Books: Reno

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[Illustration: PALISADES CANYON SHOWING HUMBOLT RIVER]

Nature has many delightful surprises in store for the new arrival in
Reno; when you have strayed out to Moana Hot Springs and have taken a
refreshing dip, you will agree with me. I thought the water was heated
until a friend explained that it came gushing out of the ground almost
boiling hot and had to be cooled off for the pools. There had been
Jeffries' quarters during his training for the Jeffries-Johnson fight.

From Moana one can see Steamboat Springs; these springs can be seen
from a distance of several miles, owing to the fact that they send a
steady stream of hot steam into the air, which spreads over an area of
a mile or more; it is a strange sight to see this stream ascending
into the clear atmosphere from the roaring regions below. The various
hot springs to me are the most wonderful part of nature's loveliness.
Here one may watch lonely colonists and native maidens dive and play
in the water whilst listening to their laughter. An early morning dip
in the pool and a swift canter back to town will start your blood
tingling; clear the city-cramped lungs and fill them with Nevada's
fresh invigorating air. It will make one feel like a two year old and
add ten years to one's life.....

Ricks, the famous road house, and training quarters of Jack Johnson,
the black champion prize fighter, is within walking distance of Reno.
Its chicken dinners have helped to make the place famous. There are
private rooms for those who seek seclusion, a splendid dance floor,
and I am told that here the mechanical pianos grind out waltzes, one
steps and fox trots, whilst glasses clink far into the night and
parties of colonists make merry.

Farther on is Laughton Hot Springs, another popular bathing resort.
This place is mostly patronized by motorists and equestrians and is
more fortunate than the others in its location. The little rustic
hotel is built in the cosiest nook, just at the bend of the river; the
fine old trees bend their graceful branches over the rushing waters in
which the majestic mountains reflect their wondrous beauty. Here one
may obtain private dressing rooms and bathing pools, or a party of two
or more may have a number of dressings rooms opening onto the same
pool. The water in the pools changes every fifteen minutes. I am told
there is a continuous inflow and overflow, which empties out into the
river.

What a wonderful spot to build a modern structure with beautiful steam
rooms, modern dressing rooms and marble bathing pools, in place of the
crude board sheds which rather spoil the natural beauty of this place
of many charms, where one may bathe in the hot springs pool, fish in
the river, wine, dine and dance! What more could the soul in exile
wish for?

If you wish for seclusion, seek a tranquil spot on the banks of the
river; dream to your heart's content, watch the silvery moonbeams play
among the branches and sparkle on the river, and listen to the sighing
of the summer wind. I know of no place near New York endowed with so
many of nature's charms.

Fishing in the river is good, but fishing in the mountain brooks and
streams is much better, and one can take a pack-horse, ride up over
the mountains and discover places which look as though they dropped
right out of a picture book.

Rubicon Springs is such a place; a quaint old hunting and fishing
camp, where a few nature lovers hide away from; the world every summer
and really "rough it." I caught there some of the finest mountain
trout I have even seen; I also saw a party of men bring in a very fine
deer one afternoon, a feat which caused quite a little excitement
among the guests.

This isolated spot cannot be reached by automobile, it being about
fifteen miles from the main road over a rugged mountain trail.

There is certainly everything to be wished for in the way of out-of-
door amusements in and near Reno. There besides motoring, riding,
fishing, hunting, swimming and dancing are the tennis courts and the
golf links. The Golf Club gives many interesting tournaments and is
one of the social centers in summer for the elite, as is the race
track where one may meet the world and its wife. The track is good and
the horses as fine as one can see anywhere, all of which helps to
render this sport most fascinating.

[Illustration: LOVER'S LEAP BLUE CANYON]

Talking of horses reminds me of one of my never-to-be-forgotten rides
to Laughton Springs. Those who have never seen a Nevada sunset, while
riding over the Sierras at the close of day, can have no conception of
its wondrous beauty. I will try to tell you about it.

We started one evening at a brisk canter over the swelling foot hills
along the Truckee River, whence we could see Mt. Rose lift its stately
head, clothed in royal robes of crimson and purple which half revealed
and half concealed its snow-capped peaks and pine-clad grandeur.

As we rode over the mountains which tower above the rivers and the
greenest valleys, a storm came up; storm clouds dark and threatening,
the most imposing I have ever seen. In a short while the storm passed
over and the last rays of the setting sun shone on three mountain
peaks across the river and valley. It is impossible to imagine a more
exquisite display of colors. I think it must have been like the light
that shines on a happy mother's face when she holds her love-child in
her arms. And then a rainbow encircled the illuminated mountains, like
a beautiful filmy halo about the head of the Madonna, while beneath
lay the Truckee; its water like silvery veins and sparkling gems,
glistening and trembling in the golden light. And stretching away to
the north and east lay the sagebrush plains, wrapped in the silence of
a dying day and illuminated with the sheen of God's promise of a to-
morrow to come..... A wonderful picture: Nature's own masterpiece!

The motor trips are the next in line of outdoor amusements and these
trips will afford one the splendid opportunity of seeing, apart from
the unexcelled scenery, the numerous places of interest. First, Carson
City, the Capital; the State Penitentiary and the Government Indian
School, also the Indian homes and reservations; you will find them all
interesting. Carson City was founded in 1858 and was named after Kit
Carson, the famous scout. The capital is thirty miles from Reno,
fourteen miles from Lake Tahoe and twenty-two from Virginia City.

[Illustration: TRUCKEE RIVER CANYON]

The elevation of Virginia City is six thousand feet above sea level.
There you may don skin garments and go down three thousand feet in a
mine on the famous Comstock Lode. The heat in some of the mines is so
intense it is impossible to stand it for more than a few minutes at a
time.

There is so much of interest in these famous old mining camps and in
the strange freaks of nature. Here are the numerous hot springs and
Pyramid Lake, an enormous body of water forty miles out in the desert,
which possesses no apparent outlet although the Truckee flows into it.
And apart from that, the development of agriculture and irrigation is
interesting.

I will try and describe some of my motor trips through Nevada and
California.

One fine Sunday we set out on an automobile trip to Virginia City over
the great Gieger Grade, which has become so famous through the
wonderful Comstock Lode from which over seven hundred millions in gold
and silver have been extracted. The ride was most exciting, and the
magnificent scenes unrolling themselves continuously upon each swerve
round a sharp curve or a dangerous bend, just held us all enthralled.

Often I was reminded of Switzerland, and then as I gazed, more and
more enraptured by the delirious orgy of multi-colored hues, and
looked at the precipitous ascent we had made; at the heights we had
yet to climb, and at the undulating peaks that stood like an army of
sentinels guarding us on every side, I forgot I was in the land of
Nevada. I had drifted into an Arabian Night reverie, and not till the
forty horse-power winged horse suddenly lost its equilibrium and gave
a most ungainly lurch, not till then did I redescend to earth. While
the incapacitated horse partook of first aid to the injured, I got out
and gathered some of the prettiest little flowers I have ever seen;
all the more marvelous because nature takes care of them in some
mysterious way which we cannot understand, since rain is practically
unknown in Nevada. There was the beautiful spotless desert lily; the
delicate desert violet, the fascinating yellow blossom of the pungent
native growth--the sagebrush--and many others.

[Illustration: OFF TO DONNER LAKE picture shows a dogsled team]

My next motor trip was from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara; there the
scenery compares with that of Nevada as an exquisite water color
compares to a grand old oil painting. We went spinning along over a
perfect road from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, and I felt that
America might well be proud of this wonderful state. Surely none other
possesses such a variety of climate, or such a variety of beauty.
Hardly do I dare attempt a description of all this magic scenery. It
seemed a dream to me; just color everywhere. Green valleys and
turquoise skies; snow-capped mountains and rosy sunsets. For many
miles we wound round and round the mountain side, through orange
groves, laden with golden fruit, tucked away in the emerald green
foliage, and fruit orchards abounding with spring blossoms. And then
we came to the Pacific Ocean which stretched far out into the
infinite, reflecting the rose-colored sky just at sunset. The dream of
it all is still with me. I could hardly realize that a week before I
had been flying through the pure white sparkling snow in the same
state; and yet, here I was only a few hours away.... One sojourning in
Reno should not miss a trip through California while in the
neighborhood of that glorious state. San Francisco is only a day's
journey by rail, and the trip is truly worth while.

Reno is not without its out-door winter sports; it has the advantage
of being only thirty-six miles from Truckee, California. While flowers
are blooming and birds singing their spring songs in Southern
California, the Snow Queen reigns at Truckee in the mountains, six
thousand feet above the sea. Here people from San Francisco and other
large cities gather to indulge in winter sports, such as skiing,
tobogganing and sleighing, and many professionals go there to display
their art in skiing and skating; the Switzerland of the West, I would
call it. It was all too fascinating and too beautiful: six feet of
snow everywhere, and everything sparkling white in the sunshine.

[Illustration: AMID THE SNOW AT TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA illustration shows
a dogsled team]

Once I started out to see Donner Lake, which reposes between Summit,
the highest point on this trip across the Great Divide, and Truckee.
We were in a sleigh drawn by a team of huskies: real Alaskan dogs. I
have ridden pretty much everything from a broomstick to a bronco, but
this was my first experience with huskies. I thought it was going to
be hard work for the dogs, but they frolicked about in the snow with
their pink tongues out, showing all their teeth as though they were
laughing in fiendish glee and enjoying every moment of it.

Truckee is only about thirty-three miles from Reno by automobile, and
the distance by train is thirty-six miles, so there should be no
excuse for not visiting this American Switzerland.

Another point of information which I discovered and think will
interest you quite as much as it did me, was that most all the great
moving picture companies go to Truckee to take their Alaskan scenes.
And now whenever you see a beautiful arctic picture on the screen, you
will realize that you are not looking at the frigid regions of Alaska,
but at the glories of California.

The Snow Queen knows, however, that when she tires of her realm of
snow, a really, truly fairy land awaits her only a few hours distant,
where she may play Fairy Queen and wander through fields of golden
poppies, filling her arms with spring blooms, in beautiful Southern
California.

In Reno itself moonlight skating parties on the river and the
University pond are popular also. Dull in Reno? Absurd!

Nevada is necessarily a mining state. Apart from the $700,000,000 in
gold and silver taken from the Comstock Lode, Nevada's mines have
supplied the world with thousands of tons of other materials, such as
lead, zinc, etc., and thus when one thinks of the industries in
Nevada, it is quite natural to think of mining first. There it is in
the air. Everywhere you are confronted with specimens of ore: in the
offices of mining companies, in your lawyer's office, on the doctor's
desk, on your friend's dressing table, next to the Bible in the
minister's home. A chubby baby will gurgle and coo over a piece of
this polished rock, and hold it in a little pink fist; old, white
haired men will feebly finger a rough specimen streaked with green and
amber. The spell of Nevada.....

Walk out over the desert or ride over the hills, and as far as you can
see, the sides of the mountains are perforated with holes made by
prospectors; thousands and thousands of them, every one representing a
hope. A promoter will take a piece of this beautifully colored rock
and explain to you about the percentage of gold or copper it contains,
the cost of extracting it and the enormous profits to be made; a
friend will show you a marvelous specimen and explain that he or she
owns a half interest in the claim which is sure to turn out at least
half a million..... Then you will perhaps think of Robert Service's
"Spell of the Yukon" and you will understand the enthusiasm and spirit
of optimism.

After all, why should they not be enthusiastic and optimistic? The
whole state is piled high with mountains which look just like the ones
in which so much gold and other valuable minerals have been
discovered; if they are the same on top, why are they not the same
below the surface?

Tell us, you opal colored mountains of Nevada, what stores of precious
treasures are you guarding from the greedy hand of man and how soon
will you throw open another door of your treasure house?

After having lived in the West and visited the mines and talked with
the old-timers, I can easily understand the fascination of prospecting
and mining, and why, in spite of all the hardships it entails, so many
have become enslaved by the spell of it.

The Crystal Saloon, at Virginia City, was built during the days of the
first great boom, and on its register are many names of famous people.
Under the year 1863, I saw written the following: "Clemens, Samuel L.,
Local Editor of Territorial Enterprise..." Mark Twain!

The old-timers will tell you stories about Mark Twain's adventures in
Nevada's mining camps almost as funny as those he himself wrote about
in his book "Roughing It."

In the register of the Washoe Club, organized in 1875, are the name of
Thomas A. Edison, Fred. Grant (son of General Grant), and many other
famous names.

[Illustration: Donner Lake]

I have been informed of a new discovery in connection with the native
plant, the sage-brush. I am told there are splendid prospects for the
development of potash and denatured alcohol from the huge sagebrush
fields of the state.

The principal business of Reno consists of banks, hotels, shops and
restaurants. The shops do the city credit; they are up-to-date and
well kept, and you will find almost every kind of shop. The electrical
stores display every new electrical device on the market. The
stationery shops are equally well equipped; the candy stores most
tempting and excellent in every way, and the music store, hardware,
drug, corsetiere, gents furnishing, shoe, fancy goods and department
stores, the hair dressing parlors and florist shops are all up-to-date
and as fine as you could find in any city twice Reno's size. The
grocery stores and butcher shops and markets are of the finest. These
places employ hundreds of people and the department stores send their
buyers to New York and Paris.

Reno has two daily papers, namely, the "Evening Gazette" and the
"Nevada Journal." The "Nevada Journal" belongs to the Associated Press
and has its private telegraph wires by which it receives the news
direct.

The hotels and apartment houses are always well filled. They are up-
to-date, well kept and flourishing; the cafes are constantly being
enlarged. The real estate business is also progressive; one may rent
splendidly furnished houses, or modest cottages, or apartments at very
fair prices. There I first saw the automatic elevator, the kind that
you ring for and that runs down by itself and opens its own door; then
you get in, press a button at the number you wish to get off at, and
the elevator runs itself up to the floor indicated, stops and opens
its door. The same apartments have beds that fold up automatically
into the wall, leaving nothing in evidence except a beautifully
paneled mirror.

The Reno Commercial Club, which was founded in 1907, is made up of a
body of the representative men of the state, who are organized to
encourage educational and social intercourse, and to aid in social and
material up-building of the city and state.

Its executive board is as follows: Charles S. Knight, H. H. Kennedy,
Tasker L. Oddie, B. Adams, Fred Stadtmuller, R. L. Kimmel, E. H.
Walker.

The Club's efforts are continually directed toward the encouragement
of new enterprises, the securing of capital for new industries and
investments; the dissemination of literature regarding the resources
of Nevada; the building of good roads and cooperation with other
states for a national highway; the immigration of settlers upon the
agricultural lands of the state, more intensive farming, expansion of
dairy interests, fruit growing and other agricultural industries.

The Commercial Club is always obliging in extending the courtesy of
its information bureaus in matters pertaining to the affairs of the
city or state. Write to it!

Nevada has made very broad strides in the direction of agriculture
owing to its irrigation development. The Easterners somehow have an
idea that Nevada has made very little progress since pre-historic
days; that the West is still wild and wooly and consists of cow-boys,
cattle ranches and rattle-snakes; but this impression is very
erroneous. The picturesque cow-boy is practically a thing of the past,
and so is the highwayman; the picturesque stage-coach with its four to
six teams is almost forgotten; and I did not see one rattle-snake
during all my exploits in the mountains and over the deserts. What has
become of all those historic things which we so closely linked with
the wild and woolly West of the past? They have retreated into
oblivion before the great wheel of progress.....

It is a mistaken idea to imagine that because Nevada is such a
mountainous country it is unsuitable for agriculture. There are many
broad green valleys, flourishing and producing splendid farm products.
This of course is the astonishing result of artificial methods of
irrigation. Alfalfa and potatoes are Nevada's greatest crop; wheat,
rye, oats and other cereals are also grown. Some of the ranches have
splendid orchards consisting of pears, apples, plums, cherries, etc.,
and the production will undoubtedly increase as greater irrigation
developments are introduced.

[Illustration: Trucker River Dam]

What irrigation will do for the parched deserts of the West remains as
yet to be seen, but when I stop to consider that all the famous spots
of California owe their beauty almost entirely to irrigation, then I
dare predict great things for the desert states.

In a 1918 issue of the United States Geographical Survey Press
Bulletin is an article which is particularly interesting for the
possibilities it suggests at once to the reader for the utilization of
waters. It reads as follows: "'Underground Water in Nevada Deserts.'

"In Nevada the bedrock forms a corrugated surface consisting of more
or less parallel mountain ranges and broad intervening troughs that
are filled to great depths with rock waste washed from the mountains.
These great deposits of rock waste were in large part laid down by
torrential streams and are relatively coarse and porous. Because these
deposits are porous the rain that falls upon them and the run-off that
reaches them from the mountains sinks into them, and the valleys in
which they lie are exceptionally arid. These deposits, however, form
huge reservoirs in which the water is stored and in which, to the
limit of the capacity of the reservoirs, it is protected from
evaporation. So well is this water hidden that its existence was not
suspected by many of the early travelers, and even today long desert
roads on which there are no watering places, lead over areas where
ground-water could easily be obtained.

"In a desert valley, even where no wells have been sunk, it is
generally possible to ascertain and outline the areas where ground
water lies near the surface and to make an intelligent forecast of the
depths to water in other parts of the valley. If a sufficient number
of observations are made, it is also generally possible to form a
rough estimate of the quantity of water that is annually available in
such a valley and to predict to some extent the capacity of wells, the
quality of the water, and the cost of recovery."

To anyone familiar with Nevada, there are dozens of such desert
reaches which must instantly suggest themselves to the mind, and it is
interesting to speculate, not altogether idly, on how advantage might
be taken of such conditions. The Bulletin particularly speaks of one
of these areas:

"In an investigation recently made by O. E. Meinzer, of the United
States Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior, in Big
Smokey Valley and adjacent area near Tonopah, Nev., the character of
the vegetation and other surface criteria show that the ground-water
stands within ten feet of the surface over an area of 130,000 acres.
The measurements made indicate that tens of thousands of acre feet of
water are annually contributed by mountain streams and by rainfall to
the underground reservoir, and that about the same quantity of ground-
water is annually discharged into the atmosphere through the soil and
the plants in the shallow water areas. It was estimated that in an
area of 240,000 acres the ground-water lies within 50 feet of the
surface and that in an area of 335,000 acres it lies within 100 feet
of the surface. Detailed maps were made showing the location and
extent of these areas."

Nevada, because of its peculiar geographical and climatological
situation, will always need to irrigate its land to produce crops.
Where irrigation waters are available, the soil has proved abundantly
fertile, but Nevada has been handicapped by a lack of water for these
very soils which would be capable of producing the best crops.

If, perhaps, underlying those fertile though now arid areas there is
such a reservoir of untapped waters as the Bulletin describes, there
must instantly occur to the mind the question: "Cannot these waters be
made available?"

Elsewhere in Nevada great arid areas have been reclaimed by tapping
such underground reservoirs and raising the waters to the surface for
irrigation purposes with gasoline motors, where they have not flowed
of their own accord, in artesian wells. Nevada has not ventured far
into this field because it has not felt the necessity. But why wait on
necessity? Why should not Nevada attempt to reach this water? It could
easily do so and so add much valuable fertility to the state's already
important resources.

Of course, if these new irrigation resources of the state were to
become sufficiently utilized, then there would seem no reason why
Nevada should not be one of our best agricultural states.

The Truckee River is a splendid asset to Reno. Fed by the eternal
snows of the Sierra Nevadas, with a fall of 2,442 feet between Lake
Tahoe and Pyramid Lake, it affords a water power equalled by few
rivers in the U. S. A. Its power plants now supply light and power for
all near-by mines; Mason Valley, Youngton, Virginia City and the
Comstock Lode; yet these power stations do not generate one-tenth of
the power that could be obtained. It is said that it would easily be
possible to develop 40,000 horse-power within five miles of Reno.

This means that Reno has great advantages as an industrial center, and
as water power is known to be low in cost and as there is an immense
quantity of iron ore in the state, it might eventually be considered a
fine place to manufacture war supplies, especially for use on the
Pacific Coast.

The Southern Pacific Shops are at Sparkes near Reno and are of great
advantage to Reno merchants. These shops do the general repair work of
the Salt Lake Division of the Southern Pacific; they employ between
five and six hundred men at an approximate payroll of $125,000 per
month.

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