Los Angeles herald., 1892-06-15

tiful valleys-Curious Facts About
tho Death Valley Regional Romance
OF Desert Oasis-A Region of Which
Few Know the Possibilities.
Between Daggett and the Utah terri.
tory there is broad stretch OF land
which is terra incognita to the people
of the United States. It has seldom
been travelled over and more seldom de
scribed. It contains untold mineral
wealth and valleys that are eminently
adapted to agriculture and capable OF
sustaining life in comfort for thousands
upon thousands of people. All these
richesses now lie idle because there is
no possibility of reaching them by
quick methods, but the day is not
far distant when the minerals shall be
wrested from the mountains and the
valleys shall be covered with golden
ears of corn and wheat.
When the proposed Utah and Los
Angeles railroad shall have been built,
this broad stretch of land, in which
wealth of every description lies idle now
waiting for the hand of man to pick it
up or develop it, the only necessary ad-
junct now lacking - transportation
will make possible the dreams
of those who know what there
is lying there awaiting them.
w. s. Barton of Los Angeles has pros
pected this great unknown territory for
two years, and has but just returned
with a valuable fund of information
concerning it. He has investigated
Death valley, the Mojave desert, and
those parts of Nevada that lie nearest to
California. During his long journey he
nearly always followed the survey lines
of the proposed railroad between Los
Angeles and Salt Lake, except when,
upon his return trip, he travelled along
the road which was once intended to
connect this city and Nevada and the
east via Independence.
INExHAUsTIBLE MINERAL WEALTH.
Barton saw so much mineral wealth
on his way north, all lying so much
nearer to Los Angeles than it does to
Utah. that he is firmly convinced that
the completion of the intended railroad
must bring prosperity to this city. He
argues that it must always be cheaper
to ship ores to Los Angeles than to Salt
Lake, in consequence of which Los An
geles ought to become the center of
smelters and rolling mills without num-
ber, while coal for the furnaces could be
supplied cheaper to this city from the
immense fields of Utah than it could be
brought from our northwestern coal
mines.
After crossing Death valley, Barton
prospected to the northeast of it, and
found almost every kind Of known min
eral in its mountains. Gold, silver,
copper, nickel, cobalt and zinc were
everywhere in paying quantities. The
Charleston mountains contain gold in
decomposed quartz, good deal of it
being free milling ore, while some of it
is combined with silver and copper. The
ores will run from $20to 500 to the ton.
Among the known mines in this region
is the Montgomery mine, which is down
256 feet, and its mineral averages $40 to
the ton in gold and silver. The nearest
shipping point is Fenner, on the A. and
p, which is 155 miles distant.
A little way out from Daggett, clear to
Phoebe, in northeastern Nevada, the
country traversed by Barton was found
to consist of mineral belts of unusual
value. The railroad survey through this
section has established the fact that for
q distance of 300 miles of the road there
will be no need whatever for bridges or
tunnels. Washouts will occur only in
cases of waterspouts, and the damage
that could be inflicted on the roadbed
will not be serious.
BICH FARMING LAND.
Southwest OF Pioche, still on the line
of the proposed road, there lie over one
hundred miles of as fine agricultural
and grazing land as can be seen any
where. 1t is not occupied by any one,
although there are thousands of acres
of school land in it. One Of these fertile
spots, named Garden Valley, the pros
pector visited. 1t lies 65 miles south
west of Phoebe, is 80 miles long and
averages 10 miles in width. Two thirds
of this area is irst-class farming land
where oats, barley, potatoes and
alfalfa would grow excellently well, and
as an apple country it could not
be surpassed. Barton was there on the
.ith of July of last year, and then one
stream was running 600 inches of water
lengthways through the valley, coming
from a range Of mountains lying to the
north, while two smaller streams sup,
piled 100 inches each. He computed
that there were no less than 2OO,OOO
acres there awaiting settlers. Yet no
one lived in this happy valley, which
contained merely some lat stock and
horses belonging to cattlemen OF North
ern Nevada.
In the mountains north OF Garden val
lev there is plenty of timber and the
bowels of the earth are filled with min
erals. This region contains many pat
ented mines which have to be idle
like everything else out there, for want
Of transportation facilities, but when
the Utah railroad passes through this
valley the condition OF affairs will I'M