Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1908-06-13
Col. Haryey,s Address.

COl. harveyS AuufeSS.
Colonel Harvey was the orator of
the day and delivered the following
address on The American Indivii-
ual":
How wondrous to the human mind
seem the achievements of Nature as
we stand upon this vast plain, framed
by the towering peaks that mark the
effects of her impelling force! Where
else upon the face of the earth could
a place be found better suited to lend
impressiveness to the contemplation?
The throbbing of the heart of the
Planet that produced this wonderful
conformation we cannot even imag-
ire. Uncounted thousands of years
ago, science tells us, the plain was
the bed Of an ocean, whose waves
Tapped the shores of a land now for
gotten. Then, in the aeonian course
Of time, the face of this primeval
landscape was nightly changed. The
earth was shaken by Titanic energies
which ~upheaved the bed Of that ocean
to the level of the plain and shot up
towards the sky the stupendous
mountains in whose shadow we stand
today. And in this process of con
vuision. Nature raised from their
hiding places in the heart of the
planet her vast stores of mineral
treasures and deposited them where
they might be accessible to man when
he should develop the prescience to
discover and the ability to possess
THIN. But ages were to elapse before
the advantages of her foresight and
preparation could be realized. From
generation to generation, from cen
tury to century, from millennium to
millennium. the rich gifts of Nature
lay here unsupported or unheeded by
the primitive tribes, who were the
only representatives of the human
race Ia this remote region. far from
the Influences OF advancing civillza-
ton and eager enterprise which STIR
red men to activity in other portions
OF the globe.
From the day when History began
to record events the story unrolls like
a panorama. How short a time need
we look back to behold in magma
ton the banks of this river dotted
with the lodges OF the lean and hum
gry Nyumas, while to the south the
b~lear-eyed Wssh-oes basked thei.
lazy bodies in the summers sunshine
and trusted to the Great Spirit for
protection from the bitter cold of
winter, thus remaining in possession
of this vast territory unknowing and
unknown, except to an occasional
wandering friar, until the hardy
Anglo-Saxon explorer forced his way
to the head waters of this stream and
thence over the great llanos to the
western sea.
Pftiful to the hearts of even those
savage men must have seemed tn,
su6erings of those who toiled besid,
the long lines of ploddins
across the arid plains. None stopped
except to die. "On to the promised
land" rushed the thousands, heed
less of the untold treasures beneath
their feet, and leaving the stupid re,
men to FISH and sleep and perish Il
squalor. But the time came whel
Natures work was completed by tn
magic OF mind and the courage O
heart with which she had endowe,
her sons. Like a t~hunderbolt cam
the news of the discovery of the grea
mine. and there followed a trans
formation of scene such as the worl
had never beheld before. Again, a
In a dream, we see an endless pre-
cession Of eager men now r~etracin
their steps to seek the fortunes whic
they had passed unheeding.
1t would be idle to recount her
the amazing story Of that famou
lode. We may only note in passin
that the penalties exacted by Natur
for triumphs in peace are hardly les
severe than those required in wal
The fate of Columbus, who discovere
a continent, only to lose the honor Q
giving It his name and to die in hv