The Grange advance., 1874-01-14

almost every tourist passing over this route
has attempted to commit to paper the i'm
preston which the scenery made upon his
mind how he was possessed with q terri
bic sense of loneliness when he looked out
on the seeming houndless plains, dotted
here and there with a few stray antelopes'
or perchance herd Of cattle: and bow he
was filled with the wondrous majesty of the
scenery at Echo Canon, DEVILS Slide,
Hell's Gate, and other places and lastly
how his heart yearned for the poor Mormon
| women. whom Mark Twain thinks are so
| ugly looking that man who marries more
besides the everlasting gratitude of his
! fellow countrymen.
All along our route the ground was GOV
cred with snow, and it was deeper west of
Ogden than east of it, besides it continued
cold all the way, being 800 below zero At
Elk, Nevada, the night of Dec. 18th: and
how cattle, which are abundant in this Sec
ton, manage to live unhoused and unfed
| through such weather, and with such a
covering Of snow on the ground, seems a
wonder. 1t is very evident, however, that
thousands Of them must perish.
! We arrived at Carson City, New. Dec.
18th, and were very agreeably surprised in
finding such Il pretty town in that almost
desert region. 1t boasts population of
| :~Lo
the capital of Nevada, has many advan-
tages, the State house being an excellent
building. Besides it has branch mint,
and both are constructed Of a hard brown
sand stone, and have substantial as we'll
as ornamental appearance. The principal
business in its vicinity is wood cutting
for the mines at Virginia City, the location
Of the great Comstock lode. This wood
| cutting is performed in the mountains,
some places as far back as twenty miles
from Carson City, but the wood is doated
Virginia City by rail.
1t is claimed that Virginia City is the
most active and enterprising town west of
the Rocky Mountains, excepting San Fran
cisco of course. We were very sorry that
we had not time to visit it, as its mines are
among the wonders Of this continent
From Carson City to this place, distance
Of 240 miles, our journey had to be per-
formed by stage. 1t took four days, and
we assure you it was anything but pleas
ant trip as our wheeled conveyance had to
plow through snow all the way, there being
an average depth Of two feet, and in some
places it was drifted so badly as to be al
most impossible. Our road lay through
sage brush country, in close proximity to
the Sierra Nevada mountains. The scenery
along the route was very monotonous, being
made up principally Of sage brush and
black rocks, with an occasional sprinkling
of stuuted trees for until we reached
settlement on Ovens river, about fifty miles
north of here houses were very scarce,
some places twelve and eighteen miles
apart
We saw many hot springs along the way.
and At one place. called Benton, mining
settlement, there was a spring of boiling
water which when cooled was quite palata-
BILE. This spring was utilized by the in
habltants for washing clothes, scalding
pigs, chickens, &C., as well as table use.
We passed through one place about one
hundred and forty miles north of this place,
called 8: Aurora" which few years ago had
population of from Is, 900 to 20, 900 inhab-
itants, telegraph communication and some
five brick buildings, but to-day there are
scarcely seventy people there, and no tele-
graph communication, besides most of its
buildings are either torn down or deserted,
such being the instability of mining towns.
Stock. raising was the principal business
of the country we passed over, mining being
only incidental. 1t was very painful to see
the poor crouching cattle roofing and paw
ing the snow to get at the sage brush, their
only source of nourishment while the snow
lasts, and we came to the conclusion that it
was very hard lot to be COW in this
country in the winter season. It would
seem that the poor brutes had also reached
similar conclusion, for they are fast leav-
ing their pastures and turning into crow.
If any Of your readers should think this
letter wanting in interest, would like to
remind them of its length, for it contains
quantity at least. l.. S.
WITOKA MINN Jan, 5th 1874.