NEVADA'S DEAD TOWNS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 145, 19 June 1879, Page 4

NEVADA'S DEAD TOWNS.

'(Ssn Frpntico Bulletin) Nevada is one of llie vrry jouneest and wildest of the Sfnfpe, rjpverthplees it is alrPßdy p'rewn wirh ruins thnt spem aft c r <T fl nd fiilent ord Jimeworn a? if «ne civilisation (o whioh Ibey belo"n<?p<? had pprisbed centuripp opo. Yet Btrnnoe to pay, all theee ruina nr^ molts of wining ffforls mode within the lnßt few yrnre. Wnndpr whpr« yon mny thoroushout tbe lergth and breadth of this monnfain.bnrrpd wildernres, you everywhere come qpon theee dend mining 'own?, with iheir (nil chimney etnrks, standing fcrlorn nmid brokpn whllb and furnncee and machinery half buried in s«n<*, the very names of many of (hem already forgotten amid the excitement of later discoveries, and now known only through tradition ton years old. While exploring Ihe mouninin rnuntrs of the Rtnte during a ronnderaMe portion of three eummprs. .1 think thnt I have seen at least five of these deserted (owns and villages for every one in ordinary life. Some of them were probnb'y only camps boilt by bands of proapectorp, and inhabited for a few months or years, . whilfl some especially interesting canyon was being; explored, an 1 then carelessly Abandoned for more promising fields. But many were real towns, regularly laid out and incorporated, containing well built hotels, churches', scboolboases, poet-officep, and gaols, as well as (jhe mills od which they all depended; and whose well graded streets were filled with doctors, lawyers, brokers, bajjgmen, and real estate agentp, &c, (he whole population numbering several thousands. A few years ago the population of Hnmilton is said to have been nearly 8000; tbot of Treasure Hill 6000 ; of Shermanstown, 7000 ;} of Swansea, 3000. All of these were 'incorporated towns with mayor, council, fire department?, and daily newspapers. Hamilton has now about one hundred inhabitants, most of whom are merely waiting in dreary inaction for something to turn up. Treasure Hill has about half as many. Shermanstown one family, and Swansea none. While on the other hand the graveyards are far too full. In one canyon of the Toiyabe range, near Austin, I found no less than five dead towns, without a single inhabitant. Tbe streets and blocks of " real estate " graded on the hillsides are rapidly falling back into (he wilderness. Sage bushes are growing up around the forges of (he blacksmith's abops, and lizards bask on the crumbling walls. : , While travelling southward from Austin, down Big Smoky Valley, I Eotictd a remarkably tall and imposing . column, rising like a lone pine out of a sage dubli on the edge of a dryguloh. Thiß proved to be a smokestack of solid masonry,. seeming strangely of place in tbe desert, as if it had been transported entire from the heart of some noisy mbnufacturing town Sand left here by mistake. I harned afterwards that it belonged to a set of furnaces that were built by a j New York company to smelt ore that never was found. The tools of! tbe workmen were still lying iv place beside the furnaces, as if dopped in some sadden Indian or earthquake panic and never •afterwards bandied. Theee iinpcßing ruins, together with) the desolate town, lyjnga quarter of ajmile to, the northward, present, a most vivid . picture of 'wasted effort. Coyotes now wander unmolested .throngh the brushy streets, and of all thebusy throng! that 80 lavishly spent their time and money here, paly one remains — a lone bachelor with one suspender. Mining discoveries and progress, retrogression and decay, eeem to have been crowded more cloaely against each other here than on any other portion of the globe. Someone of tbe band of adventurons prospectors who came from the exlaueted placers of California, would discover some rich ore — how much or little mattered not at first. These specimens fell among excited seekers after wealth like sparks in gunpowder, and in a few days the wilderness was disturbed with the noisy clang of miners and builders. A little town would' then spring up, and before anything like a careful survey of any particular lode could he made, a company would be formed, and .' "espgofliite mills boilt. Then, after, all the machinery was ready for the ores, perhaps little, or cone at all, was to be found. Meanwhile another discovery is reported, and tbe ybong town is abandoned as completely as a camp made for a single, night; and so on, • until some really valuable lode is found, Bach as those of Eureka, AuetiD, Virginia, &c, which formed the sobstan tial ground wotk for a thousand other excitements. Paesing through the dead town of Schellbarn recently I aeked one of the few lingering inbabi(Bo(6 why the town was built. ; "For the mice*," he replied. And where are tbe mines ? "On the mountains back here." And why were they abandoned, I asked. Are they exbsosted ? •« Oh, no," ho replied. "They are not exhausted; on the i contrary they have never been worked at all, for unfortunately, just as we were about ready to open them, tbe Cherry Creek mines were discovered across the valley in tbe Eogan 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 Nevtd* were far more intense and ' tfwirbctiveio their actioo tbao those of

California, becnuee the prizes nt efake were prenfer, wliilo more skill was required (o pnin them. The long trains of gold sepfcprs tmkking Ilieir way to California hed ample time and moons to rpcovor from their first ntlnnks of mining fever while crawling laboriously across the plains, and on their arrival on any portion of the Sierra ooU belt, (hey at once began to oioke money. No motfer in what gulch or canyon ibey worked some mfiesure of success was sure, howerer unskilful (hey might be. And though making tpn dollars n day they mijjht bs ogitnted by hopes of rreking (wenty, or of striking their picks rgainst hundred or thousnnd dollar nuggets, men of ordinary nerve could still wotk on with comparative steadiness, end remain rational. But in case of the Nevada miner, he 100 often spent himself in weary search without gaining a dollar, travelling hundred of mile 3 from raoanlain ti rnounJnin, burdened with wasting hopes of discovering sorre hidden vein worth millions, enduring hardships of (he most destructive kind, while his »eeayed specimens again and again proved worthless. Perhaps one in, a hundred of these brave prospectors would " strike it rich," while ninetynine died alone in the mountains or sank out of of sight in the corners of aaloons. The healthful ministry of wealth is blessed; and surely it is a fine thing that 80 many are eager to find the gold and silver (hat lies hid in the veins of the mountains. But in the search the seekers too often become inaane, and strike 'about blindly in tbe dark like raving madmen. Seven hundred and fifty tons of ore from tbe original Eberbardt mine on Treasure Sill yielded a million and a half of dollars, the whole of this immense sum havijng been obtained within 250 feet of the surface, the greater portion within l; 40 feet. Other ore masses were soarcely less marvellously ricb, giving rise to one of the most violent excitements that ever occurred in the history of mining. All kinds of people, shoemakers, tailors, farmers, &c, as well as miners, left their own right work and fell ia a storm of energy en the While Piue Hills, covering the grouud like grasshoppers, and Beeming determined by the ve«*y violence of their efforts; to tarn every stone into eilver. But with few exceptions these rnioiog storms pass away as suddenly as they rise, leaving only ruins, to tell of the (remendous energy expended, as heaps of giant boulders in the valleys tell of the spent power of mountain floods, la marked contrast with this destructive unrest ie the orderly deliberation into which miners settle ia developing a truly valuable mine. At Eureka we were kindly led through ;tbe treasure chambers of the Richmond and Eureka Consolidated, our guides leisurely leading the way from level to level, calling attention to the precious ore masses which the workmen were slowly breaking to pieces with their picks, like navvies wearing away (the day in a railroad cutting ; while down at tbe smelting works the bars of bullion were handled with less eager haste than the farmer shows in gathering' his V sheaves. The wealth Nevada has? already 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 sacrifices, the innumerable tuntiels 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, bo eagerly sought after by travellers, have something pleasing about them, whatever historical associations ; for they at least lend some beauty to tbe 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 moßaes, fresh j life and decay mingling in pleasing measures, and the whole vanishing softly like a ripe, tranquil day fading iinto night. So, also, among the older ijuihs of the East there is a fitness felt. They have served their time, and like' the weather-beaten mountains are wasting harmoniously. The same; is in gome degree true of the dead J mining towns of California. But those; of Nevada waste in the dry wilderness likoj fche bones of cattle 1 that have died of ■thirst., Many of them do not represent ; any, good accomplishment, and have no right? to be, They are monuments of fraud and ignorance — sins against j science. The drifts and tunnels in the i rocks may perhaps be regarded as the prayers of the prospector, offered for the wealth he so earnestly craves. But like prayers of any kind not in harmony with nature, they are unanswered But after all, effort, however miaapplied, ia better than stagnation. Better toil, blindly beating every sone in turn for grains of gold, whether they contain any or not, than lie waste in apathetic decay. The fever period is fortunately passing away. The prospector is no longer the raving, wandering ghoul of ten years ago, rushing in random lawlessness among the hills, hungry and footsore j but cool and skilful, well supplied with every necessary, and clad in his right mind. Capitalists, too, and the public in general, have become wiser, and do riot take fire so readily from mining sparks; while at the same time a vast; amount of real work is being done, and the ratio between" growth and decay is \ constantly becoming better.