The daily Gate City., 1861-11-20

TThe following letter in answer to GER
tain questions, will be found peculiar and
interesting, and probably quite satisfacto-
ry.-E Ed GATE.
CARSON Cry, Nevada Ter. |
October 26, '6l.
DEAR MOTHER You ask me in your
last TO tell you about the country-tell
every thing just us it is--no better and
no worse-and 10 let nonsense alone
Very well, then, ma, since you wasted
considerable portion Of your life in an un-
profitable effort 10 teach me to tell the truth
on all occasions, will repay you by deal
Ing strictly in facts just this once, and by
avoiding that nonsense for which you
seem to entertain mild sort of horror.
Thus "Gold Hill' (which is the name
Of the finest gold bearing quartz ledge
in this vicinity sells at $4,000 foot
cash down; Wildcat isn't worth 10 cents.
And thus: Nevada Territory is fabu-
lously rich in gold, silver, copper. lead,
coal, iron, quicksilver, marble granite,
chalk, slate, plaster Of Paris (gympsum,) J
thieves, murderers, desperadoes, ladies,
children, lawyers, christians, gamblers,
Indians, Cinnamon, Spaniards, sharpers,
cuyotes, pronounced ki-yo-ties, preach
/
ers, poets and jackass rabbits.
/ Furthermore: it never rains here, and
! the dew never falls No flowers grow
here, and no green thing gladdens the eye
The birds that fly over the land carry
their provisions with them. Only the
crow and the raven tarry with Us. Our
city lies in the midst Of desert Of the
purest, most unalulterated and uncom-
promising sand--in which Internal soil
nothing but that fag-end of vegetable Gre
alton, ''sage-brush is mean enough to
grow. If you will take liliputian cedar
tree for model and build dozen imita.
tions of it with the stifiest article Of tcle.
graph wire-set them one foot apart ane
then try to walk thorugh them--you viii
understand, (provided the ilooris covered
twelve inches deep with sand) what ii il
to travel through sage-brush desert
When crushed, sage-brush emits an odo
which isn't exactly magnolia, and equal,
isn't exactly polecst, but sort of com
promise between the two. 1t looks
good deal like grease wood, and is proba
i bly, the gliest plant that was ever con
/ ceived of. 1t is gray in color. On tn
plains sage brush and grease wood gro,
j To about twice the size of common ger,
i mum, aad, to my thinking. are very goo
= substitutes for that very useless vegets
y BILE. Greasewood is a perfect imitation
a in miniature, Of the liveoak tree, bar
ing the color Of it, As to the othe
fruits ard flowers Of the country, ther
o. ant any except 'Tula,' species of unpt
etical rush, that grows on the banks
: the Carson,-a RIVER, ma mere, twent
10 yards wide, knee deep, and SO villainou
ly rapid and crooked, that it looks like
"a had wandered into the country witho,
!. intending il, and had run about in b,
i wildercd way and got lost in it's hurry
os get out again before some thirsty ma
came along and drank it m.
- ] said we are situated in fat, sand
II desert True. And surrounded on I
h. sides by such prodigious mountains th
49, when you stand at distance from Ca
T. son and gaze at them awhile, until,
- mentally measuring them, and compa
u Ing them with things of smaller siz
!, yon begin 70 conceive of their grandeu
nd and next to feel their ,astncss expan
\ Ing your soul like a balloon, and ultima,
|, fnd yourself growing, and swellin
IA and spreading into colossus !, s.
when this point is reached, you look d
dainfuly down upon the Insignificant V
lagc Of Carson, r,poslng like che
. print away yonder at the foot Of the b
: hills, and in that instant you are seiz
with burning desire to stretch for
ear your hand, put Iii. city IN your pock
and walk oil with it.