Excerpt from Preliminary Report on the Building Stones of Nevada, Including a Brief Chapter on Road Metal, Vol. 1 The statement that the West is undeveloped is undeniably true. It is doubly true of the State of Nevada. Little has been done to develop her natural resources; little is known of the boundless wealth of her mountains and valleys. Yet Nevada is; on the eve of a great awakening; with the advent of irrigation thousands of acres of fertile land, now desert like, will be made to, yield an abundance of the fruits of the field, and will support a large population. As the community increases in numbers, a demand will arise for all modern improvements, among which two of the most important are, permanent buildings and good roads. It is needless to state that both of these are made possible by the use of stone; stone for erecting substantial, handsome structures, and stone for the betterment of the highways, which are so important to the healthy life of a growing community. It is not needless, however, to state that the principle underlying the choice and use of stone for the above purposes are little understood. Moreover, were these principles understood, little is known of the various rocks in the state available at present. The purpose of this preliminary report, then, is as follows: First, to present the main principles governing the selection and use of building stones and road metal; second, to describe briefly the stones now in use, or that can easily be used, in Nevada, with their location and availability; and third, to attempt to arouse a larger interest in a subject of such vast importance to a healthy commonwealth, We in the West are prone to build for the day only; tomorrow is allowed to care for itself. This is undoubtedly cheaper at any particular time, but is far dearer in the end. The scale of any civilization may be told from its architecture; the stability of that civilization is shown by the materials used in the architecture, lint we are learning to build, not for mere decades, but for centuries of use, and to do this we must use stone. The first cost may be high, but the ultimate expense is low. The result of this is to be seen now in many places. Not only are stone buildings more common, but also the use of stone is seen in bridges, culverts, roads, curbing, and in many other ways too numerous to mention. In a rapidly growing state like Nevada the importance of these considerations cannot easily be overestimated, yet that importance is little realized. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.