The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1862-12-17

I'c0r Euss0T Gate Guy:
Permit me to intrudc on your GENT.
readers : slight description Of this beauti
full valley, in which / live.
There was once tribe of sooty barba
rians, and hereabeuts in this pleasant
valley and under the piney woods that
frown above Its western edge, they dwelt,
and the name Of the tribe was, and is,
.Washoe. Some half dozen or more oil
their descendants--ra,her indtifvren,
types of mankind, they ase-sill hove,
about their ancient home, with melMn.
choly look Of tribal decadance aboat them,
saying as plainly as such q melancholy
look can say, awe are the hast of our
race" They win die, and this valley
where their stern ancestors hunted and
fought and roasted their captives at slew
fires, will know them no more forever.
Little as We pale fses esteem them, and
ligatly and jocundly as We trip over the
ashes of their departed greatness, their
name, if not their fame, still lives in the
Valley and the lake, where the fires of
their vigwams blaEed, and their canoes
danced over the sparkling waters. Yes.
this is Washoe Valley. and this, too, is
Washoe Lake and by'r lady, here We
are in Washce City. Washee Valley.
even in the days Of its rude aboriginal
masters, must have been a scene of eS-
quisite beauty and our fancy is taxed in
vain to picture it as it must be when its
fertile soil, under the hand Of civilized h.
Dor, shall TEEN with gardens, and orch
ards, and dewy meadows, and fields of
wavey grain, win in future years be ct
subject for poets and novel writer's. |
consider this valley not equaled in your
own beautiful State, not excepting the
ruby Des Monies even. The extent of
our Valley, it is true, is not great, but
nesting down among the hills. i, reaches
south of us about twelve miles, while
from west to east its avarage width 10
about six miles. Two lakes of pure
mountain water, sparkling and clear Is
midas richest pearls, are found within
1t, one ut the northerly. and the other at
the souiberly end Of the Valley. The
rSekthcrly lake being about one mile in
length, while the southerly one is about
live miles in length by about three miles
in breadth. These two lakes furnish
power sufficient to propell any amount of
mills for the reduction of gold and silver
ores.
Along the entire western boundary of
our Valley, and indeed throughout the
entire western boundary of our. country,
extends a belt Of white pine timber, ave
raging in breadth four or FIVE miles,
while above this belt of woodland are
soen the eternal granite peaks of the
Eastern Sierras, the melting of whose
SHOWS will ever furnish us in thousand
rlvolets with the clear, sparkling bever-
age which gave long life to the ancient 8.
Seven miles east of this, and in full
view of our city. stands Mount Davidson,
within whose gener us hl east lie hidden
(yet being revealed as if by magic power)
more than the wealth of Ophir.
The magnificent Valley of which | am
thus feebly attempting TO describe, is
worth ut the present day one hundred
dollars per acre, and the silvery lakes fur
nish us, in abundance, with the mountain
trout, the most luscious fish that swims
But the ponderous batteries in the
quartz mills within my hearing, reminds
me that to the American there are other
matters of interest here.
A score Of mills are daily cutting these
forests into lumber, and yet the demand
10 not satisfied. New mills must be
erected. for taking this as centre, there
are twelve towns and considerable viii
lagos within about that number of miles
OF US, all the growth of three years, and
one of them is the second city on
the Pacific coast, in point of business.
Virginia City is just the other side of
Mount Davidson, and is fourteen hun /
dred feet above the level of the Valley.
need not speak Of the number of quartz
mlls and the vast amount Of machinery
that Is now in complete running order
for the reduction of gold and silver ore.