The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-11-03
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
XVII
Carson Valley---The Sierra Nevada.

Placerville, Cal, Aug. 1889.
Tbou.h the Carson sinks iu or is alb.
scrbed by the same desert with the Hum
boIdt, glance at its worst estate sufices
to con .ince the traveller that the foru r
waters by far the more hopeful region
Large Cottouwoods dot its banks very
near its mouth, aud its valley, wherever
moist, is easily rendered productive.--
You feel that you are once more in a
land where the arm o! Industry need not
be psralyued by sterility, obstruction, and
despair.
Still, the prevalence OF drouth is here
fearful fact. No rain in Summer
that is, none that can be calculated on,
none that amounts to anything night
we'll appsll the cultiVator accustomed to
warm, refreshing showers throughout the
growing season. We crossed, on our Ia
pid ride up the Carson, a single high
plain twenty six miles long and from six
TO twelve wide, Ehich drouth alone dooms
TO Sagebu,b, sterIIIty. and worthlessness
Two or three other plains or high inter-
wales further up are nearly as sCorcbed
and barren. All these may be rendered
most productive BY irrigation, and here
Is the water at hand. If the new Gold
Mines in this valley shall ul;im ately JUS
tify their present promise, a very large
demsud for Vegetable Food will speedily
spring up here, which can only be salts
fed by domestic production. The vast
deserts eastward caunot meet it, the ara
IL Il, Il. g
restricted and too distont; inland Califor-
MIA is a dear country, and the transporta-
tion Of bulky staples over the Sierra
costly operation. The time will ultim ate
ly coDe-it.msy or may not be in our
day-Wben two CT three great dams over
the Carson will rcDder the irrigation of
these broad, arid plains on its banks per-
fectly feasible; aud then this will be one
Of the most productive regions on earth.
The vegetable TODD of One Million Peo-
pie can easily be grown here, while their
cattle nay be reared and fed in the noun
tain wales north and south of this valley.
And when the best works sball have been
constructed, and all the lights of science
aud experience brought to bear on the
subject, it will be found that nearly eve
rythiDg that contributes to human or
brute sustenance can be grown actually
cheaper by the aid of irrig alton than
without it. As yet, we know little or
nothing Of the application of water to
land and crops, aud our l. norauce causes
deplorsbIe waste and blundering. Eve
~ wear henecforth will make us wiser on
this head.
Twenty miles or SO below Genoa. we
passed "Jchntowu" Chinese settle u nt,
whose people Gnd employment in the re-
Gently discovered Gold Mines. These
mines are some eight miles Dorthward of
"Gold Canon, and are reported i'm men
ly rich. Silver and Copper are blended
with Gold 10 the same vein-stone. A few
are making money very fast here. but
these few control all the available water.
and it seems impossible TO introduce
more. If supply can be obtained at all,
it must be at enormous cost l have
vaguely heard of patented process or
processes for separating Gold from other
minerals or earths without the use Of
WdIeTs VI iuSIS NC auJ ouOu ptONScof "piSu
is not humbug, urge'the owner ofthe
patent to haste to Carson Valley and
there make his fortune. assure him of
az enthusiastic welcome.
"Csrsou City" just above JohDtOWn,
though it has few houses as yet, sspires
to be the emporium of the new Gold Re-
giou. and perhaps Of the embryo State of
Neveda; but Genoa, ten or fifteen miles
further up, is the present emporium,
though village of but forty or fifty hou-
ses Here Convention had been in ses-
sion for fortnight and bad completed q
Constitution for the aforesaid embryo
State of Nevada only the night before our
arrival. We met come OF the delegates
bound bomewayd. Said State is to com
prise the western balf (Sery nearly of u
tab, With (l Lelieve) a small strip OF cas-
tern California. California may object
to this; but | trust progress will organize
at least the Territory Of Nevada at an
early day. 1t is an established fact that
division of power between Mormons and
GeDiiIes seldom works harDoBiouslS; but
ia Utah there is no digisioH-the Nor
mons have all. The people Of Carson
Valley, and of Western Utah generally,