| Show WONDERS OF THE DESERT ERTs strange fads facts abolt the hie colorado waste where a aca ilas his form sil d HOTTEST PLACE BY FAR IN THE WORLD the united slates la is boing goina to F adlore it boon whore the marl ird mirage tempts the traveler acta A boalo rhier or coms IVA july 13 1891 the col colorado do desert debert a great part of which h ha abeen been transformed ithan alq tile iho lost few days into an island sea la shortly to bo be ep op lorril lored by abri government ot of late tile department I 1 of been devoting much of its atton attention tion to investigating tho the wa bato to 1 regions of the iho united estates with al a view to finding out what things animal avid and vegetable voReta blo live lit in thorn them two to years ago tho the so called painted desert ol of ariz arizona da amii si tile hie object of 0 inquiry and in ili 0 addition to zoological and botanical specimens icons for cm collections pictures were brought back of 0 that red expanse or of heat beat arid and barrenness with ith its scattered cliffe of rail bo hues topped lopped by heaps of fossil wood and its threatening tire the luckless trav traveler cler with their lowering columns of shirli ng solid sand dancing 0 over or the plain not na t less eard aro tho the descriptions sent by the iho pro proehl proe elit nl expedition to death valley respecting beene arid sand experiences in that strange alkali sink but even death alley Is nothing as to heat and a when compared with willi tho the colorado Coloia do doscia Js cil ahlich was wa the iho 8 original orfEl nal cornado del dd muerto huerto or valley 0 of f death ot of the fihs cans I 1 ihla his extraordinary region Is 1 00 miles south of tile so o called death valley in almost alin a 0 C line being that much nearer tho the equator anti and isa considerably deeper hole bole it covers square miles mile arid and more than a quarter of tills this area a space of too miles long jong by an air average width of 25 15 miles is bolow below like lovci level of the ocean in sonic somo parts its bottom is eel bolow below tidewater tide lido water reliable Kell ablo authorities ties assert that it Is yue THE MOST INTENSELY HOT SPOT on tho the face of tho the earth the sahara Is now nou here compared with it its surface way fairly bo be said to bo be strewn n till 1111 the donehoo of human beings who be have haic lost loit heir lives there expedition after x tion has been lost in attempts to cross it prof gilbert thompson of the geological survey spoke yesterday in conversation of an occasion souie yea years rs ago aeo ii when bell a railway train on which lie ho wax as a passenger broko broke down in the colorado hy BY good trick luck tho the nearest station was only three of a mile away and a number of people started out to in walk tile the distance stanca di over he ties before reaching their destina llon lien I 1 twelve iva of these were vere struck down by the he beat so that a rescuing party parly had bad to bo be sent out for them 1 llie I lie thermometer stood food at degrees in the shade many a birne tramps havo undertaken to walk alk tho the track tor for a distance and their cor coppies lites have subsequently been found between the alio rails somo some times not BOO ards from n station where safety wai wat under such pond I 1 tilvis people cannot live tor for more than a peo very little aello without aplous draughts of it water the water in the tha blood dries rapidly all the secretions of tho the bod body y thlik cn anti and constipation of a L direful I 1 ll 11 po pe set in it might be said all that thia del huerto muerto was the ho ideal desert of tile earthon world orld in no other of tho the ear earths a most fe tearful artil wastes s tes can bo be found such natural namest ural c conditions 0 nd I 1 I 1 1 ona of ideal h horror 0 aror even tho the mirage tempter of tire tiling ding trailers tra iram lors elers d reaches a more extraordinary development there than els on oil any line ime day and in that aliat region all days are am ino fine becuti e ti orn Is no rain one an behold in the colorado desert chero all Is hopeless lilt nil cry scry around beautiful lakes tempting vord ordure and a eian e n towns with houses and churchia churches a wl within thin distances apparently small ila a bond ond all other characteristic this desert possesses that of the es lue bior the iho leathett leat hete who ho can livo live on pictures it should be arildell aril an ideal deal abode if aln would never bo be fatigued fatigue because tile tho phantasmagoria Is endlessly the explorer who la is bold enough to venture into this region of nt despair for purposes bes of investigation Is strut jr to begin with with the weirdness of lindi ing himself walking on what was OSCE ON CE III HIB E ilfe OP OF TUB THE OC ZAN hundreds of foot feet lower down than nep tone luno aro are a few miles away lie ifo knows that thai this branch of if the th sea ca wari became an in inland lake and I 1 it I 1 I 1 Is wi with th ili interest forest that ho he looks u upon poll tile shores of what hat wat wa erstwhile a mighty body of water A great shallow lake it was ages BRO ago arid and the rocky banks bank which enclosed it batill remain cliffs of imperishable stone with the ancient marks still upon them ihorn whon water ws wits there the lime alch velch it contained was deposited upon the rocky shores gradually for thousands of yeara so that now the cliffs are coaled with it three led foot thick in many parr and one Is thus enabled to observe just jint low high hi this strange inland reservoir threw its waves in times gono gone by its bed today to day may noil A ell afford a study to tho the socker after marvels as well as to the tho geologist it afta wonderland imagine a plain of clay level relieved bro bore and there by hills of 0 sand arid built in beautifully av ellko outlines outline ahse MIS aro are biot stationary constantly cons cutly though slowly vily journeying ove over r tho the plain its AS tile hinds ands direct tile tho sand and of bilili they aro are 1 Is not like ordinary Y lan aal at all but of it A nature marvelous of aho grain gravitt t aro are transparent trant parent others are translucent title many are arc of rainbow hues bus being i in fact small gems of rod red carrollan earn car nollan n thin green arid and varl bolor colored 0 d pari r net liei looked upon beneath a microscope they aro are hobt A al nn a dority of them aro are perfect spheres 14 rounded and by attrition tiri tion with cadi cacti other whon mixed with a familiar rull at acid ald III like Seid Roid lili litz powders composed of these strangely wrought tho the sand hills bills look like groat great snow drifts with linro arid and thero there a gleam of color continually contin bially they give forth a rustling sound as the tiny spheres are shifted eted by tha winds SION slowly ly rolling onward in somo some pins of the desert hero here and there water boils bells tip from springs which are arc surrounded by circular hillocks of carbonate of lime from four foor to right fight feet in bight ibe be material mater lil of A aich tins has been deposited from I 1 tho lie flow lowing fluid tho the latter Is 15 so highly charged with fill gas that it Is very dither I 1 it to keep corks lit in bottles filled with it it seems queer to find in such a desolate country real soda water vater fountains gnp up eliod by nature R nips anro not to order unfortunately ahn ano deposited on ihn rocky shores was roil colt tri tributes buted by such springs its as these bubbling up from i what hat was the then n the bottom 0 of f tile the lake till OF tnt Is so cleir owing to the absence ot of moisture that small objects at a great di distance digance tance seem close at hand all sorts of illusions deceive the ebo A man mail fur far away oil ell the plain assumes frig ia I 1 6 baturo bangt 8 of bills tiko on i we wonderful effects of color roto violet and yellow the phenomenon of the mirage Is developed on a gigantic scale mountains bains below tho the horizon rise ilse in into to view and vast lakes of clear m barer ever ili invite ite tho the traveler to turn aside tor for refreshments the northern portion of ahn desert Is paved with tile tho most wonderful pebbles in tire ihn world in many parts so exquisitely laid as to 10 defy successful imitation by tho the most skilled worker in illora mosaic lo 10 flooring those pebbles are made of porphyry agates carri carrollan carridean car nollan dlan quartz quart crystals garnets t baysol ito and other s such uc h beautiful materials they are picked packed toge together therso ao that tho the surface composed of them Is like a floor and they look as if pressed into it with a roller As artile a rule they limy are ro of nearly uniform size arid and bac each it orin one Is polished poll hed brilliantly as if oiled and rubbed most moil of them are perfect spheres and tho lite reflection from thorn them of the suns suits rays is gorgeous bo be yond description each onex convex surface gives back a raoof ray of light abid and the hie ground for antles seems as it if literally paved with gems thustle thus abo holo surface of tho the plain Is 1 a combination of myriads of reflectors tors each pebble being so highly polished that it Is like a mirror and it Is 15 believed that the lakes of tho the desert deierl mirage are produced bytha moans means tho the pebbles aro are polished by the loohn sand Is blown hither an and everybody knows without looking at the map liow how lower flower california runs south from the pacific colt coast qt like a sort of tail separated from the united st slates a to q tor for it 1 a part of mexico as some people aro are not aware by it a long arm of tho the sea called the anif of california once upon a timo time the gulf gait ext extended Prided in a northward direction miles beyond its present wand inland limit into this northerly extension the great colorado river emptied millions of tons of dAtri tui annually until the deposit accumulated in quantity tent to OFF TUB tile arren pant 0 of f the gulf ahli filch h was thus transformed into a lake to begin vs ith of cours coi irso 0 it was wa a salt lake but it grad gradually became fie ficeli 11 through the influx of witter water from the file colorado thereupon fresh water lishes fishes and other rea turcs ures not of tho the brine wire re CIA developed clofed in it and in this way it happened that tho the dry bottom today 1 Is so covered with their fossil remains Ilo however weier tho the colorado like other oilier rivers has been steadily diminishing IQ in t volum 0 lump its s cen centuries have gono gone by so 80 that its supply of water was at length ell cui off fiam the llo lake only dry city channels remaining once torren torr onta tor flowed one knoot of I 1 hese old channels Is known as ai a i the new river within the memory or tradition of man there has boon no flow worth mentioning through this sew new river but an n 1853 a geologist prot william Willi arn 0 make attached to a party of united stat engineers engineer whdeh A bleh first explored the region legion said in his report that tho the desert would woold again become a d take tor ter a time it if there should bo heart an unusual rising of tho the colorado Coloia do now this Is exactly r c fly A v hat has talen taken place u athin tho the last tow few day A largo large tributary to ahn colorado called tho the gila rive liar ha been affected by such a flood as has never been heard of there before con consa so quent ly tile tho colorado augmented lu in volume by this swollen stream bat ba poured a portion of its overflow through tho the now river channel and the iha ancient lako lake bed has become inundated feces harily tire tho water will soon boon dry up this thil astonishing waste wl will ill bo be visited by a tor for the same purpose puri opo as that which hati ia inspired explorations by similar parties in fit tile ral led detert desert anil and to lu cath valloy valley tho chief object in view will be ba to secure specimens of everything animal arid and vegetable ege table that grows grown and lives in live region such animal life as li Is found there Is for tho the triest part reptilian the creatures most frequent being horned toads arid and small of a vory very peculiar pattern tuo tire latter have curious hoods hood their heads and aro are little wore than afoot a foot in length lont li those remarkable beasts known us its glia inon monsters hoso very breath Is deemed poisonous are plentiful alaio kliore aio numbers of scorpions as well as countless other things unpleasant the sege vegetation tation to which tho the botanists will devote their attention Is almost exclusively restricted to cacti and thorny mesquite bushes in such li a territory thero there aro are always alwais sure sum to bo be now n jecies aperies found 1 7 merely tor for lite reason thil that tow few other oilier e explorers have gone before rl F 1 |
