Nevada
The best of evidences are found all
through these Nevada mountains that they
were once under water. We not only see
round, smooth stones, and sand like that
by the sea-shore, but petrified oyster and
clam shells. These are found on points of
land several thousand feet higher than the
sea. And thus we can account for many
strange things which we behold in nature.
What are now high, towering mountains,
in some cases, may once have been the
bottom of the sea; and what is now the
bed of the sea may once have been lofty
mountains. The psalmist seems to have
contemplated some such terrific
convulsions,
either in the past or future, when he
penned the following: "God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in
trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the
earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof." Psalms 46:1-3.
God that made the earth and all that is
therein is almighty in power. . It is a small
thing with him to produce these changes,
for "He looketh on the earth and it trembleth;
he toucheth the hills and they
smoke." Psalms 104:32. When we think
of the changes thus wrought by God's
power, and what desolations he has made
in the earth, it should awaken in all our
hearts a desire to "hide under the shadow
of his wing;" and to do this we must
make "his truth our shield and buckler."
But as we are being hurried rapidly on
our journey eastward, we cease our
musings on what we have passed, and
hasten to view the wonders of the dreary
sage brush plains. At first sight, one would
think that these plains were totally
destitute of anything interesting; but as
we approach them, and look to the right
about two miles, and up and down the
railroad several miles, we see the ground
as white as snow, and exclaim, What! Is
this snow in mid summer? The conductor
kindly informs us that what we see on the
ground is salt and alkali, and that we have
arrived at the salt wells.
As our train halts, we see great bins
filled with salt by the road-side, and men
with teams hauling still more up to the
bins, while others are loading it into the
cars. Away in the distance are vats
something like those made for soda, in the
Carson Valley. These vats are filled with
water, and as it dries away, the salt forms
in layers on the bottom.
The water once overflowed a low portion
of this land, where it gradually dried
away, leaving a thick layer of salt on the
ground. This is what led to the discovery
of these salt springs.
But on goes our train; and as we leave
these mineral curiosities behind, it is with
the reflection that the formations of alkali,
soda, salt, and borax, found in Nevada, are
very nearly associated together; and this
seems to confirm the statement made by
the inhabitants, "that all these minerals
are of the same class."
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
THE abundance of the miser is but poverty to him.
THY works, O Lord, interpret thee,
And through them all thy love is shown;
Flowing about us like a sea,
Yet steadfast as the eternal throne.
Alice Cary.
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“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
Genesis 6:7
”And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”
Genesis 6:17
“In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
Genesis 7:11,12