The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1886-03-20

Something Aboat Us andUFtTfss,
Climate ETC., Etc.

points eastward Here 1t was soon discovered
that staging is net now what Il was In the
palmy days Of pioneer times. No longer is
there necessity for the fine six-horse Concord
coaches In use then. Instead. = two-horse
blackboard lie sufficient to carry the mail and
occasional passengers, and one must be pre-
pared to face the snow and wind from an cut
side seat (the only one) with the driver. This
calls for heavy overceats, caps and overshoes,
and robes or blankets. Even then enc soon
initiates the driver. and mt the nrst station
where they change horses will hunt up barley
sacks, in which to wrap his feet to keep them
warm When one has secured the sacks, with
bailing rope well tied, and finally adjusted all
| his coats and wrappings, he looks Ike an
Arctic explorer and feels like mummy.
WHITE PINE.
Evening found me at Hamilton and on the
historic grounds of the White Pine silver
excitement of 1859. 1t that time tens OF thou
sands of people rushed In and out OF here In .
few months time, bringing and spending vast
sums OF money In hazardous mining and other
speculations. Times were booming and peo-
pie were reckless-until.' zone day, Ii was found
that the bottom had fallen out. The cities,
built In haste and at great expense, were soon
dcpopulated Now the scene IL changed. Ne
mines are being worked outside Of . little
desultory prospecting, ne mills are running,
and the once large city OF Hamilton, after
destruction By fire, has not been rebuilt. But
few people remain and wintry silence prevails.
The ruins OF the once handsome Courthouse
stand like dismantlsd castle among the
wrack offormer homes and seem TO acceutuate
the silence and desertion. After supper here
l boarded the stage and rssum ed the journey
eastward, slowly climbing MomomOks. moun-
,ain. which overshadOws Hamilton on the cast,
and, descending its eastern slope, came upon
the sparkling ll-a-pah, whose waters were once
carried over to the White Pine cities by great
and expensive pumping machinery that is now
idle and lifeless. A. night came on the air
grew colder, and ct the nrst station the passen-
gers were changed to q covered wagon, and
filling 1t with hay, we get. inside and buried
ourselves for an all night ride. 1t was jour
ney Of much sameness emily that the cold kept
Increasing. Through. Robinson canyon 1t was
intense. Our breath froze 70 our boards until
they were solid ice. The horses were white
with frost. and yet the driver never once said
"Pass out that bottle. pard They have all
learned that they can endure the cold better
without firing up on alcohol. All night long
the wheels sang through the frozen snow with
ringing sound that would have been music
to poets ear, had, there been one on board
with his ears not frozen. The night seemed
everlasting. Benumbed with cold, fell asleep
and, on awakening, found myself reclining on
my lunch-box. Eggs and sandwiches were
mingled with the remnants of that paper box.
But the eggs were unbrOksn, and examining
one disclosed the fact that 1t was frozen SO
were the sandwiches. aad all was dumped over
board TO the coyotes.
TMPuRTANT INDUSTRIES.
After crossing Stept0e valley and ascending
the mountains Taylor was reached. This is q
mining camp of about 500 people. II IL about
seventy miles east OF Hapl ilton and ffty miles
from the Utah line. From here l turned
northward and travelled by daylight only for
40 miles through Steptoe valley to Wells, on
the Central Pacific Railroad, and thence on
through ether parts Of the State, observing in
all its valleys numerous herds OF cattle brows-
ing on their winter feed OF white sage, and
showing, In their good condition. that such
food is.sufncient to not emily sustain but also
to fattsn them. Stock-raising in ,Nevada IL
now assuming large proportions. Nsvada's
herds are many, and they now embrace over
100000 head Of cattle; while not less than aOO,-
600 head of sheep and 5000 horses also nne
pasturage. Coming under my observation
was the sale OF range containing 1900 head
ofcattle for the sum Of $4,000, and the buyers
were keen to close the bargain. Had this been
. mining sale the report would have been
heralded abroad; but 40 IL IL, very few hear OF
1t, or hearing, take no notice Farming IL
now carried on sufhcisn tly TO furnish Nevada
with nearly all that IL needed for homo con-
sumption. Numerous -four mills are In opera
ton 1T convenient points, and all the grain
needed for -four and feed 10 now produced
yearly, with as much assurance Of good yield
a. can be expected In any country. True
irrigation has to be resorteC to, but nearly ali
the arabic soil IL 80 located a. to be fully pro-
vidsd with water from mountain streams,
easily diverted from their sources and spread
over the land with little labor. Along the
Truckee meadows are many nicely cultivated
farms, with broad fields OF alfalfa, which, when
not covered with snow, show In their en- erald
look evidence of as great productIveness a.
anywhere on the Pacific coast. In Mason's
valley farming has settled dewA into solid
industry and now supports large popula-
tIon.
At Lovelock's over $1,000 acres are occupied
and over 5000 acres irrigated and in q high
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