The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1906-05-04

the other the barren waste of the San
Antonio desert. where 1t merges into the
still more forbidding stretch of fiat
known as Smoky valley-such is the
trail between Manhattan and the new
bonanza camp of Round Mountain. or
Gordon, as IL is now called. after It's
pioneer settler, L. ID. Gordon. The
Round Observation-Disclosures road uns
westward down the sheltered little
canon in which the latter town ~nestles.
leaving Mustang Hill, the Black Mann
moth and the properties owned by
"Diamondfeld Jack" Davis on the right.
and Union No. . or the left. Then just
before the Paymaster mine at Central Is
reached. the road swings sharp to the
right and heads in a northerly direction
across a desolate sage-brush moorland.
A mile more and we can look right
across Smoky valley to the grim, pre-
cipitous crags of the Toiyabe range.
Save a few wild cattle and wilder horses
the numbering stage is the only sign
of life to be seen, and one wonders how
even these hardy creatures can find sus-
tenance In such a barren and desolate
wilderness. There is nothing to be seen
but sage, rock and sand, sage rock and
sand, in endless, dreary alienation.
The outlook reminds one of Dore's IL
Illustrations to the Inferno" Tie grey.
lowering sky, the smoking alkali hot
springs in the farther distance and the
frowning. jagged peaks of the Toiyabe
mountains, which seem to start out of
the plain almost at right angles, make
up a tout ensemble reminiscent of
Dante's weird pictures of hades. The
name Smoky valley is a fitting one,
for the alkall springs to the northwest
send up a perpetual cloud OF vapor,
which shrouds the base of the noun
tains In that direction from sight.
Another hour of reckless, daredevil
driving and we approach Round Noun
tain, an almost isolated, h~ump-backed
mass of rock, only connected with the
rest of the Toquima hills by a low neck
of rising ground. Crossing this, we
swing down at headlong speed towards
a cluster of r~udely-built shacks and
tents, an off-shoot of Gordon township.
Conspicuous among them as an aged
giant among a crowd of children, stands
a solidly-constructed, weatherbeaten
frame house. 1t is a relic. our cicerone
tells us. of the old" silver days of the
seventies. Only thirty years ago, but
thirty years is an eternity in a mining
country.
There is no more curious sight in
Southern Nevada than this superposi-
ton of one mushroom civilization upon
another. Short as the interval has been,
a great gulf separates them, for, after
the characterization of silver, the tide of
civilization rolled back from this section
of the country, and mine buildings and
whole townships were deserted and al
lowed to go to rack and ruin. their only
tenements the Indian and the coyote.
Southern Nevada is dotted with deserted
silver miies, low grade propositions"
by no means worked out, which, with
improved modern methods, could UNI
doubtedly be made to pay.
After a brief halt we push on again
and soon Gordon is sighted. AS we APP
proach, comes a transformation scene.
The sun. that had been hidden all morn
ing behind murky clouds, comes out and
shines down cheerily. Through a patch
of willows gurgles a streamlet of clear
running water, rare sight in this land Of
sand and thirst. We overtake two
large wagons heavily laden with cord
wood, and. just as we enter the town
from the south. a small bunch of cattle,
driven by whip-cracking, chapereroed
-cowpunchers, streams in from the west.
AS so often In mining annals the hrd
that caused the rush was due 10 a
piece of ~'nigger's luck" Gordon had
been mining in the district for a con-
siderable time, but it was left for a
former railway mechanic, and the
ignorant and inexperienced hanger-on
of a gambling house, Scott and Morgan
by name, to dislodge a piece of heavily
oxidized float, lousy with free gold"
The strike was made on a claim belong
ing to Gordon, and the lucky prospectors
were promptly given a lease. Not con-
tent with this, however. Scott and Nor
gan and a namesake of the formers who
had grubstaked them, jumped all Cor
don's claims in his absence, and it
needed the menace of four men armed
to the teeth with Winchesters and six
shooters to make those pushful gentle
men quit.
Go where you will at Round Noun
tain. you will find leasers and claim
owners enthusiastic. Gold is found
everywhere, usually in bountiful profu-
sion. The strike of the district, which
has set every mining man in Southern
Nevada talking. is that on the Smith
property. There gold has been struck.
not a stringer or a pocket, but a definite.
broad ledge, which goes SIS to the
poundl Just think of It,, a presidents
salary, $4,000. to the toni Twenty tons
of 1T will make a millionaire! A months
output will make a multi-millionaire!
Can we wonder that men stick at moth
ing. when such prizes as this are at
stake. The other day a sack containing
100 pounds OF this ore was shipped
through to the mill. An armed Wells
Fargo messenger was engaged to escort
it.. Small wonder. In this sack, about
the size of a ffty-pound sack of flour.
lay the equivalent of one hundred and
twenty-five dougle eagles. Such are
the prizes to be won from Natures
treasury in Southern Nevada, and such
is the goal toward which the hardy
prospector prods his weary burro.