NV Tour 1

Small Town Detours

(Salt Lake City, Utah)—Wells—Elko—Battle Mountain—Winne- mucca—Lovelock—Reno—(Sacramento, Calif.); US 40.

US 40, the valley route between Salt Lake City and central California, has a character unusual in Nevada in that for the most part it follows a river, the winding Humboldt, which has cut deep gorges, sometimes narrow and sometimes broad, in the many north-south ranges that crossed its course downward from the high north eastern section of the State. The mountains are more and more barren as the river moves westward, their sheer faces brilliantly stained with minerals that take on an unearthly glow at sunset. Where the river crosses the north-south valleys, meadowlands of wild grass provide feed for part of the thousands of cattle that are the principal source of wealth in the northern part of the State. Sheep feed in summer on slopes high above the valley and in the fall add their bleat to the bellow of beef cattle herded into corrals near the railroad stations.

From one end of the State to the other, side roads lead to campsites among cedar and juniper, to tumbling trout streams, and, in the eastern and far western parts of the State, to sub-alpine meadows that are the delight of botanists seeking blooms of unusual beauty and color.

The valley route has both charm and interest at all times of the year— though travelers in July and August are often too annoyed by heat to notice them unless they adopt the only sensible procedure for all summer travel on the Great Plains, in the South, and in the West, which is the mid-day siesta. A full halt in the air-cooled hotels and auto-camps from ten to two avoids the sword-like sunbeam of mid-day, but more experienced travelers are now learning that very early and late afternoon driving not only gives them more comfort, but here in Nevada it enables them to enjoy magnificent light affects that make the ends of day memorable.

The noon-day heat of these heaviest travel months was long a reminder of the horror tales of the days of pioneer overland journeys. Oxcart travelers, however, had difficulties unknown to the modern motorist.

kand never drew the hordes of wealth-seekers thac panted and scrambled along this river on their way to the Mother Lode. For the most part utterly ignorant of wilderness travel-ways and needs, very often unsuitably and inadequately equipped, cocksure in their belief that they possessed an innate instinct on routes superior to that of experienced guides and scouts, the early emigrants formed one of the most appallingly happy-go-lucky swarms the world has ever known. Before the rush was more than half under way, old mountain-men like Jim Bridger had withdrawn advice and services to sit in cynical peace and watch the procession pass.

But this was far from being the horror trail of the storytellers. It is true that there were bad stretches—chiefly over the sinks—but people who prepared for these crossings methodically, carrying sufficient hay and water for their animals, wearing wet handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths, lightening their loads of heavy tools—including grindstones—and such frivolities as melodeons and bureaus, got through without more than temporary hardships. The danger from Indians has also been over-emphasized; the Indians were annoying, but people who followed the rule of not straying far from their trains, of keeping regular guard relays during halts, rarely suffered loss of life or animals.

For every person who died on the way there were thousands who came through safely. The trip was high adventure and those who made it were proud to have had part in it—indeed, they would not have missed it for any price. Few realize today that the emigrants looked ahead to the journey overland in part as a sight-seeing trip; they watched eagerly for the landmarks of which they had been told, covered notable eminences with their names to leave record that they had been there, took time off to climb to points noted for their views, picked up rocks and other souvenirs to remind them of this and that wonder. As they grew older they loved to find an audience that would listen to their story of the trip—and many were prone to exaggerate and spread the stories of misfortunes they themselves had not experienced. Diaries kept on the route are the best proof that tales grew with the telling in later years; the lack of perilous events and the monotony of the entries is surprising. This country interested every newcomer; its high coloring and wierd formations were novelties. But many, accustomed to green-clad hills and lush meadow bottoms, were shocked by the gray-green sage and imagined the country a desert; they knew of only one kind of land that would produce wealth, the kind they had left behind.

Tales of the stagecoach days, the 1850*8 on this route, have also been the subject of much blood-and-thunder fiction. Buffalo Bill and others who have made—and make—their livings by sensational stories turned each journey down the Humboldt into a story of peril and agony. Though the rocking stages were not comfortable, most travelers accepted the discomforts philosophically. Mark Twain, try as he would in Roughing It, could fill in his narrative only with stories of what had happened to somebody else. Richard Burton, experienced world traveler and later translator of the Arabian Nifhts, found not a single lurid

story to light up his narrative of the trip from Salt Lake City to the West Coast.

The movement westward really got under way about 1840, largely stimulated by the economic collapse of 1837. But for 30 years employees of the great fur companies, as well as independent trappers, had been exploring the West in search of the valuable furs. In 1826 and 1827 Jedediah Smith and a small band had galloped across the Great Basin; Hudson's Bay trappers were penetrating to the Humboldt from the north; and the Mexicans and Spanish were pushing up from the south. The first westward movement was directed toward the lush green valley west of the Cascade Range in Oregon. From that territory and from the Southwest, traders and mere adventurers had penetrated into Mexican California. Those who got a foothold in California began to broadcast the possibilities of settlement there in the hope of drawing enough Yankees around themselves to over-rule the natives. The first large party to make California its goal was led by John Bidwell in 1841. Bidwell's plan was to follow the well-known Oregon Trail to a point near Fort Hall on the Snake—in what is now eastern Idaho—and then cut southwestward. But the warnings of trappers frightened some of the travelers, and the party split at Soda Springs, one half going to Oregon and thence to California, and the remainder, led by Bidwell, south toward the Humboldt. The Bidwell party managed to get into the Salt Lake Desert and then made a wandering detour before reaching the Humboldt; but it reached California by November without the loss of a single member. One man in the Bidwell party returned east to waylay other westbound travelers in 1843; at Fort Hall he decided to go back to California by way of Oregon, and only a few would-be settlers, guided by the scout, Joseph Walker, who had crossed Nevada along the Humboldt route ten years before, followed the Humboldt. In the next year the Stephens-Townsend-Miller-Murphy party, way- layed by Sutter's agents, the Greenwoods (see Tour 2a), at Fort Hall, left the Oregon Trail and under the guidance of the old trapper came down to the Humboldt, followed it westward, and even managed to get their wagons across Truckee Pass. In 1845 several other parties followed the same course without serious misadventure, largely owing to expert guidance.

But in 1846 came the dreadful Donner misadventure that was to shed a cloud of horror over the route for many years. Lansford Hastings, a young lawyer who had gone to California in 1842 and developed dreams of a Yankee republic with himself at the head, joined an eastbound party of disgruntled immigrants led by an experienced trapper. He conceived the idea of making a short cut across the Great Salt Desert to Fort Bridger—now in southwestern Wyoming—on the Oregon Trail; the guide disapproved but the difficult crossing was made. Near this point Hastings persuaded one party to try his short route to California and started off with it, leaving an "Open Letter" to influence others The unusually well-equipped party led by George Donner was the first to fall a victim to Hasting's glowing accounts of the short-cut; Hastings

left word that he had gone ahead but would be on the lookout to guide them at difficult points. One of the Donner party wagons was so large that it was called the Pioneer Palace Car and needed eight oxen to drag it; other wagons were heavily laden with the household goods of the more prosperous pioneers. The size of the wagons, as well as the inexperience of the party of eastern farmers, was responsible for painfully slow progress down rocky canyons to the Great Salt Lake. The desert crossing was made with extreme difficulty and then, by mischance, the party turned south through inviting Clover Valley, which forced them to make the circuit around the Ruby Range. By the time the travelers had crossed Humboldt Sink the journey had become an endless nightmare; quarrels had broken out, one man had gone insane, supplies were nearly gone, and the oxen and other animals were dying from exhaustion. The water and forage of the Truckee Meadows beguiled them into a delay that was fatal. Early snows overtook them in the pass and all but a small advance group was forced to stay on the heights of the mountain range. By the time relief arrived after various delays only 33 of 81 people were left alive, and three of the survivors died on their way to Sutter's Fort

No matter what route was taken by an overland party the going was difficult beyond the Continental Divide, Rocks mangled the feet of the animals and alkali-laden dust burned faces and throats. Moreover, this high dry country was nearly always traversed at its driest and hottest period, and as the trains increased in number the ground, even on the lush prairies eastward, was churned to fine dust that enveloped the route in a perpetual cloud. By 1852, when 100,000 people had already crossed the country, the dust-cloud never had a chance to settle, watering and camping places were perpetually fouled, and within a month after it sprouted all forage was gone for a long distance on both sides of the trail. Yet another handicap of travelers during the gold-rush years was that the West was going through one of its great drought cycles; in 1922 a lake near the upper California boundary went dry, revealing wheel tracks made by oxcarts in crossing the dry lake bed nearly 100 years before.

With completion of th* transcontinental railroad, which parallels US 40 in Nevada, trail travel fell off sharply though occasional wagons made the crossing until the iSSo's. To stimulate business along the route the railroad company brought in settlers on cheap tickets entitling them to places in freight cars equipped with cooking stoves. This was the period in which many of the towns along US 40 came into existence, chiefly as strategic distribution and shipping points for the settlements and mining camps developing in a wide band north and south of the railroad. Some still carry on their original function but are also business centers for th« many Urge and small ranches around diem. Reno is the only town that has a census population that would classify it as more than a village in the East but the population figures are completely misleading. Several other towns are equal to Reno in business, cultural, and social development, as well as in facilities for modern com-

fort. At certain seasons thcfr week-end populations are more than double the number of permanent residents.

US 40 comes into Nevada from the cast across the blazing hot flats of the Salt Lake Desert, where travelers so rash as to take the shorter Hastings route, were paralyzed by mirages, heat, thirst, and the boggy terrain. These flats end at the Pilot Range, just west of the Nevada Line.

At the western edge of this vast salt plain, 75 miles in breadth, stands PILOT PEAK, about 20 miles north of the route. Immigrants, grateful that the crossing was over, camped by Pilot Creek, where they found water and grass after their appalling day-and-night journey of from 48 to 90 hours, during which their animals had waded through ashy undulations, sometimes sinking to their knees, with this landmark ahead but never seeming any closer. The peak was named by Fremont in 1845*

US 40 crosses the Utah Line in WENDOVER, 0 m. (4,245 alt,, 9 POP-)> (see Tour 7a), in conjunction with US 50 (see Tour 7a), at a point 127 miles west of Salt Lake City. Two-thirds of Wendover lies in Utah. On the slopes of the Pilot Range (R) and browner peaks to the south, are the beach marks of ancient Lake Bonneville. Since automobile racing was begun on the Salt Flats three decades ago, Wendover has been a headquarters and supply base for the meets.

The Toano Mountains are crossed through SILVER ZONE PASS, 20.1 m. (5,940 alt.). This range and pass were the first in Nevada to be used by travelers coming across the Utah desert. Now the Western Pacific Railroad follows the old trail. These mountains, steep, spotted with mahogany, juniper, and pinon, and reaching far to the south, offer some feed to sheep and to cattle.

From the summit the highway drops swiftly between jagged scarps of rugged splendor into GOSHUTE VALLEY, 22.6 m., beyond which are the Pequop Mountains, a backdrop of ever changing color.

Left on this road, which passes SHAFTER, 11.9 m. (5,550 alt, 10 pop.), junction point of the Western Pacific and Nevada Northern Railroads, to FLOWERY LAKE (L), 21.4 «., a grass-covered, spring-fed swamp. Here the Donner Party paused long enough to cache belongings in order to lighten their -wagons. Fremont, who camped here in 1845, called the place Whitton Springs, and divided his party, sending one division northwestward to follow the Humboldt River while he led the remainder southwestward to a rendezvous at Walker Lake.

OASIS, 34 7n. (5,106 alt), on US 40, is a service telephone and Red Cross station.

Right from Oasis on Nev. 30, a graveled road, to an unimproved road at 6.7 «./ L. here 1.4 m. to COBRE (6,921 alt., 45 pop.), northern terminal of the Nevada Northern Railroad, at the main line of the Southern Pacific. On Nev. 30 is MONTELLO, 25 m. (4,98* alt. 350 pop.), a repair point on the Southern Pacific and a shipping point tor big cattle outfits in the Thousand Springs

country and for tie Delno Mining District (L). It is also sportsmen's headquarters for sagechicken, duck, and deer hunting.

Left from Montello on a dirt road into the Valley of the Thousand Springs, so-called by travelers over the old Fort Hall-to-California Road, who entered this district from what is now Idaho, and found abundant water.

EMIGRANT SPRINGS, 32.7 m. from Montello, was a much used stopping- point on the Fort Hall road. Right from the Springs on the early trail, which can be followed to the northeastern corner of Nevada along Goose Creek. Nev. 30 continues northeast across the Bonneville lake-bed to the State Line, 35 «., where it joins Utah 70.

West of Oasis US 40 climbs the eastern slope of the Pequop Mountains to PEQUOP SUMMIT, 87.9 m. (6,980 alt.). Like die Toano Range, the Pequops are partly covered with mahogany, pinon, and juniper. The southern end of the range is a winter range of deer, as well as for the few antelope that remain in this area. The northern end bounds the Thousand Springs country. In early days this rough region was controlled by a band of marauding Paiutes, who, it has been suspected, were incited by renegade white men to attack oxcart trains in order to steal livestock.

After descending the western slopes of the Pequops US 40 cuts northwest across another valley, sage-covered and sweeping toward distant violet and blue ranges. The valley is north of the Independence Mountains. Gradually the Ruby Mountains (L) come into view—snow- patched even in summer and rising more than 11,000 feet.

WELLS, 61.3 m. (5,626 alt, 831 pop.), is the southern terminal of a branch of the Union Pacific, and the junction with US 93 (see Tour 2a). While the present town grew up when the Central Pacific Railroad was built, the area just northwest was one of the principal camping spots on the California Trail and the town was named for the Hum- boldt Wells. Dozens of springs were here, scattered over a meadow, as in the Thousand Springs region northward. Immigrants called them wells, apparently because they considered many of them bottomless. Before the coming of the railroad, hundreds of wagons were here at one time, as travelers rested and fattened their animals before starting on the long journey down the Hmnboldt.

Wells has long been a supply point for the livestock growers along the upper Humboldt, in Ruby and Clover Valleys to the south, in the Thousand Springs area to the north, and in the vast O'Neil region east of the Jarbidge Mountains. Local prosperity is reflected in oiled streets and modern public facilities. On the streets are seen Paiute ranch- hands, Mexican railroad workers, cowboys, stock buyers, miners, and tourists, as well as ranchers and their families. For many years Wells was virtually treeless, then experimentation by the County Farm Bureau showed that hardy trees would grow if properly planted and tended. As a result th* town now ha* well-shaded residential district*, particularly attractive in contrast with the surrounding areas.

Between 1870 and 1890 cattlemen in this region ran it in a high, wide, and handsome manner. But in 1889 thousands of high-priced cattle were on srcant forage, a long deep winter with notable blizzards

followed, and spring found the cattle dead in the fields and on the range. Wealthy stockmen went bankrupt almost overnight, and some were forced to begin all over again as cowboys. Up and down the grapevine of the long Nevada valleys men chuckled over the story of a Negro camp cook, who looking over the dismal scene, rolled his eyes heavenward and reverently exclaimed; "Lawd, Lawd, how your snow done equalize society!"

The road turns westward across the broken slopes of the northern end of East Humboldt Mountains (L), not far from the Humboldt, which is increased by the waters of Mary's River and several smaller streams. Northeast across the valley, Bishop Creek afforded entrance to the Humboldt for the Stevens-Townsend-Murphy party, which successfully crossed to California. Murphy's son Dan was later a big cattleman with a ranch near Halleck.

Southward the Humboldt River comes into view near the road. It was a stream that excited derision in many besides Mark Twain—who said that if a man was bored and wanted to entertain himself, he could jump back and forth across the river until exhausted and thirsty, and then drink it dry. It has b«en a river of many names. Known to the trapping fraternity as early as 1827, *t was first called the Unknown, then Mary's River, possibly for the Indian wife of Peter Skene Ogden; next Ogden's River and Paul's—the latter for one of Ogden's men who died on its bank. Mary's River is now the name of a tributary. Fremont named it Humboldt River for Alexander von Humboldt, the German explorer, and the name stuck.

Although Greenwood, piloting his train, found grass in abundance, and the river with sufficient flow to dilute its alkali content, later travelers had less happy experiences. The river zigged and zagged, every zig marking a chasm through rock, and every zag a small level area. Sand and gravel were often hub-deep on the trail, and dust smothered both men and beast. In the pools and lower reaches the water was so full of alkali that, like the whiskey in Virginia City Mark Twain described, a smell was enough to "disable a man for life."

US 40 turns abruptly north across the river at 78.8 m. On bench- land (L), less than a mile away, there was a Paiute camp within the memory of people still alive. Approximately at this point during some periods of oxcart travel, many wagon trains swung along the edge of Ruby Mountains, and then westward across the South Fork, returning to the main route near Beowawe (see ahead).

At 79.9 m., just beyond a railroad overpass, is the junction with a graveled road.

Right oa this road to DEETH, 0.5 m. (5,336 alt., 75 pop.)? a shipping point for ranches on Mary's River, and in the Charleston and O'Neil regions northward. In horse and buggy days the town was a lively headquarters for ranchmen, and was maay times larger than it is now.

North ef Deeth a graded dirt road (closed in winter) skirts the west edge of Mary's River. Tlae road turns L. at 9 m. and climbs to POLE CANYON CREEK SUMMIT, 22.8 m.t (6,954 alt), which is on the northern edge of the Great Basin. Thw country was ooc* controlled by a rich outfit that introduced

Polled Angus cattle into an area of Herefords. One day the owner of the concern stopped for dinner at a small ranch where excellent T-bone steaks drew a compliment from the ^ guest. The little daughter said proudly: "Oh, daddy never kills red and white cows. He brings nice black and white ones home." There is no record of what the guest said, or of what happened to the rustler.

The graveled road continues to wind and climb past several small creeks to the isolated ranching community of CHARLESTON, 49.2 nt.f (6,008 alt), which rests in a little valley where Bruneau River breaks northward through a deep canyon. For many years Charleston had a reputation as one of the toughest places in the State—and doubtless it was. Law and order had a difficult time growing up there. After a man-hunt in this primitive area a sheriff said: "By darn, the trip was a success. I didn't get my man, but I rode plumb through Charleston without being shot at." Today, only two caved-in log cabins on '76 Creek mark the site of the old town. Near Charleston the last stage hold-up in Nevada took place on December 4, 1916, when a lone bandit wounded the driver and looted the Jarbidge stage.

Old-timers tell of salmon runs up Bruneau River, and of the amazing number of antelope that formerly browsed on the rolling desert westward. Neither salmon nor antelope remain. The Bruneau, however, is noted for its trout fishing and the area between Charleston and Gold Creek still offers excellent sagehen hunting. The rugged Jarbidge Range is the home of mule-deer.

The road north of Charleston is often impassable from the first autumn snow until early summer. The western boundary of the Jarbidge division of the Humboldt National Forest is crossed at 53 m.> in the ascent of the Jarbidge Mountains to COON CREEK SUMMIT, 64 m. This section of mountain road is very beautiful at any season, but especially during the fall when willow, aspen, and chokecherry are aflame

Left from the summit 1 m. on a trail to the top of COPPER MOUNTAIN (9,911 alt.), which offers a magnificent view of the sunken gorges of southern Idaho and the dim Sawtooth Range northward.

For three miles the main road now winds through alpine county around the northern end of the range, with Bear Creek pouring down to the Bruneau. Tamarack and burnt-earth make this region resemble the Mother Lode country of California. The road crosses JARBIDGE SUMMIT, 67 m., where it turns sharply R., giving for a moment the impression that it suddenly terminates in space. The road drops 3,000 feet in 5.5 miles and provides a spectacular descent, breath-taking for persons not used to mountain driving. By Jarbidge River at the foot of the grade is a Forest Service campground (R) with stoves in a beautiful grove of aspen and mountain laurel. A ranger station is a half mile beyond Jarbidge.

The whole region is in almost primitive state, with a heavy stand of timber unusual to northern Nevada. Deer and grouse are plentiful and fishermen describe the region as paradise. Coon Creek, Bear Creek, Jarbidge River, and other streams teem with trout. High above the conifers and red cedars is ^ found the rare fox-tail pine. The wild red raspberries and black gooseberries of the thickets make delicious jellies.

The road follows the east bank of the river to JARBIDGE^ 74 my (6,100^alt., 392 pop.), where mine dumps dot the canyon like ruins of ancient cliff-dwellings. Jarbidge (Indian, Ja-ha-bich, the Devil) was probably applied to this district on account of its ruggedness and the pretence of hot springs. This if the most isolated of all Nevada mining camps. Exploited since 1910, for m number of years it was the chief producer of gold in the State. The total production of this area to 1921 was gold and silver ore valued at nearly four million dollars. The Elkoro Mines Company owns most of the important properties. Within recent years, new deposits have been discovered. The mines shafts on steep canyon •lopes are behind and above false-front stores and log cabins, making a picturesque settlement. In heavy winters drifts M high aw 30 feet cut this community from ka neighbor!.

North of Jarbidge at 82 tn.> the road crosses the Idaho Line, at a point 48.5 miles south of Rogerson, Idaho.

Left on this road is HALLECK STATION, 0.9 m. (5,226 alt., 3 pop.), on the north bank of Humboldt River; it was established to serve Fort Halleck, and Starr, Pleasant, and Lamoille valleys (see Tour lA). The surrounding area matches San Jacinto, to the north, as one of the coldest spots in the United States, The thermometer has officially registered 50° below zero. Down the north- south valley, paralyzing winds from Idaho spend themselves against the Ruby Mountains, concentrating their cold in this basin. Pogonip, the fog that was dreaded by Indians, occasionally puts a sheath of frost crystals on every shrub and blade of grass. It is then that the still air does strange things with sound. Small sharp sounds, such as that from an axe or from a wagon crossing the frozen earth, can be distinctly heard for many miles along the bitterly cold meadows.

Nev. ii continues southeast, passing the entrance to the ioo,ooo-acre 71 RANCH before curving south along the western base of the Ruby Mountains to the foot of SECRET CANYON, 11.5 m.; R. here 7.4 m. to the SITE OF FORT HALLECK, established in 1867 when Fort Ruby (see Tour lA) was abandoned with the approach of the railroad. Only foundations remain as this post was closed in 1886. Troops stationed here saw no major engagements but their presence encouraged settlement of the surrounding valleys.

Nev, ii continues eastward winding up a steep grade in narrow Secret Canyon by Secret Creek, which cascades down from lovely Secret Valley. When troops were first stationed in the vicinity they were puzzled by the sudden disappearance of marauding Indians. Later this high pocket of green meadow was discovered. At one time rustlers also frequented the hideaway with cattle stolen from pioneers on the Humboldt Road. Narrow Secret Canyon and Secret Valley divide the Ruby Mountains, to the south, from the East Humboldt Mountains on the north; both are part of the Ruby Range. The road ascends again to cross SECRET PASS in low eroded granite hills and descends to ARTHUR, 23 m.t in Ruby Valley. Arthur is at the junction with the Ruby Valley road (see Tour lA).

In autumn the pass and the eastern valley are a gathering ground for deer forced down by the snows to the shelter of cedar and mahogany.

Nev. ii turns south, then east around the southern edge of the East Humboldt Range to its junction with US 93, 43.6 «. (see Tour za), at a point about 25 miles south of Wells on US 40 (see before).

US 40 now crosses the North Fork of the Humboldt, a flood stream •n springtime, tut practically dry in late summer and fall.

It was along here that early immigrants feared the "Humboldt Ghouls", Indians whom the pioneers misnamed "Diggers". The Indians themselves also had cause for alarm. On one occasion a man from a train, using some ruse, lured an Indian girl off into the sagebrush. Discovered by her relatives, he was brought to the white camp and his life demanded. No voice was raised in protest; whereupon the immigrant was shot, scalped, and dismembered.

A low, grayish point of rock (L) looms against the burnt-red hills across the Humboldt. Here in the early 1850*3 stock guards of a wagon train were attacked by Indians. When the main train reached the spot the following day and found their companions dead, the men dug graves and carried large white stones from the blufis to mark them. Between

this point and Elko other relics of the westward trek are visible along the river.

The^ NEVADA SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY, 105 m., was established in 1913 for the care of delinquent boys. Athletic and vocational training are given to help correct antisocial tendencies.

ELKO (Shoshone, White Woman), 110.5 m. (5,063 alt, 4,018 pop.) (all types of accommodations, including auto-courts; auto-service and other facilities; charter airplane service; pack trips to mountains arranged through Chamber of Commerce). This town, seat of Elko County and the largest community between Salt Lake City and Reno, is the chief trade and service center for a country as large as New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined. Seen from the railroad it is not impressive; the wide street bisected by the tracks is lined with buildings erected for the most part in the i88o's and iSgo's, and falsefronts are still among them. But a cue to the town's true character is seen even from the train; only two lots away from a small house dripping Victorian trimmings is a cocktail bar whose bakelite and chromium elegance would fit well into upper Fifth Avenue in New York. A stroll down streets away from the railroad reveals other surprises—shops selling clothes bearing trademarks of prominent designers, fine tweeds, and even lalique glass. Shops making leather goods to satisfy the high standards of cattlemen are local developments. The library, surrounded by a lawn, is in the mansarded structure built to house the University of Nevada in its early years, but the white-columned courthouse and the modern grammar school and high school—which, togethei have nearly 900 pupils—are as modern and well-equipped, and as well- s affed, as any in the United States. The newspapers reveal a social life that is anything but provincial; cocktail, bridge, and dancing parties with floral decorations from the coast, musicals, lectures, and study classes on current events, are as common as the club and lodge meetings that play such important parts in Nevada life.

On a bluff north of the business district are numerous substantial modern houses and even some of the older homes have interior decorations and furniture similar to those now fashionable in the metropolitan centers of the Atlantic Seaboard. Some years ago householders of Elko began to plant apple trees in their yards, front as well as back, with the result that in spring the town is half buried under fragrant pink- touched snowy blossoms.

These evidences of up-to-the-minute prosperity do not mean that Elko is not still a cattle town. In the cocktail bars with their murals the whole of Elfco County mingles democratically, though the buckaroos— and often the owners of vast cattle ranches and large bands of sheep— prefer to frequent the "clubs", where the bar is merely a background for roulette wheels, faro banks, horse-keno counters, and poker tables.

Elko came into existence as a freighting point for the boom camps of the Hamilton and Eureka districts. Even before the Central Pacific Railroad construction camp was set up here in 1868, traders were on hand to serve trail travelers and real estate speculators to find

choice lots. The hurly-burly of construction camp days was augumented by the yells of freighters trying to turn their wagons, each drawn by four lumbering oxen, in the crowded, dusty streets. At first supplies from the mining camps came in only from the west, and from the farms already under cultivation in Lamoille, Pleasant, and Ruby Valleys (see Tour iA)> but after May, 1869, when the transcontinental route was completed, machinery, foodstuffs, whiskey, champagne, and people arrived daily from both directions.

Charles Crocker, one of the Big Four building the road, gave many of the names for the stations established as the tracks progressed eastward and probably gave this one.

By the middle of 1869 the town was well established; a census showed 68 children between 6 and 18 years of age and 64 under 6. A school was opened and various other public enterprises were soon under way. Then and in later years the saloon-keeper and the inhabitants of Adobe and Piety Rows were particularly heavy contributors when collections were made to build schools and churches. By 1870 there were enough citizens who enjoyed the staider social events to produce strawberry and oyster suppers.

Still, there were enough homeless males to keep up an uproar and guns went off in the saloon districts with frequency. A favorite story of this period concerns a bully who selected Elko as a place he was going to rule. He enforced his threats and hints of troubles by prominent display of a gun. Everyone but a young clerk was fairly well intimidated ; he said the bully was a faker and was publicly critical after the ,ully mistreated a consumptive sojourning in the town. Other people began to repeat the comments and die self-appointed boss decided to stop them by going to the source; he came into the store where the young man worked, drew his gun, and with sulphurous oaths told what he was going to do if there were any more criticisms. The clerk dropped to the floor behind the high counter. The bully made a dash around the end—and was tripped over backward by the clerk who had crawled forward to meet him. Catching the bully off-guard, the clerk was able to snatch his gun and use it as a bludgeon. Yells brought passers-by who finally separated the combatants. This public set-back infuriated the bully who told all who would listen what he was going to do to the young man when he had time to settle with him. Victory had given the clerk further confidence and after various zealous friends had reported the threats in the hope of stirring up more excitement, he walked boldly into the bully's saloon and asked for a drink. The bully glared and refused it The clerk reminded him that his license was for serving the public and he wanted his drink. He got it, and it was apparent to the town that the bully's reign was over.

By the time the boom camps to the south had begun to decline, others had sprung up in the north. But. more important, the country was covered with herds of cattle and Elko was becoming the cattle capital it is today. By 1879 it had an Opera Hall where traveling companies were presenting Pinafore, East Lynne, and A Cast for Divorce, w

Fate, Lost and Won. The latter was given by Nellie Boyd's troupe, but had such little favor it moved on to Tuscarora, where taste was less critical of acting and of female charms. This Opera Hall had certain deficiencies; in its early days the boards of the stage were not nailed down and an actor who lost himself in his role might take a fall, or a slap from a suddenly tilted plank.

For a long time the people of Elko, like those of other towns along the line, carried on a constant feud with the railroad company, which charged any rates it chose. The railroad became more reasonable when the counties began to levy heavy taxes against it. The company gained additional unpopularity by forcing sale of its sections of land—the checkerboard granted for 20 miles on both sides of the right of way. The cattlemen were carrying on their war against sheep and the company would threaten to sell to sheepmen the alternate sections of fertile bottom land, which produced the winter hay for herds. The public lands between the blocks owned by the railroad company could not be used by the cattlemen if this arrangement were carried through.

This was only part of the long fight for control of the range. Every cattleman took up land for a home-ranch, a base of operations. This home-ranch was usually near meadows, where then, as now, grew the wild hay that had to be cut for winter feed. As the number of outfits increased it became necessary for each to own its hay land. Both for the home-ranch and the meadowlands it was necessary to control water, which in time meant acquiring more land. In the first years right to certain meadows and water-rights was established by use, with each man enforcing his claims by battle if necessary. Eventually the meadows were acquired in part by claims taken up under the various land acts, but here, as elsewhere in the cattle country, physical force was long the law and a. newcomer had to be agile as well as merciless to wedge his way in. Big outfits ran out small ones, by threats if possible, by gun and destruction if gentler methods did not work.

The county had its cattle barons before 1880 and the Senate Saloon of Elfco had many calls on the varied skills of its bar-men, who, it advertised, could mix a "Tom and Jerry, Hot Scotch, Apple Toddy, Milk Punch, Bran Mash, Muldoon, or a Dashaway at any hour of the day or night."

The dreadful blizzards of 1888-90 wrecked local business by ruining the free-spending cattle-growers. While the town was in the doldrums it had reluctantly to perform an execution, that of the only woman ever hanged in Nevada. The woman had bigamously married a second husband while she was on vacation in California and had murdered him when he followed her to Elko County, and hidden the body under her house; shortly afterward she and her first husband left but a tenant quickly discovered the remains.

As the cattle business improved Elko began to recover prosperity, though it had no great spurt until the Western Pacific was built in 1907 and established a division point here.

late summer; this completely depopulates more than a thousand square miles of country as everyone comes in for a reunion and to witness the rodeos, agricultural and mineral displays. Round-up times are also periods of great activity, as beef is brought in for shipment on the hoof. Celebrations over the end of the long, lively period of work are prolonged, though not as violent as in the past.

Westward, and just across the river, is the MUNICIPAL SWIMMING POOL (nominal fee), which is the most popular recreational spot in the county. Just south of the pool is Hot Hole, a large sinter-mound about 100 feet in diameter, that holds a deep and hot mineral spring. Other sinter-cones are scattered on the adjacent hillside. On the river bank (L) numerous vents from the hot springs offer laundry facilities to migratory workers. More than one dusty, dirty group of early migrants stopped here to bathe and to wash clothes.

Right from the municipal pool over a dirt road, passing an old experimental plant built to extract oil from shale. It was operated for several years. The deserted paining camp of BULLION, 27.4 m* (6,386 alt.), is in a district ^discovered in 1869 above a steep canyon and on the east slope of the Pinon Mountains. Bunker Hill (approx. 9,000 alt.) looks down on the slag dumps of smelters, and the ruins of a town that saw the production of three million dollars in ore before 1884. Activities revived in 1905, and the district again produced in 1916-1917.

The main highway now skirts the edge of ranchlands along the Humboldt into which, at 120.5 m.3 pours the South Fork. In the willow thickets bordering the sloughs live exceptionally large numbers of pelicans and cranes. Across the river (L) ruts of the Humboldt Road can be clearly seen on a steep hillside east of the South Fork. This is the point where the Donner Party reached the Humboldt after their long detour around the Ruby Range. The Greenhorn Cut-off branched from the main route here to wind up a shallow canyon (R) to the head of Susie Creek, returning to the Humboldt at Carlin. The river now enters precipitous Carlin Canyon, a gorge that was impassable for wagons until after the Central Pacific was built in 1867. Early travelers hated these detours, which prolonged the period before they would meet the dreaded Forty-Mile Desert and the Humboldt Sink. Often the need for haste was urgent; all who lingered were reminded of what had happened when the Donners reached the top of the Sierras too late for their safety.

A serious pest at present in this area is the Mormon cricket — a huge insect that crawls rather than flies; he is a menace to motorists as well as to those depending on plant life, for after a few have been crushed on the highway the road-surface is as slippery as smooth ice. Where "cricket warnings" are seen, and where there is evidence of pests on the road, cars should be driven slowly and with great caution. Eggs of the crickets are laid in the ground in late summer and in the following spring they begin to hatch. By inid-summer the insects arc moving in

dose formation over hill, valley, and whatever is in the way. The column rarely swerves; if a stream blocks the line of march the crickets go as far out as possible on rocks and over-hanging grasses and willow branches, then drop into the water and swim. Many are lost during the water passage but streams are too rare in late summer to greatly reduce the size of the menace.

CARLIN, 135.5 m. (4,897 alt., 825 pop.), has repair shops, and an icing plant of the Southern Pacific. Shops were established here because of a large spring of pure, cold water. The town is in a small valley that runs north to the Tuscarora Mountains and east and west along Humboldt River between Carlin Canyon and Palisade Canyon. Here the Overland Trail to California returned to the river after a long detour, and here early travelers slaked their thirst and filled their jugs. Westward were two routes, one crossing the Humboldt and skirting Palisade Canyon on the south, and the other swinging into the northwest over Emigrant Pass. US 40 roughly follows the latter.

Right from Carlin over a dirt road to low foothills holding a small fossil area, the CARLIN BEDS, 2 m., between layers of diatomaceous earth. Bones of prehistoric mammals—camels and the primitive horse—have been uncovered in this area.

The road continues northward to the Lynn District, 24 m., where exceptionally fine turquoise are found.

US 40 crosses the low sage-covered foothills of Tuscarora Mountains to a junction with Nev. 20, a graded dirt road, 114.7 m.

Left on this road to PALISADE, 4.2 m. (4,821 alt., 134 dist. pop.), a village by the Humboldt that was named for the sheer walls cast of it Palisade was the northern terminal of the Eureka-Palisade Railroad, which formerly brought lead and silver bullion from the mining camps at Eureka. Near this place the Southern Pacific streamliner was wrecked late in the summer of 1939 with considerable loss of life. Federal investigators found that the accident was brought about deliberately by tampering with the rails, but the criminal has not been caught. Nev. ao continues southward through Pine Valley, a cattle ranching country between the Cortes Mountains (R) and the Pinon Mountains (L). At 84 m. is EUREKA (see Tour jb)f on US 50 (set Tour jb).

EMIGRANT PASS, 146.5 m. (6,121 alt), a narrow divide between high, brush-covered hills, was a well-known concentration point on the Humboldt Road. In the narrow canyon just west of the pass is Emigrant Spring (L), a camping spot where travelers washed the alkali out of their throats and discussed" probable troubles ahead. Here, too, they often took stock of their supply of cream of tartar, with which they expected to leaven Humboldt water, and of the alum they used on the noses of their beasts to prevent blisters from becoming infected. The water, the dust, and the heat did strange things to men traveling the road in those days. On one occasion, a man, observing that his companions were approaching madness, impersonated a jackass and leaped about, whinnying for grass until he fetched smiles to tired faces.

Near the spring is PRIMEAUX (5,723 alt), a tourist and bus •top, where a collection of relics is displayed. Chief articles of interest are Chinese joss-house equipment, gold bullion molds from Tuscarora,

a half-burned papoose blanket taken from the back of a slain squaw, and oxen shoes and yokes.

The canyon angles south to the river, and north to the road. Down this sandy gulch went the covered wagons, intent on returning to the river at Gravelly Ford. The old-timers had no disposition to climb the steep ridge westward where the highway now crosses TWIN SUMMIT, 151.3 m. (5,703 alt.). West of the summit the Shoshone Mountains rise austerely beyond the willow-thicketed Humboldt and ranches with lines of Lombardy poplars.

Left on this road, crossing th« Humboldt, to BEOWAWE (b&y-o-wah-we), 5.6 m. (4,695 alt., 521 dist. pop.), a small ranch and mine railroad station in one of the most picturesque valleys in the State. The Horseshoe Ranch here is a remnant of a former vast ranching empire. Sheltered between two mountain ranges, and dotted with cottonwood groves, Beowawe was long one of the principal Paiute campsites. Antelope and deer were abundant in this area, and the Paiute maintained an all-year camp near the hot springs and geysers southward. In the fall, after the groves have turned a brilliant yellow, this village and its environs are notably beautiful. At dusk the sage-covered valley glows in purple mist, and the surrounding mountains burn softly in shades of brown and red.

The dirt road continues to GRAVELLY FORD, 6.4 m.f a river crossing often mentioned in early travel diaries. Here tragedy overtook the harrassed and wrangling Donner Party; James A. Reed, whose Palace Car had been abandoned in the salt flats of Utah, killed John Snyder in * heated quarrel, the cause of which is uncertain. At first the immigrants were resolved to hang Reed, but after importuning by his wife, they decided to exile him, and drove him away on foot and without food to find his way to California if he could. He not only survived but helped to send the first rescue party back to the Sierra to aid the starving survivors. It was here also that an emigrant, while fording the river in a wagon, allowed his wife and two small children to float away in the wagon-box because he was intent only on saving his wagon and team. It was realized by those who rescued the woman and her babies that "alkali works into tht nerves" but they were resolved, nevertheless, to hang the man or throw him into the river—and would have done so if the woman had not frantically begged for her husband's life.

South of Beowawe a desert merges into the fertile lands. At times it throws into relief the sheer beauty of every peak of the distant Cortex and Shoshone Mountains, which shimmer in distant violet mists. Auburn and purple are the predominent hues at sunset.

Nev. 21 continues southwest to THE GEYSERS, 18.4 **., whose discovery ia credited to A. S, Evans about 1867, during construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, though the springs must have been known long before that time for on cool mornings their steam is visible for miles. The geysers are confined to a small slope on the southeastern part of Whirlwind Valley. Their action has built a sinter terrace about a half mile long and zoo feet wide, and about 100 to 150 feet above the valley floor. Sinter mounds, or fumaroles, one to three feet high, composed of glassy opal with a faint pinkish tinge, have been formed around the active geysers. In eruption the waters of most of the geysers rise less than a foot at present (1940) though a few spout with greater force, one throwing water i* feet. The eruptions last about a minute and the intervals between spoutings vary from 15 minutes to an hour. During the winter the geysers show increased activity, probably because of greater water surface. In some years, also, they show much greater activity than in others. Numerous hot springs and fumaroles, as well as several mud pot% occur along the terrace.

The flat valley floor here, with Its sparse vegetation, sometimes serves as an emergency landing field, and the Government maintains a beacon and equipment for emergency landings.

DUNPHY, 160.7 m., was headquarters of the Dunphy outfit, one of the largest stock owners ever in the State. At this point on the river, shallow and lined with dense willow growth, are two of the crossings occasionally misnamed Gravelly Ford. Between Dunphy and Battle Mountain the river affords excellent bass and catfish angling. Near here the Southern Pacific streamlined trains make their fastest time between Chicago and the Coast. The speed average is from 85 to 90 miles an hour, though greater speed can be safely attained.

ARGENTA SIDING, 174.2 m., (4,544 alt), is a rail point for a company working the large barium deposits in the Shoshone Mountains (L), and for Humboldt River hay ranches. West of Argenta the Humboldt now flows reasonably straight and free. In the 350 miles between its headwaters and the Sink, the river meanders for about 600 miles— which caused wrathful early travelers to declare it was the crookedest river in the world. West of Argenta the river bends north around the tip of the Shoshone Mesa (R), and the highway leaves the base of Shoshone Mountains (L) to make a long curve to the northwest.

BATTLE MOUNTAIN, 186.7 m.f (4,511 alt, 368 pop.) (hotels and other facilities), is another town whose appearance is deceptive. Neither its census size nor its cottonwood-shaded streets give indication of its importance as the supply center for one of the most active mining districts of modern Nevada. It receives from and ships on not only the Southern Pacific, but also the Western Pacific across the river. This divided trade is largely responsible for the scattering of business houses that makes it seem merely a pleasant village to passing travelers. It is also a trade center for ranchers and has ambition to wrest the seat of Lander County government from old Austin; the two towns are at opposite ends of the long county, so wherever the seat of government happens to be inhabitants of one center of population or the other are going to have to travel nearly 100 miles to transact legal business. Austin has an edge, however, in possessing the solid courthouse that represents a considerable investment to all the people of the county.

The town of Battle Mountain was named for the range stretching to the south and the range was so named because in 1861 it was the scene of the first of a series of skirmishes between the natives and the whites. The Indians had attacked a wagon-train at Gravelly Ford, killing several people before making off with considerable loot; ambushed among the rocks on the mountain rim, they expected to annihilate their pursuers, but suffered heavily themselves through a surprise attack from the rear. They were later pursued southward and again took punishment. This stopped the Indian attacks along the river in this region.

The town was established in 1868 as a station to serve the camps of the Battle Mountain Mining District, partly in Humboldt County and discovered in 1866; the district developed somewhat slowly until the railroad arrived but by 1870 32 mines and two smelters were in opera-

tion. The Little Giant, discovered in 1867, was near the old camp of Battle Mountain, a few miles from the present townj it produced about one million dollars worth of silver. Before 1880 an English corporation had taken more than 40,000 tons of copper-ore from Copper Canyon, 15 miles to the southwest, and had shipped it to Wales. In 1871 50 tons of antimony were shipped from deposits along Cottonwood Creek, some miles west of town, and veins near Galena, also southward, were soon to give up about five million dollars worth of silver, lead and gold.

Copper Canyon also had good gold placers, but today its copper is much more important. One of the claims became involved in litigation that stopped work for seven years. By the time the case had been settled in the supreme court the owners found that high-graders had removed nearly all the values.

For some reason—perhaps because its camps were so scattered— Battle Mountain never gained a name for outstanding deviltry and its existence seems to have been unusually quiet. The district, moreover, has shown a much better record for steady production than have others whose names flared big for a time. For about 12 years after 1885, when mining activity was low all over the west, particularly in the silver districts, the place was very quiet; since then work has been going on fairly steadily with $2,500,000 worth of gold, silver, copper, and lead mined during the first two decades of the twentieth century, and production increasing in the third decade, after new discoveries.

Freighting to Austin began early, along the course of Reese River, and added to die town's bustle and business. Austin's spectacular period, however, was nearly over in 1880 when the Nevada Central Railroad, called Farrell's Folly, was completed from Battle Mountain to Austin. Nonetheless, the road continued to carry supplies to the vast central region until its charter expired in 1938 and its business was taken over by motor trucks.

Like other old Nevada towns, Battle Mountain has a very fine school, which cost about $200,000. It also supports three churches.

Left from Battle Mountain on Nev. 8A up the long Reese River Valley where the waters of this former feeder of the Humboldt have been largely diverted for irrigation purposes, principally to increase production of hay to feed the many cattle owned by the valley ranchers. Numerous bands of sheep also graze on the low ranges along both sides of the valley. This is the road usually traveled by Battle Mountain people doing business at the county seat.

LEWIS JUNCTION, 9.5 m., is merely a crossroads; L. here 4 m. to the nearly deserted camp of BETTY O'NEAL, which grew up after a discovery of gold and silver in 1880. The Betty O'Neal was shut down in 1882 because of a serious boiler explosion, and again in 1918, when the manager died. Reopened in 1920, with a new ico-ton flotation mill, it went through a new period of prosperity in which the camp even had a paid baseball team.

Nev. 8A continues southward up Reese River and reaches US 50 (see Tour jb) in AUSTIN, 94 «. (see Tour 7^).

Right on this road to the STONE HOUSE STATION RUINS, 2 «., remains of an early mail station, TREATY HILL, just north of the ruins, commands a view in all directions. For generations hard battles were fought between the different Indian tribes over the springs and hunting grounds of the Battle Mountains and the Humboldt Valley. The legend is that after one battle centuries ago the chiefs decided to settle their problems by compromise. A stone wall was built on the brow of this hill, and in the peace treaty it waa agreed that all land on "the side of the rising sun" belonged to one group and all oa "the side of the setting sun" to the other.

North of the junction sharp peaks of the Hot Springs Mountains rise across the river valley. A prominent outcrop on the east side of the mountains was within full sight of many a forty-niner rushing on to California but not one stopped to prospect and make the discovery that has resulted in recent fortunes.

West of GOLCONDA SUMMIT, 218 m. (5,154 alt.), the high- way winds down along the river with location posts and old prospect holes still visible on all sides.

GOLCONDA, 221 m. U,392 alt., 232 pop), inhabited since 1861, has long been a shipping center for stockmen. The GOLCONDA HOT SPRINGS were once valued for therapeutic qualities. These springs were a source of considerable curiosity among early westbound travelers, who were also grateful for them as here was the beginning of a long, smothering drive. From this point onward, the light, ashy dust once stirred, went to rest only with the sun, and the air was filled "with all sorts of prismatic hues." Some of the travelers wore green goggles; and some wore bandages or little aprons over nose and mouth as protection against the dust.

Right from Golconda on a graveled road 28 m. to the GETCHELL MINE, in foothills on the eastern side of the Osgpod Range. The large and notable producer of recent years was ignored until 1934, when Emmett Chase and Ed Knight found it. The ore was of sufficient grade to be worked, but much capital was needed for development. Major dividends have been paid since October, 1938.

Skirting the northern end of the Sonoma Range, with Sonoma Peak on the left, US 40 turns abruptly west.

Somewhere along the river between Golconda and Winnemucca is the unmarked grave of Joseph Paul, a member of Peter Skene Ogden's exploring party, and probably the first white man to die in Nevada. Paul became ill on Ogden's first trip west along the river and died on December 18, 1828. In Ogden's report of 1829 he recommended that the stream be called "Paul's River, as he must remain here till the great trumpet shall sound."

WINNEMUCCA, 230.4 m. (4,344 alt., 1989 pop:)^ (all types of accommodations and services; hospital, golf-course; municipal swimming pool), is at the junction (R) with US 95 (set Tour 5a), which unites southwestward with US 40. The first settler was a Frenchman who set up a trading post oa the trail to California in 1850. People crowing

the river here with their oxcarts named the place French Ford and when a bridge was built in 1865 it became French Bridge, A ferry was also operating by that time, to the bridge-builder's disgust, because the ferryman charged only half of what he did. Two years before this a primitive hostelry, later known as the Winnemucca Hotel, had been opened not far from the place where a large modern hotel now stands, and this soon became a terminal for the stage line going north into Idaho. The settlement was at a key position on the river-route in a very low saddle at the base of Winnemucca Mountain (6,740 alt.), which rises sheer without dwarfing foothills.

Long before the railroad arrived many mineral discoveries had been made in all directions around the settlement; the Winnemucca Mining District had been organized in 1863, and workings were already beginning to dot the mountain before the first mile of the Central Pacific had been laid.

In 1862 J. Gianacca, who later built the bridge, had conceived the idea of a canal along the Humboldt for 90 miles between Golconda and a projected mill city. The canal would carry ore of the district to central smelters and provide water-power to run them. By 1865 30 miles of canal had been built, but Gianacca began to have difficulty raising funds, particularly with the railroad being constructed along the same course. Moreover he was beginning to realize that the soil was too porous for the project. In all, nearly 60 miles of canal were built but water never reached Mill City, In 1872 Gianacca built a ten-stamp mill by the canal at the upper end of this town and in time it came to serve numerous mines of die district.

Winnemucca's key position was again to its advantage in 1868, when the railroad tracks reached the site; it was made the first division point west of Truckee, California. The War Department's Special Commission on the Central Pacific Railroad reported on December 3, 1868, that tracks had been completed to Carlin and the road was nearly ready for operation to that point, with only two bridges to be finished. Ties, they said, were being laid 2,400 to the mile and passenger trains could run safely and smoothly at from 15 to 30 miles an hour; heavy trains were being run daily with rails, ties, and fuel over 445 miles of track east of Sacramento; the road was being constructed "in good faith and in a substantial manner, without stint of labor, and the equipment [was] worthy of its character as a great national work. The telegraph line [was] first class."

When the first through train, with four carloads of notables, arrived on May n, 1869, the town put on a celebration $uitable to the occasion —firing guns, blowing horns and whistles, ringing bells, driving souvenir spikes, and drinking champagne—the usual drink of early Nevada when it wanted to show it could spend with kings. From then on the one regular town spree came on the day the Central Pacific pay-car came through. That night the more peacefully inclined Winnemuccans would resignedly give up all thoughts of sleep as choruses mounted in the favorite: "Oh, for a home in a big saloon, on the banks of some raging

canal." Black eyes and broken noses often identified the celebrants whea the morning after broke.

Meanwhile, the town was developing rapidly. There had been th« usual fights on where the town should actually be—at the ford, at Centerville—where the center now is—or at Winnemucca by the railroad.

The station had been named in 1868 by C. B. O. Bannon, a nephew of the man who had been Lincoln's Secretary of the Interior. Just why he chose the name of the Paiute chief is not clear, for old Winnemucca, though wisely advising peace with the whites, was not unwilling to lead his tribesmen if they decided to go on the war-path against the invaders who were taking their lands, killing off all game, and burning up their pinenut forests. The name has been given various translations, running from Dweller-by-the-River to One Moccasin.

By 1869 the town had a business directory listing three wholesale and retail merchants, one forwarding and commission firm, four hotel- owners, one restaurant keeper, one firm of brewers, one watchmaker, one shoe-maker, one dentist, two physician-surgeons, one owner of a "Livery, Feed & Sale Stable & Corral", one "News Depot" agent, and one "Photograph Artist." It was no wonder that the town began a fight to take the county seat from declining Unionville (see ahead). People of Unionville fought stoutly. The Silver State of Unionville— later the leading paper of Winnemucca—said "The principal production of the village [Winnemucca] consists of sand hills, vapid editorials, and a morbid hankering for the county seat. It is one of the most delightful places on the earth to move away from." But Winnemucca won in 1873.

Freighting to the outlying mines increased rapidly and nearly two dozen teams drawn by 8 to 2O mules were to be seen around the freight station at one time. In 1874. there were enough teamsters to bring on a strike with the demand for five cents a pound on freight to Silver City, Idaho.

Sheep and cattle-shipping in time became more important than ore- shipping, as the price of silver declined. All are now important. The town had the usual fires to wipe out earlier makeshift structures and gradually rebuilt itself into the stable-looking town of the present. Social institutions also developed and in 1873 the first Humboldt County Fair was held, complete even to a silver cup for the "Best Equestrienne.* By that rime there was also a Society of Humboldt Pioneers. Before the end of the decade the town had a Dramatic Society, which devoted part of its profits to building a boardwalk between Upper and Lower Town.

But Winnemucca was still something of a frontier settlement in 1900 when three strangers rode down th« dusty main street. Hitching their horses behind the First National Bank, they hoisted a last drink in a near-by saloon, and sauntered into th« bank. Within a few minutes the strangers walked out the rear door, remounted, and rode away with $32,640. Before disappearing they fired their guns to inform the town

that Butch Cassidy's boys—famous outlaw band of many western stories —had been there,

The gang rode east along the river to a relay of fresh horses, also stolen—and stolen at that from the president of the bank. A posse quickly gathered, commandeered a railroad switch-engine, and went in pursuit News of the robbery was telephoned east to Golconda, but Butch's boys had already passed. Later, when the robbers, though on fresh horses, were almost overtaken, they drove off the posse with rifle fire. In spite of tie fact that three Winnemuccans followed them into central Wyoming, the band reached its hideaway and the money was never recovered.

Winnemucca stages an annual Nevada Rodeo (first week in Sept.), for which bucking horses and wild range steers are brought in and to which riders come from long distances, attracted by generous cash ^prizes.

There are numerous Basques in the neighborhood, who came in first to herd sheep. Many are now owners of bands, some of considerable size. The Basque restaurants serve some favorite Basque dishes, but no matter what the menu, dinner always ends with cafe royal—black coffee well-laced with rum.

Among the impressive buildings of the town are the HUMBOLDT COUNTY COURTHOUSE, which replaced one destroyed by fire in 1918; ST. PAUL'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (1924), which shows baroque influences in its design; and the large WINNEMUCCA GRAMMAR SCHOOL, on which construction began in 1927. This school has a wide reputation for its practical equipment and for the instruction it gives; it is significant that, among the periodicals and papers in its teachers' library, the New York Times and Harpers Magazine are particular? well-worn. The shallow lobby, which is decorated with reproductions of classic busts, ends at a broad staircase with lights at its corners supported by white plaster models of the Statute of Liberty.

On Baud Street (L), three blocks from US 40, is a CHINESE JOSS- HOUSE, built in 1902 in a section that formerly held several hundred Chinese working placer claims along the river. On a hill three blocks in the opposite direction from US 40 is the CHINESE CEMETERY, with a pagoda-topped brick oven in which pigs were ceremonially roasted during burial rites. It is told that in earlier days Indians used to linger near by until the Chinese had left after a burial and then swarmed in to consume the funeral meats.

Left from Winnemucca on a poor dirt road that passes through Grass Valley to the Pierce Ranch in Pleasant Valley, 44.9 «. from which the PLEASANT VALLEY FAULT (L), 45.7 m.t can easily be approached on foot The creation of this geological wonder occurred during the night of October 2, 1915, when violent earthquakes destroyed or badly damaged many ranch houses in this isolated area. The following day amazed residents saw crevices open in the valley floor as the earth shook, saw the fissures close, and again open. A sheep- herder, appalled by the violent antics of Nature, ran six miles to the nearest settlement for help and on his way leaped a crevice; on his return he found that it had spread to a deep chasm 18 feet wide. Along the slope of the precipitous Sonoma Mountains (7,000 to 10,000 alt.) the ™«in fault is visible for *5 miles. It has a vertical displacement of i| feet.

The Humboldt River, still paralleled by US 40, with which US 95 is united between Winnemucca and Fernley, now swings to the south in what immigrants called the Great Bend. The Eugene and Blue Mountain ranges are on the right, and on the left AULD LANG SYNE PEAK, prominent as a producer of gold and silver.

West of WINNEMUCCA, 0 m., is MILL CITY, 28 m., (4,225 alt., 21 pop.), an old mining center now chiefly a service station and shipping point for tungsten. It never became the industrial town Gianacca had hoped for (see before).

x. Right from Mill City over a graveled road to the TUNGSTEN MINE, 8.7 m., one of the important tungsten producers in the United States and also one of the largest in the world. A hundred and fifty men are employed here in concentrating the metal used as a hardening alloy in the manufacture of steel.

2. Left from Mill City on Nev. 50, a graveled road, through Buena Vista Valley. The road follows an alternate of the Overland Trail to California that went south over Carson Sink to the Carson River, located at a point near the present town of Fallen (teg Tour 7^),

STAR CITY, 12 m., now only a name, was the scene of one of the wildest booms in the State after the discovery of rich silver ore in the Sheba. Star City was a town of 1,200 inhabitants by 1863, with two hotels, a Wells-Fargo Express office, t special telegraph line to Virginia City, and daily mail service. By 1868 the boom had collapsed. So sudden was the decline that in 1868 someone remarked, "The daily mail, the express office, telegraph office, are all in operation yet, but the entire population consists of a single family, the head of which is mayor, constable, postmaster, express agent, telegraph operator and I believe the sole unanimous voter!"

The Sheba and the De Soto have been idle for many years. At its peak some rich ore mined in the Sheba ran as high as $2,000 a ton and Sheba stock sold for $600 a foot on the San Francisco exchange.

At 21.5 m. on Nev. 50 is the junction with a dirt road; R. here 4.1 m. to UNIONVILLE, scattered for two miles along beautiful Buena Vista Canyon. Only a few houses and many crumbling adobe walls remain of one of the oldest mining camps in the State. The present inhabitants grow apples, peaches, plums, poultry, and vegetables, and add to their incomes by occasionally mining operations, gleaning what remained after about $3,000,000 worth of silver ore had been removed. Production began to decline in the Buena Vista District about 1870 and ceased in 1880, with minor revivals at lengthening intervals.

In May, 1861, Hugo Pfersdorff and J, C, Hannan came over the Humboldt Range from Humboldt City, founded on the western side of the mountains in the previous year. The beauty of the scene from the heights was responsible for the canyon's name, which became the name of the district, promptly organized when four other prospectors arrived from the Comstock. All but Pfersdorff soon left to buy supplies—and proclaim the wonders of the new discovery—but enough people were on hand by the Fourth of July for a celebration, and three days later the townsite was laid out on the homestead claimed by William Whitney at the head of the canyon. The new town-founders had not yet learned to mix real estate development with mining, so all that was asked for a lot was two days of work on the road and improvements on the lot to the value of fifty dollars. To this Upper Town was gradually appended Lower Town- Dixie—and Centerville; by 1863 a stage was making hourly trips from one end of town to the other.

This was shortly after W. J, Forbes began to publish the Humboldt Register, a sheet whose charm, patiently recovered by Roger Corbett, has preserved the

life of the early «amp and given ft some Immortality. Forbes carefully recorded the trials of town-buU4ing along the Humboldt; adobe did not endure in the well watered pocket and half the lumber imported at great expense was "just what it waa cracked up to be" and the other half was ''knot". As for firewood, the editor said, he had difficulty distinguishing it from hay—some of the trees were so puny and some of the hay was so coarse. Roofing was a particularly difficult problem until some immigrants from Europe taught how to do expert thatching. A visitor to the courthouse in 1863—Unionville had become the seat when the first huge Humboldt County was organized—found the clerk huddled Into one comer with hi» records and reported that at least in that corner "the rain didn't come any thicker than it did outside." Three months later a saloon was rented for the courthouse; with the first good rain, however, the commissioners found that its boasted "concrete roof, of lime and sand laid on canvas, had little utility.

By the spring of 1863 there were about 20 new residents a day and the town had 10 stores, 6 hotels, 9 saloons, 2 express offices, 2 drugstores, 4 livery stables, and a watchmaker's shop. By August there was a brewery. Everyone was madly staking out claims and speculating in "feet", stimulated by^ discovery of the rich Arizona a few months before. The Branch Mint, the Universe, the Sultan, the Grand Mogul, the Golconda, and many claims were being advertised as new bonanzas. Only Editor Forbes was brutal enough to point out that it was mostly talk; he even suggested that the town needed a gymnasium to give the miners some healthful exercise and expressed apprehension on what might happen when the rainy season set in, since men who had been in the canyon two years had not yet driven "their tunnels in far enough to protect themselves from the rain." Satirizing the constitutional convention he proposed a State of Buena Vista, whose seal should show "a mountain with good croppings and float; on the mountain side, untaxable hole in the ground, six inches deep: near by, cedar tree; under its shade, two miners with pack of cards, working assessments " But the town did settle down to work in time and conducted itself fairly sedately. Arrests were relatively few—that may be accounted for by the difficulties of building a jail stout enough to incarcerate anyone against his will. There was a Sunday school and also a public school in 1863, but no church until one was built by the Methodists in 1871—the first church in the county. Forbes* paper helped nurture the cultural life—page one was devoted to poetry and essays, page two to State and national news, page three to local items, and page four to advertisements—among them, regularly, a column devoted to magazines and newspapers, including the Atlantic Monthly and the Police Gazette. Dances, grand balls—almost any occasion was an excuse for one—parades, races, duck hunting, fishing, and jumping contest* were almost daily events.

Construction of the transcontinental railroad hastened the end of the camp. With the growth of Winnemucca as a distributing and shipping center, trade and population drifted away. Winnemucca began to demand the county seat. Then a fire destroyed the courthouse at Unionville and opposition grew to rebuilding it here. Each time the question came to a vote loyal residents of Unionville managed to defeat the move; then Winnemucca unfairly carried it to the State legislature to force the removal. Unionville managed to defeat the bill once, failed the second time. Unionville sought an injunction against the county officers to keep them from removing the records, on the ground that the legislature had no right to interfere in county affairs. The suit for injunction at last reached the State supreme court, and was rejected in July, 1873.

More than a million came from the Arizona before 1878 but by 1881 only 200 people were left in town, all loyally believing that rich discoveries would again be made. Many of them remained until removed by death.

Nev. 50 turns R. to cross the Humboldt Mountains, passing south of Spring Valley ^District, located in 1868, relocated in 1871, and first worked systematically in 1873. Placer operations continued until about 1895, Chinese brought in to build the Central Pacific gleaning after Americans had skimmed the cream. It is estimated that $10,000,000 came out of the district Nev. 50 con-

tinues to ROCHESTER, 34 m.f in a district discovered in the early i86o's by prospectors from Rochester, New York. Though some mining was done there after in a desultory manner, there was no real activity until large bodies of silver ore were found in 1911. More than $9,000,000 worth of minerals, chiefly silver, have come from it since then. To the north is the Humboldt District, where Humboldt City sprang up in 1863. It was quickly overshadowed by more important camps. At 42 m. Nev. 50 meets US 40-95 at DAD LEE'S (see ahead).

Right on tiiis road to RYE PATCH DAM, 0.7 m., a Federal irrigation project that impounds the waters of the Humboldt for use in the Lovelock area. Including water rights, the cost of the dam was approximately $1,000,000; it is estimated that it will furnish enough water to irrigate 30,000 acres.

DAD LEE'S STATION, 58.4 m., is a desert trading post where numerous relics are shown. When Dad Lee, well-known to travelers for years, died in 1936, he—like several other men in times past— was still insisting that he was the only William F. Cody—Buffalo Bill. Dad was buried in an obscure spot on the desert

Right from Dad Lee's to OREANA, 0.6 m. (4,179 alt., 68 pop.), which was moved from its site on the highway by the railroad company. Once it was a lively center for one of the first lead-mining districts found in the country; it is now an important tungsten producer. On the northeast is STAR PEAK, (c. 9,925 alt.), noted for its mineral deposits. One of the first smelters in the State was operated here to reduce lead-silver ores.

Visible at Dad Lee's on a slope of the Humboldt Mountains 15 miles away are extensive deposits of Middle Triassic fossils. At 65.7 m. on US 40 is the junction with a graded dirt road.

Left on this road to a point where it branches, 3 m., and then R. to the CHAMPION MINE, 5.5 m., where dumortierite (aluminum silicate) is produced. It is used in the manufacture of spark plugs. This is the only known commercial deposit of this mineral.

One traveler at this point on the Humboldt Road, noted in his diary: "The arrival at Cold Springs, only six miles from the far- famed MEADOWS, heartens everyone. You could feel it in the air. Good water, such as few had had for three weeks, was a boon not soon forgotten. We now take practically four days' rest—in preparation for that Desert Run. . . ."

LOVELOCK, 72 m. (3,977 alt., 1,290 pop.) (hotels and other modern facilities of various types), seat of Pershing County, has had a checkered history. At the time of the great western migration the Humboldt completely disappeared as a river about two miles northeast of the present town. What was left of the water spread out thinly over a fairly good-sized area, forming a natural meadow and a tule swamp; this was the Big Meadows of travelers on the Humboldt Road who nearly always camped here for a day or two to cut hay for use on the 24-hour trip across the Sink to the southward and to rest and fatten the cattle somewhat before subjecting them to this most trying part of

the journey. In the early i86o's George Lovelock, an Englishman, built a little stage station here; he had come to the Coast by way of the Horn after a shipwreck on the Sandwich Islands. When the Central Pacific was being built it was planned to make what is now Oreana the next station because of its clear, cold spring; but Lovelock by means of concessions on the right of way, to which he had laid claim, managed to have a station built here. The meadows early attracted cattlemen as a winter feeding place for their stock and before long some ranches had been established near by. Irrigation ditches were built to tap the Humboldt upstream and the water was used to enlarge the hay acreage. It was not long, however, before there were more cattle in the district than the surrounding arid ranges would support and the number of locally owned cattle had to be reduced. The ranchers then began to feed and prepaie cattle from other districts for market; trails from the north and east were thick with dust as the herds came in. The comparatively mild winter climate aided this development. To add to the fattening grasses alfalfa was planted in continually larger areas. But as settlement increased upstream on the Humboldt and its tributaries, the Humboldt flow began to dwindle to the extent that in the late i88o's Dan De Quille predicted that before long no water would reach this area. In 1908 the Humboldt-Lovelock Irrigation, Light and Power Company, whose stock was owned largely by valley ranchers, built reservoirs that would irrigate about 8,000 acres of land, largely in the upper Lovelock Valley. Then, in 1934, construction of the Rye Patch Dam (see before) was begun by the U. S. Bureau of Reclama* tion. Since 1936, when it came into service, the entire valley has started back to the prosperity made possible by an assured and dependable water supply. Various methods of irrigation are used, according to the type of terrain. On the higher lands some wild flooding is practiced; in other places the furrow method is used; but a modified border flooding is most general. Grain and alfalfa are the principal crops, though there are some dairy and a few poultry farms, principally serving local markets.

Lovelock is the distributing and service center for a large, thinly populated area where mining as well as stock-growing is carried on. Its current prosperity is evident in the well-kept streets and public buildings, freshly painted houses, and well-stocked stores.

Basques live in this area as well as in that north of Winnemucca, because sheep can find nourishment on ranges where cattle would starve. Their attractive dark-eyed daughters are easily identified. The Basques began coming into the Northwest not long after settlement began, and many entered Nevada from Oregon. A proud, conservative, devout people who had resisted efforts to force them to use Castilian rather than their own peculiar dialect, they naturally drifted to the part of the United States that most nearly reminded them of their own Pyrennes, and to the work they had long been accustomed to—the raising of sheep.

division of feeling exists between cattle and sheepmen—even though they no longer carry on the old range wars. A sheepherder is as partisan as a cowhand in defense of the intelligence of his charges; on the rare occasions when he is willing to talk, he will discuss sheep and their ways in loving detail. He has names for many of his charges and knows their personal idiosyncracies; this one is an incurable granny, bound to kidnap every lamb in sight, and that one has a particularly keen sense on a coming change of weather and will begin to move restlessly toward the south long before weather forecasters predict approaching snow. The cattleman cannot bear to listen to these stories; he will, indeed, become vitriolic and apoplectic in trying to express his contempt for the sheep, "Dumb!" he will shout. "Throw one over a cliff and the rest follow. No cow would do such a thing. No independence at all—one man can herd a whole band. Haven't sense enough to eat, some of them. I've seen the puny little things starving with milk in front of them. Me! I say suck or die! Wouldn't bother with 5em."

Right from Lovelock on Nev. 48, an improved dirt road, across the Trinity Mountains (5,600 alt.), 20.7 m., to a dirt road; R. here to the SEVEN TROUGHS MINING DISTRICT, 28.4 m. From the mines, still active, on the eastern slope of Seven Troughs Peak, (7,497 alt), $2,606,912 in gold, silver, copper, and lead have been taken.

West of Lovelock US 40 leaves the Humboldt River to skirt the southern edge of the Trinity Range and cross the old Forty-mile Desert; the highway pursues a course considerably north of the early road, one route of which went south and one just north of the Humboldt Sink. Early travelers knew that their last water before crossing the desert was to be found in the Humboldt Slough, which drained south. "Even the very wagons seem to know that we are off today for the great adventure—in sand, volcanic ash, alkali, furnace heat, and the stench of putrid flesh—We crossed along the edge of an immense baked plain with the fetid stinking slough for a guide, although the wreckage along the way almost paved our route. ... It must have been here that one emigrant said he counted a dead animal every 106 feet."

The beasts died of various causes, among which was the poisonous water in this stretch. Of the water flowing into the Sink itself, Mark Twain wrote that he and his prospecting friends tried to drink it, but it was like drinking lye, "and not weak lye, either." They put molasses in it, they tried pickles, they made coffee of it—but as one of them said, it was "still too technical."

Before leaving the Slough to cross the Desert—crossed, if possible chiefly by night—the drivers soaked their wagon wheels, checked the tongues, axles, brakes and hounds, filled casks, and encouraged the animals to drink all they could. A few miles west of Lovelock, the Humboldt Sink is visible (L), with the dreaded Carson Sink south of it. The sinks are a, remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan. For the first few miles the road was relatively smooth, of sand and clay. Then came miles of deep heavy sand; sometimes whole trains of wagons were

abandoned in it and those following had to pull out and around the stalled wagons—and often found themselves bogged. Not far from Desert Wells, shallow holes filled with bad water, they made choice of routes—one led to the Truckee and the other to the Carson River. It is small wonder that men, half-maddened by heat, thirst, and fear, lost their tempers and quarreled violently over which road to take.

This route proved less and less hazardous as travelers began to listen to those who had learned how to cross the sinks safely. Much stock was actually brought over them in the 1850'$ with little loss. Even among the earlier trains the wisely guided and well-prepared experienced no very great hardship. There was grass in plenty to this point, and water in the Humboldt. It was only when the half-mad horde of gold seekers sought to reach California without leadership and poorly prepared for the journey that the natural resources were exhausted and mishaps multiplied.

Left on this road to an area known as the INDIAN HUNTING GROUNDS, 3 m.* because arrowheads, spearheads, and other parts of Indian -weapons have been found on it in numbers. Mounds in this area await exploration, though the remains of Indians, buried with their weapons, have already been unearthed. CARSON SINK, reached at 12 m., is a swampy area covering approximately 100 square miles, a catch-basin for the waters of Carson River, and the overflow of the Humboldt. Upstream reservoirs now allow very little water to reach the sinks.

At the junction the Humboldt Sink is visible (L). In the summer of 1828, Peter Skene Ogden was trapping down the river, and upon finding 37 beaver in 75 of his traps he noted, "This is tolerable. . . . The large tracks of pelicans seem to indicate a lake. If it proves salt, beaver will be at the end." The lake proved to be the muddy Sink of Humboldt River.

Left on this road 4.5 m.t thence L. 2 m. across railroad tracks; here R. 4 m and L. 9.2 m. to a trail that leads 2.3 m, to LOVELOCK CAVE (4,500 alt), in the north face of a limestone hill overlooking Humboldt Sink. When the cave was first worked as a guano mine in 1911, traces were found of ancient peoples. Scientific exploration was carried on by the University of California in 1912, at the request of the Nevada State Historical Society, and in 1924 with aid from the Heye Foundation. About 10,000 artifacts were recovered, nearly all of which are now in Berkeley, California, in the Nevada State Historical Society Museum in Reno, and in the Southwest Museum at Los Angeles. These include woven fabric and various implements, as well as parts of skeletons. It is believed that the cave was inhabited 2,000 years ago, and as late as the year 1300.

Some early Nevada historians wrote of Horseshoe Cave, in this area; it can not be entirely identified today, but it may have been the Lovelock. Among the fables of the Paiute is one of an ancient tribe of cannibals, small, redhaired, and freckled. At war with them, the Paiute drove the entire tribe into Horseshoe Cave and told them that unless they promised to stop eating their neighbors the cave would be their funeral furnace. The fierce little man-eaters said they would promise nothing; whereupon piles of driftwood were heaped at the cave entrance and all the cannibals were cremated

Southwest of the junction US 40 runs between Humboldt Sink (L) and the Ragged Top Mountains (R). Carson Sink (L)5 below the Stillwater Mountains, is visible when the highway tops the ridges.

HOT SPRINGS (cabins, supplies), 114.3 m., is the Emigrant Springs of the Forty-Mile Desert; some early travelers called it the Spring of False Hope. Coming across the desert, the oxen, their mouths parched and their eyes bloodshot, would sniff the western breezes, paw at the sand, and bellow furiously; there was moisture in the wind* The beasts would rush forward and plunge into the scalding water, then run around in circles bawling from pain. The travelers, however, would fill their casks and allow the water to cool, but they did not tarry here, for there was no forage. The sun was pitilessly hot on Hot Springs Mountains (L) and Two Tips (R) and small cyclones of sand moved in twisting columns across the arid hills.

Strange tricks of light are noted in the area; the midsummer heat suspends the trees of the Fallen area to the south on the shimmering hills. Fabulous rivers seem to flow up instead of down.

FERNLEY, 130,2 m. (4,025 alt., 466 pop.), is a trade center in a fertile valley that is a winter feeding base for livestock. It is also the terminal of a branch of the Southern Pacific that runs north along the western shore of Pyramid Lake (see ahead) and thence to lumber camps in the Sierra Nevada Range. At Fernley is a trading post where curios made by the Pyramid Lake Indians are for sale.

This section of US 40 follows the Truckee River, the stream that has created the fertile Truckee Meadows in which Reno and Sparks stand. Oxcart travelers reaching this stream after the long trek over alkali wastes sometimes became hysterical with joy and cattle could hardly be restrained from plunging into the river with the cart dragging behind them.

West of FERNLEY, 0 m., at 2.5 m., US 40 crosses a boundary of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. The Truckee River, crossed at 5.8 m. was called the Salmon Trout by Fremont in January, 1844; but in October of the same year, the Townsend-Stevens-Murphy party, which made wheel tracks across the Forty-Mile Desert, named the river Truckee (trucky), the nickname they had given to a Paiute who had guided them across the desert. This Truckee was the father of Winnemucca, who near die banks of this same stream 16 years later gave the forces from Virginia City and Carson Valley the drubbing of their lives.

Until 1905, WADSWORTH, 8 m. (4,077 alt, 212 pop.), now a scattered village whose most impressive building is a large square brick school with a cupola, was the most important railroad town in the State. It was a seasonal village site of the Paiutes when Fremont camped here in 1844. Later a trading post was established. Then the Central Pacific Railroad arrived in 1869, and made it a railroad division

point In 1905 the Southern Pacific Railroad shops were moved to Sparks, and even stores and houses went along on the flat cars.

Right from Wadsworth on paved Nev. 34, 11.2 m. to a river gorge with a wooded basin north of it that proved to be an effective ambush on May 12, 1860, during a battle with the whites. The affair started when several men at Williams Station on the Carson River lured two Indian girls to their quarters and imprisoned them. When the tribesmen discovered where the girls were, they attacked the post, killing three men and burning two more who were inside. News of the killing reached Virginia City, and more than 100 men under divided command marched down the east side of the Truckee toward the Palate camp on the site of Nixon. Seeing no Indians here, they rashly entered the wooded basin, and were bottled up by the gorge behind them. From every rock and tree came a storm of arrows. The retreat became a rout and then a disaster. But this fight did not end the matter.

On June 2 scouts of a larger force, reinforced by regulars, found what was left of the slain men as other scouts on ridges warned of approaching Indians. When die main force came up, the battle line reached from the east bank of the river to a conical butte from which Young Winnemucca commanded his warriors. After three hours of fighting the Indians slowly retreated^ and at sunset the battle ended. On June 5 the troops again marched, but the Indians had vanished northward.

NIXON, 16 «., is the Pyramid Lake Indian Agency. The reservation build* ings stand among old poplars on the site of a semi-permanent Paiute village, Fremont aad his "forty men and one hundred horses" visited the Indians here in January, 1844. Here also the tribes held council over problems that beset them in the spring of 1860. The winter had been severe and times had changed. White men swarmed everywhere, slashed into the pinenut forests, decimated the antelope and deer, and frightened ducks and geese from the marshes. Some of the braves wanted war, but Young Winnemucca (not related to Old Winnemucca) wanted peace; for the whites, he said, were as thick as sand on the lake shore. War was precipitated, however, by the action of a few Bannocks.

Neither trout nor cui-ui (kwee-wee) angling in Pyramid Lake was practiced by Paiutes before white mea came. The Indians depended on crude rafts of bound tules, and waited for the fish to run up the river to spawn. During the run of the cui-ui, men, women, and children gathered along the stream and speared the fish as they swam through the shallows. Trout meant food for the present only, but cui-ui meant food for the winter months. The back meat of these fish was stripped, smoked, and stored, a custom that still prevails. Even the Paiute name for Pyramid Lake meant Lake Where the Cui-ui Live. Now that the flow into the lake has been curtailed by upstream storage, the fish-runs have practically ceased. Cui-ui schools circle through the shallows near the river mouth, searching in vain for spawning grounds; and pelicans step in and gorge themselves,

Paiute veneration for the dead is marked. On Memorial Day, now adopted by the Indians, women and children bring great baskets of wild flowers from the Virginia Mountains (L) and the desert hills (R) and each sandy grave in the Nixon cemetery is for a little while vivid with desert colors. Rigor mortis is prevented in deceased warriors by vigorous massage and incantations; for how could a stiff Indian hunt his game in the afterland? Tribal distinctions on the reservation are evident even among the children: a youngster will throw out his chest and proudly declare the name of his tribe, then others will chime in with force vaunting the glory of their tribes.

At the TRADING POST (L) information is available on roads, fishing, and boats. An Indian guide must accompany each boat and the Indians are in sole charge of renting out the craft Indian buckskin garments, beadwork, and baskets arc for sale at tic post.

North of Nixon wild dahlias grow in profusion Bear die road and in even* draw are pink, white, and purple-red lupines.

The eastern lake shore is practically uninhabited, except near Nixon, but there are two or three ranches on the western shore at Sutcliffe (see ahead) and in the draws westward. That up Hardscrabble Canyon, at the southern end of the lake not far beyond the end of the paved road, & reached by a road that winds up through thickets of wild peach to a narrow pass. The walls suddenly widen to form a very fertile meadow almost completely surrounded by very steep slopes. At one time this ranch -was the home of a notable white stallion of Arabian blood. Saddle horses are bred there.

Nev. 34 continues northward through the reservation between slopes (L) of changing color and contour and Winnemucca Lake (3,875 alt.), which was called the Little Lake of the Cui-ui by the Paiute. Until 1934 it still contained many fish, and many geese and ducks lived in the bordering rule marshes. This lake, like others, has gradually receded until it is only in wet years that it contains any water. At the northern end is KUMIVA PEAK (7,240 alt). In this area are many curious formations, called beehives.

The northern boundary of the reservation is crossed at 43, m.f and the road traverses low hills, and flats, and an arm of the Smoke Creek Desert. On the left is Granite Peak (8,990 alt) at the southern end of the Granite Mountains.

EMPIRE, 78 m.f is owned by the Portland Cement Company, which has a gypsum plant here, one of the largest of its kind in the West.

GERLACH, 80.5 m. (3,933 alt, 417 pop.), is t division point of the Western Pacific Railroad and supply base for mines and the few cattle ranches in this arid area. Near the hot springs here (bathing) Fremont's expedition camped late in 1843.

The road proceeds across desert At 124.5 m.} is a remarkable PETRIFIED TREE AREA (L) with one tree standing close to the road. Another petrified tree m the vicinity has a diameter of 15 feet, testimony to the different nature of the region in the past The whole vast stretch has the wild colorful beauty for which Nevada deserts are notable.

Nev. 34 continues ^ northward to a junction, 165.5 m., with Nev. 8A (see Tour 5*2) a short distance from Vya. In this region the bright blue blossoms of the camassia quassia make carpets of shimmering color in summer on some of the isolated meadows.

West of Wadsworth US 40 makes a gradual ascent through the Truckee River Canyon, the northern flank of which is the steep Virginia Mountains, geologically older than the Sierra Nevada, and colored a brilliant red and yellow by mineral deposits. When touched by the setting sun they resemble the Italian Dolomites, Green alfalfa fields lie (L) below the highway.

DERBY DAM (L), 11.9 »., is a concrete and earthen structure that diverts the Truckee waters to the Lahontan Reservoir of the Newlands Reclamation Project near Fallen (see Tour 7<r).

The COURT OF ANTIQUITY (L), 158.4 m.f is a flat-topped prominence between the highway and the rivor. Upon this ancient stage, aborigines met in council and upon the stone floor and walls left crudely chiseled records. About a dozen of these petroglyphs are still easily distinguishable, but most of them have been almost obliterated by erosion. Present-day Indians arc not familiar with their meanings and even the oldest chiefs of the local tribes say they did not know of their existence until recently.

Just west of the ettirt the Virginia Mountains abruptly end at the Truckee Meadows; beyond is seen the full sweep of the towering

Sierra Nevada* Those distant peaks were already white when the Dormer Party traveled along this river. At 162.1 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

Left on this to a dirt road, 2 m.t and again L. to the GLENDALE CROSSING, 3 m., sometimes called the Old Stone and Gates Crossing. At this point much of the westbound travel turned south through Truckee Meadows. James Beckwourth, garrulous trapper and guide, waited here in 1851 to inform emigrants of a new pass he had discovered across the mountains to the north, and of the road he had built across it His route is now roughly followed by US 395 (see Tour 4) in crossing to Susanville.

SPARKS, 162.4 m. (4,427 alt., 5,278 pop.), was established by the Southern Pacific, and named for John Sparks, then Governor of Nevada. When the Southern Pacific moved its shops and other property from Wadsworth (see before) in 1905 it brought even the houses along. Since that time many new houses have been built, for the town has become the home of many people working in Reno but seeking a place with less expensive real estate for their homes. The line of division between the towns is practically lost along US 40 and newcomers sometimes mistake Sparks for Reno itself. Sparks has its own schools, churches, and service facilities, and resents being considered a suburb of Reno.

Even the fast trains make a 2O-minute halt at this division point and some westbound through-travelers on what is still called "the evening train" sometimes break their journey by transferring briefly to the "mail train," which runs between Sparks and San Francisco and leaves as soon as the Overland pulls in. The transfer enables them to have about 15 minutes in Reno to pull slot-machine handles and place a few roulette counters—plenty of time, as the porters explain, "to lose a lot of money." Porters keep track of the winnings and losses of businessmen who travel over the route frequently and when their charges come aboard again at Reno immediately ask for the tally. "Made up what he lost the last time," they jubilate, taking vicarious pleasure in the scores.

A growing industry of this area is the propagation of wild game for the hunting ranges of the State. Several ranches supply wildfowl, chiefly pheasant. The pheasant hen, while a prolific layer, shows little or no sense in mothering her brood, the loss sometimes reaching 100 per cent of the lay. The small operator hatches the eggs under bantam hens, but the large operator uses the mechanical incubator. After 24 days the small birds hatch. Their lives during the first two weeks are in delicate balance; the loss is often high, as wild fowl of any type are extremely difficult to raise. Some operators raise the pheasant by the Braille method in which one wing of the young bird is pinioned securely, so that it can range widely but not fly away. Others merely keep the fowl in yards with wire netting on all sides and the top. The grace and beauty of the males is indescribable when the sunlight slants across a pen, bringing out the flashing greens, purple, brown and buff of their feathers.

A piece de resistance in some local hotels Is the stuffed bird; when the waiter removes a large silver service cover he brings into view two birds erect in a field of wild rice. The meat had been cooked and cleverly inserted into the original skin without disarranging a single feather.

i. Left from the eastern end of Sparks on a dirt road to die NEVADA GAME FARM, 3 m., where many kinds of wild fowl, including pheasants, are propagated.

a. Right from Sparks on paved Nev. 32 to Nev. 33, 2 m., Nev. 33 continues north through hills sometimes brown and deeply folded, sometimes streaked with rose and purple. Near the lake are the Rainbow Hills. PYRAMID LAKE, 32 j»., about 30 miles long and from 7 to 10 miles wide, is a sparkling deep blue body ^ of water surrounded by bare, sharply-eroded hills of everchanging colors. It is the largest remnant of the great inland sea, Lake Lahontan, that once covered a large part of northwestern Nevada. Pyramid Lake is now fed by what remains of the Truckee River after its waters have been impounded for irrigation, and by brief flood streams from canyons of the surrounding mountains. It has no outlet. The diversion of the Truckee is seriously endan- gering^this beauty spot, which is one of the outstanding lakes of the West

Particularly striking are the tufa islands—several of which might be the pyramid that suggested the name to Fremont in 1844—and the piles of tufa near the shores. The islands jut up sharply from the water, forming one of the weirdest lake scenes in America. Discriminating people of the Truckee Meadows bring out-of-state visitors to this lake on their first trip into the environs, for its color and the color of the surrounding terrain is breath-taking. The shores are popular for steak-parties at sunset, particularly at the time of the full moon, for the gamut from red to dark purple is then complete.

Directly across the lake near the southeastern shore is ANAHO ISLAND (348 acres), a Federal bird refuge on which is the West's largest rookery of pelicans. Sometimes their number is so great that the island seems covered with snowdrifts. The southern end of the lake is a favorite fishing ground for thesi awkward birds, which flock to the mouth of the Truckee River during the run of the cui-ui. Rattlesnakes are also numerous on the refuge.

Just north of Anaho Island is the most remarkable pyramid, rising 475 feet above the surface. Paiute lore says the pyramid is a giant basket placed over an erring woman. Although she was turned to stone, her breath is visible—the steam from hot springs. Another legend declares the pyramid to be the home of the lake spirit, which devours persons swimming in the waters—for there is a noticeable undertow during windy weather, and bodies of the drowned are slow to return to the surface.

North of Pyramid Island on the eastern shore is a tufa formation known as the SQUAW WITH A BASKET; and a cluster of sharp stone teeth rising from the water at the northern end is called THE NEEDLES.

The mountains around the lake are deceptive, appearing under some atmospheric conditions to be low, rolling hills and under others austere and lofty. About 30 vertical feet above the waters on the shore is a dead white ribbon marking the water level of only a few years ago. It is composed of numerous bodies of minute algae. Through thousands of years of life, the same algae have formed the bulbous, calcareous shell layers that so grotesquely sheath the promontories and island. As Pyramid Lake gradually recedes its waters are becoming increasingly saline, and it is feared that if it continues to sink, within a few years fish will no longer be able to live in it, and the lake will become another Dead Sea. Its water now is hardly drinkable, but the heavy mineral content makes swimming much easier than in wholly fresh water lakes.

species of landlocked salmon, grow to unusual size. One has been caught weighing 65 pounds, and only rarely is one taken that weighs less than 3 or 4* To fish in the lake, a special permit (good {or one day only), in addition to the state license, must be obtained from the Indians at Nixon (see before), or at SUTCLIFFE, 35.6 «. The road northward beyond this point is in poor condition*

RENO, 32.5 m.9 (4,491 alt, 21,500 pop.), is at a junction with US 395 (tee Tour 4).

Railroad stations: 135 E. Commercial Row for Southern Pacific and Virginia & Truckee; 325 E. 4th St for Western Pacific.

Airports: OS US 395, 4 m. SE. of city; owned by United Airlines but used also by private and other planes

Bits stations: Union Stage Depot, 232 N. Center St., for Feather River Stage Co., Inland Stages, Mt. Lassen Transit Co., Pacific Greyhound Lines, Las Vegas- Tonopah & Reno Stage Lines, Virginia & Truckee Transit Co., Oregon, California & Nevada Co., Reno Loyalton-Calpine Stage; 246 Sierra St. for Burlington Trailways; 354 N. Virginia St for Nevada Transit Co., Reno to Sparks, fare ice.

Traffic Regulations: Turns in either direction at intersections except where traffic sign direct otherwise; parking in business district strictly limited to one hour.

Tourists Information Service: Nevada Division of California Automobile Ass'n., 237 S. Virginia St.; Reno Chamber of Commerce and Nevada State Highway Department, Washoe County Library Building, Virginia St, between Lake and Mill.

Hospitals: Washoe County General, Washoe and Mill Streets; St Mary's, *35 W. 6th.

Golf: Municipal Course, SW. on Arlington, 18 holes, greens fees 500 from 2:30 P. M^ $1.00 all day, 5oc all day Fri. (ladies' day), $1.25 a day Sat, Sun., and holidays; $5.00 monthly: family ticket (2 adults, i minor); $7.50 monthly.

Baseball: Idlewild Park, free; Threlkell Ball Park and Moana Hot Springs (day and night games), adm. charged.

Swimming: Idlewild Park, 10-6:30; children under iS free, adults 2$c; suits 2oc, towels 50. Lawton Springs SQC and Moana Springs 250; suits IDC; Reno Hot Springs 350; suits and towels rented.

Between the high steep slope of the Sierras and low brown eastern hills, RENO spreads far over the Truckee Meadows, dropping gently from the heights where the university stands, crossing first die railroad tracks and then, a few blocks south, the Truckee Riven Beyond the river is a gentle rise leading to a broad plateau. Seen from the air at night the town loob like a Christmas tree with its strings of white light interspersed with twinkling red, blue, and green. From the railroad and the paralleling US 40, the view is far less impressive and also quite misleading. Neither highway nor railroad route gives a view of the charming tree-shaded Truckee, the large houses on landscaped grounds above the river, the comfortable Victorian cottages north of the routes, and the

gracious university campus on the heights. Even main street, Virginia, is seen from the through-routes only as a broad street with its near buildings southward obscured by signboards and a sprawling iron arch proclaiming Reno as the "Biggest Little City in the World." Two blocks south of the railroad Virginia Street becomes a thoroughfare of well-appointed shops offering goods of distinction and quality. Crossing it are side streets with two or three blocks of small shops carrying similar goods. Paralled to Virginia Street, westward, is Sierra Street, where the five-and-ten, branches of large mail-order houses, and other mercantile concerns are found all the way from the railroad to the river*

Close to the river and east and west of Virginia Street are the public buildings and one of the largest hotels—though the chief older hotel, and second largest, is on Center Street, the next east of Virginia. Only the area stretching four blocks east and west and about seven blocks south of the Southern Pacific tracks is largely treeless; elsewhere practically every street is lined with cottonwoods, poplars, and other trees that resist traffic fumes.

The city does not lend itself to easy classifications for it is metropolitan in its diversity.

There are many Renos and the two acres of neon lights, night clubs, gambling houses, and drinking places near the railroad station form only one of them—and though commercially important, not a particularly representative one at that, in spite of feature articles and the news reels. Most Reno citizens visit it only occasionally and then largely with guests from out of town. It is never the Renoites who shout noisily, and boisterously toss balloons and confetti about; they are in fact, somewhat annoyed when the liberty they extend is mistaken for license. A second Reno, also not representative and to some extent overlapping the gambling-drinking Reno, is the divorce circle, composed of newcomers, the divorce lawyers, and also the lawyers' wives, who endeavor to keep their husbands' clients from growing too homesick. The divorce circle has various divisions, economic as well as mental. Women with money—and most