59 



Rabbits now and then occur, but they are annually decimated by the Indians, who kill them 

 constantly and pcisistently. 



To the sportsmen duck-shooting offers the most legitimate field for pleasure. 



An ordinary traveler passing through the country and dei)ending ni)on game for his food 

 would probably starve; even the Indians, tiie most expert and incessant of all hunters, are obliged 

 to gather pine-nuts, to supply in a great measure the necessity for food. 



MOUNTAIN-ROADS. 



These above latitude 37° are better than the average of Nevada roads, as by skirting the foot- 

 hills and keeping out of the low ground, where the presence of alkali is nearly always noticed, 

 quite a firm bottom is found. 



Constant travel, however, after a short time wears the road-bed, giving rise to a great amount 

 of pulverized material which acts as dust in dry seasons, and as mud upon the advent of the rains. 

 This is peculiarly noticed along the stage-roads from Elko to White Piue, where much freighting 

 has been done. 



Over a road similar to the one following down Steptoe Valley, a march of twenty miles for a 

 loaded wagon is accomjilished with as nuich ease as one of fifteen miles on a route similar to that 

 along the valley of the (Jila, in xirizona, fur instance ; this same ratio may be said to obtain between 

 the roads in the section above mentioned and those in Southern California and Arizona, generally. 

 Below latitude 37^ quite a change is uoticed ; sandy washes, broken mesas, and alkali spots becom- 

 ing more frequent. 



The grades going to the northward also become heavier, and there exists, until the Colorado is 

 reached, a more rapid decrease in altitude. This latter is a point of no disadvantage, since the greater 

 part of the travel, present and future, is liable to be to the southward. A strip nearly parallel to 

 the river and to the north and westward may be said to be almost impassable for roads, execiit in a 

 northerly and southerly direction, and this only upon taking advantage of winding washes and 

 steep box-caiions. 



The road from Saint Thomas to the mouth of the Virgin, following for a greater part of the 

 distance the partly overflowed bed of the river, would likely be nearly impassable during the sea- 

 son of the floods. At those times a route following the broken and sandy mesas of the right bank 

 must be sought out. 



It will hardly be possible to get through a decent track for wagons from the lower end of 

 Meadow Valley to the settlements on the Muddy ; if it is ever done, the first labor will be exces. 

 sive, and the resulting road will be but an indifferent one, if passable at all. 



The road from Toano to the mouth of the Virgin is an excellent one until the lower end of 

 Pahrauagat Valley is reached ; thence to the headwaters of the Muddy some sandy stretches are 

 crossed ; from the latter point until the Virgin River is reached, only a few sandy spots are 

 encountered, so that for the whole distance there is not more than forty to forty-five miles of difH- 

 cult travel. 



The route traversed of late from Elko via White Pine, Railroad Valley, and Las Vegas is a 

 d fficult and desolate one. Some parties pushing out from the lower country have reached the 

 Colorado at the mouth of the Virgin, and were obliged to follow as near the river as possible until 

 Hardy ville was reached before a crossing could be efl'ected. So soon as the connection can be maile 

 from the mouth of the Virgin to the military road leading to Prescott, a through route of consider- 

 able service in the future will be established. 



CAVE IN CAVE VALLEY. 



Onr anticipations had been greatly aroused by varied reports of a cave near the Patterson 

 Mining District, for the greater i)art unexjilored, and supposed to be of grand magnitude. Ai-cord- 

 ingly, upon arriving in its vicinity and pitching our tents within some three hundred yards, our 

 next eflbrts were toward fitting up a party to make a thorough exploration. We were fortunate in 

 securing the services of au old Indian of the Gosiute tribe, named Anzip, who professed a 



