
Waite (Mrs C. V.), Adventures in the Far West and Life among the Mor- mons. Chicago, 1882.
Walker (James A.), Agriculture and Stock-raising in Colorado. MS.
Walla Walla (W. T.) Statesman.
Walters (J. H. E.), Dictation. MS. Warren in Pacific R. R. Reports, xi. 36.
Washoe City (Nev.) Eastern Slope.
Watkins (John F.), Mining in Colorado. MS.
Webb (E. H.), Salida and its Surroundings. MS.
Webb (L.), Statement. MS.
Weis (G.), Stock-raising in the Northwest. MS.
Wells (George), Book of Deeds of the White and Murphy Ground. MS. Wenban (Simeon), Mining Developments. MS.
West Las Animas (Colo) Leader.
Western Monthly. Chicago, 1869.
Weston (Eugene), The Colorado Mines. MS.
Wheeler (George M.), Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian; Bulletins, Reports, etc. Washington, 1874, et seq.
Wheeler (Win H.), Law in Colorado in S. F. Chronicle. Wheelock (H.), Guide and Map of Reese River, etc. San Francisco, 1864. White (Fred.), The Melvina Mine. MS.
Whittaker's Milwaukee Monthly Magazine. Milwaukee, 1872.
Williams (Henry F.), Pacific Tourist and Guide. New York, 1876. Williams (Thomas), Dictation. MS.
Wilson (P. S.), Dictation. MS.
Winnemucca (Nev.) Silver State.
Winser (H. J.), The Great Northwest. New York, 1883.
Withrow (Chase), Central City, Colorado, in 1860. MS.
Wolfe (J. M.), Mercantile Guide, Gazetteer, etc. Omaha, 1878.
Wood Brothers Live Stock Movement. Chicago, 1SS4.
HISTORY OF NEVADA.
-
CHAPTER I.
THE GREAT BASIN.
PLAIN OF EVAPORATION, OR ELEVATED SINK-ITS SITUATION-PROMINENT CHARACTERISTICS-THE NAME GREAT BASIN INAPPROPRIATE-A GROUP OF BASINS-WONDERS OF THE REGION-A TRAPPER'S STORY -- CAVES- CLIMATE-ATMOSPHERE-ARIDITY-SAND-STORMS AND CLOUD-BURSTS -THE MIRAGE-SOIL, CONFIGURATION, AND SCENERY-RAIN-FALL AND TEMPERATURE-CHANGE OF SEASONS-ALTITUDE AND GEOLOGIC FORMA- TION -MOUNTAIN SYSTEM-LAKES AND SINKS -RIVERS-SPRINGS- DESERTS-PLANTS AND ANIMALS-BIRDS AND FISHES-MINERALS AND METALS-SOIL AND AGRICULTURE-NOMENCLATURE.
ABOUT midway between the Panamá Isthmus and the Arctic Ocean, and midway between the great cordillera and the Pacific, lies a broad Plain of Evapo- ration, or following the popular idea an elevated sink, the Great Basin it has been called, being almost wholly rimmed by mountains, though not always and alto- gether concave, and whose waters have no visible outlet to the sea. From three to five thousand feet above the level of the ocean, it extends irregularly over some nine degrees of latitude and nine of longi- tude, that is to say from the 34th to the 43d parallel, and from the 111th to the 120th meridian, the Wah- satch and Nevada ranges standing as its eastern and western bounds, narrowing off between the ranges north of Salt Lake and the Humboldt River toward the Blue Mountains of Oregon, and narrowing likewise in the south toward the Colorado plateau. Nearly all of Nevada comes within this compass, and a large
(1)
2
THE GREAT BASIN.
part of Utah, together with smaller portions of Ore- gon and California. The eastern rim extends through Utah, which lies between latitude 37° and 42°, and longitude 109° and 104°, and divides the area almost equally into two natural sections, one being the dis- trict of the great basin, and the other the region drained by the Colorado and its tributaries.
One of the most prominent features of the great basin is that it is so little like a basin. To call it a platter, a gridiron, or a well-filled cullender, or a basket of chips would be to apply a more character- istic designation. When Frémont gave to the region this name he had seen the Wahsatch and Nevada ranges, the two great sides, and he knew something of the Blue Mountains; but the interior of this vast circle he had not visited. He was not aware that his basin was full of mountains, some of them as high as the rim, completely filling the dish, so that in truth there is little dish left. It makes no great difference, however, what we call a thing, so long as we under- stand what is meant by the name.
Far more appropriately we might cut up the inte- rior and enumerate a series of basins, rather than call it all one basin. There are the two great ranges, how- ever, which border so great a portion of the area, the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, so far ex- ceeding in length the minor divides, as to give and leave the impression of oneness, notwithstanding the dis- tinctiveness of the Great Salt Lake basin, whose low- est point is 4,170 feet above the sea; of Lake Sevier basin, 4,690 feet; of Humboldt River basin, 4,147 feet; of Carson River basin, with an altitude at Carson Lake of 3,840 feet; of Walker River basin, its lowest point above the sea being 4,072 feet; of Mojave River basin, 1,150 feet, and so on.
. But call it what we may, and we may as well call it great basin as any other name, the country is full of peculiarities-I would say wonders, were it true that one part of the universe is more wonderful than
3
WONDERS OF THE REGION.
another. Its altitude and distance from the ocean, the aridity of the soil where there is so much water, the succession of desert and oasis, of mountain and plain- innumerable basins within basins-and all well sprinkled with metals; of streams fringed with green foliage, willows, alder, and cottonwood, of salt-water lakes and those that are fresh, or nearly so, of hot and cold springs, of sinks and swamps and mud-flats, of lonely buttes and rocky chasms, of sulphurous valleys and delightful sun-bathed summits, not to mention foot- prints of races and species long gone by, men and beasts, land animals and sea animals, of which we talk much and know little. There are elevations of life and depressions of death, one of the latter literally so called, Death Valley, one of the dry sand-lakes com- mon in the region through which passes the old trail from Salt Lake to Los Angeles, a spot seemingly accursed, forty miles long by twenty broad, and sur- rounded except at two points by steep mountains. Wonderful things are said of it, namely, that it is far below the level of the sea; that it never rains there and is totally devoid of moisture; that nothing grows there, not even sage-brush; that it is inhabited only by horned rattlesnakes and scorpions, and that the shadow of a bird or wild beast never darkens its white glaring sands. The quietude of death must indeed be present, if it be true as stated, that the wagon-tracks of a party which perished there in 1848 are apparently as fresh and distinct now as the day they were made.
Many strange stories the old trapper James Bridger used to tell; for instance, how in the winter of 1830 it began to snow in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and the snow fell for seventy days, until the whole country was white-coated to the thickness of seventy feet. Vast herds of buffaloes were caught by this snow, caught and pinched to death, and the carcasses preserved; and finally, when spring came, all Bridger had to do was to tumble them into Salt Lake, and have pickled buffalo enough to feed
4
THE GREAT BASIN.
himself and the whole Ute nation down to the time of their extermination. And this is why there have been no buffaloes in that region since. Another phenomenon, witnessed only by this keen observer and most truthful narrator, is that since his arrival in the country, Bridger Butte has changed consider- ably its locality.
Caves are more remarkable than crags, I suppose, because there are fewer of them in the world; and for the same reason we notice specially stone trees when we pay but little attention to trees of wood. I cannot enumerate all the crags in the great cullender, nor all the natural trees, but I can mention a cave or two, and tell of a petrified forest. What has been regarded a rival to the great cave of Kentucky, and called the mammoth cave of Nevada, and sometimes Mormon Cave, by reason of historic pretensions given elsewhere, is situated in the White Mountains, some twenty miles from Patterson. Through a low open- ing, requiring a man to stoop to enter it, the visitor passes twenty feet to a rapidly widening vault, and thence to a succession of immense chambers with limestone pendants, or having a roof so high that the torch-light fails to discover it. He may go a great distance in this way and still not find his progress barred. There is a cave near Fort Ruby which dis- charges quite a stream; another in the Shell Creek range, one of whose apartments is sixty by eighty feet in area, and which likewise figures somewhat in history; another in the mountains east of Carson River; and yet another near Rush Lake. On the plain, thirty miles or so from the Blackrock Moun- tains, is a petrified forest, the stumps of solid rock standing alone amidst the stunted sage brush.
The climate is likewise distinctive. The air is light and dry, the sun bold and brazen-faced, yet harmless and kind. There would be moisture enough were it not so quickly absorbed. The atmosphere, which
5
CLIMATE.
may be called Asiatic, is so light, elastic, and porous that water seems never to satisfy it; and what the air does not secure the soil stands ready to absorb.
· There are sand-clouds and sand-storms at regular seasons, and in the southern and western parts of Nevada frequent cloud-bursts. There is a westerly wind which prevails in the spring and autumn with disastrous effect; it is equivalent to the north wind of California; and so full is the warm air of those saline particles which floating in it make the mirage, that often on the deserts and by the salt lakes this hallucination presents itself.
In the valleys, and especially round the great lakes, every variety of soil presents itself; likewise through- out the whole region there is infinite variety of con- figuration and scenery. But although anomalous, the climate is very uniform. Though barred by the Sierra from the sea, the country is nevertheless near enough to the ocean to feel the general ameliorating effect of Pacific currents, and yet so isolated and inland as to share some of the qualities possessed by the climates beyond the Rocky Mountains which those west of the Sierra do not enjoy. There is a marked individ- uality in the atmosphere about Salt Lake, which so rapid evaporation tinges with a blue haze, while almost everywhere else in this region the air is exceedingly pure and transparent. It is in the spring that the atmosphere is most fully charged with moisture, the winters being cold and drier, though the temperature seldom reaches zero.
The average rain-fall of Utah is twenty inches for the year, four tenths of which comes in the spring, one tenth in summer, three tenths in autumn, and two tenths during winter. The summers of Nevada are generally hot, and except in the more sheltered spots the winters are cold. But in the several deep valleys, though the wind is sometimes strong, and there is frost everywhere, the fall of snow is light, and the temperature generally mild. Thus we have here
6
THE GREAT BASIN.
what may properly be called a wet and a dry season, but the former is not so pronounced as in California, nor is the dry season wholly dry.
Climatic changes are not so abrupt here as in many other localities. Seasons glide one into another al- most imperceptibly. Due warning is given of the approach of winter by the masses of dark clouds which come moving slowly over the plains, and which hover in the mountains about the higher peaks. An increasing wind is significant of a gathering storm, and the winds are often busied several days in sweeping up a storm, after which they assume some degree of regularity. Spring comes in March, often with snow or cold rains and wind. April drops some showers, and even May spurts thunder and lightning between her smiles. Then comes summer settled and serene. Over the central, northern, and western portions of Nevada, the temperature is at 90° at midday, rising sometimes to 100° to fall at night to 70°. Toward autumn the heated air becomes giddy, and sends the dust dancing in whirlwinds over the plains. Thunder storms are frequent in eastern Nevada from midsum- mer till autumn.
The basins proper are for the most part ranged round the edge of the so-called great basin, and are lower than the central area, whose valleys will average an altitude of 5,500 feet, while many interior ranges of mountains assume great height; hence the bottom of the basin should be pictured in the mind as raised in the centre; that is as not being of basin-shape at all, as we have seen; and while around the base of the rim of the still so-called basin there may be a land of lakes and sinks and streams, the middle interior is high-ribbed with compact ranges and narrow valleys.
As to geological formations, the mountains between Utah Lake and the Kobah Valley may be called of carboniferous origin; thence to the Sierra Nevada, and over the desert to the Goshute region, the ground
7
GEOLOGY.
shows signs of igneous action; while about the Hum- boldt Mountains the characteristics of the Devonian age appear. The strata of the sand-stone and siliceous limestones around the porphyritic and other igneous rocks composing the Champlin Range seem to have been much disturbed when these mountains were made. From this point toward the north and toward the south-west ashy elevations are seen, dark, scorched, and vitreous, as if the fashioning-fires had not been long extinguished. Here and there throughout the whole region post-pliocene formations appear. Lime- stone predominates in the mountains of Nevada, then granite, sienite, serpentine, and slate, all marked by overflows of basaltic trap-rock and trachytic lavas.
Over the blue walls of the Wahsatch toward the east, outside of the great basin though still in Utah, we have the great valley of the Colorado and Green rivers, with the usual mountains, plains, and valleys, and the more unusual buttes, lines of cliffs, outlying masses of high angular stratified rocks, and deep nar- row gorges, to whose escarpments the strata of shales and limestone give a terraced and buttressed appear- ance.
The region drained by Bear River is for the most part rugged and sterile; some of the ranges of hills which divide the country into a succession of parallel valleys are bare, or covered only with grass, while over the low mountains are scattered dwarfish pines and cedars. Here are wide areas void of vegeta- tion, dreary wastes of rock, with here and there clay baked by the sun until it resembles stone rather than soil. Volcanic action is everywhere apparent, lava and scoriated basalt prevailing, with bituminous limestone, trap, and calcareous tufa. The lava forma- tions west of Soda Springs, in whose vicinity rise sev- eral extinct volcanoes, are worthy of special attention. In south-eastern Nevada is a volcano basin covered with lava and scoriæ, and having withal a crater-rim two hundred feet broad and eighty feet deep. Not
8
THE GREAT BASIN.
far from the sink of the Humboldt is another crater. .
North and east of the Carson Lake country are high mountains and intervening plains; south of the same region, after passing some distance, a gradual depression occurs, which terminates in Death Val- ley, four hundred and sixty-four feet below the sur- face of the ocean.
The Uintah Mountains are a branch of the Wah- satch, stretching off toward the east. At the junc- tion of the Wahsatch and Uintah ranges the gulches of the summits are high, and filled with never melting snow; thence the latter range gradually declines toward the eastern end, where it breaks into little ridges and hills. Through the Uintah Mountains, cutting for itself a channel slowly as the mountains uprose, and which now appears as a series of cañons, runs Green River.
North of the Uintah, Green River continues through a deep narrow valley or cañon about a thousand feet below the open plain of country yet farther north. All the watercourses are eroded, and the rocks, com- posed of hard limestone, laminated shales, and sand- stones, appear to be the sediments of a lake. To the west is a stretch of buff mauvaises terres, with rocks of shales and sandstone so soft as to be easily rounded into beautiful forms by the wind and water.
South of the Uintah are many isolated ranges, trend- ing for the most part to the north-east and the north- west. There is a district here of low rounded eleva- tions called the Yellow Hills, whose rocks are yellow clays and shales, some of the latter of a slate color, and others pink. "Looking at it from an eminence," says Powell, " and in the light of the midday sun, it appears like a billowy sea of molten gold." South of this is a stretch of bituminous bad-lands, and then a series of cañons and cliffs.
The mountain system comprising this region may
9
MOUNTAIN SYSTEM.
be likened in form to a gridiron. Enclosed within the rim are ranges rising abruptly from the plain, being at the base from one to twelve miles wide, and all trending off toward the north, almost always con- fining their variations between the true and the mag- netic north. And their distance apart is scarcely greater than their breadth of base; so that this re- gion called plains is in truth more a succession of minor mountains and valleys, the tops of the eleva- tions alone being anywhere near upon a level. The length of these ranges is from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles, and their height two or three thou- sand feet, though there are peaks in the Goshute Range five or six thousand feet above the plain, or ten or eleven thousand above the sea. Floyd, the highest peak of the Oquirrh Range, is 4,214 above the plain and 9,074 above the sea. The pass through the Ungoweah Range is 8,140 feet above the sea.
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