The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-01-09

Some day the Epic of the Desert
shall be written, and coming genera
tions shall read and wonder. More
marvellous than any other tale of fic-
tion will be that Epic, which shall re-
cite how but yesterday there lay an al
kali expanse of arid earth, dotted here
and there with camp tents pitched by
prospectors for gold; how today, with
water gushing from its burning soil,
durable structures of timber, stone and
steel rise as in obedience to the magi
cian' 3 wand; and how tomorrow twin
iron railroad bands shall crawl across
the desert, indelibly fixing the wheel
prints of the modern miners auto
mobile
Transfxed we stand as before a
mighty proscenium, watching the shift
ing panorama from camp to city and
from monument to mine. Here is en-
acted in our own time and place that
perennial tragedy "The Lure of
Gold,' new prize winner emerging
from the struggles of each act We
see Luck with her dripping lapful of
treasure, while pluck tears loose from
the wolf -fangs of Poverty. We be-
hold strange yokemates, and far strang-
er duels. a half-crazed mob rushes
hither and yon, drawn by cobweb
threads of Rumor.
Every moment, History is harden
ing before our eyes. The reporter too
fascinated by the scenes, forgets TO
take his notes. The Annals of Desert
Deeds lags far behind accomplishment
while map-makers skeptieally refuse t.
make more amendments for MS than Eu-
ropes continent has required for Ger
turies
Upon the maps which You and
studied while at school, there lay
broad and bare expanse in southern
Nevada and California, traversed by
the long, straight line which marks the
boundary between those states from
Lake Tahoe to the Colorado river. This,
we learned. was great desert.
The maps which men shall make
hereafter viii show trail Of gold
camps reaching from Tonopah and
Goldfeld and Rhyolite to Greenwater
Willow Greek and Johnnie. and thence
through Cracker-Jack and Good
Springs. to Searchlight, Brightwood
and Dale The state boundary line
shall prove fair dissection of the
earth S buried plunder, hidden under
her most forbidding front.
For the desert is treasure chest,
and the hardy pioneers who have
picked its lock and litter its lid, tell
us that the measure of its contents is
beyond compute. Since the chance
hoofprint of Buffers burro broke the
Mizpah ledge in 1901, lucky discoveries
of gold and other precious metals have
followed in swift succession as men
have penetrated the desert regions of
the State of Flowers, or scratched the
rugged, rocky hills of the Sagebrush
state Now ii has become a settled
fact and universal conclusion that
the mineralized zone of Nevada Cali
fornia is of incalculable value, and that
the chapter of most miraculous revela-
tions has been reserved until the last.
In June of 1903 the full grown min
ing camp of Tonopah became sur
charged with human energy, and began
to shower it's sparks One spark lit
and took fire in what is now called
Goldfeld. A bleaker. more desolate
and repellant spot was never explored
by treasure seekers than where these
dauntless men located the Mohawk
mine. 1t took three years of grit and
confidence and hard work to bring
Goldfeld to a stature where it would
be recognized. AT last the strike on
the Hayes Monnette lease banished
unbelief, and not one but three parties
of railroad builders projected their ten
tacles to grasp for shares of spoil
In two years time from the pictur-
esque naming of the Bullfrog district
and the discovery of the Montgomery
Shoshone, two cities had sprung up in
rivalry, Beatty and Rhyoite. In turn
these outposts on the desert frontier
became outftting points for bold parties
of prospectors who explored Death
valley and the Funeral range. as never
they had been ransacked before. Green
water and Furnace creek became ia
nous in day from the feverish races
of millionaires in motor ears to barter
for the choicest claims. The sun of
prosperity soon sank and a chill as of
winter night came on, but twinkling
amid the gloom could be steadily dis
cerned the yellow lights of Echo and
Lee.
During these years the Clark road
from Salt Lake to San Pedro was
building, and IN the spring of 1908
was opened. The projectors had no
thought that they were traversing any
thing but hundreds of miles of barren
waste which never could produce ear
load of local traffic But within
year from the opening of their through
line it became evident that hundreds of
men and thousands of dollars worth
of supplies were debarking at Las
Vegas, to be freighted by team to John
ME, the Bullfrog camps and beyond.
Last year the Las Vegas and Tonopah
road was opened for business, and the
spur from Caliente was laid to com
municate with the revived Phoebe.
Meanwhile Searchlight had unob
trusively developed into permanent
camp with list of lucky mines heac
al by the name of "Quartette. TIL
Ea hnl.