CENTEAL AND EASTEEN NEVADA. 349 



SECTION III. 



MINING AND MILLING AT EEESE EIVEE. 



The Eeese River mining district is about 160 miles due east from the 

 western and nearly midway between the northern and southern boundaries of 

 the State of Nevada. Strictly speaking, the term is locally applied to a small 

 area, about two miles wide by seven long, within which the first discoveries 

 of silver in that part of the State were made, and where is now situated the 

 town of Austin. In a broader sense, it covers the whole of the mining coun- 

 try stretching along the Toyabe range of mountains, of which the exploration 

 and partial development gradually followed the earlier discoveries just re- 

 ferred to. 



The river, from which the name is derived, is a small stream that rises 

 in the southern end and on the western slope of the Toyabe range, and 

 flows thence, from south to north, toward the Humboldt River, along one 

 of those meridional valleys that are characteristic of the great basin. From 

 the head-waters of the stream to the Humboldt, the distance is about 

 150 miles. It is only in unusually wet seasons, however, that the river has 

 sufficient body to reach the valley of the Humboldt. It gradually diminishes • 

 in size and, by evaporation and sinking into the soil, finally disappears alto- 

 gether, leaving a dry bed to mark its course. 



The first discoveries of silver were made in May, 1862, near the present 

 site of the town of Austin, in one of the canons of the western slope of the 

 mountains, about 80 miles south of the Humboldt River, where then the Over- 

 land Stage road crossed the range. Being on the great line of transcontinental 

 travel it was comparatively easy of access, and the region was speedily occu- 

 pied by prospectors and miners. Hundreds of outcropping veins were dis- 

 covered and thousands of locations were made within an area of a few square 

 miles; and although the larger number of these have failed to realize even the 

 most moderate hopes of their owners, some of them have proved to be of great 

 value. Since its first discovery the district has added several millions to the 

 bullion product of the State, and a sufficient number of productive and profit- 

 able mines have been developed to afibrd a fair guarantee of a successful 



