44: HOW TO GET A FARM, 



120th parallel of longitude, and there descend into the 

 territory of Nevada, at the rich silver mines of Washoe. 



&quot; It is not yet possible to estimate with any accuracy the 

 extent of these deposits of gold and silver, but they are al 

 ready known to exist at very numerous localities in and be 

 tween the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, not to 

 mention the rich quartz- mining regions in California itself, 

 which continue to pour out their volumes of gold to affect, 

 whether for good or ill, the financial condition of the civil 

 ized world. During the last six months gold has been ob 

 tained in such quantities, from the sands of the Snake river 

 and other confluents of the Columbia river, as to attract 

 more than 20,000 persons to that remote portion of our 

 metalliferous interior. The products of those streams alone 

 for the present year are estimated at $20,000,000. 



&quot;The Commissioner of the General Land-office, in his 

 official report of the 29th December, 1862, states as follows : 



&quot; The great auriferous region of the United States, in 

 the western portion of the Continent, stretches from the 

 49th degree of north latitude and Puget Sound, to the 

 30 30 parallel, and from the 102d degree of longitude 

 west of Greenwich, to the Pacific Ocean, embracing por 

 tions of Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, all of New Mexico, 

 with Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Wash 

 ington Territories. It may be designated as comprising 17 

 degrees of latitude, or a breadth of 1,100 miles from north 

 to south, and of nearly equal longitudinal extension, making 

 an area of more than a million square miles. 



&quot; This vast region is traversed from north to south, first, 

 on tlie Pacific side, by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade 

 Mountains, then by the Blue and Humboldt ; on the east, 

 by the double ranges of the Rocky Mountains, embracing 

 the Wahsatch and Wind River chain, and the Sierra Madre, 

 stretching longitudinally and in lateral spurs, crossed and 



