1908 



RECLAMATION SERVICE 



55 



The project is located in Western 

 "Nevada, in what is known as the Car- 

 •son Sink Valley. This valley is the 

 bed of an ancient lake long since 

 -dried up, and the soils are composed 

 •of the sediments deposited in this lake 

 and are rich in all the elements of 

 plant food. The valley is surrounded 

 by mountains ; those on the east, north 

 and south are barren desert hills with 

 but few trees except the hardy pinion 

 pine of the desert ranges. On the 

 west, mountain range after mountain 

 range is piled up, culminating in the 

 snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Neva- 

 da on the California border line. 



A River 

 Shifted 



The average elevation of 

 the valley is about four 

 thousand feet above sea- 

 level ; or two hundred feet lower than 

 Salt Lake City; twelve hundred feet 

 lower than Denver. The valley is 

 barren of all tree growth except a few 

 cottonwoods along the streams, and 

 greasewood. sagebrush, rabbit - brush 

 and other desert vegetation upon the 

 plains outside of the river bottoms. 

 The Carson River enters the valley 

 from the west, flows through the en- 

 tire length of the basin and deposits 

 its waters in Carson Sink; which, by 

 the way, is not a sink as generally 

 known, but is a large bare mud flat 

 which becomes a lake in spring dur- 

 ing the floods, but which during the 

 late summer and fall months is a shin- 

 ing alkali flat, devoid of all life. The 

 water escapes only by evaporation. 



The Truckee River, fed by the eter- 

 nal snows of the Sierra Nevada and 

 regulated in its flow by beautiful 

 mountain lakes, such as Tahoe, Don- 

 ner. Independence and others, does 

 not enter the Carson Sink Valley; but 

 after leaving the mountains at Wads- 

 worth, turns north and flows into 

 Pyramid and Winnemucca lakes, and 

 is there lost by evaporation. The Gov- 

 ernment has, however, dug a large 

 ditch to convey the Truckee River 

 water over into the Carson River, and 

 irrigate the fertile lands in the Carson 

 Sink Valley. Through this ditch we 



have the full benefit of the waters of 

 the Truckee River, thus uniting the 

 two streams for the benefit of the 

 lands around Fallon. 



Another Irri- The valley is a desert ; it 

 Land "^^ds b^t water and set- 



tiers to make it a veri- 

 table paradise. It has all of the po- 

 tential resources of such a country as 

 that which now surrounds North 

 Yakima, Wash., Boise, Idaho, or 

 Greeley, Colo., and the same class of 

 energetic citizens as -have made those 

 districts so beautiful, will, in the 

 course of time, make the country 

 around Fallon as famous and as fertile 

 as any irrigated district in the West. 

 To the men from the humid coun- 

 tries, the Nevada landscape seems at 

 first barren, cheerless and even for- 

 bidding, but to the man who can enjoy 

 sunshine, and who has sufficient im- 

 agination and acquaintance with des- 

 ert countries, the landscape is full of 

 hope and promise ; it needs but the in- 

 telligent work of the farmer to make 

 it beautiful and productive. 



The main trans-conti- 

 Railroads nental line of the South- 



ern Pacific Railroad 

 passes along the northern border of 

 the valley, but it is not possible to see 

 many of the irrigable lands from this 

 railroad. At Hazen two branches 

 leave the main line, one going seven- 

 teen miles in a southeasterly direction 

 to Fallon ; the other running south to 

 Goldfield, Tonopah and the great min- 

 ing districts of Southern Nevada. 

 These two lines of railroad give com- 

 munication with the outside world, af- 

 ford a means of distributing products 

 to the mining market, and, as the 

 country builds up it is likely that fur- 

 ther extensions of these branches 

 will be made so that farmers in out- 

 lying districts will have railroad 

 facilities. 



Fallon is the county seat 

 of Churchill County, has 

 a resident population of 

 about one thousand people, is the 



Towns 

 Fallon 



