very little attention being paid to agriculture, as, indeed, there is but little arable land in the county. The hay cut amounts to about 1,000 tons annually; the grain raised to 100 tons; a good many vegetables of fine quality being also raised. Lyon contains 500 horses and mules, 200 head of neat cattle, 100 sheep, and 150 swine. About 5,000 acres of land is fenced in, of which 1,500 is under cultivation. The inhabitants, numbering 1,650 in 1861, are now estimated at 2,500. There are 41 quartz mills in the county-13 driven by water, 22 by steam, and six by water and steam-the whole carrying 600 stamps and costing $1,500,000. The only considerable towns in the county are Silver City in Gold cañon, and Dayton on Carson river, each containing about 1,200 inhabitants.

SECTION XI.

ROOP COUNTY.

This county, occupying a long and narrow strip of territory in the northwestern part of the State, is named after Isaac N. Roop, an early settler in Honey Lake Valley, and at one time governor of the Provisional Territory of Nevada. It was at first called Lake, having been changed to Roop in 1862. The county has never been organized, but is attached to Washoe for judicial and political purposes. At the time it was first erected, in 1861, it was supposed to embrace within its limits Honey Lake valley, the only settlement in it. The adjustment of the boundary line between Nevada and California, in 1863, having thrown this valley into the latter, left this county almost without population. The settlement since then of Surprise Valley, in the extreme northwestern part of the State, has brought within the boundaries of Roop a population of several hundred, a number which is likely soon to be further augmented, as the county is reputed to be rich in mineral wealth, and there are known to be considerable tracts of good land in the northern part still open for occupation. This region, including also the northern and western parts of Humboldt county, has for a long time been infested by a vicious race of Indians, whose presence has tended greatly to retard its exploration and settlement; but as these savages are now pretty well subdued, the country is likely in a short time to become more thoroughly prospected and its value for mining and agricultural purposes more fully ascertained. The greater portion of it is undoubtedly very barren and forbidding, consisting for the most part of rough, arid, and timberless mountains, or equally dry and sterile plains. All accounts, however, agree in representing Surprise valley as being extensive and fertile, and one of the finest districts, both for stock-raising and grain growing, in the State. This valley, a portion of which lies in California, is 50 miles long and from 10 to 15 broad. It extends north and south; contains three lakes which cover nearly one half its area. is walled in on the west by a lofty spur of the Sierra Nevada, having a range of low rolling hills on the east. The mountains on the west are well timbered with white and yellow pine, and along their lower slopes with cedar. The arable land lies along the base of this range and between it and the lakes, having a gentle declivity towards the latter, and is covered at all seasons of the year with a luxuriant growth of blue-joint, clover, timothy and rye grass, some of which is six and seven feet high, and standing so close that in places four tons of hay can be cut to the acre. Across this alluvial belt, which is several miles wide, course every few miles streams of pure cold water, affording propulsive power and the facilities for irrigation. The land is light, warm, and easily cultivated, and produces with little trouble prolific crops of grain. The planting of 1866 yielded an average of 50 bushels of wheat and nearly 60 of barley to The grain is clean and heavy. This year the crops,

the acre.

It

under more

extensive planting, have been equally good. Vegetables can be grown with very little care. The climate of this valley is mild and healthful. Very little snow falls in winter, and sickness amongst the inhabitants is of rare occurrence. Stock require neither shelter nor fodder in the winter, but are able to keep fat the year round on the native grasses. There are at the present time about 10,000 head of cattle, and 3,000 horses grazing here, many of which having been driven in from California for the purpose of being recruited, will, as soon as they become fat, be taken away. The population numbers about 250, and is constantly increasing, as the settlers feel safe under the military protection now extended to them, against further Indian depredations. Along the base of the mountain on the west side of the valley are a multitude of warm springs, some of them remarkable for their depth and volume. Free gold has been found in small quantities on several streams in this part of the country, and there is reason for believing that both vein mining and surface digging will yet be carried on here with profit. With a mining population to consume the products of the farmer, this region could scarcely fail to fill up rapidly with a hardy and prosperous people.

SECTION XII.

HUMBOLDT COUNTY.

This county, named after the principal river running through it, ranks among the larger counties of the State. Its western half is covered with sandy deserts, low ranges of monutains, isolated hills, and extensive alkali flats, converted in the wet season into mud lakes. The northern and eastern portions consist of lofty chains of mountains, broken towards the northeast into irregular masses, and running in the southeast in narrow parallel ranges separated by valleys of a similar conformation. Taken as a whole the region is dry, desolate, and but illy supplied with grass and water. Timber is also very scarce in most parts of this county, there being none fit for lumber. The only trees found here are the piñon and a scrubby species of juniper, the latter of little value even for fuel. The quantity of agricultural land is also comparatively small, being confined mostly to the valleys of the Humboldt river and of Weniessa, Umashaw, and Weatherlow creeks, with some isolated spots of good soil in the larger valleys and at the entrance to the mountain cañons. Bunch grass is found nearly everywhere except on the alkali flats and arid deserts, though in many places it is much scattered and far from abundant. High basaltic table lands cut by fissure-like chasms, constitute a feature in the northwestern part of the county. In many of these depressions, which have precipitons sides varying from 200 to 1,000 feet high, are small alkali lakes, the beds of which become perfectly white on drying up in summer, from the depositions of magnesia, salt, and soda left behind. To the south of this region occur in their greatest extent the mud lakes peculiar to the geography of Nevada, in the midst of which is situated the Black Rock mining district, the Pueblo and Vicksburg districts, the only ones in this part of the State, lying further north and very near the Oregon line. Humboldt county contained, August, 1861, about 400 inhabitants. The present population is estimated at between 1,200 and 1,300, not so many by one-half as it was four years ago, a falling off due to the great disadvantanges under which the mines here have to be opened rather than to the poverty of the mines themselves. Among these disadvantages the lack of timber, and in some localities of even wood for fuel, and the cost of freights stand foremost. When the Pacific railroad, striking through the very heart of the Humboldt mining region, shall have been completed, thereby obviating in some measure these difficulties, this

section must receive an impulse that will awaken the energies of the inhabitants and restore the confidence once felt in the district. It is estimated that there are 200,000 acres of arable land in the county, much of which is now a natural meadow, being covered with a coarse species of grass, and all of which could, with irrigation, be made to produce crops of grain or the cultivated grasses. Without artificial moisture but little of the soil is capable of maturing either grain or vegetables, though with its aid both can be grown. There is nearly everywhere pasturage enough both winter and summer for a small amount of stock, or for a large amount if the latter be sufficiently scattered. The stock is estimated at 500 head of horses and mules, 400 head of neat cattle, 200 sheep, and 300 swine. There are 15,000 acres of land enclosed, 4,000 under cultivation; 3,000 tons of hay are cut, and 1,000 tons of grain raised annually, the most of them in Humboldt and Paradise valleys, the latter embracing between 20,000 and 30,000 acres of well-watered aud fertile farming land. Here a number of settlers have located during the past three years, nearly all of whom are doing a thrifty business raising grain and vegetables, or in cutting hay for the Humboldt and Owyhee markets, or for supplying the military post established in the valley. The yield of the cereals here is prolific, both grain and vegetables being grown without much trouble. Even the wild rye on being cultivated produces a large and plump berry. The barley sown on sod freshly turned up yielded last year at the rate of 23 bushels to one, and of 1,100 acres of barley, and 1,300 of wheat grown in the valley the present year, the yield has been equally good. Barley delivered on the farms sells at the rate of about $250 per bushel, and wheat at about the same, though the price of the latter will now probably depreciate, as a flour mill is about being erected in the valley. The quantity of grain raised here in 1866 amounted to 33,000 bushels, the crop the present season being still larger. So green does the grass remain, and so genial is the climate in this valley, that good hay can be made in the month of December. The principal towns in the county are Unionville, the county seat, with a population of 400, Star city, 300, and Humboldt city, 100; besides, which there are several mining hamlets numbering from 40 to 60 inhabitants. Some of these towns contain a number of fine buildings, which being erected at a time when labor and material were very expensive, have cost large sums. The most noteworthy improvement in the county is the Humboldt canal, designed to take water from the river and introduce it into or near the mines, and now in course of construction. This work is more than half finished, and will, when completed, be 80 miles long, 15 feet wide, and 3 feet deep, carrying water sufficient to drive at least 600 stamps. It will cost, construction of dam included, a little over $1,000 per mile. The route of this canal lies near many of the best mines in the county, and must, when these come to be developed, prove a very valuable and important property in a country having so little fuel for generating steam power. Already this work has been rendered to some extent available for the propulsion of machinery. There are 12 quartz mills in the county, two of them provided with furnaces for smelting the ores, the whole number carrying 112 stamps and costing $400,000. Of these mills, nine are propelled by steam and three by water. The power for driving one of these mills recently constructed is obtained by damming up the outlet of Humboldt lake, by which means a sufficient force is generated for carrying a large number of stamps, and which it is intended shall be applied to that purpose should the ores of the Desert district, on which the present mill is to be run, prove remunerating. Many of the ores in this region are so mixed with lead, antimony, copper, and other refractory agents as to require smelting, for which purpose several establishments have already been erected and are in operation. Two of these, the one situated at Etna, and the other at Oreana, on the Humboldt river, have, after many difficulties, succeeded to such an extent that the business is now remunerative, the shipments of bullion from them amounting to $3,000 per week.

995

The crude metal turned out by smelting consists of lead, silver, and antimony, which is then passed through calcining and refining furnaces, whereby the silver is liberated from the base metals, coming out from 997 fine. 1000 to Much of 1000 the crude metal is sent away, as it will not pay for refining here where the expenses are so ligh. The cost of smelting and refining ore at these establishments is $50 per ton, about double the cost of reduction here by ordinary mill process. The price of wood delivered at the mills varies from $6 to $14 per cord, depending on localities. The extraction of the ores costs about $10 per ton; hauling to mill from $3 to $8, according to distance. Some of the lodes in this region carry in the outcrop chiefly gold, while others contain only silver or both of these metals mixed. Many of the smaller ledges are rich in free gold, and are worked as gold mines. This is especially the case in the Oro Fino. Sierra, and other districts in the mountains, designated as the Foist Range east. While some of the lodes in this county are large, well walled and symetrical, carrying all the features of regular fissure veins, others are narrow and broken and marked by irregular distributions of ore. An immense amount of work has been done in this part of the country, but there has been too little concentration of labor and much of it has been lost. Some of the tunnels have a length varying from 500 to 2,000 feet, showing that a great deal of persistent work has been done. Yet only in a few cases have these excavations reached the lodes for which they were driven, so that not much practical benefit has been reaped from their construction. Besides these tunnels a great number of shafts have been sunk, being the more common method of prospecting claims here. These shafts vary in depth from a few feet to several hundred, some of them being carried down on and following the inclination of the vein. Most of the companies have in this manner been able to bring small lots of pay ore to the surface, while others, drifting upon thin lodes, have raised considerable quantities. The ore is usually of high grade, yielding by mill process from $40 to $200 per ton, and in some cases much more. That taken from the Sheba mine several years.since, yielded from $200 to $500 per ton, the average being $140. With so large a number of veins, some of them carrying a good body of high grade ores and displaying evidence of permanency, this can hardly fail to become in the course of a few years a productive mining district. Prior to 1867 the annual shipments of bullion from Humboldt scarcely exceeded $200,000, whereas the amount will be nearly double that sum for the present year, with the prospect of a larger increase hereafter. Much prospecting as well as exploratory labor is now being done in different parts of the county, and generally with encouraging results. Capital is being invested more freely than for several years past, a number of new mills are being put up and others projected, while population that had for some time been falling off is again on the increase. In the northwestern part of the county adjacent to a fertile and well-watered valley, is situated the Pueblo district, with the Vicksburg district a short distance further south. There are good mines here, but the remoteness of the locality, and the hostile disposition of the Indians there have retarded their development as well as prevented the settlement of the country. The only mill ever erected in Pueblo was burnt by the savages, who at the same time murdered two of the early settlers of the district and wounded others. With the adoption of more vigorous measures for the prevention of these outrages there is a probability that opera tions, for several years nearly suspended, will be resumed at both Vicksburg and Pueblo. This valley, in its general features, resembles Surprise valley, already described, only that it is more extensive, though not so much settled. The Black Rock mines are situated in the western part of the county, some 40 miles south of the Vicksburg district. The region about there is sterile in the extreme, being almost without any arable or meadow land, and very deficient in wood, grass, and water. But that the mines at this place are extensive and valuable is now beyond dispute, though for a long time the peculiar appearance of

the ore, in the absence of developments and working tests, rendered this a matter of considerable doubt. Recent crushings of ore, claimed to represent average masses in these mines, have tended to dispel doubts of their richness, if indeed they may not be said to have established for them a high value. The deposits here lie in huge masses rather than arranged in ore channels walled in the ordinary way, and should they be found persistent in depth, must prove valuable, notwithstanding the remoteness of their locality and their unfavorable surroundings.

SECTION XIII.

CHURCHILL COUNTY.

This county took its name from Fort Churchill, the first military post ever established in this region, so called after an officer in the United States army. The entire western half, except near the waters of the Carson, is a sandy sage barren, the most of it an absolute desert, over which are scattered low ranges of black basaltic hills. Across the central and eastern portions run in a north and south direction three high ranges of mountains, the Silver Hill the most westerly, Clan Alpine the centre, and the See-da-yah or Look-out chain on the east, each separated from the other by a broad and generally barren valley. The county contains in proportion to its size but little good land, the amount fit for haycutting or grain-raising not being over 50,000 acres in an area of nearly 6,000 square miles. This good land is nearly all found along the Carson river, or about the lake, slough and sink formed by its waters, the greater portion consisting of natural meadows, kept for cutting hay. On the mountains there is a scanty growth of bunch grass; elsewhere almost none at all. The mountains also contain all the wood there is in the county, and nearly all the water except that supplied by Carson river. About 2,500 tons of hay are cut, and 300 tons of grain, with as many vegetables, are raised annually. There are 400 horses and mules in the county, and 600 cattle, one-half of them work oxen. The population numbers about 400, of whom 150 are residents of La Plata, the county seat. Besides its auriferous veins, Churchill contains a variety of minerals and metals, its western portion, owing to its great depression, being a vast receptacle of the various salts distilled from the drainage of more than half the State. The sink of the Carson may be considered the grand central basin of all northern and western Nevada; hence, about it we find deposited those alkaline, saline, and sulphurons substances with which most of the waters of this State are impregnated. From the waters of two small lakes situated in the great desert plain west of Carson sink, the carbonate of soda is so abundantly deposited that tons of the article could easily be collected quite pure. One of these, on drying up, which it does every summer, loaves a thick incrustation of this salt behind. Sulphur and the chloride of soda are also plentiful; and two of the principal salt beds in the State are in the western part of this county. Hot springs occur at several places with many tumuli and other signs of extinet thermals. In the article on sinks and sloughs will be found some remarks on those hydrographical features of Churchill county. Some 10 or 12 mining districts have at different periods been laid out within the bounds of this county. Silver Hill, situated in the mountains of the same name, and organized in 1860, contains some large lodes heavily charged with auriferous and argentiferous galena, a number of which have been prospected. Considerable work has been done in the district. Its inconvenient situation, however, joined with a scarcity of water, as well as a prospective scarcity of wood, has served to defeat all efforts for getting in mills or otherwise bringing the ledges to a productive state. Very little work has been