THE OVERLAND EOUTE — OGDEN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 165 



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la 



These terraces have evi- 



Elburz. 



dently been formed by the river at an earher period of its liistory and 

 generally have a surface covermg of gravel. 



Plalleck is a shipping pomt for cattle and sheep. The station 



received its name from old Camp Halleck, a fort and 

 Halleck. mihtary reservation of pioneer days, close under the 



Elevation 5,232 feet, mountain front, about 12 miles away, Just south of the 



Sal^G mnes. P^^^ ^^^^^ the north end of the range. Stago Imes run 



from Halleck to several places on the north and south. 

 Elburz, a water tank, sidetrack, and section house, is just above 



the mouth of North Fork, the principal tributar}^ of the Humboldt 



from the north. The land watered by the North Fork 

 and its tributaries is divided into an upper and a lower 



?r.aT;A)'mS- ^a^^«y by a range of moiiutains througli which the 



stream flows midwaj- in its com^se. Abouj 4,500 acres 

 of land is UTigated in the upper valley of the North Fork and 1,200 

 to 1,500 acres in the lower valley. Hay is the only crop raised. 

 . Just below the North Fork the Humboldt Valley narrows* to Osino 

 Canyon. For a distance of about 50 miles, extendmg nearly to Beo- 

 wawc; the strip of irrigable land along the river is rather narrow— in 

 fact, in some places there is none. The meadow land is used for hay 

 or pasture. 



In Osino Canyon the railroad passes through three tunnels and 

 crosses the river several times. The walls of the canyon consist of lava 

 rock^ which, although light colored when freshly broken, is weather- 



tmts 



W 



vated fields and ranches come into view. The valley here ex tends from 

 the foothills of the Elko Range on the southeast to the low bcnchlike 

 spurs of the River Range on the northwest. These spurs slope off 

 gently toward the middle of the valley and are composed almost 

 entirely of volcanic ash, generally of wliite color, contahiinor fra<mients 



Humboldt formation 



of lava. These beds belong to the 



Underneath them are steeply tilted strata which contain beds of impure 



coal and are supposed to be of Eocene age. 



The origin of the name of Elko, the seat of Elko County, is not cer- 

 tain, for according to some it is an Indian word. and according to 



others it was given on account of the abundance of 

 ^^^^* elk in this vicinity. A camp site near some hot 



Elevation 5,061 feet, sprhigs 1| miles wcst of the towu made this place a 



'■5, station on the old emigrant route, but the present 



mill 



1868. 



originated with the building o 

 t of the town, through which t 

 he river flood nlain. but a more 



residence 



