' There is very little timber until Blue Canon is reached,
but from there to Truckee and beyond the timber is good, and about
equal to that on the Rocky Mountains of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
There are several saw mills in this vicinity. After leaving Emigrant
Gap we ran through a continuous snow shed for 39 miles, which was very
unpleasant, both by reason of the smoke in the cars, and the noise, as
well as the loss of the view. We reached Reno about 10 p.m., an hour
and a half late. The schedule time over the mountain, up grade, is 17
miles an hour, and from Oakland to Reno, 246 miles, 20 miles an hour.
Reno is 4,497 feet above the sea. The summit of the Sierras, which is
196 miles from San Francisco, is 7,017 feet above the sea. We remained
all night at Reno. While there we saw in the morning a locomotive
engine, with cylinders 22 x 30 and eight driving wheels coupled, said
by the driver to weigh 165,000 lbs., start for the ascent of the
mountain, up grades of 116 feet to the mile, with 22 cars and a van.
"The country round Reno is table land with high mountains around it.
The only crop grown is 'alfalfa,' a species of clover. Three crops a
year are taken off the land, and it fetches, as fodder, from $8.00 to
$16.00 per ton, according to the season.
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