The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1907-06-24
THE MINING CAMPS
OF THE DREAD
DESERT

of southwestern Nevada and eastern
California cannot even now be lookeo
forward to as likely to afford the trav-
eier much pleasure, but that the hardy
explorer and prospector may derive
much profit from it has been known
since the late sixties, when it was dis
covered that the bare, uninviting
mountain ranges of that r. gion contain
valuable deposits of precious metals.
The wave of mining activity and pros
pecting that Immediately swept oyer
that section reached maximum in the
seventies and died out before ;1c end
OF the next decade. Z In l9Ut, however;
the discovery. of ohenomenalIy rich
veins at tn este of ToEopab gave Il
new interest to the &c cIopment cf the
district and led thousands of men to
brave tie discomforts OF this hot aaI
arid lard.
An aid to the miner and prospccto~
of the present day unknown to tae
pioneo. explorers is the United States
geological survey, through whose sys-
tematic Investigations the desert reg
sions of the country have lost many Of
their terrors. Southwestern Nevada in
particular has been and is being care
fully explored, and the mountains and
valleys of that section are fast yield
ing their secrets at the tap of the
geologist Is hammer.
The report ON ga Geological Recon
naissance in Southwestern Nevada and
Eastern California" by Sidney ii.
,all, just issued by the survey as Bull
letin No. 30S, is the result of seven
months field work, froa June to De-
cember, 1905, inclusive During this
period geologic mapping, under the gem
eral supervision of f. L. Ransome, was
carried on simultaneously with topo-
graphic mapping by DIessrs. r. G.
Chapman and B. d. Stewart, the area
surveyed embracing more than $3.50
square miles, including portions Of Es-
meralda and Nye counties, Nevada,
an lnyo county, California
Practically the only industries in the
region are prospecting ard mining, and
IN, towns of this desert mining terri
sory typify both the push and energy
II the western frontier and the nm
stable conditions of the new gold fields.
iohopah lies four mil es north of this
area mapped. Goldfel.d, by far the
largest city in southwestern Nevada; !;
bullfrog and Beatty population about
l,oOo each) are provided with telephone
and telegraph lines, water sy,,tems,
newspapers, and most of the essentials
y city life, though the first tent was
pitched at Goldield in January. 1904,
ana Rhyolite and Bullfrog were not
started until year later. A mum Der
u other camps with the area range in
population from so to 400.
Few countries so sparseIv settIad ,,ro
% accessible The various camps re
by wagon roads. most of
mem surprisingly good considering
nat they are less than a year old. The
lonopah and Goldfeld railroad con-
lects with the Union Pacific at Hazen.
Nevada. The Carson and Colorado rafr-
,oad in Owens valley is from TWENTY
I'VE 10 forty-fve miles west of thes
western border of the area, and the
san Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake
abroad, commonly called the Clark
roSd, is fro mforty to seyentv-fve
nlles to the east. Daily or semi.daiIv
'u,omoblies made the run from Gold
leld to Bullfrog in four or six hours.
md stages run daily from Goldfield
ma Las Vegas to camps in the Bullfrog
district.
some OF the mines have small but
ufficient water supply near at hand:
tner camps are compelled to haul
va'er from springs or seeps twenty
niles distant. The power que stion viii
'robably be solved at other camps as
has been at Goldfield by the trans
MISSION of electricity geneJ .ated on the
Witt streams of the Sierr As.
Mr.. Bali's report, of course. ,1is~
uses primarily the gen eral structur al
nd economic geology of the district S
nto which, for conv en;ence, he ha, 1
lvided the area. THO report is illus
rated by geological map, map
moving economic cond itions and many
ec.ions exhibiting structure. - Salt