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The National Geographic Magazine 



and the stories by members of these ex- 

 peditions did not tend to populate the 

 region with great rapidity. 



In many instances the prospectors were 

 successful, and the camps of Silver Peak, 

 Li da (or Allida), Reveille, and others 

 sprang up, and had their periods of rise, 

 prosperity, and decline, many becoming 

 completely uninhabited. 



During the period of activity many 

 travelers became permanent residents, 

 took to wife dusky maidens from the 

 Indian tribes, and located ranches at 

 various springs and streams, oases in the 

 expanse of waste, where small herds of 

 cattle or horses were maintained. 



From the eastward the Mormons 

 pushed gradually away from the streams 

 of southern Utah and established farms 

 and ranches at such places as furnished 

 water, but there is a belt of country one 

 hundred miles or more in width between 

 these points and the water-fed valleys at 

 the foot of the Sierra Nevada, which is 

 almost wholly barren and very dry. 



RENEWED INTEREST IN THE DESERTS 



During the last few years, beginning 

 with the discovery of valuable ore at 

 Tonopah (in May, 1900), the attack upon 

 the desert has been renewed with great 

 vigor and earnestness, and the efforts of 

 the seeker of Fortune met with so much 

 success and at such widely separated 

 points that it was decided by the officers 

 of the Geological Survey to put parties in 

 the field to make a reconnaissance of 

 some of the unmapped desert area. 



The area where work was done lies 

 about 200 miles southeast of Carson City, 

 about 350 miles southwest of Salt Lake, 

 and 250 miles northeast of Los Angeles. 

 It comprises about 8,600 square miles 

 and has a great range in elevation ; the 

 highest point reached is 9,500 feet above 

 and the lowest about 300 feet below the 

 level of the sea. 



The idea of the person unacquainted 

 with American deserts is of a great plain, 

 sand-covered or rock-littered, with noth- 

 ing to relieve the monotony of the hori- 

 zon. As a matter of fact, these great 



areas include mountain ranges, high 

 plateaux, mesas, and buttes, extensive 

 valleys, that in the clear air seem but a 

 short distance across. Many of these 

 valleys are "closed" — have no outlet — 

 and the lowest pass from one to another 

 is often many hundred feet above the val- 

 ley floor. The flowing streams are very 

 few, the springs far between, and water 

 a commodity for which men search, often 

 with life at stake. 



The map includes an area, almost 

 equal to the total area of Delaware and 

 Rhode Island, of 3,000 square miles that 

 is waterless except for small holes that 

 may be filled by occasional rains. 



EIFE IN GOLDFIELD, NEVADA 



In entering the desert area the party 

 traveled by rail to Tonopah, and thence 

 by auto to Goldfield, which a short time 

 ago was but a cluster of tents, and here 

 headquarters camp was established. The 

 town lies at an elevation of 5,700 feet, in 

 a basin between the foot of Columbia 

 Mountain and a mesa edge several hun- 

 dred feet high. The immediate vicinity 

 is not of great ruggedness, differences 

 of 800 feet being extreme, though eight 

 miles westward the Montezuma Peak 

 rises to a height of 8,400 feet above sea. 



Since January, 1905, the town, together 

 with its sister, Columbia, has "boomed" 

 and quieted, and been "born again" to a 

 steady, healthy growth. The demands of 

 business are such as to warrant the erec- 

 tion of substantial buildings of wood and 

 stone; there is at least one church, an 

 ice plant, swimming pool, a brewery, a 

 club ; pipe lines bring water from distant 

 springs, and there are the numerous 

 sources of amusement common to all new 

 mining camps ; every bar and hotel has 

 its roulette wheel and corps of players, 

 "cappers," etc. Here one may eat most 

 of the dainties of the season — fruits from 

 California, vegetables from Utah, fresh 

 meat from Chicago ; he may drink almost 

 any brand of wine or any mixture of 

 liquors to be found anywhere, while se- 

 lections from the latest operas are ren- 

 dered on violins and piano. One meets 



