Student Activity for the Map of the
Humboldt River System

Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Educational Series E-32

Locations of Towns in the Area of the Humboldt River System

Collette Craig
Reed High School
20 September 1999

Investigative question:

Objective:

Grade Level: Middle School to High School (7 - 12)

Student product:

Materials for each student:

Procedure:

1. In order to acquaint the students with the landforms they can see from their schoolyard, go outside with the map. Have the students look around at the land and locate the high points (mountains and hills), the flat places, and rivers or streams that they can see. Have the students look at the map. On the map, have the students locate the school and the places the students can see. What do these landmarks look like on the shaded relief map? How do mountains and hills look different on the map? What do rivers look like on the map? Where are rivers, in high places or in canyons or valleys?
2. Return to classroom. Ask the class to brainstorm, as a class or in small groups, about the things people need to live. What did the original settlers need to make a living? Some answers might include water, food or place to grow food, livestock and a place to graze livestock, a way to travel easily to other places, and industry or ability to trade.
3. Now discuss what kind of land might be good for farming, grazing, hunting, or for producing water. Students should discuss the appropriateness of types of landscapes for the possible uses. For example, we can farm in flat places, but we can graze animals in the flats or on gentle hills, and we can hunt almost anywhere there is game.
4. Have students examine maps and identify places that might be good for farming, grazing, and water. Examine the land forms. Do we have all the things that are needed for people to live?
5. Look for other places on the map that might be good places to build a town. Put a yellow dot on places that may good for farming, a red dot on places that could be used for livestock, a blue dot where you might build a factory, a green dot where there is a lot of water. Discuss as a class: Are there other places that would be good town sites on this map? Are there towns there already? Would you build a town in the your area? Why or why not?
6. Look at the locations of possible farm sites. Discuss with students the factors that make a good farm site. (presence of soil (usually in a valley in Nevada), the presence of water.) If water from a river is lacking, what other sources might there be? How might it be distributed to the site?

Extensions

1. Using a topographic or historic map, locate ghost towns and mining districts. Put these locations on your watershed map using a differently colored dot. Are these towns located where inhabitants might have all the resources needed to live? Why could these towns be located in these spots?
2. Using a modern road map, look at the places modern towns are located. Of the materials needed to support inhabitants of the towns, list the ones that are available locally. List other materials that would have to be brought into the town and possible trading commodities that could be taken out of the town. What means of moving the materials in and out of the towns are available today?
3. For more information about the uses of water, especially related to agriculture, see "Agriculture in the Classroom" at USDA - Agriculture In The Classroom (http://www.agclassroom.org/).
4. These exercises point out the importance of water. To further increase awareness of the uses of water, have students list and discuss the various types of industry that might be found in the Humboldt Basin (examples include irrigated agriculture, domestic cattle and sheep grazing, tourism (hunting, fishing, rafting, camping), electrical power production, mining, manufacturing, transportation).
5. Rock types in the areas drained by the upper, eastern part of the Humboldt River can be compared to those in the lower, western part by consulting the generalized geologic map of Nevada (http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/e30.pdf).