Daily national Democrat., 1861-04-10
from Utah and the Silver tie.
gion.
FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT
HuFFATER's RANCu, Nevada Ter, !
Marrl, Dad 1851

/ l'NthlH'h W XIV 1bh FNlHb tthtHt7n ~ RilS
way. he will now endeayor to redeem his
word. And il he does this briefly, his weori-
ness must plead in his extenuation.
Mounted on two good horses, bir. lIufaker
and myself proceeded down the river to in
spect some quartz lodges recently discovered.
We found the country settled aud occupied.
in every place capable ofproducing hay. AT
the crossing, Stone and Gates have erected a
good and substantial building Of about one
hundred feet in length, and have large and
well appointed farm on the north western
side of the river, and were busy in sowing
ploughng and narrowing. On the opposite
side Of the river, is Ing's, thrifty looking
! farm, having house near the roadside
which would be a credit even TO your city Of
neat aud elegant cottages
The land on the Truckee, produces Of wheat
and oats, very fair crop. Barley does not
do SO well, although it is cultivated on sew
eral Of the ranches. OF the root crops, tur-
nips, beets, carrots and parsuips do finely.
Potatoes do not grow very large, but are bet
ter favored than thoec raised in the low val
leys Of California But grass IS the staple
crop Of all this section and on all the length
Of the river, from the lower crossing up to
Steamboat Valley, every acre capable Of pro
ducng this crop, is claimed. In some spots
even the willows are being cleaned Off to give
a greater area for moving ground, aud the
! Mcesrs. Lawton arc about to initiate an iui-
provemcnt on the natural growth by sowing
timothy, Which, in the opinion Of your hum
bic correspondent, will flourish magniicently
upon srch soil; for the flats are so little above
the bed Of the river, that the capillary at
traction mast bring the moisture very near
the surface Of the ground, even during the
drycet season. al present The river is nearly
bank full, and the stream rapid, making it
difficult to cross. Although we succeeded in
getting safely across on our return, yet tie
water came up TO our horses backs.
Alta little distance below the bridge, on
the left bank Of the river, my companion
turned of the road for the purpose Of show
ing me all immense porphyry rock, of an oh
long square form, having on its top and sides
syme mystic characters, which we were un-
able to dcciphcr The figures are rudely
carved in the rock and were evidently exc
cuted years ago, for the rock has in many
places been fractured as if by the shock of
an earthquake, destroying many of the
| iguYca They, no doubt belong to race
who inhabited this country prior TO the pres
| cnt race of aborignes. Upon the top Of this
immense rock noticed one cluster of figures
in circle, having in in its center II rude
representation Of the Sun, surrounded by
about dozen other figures, one of which cx-
hiJited quite truthful representation Of Il
crab, another like an anchor with large
ring, and still another representing an arrow,
passing through ring This cluster of fig
urcs reminded me Of very large porrhyry
rock, which stands in the base of the light
hand tower of the great Cathedral of the city
of Mexico, and strongly resembles this upon
| the bank of the Iruckec The one in Mexi-
co, is said by the people there, to stand in
the same position now that it occupied in the
Temple of the Sun, and is called Gel relox de
Montezuma, ,"-Montczuma watch.
a short distance below these hieroglyphcs
the bills change their appearance, being
chiefly composed Of red and black lava, both
kinds highly vesicated, and the lava often
surmounted by deep layer of volcanic
brescia, consisting in part of trap and quartz
pebbles, evidently rounded by attrtion in
| water. This formation extends down the
stream for dozen or more miles, when it
again begins TO wear the appearance of a
gold-produeing country; and at Red Bluff
which is five miles above the lower crossing
of Truckee, gold bearing quartz is again
found, as we had the occuar proof-by the
use of the "cucharo," or horn spoon, which
we had taken with us. We did not go fur
ther down stream than Red Bluffs, but after
examining the rock in the Ross and Ken
lucky Ledges, we turned homeward. These
lodges were taken up last spring just at the
commencement Of the Indian troubles, and
were abandoned on that account, and have
been relocated this spring. These companies
intend tunneling so as to give their leads
thorough prospecting
On our return we stopped while to look
at vein of copper ore. which cropped out
near the stream, and while engaged in its cX-
animation discovered agate stones in the rock
which formed the sides of the vein. We
broke out our pockets full, some of them very
pretty, and larger than an egg. They occur
in considerable quantity, and arc firmly en-
bedded in the rock which constitutes their
matriX. Their shape is similar to each other,
like the Moon when about six days old, only
thickened up in the middle to about an inch
thick. We had no implement for breaking
the rock, or we might have possessed our
selves of sack fuIl. may get down that
far again. II so, will select fine one aad
forward it to you.
After fording the river we struck into
long canon, having good sized stream of
pearly colored water running in it, which
was so strongly impregnatcd with alkali that
it was quite Shiny The hills were surmount
ed with the same volcanic bresca, as upon
the opposite side Of the river But instead of
overlaying lava, it rested upon various kinds
Of rocks, and among Others, in one place
bed Of gypsum, some handsome specimens cf
which we brought away with us. A little
further up, we came to a large bed Of alum
stone; which, wherever exposed to the at