WM. H. BREWER. 33 



familiar. In my explorations nearly thirty years ago, I 

 crossed the great chain of the Sierra Nevada which forms 

 its western rim sixteen times, crossing it in fourteen 

 places. That was before any railroads were built, and 

 with that portion I am somewhat familiar. 



The region was not always so dry, so here let me 

 again digress. Just before the present geological age 

 there was one much wetter and colder than the present, 

 called by geologists, the glacial period or ice age. It 

 was a long period of great cold, followed by a very rainy 

 period. We see many evidences of these ancient 

 glaciers in Eastern North America ; they exist also there 

 but not so entirely covering the land there as here. 

 Grand moraines stretch down in great ridges, from the 

 Sierra Nevada into the desert plains below. Large 

 rivers, fed by abundant rains then made that country 

 more like this. Then the depressions were filled with 

 water, and there were numerous lakes, some of them 

 very large. There is abundant evidence of this, and 

 their traces constitute some of the most remarkable 

 natural features of the present country and give a 

 peculiar aspect to the scenery. Fresh water lakes then 

 existed where now are parched deserts. I cannot follow 

 the details of this ; I will only glance at some of them, 

 for there were many such lakes. . 



Two great lakes in the northern part have attracted 

 the special study of geologists. They were of large size 

 and of fresh water, but are now dried up, the most of 

 their ancient beds existing as desert valleys, in which 

 are salt lakes. 



Lake Lahontan was in the western part in the State of 

 Nevada, the grand Sierra Nevada rising from its western 

 shores. It covered 8,400 square miles (considerably 

 larger than Lake Ontario), and was perhaps a more 

 picturesque lake than any now existing on earth. 

 Mountain chains extended down into it, forming high 



