Ophir.—This town, three miles south of Washoe City, on the west side of Washoe Lake, at one time contained two or three hundred inhabitants. Here was situated a big seventy-stamp mill erected by the Ophir Mining Company at a cost of over $500,000. To reach this mill with ores from the Ophir Mine a bridge a mile in length was built across the north end of Washoe Lake, at a cost of $75,000. The ores were amalgamated by the barrel or Freyburg process, and everything was on a grand scale, the buildings covering over an acre of ground.
Franktown.—This town, one mile south of Ophir, was originally settled by Mormons (about the same time of the settlement at Genoa). Mormon fashion, it was laid off in four-acre lots, and small streams of water ran through all the streets. Here John Dall had a thirty-stamp water mill, and there were several other mills on Franktown Creek. The town had over two hundred inhabitants in 1869.
At one time there were in operation in Washoe County ten mills (four or five near Washoe City), having an aggregate of 281 stamps, but the completion of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad to the Carson River was sudden death to all the mills, and killed all the towns. All the ore went to the river.
Wadsworth, on the Central Pacific, thirty-four miles east of Reno, is a bright and growing little town. It is situated at the “Big Bend” of the Truckee River, a place well known to those whotoiled across the plains in the early days. The place contains about 600 inhabitants. In it are the machine shops, round-house, and freight depot of the Central Pacific, and many good and substantial buildings, both public and private. Before the Carson and Colorado Railroad was built, Wadsworth was a shipping-point for many mining towns and camps to the southward. It still has a very fair trade.
Verdi, eleven miles west of Reno, on the Central Pacific, is a pleasant little lumbering town on the Truckee River, at the eastern base of the Sierras. It is a town of saw-mills and of manufactories of articles made of wood. In the way of mills and machinery Verdi contains a large amount of valuable property.
All visitors to the Pacific Coast who are lovers of the beautiful and picturesque in natural scenery, will endeavor to spend some time at Lake Tahoe. Taking into consideration the surroundings, there is nowhere in the world a more grandly beautiful mountain lake. The lake lies between the eastern and western summit ridges of the main ridge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, at an elevation of 6,247 feet above the level of the sea. Its length is a little over twenty-one miles, and its width about twelve miles. Roughly it has the form of a parallelogram, lying nearly north and south, about one-third in Nevadaand the remainder in California. It has an area of 204 square miles, as is shown by measurements made in four places across its width, and longitudinally (north and south) in three places. Its greatest depth is 1,800 feet.
It is shut in and surrounded on all sides by mountains that rise to a height of from 2,000 to 5,000 feet above its surface. The lake evidently occupies an extinct volcanic crater of great size. Soundings show in the bottom a deep channel or crevice which extends nearly the whole length of the lake in a north and south direction. In this the depth is everywhere from 1,500 to 1,700 feet. The deepest spot (1,800 feet) is toward the south end of the lake, in front of Mount Tallac. The water is of great purity and crystal clearness, and never freezes.
The lake receives the waters of fifty-one creeks and brooks, the largest of which is the Upper Truckee, which falls in at the south end. It also receives the aqueous contributions of almost innumerable ravines, gorges, and canyons. It drains an area of over 500 square miles, composed largely of lofty mountains on which the snow falls to a depth of many feet, and by the melting of which the numerous streams are fed. There are also many living springs on the sides of the surrounding mountains, with a great number (both hot and cold) along the shores of the lake, and doubtless a much larger number deep beneath its surface. The only outlet of the lake is the TruckeeRiver, at its northwest corner. This outlet, which forms the head of the Truckee River, is fifty feet in width, has an average depth of five feet, and a velocity of six feet a second, making the discharge 123,120,000 cubic feet in twenty-four hours, in early spring when the snow in the mountains is rapidly melting.
Since it was first seen by white men the lake has been given several different names. Tahoe is popularly supposed to be a Washoe Indian word, that means “big water.” Some say the word means “deep water,” “clear water,” “elevated water,” or “bright water.” The Washoe Indians themselves say they know nothing about the word. Fremont saw it in 1844, and simply called it “Mountain Lake.” It was once mapped as “Lake Bonpland,” and in 1859 was mapped by Dr. Henry De Groot as “Lake De Groot.” It was also once known as “Lake Bigler,” being so named by some in honor of a Democratic Governor of California, and the name is still used by some of the strait-laced among the Democracy. Tahoe, whatever it may mean, is a name now so universally acknowledged and so firmly fixed that it is not likely that it will ever be supplanted by any other.
Lake Tahoe is surrounded on all sides by mountains that have an elevation of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above its surface. Mount Tallac towers to a height of 11,000 feet above the level of the sea; Pyramid Peak, 10,000; Monument Peak, 10,000;Rubicon Peaks, fifteen miles west of the lake, 9,284; Job’s Peak, 10,637; Sand Mountain, back of Rowland’s, 8,747 feet; and Bald Mountain, Mount Pluto, Mount Anderson, Old Hat, Mount Ellis, Barker’s Peak, Table Mountain, the Cliffs, the Needles, and many other peaks, rise to a height of over 8,000 feet. On all sides great old peaks stand about gazing down forever upon their reflected images in the lake below. It is a grand convocation of mountains, a convention of granite peaks, gray and ancient. In a circle about the lake stand pine-clad mountains, snow-clad mountains, and unclad mountains that are merely stupendous piles of granite—granite cathedrals piled up by nature for the delectation of those of her votaries that ever gladly worship at her shrine.
In places towering rocks stand quite near the water, and around the shores are so many bays and inlets, so many jutting points and tongues of land, that there is a constant change of views—an endless succession of either grand or picturesque effects. A single cliff—as Shakespeare Rock—seen from different points and distances, takes a dozen different shapes, and so of all prominent capes and caves. The distance round the shores of the lake is 144 miles, and may be said to represent that many miles of landscape panorama of unrivaled beauty and grandeur. Volumes have already been written descriptive of the wonders and the beauties of Lake Tahoe, and innumerable volumes will still be written as the ages pass,yet to comprehend the place it must be seen andfelt.
It speaks well for Lake Tahoe that its beauties are appreciated and prized by persons living near by in California and Nevada, and that it is a favorite place of summer resort with the people everywhere on the Pacific Coast. In the Bible it is said: “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house,” and the same may generally be said of celebrated natural objects, but it is different in the case of Tahoe—the grand and picturesque scenery of the lake is admired and esteemed at home. It is not only looked upon as being a great sanitarium of the Pacific Coast, but also as a grand store-house of all the delights of mountain scenery. In Tahoe the careworn and debilitated find a cure for both mind and body.
The water of the lake is as cold and pure as that of the best living springs, and it possesses wonderful charms—almost the transparency of the atmosphere. Near the shore, when shallow, it is of an emerald green here; in deep water, in the sunshine, it is of an ultramarine tinge, and in the shade an indigo blue. Tossing, distant, deep water in certain lights assumes tints of purple and violet, with beautiful flashes of ruby. Seated in a boat on the lake in a calm, one may see the stones and pebbles at the bottom, with trout cruising about, where the sounding line shows seventy-five feet of water. The whole dome of the sky, with every fleecy cloud, is there perfectly reflected.We are midway between the heavens above and the heavens below, gently rocking upon the waving veil of blue that separates the two firmaments.
It is difficult to swim in the lake. Some have supposed this to be on account of the great elevation and reduced atmospheric pressure on the water, rendering the lake less buoyant than bodies of fresh water at sea level. This, however, is a mistake. Water is only very slightly compressible. The great purity of the water of course renders it less dense than that of lakes holding minerals in solution, but it is the coldness of the water and the variety of the atmosphere that render swimming difficult and laborious.
The bodies of persons drowned in the lake (unless very near shore) are never again seen. The bodies of no fewer than ten or twelve white men are known to lie at the bottom of the lake; and no doubt among them lie the skeletons of not a few Indians. The lake is in some respects treacherous and dangerous. It is subject to sudden and heavy squalls. Fierce gusts of wind at times rush down the big canyons, and, striking the water, cause it to boil like a pot. These squalls are liable to capsize a sail-boat. Unless an experienced boatman be of the party, it is best to have the sail in hand, that it may be let go in a moment. The squalls generally plunge down the canyons and gorges on the west side of the lake.
The route of the passenger steamers round the lake is near the shores. These are in some places rockyand in others level. In the mountain gorges and on the ridges are pines and various other evergreen trees, but down near the edge of the water are small groves of quaking asp, willow, and other trees of deciduous foliage.
At the Hot Springs is a good hotel, bathing houses, and other accommodations. At Tahoe City will also be found good hotels, boats, fishing tackle, and all such little sporting supplies as the visitor is likely to require. McKinney’s, at Sugar Pine Point, on the west side of the lake, is a popular place of resort and possesses many attractions. At Glenbrook, on the east side of the lake, are good hotel accommodations, and there may also be had boats, fishing tackle, and all ordinary supplies. In many charming nooks and valleys around the shores are hotels and cottages for the accommodation of visitors.
Emerald Bay.—One of the most beautiful spots about Lake Tahoe is Emerald Bay. It is the gem of the place. The bay is situated at the south end of the lake. It is 2½ miles long and 1¼ wide, nearly as large as Donner Lake. The entrance to it is through a channel less than 200 yards in width, but containing a depth of water sufficient to float a man-of-war. Emerald Bay is surrounded by grand and picturesque mountains, the peaks of which are 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, and some of which rise precipitously to a height of 4,000 feet above the surface of the bay. The water is nearly always of a beautifulemerald green. In the bay is a rocky and romantic little island of about three acres, on which is a handsome little cottage. On the island is a tomb excavated in the rock by an old boatman known as “Captain Dick.” Captain Dick fondly hoped that this tomb would be his last resting-place, but his body lies at the bottom of the lake. In October, 1873, his boat was capsized in a furious squall, and Captain Dick was never seen again.
Emerald Bay, with 519 acres of surrounding land, belongs to the estate of the late Dr. P. T. Kirby, of Virginia City, who at the time of his death was about to build a fine and commodious hotel. Before his death, however, he had built over a dozen neat cottages. Heretofore, owing to lack of accommodations there, many tourists have failed to visit this bay, the most beautiful nook about the lake, but it will now at once become a favorite haunt of all lovers of the grand, picturesque, and beautiful. The island is a little gem, and has about it a style that gives it almost the appearance of being a toy constructed by a landscape gardener. It has been very appropriately named “Coquette Island.” It rises to a height of about 200 feet above the surface of the bay. At the south end of the bay are the “Lovers’ Falls.” These falls are high up on the side of a steep and rocky mountain. They are on a small creek which makes many leaps down perpendicular terraces of rock. The falls are supposed to have been the favorite tryst of a Digger chief and his Washoe lady-love.
Fallen Leaf Lake.—This lake lies one mile south of Lake Tahoe, and about three miles south of Emerald Bay. It is a beautiful sheet of water two miles in length and a mile in width. It has an outlet into Lake Tahoe.
Silver Lake.—Silver Lake is a perfect little beauty in its way, but is seldom visited; as it lies high on the side of a mountain which is covered with chaparral. It is about half as large as Fallen Leaf Lake, from which it is distant two miles in a northwest direction.
Cornelian Bay.—This bay lies north of Tahoe City, and has a smooth, pebbly beach, where are found agates, cornelians, and jasper of several colors. To sail along the shore the distance from Tahoe City is seven miles.
Agate Bay.—Agate Bay is a place similar to that just described. It lies a short distance west of the Hot Springs.
Crystal Bay.—This beautiful cove forms the extreme north end of Lake Tahoe. It lies northeast of Hot Springs.
Shakespeare Rock.—In sailing round the lake from Tahoe City to Glenbrook several picturesque rocky points, studded with stately pines, will be seen, also Shakespeare Rock, which is a cliff towering high above the level of the lake. On the face of this cliff are seen ridges, fissures, and patches of color which at a distance resolve themselves into the likeness of the face of the immortal dramatist.
Cave Rockis passed before reaching Glenbrook. It is about 300 feet in height and seen from the deck of the steamer, towers upward like the castle of some “Blue Beard” giant of the Sierras. It has in its face a yawning cavern some 80 feet in depth. In this dark cave one might suppose the giant to live.
Glenbrookis on the east side of the lake near a large cave. Here are several large saw-mills, owned by Yerington, Bliss & Co., which manufacture an immense quantity of all kinds of lumber. The mills are furnished with electrical lights. The mill company have here a narrow-gauge railroad nine miles in length, which carries their lumber and timber to the flumes at the top of the mountain (Eastern Summit), whence it is floated down to the valley near Carson City.
Cascade Mountain, at the south end of the lake, is 9,500 feet in height. Near it are beautiful cascades, and from the top are to be seen a number of small lakes, and much wild and grand mountain scenery.
Rubicon Springs, which lie just over the Western Summit of the Sierras, are easily reached by a good stage road from McKinneys’. Here, on the headwaters of the Rubicon River, is some of the most charming scenery to be found anywhere in the mountains. There are innumerable nooks, in which the disposition and proportions of water, foliage, and rugged granite rocks is such that all would seem to have been arranged for the special delectation of theartist and the lover of nature. The water of the springs at this place possesses wonderful curative powers. No invalid ever left them with a feeling of disappointment, however highly they might have been recommended to him.
Besides the places named there are scores of nooks and corners, cliffs, streams, fountains, canyons, and gorges that are not even honored with a name, which in almost any other part of the world would be lauded to the skies, and which would attract swarms of visitors from great distances. There is not a spot about the lake that would not astound the dweller in the prairies of the West were he placed before it.
Persons in California, or tourists bound East, who wish to visit Tahoe will leave the Central Pacific at Truckee. The distance to the lake is but fourteen miles, over a good stage-road, which passes along up the Truckee River, amid grand and beautiful scenery. High, rocky, and picturesque mountains wall in the gorge through which winds the river and the road, and on all sides are groves of stately pines. In places where the walls recede from the stream are charming little nooks, valleys, and meadows. Indeed, at every turn in road and river new beauties are disclosed.
There are fresh surprises on every furlong of the road from Truckee to Tahoe City, which town is situated at the outlet of the lake which forms theTruckee River. At Tahoe City will be found good hotels and accommodations of all kinds. Here, too, will be found in waiting a steamer to carry the visitor round the lake to Glenbrook, passing near the principal points of interest on the way, or to make the circuit of the lake. While to follow every projection and indentation of the shore-line would require a sail of 144 miles, a circuit of about 75 miles carries the visitor sufficiently near for a satisfactory view of the more charming and picturesque points.
Below are given the distances from Tahoe City to the principal points around the lake on the route usually taken by the steamers:—
On his arrival at Glenbrook, the tourist that cameviaTruckee will find stages in waiting to carry him to Carson City, where he will take the Virginia and Truckee Railroad to the Central Pacific at Reno.
The traveler from the East who wishes to view the wonders of Tahoe in passing across the continent, or to see the Comstock Silver Mines, will leave the Central Pacific at Reno, allowing his baggage to go on to his point of destination in California. The Virginia and Truckee will then take him to Carson City, a distance of thirty-one miles to the southward, passing through an interesting region all the way.
At Carson stages for Lake Tahoe will be found in waiting. The distance from Carson to Tahoe is fourteen miles. The road is fine, and the mountain scenery wild and beautiful. In passing up Clear Creek Canyon, the tourist will travel for a considerable distance alongside the big lumber flume of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber Company. This flume is in the shape of the letter V. It has a length of twenty-one miles. Through it runs a small stream of water, and a stick of timber, billet of wood, or piece of lumber dropped into the V-shaped trough at the summit at once darts away at race-horse speed, and very shortly thereafter is dumped at the wood and lumber yard at Carson. In one day may thus be sent down the flume 700 cords of wood, or 500,000 feet of mining timbers. Hank Monk, the famous stage-driver who for a long time drove over this piece of road, and who once “hurled” Horace Greeley from the summit of the Sierras down into Placerville, is now dead, and lies buried at Carson City.
On arriving at Glenbrook, the traveler will find ready a steamer which will take him round Lake Tahoe to Tahoe City, whence he will take a stagecoach fourteen miles down the Truckee River to the Central Pacific, at the town of Truckee.
Truckee is situated in a heavily-timbered basin, lying between the two ridges, or summits, of the Sierras. In this basin is contained an area of over 250 square miles of as fine pine forest as is to be found in the mountains. The town is the center of a great and flourishing lumbering industry, and immense quantities of ice are each winter harvested and stored in the immediate vicinity. In 1883 it was estimated that the forests of Truckee Basin contained 5,000,000,000 feet of lumber, and that 50,000,000 feet might be cut every year for 100 years. The town has an elevation of 5,866 feet, or over a mile above the level of the sea, yet for eight months of the year the climate is pleasant. Where the town now stands was formerly “Coburn’s Station,” on the old Dutch Flat wagon-road. The place was named Truckee, and began to build up in 1865, with the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad at that point. It is a brisk and thriving place, and, besides its lumber and ice industries, has a good trade with an extensive farming and grazing region. It is wonderful that so large a town exists as is now seen, in view of the fact that since 1868 it has seven timesbeen swept by terrible fires, and by two or three of these it was, in different years, almost wiped out of existence.
This beautiful little sheet of water is but three miles from the town of Truckee, and is reached by a delightful drive over a smooth and level road. Donner Lake is about three miles long and from a mile to a mile and a half wide. It is about 200 feet in depth in the deepest place, and lies at an elevation of 5,938 feet above the level of the sea. It has for feeders several sparkling trout-brooks, and has an outlet called Donner Creek, which is an affluent of the Truckee River. The lake is full of trout of the same species as are found in Lake Tahoe, with minnows of several kinds, known as “chubs” and “white fish.” It is a safe and beautiful lake on which to row or sail. As regards the matter of safety it may be set down as the “family lake” of the mountains—is as reliable and devoid of tantrums as the old “family mare.” The lake is surrounded with grand old mountains. Lake Ridge, to the southward, rises to the height of 8,234 feet, and its lower part is covered with pine and other evergreen trees. To the west rise huge, bare granite mountains. The track of the Central Pacific Railroad runs along the side of the ridge to the southward, and presently disappears in a tunnel under the bald mountains in the west. Owing to the track being covered with snow-sheds, passengers get only occasional glimpses of the lake.
At the upper and lower ends of the lake are patches of meadow land, groves of pine and tamarack, and handsome clumps of willow and quaking asp. Donner is a favorite place of resort for camping parties from Nevada and California. There are grand views in all directions. Artists here find constant use for their sketching tools. A fine picture of the lake was painted by Bierstadt in 1872. He chose the month of August for his picture.
At the foot of the lake is the scene of the sufferings of the Donner party. The spot is marked by a tall wooden cross. At this little mountain-begirt lake, in October, 1846, arrived a party of emigrants (mostly from Illinois), under the leadership of George Donner. There were with the train seventy-six men, women, and children. That winter the snow fell a month earlier than usual, and in a single night the party found themselves overwhelmed, caught in acul-de-sac. It was impossible to attempt the mountains when the snow in the lower ground about the lake was so deep that the wagons could not be moved; besides, it snowed without ceasing. In one night, when their cattle were scattered about, snow fell to such a depth as to completely cover and hide them from sight. It was then decided to build cabins and winter on the spot. Being short of provisions, they at once killed all the cattle they could find, using the hides to roof the cabins. In December all provisions were exhausted, and parties weresent out one after another to reach California and there make known the condition of those left in the camp. Most of those thus sent out perished, but finally one or two persons reached Sutter’s Fort, at Sacramento. The first relief parties failed, and it was not until February that a party reached the starving people of the camp. These, meantime, had been reduced to such extremity as to cook and eat the raw hides covering their cabins and the bones thrown away earlier in the season. Toward the last there was at least one instance of cannibalism. Of the seventy-six persons but forty survived, some perishing in the mountains (where the snow was thirty feet deep) in trying to get through to California, and others dying in the cabins. Those found in the cabins were mere skeletons. A thick volume would be required to give a full account of all the sufferings and trials of the ill-fated Donner party. It was a disaster that shocked all California for years, and which created a profound sensation of horror and pity throughout the whole United States. The history of what occurred at Donner Lake that winter has never been fully written, and never will be, as there were happenings that the survivors were never willing to talk about.
Donner Peak, to the west of the lake, a towering pile of granite, rises to a height of 8,154 feet above the level of the sea, and Glacial Point, in the same direction, is 7,708 feet in height. Fremont’s Peak—sometimes calledCastle Peak, or Mount Stanford—towers in the northwest to the height of 9,237 feet above sea level. It is seen about four miles north of Summit Station. At this peak heads Pioneer Creek. From its granite pinnacle, on a clear day may be seen the Downieville Buttes, Marysville Buttes, the Coast Range, and many mountains and valleys in California; and looking eastward, Mount Davidson, the sinks of the Carson and Humboldt, are seen, with many other mountains and deserts. Near Summit are about a dozen small lakes, some of them charming both in themselves and in their surroundings of rocks and trees.
This beautiful lake is nineteen miles distant from Truckee, and is reached by stage or carriage. It is three miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide. The lake was named by Lola Montez (when a resident of Grass Valley, California) on the occasion of a visit to it on a picnic excursion, July 4, 1853. It is held up toward the heavens to a height of 7,000 feet by a circle of grand old peaks. It is very deep, and in places has never been fathomed. Owing to its great depth, the lake is supposed to occupy an extinct volcanic crater, whereas Donner Lake was formed by a moraine deposited across the valley by a glacier. The lake is alive with trout of a peculiar species, a good deal resembling brook trout, and for which they are often sold. The surrounding scenery is as wildly beautiful as the imagination can picture.From the peak of Mount Lola, 4 miles north of the lake and 11,000 feet high, can be seen Mount Shasta, distant 180 miles to the northward; Mount Diablo, 140 miles distant; all Sacramento Valley, and scores of peaks of note in all directions. There is a hotel at the lake and good accommodations of all kinds. Bear, deer, and grouse are to be found in the chaparral, mountain glades, and pine forests. The lake has an outlet which is the head of one of the principal branches of the Little Truckee.
This lake lies twenty-five miles north of Truckee, and is reached by stage over a road bordered with charming scenery. The lake is circular in form and about a mile in diameter. It is 6,925 feet above sea-level. It is surrounded with mountains of graceful outline, nearly all of which are wooded to their tops. The deepest spot to be found measures only 80 feet. The lake is of glacial origin. It abounds in trout—a very game variety, introduced nearly thirty years ago. About the lake are numerous attractions. About a mile south from the lake, on a tributary creek, are falls over 100 feet in height; a mile north is a little gem of a lake, with an area of 50 acres, which is called the Lake of the Woods, and which is 7,500 feet (nearly a mile and a half) above the level of the sea; near at hand is Prospect Peak, from the top of which, in a clear day, mountain peaks distant 300 miles may be made out, while all about are othertall peaks and objects of interest. Small mountain game is plentiful near the lake. Bear may be found by those anxious to see them by taking a tramp in the chaparral thickets of the higher peaks. There is a good hotel at the lake, yet it is a great place of resort for campers. Where the greatest depth of water is only 80 feet, no one is afraid of drowning. The lake has an outlet, which is one of the affluents of the Little Truckee.
We have now to speak of a few Nevada lakes not mentioned in connection with the rivers of the State. The greatest of these, and the largest lake between the Sierra Nevada Range and the Rocky Mountains, except Great Salt Lake, Utah, is Pyramid Lake. It is fed by the Truckee, the course of which river has already been traced, and the head of which has been particularly described as the outlet of Lake Tahoe. Pyramid Lake lies in Washoe County, on the west line of Humboldt County. The lake is nearly 40 miles long by from 15 to 20 miles in width, and has an elevation of 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It has no outlet. It is the most picturesque sheet of water in all the Great Basin region, owing to its numerous rocky islands. As it lies off the usual lines of travel and traffic it is seldom visited, yet it is well worthy of the attention of the tourist. Pyramid Lake lies about 25 miles north of Wadsworth, a brisk and thriving town on the Central Pacific Railroad. It isat Wadsworth that the traveler by rail from the East first reaches the Truckee River, and is where the traveler from California takes his leave of the stream. At Wadsworth the river turns abruptly to the north, which course it holds to the lake.
A vehicle for a trip to the lake can always be found at Wadsworth. The road lies down along the timbered banks of the river, and here and there will be seen the cabins of the Indians of the Pyramid Reservation. Most of the groves seen are of cottonwood and willow trees. The Truckee River has two mouths, one of which empties into Pyramid Lake and the other into Winnemucca Lake. The branch which feeds Pyramid Lake is only about one mile in length, whereas the more meandering branch, which is the feeder of Winnemucca Lake, has a length of six miles.
Pyramid Lake contains several islands. Some of these, near the middle of the lake, are pyramidal in shape, and gray in color. They rise to a height of several hundred feet above the surface of the water, and it is from these natural pyramids that the lake takes its name. Far away toward the north end of the lake is seen a tall, slender pyramid that is perfectly white. Some of the isolated rocks seen are egg-shaped, and 300 to 400 feet high. Fremont’s Pyramid is the name borne by one of the taller of the pyramidal rocks near the head of the lake. One of the largest islands contains large flocks of goats,the progeny of a few pairs of the animals turned loose there many years ago. The island has an area of about five square miles, and is well covered with vegetation, being less precipitous and rocky than the others. The only picturesque addition needed to this island is a “Crusoe” and his hut.
One small, rocky island is wholly given up to rattlesnakes. It is the home of thousands of the venomous reptiles. They have their dens in the rocks, and live upon the eggs and young of water-fowl, and such small fish as are cast ashore.
Pyramid Lake is of immense depth. No one knows its depth in the deepest part. At the last attempt to sound it, 600 fathoms (3,600 feet) of line were run out without finding bottom. Where it enters the lake the water of the Truckee River is as pure and sweet as where it leaves Lake Tahoe, yet the water of Pyramid Lake is slightly brackish. However, myriads of trout are found in Pyramid Lake. The Piute Indians of the Reservation every year catch and sell thousands of tons of trout, deriving a snug sum from this source. The lake never freezes, and is generally very rough. The Indian fishermen, however, navigate its waters at all times quite fearlessly, even when seated astride of a bundle of tules.
This lake lies to the east of, and parallel with, Pyramid Lake, from which it is separated by only a singleridge of gray rock and sand. It lies principally in Humboldt County, though a part reaches south into Churchill County. The lake is now about sixty miles long, with an average width of twelve miles. Of late years it has been rapidly increasing in size, as more water has been flowing through its feeder than formerly. It has on the east side a high rocky ridge, like that which separates it from Pyramid, therefore it lies in a trough between two ranges of hills. Though so near to each other, the surface of the water in Winnemucca Lake is forty feet lower than that in Pyramid. The Piutes remember a time when all was one lake. Were the waters of these twin lakes now united they would make a lake quite as large as the great Salt Lake of Utah. The inlet to Winnemucca Lake contains several old rafts of drift-wood, which prevent a free flow of water through it. Some years ago a freshet lifted these rafts from the bed of the stream, and the water found a channel beneath them. Since that occurred Winnemucca Lake has been steadily increasing in size. There are many Indian traditions connected with these lakes, one of which is in regard to immense animals that once herded in the neighborhood. This seems to be a tradition of the elephant or mastodon. All this region was once covered by an inland sea of fresh water, over 200 miles in length, and 80 or 90 miles in width.
Washoe Lake is situated in Washoe Valley, and is seen in going by rail from Reno to Carson. The lake proper is about four miles long, and from a mile to a mile and a half wide. On the west and north extend large tule marshes, which at times contain a considerable depth of water. The lake is fed by small streams from the Sierras, and it has an outlet into Steamboat Creek. The lake is filled with perch and catfish, planted a few years ago; also contains swarms of native fish of the “chub” species. It is a favorite resort for anglers from Carson and the towns of the Comstock. At certain seasons the lake is visited by great numbers of ducks, geese, and other water-fowl. It is shallow, and having a muddy bottom, it is not a suitable sheet of water for either brook or lake trout. Carp, however, would flourish in its muddy depths and tule shallows.
The hot springs of Nevada are numbered by thousands and tens of thousands, and scores of them in all parts of the State possess more or less medicinal value. Hot springs are found from the Oregon and Idaho lines southward to the Colorado River, and from the eastern base of the Sierras across the whole breadth of the State. No one has ever attempted to number the many warm and hot springs, and they are literally innumerable. Springs which would attract great attention in the Atlantic States, and which would beworth fortunes, here pass unknown, unnamed, “unhonored and unsung.” All the hot springs possess curative properties in the case of rheumatic and various skin diseases. Not one in a thousand of the springs on this side of the Sierras has been analyzed, for which reason the waters of only a few are used internally.
The most noted hot springs in the western part of Nevada are those known as the Steamboat Springs. They were so named by the first white men who visited them, on account of the puffing sound some of them then emitted, and because of the tall columns of steam they sent up. These springs are in Steamboat Valley, ten miles south of Reno. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad passes close alongside the springs. They are situated at the eastern base of a low range of basaltic hills, and occupy the top of a flat ridge that is over a mile in length and has a north and south course. This ridge is about half a mile in width and is composed of a whitish silicious material evidently deposited by the waters of the many springs.
The temperature of the principal springs is 204 degrees, which is as hot as water can be made at that altitude (5,000 feet above the level of the sea). Some of the springs rise through circular openings from a foot to three feet in diameter and are surrounded by conical mounds of silicious matters deposited by the waters, whereas others flow from fissures, which areevidently rents formed by earthquakes. Out of some of these fissures rush great volumes of hot gases that have a strong odor of sulphur. These fissures are perfectly dry, and the jets of hot air are invisible. From other dry crevices issue great clouds of very hot steam. Steam rises in great volumes from all the boiling springs, and of mornings when the air is cool and calm from 60 to 80 tall pillars of steam may be counted, rising to a height of 100 feet or more above the low, bare ridge. The air everywhere about the springs is strongly charged with sulphurous vapors in gases. The crevices have the same course as the great quartz veins of the country,i. e., northeast and southwest. Here is no doubt a huge metallic vein in process of formation; indeed, various minerals are deposited by the gases, notably cinnabar. Some of the fissures may be traced from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, and have a width of from 16 inches to 3 feet. In places where nothing is seen to issue from these fissures at the surface, indications of tremendous subterranean activity are distinctly audible. Far down in under-ground regions are heard thunderous surgings and lashings as of huge volumes of water dashed to and fro in vast hollow, resounding caverns. In other places are heard fearful (dry) thumpings and poundings, as though at some flaming forge below a band of sweating Cyclops were at work at hammering out thunder-bolts for old Jove.
Small springs in places send jets of hot water intothe air to the height of two or three feet, with a hissing and sputtering sound, but for some years past none of them have thrown water to any great distance above the surface. In 1860, and for a few years thereafter, two or three of the springs rivaled the geysers of Yellowstone Park, sending columns of water a yard in diameter to a height of sixty or eighty feet once in from six to eight hours. Some springs sent columns of water from three to six inches in diameter to a still greater height. Even now the water is seen to rise and fall in some of the fissures in a threatening manner. At the springs is a fine and commodious hotel, bathing-houses for vapor baths, and every desirable accommodation. The springs are very beneficial to persons afflicted with rheumatic complaints, and are also useful in some cases of cutaneous diseases.
These springs are situated about a mile west of Carson City. They are also much frequented by persons afflicted with rheumatism and kindred complaints, though more well than sick persons use the baths, as connected with them is a large swimming pool, 60 by 24 feet and from 4½ to 5½ feet deep. One of these springs is what is called a “chicken-soup” spring. By adding pepper and salt to the water it acquires the taste of thin chicken soup.
About a mile east of Carson City, at the Nevada State prison, is a warm spring of great volume.Here Col. Abe Curry, who owned the property before it was acquired by the State, constructed the first swimming bath to be found on the Pacific Coast. It is 160 feet long by 38 feet wide, and is walled up with stone, and over it is erected a building, also of stone, of which there is a fine quarry on the spot. The water in the pool is from three to five feet deep, and is of about blood heat. This bath is not now open to the “world at large,” but is kept for a little world that is “not at large.”
There are in hundreds of places along the eastern base of the Sierras groups of hot springs of more or less celebrity, but none of which are more highly esteemed for their curative properties, or as a more popular place of resort for the afflicted, than Walley’s Springs, a mile and a half south of Genoa. Persons who are troubled with rheumatism, or are afflicted with scrofula and like disorders, are much benefited by the baths at these springs. Here are also excellent mud baths, the hot, mineral-impregnated mud being found very efficacious in many cases of chronic rheumatic complaints. In the vicinity are many objects of interest, and near at hand may be found good hunting and fishing. There is a fine hotel, and the best of accommodations of every kind for both sound and sick, at the springs. The springs are fourteen and a half miles south of Carson and may be reached either by stage or private conveyance. The road lies through Carson Valley, and is fine and smooth.
Near Elko are several hot springs, with fine springs of cold water in their immediate vicinity. Here, too, is a “chicken-soup” spring. The springs are situated to the northwest of the town, and a bathing-house has been erected for the accommodation of the rheumatic public.
At Golconda are some very large hot springs, near which are others of ordinary temperature. Some of the hot springs are occasionally utilized for scalding hogs. In the cool pools connected with the flow from the hot springs, carp and some other kinds of fish have been planted. It is said that the carp grown in the ponds often venture upon darting through places where water almost boiling hot is bubbling up. These springs are near the Central Pacific Railroad station. Also half a mile south of the track of the Central Pacific road there are, at Hot Springs Station, near the sink of the Humboldt, several springs that send up columns of steam.
There are only a few of the hot springs that are situated near main lines of travel. In Thousand Spring Valley, on the Upper Humboldt, there are literally thousands of springs, some of which send out whole brooks of water. The majority of these, however, are cold. In Churchill County, north of the Sand Springs salt marsh, are hot springs which are 50, 80, and even 100 feet in diameter. They are on the edge of a desert at the foot of a range of rocky hills burnt to a brick-redby volcanic fires. Here, too, are seen thick veins of pure native sulphur. There are hot springs and scalding pools and brooks in every county in the State. In Nye County there are many hot springs in Hot Creek Valley, in Big Smoky Valley, and Lone Valley. There is also in this county the Cabezon Valley Hot Spring, which is medicinal. On the Rio Virgin, in Lincoln County, is one of the finest purgative springs on the Pacific Coast. With other ingredients amounting to 311 grains of solid matter to the gallon, it contains 67 grains of sulphate of soda, 54 grains of sulphate of magnesia, and 3 grains of sulphate of potassa.
Although Nevada would appear at a first glance a difficult region in which to construct railroads, the fact is that it is quite the contrary. Between the parallel ranges of mountains running north and south, there are long level valleys, tracts of desert land, requiring very little grading. These valleys and deserts are linked together and connected by plains from the northern to the southern boundary of the State. As these valleys and deserts once formed the beds and connecting channels of chains of lakes now extinct, it is evident that in following their course a line of railroad might be very cheaply constructed. In many places for miles on miles there would be little to do but put down the ties and rails. In many places, too, there are remarkable passages leading east and west fromvalley to valley, called “gates.” There are clean level east and west cuts through ranges of mountains running north and south. The only difficulty to be encountered in railroad building in Nevada is in running roads to special points (as to mines) high above the general level of the country, as in the case of the Virginia to Truckee when it leaves the valley region to climb the Mount Davidson Range to the Comstock Lode. The whole plateau through which was upheaved the north and south ranges of mountains has a mean elevation of 5,000 feet above the level of the sea in all central Nevada; to the southward it gradually slopes downward, until at the south line of the State, on the Colorado River, the altitude above sea-level is only 800 feet.
The largest stretch of railroad in Nevada is the Central Pacific. Its length within the boundaries of the State, from where it enters, near Verdi, to where it passes out, near Tecoma, is a little over 450 miles. Though this is an east and west road (the course across the interior parallel mountain ranges), yet no great difficulties were encountered in crossing the State. The road enters Nevada from California along the course of the Truckee River, which stream it follows as far east as Wadsworth. Leaving Wadsworth the road traverses a level, sandy plain till the Humboldt River is reached. The road then follows the course of the Humboldt to Cedar Pass, not far from the Utah line.