The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1915-12-10
OUR TRIP TO NEVADA.
Continued J

first animated life We we're loath to-
part with Jordan valley, we saw no
place so inviting in all our journey
and none that has so bright future
il the Winnemucca railway Decomes
reality
Going west for / 4 miles We began to
climb the low range, leaving the pro-
duetive region adm traversing a reg
ion devoid of life. Road was very
rocky crooked and percipitus and in
the descent to the Owybee river our
pulse beat irregular and breathing
almost ceased but the descent was
made in safety.
From rancher we learned that the
Owyhee river is nice stream but
very deep among rocky hill and alb
ounding in some fine fish. Some few
ranches scattered along the river, but
the valley is very narrow in the best
OF it, and as far as ! could judge, linn
tied to but few ranches.
Dinner over and loaded up for a
fresh start for McDermit. distance
from Jordan Valley ia miles. AS
we arrived at the mean level, found
the country comparatively level. with
roads smooth and solid as pulverized
rock could make them, and soil so
lean and poor that sage hrusks would
not grow. and all that was in sight
was little tufts of greese wood, too
poor for any thing subsist on except
burrows and goats.
We seemed to be entering q wide
spreading valley, with high ranges,
on either side, and our direction was
almost due south About p. M. we
came to the hot soda springs. We
met two herders, lady and gentle
man, the first living beings seen on
the road from 0wyhee river. This
spring Is miles north of McDermit
and is being fitted up for bath re-
sort.
On reaching McDermit the first
sight of the place was the mammoth
stacks OF baled wool. The wool is
trucked to Winnemucca. S5 miles.
The inhabitants OF McDermit are lar
gely Indian and where we saw the
first Indian funeral was here. The
unlucky one was killed with derrick
fork in stacking alfalfa,
After supplying our needs Of water,
gas and incidentals, we continued
down the same valley, going 16 miles
camp. No one being on hand to ad-
minister to our needs but luckily we
had sufficient,a well handy and plen
ty of sage brush for fuel. an impro-
vised stove, constructed from the
oven crate and four empty cans made
us comfortable and conveniently eq-
ulpped for roughing 1t. Our rest was
so refreshing that at day light found
all ready for hard days travel to
Winnemucca.
Not following the explicit instruc-
tions given at McDermit we took the
valley road thirty miles out instead
OF the one that was travelled by autos
and followed the one that is freighted
over by teams, the largest teams we
have ever seen, some IA and 20sspan
four and five loaded trucks,with lnm-
Der, salt and supplies and all driven
by jerk line. The autos give the
exclusive rights Of way and here was
where our trouble began, as these
heavy loads had rutted the roads
badly and made extremely high cen
tiers for auto driving Sometimes the
roads roads were SO deep there is no
possible show OF avoiding ruts or high
centers and to stick and have to back
out or to shovel out, became the ex-
pectation. After travelling many
miles, the road yered more to the
south east leading up to high sum-
NIT and conyerging in the direction
of the auto or hill road.
on reaching the summit we had a
clear view of a pleasant looking val
ley but we were not out of the woods
as the valley was of fine sand soihand
badly cut into ruts by auto travel.
We learned to our discomfort that
the pleasant looking valley was a sea
OF dust, every one making their own
road where possible. In the midst OF
ALL the hot sand caused one of the
tires on the rear axle TO explode and
caused a halt in the hot sand for an
hour to replace. AS we drew near
Winnemueca the roads became worse
and as we neared the Humboldt river
the sand finer, as if it had been cor
duroyed with sage brush. We ar
rived at O'Clock P. NJ. completed,
shelved.
Winnemucca lis an old town Gov
ering large plat of ground witt
some good business houses and resi-
dences. but best of all, green trees