AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE.

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Eastern and Western markets, immense fortunes
are now being made, and the business is compara-
tively new—in its infancy.

No drouths which have been experienced in
this great range have ever seriously affected the
pasturage, owing to the peculiar qualities of the
grasses indigenous to the country. So with
storms: it has seldom happened that any storms
are experienced which cause loss, and none ever
need to, and none ever do, when the stockis prop-
erly attended to and herded.

On these ranges it is common for stock of many
owners to range together, and a system of brands
has been adopted, and recorded with the county
clerk in the section of country where the herds
belong. The recording of the brands is a protec-
tion against theft and loss by straying, as each
cattle man knows the brands in use in his range,
and each endeavors to protect the other’s interest.

The illustrations that we present, show two of
the brands in use, and the method adopted by all
cattle men tomake known their brand, and the
particular range, or home range of the cattle.

These : actual names, brands, range and ad-
resses.

Tum Awnuat “ Rounp-Up.’—One of the
most important and interesting features of the
stock-raising business is the cattle ‘‘ round-up.”
In the ‘free and easy’? manner of raising cattle
on the broad, western plain, where the ownersniay
not see one-half of his herd for six months at a
time, it may be imagined that the restless Texans
scatter almost from Dan to Beersheba, and that
extra effort is necessary when they are finally
collected by the regular spring “round up.”
Companies of herders are organized to scour cer-
tain sections of country, and bring every animal to
a grand focal point, no matter who that animal
may belong to or what its condition may be. The
old-fashioned ‘*husking bee,’ *“**possum hunt * or
“training day’ is vastly outdone by this wild
revelry of the herders. Mounted upon their fleet-
est ponies, the cow-boys scatter out in all direc-
tions, gather in ‘everything that wears horns,”
and at night may have the property of half-a-dozen
ewners in one immense, excited herd. Then,
while a cordon of herders hold the animals to-
gether, representatives of the different ‘‘ brands *’
ride into the herd, single out their animals, one
by one, and drive them off to be branded or mar-
keted. Moving along, day after day, the scene is
repeated, until the whole plains country has been
visited, and every breeder has had an opportunity
totake an inventory of his stock. Of course the
participants ‘‘camp out’ wagons, following the
herd, with blankets and provisions, the ‘ round-
up” season, being one of mirth and frolic, as well
as of work, from beginning to end.

No. 30 Annex. The Great Cave—of
Eastern Nevada, lies about forty-five miles to the
southwest of Hureka. It is situatedin one ofthe
low foot-hills of the Shell Creek Range, which
extends for about two miles into a branch of
Steptoe Valley. The ridge is low, not over 60 or
65 feet high, and presents no indications which
would lead one to suspect that it guarded the en-
trance to an immense cavern. The entrance
to the cave would hardly be noticed by
travelers, it being very low and partly obscured.
Arock archway, small and dark, admits the ex-
plorer, who must pass along a low passage for
about 20 feet, when it gradually widens out, with
acorresponding elevation of roof. Many of the
chambers discovered are of great size; one, called
the “dancing hall,” being about seventy by ninety
feet. The roof is about forty feet from the floor,

which is covered with fine gray sand. Opening

into this chamber are several smaller ones, and
near by, a clear, cold spring of excellent water
gushes forth from the rock. Further on are more
chambers, the walls of which are covered with
stalactites of varied styles of beauty. Stalagmites
are found on the floors in greatnumbers. It is
not known how far this cave extends, but it has
been explored over 4,000 feet, when a deep chasm
prevented further exploration.

Inpian Legenp—The Indians in this vicinity
have a curious fear of this place, and cannot be
tempted to venture any distance within its
haunted recesses. They have a legend that ‘‘ heap”
Indians went in once for a long way and none ever
returned: But one who ventured in many moons
ago, was lucky enough to escape, with the loss
of those who accompanied him, and he is now
styled ‘‘ Cave Indian.” According to the legend,
he ventured in with some of his tribe and traveled
until he came to a beautiful stream of water,
where dwelt a great many Indians, who had small
ponies and beautiful squaws. Though urged to
stay with his people, ‘“‘ Cave’ preferred to return
to sunlight. Watching his chances, when all
were asleep, hestole away, and, after great suffer-
ing, succeeded in reaching the mouth of the cave,
but his people still live in the bowels of the earth.

The Indians thoroughly believe the story, and
will not venture within the darkness. Another
story is current among the people who live near
by, which is, that the Mormons were once posses-
sors of this caye, and at the time when they had
the rupture with the United States Government,
used it as a hiding place for the plate and treas-
ures of the Church and the valuables of the Mor-
mon ejders. The existence of the caye was not
known to the whites, unless the Mormons knew
of it, until 1866.

A Lirrrite History—In the latter part of the
summer of 1858, a party of prospectors from Mari-
posa, in California, crossed the Sierra Nevada
Mountains via Yo-Semite to Mono Lake, then in
Utah, but now in that part of the country set off to
form Nevada. For three years the party worked
placer mines and other gold along the various
canyons and gulches extending eastward from the
Sierras, which led others to continue prospecting
further north, and who discovered Comstock
Ledge. Other prospectors followed, and the dis-
covery of rich veins in Lander, Esmeralda, Nye
and Humboldt counties, and in the adjoining
Territory of Idaho, was the result. The great
“unexplored desert,’? on the map, was avoided
until1865 and 1866, when parties began to branch
out and discover the rich argentiferous quartz
and fine timber land, extending along a series of
parallel valleys, from the Humboldt to the Colo-
rado River. Several New York companies became
interested in these discoveries, and erected a 20-
stamp mill at Newark, 22 miles north of where
Treasure City now stands, to work veins in the
Diamond Range. Acrossthe valley, opposite New-
ark, White Pine Mountain rises 10,285 feet. Here
the “ Monte Christo ” mill was erected, at which
a Shoshone Indian came one day with a specimen
of better ‘“‘nappias’’ than had yet been discov-
ered, and, by his guidance, the rich mines dis-
covered at Treasure Hill and the ‘“* Hidden Treas-
ure’ mine were located and recorded on the 14th
of September, 1867. But, aside from the produc-
tion of mineral, along these mountain ranges,
another source of wealth exists in the valleys ex-
tending roe Nevada and Utah. Werefer to
that branch of business which has been gradually
increasing—one which will bring a large revenue
to the settlers along these valleys in stock-rais-
ing. Bunch grass grows in abundance, and cattle