170 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



like SO many others in Nevadii, is situated Just below the steeper part 

 of a mountain front. Here, as . else where , the snrincr has nrohablv 



fault 



from 



Artrenta 



(4,553 feet), and Rosney are minor, stations between Bcowawe and 

 Battle Mountain. The railroad passes around the north end of a broad 

 lava plateau, and similar uplands are to be seen far across the vaUey 

 to the north; As the train skirts the northern foothills of the plateau, 



(basalt) 



Beyond Argenta 



the train runs out into one of the most extensive valley areas along 

 the Humboldt, the route traversing a broad expanse 

 of the main river channel. 



The town of 



Mountai 



after 



mou 



to the southwest, where in the early sixties a band of gold seekers 



attacked by Indians fortified themselves just south 



Battle Mountain. 



Elevation 4,512 feet. 

 Population 878.* • 

 Omaha 1,307 miles. 



Antler Peak is the 



Mountain 



the 



of the prominent casteri 

 highest point on Battle 

 train. The town is a distributing and shipping center 



the principal among 



numnp^ 



which are the Austin^ and Keese River districts. It is the northern 

 terminal of the narrow-gage Nevada Central Railroad, which runs 

 south 93 miles to the old town of Austin, the seat of Lander County. 

 Probably more than $50,000,000 worth of silver has been taken from 



* Austin has a i>opulation of about 1,000 

 and supplies an extensive grain and stock 

 ranching territory along Reese River and 

 in the Smoky Valley. It k 



the starting 



point for a number ot stage lines into 

 central Nevada. 



The discovery of ore near Austin is said 

 to date from May 2, 1862, when William 

 Talcott, one of the riders of the Pony Ex- 

 press, on his regular trip to Virginia City 

 picked up a piece of the rock along his 

 route and had it assayed. On hiij return 

 he located the Pony claim. Eight days 

 later the Reese mining district was organ- 

 ized, and the fame of Lander and Union 

 hills soon brought thousands of prospect- 

 ors to the camp. 



The ore about Austin is in narrow veins 

 in granite (a porphyritic monzonite). 

 The veins consist of quartz and rhodo- 

 clirodte through which the metallic 

 minerals (tetrahedrite, pyrargyrite, prous- 

 tite, stephanite, polybasite, galena, snhal- 



erite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite) are dis- 



tributed. 



minerals 



are rich ores of silver containing also anti- 

 mony or arsenic and copper with sul- 

 phur; galena, sphalerite, and chalcopy- 

 rite are ores of lead, zinc, and copper, re- 

 spectively. The veim 

 dip 15° to 45° NE. They are closely 

 spaced, and several may occur in the 



;600feet). They have 



run 



claim 



remarkable 



parallel north-south faults that dip to the 

 west. All these faults are normal— that 

 is, the ground west of the fault has sunk 

 with respect to that on the east side. 

 The granite on both sides of the veins has 

 been decomposed and bleached by the 

 solutions that deposited the ores. Mining 



has 



miles 



value of the ore, which lias 

 in rather regularly dis- 

 tributed shootq. 



been found 



