XVI 



Nevada's dead towns * 



Nevada is one of the very youngest and 

 wildest of the States; nevertheless it is already 

 strewn with ruins that seem as gray and silent 

 and time-worn as if the civilization to which 

 they belonged had perished centuries ago., 

 Yet, strange to say, all these ruins are results 

 of mining efforts made within the last few 

 years. Wander where you may throughout 

 the length and breadth of this mountain- 

 barred wilderness, you everywhere come upon 

 these dead mining towns, with their tall chim- 

 ney-stacks, standing forlorn amid broken walls 

 and furnaces, and machinery half buried in 

 sand, the very names of many of them already 

 forgotten amid the excitements of later dis- 

 coveries, and now known only through tradi- 

 tion — tradition ten years old. 



While exploring the mountain-ranges of the 

 State during a considerable portion of three 

 summers, I think that I have seen at least five 

 of these deserted towns and villages for every 

 one in ordinary life. Some of them were prob- 



^ Date and place of writing not given. Published in the 

 San Francisco Evening Bulletin, January 15, 1879. [Editor.] 



195 



