184 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



is readied bj 



from H 



gtowii.^ 



Anotlier branch line runs south from Hazen 



Ano^eles 



Pedro & Salt Lake Railroad, and with Ludlow^ CaL, on the Santa Fe 



em 



This line gives access to Yerington ^ by a branch from 



Wabuska, to Eawhide by a branch from the head of Walker Lake, 

 to Silver Peak by a branch from Tonopah Junction, to Tonopah, 



numerous other mmm 



o 



m 



also at Fort Churchill for Virginia Citj 

 XLIIL 13. 189"), Carson, and Reno. 



Corns tock 



The deposits at Tonopah ^ were discovered in 1900, when the 



mmm 



become more ai)parent. It has all the 

 potential resources of the country that 

 erurrounds Boise, Idaho, and Greeley, 

 Colo., and the energetic citizens who are 

 settUng here will in a few j'-ears make this 

 district as fertile and famous as those. 



The soil is sandy loam, clay loam, and 

 volcanic ash. The valley will produce 

 everj^ variety of crop grown in the North 



Alfalfa, wheat, barley, 



and 



sugar 



Temperate Zone. 



and oats grow luxuriantly, 



beets are a profitable crop. Apples, 



pears, apricots, and cherries, as well as 



garden vegetables, do well and find a 



ready market in the mining towns near 



by. Potatoes, celery, and cantaloupes 



raised here are of superior quality and are 

 shipped for consumption on dining cars 

 and in first-class hotels. A considerable 

 number of farms now await settlers, and 

 additional areas will be thrown open 

 from time to time to meet the require- 

 ments of homeseekers. 



The Truckee-Carson project was the 

 first of the lai^e irrigation projects under- 

 taken by the Government. The water 

 is derived from Carson and Truckee riv- 

 ers, that from the Truckee being brought 

 across the divide at Femley by means of 

 a large canal. 



* Before the raihoad was built over- 

 land emigrant travel followed various 

 routes, one of which passed north of 

 Great Salt Lake and came down Hum- 

 boldt River. At that time, of course, 

 Hazen had no existence, but one of the 

 principal stations along the old route was 

 Kagtown, a few miles southeast of Hazen. 

 It was merely a trading station and de- 

 rived its name from it^ ra^t^d and miser- 



able appearance, for about the station 

 stood a group of huts of Piute Indians, 

 constructed of brush, pieces of old wagon 

 covers, ragged remnants of tents, old 

 quilts, and Indian mats, a more or less 

 familiar sight in parts of Nevada even 

 to-day. (See PL XXXIX.) 



Near Ragtown, not far from the present 

 railroad between Hazen and Fallon, in 

 the midst of the sand dunes of the Carson 

 Desert, there are two remarkable lakes, 

 formerly known as the Ragtown ponds, 

 now called Big Soda and little Soda 

 lakes. They are believed to be old vol- 

 canic craters, whose tops are now almost 

 on a level with the desert. They con- 

 tain a strong solution of sodium carbon- 

 ate, or washing soda, together with other 

 salts, from which soda was for a time 

 extracted. 



^Yerington is a copper district, 

 principal ore bodies are of irregular shape 

 and occur in Triassic limestone near in- 

 trusive masses of granite (granodiorite). 

 They belong to the tj^pe of contact-meta- 

 morphic deposits. The minemls charac- 

 teristically associated in the deposits are 

 pyrite, chalcopyrite, garnet, and i^y^*^^' 

 ene. There are also some veins in the 

 district. 



^ The Tonopah deposits are quartz veins 

 carrjnng a number of silver sulphide min- 

 erals, particularly argentite, stephanite, 

 and polybasite (the last two containing 

 antimony as well as sulphur), with some 

 gold. The country rocks are trach}'te, 

 rhyolite, and andesite. The veins have 

 been faulted and displaced in a remarka- 



The 



that skill is required 



mine 



