THE OVERLAND ROUTE OGDEN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 



183 



a little beyond Hazon the train passes tlirough some of the most 

 typically desert country to be seen along the whole route. The over- 

 flow channel from Humboldt Lake is crossed for the last time, as it 

 turns off to the east toward the lowest part of Carson Smk. The 

 railroad passes along the margin of the sink, which has here a lumpy 

 dunelike surface consisting of sand and clay soil, the mounds sur- 

 mounted by isolated patches of greasewood. 



Parran is the lowest point on the Nevada portion of the Southern 



Pacific route. The salt 



Parran. 



Elevation 3,888 feet 

 Omaha 1,470 miles. 



The salt-incrusted surface about the station is typical 

 of the margms of the large play as that arc common 

 in these deserts. Water generally stands on the 

 surface of the sink, and in the distance on its south 

 side may be seen a thin line of dark trees trailing out 

 into the desert. These trees are cottonwoods, which border the 

 lower channel of Carson River, the principal source of the water 

 that flows into the sink. At Parran is an old salt plant which has 

 not been operated for several years, but which formerly produced 

 a few hundred tons of salt annually for local use at near-by settle- 

 ments. There is a water tank and pump station at Parran, but all 

 the water used at this place is brought in tank cars, being run into 

 an underground cistern from which it is pumped into the tank. 

 Beyond Parran lies a desolate stretch of barren dunes of clay and 



clump 



The desert is bordered 



the summit 



are 



r bare hills, whose slopes, m many 

 covered with white, wind-driftt 



sand. The 



scenery along this part of the route offers but little variety and sug- 



extreme 



XXX\TII 



dun 



more or less covered with greasewood, and small bare mu 



Hazen 



east 



(playas) continue beyond 



gravel pit which, hke several already menti< 



beach-bar deposits of former Lake Lahontan. 



Hazon. 



Elevation 4,012 feet. 

 Omaha 1 .194 miles. 



in Nevada may be consiaerea inuuiarj tu tue 

 line of the Southern Pacific by way of Hazen. 

 Within this area are the Tonopah, Goldfield,Yerington, 



mam 



Wonder 



» 



known mining 



miles 



fan 



River, is the center of the Truckee-Carson irrigation project.^ 



It 



^On the western border of the Great 

 Basin, in the bed of ancient Lake Lahon- 

 tan, in Nevada, the Government is bring- 

 ing to completion a project to irrigate 



apres of land. ThLs is 



;han 200.000 



parts 



and 



crossed 



on the way to California. Its average 

 annual rainfall is only 4 inches. To the 

 man from the humid region the valley at 

 first looks very desolate, but to one 

 acquainted with these deserts the La- 

 hontan country- presents many attrac- 

 tions. As the train from Hazen nears 



Fallon the possibilities erf the region 



