To the farmer who comes to this thirsty land from beneath rainy skies, Nevada seems one vast desert, all sage1 and sand, hopelessly irredeemable now and forever. And this, under present conditions, is severely2 true. For notwithstanding it has gardens, grainfields, and hayfields generously productive, these compared with the arid3 stretches of valley and plain, as beheld4 in general views from the mountain tops, are mere5 specks6 lying inconspicuously here and there, in out-of-the-way places, often thirty or forty miles apart.
In leafy regions, blessed with copious8 rains, we learn to measure the productive capacity of the soil by its natural vegetation. But this rule is almost wholly inapplicable here, for, notwithstanding its savage9 nakedness, scarce at all veiled by a sparse10 growth of sage and linosyris 16, the desert soil of the Great Basin is as rich in the elements that in rainy regions rise and ripen11 into food as that of any other State in the union. The rocks of its numerous mountain ranges have been thoroughly12 crushed and ground by glaciers13, thrashed and vitalized by the sun, and sifted14 and outspread in lake basins by powerful torrents15 that attended the breaking-up of the glacial period, as if in every way Nature had been making haste to prepare the land for the husbandman. Soil, climate, topographical conditions, all that the most exacting16 could demand, are present, but one thing, water, is wanting. The present rainfall would be wholly inadequate17 for agriculture, even if it were advantageously distributed over the lowlands, while in fact the greater portion is poured out on the heights in sudden and violent thundershowers called "cloud-bursts," the waters of which are fruitlessly swallowed up in sandy gulches18 and deltas19 a few minutes after their first boisterous20 appearance. The principal mountain chains, trending nearly north and south, parallel with the Sierra and the Wahsatch, receive a good deal of snow during winter, but no great masses are stored up as fountains for large perennial21 streams capable of irrigating22 considerable areas. Most of it is melted before the end of May and absorbed by moraines and gravelly taluses, which send forth23 small rills that slip quietly down the upper canyons24 through narrow strips of flowery verdure, most of them sinking and vanishing before they reach the base of their fountain ranges. Perhaps not one in ten of the whole number flow out into the open plains, not a single drop reaches the sea, and only a few are large enough to irrigate26 more than one farm of moderate size.
It is upon these small outflowing rills that most of the Nevada ranches27 are located, lying countersunk beneath the general level, just where the mountains meet the plains, at an average elevation28 of five thousand feet above sea level. All the cereals and garden vegetables thrive here, and yield bountiful crops. Fruit, however, has been, as yet, grown successfully in only a few specially29 favored spots.
Another distinct class of ranches are found sparsely30 distributed along the lowest portions of the plains, where the ground is kept moist by springs, or by narrow threads of moving water called rivers, fed by some one or more of the most vigorous of the mountain rills that have succeeded in making their escape from the mountains. These are mostly devoted31 to the growth of wild hay, though in some the natural meadow grasses and sedges have been supplemented by timothy and alfalfa; and where the soil is not too strongly impregnated with salts, some grain is raised. Reese River Valley, Big Smoky Valley, and White River Valley offer fair illustrations of this class. As compared with the foothill ranches, they are larger and less inconspicuous, as they lie in the wide, unshadowed levels of the plains—wavy-edged flecks32 of green in a wilderness33 of gray.
Still another class equally well defined, both as to distribution and as to products, is restricted to that portion of western Nevada and the eastern border of California which lies within the redeeming34 influences of California waters. Three of the Sierra rivers descend35 from their icy fountains into the desert like angels of mercy to bless Nevada. These are the Walker, Carson, and Truckee; and in the valleys through which they flow are found by far the most extensive hay and grain fields within the bounds of the State. Irrigating streams are led off right and left through innumerable channels, and the sleeping ground, starting at once into action, pours forth its wealth without stint36.
But notwithstanding the many porous37 fields thus fertilized38, considerable portions of the waters of all these rivers continue to reach their old deathbeds in the desert, indicating that in these salt valleys there still is room for coming farmers. In middle and eastern Nevada, however, every rill that I have seen in a ride of three thousand miles, at all available for irrigation, has been claimed and put to use.
It appears, therefore, that under present conditions the limit of agricultural development in the dry basin between the Sierra and the Wahsatch has been already approached, a result caused not alone by natural restrictions39 as to the area capable of development, but by the extraordinary stimulus40 furnished by the mines to agricultural effort. The gathering41 of gold and silver, hay and barley42, have gone on together. Most of the mid-valley bogs43 and meadows, and foothill rills capable of irrigating from ten to fifty acres, were claimed more than twenty years ago.
A majority of these pioneer settlers are plodding44 Dutchmen, living content in the back lanes and valleys of Nature; but the high price of all kinds of farm products tempted45 many of even the keen Yankee prospectors46, made wise in California, to bind47 themselves down to this sure kind of mining. The wildest of wild hay, made chiefly of carices and rushes, was sold at from two to three hundred dollars per ton on ranches. The same kind of hay is still worth from fifteen to forty dollars per ton, according to the distance from mines and comparative security from competition. Barley and oats are from forty to one hundred dollars a ton, while all sorts of garden products find ready sale at high prices.
With rich mine markets and salubrious climate, the Nevada farmer can make more money by loose, ragged48 methods than the same class of farmers in any other State I have yet seen, while the almost savage isolation49 in which they live seems grateful to them. Even in those cases where the advent50 of neighbors brings no disputes concerning water rights and ranges, they seem to prefer solitude51, most of them having been elected from adventurers from California—the pioneers of pioneers. The passing stranger, however, is always welcomed and supplied with the best the home affords, and around the fireside, while he smokes his pipe, very little encouragement is required to bring forth the story of the farmer's life—hunting, mining, fighting, in the early Indian times, etc. Only the few who are married hope to return to California to educate their children, and the ease with which money is made renders the fulfillment of these hopes comparatively sure.
After dwelling52 thus long on the farms of this dry wonderland, my readers may be led to fancy them of more importance as compared with the unbroken fields of Nature than they really are. Making your way along any of the wide gray valleys that stretch from north to south, seldom will your eye be interrupted by a single mark of cultivation53. The smooth lake-like ground sweeps on indefinitely, growing more and more dim in the glowing sunshine, while a mountain range from eight to ten thousand feet high bounds the view on either hand. No singing water, no green sod, no moist nook to rest in—mountain and valley alike naked and shadowless in the sun-glare; and though, perhaps, traveling a well-worn road to a gold or silver mine, and supplied with repeated instructions, you can scarce hope to find any human habitation from day to day, so vast and impressive is the hot, dusty, alkaline wildness.
But after riding some thirty or forty miles, and while the sun may be sinking behind the mountains, you come suddenly upon signs of cultivation. Clumps54 of willows55 indicate water, and water indicates a farm. Approaching more nearly, you discover what may be a patch of barley spread out unevenly56 along the bottom of a flood bed, broken perhaps, and rendered less distinct by boulder57 piles and the fringing willows of a stream. Speedily you can confidently say that the grain patch is surely such; its ragged bounds become clear; a sand-roofed cabin comes to view littered with sun-cracked implements58 and with an outer girdle of potato, cabbage, and alfalfa patches.
The immense expanse of mountain-girt valleys, on the edges of which these hidden ranches lie, make even the largest fields seem comic in size. The smallest, however, are by no means insignificant59 in a pecuniary60 view. On the east side of the Toyabe Range I discovered a jolly Irishman who informed me that his income from fifty acres, reinforced by a sheep range on the adjacent hills, was from seven to nine thousand dollars per annum. His irrigating brook61 is about four feet wide and eight inches deep, flowing about two miles per hour.
On Duckwater Creek62, Nye County, Mr. Irwin has reclaimed63 a tule swamp several hundred acres in extent, which is now chiefly devoted to alfalfa. On twenty-five acres he claims to have raised this year thirty-seven tons of barley. Indeed, I have not yet noticed a meager64 crop of any kind in the State. Fruit alone is conspicuously7 absent.
On the California side of the Sierra grain will not ripen at much greater elevation than four thousand feet above sea level. The valleys of Nevada lie at a height of from four to six thousand feet, and both wheat and barley ripen, wherever water may be had, up to seven thousand feet. The harvest, of course, is later as the elevation increases. In the valleys of the Carson and Walker Rivers, four thousand feet above the sea, the grain harvest is about a month later than in California. In Reese River Valley, six thousand feet, it begins near the end of August. Winter grain ripens65 somewhat earlier, while occasionally one meets a patch of barley in some cool, high-lying canyon25 that will not mature before the middle of September.
Unlike California, Nevada will probably be always richer in gold and silver than in grain. Utah farmers hope to change the climate of the east side of the basin by prayer, and point to the recent rise in the waters of the Great Salt Lake as a beginning of moister times. But Nevada's only hope, in the way of any considerable increase in agriculture, is from artesian wells. The experiment has been tried on a small scale with encouraging success. But what is now wanted seems to be the boring of a few specimen66 wells of a large size out in the main valleys. The encouragement that successful experiments of this kind would give to emigration seeking farms forms an object well worthy67 the attention of the Government. But all that California farmers in the grand central valley require is the preservation68 of the forests and the wise distribution of the glorious abundance of water from the snow stored on the west flank of the Sierra.
Whether any considerable area of these sage plains will ever thus be made to blossom in grass and wheat, experience will show. But in the mean time Nevada is beautiful in her wildness, and if tillers of the soil can thus be brought to see that possibly Nature may have other uses even for RICH soils besides the feeding of human beings, then will these foodless "deserts" have taught a fine lesson.
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1
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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ripen
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| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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glaciers
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| 冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 ) | |
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sifted
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| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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gulches
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| n.峡谷( gulch的名词复数 ) | |
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deltas
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| 希腊字母表中第四个字母( delta的名词复数 )； （河口的）三角洲 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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irrigating
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| 灌溉( irrigate的现在分词 )； 冲洗（伤口） | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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canyons
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| n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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irrigate
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| vt.灌溉，修水利，冲洗伤口，使潮湿 | |
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ranches
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| 大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 ) | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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flecks
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| n.斑点，小点( fleck的名词复数 )；癍 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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redeeming
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| 补偿的，弥补的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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stint
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| v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事 | |
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porous
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| adj.可渗透的，多孔的 | |
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Fertilized
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| v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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bogs
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| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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prospectors
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| n.勘探者，探矿者( prospector的名词复数 ) | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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52
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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53
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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unevenly
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| adv.不均匀的 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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reclaimed
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| adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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ripens
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的第三人称单数 ) | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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