John Muir is considered the father of our national park system. He wrote many books, letters, and essays about his adventures in nature. The following excerpt comes from the book Steep Trails. In it, Muir describes his own observations about early towns in America.
1 Nevada is one of the very youngest and wildest of the states; nevertheless, it is already scattered with ruins that seem as gray and silent and time-worn as a century old civilization. All these ruins are results of mining efforts made within the last few years. Throughout the wilderness of Nevada, you come upon these dead mining towns everywhere.
2 While exploring the mountain ranges of the state during three summers, I have seen at least five of these deserted towns and villages. Some of them were probably only camps built by bands of prospectors, inhabited for a few months or years, and then carelessly abandoned for more promising fields. Many were real towns, regularly laid out and incorporated, containing well-built hotels, churches, schoolhouses, post offices, and jails, as well as the mills on which they all depended.
3 A Californian prospector would discover some rich ore. The news fell among excited seekers after wealth like sparks in gunpowder, and in a few days the wilderness was disturbed with the noisy clang of miners and builders. A little town would then spring up, and before anything like a careful survey of any particular lode would be made, a company would be formed, and expensive mills built. Then, after all the machinery was ready for the ore, perhaps little, or none at all, was found. Meanwhile, someone reported another discovery, and the seekers abandoned the young town.
4 Passing through the dead town of Schellbourne last month, I asked one of the few lingering inhabitants why the town was built. "For the mines," he replied. "And why were they abandoned?" I asked. "Are they exhausted?" "Oh, no," he replied, "they are not exhausted; on the contrary, they have never been worked at all, for unfortunately, just as we were about ready to open them, the Cherry Creek mines were discovered across the valley in the Egan range, and everybody rushed off there, taking what they could with them -- houses, machinery, and all "
5 The dead mining excitements of Nevada were far more intense and destructive than those of California. In the search for wealth, the seekers too often became insane, striking about blindly in the dark like raving madmen. This craving for wealth gave rise to one of the most violent excitements that ever occurred in the history of mining. All kinds of people -- shoemakers, tailors, farmers, etc., as well as miners -- left their own right work and fell in a perfect storm of energy upon the White Pine Hills. They covered the ground like grasshoppers, determined by the very violence of their efforts to turn every stone to silver. But with few exceptions, these mining storms passed away about as suddenly as they had risen. Only ruins are left to show the tremendous energy expended.
6 The wealth Nevada has already given to the world is indeed wonderful, but the only grand marvel is the energy expended in its development. The pure waste visible in the ruins of the towns never fails to produce a saddening effect.
7 The dim old ruins of Europe, so eagerly sought after by travelers, have something pleasing about them, whatever their historical associations. They at least lend some beauty to the landscape. Their picturesque towers and arches seem to be kindly adopted by nature and planted with wildflowers and wreathed with ivy. Their rugged angles are soothed and freshened and embossed with green mosses, fresh life and decay mingling in pleasing measures. The old ruins of the East have also served their time, and like the weather-beaten mountains, are wasting harmoniously. The same is in some degree true of the dead mining towns of California.
8 But those lying to the eastward of the Sierra throughout the ranges of the Great Basin waste in the dry wilderness like the bones of cattle that have died of thirst. Many of them do not represent any good accomplishment and have no right to be. They are monuments of fraud and ignorance -- sins against science. The drifts and tunnels in the rocks may perhaps be regarded as the prayers of the prospector, offered for the wealth he so earnestly craves. Like prayers of any kind not in harmony with nature, they are unanswered. But, after all, effort, however misapplied, is better than stagnation. Better to toil blindly, beating every stone in turn for grains of gold, whether they contain any or not, than to lie down in apathetic decay.
What other words from the passage are unfamiliar to you? Choose at least two words and use a dictionary to define them.
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Here are two words from the passage that may be unfamiliar, along with their definitions:
Lode:
Definition: A lode is a rich source or supply of something, typically referring to a deposit of valuable minerals or metals in a mine. In mining contexts, it is often a vein of ore that is identifiable and extractable.
Expended:
Definition: To expend means to use up or consume resources, such as time, energy, or money, in the course of an activity. In the context of the passage, it refers to the effort and resources invested in mining endeavors.
Feel free to ask if you need further explanations or additional words!
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