NEVADA'S DEAD TOWNS 



"And why were they abandoned?" I asked. 

 "Are they exhausted?" "Oh, no," he replied, 

 "they are not exhausted; on the contrary, 

 they have never been worked at all, for un- 

 fortunately, just as we were about ready to 

 open them, the Cherry Creek mines were dis- 

 covered across the valley in the Egan range, and 

 everybody rushed off there, taking what they 

 could with them — houses, machinery, and all. 

 But we are hoping that somebody with money 

 and speculation will come and revive us yet." 

 The dead mining excitements of Nevada 

 were far more intense and destructive in their 

 action than those of California, because the 

 prizes at stake were greater, while more skill 

 was required to gain them. The long trains 

 of gold-seekers making their way to California 

 had ample time and means to recover from 

 their first attacks of mining fever while crawl- 

 ing laboriously across the plains, and on their 

 arrival on any portion of the Sierra gold belt, 

 they at once began to make money. No mat- 

 ter in what gulch or canon they worked, some 

 measure of success was sure, however unskill- 

 ful they might be. And though while making 

 ten dollars a day they might be agitated by 

 hopes of making twenty, or of striking their 

 picks against hundred- or thousand-dollar 

 nuggets, men of ordinary nerve could still 



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