The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-26
IN DEATH VALLEY.
Topeka Man Tells Story of
Western Deserts.
Development of Nevada Has
Commenced Again.
PROSPECTING IN AUTOS
That Is One of the Latest Things
in Mining.
Believes Desert Wastes VIII Yet
Become Garden Spots.
IN AUTOS

To the Editor of the State Journal
A trip across the desert to a great
many people is one of extreme monoto-
ny; however. to us it was one full of
interest. Not because we had never seen
q desert before for we had seen many,
but because of the possibilities and
treasures of this one. The interest de-
ponds entirely upon what is seen in the
desert. To the average traveller it is
one awful stretch of hot sand or white
adobe earth full of alkali with no green
upon it except the useless sage, chico,
grease wood. or sharp needed cactus.
To another, with an ordinary knowledge
of physical geography, geology, and
mireralOgy, the desert has possibilities
well worth our study. Such a man sees
great dams can be constructed in which
to catch and husband the precious wa
ters when they fall he notes that the
soil is deep and rich in phosphates so
necessary in the production of great
crops, because they have not been leach
ed out for centuries in the past. He
sees in the mountains marvellous min
eral possibilities which need only the brave
heart and a strong hand to win from
them fortune and fame. The geology
of the desert is largely an open book,
and many an intelligent prospector talk
ing his cue from the government sur
Vey and reports, has planted his feet
quickly upon rich mineral out-crops,
which in turn have cast a fortune into
his lap.
recent trip to the Pacific coast was
routed purpoSely through this new and
desert country. Starting southwest from
Salt Lake City, over the brand new
Salt Lake line, our course took US
across southern Utah and Nevada and
into southern California near the fam
Gus Death Valley" a stretch of coun-
try rarely seen before this line of rail-
way pushed its way through to the
coast, by any save the bold prospector.
For 500 miles we Travelled across desert
wastes with here and there a town in
embryo consisting of a few wooden
shacks and a sprinkle of tents, SHIN
mering like a molten furnace under a
scorching sun and a cloudleSS sky. This
desert lies between the Wasatch noun
tains on the east and the Sierra Ne
Vada ranges on the west, a lofty plateau
in northern Utah with an elevation of
1000 feet, but gradally descending
southwark until in the Death Valley of
southern California. it is several hun
dred feet below the sea level When
we reached southern Nevada we found
our interest wonderfully quickened be-
cause of the recent discoveries in it's
great gold fields.
turned just now feverishly upon Ne
vada- From all parts men are coming
into the state determined to win a for
tune out of her golden heart. The
present time contrasts strangely with
conditions few years ago. After ex-
tracing S60O,000.OO0 from the great
Comstock mines at Virginia City
generation ago, which made million
aires of the Floods, the Fairs and the
Mackays, there was a great slump in
NeVada'S prosperity, and her star be-
gan to sink below her once roseate
horizon. Her mines closed down. her
milliOnaireS went to California to there
invest their millions and everybody
who could got out of the state, and
the population dwindled down to a
handful-no more than that embraced
city. The state had a population too
small to admit any territory to state
hood, and its lands, were they dis
tributed, would have given over 1900
acres to every man, woman and child
in the state. Nevada became con-
spicuous in congress because of its pre-
tensions compared with its possessions.
A Second Awakening.
But now Nevada is in the flush of
second awakening. There is excite
ment and industry from one end of the
desert commonwealth to the other. The
United States government has recently
completed in this state it's first great
irrigation project for the reclamation
of the arid lands of the great western
plateau extending from the Mexican
line on the south to the British Column
blan border on the north, embracing
width of five hundred miles. Taking
three millions of dollars received from
the sale of government lands since
1900, they turned the Truckee river
from its course, husbanded it in a
mighty dam, and then led it into the
great Carson Sink, and before this
year is out $4,000 acres of the finest
land of the west will be made to bios
som as the rose.
However, it is the mineral discov-
cries which are just now creating the
new Nevada. The first discoveries
were the gold lodes of Tonopah and
Goldheld in the western part of the
state. The former is said to have one
gold mine worth fifty millions of dol
lars. Goldfield since the first of the
year has yielded four million dollars
in the precious metal. Here even the
surface dust was found to be so rich
that 1t was sacked like flour and labor
1ously transported where water and
heat could be used in effecting the
separation. In two years a town from
eight to ten thousand population
sprang up on the once waterless sage