NEVADA.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1926, Page 4

NEVADA.

LEAD AND SILVER. NEW .MIXING RUSH. SAN FRANCISCO, March 21. Following tlie discovery ol lead and silver in tlie little township of "Beatty in the State of Nevada recently, a mad rush has started to this section, and almost overnight the town took' on the semblance of a mining camp of the early frontier days of the “ Wild and Woolly West.” Gambling, drink and concert halls are filled to overflowing, and seven drink shops are in full blast. Bootleg whisky of the worst character seems to he plentiful. The smallest bar is hut three feet long, while the longest is ten times that length. The "Skid Inn” is a ten by twelve feet tent, doing the proverbial “ land office business.”

Every able-bodied man arriving in Ibis latest of mining centres and applying for work finds a job immediately, some go into the mines, some enter upon road building, while carpenters find plenty to do. One road just finished cuts thirty miles off the old trail from Beatty to tho scene of the mining and prospecting. Three months ago Beatty hud a population of thirty-five including one child. The population had gradually dwindled to that figure from more than 5000 in 1907. whi'ii the last panic hit the country and the Bank of Beatty closed. Now* there are sixteen children in the rceully-opeiicd public school. Seven are Indians. The population of Beatty numbers 500 at the time of writing.

Rut, twenty-two miles further evest, on the ('aliforniu-Xevnda State line, is another town—Leadfiehl. .Most of the 101)0 persons making up the population live in limis. A few frame shucks have sprung up. .Most of the timber in them was taken from the ‘‘ghost city” ol Rhyolite, which in the halcyon days of old boasted a population of 15,000. .now it is deserted, and the abandoned buildings are rapidlv disappearing, to he raised again at Leadfiehl. where the mining operations are progressing rapidly. •MINES REOPENING. Hi these mining regions, reminiscent <d Bret Hart stories, not to mention Mark twain, the Western mine lias a Hume! 120 leet into the hill, now reported to he cutting a lead-silver vein. Another mine, reputed to have already produced 2,000,000 dollars’ worth of ore belore it closed down following the panic nineteen years ago, is being prepared to reopen by Utah capitalists.

All the land for fifty miles south and west of Beatty has been staked out, and prospecting is carried on by hundreds of men.

Transportation facilities are still meagre, and the ore taken from the mines must ho conveyed to Beatty, the rail terminal. Lumber and all supplies concentrate on. Beatty, and as a result transportation facilities are faxed beyond their capacity.

Since Realty awoke from its slumbers, lasting nearly a score of years, lour hotels have been added to the one struggling hostelry. Four restaurants instead ol one eater for the newcomers, who hail from ail purls of the United States. Four grocery shops have opened and five garages have replaced burro stables of tlie old days. There is a hardware store a lumber yard and two concert and gambling halls, all doing a thriving business, and in full blast all night to eater to the heterogeneous crowd of adventurers, all eager to seek their fortunes in this latest: mining camp of the U.S.A. High stakes are played for nightly over the linh-.c, and on the elusive white ball of the roulette wheel. One church with its lone pastor and a few members look after the spiritual needs of the community.