Show TRE FHE WILDS OF SOUTH NEVADA A land of snakes and insects the muddy valle a fertile spot and produces fruits and vegetables natures coin compensations the inhabitants gold butte nev feb 21 the average reader will no DO doubt by this thia time a have tired ot of nevada scenery cacti etc the subject can easily be switched from plants to insects rep tiles and other Ivar varmints var mints from the diminutive red ant to the rattlesnake seems quite a leap but in this favored region the gradation between the ant and the rattler is such that there is no missing link and every intermediate form of life is the natural enemy of mau man and in this climate they are intensely active dining ten months of the year THE CLIMATE mr editor I 1 am not a chronic kicker but a description ot of this country antry would be incomplete without a few words on the climate of southern nevada january in this country is equivalent to a mild march in utah and the parallel holds good until july when hades bades is ie a refrigerator by comparison during july and august the box washes are veritable ovens and those who are compelled to traverse travene th them e in under a southern nevada oun an will wi ll 11 never forget their experience early latt last august angust I 1 started from bitter springs to this place a distance c cf 17 miles the road 1 follows a eardy candy wash almost the entire distance not a breath of 0 air was etri staring ring and the sun beat relentlessly down on the sand gravel and barren hillsides hill sides the torture to man and beast can be partially realized when the reader is ia told that 13 hours were consumed in traversing those seventeen miles NATURE MERCIFUL but nature Is generally merciful in her bar compensations compensation a for instance those who endure the longo long dreary six months of night away up within the shadow figurative speaking of the north pole are compensated by a long joyous day of rix alx lx months and as an extra compensation dame nature provides the contented population with an abunda abundance 1 ace of blubber blabber for the commissary de department part ment here in southern nevada nature h has 9 given to the inhabitants a short and and glorious winter while you in utah are blowing your fingers to keep them warm and walking around in a ten pound overcoat a are fighting fight loe green flies killing keeping a wary lookout for deadly side winders and going about in our shirt sleeves THE MUDDY VALLEY here hare and there in this desert wilderness there ther a is an occasional oasis oasie generally the result of large springs as at las vegas and at the head of the muddy valley which terminates at the rio virgin river about 20 miles northwesterly west erIv from gold butte the muddy river is about ten feet wide and two or three feet deep the valley is about thirty miles long with an everage average width of probably one mile the upper portion from the big spring down to moapa is an indian reservation and is occupied by ever degenerating renskina redskins red skins and a few whites from moapa down to the vir gin a distance of 25 miles the valley Is occupied by isolated ranches and three villages glogau overton and st thomas the laba named is gold buttes post FLIES AND mosquitoes climatic Oli matio influences have had their effect on the old settlers to the extent that the very air seems surcharged with somnolence flies and toes that over in utah are regarded as a a mild sort of pestilence are here a bles blessing in disguise there are ten million flies files and twenty million mis to each of the three hundred residents ot of the muddy valley and with even that proportion the files are kept busy keeping the inhabitants awake during daylight a and nd 1 the mosquitoes them to t take ke some ex arcise during the night be it said to the everlasting credit of 0 the women that the majority of 0 them along the muddy and virgin are hustlers bust lers it they wore not the men would be clad in and hunting bunting jackrabbits jack rabbits for or the next meal productive COUNTRY the soil and climate are admirably adapted to fruits and vegetables muddy valley cantaloupes canta loures are gaining a west wide reputation tor for their perfect flavor one hundred and fifty dollars Is the income from one acre planted to cantaloupes that are sent out from moapa by car lots during the 30 days in mida midsummer ummer hustling thrifty farmers from da vis county and other parts of utah are buying baying land in the muddy valley and it is only a question of a few years before this infusion of northern blood will transform that sleepy hollow into one of the most prosperous localities in this western land in a future letter the subject or of minin in southern levaaa may receive attention ine foregoing is certainly sufficient for one installment the reaper gets here once in a while and after letters latter 8 is the first of matter to receive attention from the marysvale Marys vale contingent of this sprouting mining camp it is time to retire and dream of zion beautiful zion faithfully faithfull Fasth full fully jr yours J F GIBBS |