The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1905-05-23
ENGINEER SPEAKS OF
GEOLOGY
Science and Experience Shoe Unlimited
Water Supply IN Nevada State.

perficial cash veins and permanent
assures. There are large bodies of
good ore, small veins of rich ore and
others of no value. And all this in
less than one square township. 1t is
type of many other desert spots.
Rich ore, standing above the ground,
has been passed by for a generation,
waiting for some one to recognize 1t.
The good things in a mineral way may
not be old acquaintance. The pros
pector who has only sneers for the
orist, but is himself a most abject
slave OF theory-the theory that he
can tell good ore from it's looks-often
passes by a fortune. Many one did
at Tonopah. The veins which Butler
discovered and which started all the
desert excitement, had been seen by
many another prospector before But
Ter found them. Mr.. Vollmer, an as
sayer at Silver Peak, tells me that
years ago he made assays OF
ore from the Tonopah veins
which were brought TO him by
prospectors, but none of them
carried much value. The reason was
because the prospectors took for assay
poor ore, rejecting the good because it
looked like a black and white quartz,
which is generally worthless. Even the
assayer to whom Butler took the
Tonopah ore first declined to assay
it because it looked to be barren.
The present year will doubtless see
many rich discoveries on the desert.
Most of the things which horseback
prospector viii find may be located.
but it Is safe to say that many of them
will walt years for their value to
be discovered, as the great Jumbo did
ar Goldfield. Its quartz outcrop, stood
above the ground. Many a prospector
in past years put a location notice on
it, broke off quartz, had 1t tested,
found IT to be worthless and never re-
turned to 1t. The next wandering ore
hunter did the same. Finally a man
took some of the yellowish, decompos-
ed part of the vein, and Immediately
the world had rainbow colors for him.
The despised dirt was the valuable ore,
worth thousands OF dollars per ton.
Somehow 1T is human nature, crop
ping out In the prospector, as It does
in all the race, to be blind to the good
close by. The sun shines brighter and
the shade is cooler on the distant hill
than it is near at hand.
In the feyeriSh haste to get there 1t
is we'll to remember that all the good
things are not found first. While as
a rule 1t Is better to take time by the
forelock than to hang on by the tail,
there are exceptions to it. They are
discovering good ore in Greece, where
mining has been followed since 500
years before Christ, and where De-
mosthenes was an attorney in the first
mining lawsuit recorded by history.
The business end of mining was the
same there that it is now. Business
consists in trying to get what other
people own.
The present year, nor next year. nor
many a year to come. will end pros
pecting chances in Nevada. Nor can
one predict the probable location of the
richest or best things to be discovered.
All We know is that ore is found al
most everywhere on the desert.
Every one is now looking for very
rich stuff The rock containing $50 or
less per ton is treated with contempt.
At present this grade of ore, in most
daSert regions. has no value. owing to
uhfavorable economic surroundings.
These are distance from commercial
points and consequent cost Of supplies
and cost of marketing ore, the lack of
wood or other fuel, and of water for
milling purposes. But conditions care
changing SO rapidly that in a short
time they will be entirely different and
many of the now despised low-grade
ores will contribute largely to general
prosperity. The rapidly building rail-
roads will furnish crude oil from Cali
fornia or coal from Utah, thus solving
the transportation and fuel problems.
The water problem Is not a serious
one. There Is not valley in Nevada
where there is not an underground
water supply. Wells will find 1T at
depths varying from ten to three or
four hundred feet. and in many of the
valleys the geological conditions are
favorable for obtaining artesian water.
The valleys are underlaid with sedi-
mentary, stratified rocks, with a gen.
eral stope to the south. At their
northern ends there are springs and
creeks which run but short distances.
then sink from sight. These furnish
the fountain head. 1t needs no prophet
to tell that bore holes which go deep
enough into the stratified rocks will
in many cases find artesian water.
In fact, the commercial world is now
just awakening to the truth which
biologists have taught for years, that
the underground water supplies are
capable of being profitably utilized on
q gigantic scale. The southern Egyp-
tian desert, where the camel caravans
Travelled for days between water points,
is being reclaimed by irrigation from
wells. The French Government for
years has promoted the boring for ar
tesian water on the desert Of Sahara
with astonishingly favorable results.
The fields of Sharon, where David
fought his famous duel with Goliath.
were once as desolate as the Mojave.
The plains of Jericho were as dry and
barren as is Amargosa Desert, yet
water made them blossom as a rose"