Year: 1859




cost have vaguely heard Of patented
process or processes for separating Gold
from other minerals or earths without The
use Of water; ir there be any such process,
which is not humbug, ! urge the owner
of the patent to haste to Carson Valley
and there make his fortune / assure him
Of an enthusiastic welcome.


"Carson City," just above Johntown,
though it has few houses as yet, aspires to
be the emporium of the new Gold Region,
and perhaps of the embryo State of Neva-
da; but Genoa, ten or fifteen miles further
up, is the present emporium, though q vii
lage Of but forty or City houses. Here q
Convention had been in session for fort
night and had completed Constitution for
the aforesaid embryo State Of Nevada only
the night before our arrival. We met some
of the delegates bound homeward. Said
State is to comprise the western half (very
nearby of Utah, with Il believe) a small
strip of of eastern California. California
may object to this; but l trust progress
will organize at least the Territory of Ne
vada at an early day. 1t is an established
fact that division of power between Nor
mons Geutiles seldom works harmonious
ly; but in Utah there is no divisior-the
MormOns have all. The people of Carson
Valley, and Of Western Utah generally,
are not Mormons; the Legislation of Utah
is unsuited and unacceptable to them; they
desire to be set off, and l trust they soon
may be. Though few in numbers as yet,
they are rapidly increasing, and will soon
possess all the elements of State.


l had previously seen some beautiful val
leys, but place none of these ahead Of
Carson. / judge that portion of it already
in good part under cultivation about thirty
miles long by ten to fifteen wide-an area
destined to be largely increased, as l have
already indicated. This valley, originally
a grand meadow, the home of the deer and
the antelope, is nearly inclosed by high
mountains, down which, especially from the
north and west, come innumerable rivulets,
leaping and dancing on their way to form
or join the Carson Easily arrested and
controlled, because of the extreme shallow
ness of their beds, these streams have been
made to irrigate large portion of the up
per valley, producing an abundance of the
sweetest Grass and insuring bounteouS har-
vests also Of Vegetables, Barley, Oats, &C.
Wheat seems to do fairly here; Corn not so
well; in fact, the nights are too cold for it if
the water were not. For this spriug water,
leaping suddenly down from its mountain
sources, is too cold, too pure, to be well
adapted to irrigation; could it be held back
even week, and exposed in shallow ponds
or basins to the hot sunshine, it would be
J vastly more useful. When the whole river
shall have been made available, twenty to
forty miles below, it will prove far more nu-
tritiouS and fertilizing.


Genoa stands on the narrow bench or
slope of hard granite gravel which inter-
venes betwixt the mountains aud the val
ley, with half dozen rivulets running thro
it to fructify the fields and gardens below
Just behind it is the steep ascent of the
mountain, its very soil formed of white,
pulverized granite, gloriously covered with
fragrant and graceful pines. AS these steep
activities are absolutely worthless for any
other end than tree growing, entreat the
people Of Genoa to take care of these
woods, and not let their place be shorn of
half its beauty merely to save mile or so
in the hauling of fuel. / may never see
this lovely valley again-it is hardly proba-
BILE that | ever shall-but its beauty, its
secusion, its quiet, the brightness of its
abundant rivulets, the grandeur of its in
closing mountains, the grace and emerald
verdure of their vesture of pines, have
craven themselves on my memory with a
vividness and force which only he who has
passed weary weeks on some great, shade
less desert can fully realize.


We stopped but to dine in Genoa. then
economzed the residue of the daylight by
pressing on Is miles to the point at which
the California road enters the mountains
by the side of the largest of the brooks
which unite to form the Carson. Here we
halted at fair two-story house, the first
one had entered with hope of resting
in it since left Salt Lake City. We had
beds herc--actual beds, and good ones
our first since Camp Floyd. Though our
night was not long one, for we were to
start again by 4 a. NJ, reckon good use
was made of it by the four through pas
sengerS, who had not lain down before since
they left Shell Creek, FIVE days ago. and
nearly 500 miles away. My own sumber
was partial and broken as it generally is;
but the bath which preceded and prepared
for it was genuine refreshmeut, and the
sleep seemed quite sufficient. In fact, I felt
that l could have gone without for another
week, and felt less Inconvenience than did
the first night we rode and the day after.


We were in motion again at the earliest
dawn, for we had still about IS miles of
rugged mountain road TO traverse before
reaching this place. The Carson side OF
the road is not yet half made, while the
half next to this place is in the main good.
But in fact, the expense of good high.
way up the eastern slope of the Sierra must
be heavy one. For that slope is compos-
ed of granite-simple, naked rock-with
scarcely fraction of its surface thinly COW
cred by soil. Of course no trees but ever
greens can liVe-a very small Quakng Asp
in the bottoms of the ravines scarcely form
an exception-while almost every rood is
covered by giant glorious Pines. saw
Sugar and Yellow Pines at least eight feet
across at hight of eighty feet from the
ground, and from which two hundred and
forty thousand shingles were made. Beside
these universal Pines, there are giant Ce.