The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-03-16
BOOM IN DEATH VALLEY
...R|CH IN RESOURCES
RAILROADS ATTRACTS ATTEN-
TIoN TO POSSIBILITIES IN
FINES AND FARMING.
(Goldfeld NeWs)

Frank M. Jenifer, traffic manager of
the Tonopah & Tidewater railroad
which traverses a section of country
supposedly sacred to scorpions, taran-
tulas, chuckwallas and centipedes is
fast qualifying for grand master of
the old curiosity shop by adding Gin
nabar, magnesite, gypsum, mangan
csc, tungsten, potash, nitre, kaolin,
zinc, lead and the old standby borax to
the tonnage of his road. The Tidewa-
ter was built mainly to supersede Bo-
rax Smiths 20-mule teams, but since
Jenfer got into harness and buckled
down to the business of developing
traffic he has succeeded beyond the
company's fondest expectations.
Chris Zabriskie, who used to curl
a blacksnake over a string of eight
mules at Candelaria, and is now in
the millionaire class, is one of the
chief stockholders of the Tidewater
and every time he crosses the desert
from southern Nevada he has to pause
to study out what new kink Jenifer
has injected into the business of get
ting traffic.
A Railroad Genius.
You can't keep Jenifer chained
down." exclaimed Chris delightedly
when in Goldfeld recently IF they
had that fellow on the New York Cen
trail he would put that line out of
business for they couldn't begin to
move the freight. That is all there is
to it." And Chris came near telling
the gospel truth.
To paraphrase ]. Ogden Mills re-
mark about the Carson & Colorado,
the narrow gauge that serves Inyo
county, "The Tidewater was 200 miles
too long and 200 years too early" At
felt when they heard line was build
ing into Death valley. Since then
Frank Jenifer and John Ryan, his gen.
eral manager have made the road pay
and are figuring on developing a new
scenic route to rival the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado by circling the rim of
Death Valley and letting tourists gaze
from the snow-capped slopes of the
Panamints over a panorama embrace
ing Mount Whitney, the loftiest peak
in the United States, and the bottom
feet below sea level. Jenifer knows
the route would be a business getter
and some day when the borax millions
are loosened up the new scenic line
may be realized.
Wonders of Death Valley.
In the Goldfield hotel last week Jen-
ifer was descanting on the wonderful
resources of the country which Bob
Ingersoll blasphemously dubbed "the
land God forgot" AS Jenifer spoke
he waxed eloquently until his hearers
were convinced that the garden of
Eden was originally located on the
banks of the Amargosa instead of
Mesopotamia. One fact was evident
and that was that Jenifer stands as
preferred candidate for president Of
the optlmists' club.
Last year an experimental farm es-
tablished by the Tidewater at Iceland
demonstrated what the soil of that sec
ton will do. Three and four crops of
vegetables, fruits and all kinds of gar
den truck irrigated onyl from the over
flow of the railroad water tank gave
an idea Of the fortune awaiting set
tiers. News of the success filtered
out and colony of eight or ten farm
ers Is now clustered around the sta
ton of Shoshone, where a good sup
ply of surface water was tapped at a
depth of % feet. The railroad COM
pany is going further to convince set
tiers Of the fertility of the soil. Seven
miles south of Iceland an experiment
tai farm on large scale will be es-