Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-17
lee DISTRICT
LIKE THE DAYS
OF FORTY-NINE
Rich Strikes Attract
Many Miners
Rough Life In Wide open Towns
Resembles the early Days of
Frontiersmen In the
West
BY STATE CORRESPONDENT

III SGAF'F'
Nevada has been the Back of the
Beyond" for many years. Within the
rim OF mountains that has cut her off
alike from moisture laden winds and
the Civilizations that have grown UP
on each side of her, the Great Ameri-
can desert has been n no mans land,
a land peopled only by driftwood, by
wrecks from eastern cities, by adven-
turers in whose blood are the germs of
a great Observation-Disclosures whose
hands are against the world and
against whom the worlds hands are
turned.
The wagon trains of the first emil
grants led westward by the lure of
California gold, found in Nevada only
barren watses of sand and cactus
wastes in which many sickened and
more died.
There was little to change the heredi-
tary distaste for the desert country in
the minds Of the coast dwellers until
the discovery of gold, when the coun-
try, like a great closed book. began to
open, to have written in it the stories
of Tonopah and Goldfeld, and now the
tale of the goldfelds of the south Of
Bullfrog and of Echo-Lee, under the
shadow of the sullen Funeral noun
tains.
Hears Stories of Riches and Death
A month ago I went into the south
ern mining country, expecting to find
a waste of sand and cactus. Instead
found mining camps in which the
life of California of '49, of Klondike of
'9S, and of Nome year later, is being
lived over again; for the strikes on
the Gilt Edge, the Gold Grotto. the
Hayseed, Tulip, Stateline and Storm
Cloud have attracted the fortune hunt
ers of the country.
In the saloons of Rhyolite, Beatty,
and Las Vegas stories of rich strikes,
of miners dead on the desert with
pockets filed with specimens of $4,000
ore, of fortunes lost on the turn OF a
card at the faro table, are on every lip,
and on every face is written the story
of the constant hope that leads men
to pass their lives in the out of the
way corners of, the globe Travellers
are inoculated with the virus. and
from Las Vegas to Rhyolite the talk
of the trains is of strikes, of high
grade and of dips. This was my intro
duction to the country.
We were due at Rhyolite at o'clock,
but long after the sun had tipped the
western peaks and the hills had
changed from brown to lavender ana
had run the Kaleidoscope gauntlet
through purple and violet, to velvet
only are on the desert, had come out to
shed a ghostly light on the intermtna-
BILE desert stretches, we rolled ana
bumped, ratified and Jared across an
uneven road bed toward the western
hills.
Desert Flyer Arrives
It was 10 o'clock when the combina-
tion brakeman, conductor of the "des-
ert flyer cashed in his checks in the
poker game in the rear section and an
nounced the approach of Rhyolite.
We stretched ourselves thankfully
and began to gather UP the days ac-
cumulation of newspapers and maga'
zines Brakes creaked and ratified, es-
Gaping air whistled through the pipes,
the long line of freight and ore cars up
ahead groaned ominously, a tented sta
ton slipped past the murky window
panes, and we in the single passenger
coach and baggage-smoking car crowd
ed out onto the narrow platform.
On the bottom step one Motel runner
grabbed my suit case and another my
overcoat. A frantic fox terrier assailed
nv legs, and from the drivers seat OF
one of the biggest and muddiest auto
mobiles that it has ever been my pleas
ure to view, Dick Whittemore, million
aire and in civilization club man,
waved a brown-paper cigarette at me.
Reaches Best Hotel
NV baggage rescued from the hotel
men the machine, minus muffier and
exhaust pipes, as are all desert rats,
gave few premonitory explosions and
backed out of the crowd for the quar-
ter-mile run from the desert siding to
the metropolis of the southern mining
country-Rhyolite.
At the first blush, Rhyolite is not at
tractiVe. A tent does duty for ticket
office, waiting and baggage room at the
station, and in spite of stove In the
winter and liberal supply of sprinkled
water in the summer, managed to keep
a fair representation of the outside
weather at all seasons of the year.
At the Southern hotel we found a
wooden building with telephone parti-
tions, which was erected two years ago
at a cost of $65 900, when lumber was
hauled overland from Tonopah at the
rate of cents a pound and when fit
tngs and furnishings cost In proper
tion. Down stairs there is a bar. a
lunch counter and an office, while above
are Suites" of single rooms in each of
which there are two beds, wash stand
one towel and room for one dress suit
case. 1 sat on the bed to undress and
went out into the hall to wash.
Brltisher Wants "Bawth"
No one is allowed to occupy a room
alone and with the privilege of room
mate added to the comforts of the es-
tablishment the night clerk, who is also
barkeeper, charged us $3.50 each for
the cots while an English tourist who
arrived hot-foot and hot tempered from
the station two minutes later was
laughed at when he asked for a "pri-
vate room and bawth" on the office
floor l learned subsequently that
"bawths" are obtainable at the local
barber shop at the modest rate of rs
cents each.
A mining camp is at its best at night,
or worst, according to the view point,
and Rhyolite is no exception to the rule,
especially on pay day.
In the "66" club, the biggest gam
bling institution I'm the southwest, the
low room was packed with miners, me-
chanics, prospeetors and millionaires,
dressed alike and with no distinguish
ang mark about them. Around the rou-
lette Wheel the faro bank and the Gran