NEVADA FARMS 



Valley offer fair illustrations of this class. As 

 compared with the foothill ranches, they are 

 larger and less inconspicuous, as they lie in the 

 wide, unshadowed levels of the plains — wavy- 

 edged flecks of green in a wilderness of gray. 



Still another class equally well defined, both 

 as to distribution and as to products, is re- 

 stricted to that portion of western Nevada and 

 the eastern border of California which lies 

 within the redeeming influences of California 

 waters. Three of the Sierra rivers descend from 

 their icy fountains into the desert like angels 

 of mercy to bless Nevada. These are the 

 Walker, Carson, and Truckee; and in the val- 

 leys through which they flow are found by far 

 the most extensive hay and grain fields within 

 the bounds of the State. Irrigating streams are 

 led off right and left through innimierable chan- 

 nels, and the sleeping ground, starting at once 

 into action, pours forth its wealth without stint. 



But notwithstanding the many porous fields 

 thus fertiUzed, considerable portions of the 

 waters of all these rivers continue to reach their 

 old deathbeds in the desert, indicating that in 

 these salt valleys there still is room for com- 

 ing farmers. In middle and eastern Nevada, 

 however, every rill that I have seen in a ride of 

 three thousand miles, at all available for irriga- 

 tion, has been claimed and put to use. 

 157 



