and if given the right sort of protection, they would, 

 in a very short time, spread out over the adjacent 

 country. 



After a tramp of about five miles over the lava 

 rock and through sage brush we arrived at Jack's Lake, 

 which at that time was no lake at all. This depression 

 may have contained abundant water in some remote 

 age of the past, but at present it resembles a valley 

 covered with sage brush. The hills to the south and 

 west gave evidence of the destructive work wrought l)y 

 sheep pastured there in the early sirring. The many 

 deep impressions left by tlieir feet would indicate that 

 much of the scanty pasturage had been tramped out ; 

 also evidence of many sage hen nests destroyed. 



This is not a good grazing country, and it is totally 

 unfit for agricultural purposes, the land being com- 

 posed chiefly of disintegrated lava rock. There is verv 

 little rainfall, no water for irrigation, and the small 

 streams and water holes are more or less alkaline. The 

 rimrock, which in most places surrounds the valley 

 and lake, is composed of a mass of huge stones and 

 solid lava rock with little or no vegetation except sage 

 brush and a few scattered juniper trees. It is not a 

 farming country, and of little value for stock raising. 

 There is a certain wild picturesqueness to the scenery 

 in this remote section of the country that would add 

 much to the attractiveness of a game ])reserve. Another 

 interesting feature is the picture rocks. These ])ictui'es 

 are crude drawings cut into the flat surface of a num- 

 ber of rocks along the rimrock. They resemble birds, 

 animals and reptiles, and one of them closely follows 

 the outlines of an antelope. In an interview Avith 

 Captain Louie, the famous old Piute Indian Chief, he 

 stated that his grandfather had told him these pictures 

 were made by the Piute Indians, "Long, long, time 

 before white man came. ' ' 



As the water in our canteen was getting low, and 

 no more could be had imtil we reached the Calderwood 

 Ranch, we concluded to start ])ack to Jacob's Ranch. 

 We had seen a number of antelope that morning, twentv 

 in all, and on our return trip, about a mile from Jacol) 's 



76 



