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Show RIVERS OF THB DESERT, ' Sosse ef tb Stress Freehs Thsy Tmf New aa Tfsea, A large contractor Is authority for tbe statement that In proportion to the number of streams, ther ar mor bridge In arid reglona than In any! ether section of the country. Of course, he only referred to euch bridges as span what were formerly or see now th well defined channels of running water. Is parts of th southwest creeks and rivers often appear and dlaappear so quickly that It Is not known whence they oomo Dor whlthsr they go. sometimes a stream vanishes and leaves no signal sometimes Its disappearance la marked! by an Increase of water In th neighboring neigh-boring river; sometimes It cut for Itself a nlr ohannel, but whatever becomes be-comes of It the old bed Is usually left perfectly dry. These change generally tak plac after a flood and necessitate tbe construction of nsw bridges, On little rivulet In aouthern California has required the building of Ave dlaUnrl brldgee. About two years ago th Southern Pacific railroad lost a atreara called th Whitewater river, which bad nsvor been known to fall before. During Dur-ing the wet season It became an angry, turbulent and destructive flood, but when the ruin erased, It gradually dls-apsared dls-apsared and left no traces of Its future course. A young explorer was stir that h could find tho mouth of any atream, and so selecting one whose outlet was not known, he began his tour of Investigation. Inves-tigation. After riding many hour through thn heat and sand, his attention atten-tion wus for a short time attract- ' other objects, when suddenly 1 membered his mlasion ' lookod fie his river, but not a watar .i Itl Bight "Wr-;i," i ..ia.t i. fouu. that th 'c'i low the -.:a ,ld . mnny of the nniai,cr sticnniB of the desert huve no In- nl wati-i h or outlets, but simply aa Inlili.l nnd a final ending. |
