Ch. 1: Gold, Silver, Platinum in 1892

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	PRECIOUS METAL INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 75 important than the similar class of deposits in Colorado. Mining development in this State' has progressed more rapidly than scientific investigation, and the geological conditions of a great number of its deposits are yet unknown. The silver product, as shown by statistics, has increased steadily up to the end of 18'J2, thus proving a considerable increase in the product of districts and mines other than those mentioned above, which at the present time are either closed or working with a greatly reduced force. While, therefore, a very considerable falling off in the silver production of the State is to be looked for, it is not likely to cease altogether under any probable reduction in the price of that metal. Nor, on the other hand, is a moderate rise in that price liable to result in any great immediate increase, for most of the largest known ore bodies have been worked out to such a depth that the starting up of work again means a preliminary expenditure too large to be undertaken without the fair certainty of a permanent price for the product. The gold output, on the other hand, is liable to increase. Under favorable conditions placer mining will be resumed. A considerable portion of the State is not yet thoroughly explored for ore deposits, and gold-bearing ores will be more sought than formerly, while of already opened deposits work on those that carry considerable values in gold as well as in silver will .naturally be continued rather than on those whoso values are in silver alone.



	NEVADA. The State of Nevada has peculiar physical conditions, characteristic of the so-called Great Basin region which extends beyond its boundaries into western Arizona, southeastern California, western Utah, and portions of Idaho and eastern Oregon. These are a very arid climate, a scarcity of running water, and no exterior drainage, except in the portion traversed by the Colorado river, which, however, does but little to relieve it of its desert character. In such a region agriculture is necessarily so limited in its development as to be unable to constitute a self-supporting industry, and, since the inhabitants must necessarily be dependent on mining or pastoral industries, it will always be sparsely populated. It suffers under the further disadvantage of containing on

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