Show J THE GREAT southwestern DESERT DESE RT x X f ARTHUR LAKES IN MINING WORLD 2 X 1 i X fi A great desert extends from beyond the pacific railway in nevada south to the gulf of Al mexico exico including portions of neva nevada da arizona and southern california parts of it are known under different names such as the rallston escalante mojave and yuma deserts and death valley it is the hottest and most arid region of western north america yet with all it has certain charms that make some people so infatuated with it that like desert rats they will live nowhere else one of the charms may be an unmitigated freedom with which the outside world cares not to meddle it has too certain peculiar and picturesque charms not met with elsewhere As the geology of a region is naturally its fundamental starting point we may take that of the celebrated death valley recently described by mr air spurr as typical the geological history of this notorious and weird part of the desert is as follows in ancient times the desert was an arm of the paleozoic sea in which were laid down horizontally a considerable thickness of sediments sandstones lime stones and conglomerates these were elevated bodily without marked folding into a land mass eroded and tilted into sharp lofty mountains with deep valleys then the area was lovered covered with a great freshwater fresh water tertiary lale lake or inland sea in which another great series of sediments was deposited along the shores and on islands in the lake were many volcanic cones and craters pouring forth sheets of lava into the lake which subsequently became intercalated with sedimentary Inen tary beds the fresh water of the lake was at certain times reduced and evaporated so that beds eds containing salt borax silica gypsum t and lime were chemically precipitated and mingled with the detritus silt A second great lava eruption took place of olivine basalt shown in the lake beds of brown and red conglomerates and flows of basalt this was followed by a disturbance accompanied compa nied by rapid folding the crust was bent ben t and broken forming hills and valleys and death valley was created the mountains were eroded into minor irregular forms the climate being slightly moister than now a lake a few hundred feet deep was formed in the bottom of death valley this soon become charged with salt and borax derived from the leaching of the earlier lake beds now become mountains the climate becoming drier the lake evaporated leaving the area a salt desert thus we see that this typical modern arid and region in ancient times was r remarkable emar kable for the amount of water covering it at successive periods first by the paleozoic seas and later by tertiary fresh water lakes it i is s a curious fact that the world over the regions at present most arid and forbidding were in earlier times covered with abundant water and supported in many cases a luxuriant tropical tro p leal vegetation 0 these bad lands represent the dried up relics of ancient or comparatively recent bodies of water lakes or inland seas far greater in area than any lakes now existing thus the green river desert of wyoming and the bad lands of nebraska and dakota are the a representatives ot of prehistoric vast inland seas the state ot of nevada was covered by the great lake lahotan utah by the great lake bonneville of which the present salt lake is but a shriveled up diminutive residuum the southern deserts of arizona and southern california besides representing areas of lakes are also examples of an exceedingly region all whose waters and drainage have been absorbed by and sunk down into the depths of the great arterial drain of the country the grand canyon of the colorado river alkali sagebrush sage brush and rocks characterize these deserts in some the scanty covering of sagebrush sage brush is absent and its place taken by a peculiar desert vegetation eta tion armed with ferocious thorns in places even these too are wanting and the ground is a parched salt or sandy desert death valley is such it is a great brown desert having the appearance of a newly plowed field on examination the surface is found to consist entirely of salt rendered brown by a mixture of soil despite the surface aridity there is generally a supply of water beneath the soil obtainable by digging the amargosa amargoso river origin ally fed the lake of death valley and at times this river has veen been known to be feet wide at the southern end although generally its course is dry yet it flows beneath beneat li the surface our first view of this great weird desert region was from the summit of the laguna mountains part of the san diego range of southern california to the west was the blue sea of the pacific cool refreshing and sparkling in the sunshine from its shore to the summit of the mountains extended fields vineyards and orchards with a luxuriant brush vegetation mingled with forests of evergreen oak turning our backs on this scene and looking down eastward from the crest the contrast was striking several thousand feet below us lay the great gray sandy desert apparently void of vegetation its surface broken broke t h here and there by low volcanic mountains A parched region of gray rocks 9 ray gray sand and ghastly gray mountains it suggested the scenery of the moon as viewed through a powerful telescope in the far eastern distance was the only refreshing sight viz a lake of fresh water known as lake salton and between it and the steep slope of the laguna hills lay the deathlike desert death to many who tried to cross it without a proper water supply or who lost their way and wandered vaguely till they lay down to perish from thirst A land tenanted ten anted by the scorpion tarantula centipede rattle snake gila monster a land whose soil is salt and where in summer the torrid heat of day is but little relieved by the shades of night where even the venomous nemous ve reptiles and other natural denizens do not issue from under cover of the hot rocks until after the sun goes down A region where the mirage constantly tempts with its elusive moving pictures and where wild electric storms descending sc upon the mountains blow in whirl winds like blasts from an open furnace and cross the valley without dropping their moisture which is repulsed from the heated soil A region that has lure 1 and slain many a prospector infatuated with the delusion of some lost mine such as the Pe fake gold does exist however in this region but it takes a hardy man to live there and hunt for it other mineral elements such as salt borax and gypsum abound life however by those who have tried it is said not to be so unbearable as might be supposed summer is certainly hot day and night but winter is delightful and there are even rainy seasons immediately after which the desert is changed into a flower garden in proof of which we have seen a beautiful collection of pressed flowers collected by a lady who with her husband passed many seasons in the desert animal life apart from reptiles is fairly 1 qi 4 Q Z Z can N al ay iy liecbt ol 01 op c hie 77 2 lacuna represented there is a very beautiful little fox and numbers of coyotes and herds of wild donkeys also countless rats with bushy tails who make their burrows under the roots of the desert shrubs carefully protecting the entrance to their holes from the intrusion of snakes and other reptiles by cactus spines flocks of california quail with graceful little top knots on their heads like miniature parasols abound and sometimes when one of the cloudburst cloud burst storms characteristic of the region deluges the area and turns it for a brief time into a shallow temporary lake of playa thousands of these birds are driven before the edge of the water reptiles abound and ve nemous insects such as rattle snakes gila mon monsters a species of ye Te nemous lizard and occasionally sio nally genuine serpents of great size A friend who mined tor for some time in the region saw on one occasion at least fourteen feet of a huge serpent climbing up the almost perpendicular wall of a canyon and did not see the rest of the tail these serpents are called king snakes and are said to devour the rattlers scorpions and centipedes are found under almost every stone the bite of the scorpion is not fatal but Is like that of a hornet the tarantulas or bi bis g spiders attain in the desert a great size when it rains it rains hard and the showers are mostly in the form of cloudbursts tearing down the hills cutting out rapidly a ravine before them and hurling along in their course rocks many tons in weight good water can generally be found at no great depth by digging wells and water is generally found at an early period in the mines my friend before mentioned mention bd for some time in charge of the mines related a curious experience by wells and from the mines they were well supplied with water even sufficient for milling but when the great earthquake of 1899 that so se verely shook the pacific coast occurred tiie the shocks crossed the desert with great sever ity A small low lor range of hills is said to have completely disappeared and all the springs in the vicinity ran dry so much so that the theoines mines had to be shut down and have continued so ever since the stations along the santa fe have no difficulty in obtaining water by wells and pumps toward the southern portion of the de desert area so called mud 11 balses sal ses occur throwing up mud accompanied by gas from miniature craters which are painted in brilliant colors by the chemical ingredients and oxidation of material ejected the desert is not lacking in rich deposits of mineral as shown by the johannesburg and mines the other economics are principally salt borax and niter one of the most beautiful sights of the desert is the afterglow after glow just after the sun goes down the crests of the mountains lire are ablaze with rose orange and gold while the flanks of the mountains and the valleys are in deep violet shadow darkness quickly follows the crickets begin to tune up and the denizens of this weird region crawl out from under the hot rocks and hold high carnival in the moonlight |