These

Sink of the Carson, from the fact that it receives the surplus waters of that river through a sluggish tortuous stream, in some places having numerous channels, and in this country generally designated a slough. There is also a slough running from Humboldt lake to this sink, through which the former, at high stages, discharges its water. Through a similar channel Pyramid lake, when above its ordinary level, sends its water into Winnemucca lake, a large shallow basin lying east of Pyramid, and at certain seasons of the year nearly dry. In addition to the above there are small lakes and ponds in Degroot, Franklin, and various valleys in the State, the waters of which are in some cases fresh and pellucid, while in others they are more or less opaque and impure. About these ponds, which are mostly shallow, there is often a body of good grazing or agricultural land. Lake Tahoe, which has a depth of over 1,500 feet, is of an irregular oval shape, 21 miles long and 10 miles wide, and, though elevated more than 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, it never freezes over, nor does the temperature of the water vary much from 57° winter or summer, a circumstance owing, probably, to its being fed largely by springs. That it receives most of its supplies from this source is evident from the fact that it has but one tributary stream of any magnitude, while its outlet, Truckee river, carries a heavy body of water. This lake, like Pyramid, abounds in trout of large size and fine flavor, and is surrounded on every side by lofty mountains, which, rising abruptly from its shores, are covered for nearly two-thirds of the year with snow. mountains are heavily timbered with forests of pine, spruce and fir. Pyramid lake, the largest body of water wholly within the limits of the State, is about 30 miles long and 12 wide, and is situate in the southern part of Roop county, near the western line of the State. This lake, which derives its name from a pyramidal rock standing near its centre and rising 600 feet above its surface, has an elevation of about 4,000 feet above tide level. Like the Walker, it has a considerable depth, and the scenery about it is extremely grand, it being walled round with precipitous mountains rising from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. Walker lake has about the same altitude and length, but is not so wide as Pyramid, its average width not being over six or seven miles. Like the latter it is of an irregular oblong shape. The shores are indented with numerous small bays. Besides an inferior species of fish it contains the salmon trout; but the latter are not so large, numerous or well flavored as in Pyramid or Lake Tahoe, the water here being neither so deep nor pure. Walker lake is flanked on both sides by high mountains and rugged hills, the whole extremely arid and barren, almost entirely destitute of wood, grass or water. Carson lake has a diameter of about 12 miles; Humbold and Franklin are somewhat smaller. They are all of an irregular circular or oval shape, have low, flat shores, and are nowhere over 50 or 60 feet deep. They contain no fish except suckers and others of an inferior kind, the water of these, as well as most of the other small lakes and ponds in the country, being brackish and slightly alkaline-that of Humboldt lake and Carson sink so much so as to render the fish quite unpalatable and hardly fit for culinary purposes. The same is true of the water in most of the sloughs, and also in some of the rivers, especially the Humboldt, which becomes greatly deteriorated at its lower stages, particularly as it approaches the lake. Washoe, Toshepah, Pueblo and Guano are all small and shallow lakes, the water of which is in some cases clear and sweet, while in others it is discolored with earthy matter, or so impregnated with salt, soda or other substances as to render it distasteful if not unwholesome. About some of these lakes, as well as along a few of the rivers, occur patches of tule lands, or ground overflowed at high water and covered with a species of large-sized bulrush. Where susceptible of easy drainage, these patches can readily be converted into excellent meadows. The most extensive tracts of this land are found at the mouth of the Humboldt river, around Carson lake and sink, and above Genoa on Carson river, along the west shore

of Franklin, and at the outlet of Washoe lake, smaller patches being met with at the sinks of the Umashaw, Weatherlow, and Wemissa creeks, Humboldt county, and around several small lakes in Franklin valley, Lander county.

As Honey, Mono and Owens lakes, though not within the boundaries of Nevada, all lie west of the Sierra, and form a part of the system of valleys and lakes stretching along the western rim of the Great Basin, the first two being very near the line of this State, it may be proper to give here a passing description of them. Honey Lake, so named from the honey-dew abundantly precipitated throughout this region during the summer months, is a small and very shallow body of water, even at high stages, and wholly disappears in extremely dry seasons. Its principal confluents, Willow creek and Susan river, sink into the tule marsh before reaching the lake, the shores of which are in some places low and swampy, while in others they are dry and elevated. It has no outlet, and is destitute of fish, the water being strongly alkaline. To the west of the lake is an extensive valley, skirted by the Sierra Nevada in that direction, a strip of hilly country separating it from Pyramid and Mud lakes on the east. Mono lake, lying about 10 miles southwest of the dividing line between California and Nevada, derives its name from the tribe of Indians originally inhabiting the vicinity. It is about 14 miles long and 9 wide, and, though never sounded, is supposed from the configuration of the adjacent mountains to be very deep; some trials said to have been made with a 300-foot line failed to reach bottom. It has been suggested that the bed of this lake is the centre of an extinct volcano filled up with water, a hypothesis that assumes plausibility from the crater-like form of one of its islands, as well as of numerous small mountains in the neighborhood. By chemical analysis a gallon of this water weighing eight pounds is found to contain 1,200 grains of solid matter consisting principally of chloride of sodium, (common salt,) carbonate of soda, borax, sulphate of soda, (glauber salt,) and silica, with indications of the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen. Holding such a large percentage of these substances in solution the water of this lake is, of course, so acid and nauseating as to render it not only unfit for drinking but even for bathing. Leather immersed in it is soon destroyed by its corrosive properties, and no animal, not even a fish or frog, can for more than a short time exist in it. The wild fowl in visiting it keep about the mouths of the creeks, where the lake water is mixed with that flowing from the mountains. The only thing able to live within or upon the waters of this lake is a species of fly, which, springing from a larvæ bred in its bosom, after an ephemeral life, dies, and collecting on the surface, is drifted to the shore, where the remains collect in great quantities, to be fed upon by the ducks or gathered by the Indians, with whom this forms a staple comestible. Nestling under the eastern water-shed of the Sierra, this lake receives several considerable tributaries; and, although destitute of any outlet, such is the aridity of the atmosphere that it is always kept at nearly the same level by the process of evaporation. So dense and sluggish is the water rendered through supersaturation with various salts and other foreign matters, that none but the strongest winds can raise a ripple on its surface. As the Sierra in this neighborhood reaches nearly its greatest altitude, the scenery about Mono is varied and majestic, some portions of it being at the same time marked by a most cheerless and desolate aspect. This lake may aptly be termed a dead sea, its bitter and fatal waters rendering it literally such, while all its surroundings-wild, gloomy and foreboding-are highly suggestive of sterility and death. Owen's lake, lying to the south of Mono, though somewhat larger and not so deep, does not otherwise differ materially from the latter. It has the Sierra on the west for a back ground, while its water is almost equally saline and bitter. Like Mono, it has no outlet; and, though receiving the waters of Owen's river, a large and rapid stream, its surface is observed to be every year getting lower, a process that its former shore-line marks indicate to have been going on for a long time. This subsiding for the last five years has been at the

rate of nearly two feet per year. Former beach lines along the shores of Mono lake indicate that it has in like manner fallen by gradual stages many feet below its ancient level. The larvæ generating the insect found on Mono lake also breed abundantly in these waters, being the only form of animal life adapted to live in or about them. The decomposing action of this water is shown by its effect upon the bodies of a company of Indians, some 20 or 30 in number, who, while seeking to escape the whites several years ago, having taken refuge in the lake, were there shot by their pursuers, who left them in the water. In the course of a few weeks not a vestige of their bodies was to be seen, even the bones having been decomposed by this powerful solvent.

ALKALI FLATS AND MUD LAKES.-The surface of many of the plains and valleys in this State being composed of a stiff clay nearly impervious to water, and at the same time quite level or but slightly basin-shaped, are readily converted, during wet weather, into shallow lakes, some of which exist but for a few days, while others last until the dry season comes on, a few sometimes continuing throughout the year. These bodies of water, though often covering a large area, are rarely more than a foot or two deep. When drying up they usually leave behind a slight deposit of argillacious sediment, to which circumstance and their generally miry condition they are indebted for the name mud lake, commonly applied to them. When covered with water, or even but moderately wet, these spots are mostly impassable to teams or even horsemen. To obviate this difficulty roads require to be thrown up and impacted by travel during the dry season. Besides this clayey sediment many of these lakes on drying up deposit a variety of salts, the most of them of alkaline nature, whence the name alkali flat given them when in this condition. These salts are white, and glisten in the sun, so that these localities are very hot in summer as well as trying to the eyes of persons crossing them. When dry their beds become so hard that the hoof of an animal or even the tire of loaded wagons leaves but a slight impression. In some instances while the greater portions of these flats become dry and hard, others remain moist, the water in places coming to within a few inches of the surface. From these damp spots a constant efflorescence of saline matter goes on. The sublimated particles are left upon the surface or adhere to the shrubbery if there be any near by. The most of these desiccated lakes, however, are wholly without vegetation, not even the artemesia being able to take root upon them. These spots, so transformed alternately into mud lakes and alkali flats, are also the localities of the salt beds and marshes characteristic of this country. Though met with in nearly every part of Nevada, the most extensive occur in the northwestern, central and southern portions of the State, where, in the wet season, some of them cover more than a hundred square miles.

RIVERS AND STREAMS.-In proportion to its size Nevada has, perhaps, fewer large streams than any other State or Territory in the Union; none of those within its limits being navigable, and not more than four or five justly entitled to be called rivers. The Humboldt, the largest and longest river in the State, is at ordinary stages fordable at many places, as are all the others nearly everywhere along them. But, while possessing so few rivers, this State contains a great number of small streams, which, issuing from the various mountain ranges, afford an extensive propulsive power and means of irrigation. As a general thing the rivers have a swift current, with occasional rapids, though nothing like a cataract exists in any part of the State. The most of the mountain streams have a great descent, some of them falling a thousand feet every two or three miles. Where running through valleys or plains, the immediate banks of the streams are apt to be low; in the case of the smaller ones only a few feet above the water, though some have higher benches further back. Reese river, for example, flowing through a channel having nearly parallel banks, is scarcely anywhere more than 10 or 15 feet below the adjacent plain. Except towards its terminus it never dries up, and rarely ever overflows its banks. At one point

it disappears for several miles, having no channel above ground. The water here is diffused throughout the soil, forming, by a system of natural irrigation, an extensive meadow. Below this it reappears at several points, and being finally collected again in one channel flows on as before. This stream has an average width of 15 feet and a depth of about two feet. After pursuing its course for more than a hundred miles it begins to diminish, standing only in pools, and finally disappearing altogether. During high stages of water it runs for a greater distance, making its way nearly to the Humboldt, where it terminates in a tule swamp, which dries up in one summer. Weatherlow, Wamissa, Umashaw, and several other considerable creeks in the State resemble Reese river in their leading features. The most of them in like manner terminate in small fens, usually called sinks. Nearly all the running waters of the Nevada are palatable and wholesome. That of the mountain streams is always excellent. In most of the sloughs it is disagreeably brackish, which is also the case in the Humboldt river, and some other of the larger streams, particularly at low stages of water, the impurities increasing as the stream descends. In consequence of waste from evaporation and absorption most of the larger streams lose as much water from these causes as they gain from their tributaries, rendering them sometimes larger near their sources than at points further down. The Humboldt, for instance, a stream about 40 yards wide and four feet deep, is scarcely so large where it enters the lake as it is 200 miles above. The Walker and Carson rivers are also smaller where they empty into their respective lakes than at points higher up. The Truckee, though not so large, being a more rapid stream, discharges a greater volume of water throughout the year than the Humboldt. In point of size, Walker river ranks next to the Truckee. Carson river has an average width of 20 yards, with a depth of three feet, and is about two-thirds the size of Walker. Franklin river is a much smaller stream than Carson. The entire length of the Humboldt, including its two main forks, is over 300 miles. That of the others is much less. Both the Humboldt, Carson, and Walker rivers are formed by the union of two main forks or branches, below which none of them have a single affluent of any size, the Walker none whatever. Truckeo river, issuing a large stream from Lake Tahoe, receives a number of tributaries before leaving the mountains, after which, though not enlarged by any affluents, it preserves a nearly uniform volume, running with a swift current until it empties into Pyramid lake. The water of this stream is cold and pure throughout its entire course, and, as it has a great descent, it could be made to supply an immense propulsive power. That it will be largely diverted to this use, as soon as the Central Pacific railroad is completed, admits of no doubt, since this improvement follows along its banks for more than 50 miles, nearly half the distance through heavy forests of spruce and pine, which supply, in connection with the extensive water power, great advantages for the manufacture of lumber. The Humboldt river takes its rise in the Goose Creek mountains, in the northwestern corner of the State, whence, running in a westerly course about 250 miles, it deflects to the south, and flowing 50 miles farther falls into Humboldt lake. It runs through a tortuous channel with a moderate current, falling about 500 feet while traversing a distance of 250 miles. It passes through an exceedingly dry and sterile country. The only good land is comprised in a narrow belt of alluvion along its immediate banks. While this belt contracts at some points to very narrow limits, or disappears altogether, it expands at a few others, as at Lassen's meadows, into grassy bottoms of considerable extent. During the period of high water, which occurs on the melting of the snow in the mountains about its sources, in the months of April, May, and June, the river is swollen to a size somewhat larger than above stated, occasionally overflowing its banks, while at low water it shrinks into smaller dimensions, a condition common to most of the other largo streams in the State. The only tree found in the valley of the Humboldt is a species of small willow, growing on the banks of the stream. Nothing but a little

scrubby juniper and pine, and these very sparsely, is met with upon any of the mountains adjacent. In the Goose Creek range, however, about its head waters, there are some groves of large-sized timber, with fair supplies of bunch grass and water. The grass along the river bank consists of several wild varieties, such as wire, rye, blue, clover, and bunch, some of which are so injurious to stock that experienced drovers will not allow their cattle to feed upon them, but drive them into the mountains, where the grass, though less abundant, is more nutritious and wholesome. The only fish found in this stream, or the lake into which it discharges, are minnows, of little value. During the summer the Humboldt swarms with mosquitoes, gnats, sandflies and other troublesome insects. These pests are very numerous along the lower portions of the river and about the lake.

In their leading features and surroundings the Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers do not, except as to size, differ materially from the Humboldt, having first a narrow and partially fertile valley near their immediate banks, with another much more extensive, but wholly barren, lying somewhat higher and stretching away to the base of the mountain ranges that bound them on either hand. The cottonwoods that once formed a narrow fringe, or stood in small clumps along these streams, have mostly been cut down, and there is little left except a willow copse to mark the meanderings of the rivers through the plains, or their passage through the deep cañons that sometimes occur along their routes. These cañons,

by subdividing the main valley into different parts, sometimes cause the waters of the same river to be designated by separate names. After leaving the mountains from which they all take their rise, there is, with the exception of a little willow and the few cottonwoods mentioned, no timber along any of the streams in this State or in the valleys through which they flow. In Reese River valley, proper, more than 100 miles long, there is not a stick of timber large enough for a fence rail, and nearly all the other valleys and plains in the country are equally destitute of timber.

THE SPRINGS OF NEVADA.-These abound in many parts of the State, and are to the economist not more objects of value on account of their utility than of interest to the scientist because of their size, temperature, modes of occurrence, chemical properties, and other natural peculiarities. They are met with at all altitudes, and often under such strange conditions as justly entitle them to be considered geological curiosities. They are found on the mountain sides, in the valleys, and far out on the desert-large, small, deep, shallow, cold, hot, and tepid. Some are in a state of ebullition, leaping up with a gurgling sound, as if heated by fierce fires below, while others are quiescent. Some are pellucid and perfectly pure, while others are impregnated with a great variety of mineral and metallic substances. In some places they occur solitary and at others in groups, as many as a hundred being found within an area of a few acres. In temperature they range from 50 to 204 degrees, the latter about the boiling point of water in this region. In diameter they vary from 1 to 100 feet, and in depth from 3 or 4 to 150. In shape they incline to be circular, many of them being perfectly round, with funnel-shaped or perpendicular well-like walls. The mineral and thermal springs are generally situated on a mound formed from the silicious or calcareous particles brought up and deposited by their own waters. Some of these mounds cover several acres and reach a height of 50 or 60 feet, or even more. In some cases the walls of the springs are formed of these limy or silicious concretions, which, shaped into huge basins, lift them several feet above the level of the mounds, while in others they are composed simply of earth or turf. The water in most of them is soft and palatable when cold, and so clear that the smallest object can be seen at a great depth, even the minute orifices through which the water enters at the bottom of the deepest spring being visible. Frequently a hot and a cold spring are in such proximity that a person can dip one hand into each at the same time. From some a small, and from a few quite a