174 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



grasses for haj. Beyond Paradise Valley the Southern Pacific turns 

 and for a long distance pursues a general ceurso to the southwest. 

 On the right, ahead, Winnemucca Peak projects Uke an island from 

 the desert plains, A whitish band along its base is the edge of an 

 extensive area of sand dunes.' 



The town of Winnemucca, named for a chief of the Piute tribe, is 

 the seat of Humboldt County and serves an extensive ranchinsr and 



mmm 



Winnemucca. 



Elevation 4,334 feet. 

 Population 1,786.* 

 Omaha 1^65 miles. 



J country. It was originally a small tradmg 

 station, established in 1850, on the emigrant route to 

 Cahfornia and was then known as French Ford. Be- 

 fore the Oregon Short Line was built AVinnemucca 

 was the gateway to the whole of southern Idaho. 

 The Southern Pacific and Western Pacific railroads pass through the 

 town about a mile apart, and Humboklt River flows between them. 

 The agricultural and stock-raising districts tributary to Winnemucca 

 include Paradise Valley, to the northeast, and the Quinn River val- 

 ley, to the north. Of less importance are the narrow bottoms along 



the Humboldt above and below the town, on which the chief crop is 

 wild hay. 



The National mining district,^ in the Santa Rosa Range, about 70 



from 



stage. 



The National mine is noted for the occurrence of a remarkably rich 

 shoot of ore, which has yielded about $4,000,000. 



er leaving Wimiemucca the train 

 mboldt River for several miles, i: 



[T 



O 



* A large area a few miles north of Win- 

 nemucca ia covered ^-ith sand dunes 



Lahontan 



disapp 



This belt of drifting sand ex- 



tends "westward from the lower part of 

 Little Humboldt Valley to the desert be- 

 tween Black Butte and the Dona Schee 

 Hills and is about 40 miles long from east 

 to west and 8 or 10 miles wide. The 

 dunes are fully 75 feet thick, and their 

 steeper slopes are on the ea^t side, thus 

 indicating that the whole vast field of 

 sand is slowly traveUng eastward. This 

 progress has necessitated a number of 

 changes in the roads in the southern part 

 of Little Humboldt Valley during recent 

 years. In some places in this region the 



fully curv-ed ridges and wavea that are 

 covered with a fretwork of wind ripples, 

 and many of these ridges are marked in 

 the most curious manner by the foot- 

 prints of animals, which form strange 



telegrai 



pol 



have been buried 



hieroglyphics tl 

 cult to translate. 



2 



diffi 



The gold-silver deposits at National 



iscov 



Wl' 



IS basalt, which occurs in a thick series of 

 flows and is probably of Miocene age. 

 The principal ore deposits, however, are 

 associated with older Tertiarj^ lavas, es- 

 pecially with rhyolite and an andesitic 



rock (latite). 



depoi 



by hot waters soon after the eruption of 



v^L^^Lu^^jii yui^ nuve oeeu Durxed so 

 deeply that they have had to be spUced 



wires 



of the dunes. The sand is of a light 

 creamy-yellow color and forms beauti- 



stibnite 



antimonv 



with silver, and other less abundant or 

 less characteristic minerals. Some veins 

 occur also in older rocka. 



