182 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



more or less concave toward the valleys on both the upper and lower 

 sides, but the backward view from the lower side best shows its form. 



The railroad crosses and recrosses the overflow channel, traversing 

 broad stretches of bare white mud and irregular areas of lumpy 

 ground built up from white sand and clay. About 2 miles beyond 

 Ocala (a section house at milepost 320) salt vats and a small salt- 

 making plant lie close to tJie raih'oad, in the middle of one of the 

 white clay flats or playas. (See p. 154.) 



Tlie station called Huxley (formerly White Plains) is approxi- 

 mately at the junction of the present railroad with the 

 Huxley. original line of the Central Pacific, which ran from this 



Elevation 3,908 feet, point due southwcst, climbino!; over a divide of several 



Omaha 1,465 miles. r- iii» i • ■ ni-»j-* 



hundred leet and passmg a station called Mirage. 

 The present line swings southward along the border of the Carson 



Desert. 



minins: district, a p:old camp, lies in the mountains 



miles northwest of Huxlej^. Some shipments 



ma 



large producer. 



W 



this place by the Central Pacific Railway in ISSl, in a search for good 

 water. The boring reached a depth of 2,750 feet, but the water 

 obtained was of very unsatisfactory quality. At 1,700 feet the drill 

 encountered a bed of '^petrified clams/' and the record states that 



timber 

 small s; 



distance back. Ah old kOn 



lime from a mass 



indie 



mer Lake Lahontan. This deposit 



heavily charged with salts at the time when the inhabitants of these 

 shells lived, although it must be admitted that the shell 



s mig 



intact 



Humboldt River. Many of the shells 



rved. The shell denosit m snid to be 



miles 



JNear Huxley the river spreads out, forming extensive marsh lands 

 (the Mopung marshes), and during flood seasons this region is often 

 a favorite resort of waterfowl. The small lakes are said to be full 

 of carp and other fish at such times, doubtless carried dn^\-n from 



Humboldt Lake. Pelicans, ducks, geese, snipe, and othe 

 fowl are found in the vicmity of the Nevada lakes and mars 



water- 



eginning of another lonj; tangent of the 



railroad which heads almost directly south. Al^..- ....^ ^..^.^^ 



valley opens out toward the Carson Desert, across which the StiU- 



m 



From Huxley 



