While, unquestionably, there are many isolated tracts of land in Nevada on which a 

 settler might discover and by his unaided endeavors conserve a water-supply for its 

 reclamation, it is to be understood that such instances are essentially rare and not every 

 search by the homeseeker might find reward. 



Where, then, is the opportunity for the settler in Nevada? This will be answered 

 clearly and definitely in the succeeding pages, after a discussion of the water-supply of 

 the State, which is first in order. 



Water-Supply of Nevada. 



In that third of the United States lying between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, 

 on the east, and the beginning of the Rocky Mountains on the west, the country is level 

 or undulating, without mountains or hills of any altitude worth mentioning. The result 

 is a comparatively even distribution of rainfall throughout extensive areas. The topog- 

 raphy of Nevada on the contrary shows approximately two hundred valleys, great and 

 small, separated from one another by mountain ranges, anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 

 feet higher than the valley levels. The effect of this on the distribution of rainfall is 

 marked. The mountains gather the storms, intercept the precipitation, and while the 

 valleys occasionally get rain or snow, the ratio between the rainfall of the latter and the 

 mountains is probably not more than one to three. When it is stated that the average 

 annual precipitation in the valleys of northern, eastern and western Nevada is not likely 

 more than eight inches, in central Nevada not more than five inches, and in southern 

 Nevada not more than four inches, this should not be understood to represent but a small 

 part of the actual rainfall over the State. Moreover, there is often a wide variation in 

 rainfall between one valley and another immediately adjoining it but separated by a 

 mountain barrier. Several valleys have an annual precipitation very much greater than 

 the averages stated above, others considerably less. 



Effects of Mountains on Humidity. 



These mountain ranges are factors of supreme importance in the agricultural reclama- 

 tion of the State. The winter snow is conserved in the higher altitudes to melt gradually 

 during the spring and summer, giving rise to the streams and rivers which supply water 

 for irrigation. Moreover, the mountain valleys and canons afford many opportunities for 

 storage reservoirs. A dam thrown across the outlet of an upland valley through which 

 a stream flows, or which is surrounded by a large catchment basin, impounds the waters. 

 The run-off which otherwise would flow to waste in the early spring before irrigation 

 begins and in the fall after irrigation ceases, is thus conserved and regulated to flow only 

 when required for crop-growing. 



Stream measurements of all the principal rivers of the State disclose the fact that 

 without a water-storage system on a given stream, about seventy per cent, of the total 

 annual run-off flows to waste during the non-irrigation season. As only a small fraction of 

 the flood waters of the Nevada streams is yet conserved by water-storage system, it 

 follows that not more than a third of the actual surface water-supply is yet utilized for 

 irrigation. The field thus left open for reclamation enterprises is attracting lively attention 

 at the present time, and will be discussed more fully under the chapter relating to the 

 Carey Act. 



Principal Rivers and Streams. 



The waters of only five small rivers in Nevada reach the ocean, namely: the Virgin 

 River with its tributary, the Muddy, in southern Nevada, which flows into the Colorado 

 and thence into the Gulf of California; and the Owyhee, Bruneau and Salmon in northern 

 Nevada which are tributaries of the Snake and the latter in turn of the Columbia. All 

 the other streams either flow into lakes without outlets or ultimately disappear by 

 evaporation or by percolation. 



