ore
of its mineral and agricultural wealth.

Gold is the most widely disseminated of all metals, and is said to be
where you find it. That this statement is true has been demonstrated
many times, especially during the last few decades. In the north it has
been found in the frozen ground of Alaska and Siberia, in the south in
the sands on the surf-beaten shores of Tierra del Fuego and in the reefs
of the Transvaal, while it is found in numerous places lying between
these extremes.

The vast tract of land in the western part of the United States whence
most of these metals are obtained has been the scene of many tragedies.
It is an inhospitable region, scanty in both animal and vegetable life,
where climatic conditions call for heroic daring on the part of those
who would search out its hidden mysteries; it is a land of death-dealing
mirages, yet containing untold wealth for the miner, and likewise for
the husbandman who can irrigate the fallow parched surface.

[Illustration: Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards' Roost]

The bold prospector has unearthed in many places of southern Nevada
gold-bearing rock assaying thousands of dollars to the ton, the result
being the building up of cities and towns and the construction of
connecting railroads to meet the demands of the growing commerce. Until
recently, silver was the principal metal sought and found in the State
of Nevada; but now gold is king, and his throne has been shifted from
one desert camp to another, each laying claim to his abundant presence,
while new claimants are ever bringing new treasures into light.

The two most valuable deposits of the precious metals now known in
Nevada are at Tonopah and Goldfield, the discovery of the first having
been made in 1901 and of the latter in the following year. Some of the
Goldfield ore has assayed as high as thirty thousand dollars per ton,
and so rich were many of its ores that they were sacked and carefully
guarded until landed at the reduction works. In one year and a half from
the discovery of gold at Goldfield the output reached four million
dollars.

These mines of the Nevada deserts excel in the richness and abundance of
their ores, while in the future these camps bid fair to outrival in
development all other sections of the United States. A few years ago the
southern part of the Silver State was considered utterly worthless and a
region to be shunned like a charnel-house, on account of its barren and
dangerou