The water in most of the rivers and creeks is wholesome and palatable throughout their entire course, that of the mountain rills being always excellent. The lower the stage of water and the further we go down the stream the more impure it becomes; the water of the lower Humboldt being, late in the season, hardly fit to drink, owing to the accumulated impurities here diffused through a smaller volume. In consequence of the waste from evaporation and absorption, most of the larger streams lose as much water from these causes as they gain from their tributaries, of which they have very few, imparting to the rivers of this region the further peculiarity of being quite as large, and sometimes even larger, near their sources than they are at their points of termination. The Humboldt supplies a good example of this kind, it being considerably smaller where it enters the lake than it is two hundred miles above, throughout all which distance it can hardly be said to have a single tributary, not a stream of any size discharging directly into it, even in the wet season. As before stated, most of these streams, as well as the valleys through which they flow, are destitute of timber, the latter, with few and inconsiderable exceptions, being confined to the mountains. In the Reese River valley proper, nearly one hundred miles long, there is not a stick of timber large enough for a fence rail, many others, of equal extent, being quite as badly off in this respect. Without trees, and containing but little verdure, these immense valleys and plains present for the most part a very dreary and monotonous appearance, many of the latter justly meriting the appellation of desert, so often applied to them. The water in the creeks running from the mountains is always good, and, as in some of the ranges these are numerous and occasionally quite large, they become objects of importance, not only as supplying the ordinary wants of the inhabitants, but as furnishing the means for irrigation and a considerable amount of propulsive power, their descent being uniformly great. The narrow strips of alluvial land found along some of these mountain rills, as well as the bottoms at their mouths, are generally covered with a growth of scrubby trees, consisting of birch, willow, cottonwood, &c. All the lakes, as well as the larger and some of the smaller streams, contain fish, some of which, the mountain trout, are excellent. The fish taken in most of the lakes and along the lower portions of the streams, however, are of an inferior kind, or the better species deteriorated through the impurities of the watèr.

Springs-thermal, mineral, and otherwise. In the matter of springs, Nevada is considerably better off than in regard to streams of running water, the former in some parts of the State being quite numerous, many of them, either as to size, temperature, or the composition of their waters, justly accounted geological curiosities. They occur at all attitudes and under nearly every peculiarity of condition, large and small, deep and shallow, cold, hot and tepid; in a state of ebullition and quiescence, impregnated with every variety of mineral and metallic substance, and perfectly pure. Sometimes they are found isolated, and at others standing in groups. Some send off steam and emit a gurgling or hissing noise, while others do neither. Some of these groups contain as many as forty or fifty springs, varying from one foot to thirty in diameter, and in depth from two feet to a hundred or more. In shape they incline to be circular.

The mineral and thermal springs are usually situated upon a mound or tumulus formed from the calcareous or silicious particles brought up and deposited by their own waters. These mounds often cover several acres, their summits being raised to a height of forty or fifty feet above the adjacent plains. In some cases the sides of the springs are formed of these limy or silicious concretions, raising them in huge basins several feet above the level of the mounds themselves, while in others they are composed simply of earth or turf. The water in most of them is soft and agreeable to the taste when cold, and so transparent that the minutest object can be seen on the bottom of the deepest spring; even the small orifices through which the water enters being distinctly visible. Fre

quently a hot and a cold spring are situate so close together that a person placed between them may dip one hand into each at the same time. From most of them a small stream issues, the water in many merely keeping even with the top, 'while in others it does not rise so high. Occasionally one is met with that has already become extinct, a condition to which others seem rapidly, and perhaps all are gradually approaching. These fountains, both the thermal and mineral, are much used by the Indians as a cleansing or curative means, and there is little doubt but some of them possess rare medicinal virtues. Several of them have already become places of much resort with invalids, the sulphurous and chalybeate waters being found particularly efficacious in a variety of diseases. To the Steamboat springs, in Washoe county, the largest number have thus far repaired, more because of their greater accessibility than their superior sanitary properties. A few of these hot springs are subject to a tidal action, belching forth at times large quantities of water, followed by a subsidence that may last for months or years.

A chemical analysis of the waters of Steamboat springs shows them to contain in various proportions the chlorides of sodium and magnesium, with soda in different forms, lime, silica, and a small per cent. of organic matter. Similar tests made of the waters from other springs disclose nearly the same constituent salts, with the addition in some cases of sulphur and iron. Some of the cold springs, especially those found in the larger valleys, are quite as remarkable for their depth and dimensions as the thermals. It frequently happens that the streams from the mountains, after sinking, reappear in the form of springs along the sides or out in the middle of the valleys. Some of these are of but ordinary size, while others are immense pools, from twenty to eighty feet in diameter, and over one hundred feet deep, some of them sending off considerable streams of pure cold water. Not all the cold springs, however, are free from disagreeable or deleterious minerals; many of those found on the plains being highly offensive and injurious. From some of them even animals, though suffering with thirst, refuse to drink.

The salt beds.-These constitute not only a notable feature in the chorography, but also an important item in the economical resources of Nevada. There are a number of these salt fields in different parts of the State; they, like the alkali flats and mud lakes, being confined to the valleys and plains in which they cover the points of greatest depression, the most of them being adjacent to or encompassed by a belt of alkali lands. The heavier deposits are, no doubt, of lacustrine origin, occupying what were formerly the basins of inland seas or extended salt lakes. Their formation, it would seem probable, was brought about by the subsidence of these lakes through evaporation or other more violent causes, whereby the entire saline contents of their waters were collected and precipitated at these points, the strata of clay interposed between the different layers of salt being the result of floods occurring at various periods. Situate, however, in valleys from which the waters, having no escape, spread out over large surfaces and soon evaporate, leaving the salt and other solid substances with which they are charged behind, the formation of these saliniferous beds may, perhaps, be sufficiently accounted for by the agents and operations now in action, without presupposing the existence of others about which less is known. Of the considerable number found in the State, three of these beds at least merit special notice, because of the abundance and purity of their product, and the facility with which it can be gathered. That at Sand springs, Churchill county, seventy miles east of Virginia City, extends over several hundred acres, a portion of it being covered with water to the depth of a few inches. Under this is a stratum of pure coarse salt nearly a foot thick, and which only requires to be gathered in heaps or thrown on a platform in order to drain off the water, which is soon accomplished, when it is ready for sacking. Under this top layer is another composed of clay of equal, and, in places, of greater thickness

beneath which again occurs another body of salt, but of what magnitude is unknown, the ascertainment of this point being of no practical moment, inasmuch as the salt taken out above immediately reforms, the space soon filling up with new depositions from the super-saturated water. This bed is owned by a company who take out from it over half a million pounds of salt per month, the mills and reduction works about Virginia City obtaining their supplies here, and consuming the most of this large quantity, a little being ground up for table use. The company dispose of this salt ready for sacking at $20 per ton on the ground, the freight to Virginia being about $30. Having their own teams, however, they are able to deliver it at the mills for $40 per ton, a sum considerably below what the freight alone would be for transporting the article from San Francisco, whence, for several years at first, it was wholly derived, the freights at that time varying from $120 to $180 per ton. At these prices, adding first cost-say $12 per ton-many thousand tons were consumed by the mills in Nevada prior to 1863, when they began packing it in from the salt pools situate forty-five miles southeast of Walker lake, whereby the price was somewhat reduced. These pools, like the water at Sand springs, being supersaturated with salt, deposit it to a depth of several inches about their borders, renewing it in a short time when taken away. After the discovery of the bed at Sand springs, it being much nearer Virginia, salt ceased to be brought to that place from these pools, though the mills about Aurora still continue to obtain their supplies there. To the cheapened price of this community is the present diminished cost of reducing silver ores in Nevada somewhat due, the annual saving thus effected being in some of the larger establishments equivalent to a hundred thousand dollars or more.

About fifty miles north of Sand springs, being also in Churchill county, though near the line of Humboldt, is another and still more extensive salt bed than that already described, its superficial area being nearly twenty square miles. It does not differ, except in extent, from that at Sand springs; the water here also, instead of covering, coming only to within a few inches of the surface. At this place there is first an inch of dry white salt on top, then six inches of wet, overlying a stratum of tough mud, or blue clay, a foot and a half thick, and filled with cubical crystals of salt, some of them several inches square and bearing a strong resemblance to ice. Under this clay comes another layer of clean, coarse salt, reaching downward to an unknown depth. This field is also owned by a company who have erected a railway for running out, a platform for drying, and a house for storing their salt. Owing to its distance from the chief point of consumption, Virginia City, but little of this salt has been sent to that place, though the Humboldt mills and those at Austin, in part, have drawn from here their supply. Large as is this bed, it is surpassed by another situate in Nye, or possibly in Esmeralda county, the location of the boundary between the counties being not yet well settled. This deposit is about one hundred and twenty miles S. SW. from Austin, and seventy miles in the same direction from Ione, the shire town of Nye county. This bed covers more than fifty square miles, over nearly all which the salt, clean, dry, and white, being the pure chloride of sodium, lies to a depth varying from six inches to two feet. This is the surface deposit, what there may be below never having been ascertained, nor does it matter, the amount in sight being ample to supply the wants of the whole world for centuries, could it but be readily furnished at the points where required; and though at present of so little avail, when railroads come to be extended into these regions, there is no doubt but salt can be shipped to California, and perhaps to more distant localities with profit. Though sold on the ground by the companies claiming these beds at one cent per pound, and sometimes for less, this salt should be afforded at a price scarcely more than the bare cost of gathering it up-in most instances a mere nominal sum. Upon the great saliniferous field of Nye county millions of tons could be shovelled up lying dry

and pure upon the surface to a depth varying from six inches to three feet, with most likely still more heavy bodies below. This, like the more limited beds elsewhere, is claimed by private individuals, either under some of the various land laws of the United States, or enactments of the State of Nevada, or perhaps by virtue of certain regulations similar to those adopted by the mining community, and which hitherto have constituted the tenure of their mining properties. As a means of guarding against combinations that might unduly enhance the price of a commodity so largely used and so indispensable in the reduction of silver ores, it might be expedient for the general government to take measures to prevent these salt beds being so completely monopolized by private parties, as is otherwise likely to be the case. Besides these more extensive beds, there are numerous plains upon which the salt is deposited to the depth of an inch or more by the process of efflorescence, the soil being damp and impregnated with saline matters to a greater or less degree. At these spots the salt, generally mixed with a small percentage of foreign matter, such as soda, lime, or magnesia, is gathered by simply scraping it in heaps upon the surface, which operation must be performed in the dry season, the smallest amount of rain causing it to dissolve and wholly disappear. It reforms, however, with fair weather, and when removed is speedily replaced by new depositions, being in this respect like the heavier beds, practically inexhaustible. This admixture of foreign matter does not seem to impair its value for the reduction of ores, though rendering it unfit for culinary uses. From one of these plains, situate in Big Smoky valley, forty-five miles south of Austin, the mills at that place and elsewhere in the Reese river region obtain their principal supplies of salt, it being furnished on the ground at one cent a pound; and as the average cost of hauling to the mills is not over twenty dollars per ton, the latter get this article at a comparatively moderate price. Upon these salt fields there are no signs of animal or vegetable life, though it is a singular circumstance, that coming up through the saline incrustation, near the edge of the largest of them, is a fine spring of pure cold water; similar springs being found either upon or in close juxtaposition to others. The deposits of salt in this region are not confined to these beds or plains; it sometimes occurs in elevated positions, the strata often, in the aggregate many feet thick, being imbedded in hilis and mounds of such extent as to almost justify their being called mountains. One of these, situate in the newly created but not yet organized county of Lincoln, in the extreme southeastern corner of the State, covers an area of several thousand acres, the layers being composed of cubical blocks of salt, often a foot square, nearly pure, and as transparent as window glass. There are elsewhere in the State other mounds of salt, the strata separated by layers of earth, similar to this, but none, so far as known, of equal magnitude.

Lumber and fuel. The only timber in the State capable of making really good lumber is that growing on the eastern slope and along the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. A species of white pine is found in scattered groves on some of the mountains in the interior and eastern part of the State, but the trees are comparatively small, not more than two or three feet in diameter and forty or fifty feet high, the wood being soft and brittle. As we have seen, there is but little timber of any kind in the valleys, most of them containing none at all, while many of the mountains are equally destitute. The prevailing tree, where there is any east of the Sierra Nevada, is the piñon-a species of scrubby pine, having a low, bushy trunk, from six to twelve inches through and from fifteen to thirty feet high. Having a close fibre and being full of resin, it is heavy and burns well even when green, being equal to most kinds of hard wood in the amount of heat it gives out, and constituting a very valuable kind of fuel. Mixed with these forests of piñon there are sometimes a few juniper trees and mountain mahogany-neither of any service for lumber, though the latter, when dry, is an excellent fuel. Along most of the larger streams, as stated, there are

a few cottonwoods and small willows; while, in some of the mountain cañons, these, together with birch, ash, and cherry, are found, all, however, of a dwarfish growth, and, though serviceable for fencing, not of much use for making lumber. With such a scarcity of good timber the better qualities of lumber command high prices in most parts of Nevada. Thus, at Virginia City, though within eighteen miles of the best timber lands, the price varies from $40 to $60, according to kind and quality. The further we go east the higher the price rules; the same quality of lumber that can be bought at the mills in the sierra for $20, in Carson for $30, and in Virginia City for $45, per thousand, costs $120 in Austin, where, at the same time, that made from the white-pine growing in the vicinity can be bought for $60, and fire-wood for a little more than half the price it is in Virginia. Much of the lumber employed in the erection of mills and the construction of machinery about Austin, as well as a large proportion of that used on other buildings in that place, has cost from $120 to $200 per thousand, it being considerably cheaper now than it was several years ago. Worthless as this piñon is for the purposes of lumber, many of the houses in the smaller towns in the interior are built of it--a face being hewn upon two sides of the stick, which is then set on end, the houses being constructed on the stockade plan. It is also used, where easily obtained, for building corrals, and to some extent for fencing; but, being hard and knotty as well as of small size, it requires much labor to prepare it for even the most common use. Wherever this tree is at all abundant, fuel can be obtained, delivered at the mills, for from $4 to $5 per cord, and sometimes a little less. In most parts of Churchill and Humboldt counties the price is higher, owing to the greater scarcity of timber or the difficulty of getting it down from the mountains. In Star City and Unionville, Humboldt county, juniper-a very poor kind of fuel-costs from $10 to $12 per cord. Where timber is scarce, sage-brush and other resinous shrubs-these being found nearly everywhere in the country-are used for fuel; even some of the mills, as the Sheba in Humboldt, and several others, having employed them wholly or in part for generating steam, for which purpose they answer very well, save the trouble of keeping the furnaces supplied, because of the rapidity with which they are consumed. In Virginia City and vicinity wood now costs from $12 to $16 per cord, the price varying with the quality. These are about the rates that have obtained there since the settlement of the place, though at times much higher have ruled when the season was inclement or the article scarce. Coal, or rather lignite, has been discovered at several places in the State, yet none of these deposits have as yet furnished more than a few hundred tons of fuel, nor have they thus far been sufficiently developed to determine their capacity and value in this respect. At Crystal Peak, on the Truckee, near the California line, a considerable amount of work has been done in the exploration of coal-beds supposed to exist at that point; and the prospect for finding there a large deposit of at least a moderately good fuel, is by experts considered encouraging. Beds of peat that burns well have also been found at one or two places in the State. A railroad-which can now be counted on as likely to be built within the next two years, connecting the Virginia mining district with the heavy forests of the Sierra Nevada-must tend to greatly diminish the cost of fuel and lumber, both of which are required in enormous quantities in the business of raising and reducing the ores, the erection of buildings, timbering the mines, &c.; the sums annually expended on this account, though scarcely so large now as formerly, amounting to over $2,000,000, nearly one-half of which it is believed might be saved through the aid of a railroad. When the Central Pacific railroad, now in rapid progress of construction across the sierra, shall have been built down the Truckee river-as it is calculated it will be within a year and a half from this time-it will pass a point not more than sixteen or eighteen miles distant from Virginia City, which would be the length of a branch road required. for connecting this place with the main trunk, and through it with the heavily H. Ex. Doc. 29——7