USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 4
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 4
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
The Wahsatch Mountains are the meteorological monarch of Utah, dividing the state into two un- equal parts, the greater being the eastern. Rising in the Bear River region, they curve gently toward the east, passing the eastern borders of Great Salt and Utah lakes, then sweep round south-west to the Rio Virgen. Next stretching southward from the southern end of the Great Salt Lake, in the order given, are the parallel ranges, the Oquirrh, the Onaqui, and the Lakeside and Cedar mountains. Then comes the Great American Desert. After that, entering Nevada, we have the Goose Creek, Toano, Antelope, Snake, Cedar, and Mormon line of elevations; next west the Peoquop, Shell Creek, Ely, Highland, and Valley ranges; then the Goshute, East Humboldt, East Ruby, Eagon, Butte, White Pine, and Hiko line, and so on through eight or ten other lines and lateral ridges until the entire state is covered and the great Sierra Nevada reached.
The mountains of Nevada are made mostly of granite, limestone, slate, sienite, and porphyry, dome-
10
THE GREAT BASIN.
shaped or with otherwise rounded contour, but some- times shooting up in pyramidal spires.
The first explorers of this country, namely the fur-hunters and emigrants, were warned by the natives to avoid alike the entanglements of the deep cañons leading northward from the river discovered by Og- den, and the heart of the arid desert which no man had yet dared to penetrate. Both the savages and the emigrants were right in bending their trail to the course of the Humboldt, as subsequent surveys proved, though not altogether for the reason named. Besides waterless plains there are many minor ridges running north and south which must be passed over or round by one travelling straight across from Utah Lake to Carson Lake.
Were there fewer mountains there would be more deserts; for besides breaking withering blasts, the mountains act as reservoirs, holding about their sum- mits masses of snow, enough to fill a hundred lakes and rivers, portions of which are slowly melted during summer, and distributed over the parched plains.
There are many places in both Nevada and Utah which show signs of having been once the beds of vast bodies of water. One of these is the region round Truckee Meadows and Steamboat Valley, including Washoe and Carson valleys, where there is to-day much good arable land which may be watered through- out the season from the Truckee and other streams. At Great Salt Lake, Stanbury counted on the slope of the ridge thirteen benches, one above the other, each of which had been successively the border and level of the lake. The highest of these water-marks is two hundred feet above the valley, which is itself now well above the lake. Here then was an inland ocean, whose islands are now mountain tops. Thus as this whole vast mountainous interior was once beneath the surface of one body of water, so we may
11
GREAT SALT LAKE.
safely conclude that later there were many inland seas and lakes now dead.
Great Salt Lake is in several respects one of the most remarkable bodies of water in the world. Its equal, approached perhaps in Asia, is found nowhere in America. It is in form an irregular parallelogram, some seventy miles in length, and from twenty to thirty in width. Stanbury calls it three hundred leagues in circumference and thirty in breadth. It contains twenty-two per cent of solid matter, that is to say 20.196 common salt, and 1.804 sulphate of soda; it is six and a half times denser than the ocean. Where the water has been and retired, wagon loads of dry salt may be shovelled up. The surface is ordina- rily quite motionless, though at times it is stirred into briny foam. It is not inhabited by fish. The shores are bare and forbidding; its airs lack the invigorating qualities of ocean breezes. It receives the waters of Bear River and some smaller streams at the northern end, and several from the east and south. The lake has periods of rising and receding, being ruled some- what by the rain-fall in the regions whose drainage it receives. On the whole its area seems to be increasing rather than diminishing, owing perhaps to increased moisture in the atmosphere caused by civilized occu- pation, and resulting at once in greater falls of rain and less evaporation.
A promontory, fifteen hundred or two thousand feet in height, juts into the lake from the north. It is some ten miles in length, the northern end being com- posed of sandstone, shales, and limestone; while at the southern end, instead of limestone, there is a sur- face rock of conglomerate, with bowlders of serpentine and porphyry. All along the base of the promontory the water springs forth, sometimes pure and fresh, but often highly impregnated with salt and sulphur. The rivulets scarcely reach the lake, however, before they sink into the intervening sand and mud-flat, which is
12
THE GREAT BASIN.
about two miles in width, and wholly void of vegeta- tion. Several islands break the surface of the dense water. The largest, Antelope Island, is a long rocky eminence, three thousand feet above the water, six- teen miles long, and from three to five wide. It is connected with the mainland by a sand-flat which is usually dry in summer.
On Castle Island, sometimes called Frémont Island, eight or nine hundred feet high, and fourteen miles in circumference, is a place where through the argillace- ous schist three holes have been worn, and upon the summit stands like a ruined castle an oblong rock whence the island derives its name. There are no trees or water upon this island, but on its sides grows grass in which the blue heron lays its eggs; and the wild onion and parsnip are found there in profusion; also a highly nutritious bulbous root the natives use, called sego. Sage near the summit attains remarkable size, being sometimes eight feet high, while the stalk is six inches in diameter. Then there are Stanbury, Carrington, Gunnison, and Hat islands which were explored and named by Stanbury, the first after him- self, the second in honor of his Mormon friend, and the third after his lieutenant. Hat Island was named by his men by acclamation.
Utah Lake is a magnificent body of water, all the more acceptable in this arid and salt-stricken region from being fresh, having an outlet through the River Jordan into the Great Salt Lake.
After the Great Salt Lake, in size and importance, come Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake, the first lying near the eastern rim, and the other two near the western. Indeed, most of the great lakes are at the base of the two great ranges of mountains. The size, shape, and relative positions of Pyramid and Walker lakes are noticeable, the former being thirty- two by nine and a half miles, and the latter thirty miles in length by about nine in width. The shore of Pyramid Lake is in places rocky, elsewhere pre-
13
LAKE SYSTEM.
senting a beach like the sea. The large granite bowlders which lie scattered about the border have a calcareous coating from an inch to a foot in thick- ness. There are precipices on the side next the Sierra, which rises precipitously in places three thou- sand feet above the surface. During winter the lake is sometimes almost obscured by storms of snow, which raise the waves six feet high and send them in foaming surf along the narrow beach, in good imita- tion of the ocean.
Not a single lake in the great basin has a visible outlet. Pyramid and Walker lakes are called fresh- water sheets, though the former at least holds in solution a little salt. The waters of Carson Lake are slightly alkaline. Tahoe, a picturesque sheet thirty miles long, and from eight to fifteen wide, though partially in Nevada is not within the basin proper, but rather perched upon the rim, a mile and a quarter above the ocean level; its waters are purely fresh, very deep, and exceedingly clear, and have out- let by way of the Truckee River into Pyramid Lake. The small streams flowing into Tahoe would not be suf- ficient to sustain the volume of water throughout the year without the aid of the springs hidden beneath the surface. Three varieties of trout here make their home, some of which attain a weight of nearly thirty pounds.
Lake Winnemucca is a shallow basin stretched be- side Pyramid Lake; at times it is nearly dry, like the mud-lakes to the north which during the dry season are mere alkali flats.
Walker Lake is an irregular fresh-water sheet, fed by Walker River, and containing fish. To the south- west in California is Lake Mono, and a little beyond a salt pond about twelve miles across, in which fish cannot live. The borders of Columbus, Fish, and Teal lakes, now nearly dry, are bordered by marshes. Indeed we must not too closely follow the map in estimating the areas covered by water in Utah and Nevada, as many of the spots so represented are mere
14
THE GREAT BASIN.
mud-flats, and covered only occasionally if at all. The term mud lake comes in this wise. Over many of the valleys and plains of Nevada is spread an im- pervious surface of stiff clay. This surface is in places level, and again plate-shaped, and in the de- pressions water gathers during the rains to the depth perhaps of a foot or two, to be evaporated when the sun comes out. Evaporation accomplished, a thin argillaceous deposit is left, beneath which the ground is usually miry. Then there are lakes like the Hum- boldt and Carson whose waters rise during the rains and overspread a wide area, receding during the sub- sequent evaporation leaving the same result, namely, mud-flats. Round some of the lakes and along some of the rivers, notably the Humboldt, are what were originally tule lands, which being readily drained are converted into rich meadows.
The term sink was applied by the early immigrants, who followed the Humboldt River to its end, where, as they supposed, it sank into the ground; so that Humboldt Lake was first called the sink of the Hum- boldt, or rather of Ogden River. The part played by evaporation was not at first fully considered. There is still the sink of the Carson, which takes the waters of Carson River after a rest at Carson Lake. Both Humboldt and Carson lakes are shallow; the former is fifteen miles long and eight or ten wide, and the latter is ten miles in diameter. The waters of both contain salt and alkali. The sink of the Carson is surrounded by sloughs, tule swamps, and sandy wastes, wide over which the brackish water spreads in winter, contracting again during summer. The waters of Washoe Lake are alkaline; they spring from beneath, and have an outlet into the Truckee.
The rivers of Nevada are not large, but they are many and serviceable; and though as a rule swift running there are few important water-falls. They all send their waters in the end to some lake or so-
15
RIVER SYSTEM.
called sink. Among the more notable rivers here and in Utah are the Humboldt, three hundred miles in length; Bear River, two hundred and fifty miles long; Sevier, Spanish, Jordan, Timpanogos, Malade, and Weber, springing from the Wahsatch range, and the Carson, Truckee, Walker, Owen, and Mojave having their source in the Nevada range. These are from thirty-five to one hundred and twenty-five miles in length, from four to forty yards in width, and from one to twenty feet in depth, varying with locality and the season. Precipices and canons mark the course of many of them, even of the smaller streams- instance Pumbar Creek.
The water flowing through Carson Lake outlet, leading into the sink of the Carson, fifty feet wide and three or four deep, although of a suspicious milky cast, is nevertheless pronounced good. Walker River, one hundred yards wide and five or ten feet deep, is of a yellow color, something like that of the Missouri; to the taste the water is soft and palatable. The banks in places are grassy, besides growing willows and cot- tonwoods.
The Timpanogos is a bold, dashing stream, from thirty to a hundred feet in width, and two feet deep. The water is beautifully clear and pure, and no wonder the trout delight in it. Of the same character is Weber River, twenty or thirty yards wide, with its thickets of willow, and its groves of cottonwood and maple.
In the progress of westward-marching empire few streams on the North American continent have played a more important part than the Humboldt River of Nevada. Among the watercourses of the world it can lay claim neither to great beauty nor to remark- able utility. Its great work was to open a way, first for the cattle train and then for the steam train, through a wilderness of mountains, through ranges which otherwise would run straight across its course. It is the largest river of this region, and the only one hereabout running from east to west. Most of the
: 16
THE GREAT BASIN.
others are with the mountains, north and south. The source of the Humboldt is in the Goose Creek range seven thousand feet above the ocean, and it follows a south-westerly course to Humboldt Lake where it ends.
After leaving the Humboldt, the Truckee River proved the next best assistant to the emigrant, direct- ing him as it did by the best route over the steep Sierra. It was rugged and difficult enough, but it was the best. Carson River, coming in from the south-west, has served a good purpose in floating wood down to treeless districts below. Next in size to the Truckee of Nevada are Walker, Quin, and Amargoso rivers, which pursue their tortuous courses for a hun- dred or a hundred and fifty miles, the latter disappear- ing in Death Valley. Las Vegas and Rio Virgen are tributaries of the Rio Colorado.
The drainage of Utah is divided by the Wahsatch Mountains, the Colorado drainage being on the east side, and the desert drainage on the west. Green River in many places flows over a narrow bed be- tween walls of white and red sandstone. From its mouth the Colorado cuts for its waters a canon to the ocean. Deep Creek, on the west side, and which sinks at Curlew, is an important stream for purposes of irrigation. The Jordan, called also the Utah, car- ries the waters of Utah Lake rapidly down the in- cline to Great Salt Lake, nearly losing itself, however, before reaching its destination. The little streams of melted snow coming down from the mountains are subject to considerable fluctuations, consequent upon the quantity of snow and the progress of its melting.
The hot and cold springs are almost innumerable. The rattlesnake chooses as a resort those in Round Prairie, in the vicinity of Rattlesnake Creek. In one of these springs the thermometer marks a tem- perature of 109° 50'. Time was when the snakes held full possession of this watering-place. The springs of
17
SPRINGS AND DESERTS.
Bear River are many of them impregnated with divers minerals. Twenty Wells a valley is called having cold springs from half a foot to several feet in diameter, in which the water rises to the surface of the ground as fast as it is drawn out. From several large crev- ices in a low mound a mile long, and seven hundred feet in length, emerges the sulphuric vapor which gives the name to Steamboat Springs, the surgings of the boiling water being heard below. Sixty columns of steam may be counted on a clear cool morning, rising to a height of fifty feet. There are also Steamboat Springs in Utah, on Bear River, and hot springs all along the western base of the Wahsatch Mountains. In most of these waters are found sulphate of mag- nesia, carbonate of lime, chloride of sodium, and sul- phate of lime. Near Walker River is a spring having a temperature of 165° at the surface.
From a basin ten feet in diameter within another basin ninety feet in diameter, near Pyramid Lake, comes with sulphuric smell a thick dark hot fluid which looks like tar. The rocks lying within the outer basin are covered to the thickness of nearly a foot with a black resinous substance.
There are deserts and deserts, not to mention dry valleys, alkaline valleys, and the like. There are the Smoke Creek desert, the Granite Creek desert, the Black Rock desert, and the Sage desert of northern Nevada, and the large deserts in the south. West and south of Great Salt Lake stretches the Great American desert for a distance of a hundred miles, a flat surface, declining slightly northward toward the lake, and broken occasionally by isolated mountains. It is a spot shunned alike by man and beast; even the birds seem loath to fly over it. Whatever of soil there may be is of an argillo-calcareo-arenaceous char- acter, in which appears a small growth only of arte- misia and greasewood. Near the lake the lower and yet more level and salt-covered ground, which was HIST. NEV. 2
18
THE GREAT BASIN.
once part of the lake bottom, is little more than a mud-flat, on which wagons cannot safely venture. Indeed, there is little doubt that this whole desert area was at one time submerged.
Indigenous plants and animals are few, not how- ever from lack of possibilities. Mark the prophecy : the valleys of this whole region will one day be rich fields and gardens, supporting flourishing populations. At some seasons of the year the flora of Nevada appears to be little else than sage-brush and grease- wood; at other seasons hills and plains are brilliant with flowering herbage. Large tracts are wholly destitute of vegetation. Among things man may eat, besides insects in abundance and some reptiles, are pine-nuts, currants, and gooseberries. Then there is a sugar coming from a kind of cane growing in the tule swamps about Humboldt and Carson lakes, while in the neighboring hills flax and tobacco are sometimes met with. In the south there are the cactus and mezquite.
On most of the mountain ridges of Utah are dwarf cedars; mahogany is likewise frequent, that is to say mountain mahogany as the people call it, and also pine, balsam, and ash. At a distance the mahogany of these mountains looks like an appletree with a live- oak leaf. Along the Timpanogos and its tributaries are found box-elder, cottonwood, and oak; willow, sugar-maple, and birch; in the mountains are pine, fir, and juniper, and in the valleys are red and black currants, service-berries, and a blue berry called the mountain grape. The rolling highlands between Weber River and Salt Lake are heavily timbered, and support in places a dense undergrowth. The Sevier district also abounds in timber. Along the Colorado as it leaves Utah are low and stunted pines on river banks so high that the Spaniards who were first there fancied themselves amidst the clouds; even during summer the cold wind sometimes sweeps in from the north in a manner most uncomfortable. The streams
19
FLORA AND FAUNA.
of Nevada are bordered by cottonwood, willow, birch, and wild cherry, with here and there a mixture of wild vines, and rose and berry bushes.
On the hills of Nevada are two kinds of bunch grass, which may be distinguished as coarse and fine, the former being in smaller and more scattered bunches and seeking the lower levels. Both are very nutri- tious, the finer variety bearing an oat-shaped seed. Clover is sometimes found on the river banks. Washoe valley is a natural meadow; so is Mountain Meadow, the latter a plateau seven or eight thousand feet high, walled by mountains, watered by melted snow, and carpeted with luxuriant grass. Utah pre- sents a great variety of grasses.
Into the arms of the commonwealth in some way should be twined the artemisia, or wild sage, so abundant is it everywhere throughout this region. Beside it place some greasewood and lynogris, under which last let a rabbit be seen. This aromatic shrub clothes the land in gray, which mingling with the green of the greasewood bronzes all nature.
Among mammals may be mentioned the bighorn, or Rocky Mountain sheep, the great-tailed fox, the mink, ermine, badger, wolverene, and muskrat. There are sage-hens and hares to shoot; a few coyotes may be heard on the hills. In the reptile line, besides rattlesnakes there is not much to boast of but horned toads and spotted lizards.
Curlews, pelicans, and ducks frequent the region round Carson Lake. Myriads of geese and ducks, with swans, cover the surface of the Great Salt Lake at certain seasons, there shrieking their discordant notes, while at other times and places there is the stillness of the grave, a dead sea indeed. There are also on the lake blue herons, white brant, cormorants, and gulls, which lay their eggs in the crevices on the islands. Other birds might be mentioned as frequent- ing these and other parts of the great basin, such as the hawk, and burrowing owl, the long-winged blue-
20
THE GREAT BASIN.
bird, the titmouse, lark, snow-bird, finch, woodpecker, kill-deer, sage-cock, crane, bittern, and so on.
Fine large trout abound in the fresh-water lakes; in Carson Lake are fish of a smaller kind, notably chubs and mullets. In Reese River trout are found two and a half pounds in weight. Of four-legged rep- tiles, and insects, there is present the usual variety.
In that section of Nevada of which Carson Lake is the centre, the mineral deposits are the wonder of the world. Not to mention the silver veins of the Comstock lode, whose history in a sense and during an epoch is the history of Nevada, there are salt marshes, borax beds, and chalk, soda, and sulphur beds almost without end. The waters of North Soda Lake which cover an area of 400 acres to a depth of 270 feet contain thirty-three per cent of soda. Coal is likewise there, and peat beds, and quicksilver. The sulphur and cinnabar deposits of Steamboat Springs have attracted much attention. In Veatch cañon is magnesia; in the Ruby Range are mica mines; south-east from Pine Grove is a valley of salt; east of the Rio Virgen are salt bluffs; in the Peavine district is copper; a mineral wax in southern Utah is mentioned; Utah has also copper, bismuth, graphite, alum, and gypsum.
Coal has been found in the vicinity of the Timpa- nogos River where there is a stream called Coal Creek; and on Weber River iron, coal, chalk, and gold exist in quantities. Then there are the scores of districts on either side of the river Jordan, between Great Salt and Utah lakes, containing names world- famous, and significant of precious metals; and in the regions of Green and Bear rivers, in the Juab Valley, and all along down the Wahsatch Range to the Se- vier country are vast coal fields, and on to the south- west, which region is thickly studded with cedar and bullion cities, sulphur springs, salt lakes, coal cañons, and granite, iron, and silver mountains.
There is iron and other mineral wealth south of
.21
MINERAL AND ALLUVIAL LANDS.
Filmore; in the Elko district are gold, silver, lead, antimony, coal, and mineral soap; in the Esmeralda region silver, gold, borax, salt; the Eureka district has its Sulphur range and Diamond range of moun- tains, and its mines, mining companies, and mills with- out end.
To the north agriculture has somewhat usurped the place of mining. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, and pota- toes grow abundantly, as well as berries and fruit. There are good grazing lands, and stock-raising has assumed considerable proportions. Antimony and sulphur have attracted attention, and many gold and silver mines have been worked. Gold, silver, copper, lead, and antimony are found in the Battle Mountain country, and in the Pioche district are many famous mines. Round Pyramid Lake mines have been opened, and Esmeralda, Eureka, Reese River, and White Pine have long been terms synonymous with great wealth. In a word, throughout the entire length and breadth of the great basin mineral and metalliferous deposits abound, the largest veins thus far having been found in high altitudes; and who shall tell whether the half of them have been yet discovered.
This country though sometimes called desert is by no means all desert. There are many valleys, such as Carson, Walker, Rush, Ruby, Pleasant, Steptoe, Antelope, and Crosman, portions of which are good for cultivation. The altitude of Steptoe Valley is 6,146 feet, while the lower part of Carson Valley is 3,840 feet above the sea. The higher valleys grow roots, cereals, and the more hardy plants, while in Carson Valley and in the region of Great Salt Lake, and elsewhere, garden vegetables flourish. And when I see so much of this earth which was at first pro- nounced worthless for man afterward placed under tribute, and made to bloom and bring forth, I hesitate before I wholly condemn any portion of it. Water transforms the sage-covered alkaline soil into an Eden,
22
THE GREAT BASIN.
and water abounds on every side if only it may be utilized. Nevertheless, there are here some desert spots which will never be reclaimed-instance the region between Carson Lake and the Sedaye Moun- tains, and that extending from Simpson Springs in the Champlin Mountains to Sulphur Springs at the eastern base of the Goshute Mountains.
One cause of the barrenness of certain tracts in Utah and Nevada is the rapidity with which water is absorbed after it comes down from the mountains. I have observed that the lakes and rivers are gen- erally at the base of mountains, where likewise, of course, are found the fertile spots, while the deserts are somewhat removed from high elevations. As a rule the mountain streams disappear before finding another stream; the thirsty earth drinks them up; and thus are irrigated patches along the foothills, which are oases, as compared with the unwatered plain, growing coarse grain and shrubs.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.