Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-02-18
AN INTERESTING LETTER.
Valuable Suggestions 20 She People or
Los Angeles. "a

what posted in the topography and
resources of that part Of it, through
which, in the course of time, l pre-
sumo you intend to run the Los Ange-
les and Independence Railroad write
you few lines that may enlighten
some who are not acquainted with this
country. ~slr
In the first place, it is the only pracl
ticable route for road running East
for distance of from 200 to 250 miles
south of the Central Pacific Railroad.
From the Humboldt river, which the
Central runs along, to the divide be-
tween the Humboldt river and the
Colorado, run, In a North and South
direction, high ranges of almost un-
broken mountains, forming complete
barrier to railroad building East and
West. But going South, after you pass
that divide, the ranges begin to break
up, just as the Sierras do, into isolated
ranges, with tolerably level valleys to
build railroad through all the way
to the Utah line; and
THE CLIMATE
Is dry and mild. Snow never laws,
unless for a short time, or on the
mountains or few elevated valleys.
The roadbed in the valleys will never
be effected by heavy rains or frosts,
and the poorest kind Of timber will
hardly everrot Now as to the resources
OF this almost unknown land, which,
although 1t has been travelled over so
long, is but little known yet, We
Will suppose after the Los Angeles and
Independence Railroad leaves Cajon
Pass it runs nearly North to Inde-
pendence or Panamint, and from there
1t gradually curves round mot far from
Gold Mountain or Aida Valley and
takes a Northeasterly direction, via
Rallie to Phoebe or near there, where
we will leave it for the present and
return to the resources of the country.
Afteryou leave Cerro Gordo, in Cali
fornia, and north of the proposed road
are large number of
:. - "a :. Z, MINING DISTRICTS. ev-ssS
I will mention a few: Gold Noun
tain, Aida Valley, Silver Peak, CO.
lumbus, Montezuma District, San An
tonic, Volcano, lone, Jefferson, Bel
mont, Hot Greek, Tybo, Reveille,
Moray, Patterson, etc., and South of
the road, or near the line of it, Groom
District, Tenn Piute, Worthington,
Hiko, Pahranagat, Phoebe, and q num-
Der of other districts. Some of these
mines are well developed and are pay
ing well now; but the largest bodies
of ore, like the Hike mines, are nearly
always of low grades, and will not pay
to work until railroads. built through
that country. The ores in some dis
tricts are very rich, and they are some-
times hauled 200 miles to the mills.
There is some gold in portions of the
country, as have seen specimens of
quartz from Aida valley that was
told assayed, one piece
$4,000 PER TON,
In gold and another piece $42, 200 per
ton in gold and silver. But these
small veins of rich ore seldom amount
to much. Large bodies of base ore are
the best for railroad. And refractory
ores, that cannot. be worked at small
mills or furnaces, but would be run to
this place on the cars and worked
here, if you build good works, which |
have no doubt you will in time. Or it
can be shipped to Swansea or Newark,
N. j. But the most important thing
about this proposed road is the market
it will open for the farmers of Los
Angeles county. Arizona can more
than supply herself with hay and
grain and fruit. Northern Nevada,
Idaho and Montana can. produce ali
the hay, grain and vegetables they re-
quire; but Southern Nevada, being
almost destitute of creeks or rivers to
irrigate with, except at the extreme
South and this is out of the reach of
the proposed road in the desert, and
on account of the dry climate, not be-
ing able to raise anything without ir-
rigation, will always have to be sup
piled with fruit, hay, grain and vege-
tables from some sOther country; and
the nights in Summer are too frosty to
raise fruit. And the market will be
immense as soon as the country can
be developed by railroads.
FOR AN EXAMPLE,
There is Eureka, s5- miles South of
Pallsade, on the G. P. r. r., VIM.
Mills, Ralston and Crocker, in connec-
tion witir w. L. Prithard and others,
are building "a narrow gauge railroad.
1t is now completed to Alpha, 35miles
from Eureka, and it is intended to
push it South as fast as possible over
the divide toward Tybo or Phoebe.
, The Eureka mines could never be
made to pay, if the C. P. r. r. had not
been built, as the ore is mostly base
ore and of low grade, from $50 to $50
per ton; and the silver in the bullion
runs from $500 to $500 per ton. Now
the camp has over 5000 miners and
coal-burners, teamsters, ETC., besides
the families in town. And Eureka
produces three or four millions of
dollars worth of silver per year. The
principal companies pay their
men in gold on the fifth of
each month, and the camp,
although it has not near the inhabi-
tants that Los Angeles has, consumes
more than twice as much hay and
barley, etc. A good share of the
teaming to Phoebe is done from Eu-
reka, by Pritchard, who works over
one thousand mules and horses. Phoebe
produced two years ago about five or
| six millions of dollars worth of silver,
but owing to the suits between the
Hermes and Ramona & Ely, and be-
| lieve having struck water in the
mines, they are rather under the
weather for the present. But
| TYPO rs A NEW AND THRIVING CAMP,
L II L. I:IxoIu. 70 oo.nal Euraka rchau