The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1891-03-05
SOUTHERN LINCOLN.
What IL i. Capable of Doing with n
Railroads. All.

generally prevalent that it will support
only horned toads and rattlesnakes, The
following letter from an old. settler in
that section dissipates that idea largely.
The communication was sent last June
by Daniel Bonelli of Rioville on the
Colorado, to Mr.. c. W. Friend. of the
Nevada State weather service, and an.
pears in the last report of Surveyor Gen.
cral Jones:
Along the southeastern border of Ne.
vada there is a belt or zone of country
about fifty miles in width by $50 in
length, characterized by such popularity
OF climate and aiaptabily to the produc.
ton of Semi.tropical vegetation that it
must be considered separately from the
the rest of the State. This zone reaches
northeastward into Utah to the rim of
the Great Basin, and southeastward
into California. The portion within
the State ranges in altitude
from 500 to 1000 feet above the
Pacific, and includes the fertile margins
of land along the Colorado and the val
leys of the Rio Virgin and the Muddy,
where most of the settlers are scattered
at present in entirely insufficient mum.
bers for the control OF the resources of
the region. The valley of the Muddy
affords the largest compact body of avail.
able land in the region, with water
supply easily handled, and it is here
where the Mormon people planted a
colony OF 800 families in 1863 and aban.
doned their improvements in 1871. This
may have had something to do with the
hardness of its re-occupation, but the
abandonment was not caused by an un
fitness of the country for settlement any
more than their abandonment of Illinois
and Missouri testified against the suita
billy of that country.
The temperature of this region for the
whole year, most closely resembles that
OF the south coast of Spain, although the
extremes assume somewhat wider
range. There is no reason in climate or
soil why the whole catalogue of semi
tropical plants should not prosper here.
with the same care and effort that is be.
slowed upon them in those countries that
supply the worlds market with them.
Among those that have been fully tried
here and proven a success are in the
order of their Importance, grapes of the
best European varieties that will make
raisins or wine equal to the most favorite
parts of the Mediterranean shore; al
monds which find here their most favor.
able conditions and will bear at three
years old, blooming in February and
getting nearly full grown by the end of
April; figs, which ripen in May and yield
second crop in July and August; pome-
granates, pears corn, cane, cotton,
melons, sweet potatoes. Wheat and
barley are sown in October and Novem.
Der, grow all winter and are ripe in the
first week of May. Alfalfa or lucerne
clover is the chief forage crop and crop
OF paramount importance. 1t will bear
neglect and abuse without dying out from
year to year, yielding from one to two
tons of hay per acre each cutting. Small
grains will yield from twenty to eighty
bushels per acre, and farm with its
vineyard and orchard in full bearing need
not be over a tenth the size of ordinary
farms in northern climates to yield com
Portable subsistence and fair profits.
The great want of the region, transpor-
tation to market, seems in fair way of
being shortly supplied by the Union
Pacific railroad extension now being
planned to pass the north end of this
fruit belt, and the Denver, Grand Canyon
and Pacific road recently surveyed to
follow the west bank of the Colorado to
the Gulf coast.
All the elements of success are here at
hand, and it requires only the application
of energy and means to produce
results that would be fairly
astonishing; but as long as the
nece sary force to control the waters,
and introduce the necessary start of
fruit is not at hand, the few
settlers now here cannot mas.
ter that uccess that attends the full.
lest performance of all the essential re-
quirements. The rainfall being INSULT
cent for any crop, it follows that irriga-
ton must be had at any time when
needed. which involves the full control
of streams, or loss. Hence the unavoid-
able necessity of sufficient population
to manage these things. An effort that
is short of success is failure. If it takes
ten men and teams to repair broken
ditch ard dam during the whole time
the crop can stand without water then
one or two men cannot do it in time and
therefore lose on all sides.
Space scarcely permits touching upon
the mineral resources Of the region, but
may briefly state that, outside of
the prosperous camp Of lei Dorado
Canyon, not much has been done in that
direction, although the mountain ranges
adjoining are crystalline rocks of the
Archian and the early palcazoic ages,
capped occasionally with the carbonifer
GUS limestone, and there is every prob
ability of success in .uch field. Mos
of the traditional finds of rlch ores SAID
to have occurred during the first few
years Of overland travel are laid in Thu
region, and il they are not all authentic
some OF them no doubt are, as the ore
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