Term*, Five Dollar* a Year. 
Ten Cent* a Copy. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1875. 
I Volume -1, Number 19. 
, l 17 Chatham Si. (Cltylloll eqr.) 
For Forts C and Stream. 
<J %tvndn t Jfe bmitrnn s uni Sfn= 
IinbiUintn. 
N EVADA is decidedly a State of mountains and val- 
leys. The chief occupation of its inhabitants is min- 
ing its mountain regions, and cattle raising in the valleys, 
1 though there is more or less attention paid to the cultiva- 
tion of the soil in the valleys throughout the State. The 
principal productions are wheat, barley, oats and potatoes; 
I * but little Indian corn is raised, on account of the early 
frosts. The only means of watering the fields of grain and 
[j meadows in the valley is by irrigation, as but little rain 
falls during the season. Cattle do not require feeding dur- 
ing the Winter, although the snow may be six inches or 
even a foot deep. They thrive on the white sage and the 
tall grass, which grows in abundance in most of the val- 
leys throughout the State. Up to this time there has been 
no snow, but to-day snow is falling plentifully. Two 
years ago snow had fallen to the depth of two feet through- 
out the northern part of the State, thousands of cattle per- 
ishing with cold and hunger, wliich-.could not be avoided, 
as hay was not gathered in the Summer more than to serve 
their domesticated horses and cattle. Single individuals 
often own from one to ten thousand head of cattle, and 
one man owns fifty thousand head; during this season he 
lost ten thousand head, so that it will bo readily seen that 
to provide for cattle here as in the Eastern States during 
the Winter would be utterly impossible. 
Ban Francisco is the great cattle market for this State 
and California. These vast herds of cattle do not cost 
their owners more than the necessary expense of procuring 
help to look after them and mark and brand the calves. 
There are no fences to mark the boundary line between 
ranches; indeed fences are not used, except occasionally to 
enclose a small garden. After the cattle are collected in 
the Spring for the purpose of marking and branding, they 
are turned loose into the mountain ranges, where grass 
grows luxuriantly on the mountain sides and in their vast 
cafions, which is called bunch grass. It is very rich and 
eweet. These cafions afford water for the herds during 
the Summer months. After the crops are harvested on 
the rauches the cattle are brought from the mountains into 
the valleys, where they are allowed to remain until the 
herding season in the Spring. The cattle belonging to dif- 
ferent owners mingle together, and it not uufrequently 
happens that they wander from fifty to one hundred miles 
from their ranch when collected and brought back in the 
Spring. 
■ The herding of cattle is an exciting business. Every man 
and boy who is able to ride, within an area of twenty miles, 
is mounted on a pony with whip and lariat. The lariat is 
manufactured from the green rawhide, is suple and pliable 
as a string, and will hold any bullock or wild horse. This 
is made fast to the horn of the saddle— for all use Mexican 
saddles in this country, which are secured to the horses by 
a girth a foot wide, made of hair; this is drawn as taut as 
possible by the strength of a man, and fastened by a strap 
to un iron ring on the side of the saddle. This being done 
the saddle cannot turn when the lariat is thrown over the 
horns of a bullock or the head of a wild horse. Ten thous- 
and cattle may be herded in one drove, owned by many 
different parties, perhaps, aud all herded on an open plain 
and surrounded by men mounted on horseback to keep 
them together, while each owner in turn rides through the 
herd to “cut out" his own and drive them in a herd by 
themselves. This is no small task, for the cattle are wild 
and mostly of the Spanish breed. The metal of the horses 
ih often tested, ns well as the skill of the rider in this em- 
HBoyment. This work being finished, each owner drives 
his cattle home, and yards, marks and brands the calves. 
These yards are called corrals. When a large stock of 
cattle is owned by one individual it is necessary to keep 
horses to gather and herd them; in some coses it requires 
a« many as one hundred mustangs for this purpose. 
Clover Valley, from which I write, is one of the best and 
(Dost lovely valleys in the State, and embraces about forty 
miles in length north and south, and will average about 
fifteen miles in width. Humboldt Wells lie in its northern 
extremity. It is bounded on the west by a lofty range of 
shivered rocks and yawning canons, which afford an 
abundant supply of water for the valley. Nearly every 
mile perhaps a fresh cold stream comes dashing down 
through these openings along the mountain sides. From 
these streams ditches are cut in all directions to irrigate the 
vast meadows which lie beneath, stretched out to the op- 
posite mountains in the east. A peculiarity of these east- 
ern mountains is, that very little water oozes from their 
western slopes; but silver and galena are found in quanti- 
ties. Another remarkable feature is the vast number of 
streams which head in the mountains of Nevada east of 
the Sierras, which have no outlet. They either terminate 
like the Humboldt River, in a low morass, or are 
taken up by the meadows in the wild valleys. 
In the centre of Clover Valley, east and west towards its 
southern extremity, is a lake into which all the surplus 
water of the valley is deposited: but this has no outlet, and 
at some seasons of the year becomes nearly dry, but never 
entirely so. At the southern end of this valley a creek 
sufficiently large to run a mill breaks out of the base of 
the foot hills of the mountain, the water of which is too 
warm to drink, even at this season of the year. It evi- 
dently passes through a composition of minerals which im- 
part to it this heat by their chemical combination. The 
water is impregnated with lime, magnesia, sulphur aud 
borax. It is not unpleasant to the taste when cold, but if 
taken freely, operates as a cathartic. On this creek is a 
fine ranch of four hundred acres, with a public house fit- 
ted up with every convenience for the entertainment of 
guests who throDg this thoroughfare from Humboldt 
Wells station on the north, through this and Ruby Vulley, 
to the southern part of the State. This ranch belongs to 
tho estate of the late Mr. Broomfield. A few miles south 
of this in Ruby Valley, which is only separated from this 
by a few low foot hills, are found about fifty hot springs, 
all within a few rods of each other. The temperature of 
these springs varies very much; some are boiling hot; food 
is often cooked in them, and the farmers near by, when 
butchering, scald their hogs in them. The depth of these 
springs has never been ascertained. Steam rises from these 
springs Winter and Summer, and the amount of water in 
them always remains tho same. Calk center is formed in 
large masses around all of these springs. 
Humboldt Wells are another curiosity. They form the 
source of Humboldt River. There are a number of these 
wells, which are of different forms and sizes, and they rise 
like the hot springs of Ruby Valley, out of a smooth, 
sunken valley- Though often attempted, these springs 
have never been sounded. The water is cold and clear, 
and of a good quality for use. It was by these wells that 
the old emigrant road passed in going to California, and 
was made a camping place for the weary and worn trav- 
eler. The rich bottom grass flourishes at all seasons of the 
year. In crossing the dry barrens over the Rocky Mount- 
ains the wagon wheels would become unsafe from shrink- 
age; Humboldt Wells was a convenient place for repairs 
and to recruit man and beast. One time a company of 
emigrants reached the wells with wagons rickety from a 
long journey through a dry country. Their wagon wheels 
were immediately taken off and thrown into one of the 
wells to expand by the dampness and tighten the tire. To 
their dismay tho next morning they could not be found, as 
they had settled to the bottom of the well, and they could 
not procure a rope of sufficient length to reach the bottom. 
Although water flows through the mountain streams in 
great abundance, there are vast tracts in the valleys lying 
uncultivated because they cannot be irrigated, for the rea- 
son that they are higher than the streams. These unculti- 
vated soils are rich and fertile, aud covered with a heavy 
growth of wild sage, which grows to the height of two 
feet and has a strong odor, like sage, and the leaf very much 
resembles our domestic sage; but nothing will eat this 
shrub but a large gray hen, as large our domestic fowl. 
These are called sago hens, and are quite a9 good food as 
the prairie chicken. The sage hens go in flocks, and are 
^ — — 
quite numerous. They are not found east of the Rooky 
Mountains. The wild sage grows very rank, with half a 
dozen shoots or stalks coming up from the root, each as 
large as a man's arm, and is of a woody texture. Indians 
use it much for fuel. Irrigation kills it; it cannot enduro 
water, hence it only grows on high and dry ground. Could 
artesian wells be sunk in these elevated places many thous- 
ands of acres of the best lands in these valleys could be 
utilized. Applications have been made to the U. 8. Gov- 
ernment to give such lauds to parties who would sink wells 
for the purpose of irrigating them, but as yet no action 
has been taken. 
The valleys of Nevada afford no timber except the wild 
sage, which in some places occupies miles in extent. Some- 
times will be seen growing along the foot hills of the moun- 
tains a kind of juniper, or what the people call cedur, 
though not to bo compared to tho cedar of the Eastern 
States. These trees grow of sufficient size and length for 
fence posts, but only one can be obtained from a tree. The 
timber is found on the mountain sides and in tho enfiona. 
These cafions commence high up in the mountains and 
extend down through the foot hills to the open plains. In 
the lower end of these cafions is often found a heavy 
growth of aspen, or a species of poplar; this is used for 
building purposes and for fencing corrula for the cuttle. 
The first houses built in Nevada were made of aspen tim- 
ber in the following manner: Logs were cut of eight or 
nine feet in length, sharpened at one end and driven into 
the ground, or placed -in holes dug for the purpose, up 
right, and as closely together as possible; then timbers laid 
across the top, close together, with grass thrown on them 
and then covered with earth. Sometimes a floor was laic 
and sometimes it was not; then by cutting a doorway and 
windows the house was complete, excepting the plastering 
up of chinks with mud. Having but little rain In this 
country such a building would be comfortable in Winter 
and Summer for many years. Many men worth thousands 
of dollars live in such nouses. At the present time there 
are many good frame and brick dwellings in the valleys. 
The principal timber found on the mountain sides i9 
mahogany and pine. The mahogony is a very hard and 
heavy wood. The bodies of the trees are very short, like 
all timber growing in high altitudes, but some of them 
are large with large and gnarled tops. This wood takes a 
beautiful polish and makes the most beautiful furniture, 
but in consequence of its gnarled and winding grain is very 
hard to work. Pine is the principal wood for fuel in the 
State. It also has a short body, never above twenty or 
thirty feet long; but some of them grow very large tl the 
base, tapering to a point at the top. The branches of this 
pine are large and long, and are given off at ubout ten or 
twelve feet from the ground. There is also a species of 
the yellow or pitch pine, with burrs growing on them ro- 
sembling those of the yellow pine of the Eastern States, 
but unlike the pine of the East each husk or folding of tho 
burr has a nut deposited at its root, so that in one burr 
there will be from thirty to forty nuts, which are as large 
a marrowfat pea, though oval in shape. One large tree 
will yield a bushel or two of nuts. These, like peaouts, 
are roasted before eaten. The inhabitants call this by tho 
name of nut pine. The Indians used these nuts for food 
before the whites settled the country. They are very pala- 
table, having a slight piney taste. Rev. A. Chase. 
Warm Creek, Clover Val'ey , Nevada, January 18tA, 1875. 
Bite of the Rattlesnake.— A post office agent travel- 
ing in Texas, tells of the successful use of the gall of a 
rattlesnake as an autidote for the bite of that reptile. In 
the case spoken of relief was almost instantaneous to the 
patient, who was writhing in paroxysms of great pain, rap- 
idly swelling and becoming purple. A friend of the writer, 
who spent several years In California and New Mexico, 
saw the same remedy successfully used among the Indians 
in the latter country. In one instance an Indian’s dog near 
the camp was bitten In the nose by a large rattlesnake. 
The Indians immediately opened the reptile and adminis- 
tered the gall. The cure was rapid and effectual.—#. 
yueltne (Fla.) Pr***. 
A 
