STEEP TRAILS 



The wealth Nevada has ah-eady given to 

 the world is indeed wonderful, but the only 

 grand marvel is the energy expended in its 

 development. The amount of prospecting 

 done in the face of so many dangers and sacri- 

 fices, the innumerable tunnels and shafts bored 

 into the mountains, the mills that have been 

 built — these would seem to require a race of 

 giants. But, in full view of the substantial 

 results achieved, the pure waste manifest in 

 the ruins one meets never fails to produce a 

 saddening effect. 



The dim old ruins of Europe, so eagerly 

 sought after by travelers, have something 

 pleasing about them, whatever their histori- 

 cal associations; for they at least lend some 

 beauty to the landscape. Their picturesque 

 towers and arches seem to be kindly adopted 

 by nature, and planted with wild flowers and 

 wreathed with ivy; while their rugged angles 

 are soothed and freshened and embossed with 

 green mosses, fresh life and decay mingUng in 

 pleasing measures, and the whole vanishing 

 softly Uke a ripe, tranquil day fading into night. 

 So, also, among the older ruins of the East there 

 is a fitness felt. They have served their time^, 

 and like the weather-beaten mountains are wast- 

 ing harmoniously. The same is in some degree 

 true of the dead mining towns of California. 



202 



