DEPOSITS AND COINAGE.-The following is a statement of the deposits and coinage at the branch mint of the United States, in San Francisco, during the year ending December 31, 1867:

The deposits for the year ending December 31, 1867, were of the following character:

TOTAL DEPOSITS AND COINAGE.-The Secretary of the Treasury in his annual report for the year 1867 states that the total value of the bullion deposited at the mint and branches during the fiscal year was $41,893,100 76, of which $40,069,200 06 was in gold and $1,823,900 70 in silver. Deducting the redeposit, the amount of actual deposit was $34,537,048 39.

The coinage for the year was, in gold coin, $28,217,187 50; gold bars, $11,621,691 32; silver coin, $986,871; silver bars, $575,823 18; nickel, copper, and bronze coinage, (one, two, three, and five-cent pieces,) $1,879,540. Total coinage, $31,083,598 50. Total bars stamped, $12,197,514 50.

The gold deposits of domestic production were, at Philadelphia, $2,418,197 89; at San Francisco, $17,936,169 40; at New York, $10,320,821 55; at Denver, $130,559 70. The silver deposits were, at Philadelphia, $37,399 72; San Francisco, $744,387 48; New York, $274,893 19.

The gold and silver deposits of foreign production were $2,674,619 46.

The amount of gold coined at Philadelphia was $10,072,060 86; at San Francisco, $18,225,000; of silver, at Philadelphia, $357,490 38; at San Francisco, $780,048 54; of bronze, nickel, and copper, at Philadelphia, $1,879,540. Total number of pieces struck, 54,110,384.

NEVADA.

SECTION I.

TOPOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL FEATURES, AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.

SYSTEM OF MOUNTAINS, PLAINS, AND VALLEYS.-This State, in common with the entire region lying between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky mountains, is an elevated plain, having a general altitude of about 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. Crossing this plateau are many mountain ranges, the most of which have a northerly and southerly course, being separated from each other by valleys from 5 to 20 miles wide, which is also about the width of the adjacent mountains, measured on a straight line from base to base. These mountains have an absolute height varying from 5,000 to 12,000 feet, being from 1,000 to 8,000 feet above the common level of the country. The Sierra Nevada, forming for some distance a natural barrier along the western and southwestern parts of the State, varies in height from 7,000 to 13,000 feet. This range is covered with heavy forests to its very base, while all the others in the interior of the State are barren of wood, or but sparsely timbered. This alternation of mountains and valleys is preserved with great uniformity throughout all parts of the State, more especially in the central and eastern portions. In places these mountains disappear, or so contract as to transform the valleys into broad plains or basins, some of which are open and unobstructed, while others are dotted with buttes, or covered with groups of rugged hills. At points along their course these ranges are much depressed, or cut by ravines striking across their summits, forming passes so low, and with such gradual slopes on either side, as to greatly facilitate the construction of wagon roads, and even railways, across them. In some parts of the country the mountains, instead of running in parallel chains, are broken into confused and detached masses, their longitudinal axis conforming towards no common direction. The sides of these mountains are everywhere cut by deep ravines or cañons, the most of them running from crest to base, and usually at nearly right angles with their general course. In some places these ravines are but one or two, while in others they are five or six miles apart, dividing the mountain slopes into enormous ridges, some of them 2,000 or 3,000 feet above the separating cañons. The latter are in some cases well watered, perennial streams flowing through them, rendering irrigation of their banks always feasible, while in others there are neither springs nor running streams, whole mountain ranges being, like the adjacent plains, nearly or quite destitute of water. As in the Sierra Nevada, these interior ranges contain a few high ridges and peaks, upon which in places sheltered from the sun, or where deep drifts have been formed, the snow lies throughout the year. Granite, sienite, slate, limestone, and porphyry, are the prevailing rocks in the composition of the Nevada mountains, which have generally a rounded and dome-like contour, though occasionally shooting up into pyramidal peaks and spire-shaped summits. The tops of the divides between the lateral cañons are especially apt to be sharp and rugged, the bare and splintered rocks occasionally standing far above the crest of the ridge, and sometimes strongly inclined towards the comb of the principal mountain. While the most of these ranges are covered with a scanty growth of bunch grass, and with patches of piñon, juniper, and other scrubby trees, much of their surface is destitute of both grass and every other species of useful vegetation, fully three-fourths being without any kind of timber. Along some of the streams flowing through the cañons are narrow strips of arable land which frequently, at the point where the former opens into the valleys, spread out into tracts of several acres, affording a sufficiency of tillable land for gardens and small farms. Some of these streams are fringed with cottonwood, birch, willow, wild cherry, and similar trees, the most

of them small, and of but little value, mixed with which are often varieties of wild vines, rose, currant or gooseberry bushes, and other shrubbery. Up the most of these cañons it is no difficult matter to construct wagon roads leading quite to the summits of the mountains, a consideration of moment, as the latter, the principal repositories of the precious metals, are thus rendered easily accessible to loaded teams; and these mountain ridges sometimes run for 100 miles or more without any material deviation from their general course. So also do the adjacent valleys extend for a like distance without other obstruction than perhaps an occasional butte, or outstanding spur, and with no perceptible variation of level. Sometimes these valleys, owing to a subsidence of the mountains, or a change in their general course, expand into immense plains, as in the southern and northwestern parts of the State, or connect with other valleys having the same or nearly the same level, or, may be, are separated from the latter only by low ridges or swells of land so inconsiderable as to present no obstacle to the building of railroads throughout the entire series. A more favorable region for the construction of railways than is offered by this system of communicating plains and valleys, especially where these improvements are required to pursue a generally northern and southern direction, could not be desired. Besides, being so nearly level, and wholly unobstructed, the soil, for the most part a dry sand, or a compact sandy loam, affords the best possible material for a road-bed, whether facility of construction or durability be considered. Upon these plains and valleys nothing of a vegetable growth is to be found larger or more formidable of removal than the wild sage, a shrub that can, as a general thing, be ploughed up with a single yoke of oxen, while their surfaces are almost entirely free from rocks, loose stones, or other obstructions. But while these valleys are, longitudinally viewed, so nearly level, they all have a slight descent from the foot of the adjacent mountains to their centres, caused by the wash that, going on for years, has been gradually wearing down the mountains and filling up the valleys. The difference in altitude between the tops of the mountains and the level of the valleys, now varying from 1,000 to 8,000 feet, was formerly much greater, since at one time the bottoms of the opposing mountains met, no doubt, in the middle of the intervening valley, making the difference in altitude two or three times as great as at present. While many of these valleys receive a great number of small streams from the mountains on either side, or about their heads, very few of them have any large stream flowing through the centre, the most of these tributaries sinking into the arid and porous soil as soon as they reach the edge of the valley. As a consequence, the latter, few of them having any common outlet, are great natural reservoirs; but the water, resting upon the bed rock, can only be reached by penetrating the immense mass of superincumbent debris. Hence wells in these valleys require to be sunk to a great depth, nor is water always obtained even then; though it could no doubt be reached in many places by artesian boring, a method not generally adopted, if in any instance yet resorted to in this State. In the few cases where there is a sufficient accumulation of water to cause a stream to run through the valley above ground, there are usually at points along it, patches of alluvial bottom constituting good plough or grass lands, the quantity generally being in proportion to the size of the stream. Reese river, Carson, Umashaw, Paradise, and Franklin valleys, afford good examples of this kind. In Ruby, Big Smoky, Degroot, and Toquima, we have examples of large valleys containing much good land, yet without open streams running through them; while in the Great Salt, Fairview, Ralston, Sinkavata, and Sand Spring valleys, there is neither arable land nor running water. In the case of the Big Smoky and similar valleys, the mountain streams after disappearing make their way underground towards their centres, where, meeting with obstructions, or gathering into natural basins, they saturate the earth and render it productive. Much of the soil, both in the valleys and upon the mountains, is rich and friable, being easily tilled and abounding in the elements of fruitfulness,

but unavailable for agricultural purposes because of its aridity and the lack of means for its irrigation. Both the open plains and the more contracted valleys are, for the most part, destitute of timber, the only exceptions being where they are traversed by considerable streams, as the valleys of the Carson, Walker, Truckee, and Humboldt rivers, along which are a few scattered cottonwoods and copse of willow, there being no other trees, large or small, along them. Both the valleys, plains, and mountains are, in some sections of the country, wholly destitute of wood, and but ill supplied with grass and water, the latter, where it does occur, being often so impregnated with mineral substances as to render it unwholesome, or so warm as to be unfit for immediate use. Several of the more extended of these plains are so arid and barren as to justly merit the appellation of "desert," popularly applied to them. The regions most strongly marked in this respect are those adjacent to the sinks of the Humboldt and Carson, the vicinity of the Big Mud lakes, and the belt of country stretching from the Great Salt valley of Churchill county south through the centre of the State, and spreading out in the desolate and sandy wastes that surround Death valley and the sink of the Amargosa, reputed to be depressed many feet below the level of the sea. The characterizing of these sections, however, as peculiarly sterile does not imply that there are not many other considerable tracts in the State almost equally worthless, the only difference being in their more contracted area. To this system of mountains, valleys, and plains, the latter so spread out, and often connected together, as to constitute a series of basins, cach having a drainage of its own, but no outlet to the sea, Nevada is indebted for its singular hydrography, this common receptacle of its gathered waters becoming, according to circumstances, a lake, sink, meadow, alkali flat, or a salt bed.

1

SINKS, SLOUGHS AND LAKES.-The only waters of Nevada that are supposed to reach the ocean consist of a few inconsiderable streams in the northern, and a still smaller number in the southern part of the State. The former are tributaries of the Owyhie and the Snake rivers, and the latter of the Colorado. With these exceptions all the surface flow of the country is collected in lakes, none of them of large size and most of them extremely shallow, and in sinks, a name popularly applied to a certain class of these lakes from the circumstance that the streams emptying into them or received from other lakes are here supposed to sink and finally disappear beneath the surface. The idea, however, is erroneous, as these bodies of water, while they are not deep, are quite as permanent as any other, though fluctuating in area with the size of the streams by which they are fed. Most of the mountain streams in this State do sink, as already stated, as soon as they reach the plains or valleys. Some of the larger streams flowing through the latter, as Reese river, also disappear in like manner, being absorbed by the earth without accumulating at any point in a lake. These are the only cases to which the term sink properly applies. The fact that some of these lakes having no visible outlet receive each a large stream without overflowing its banks, or being greatly raised even when these tributaries are at high stages of water, has led to the supposition that they communicate with the sea, or perhaps with subterranean lakes, through underground passages. The consideration, however, that but comparatively little rain or snow ever falls in this region, while the extreme dryness of the atmosphere and the soil causes evaporation and absorption to go on rapidly, dispenses in a great measure with the necessity for such a theory. The only lakes of any considerable size in Nevada are those formed by the Humboldt, Walker, Carson and Franklin rivers, and bearing the names of these streams respectively, together with Pyramid lake, the largest of the group, formed by the waters of Truckee river. To Lake Tahoe, lying onethird within its limits, Nevada can only advance a corresponding claim. By the the early emigrants the name Sink was given to Humboldt lake, and a large shallow lake situate in the northern part of Churchill county is still called tho