The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1908-03-28

u-hu. there is only one Goldneld ID
Nevada. there are other camps WORM
~ nublIcIty. and IL Is the policy OF i"e
60 40 rive them their due in proper
a., 40 their achievement and promise
cola Crater is a little known distric''
,,s only historian. especially within re
-, avs having been The Goidneio
news A representative OF TINS page
was sent to this and adjacent mp
one day this week. the courtesy u
Nurphy's Pope-Hartford having
extended for the trip Consui.-he
1tneer Muir of the Combination -
was a member of the party ana u"
knowledge Of the geology OF the oounus
was a valuable assistance to the WI"
Of the representative. a..
Autoing through Nevada, across :"
bald alkaline fats and sage-gro"n
slonss is the most exhilarating Sport
Imaginable There is a frenzieo i"s
about IL that creates bruises a"u
threatens dislocations, but time is a."
ohtac, 20 be gained and distance an oo-
49,, ,o he slaughtered. But even when
- s,aadoneter registers ifty-hve miles
= ho,r tho element of danger is al
-. a,,u,nated. for any swerving from
"onr.a either nv fault of mechanism
a.,a- a. little likely to result in loss
Of life or limb, for the road. a ROAD anu
no road are synonymous terms on the
desert.
A. times on this trip we c~hug-chuggeo
49, for miles where the foot or man
had never trod and certainly no au'o
uohile or other wheeled vehicle had iei'
its print. .o,,..
cola crater is some thirty miles sou
.o,,-east of Goidfeld. To reaeh the
camn the malapai south OF Goidneio
mrs, he crossed. thence an easterly
a,version. which carried one across the
Las vegas & Tonopah and Tonopah &
Tiaewater tracks. Then comes ing
speedway to the Ralston deser. 49,
abuts Stonewall mountains. Al 'ne
base is an alkali fat. miles across ~
more miles in length. Usually TINS "a
IL as dry as the occasional bones "hio"
litter its surface. but at TINS seasop
there is a lake of snow water shaiio"'
hut miles in extent, at Stonewaiis oase
The wind was blowing a literal hur-
ricsne when we traversed the DESERT a
hurricane that drove the sand into per
manent Judgment in the skin ana haue
!, 90 nearly impossible to retain possess
s;or NJ hair as of hat. Dfsobeying the
,aws NJ ~erayitation, the waters OF the
-, ,aLe foresook the point of great
Get danression and were piled up. as
uora tbe waters of the Red Sea by
Moses wand. We ploughed through II
waters for a quarter of a mile anu inc"
stuck. The salt spray dashed IN our
faces and a long wake was LETT oehihu
until the ominous warning came. ~
NAV be permissible to water STANDARD
Oil stock. but 1t must be kept away
from gasoline. or perhaps 1t was the
carhuretter that received an unwelcome
hath At all events the indications were
that a weary wait was in store, but
finally the chug-chug was cajoled into
resuming.
THE entrance to Gold Crater Is
through a narrow gateway. worn by
erosion through a barrier OF lava win
vertical walls and threatening aspect.
In this defle appears a sign, ATS wen
That Ends Well" and here is water,
plentiful and pure, from which Goid
Crater draws it's supply. paying tnere-
for at the rate of two cents a gallon,
the owner of the well trusting to the
purchasers count
IF Gold Crater is fifty named-and
the prefix is we'll earned. 1t is not OBJ
vious unless the visitor climbs to an
eminence and views the district with
one sweeping glance. Then the cause
for the name is apparent. Here is one
NJ the great natural wonders of Ne
vada. Stretching away for a sweep of
territory. two and one-half miles and
five miles in it's two diameters, is a de-
! preston like the half of an egg shell
cut longitudinally. This basin is re-
markably regular in its contour, arising
in first gentle, then abrupt slope, TO the
rim, with one exception, the exit for the
food waters of the crater, worn through
a solid mass of igneous rock. The bed
of the crater is not, as one might think
lava paved, with sulphuric gases and
heavily mineralized waters issuing from
crevices. On the other hand. the soil is
such as would produce the humble po-
tato and the fragrant rose If water
were o~btainable for irrigation purposes.
The constant wasting away of the
c~rater's rim through the action of rain,
frost and wind, as well as the oxidiza-
ton of it's metallic content. has filled
the crater. probably for hundreds of feet
with alluvium.
But the strangest phase of the entire
section is the p~orphyritic uplifts. which
occur in the form Of the bold, serrated
mountain in the southern end and three
rounded and low lying hills in the north
ern portion of the basin.
Intruded in these porphyry uplifts are
lodges of quartz forming networks of
silica. In fact, the porphyry itself is
highly silicifed. 1t horns occasionally
and frequently returns values through
fire assays.