[Illustration: SEAGULLS IN COUNTLESS NUMBERS GIVE LIFE TO THIS AMERICAN DEAD SEA]
[Illustration: THE PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS OF NEVADA HAVE A CHARM ABOVE THE RICHES THEY YIELD TO THE INSISTENT SEEKER]
With water absolutely assured by the Government and the fertility of the land unquestioned, no one possessed of energy and good health with sufficient money to purchase the actual needs of a residence and farm cultivation, say from $1000 to $2000, need fear failure. The Carson Valley is to be a great garden spot, rich in small fruits such as apples, pears, peaches; rich in surface crops such as potatoes, onions, sugar beets; rich in dairy products, in great fields of alfalfa and herds of live stock. An experimental farm is maintained by the Government and already it has been proved that almost any temperate zone crop can be grown successfully. Probably the highest cash markets in America, the great mines of Nevada, Utah and California, are near at hand and the surplus can be exported to the eastern and western borders of the continent and perhaps yet farther.
[Illustration: A STORY NOT NEEDING WORDS—WHY THE OLD ROUTE WAS ABANDONED]
The Nevada & California Railway extends southward into the Owens River Valley from Mina, well known for its agricultural oases along the river, for its mines and for its superb scenery, its western wall of mountains being the highest and most impressive in the United States proper.
[Illustration: THE HUMBOLDT RIVER, CROSSED AT RYNDON, PROVES NEVADA NOT EVERYWHERE THE DESERT IT IS TOO OFTEN ASSUMED TO BE]
[Illustration: IN PALISADE CANYON, NEVADA, THE OVERLAND LIMITED FOLLOWS THE COURSE OF THE RIVER, WHICH REFLECTS EVER CHANGING PICTURES OF CASTELLATED CLIFFS AND VERDANT BANKS]
[Illustration: AT HUMBOLDT STATION, ONE OF NEVADA’S RAPIDLY SPREADING OASES]
[Illustration: IRRIGATION AT LOVELOCK AND MANY OTHER PLACES IN NEVADA IS RAPIDLY SHOWING THAT NOT ALL ITS WEALTH LIES IN MINES]
Reno, the most important and substantial Nevada cities, is 18,000 people and growing rapidly. To it the Virginia and Truckee Railroad brings business from the south, while the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway connects it with Northern California, Plumas and Modoc Counties (now being further developed by new lines under construction) and Southern Oregon. There is much good farming territory tributary; the Truckee meadows and Carson Valley are close by. The Truckee-Carson project will add to its trade greatly. The two factors giving greatest force to Reno’s forward movement are, however, the establishment of great railway terminals and shops by the Overland Route at Sparks, adjoining Reno, and the position of the city as the chief commercial center of the richest, and now the most actively exploited mining area in America. It has all the utilities of a city even to suburban electric railway service, is kept informed by four newspapers and carries $6,000,000 in deposit in six banks. The Nevada State University is one of the foremost schools of the West, and in its mining and agricultural department work ranks especially high. The Mackay Mining Building, dedicated June 6, 1908, is the pride of the university.