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Show ir ill J Hfji ll l NEVADA, OLD AND NEW. Bjl 111 I ThQ annual of tne Reno (Nev.) Gazette is a Rjj ! 1 I ' I great number. It is a magazine of some 65 pages Hjj Ill's profusely illustrated and altogether is a history H Ifl' of Nevada from- the beginning and a full state-HP1 state-HP1 Iff ment of its present conditions, and the glorified I! I prospects for its future. It Is a great edition, one 1 I , , good to read, one good to keep for reference. Of I I ) course a good deal of space is devoted to Reno, III R and justly so, for Reno is the most important JH point in Nevada today and always will be. Ifl The managers of the Gazette are to be warm- ,H III ' ly congratulated on the energy and ability re-I re-I quired to get out one of the finest annuals of the j year. IB ill i ' The perusal of it wakens to life all the old BK 111 I ' memories. It is forty-six years since the Com-H Com-H m I stock was discovered, since people began to say: OB m I s "We had everything except silver; it seems now H that we have another Potosi." It made a date for HB Hi a revolution in mining. Save a few crude, old-BKj old-BKj H t fashioned gold quartz mills, the only mining BH j HI I known to California was placer mining. flH J HI i Not one of her people knew aught of the reduc-IKBi reduc-IKBi Jlffl f tion of silver ores. But here was an ore channel four iHlfMlll I' ! miles long, the lode was filled with great deposits iwillil i ' of rIcl1 ore' and ifc was necessary that it should HIcMni II be reducod- There were many problems to solve. KhH 1 I How to open the mines was the first, how to sup-BH9l sup-BH9l 1 ! port the weight of the mountain as the ore bodies iHllIfll 1 I were excavated was another, how to work the Bfflra I ore when obtained was another. Then the new HHI III 1 I fln(i was on th slP0 of ft desert mountain, one Hi IIH1 I hundred and sixty miles from water, transporta-iH! transporta-iH! 11 Hi I tion and t0 which no roads were built. 1 11 81 I The discovery was not generally known until Hi II I I late in 1859 nnd then the rush began What an HII li 8 1 exodus was that, and what a winter was that first BH li I li one in Virginia City! Virginia City is 6,200 feet Hk flm ll above the sea, and as though the evil spirits in HBP iH f the earth and air were incensed that the great HH' 18 ' If treasure chamber had been discovered, the bit- HH Jin ! I Ing cold and the desert hurricanes were sent to Hw ' H i ! drive the interlopers away. It was a tough place HUSe lilB ( then. Every town in California had sent there its nHHb llfl ' ful1 Quota of fighters, and the contest bogan to KHy9 , determine who should be chief. The safety of H 1 P , i Ewm !B; -. ' WWm IH t ! 1 ymBmMmmmmmmmmmm quiet people lay in the fact that the roughs did not disturb them and that the sinister class was made up of men who were so fine shots, that they only hit what they aimed at. Then there were innumerable contests over claims and the lawsuits law-suits instituted and carried through were of such magnitude that men ceased to talk about thousands, thou-sands, stopping at nothing less than millions. But in no other spot was American energy ever better bet-ter displayed, in no other place was American adaptability to meet a difficult situation, ever better bet-ter illustrated. Within five years after the discovery dis-covery the experts from the Hartz mountains where quartz mining had been proseouted for a thousand years, came to Virginia City to mark and marvel at what had been accomplished there. The safety cages, the square timbering, the mills for reducing the ore; the economy manifested in adapting means to ends, were all wonders to the plodders from beyond the sea. Then the salaries and fees paid drew to that point the brightest men in all the professions and the possibilities of securing great fortunes attracted the men of finance from half the world. That first winter Mr. Mackay lived in a cabin and as the winds swept around it, ho was wont to declare that so soon as he could get together ?5,000 he would leave the inhospitable place. Mr. Fair was working and noting specially every Improvement in machinery, and making some improvements of his own. There were Charlie Strong, Captain Wilder, Captain Sam. Curtis, General Winters, Isaac Requa, Bob Graves, Charlie Bonner, Ed Boyle a whole host of famous miners that did the work, that gave direction di-rection to mining for all this western country. It was a good while ago, but now Nevada has re-awakened and is liable to perform new miracles and within a brief period to take her old place as the foremost of all the mining states. In the great war Nevada was the concernment of the whole nation; she is liable again to become a household world in every great financial center of the ear tli. |