Show BEL BELOW ow THE EMS LEVEL A salt spot in the colorado desert san chronicle SALTON colorado desert jan 11 salton is ono one of the lowest points in the united slates states being J feet below sea level it Is a i dreary spot situated at about the end ot of a huge valley on the east will one day be abloom with the flowers of the orange and lemon trees and whose g antle slopes will be covered over with vines bearing grapes that will far surpass in size flavor anti beauty the fabled bunched bunches of eschol but from timo time immemorial salton itself has been a dedoit and for all time to c come 0 me it will remain so it in Is as if 0 ome hupa huge curse bad had been placed upon it and except for a few scant sagebrush nothing grows on it nor can be made to t crow grow hero le ie the huge salt beds which are now being worked by a san francisco company eo so what looks apparently a useless waste is really valuable ablo r band and the bodi bedi cover an enorma enormous us area and tho tile salt is scraped from off the surface and is not as bome people imagine mixed in the same way as goldana cold and silver the beds are about six sit to eight feet in length and often larcer larger for they are artificially made and in them oozes the salt iho the only tools which are employed to the ilia salt are a shovel and a hoe boo then the crude salt is loaded upon flat care and run down by a locomotive I 1 into 13 mills where it is to pounded up into I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 4 11 I 1 1 7 T y I 1 f q I 1 for the tible for the dairy and tor for each ouch other purposes as is needed the amount of salt that can ba be produced prod aced is incalculable indeed there is s enough to supply the civilized wo world rid for all time to come end and if there were a failure of salt anywhere the colorado desert d ean er t would be able to supply the demand m d in broad broad day when the are seen from the railroad cars they look like an immense inland ocean whose 0 waters are of glaring white and anpo upon n whose broad bosom rises innuse innumerable r a mirages from a great city ed with churches and cathedrals wh whose ae e spires are as numerous as the masts mast a on the river thames to gr groat OR t ocean ocea steamships s t and huge sailing bailing v vessels e asels in early morning when the sun is rising the scene Is one of unsurpassed splendor splendor for as the ra rays strike the salty qa ty crystals they flaak fla h forth various colored Ile lichts lits the only labor be had bad here Is chinese and indian and air mr durbrow darbrow the manager who 0 has had bad considerable sid erable experience with the indians indiana says a y that the indians of the colorado 0 de desert rt are admirable workers I 1 indeed n they appear to be and are particularly ticul arly ambitious they hare built around the managers house quite a little settlement and they are epicures epi cures in the manner of find fd they are all men of family their women who kho are singularly good looking keep house for them hut but do no sort of manual mannal labor except t that ido at connected connect e d with the house tho the bucks aro are stalwart stale ln young 0 a g chaps and addao tie well thought of are the they y by b air mr durbrow that he ile lays the indians a day and the ese 1 35 a day in conversing with mr J jocker oc k e r who is the foreman at the works he said it is a mistake to suppo suppose a that all indians are worthies worthless the nine men that are with me are wonderful workmen I 1 have no trouble with them they are at the salt beds by ay 6 5 a in and they work steadily till tho the noon hour when they eat their dinners and again go to work in act one indian is worth two and they thy know it and demand more pay Y i 1 have to keep continually 11 y catchi wa tchi a chinaman forbe for he will talk aad and cl chatter iatter during the working hours not so the indian lie Is stolid olid and will keelon kee keep pon on w 0 never stopping stepping lo 10 talk or a smoke they are 0 good hard laborers antmore ant and moke have ave a love 0 var abor for it inasmuch as it brings them many luxuries they aie kind to their families and really are fire admirable ble people whom it is a pleasure to deal deal with ith these indians are no exception it is s slid said to the others in this desert one ne indian called charley who Is exceedingly cee bright is a careful and conscientious ious reader of the chronicle and exulted greatly when the late election proved that the two great and import int ant centers of a coming civilization india and salton were republican charley reads his newspaper at noon imo time every day he ile sc anabe be heads of tho the telegraphic dispatches very closely then reads the telegrams about the war nar and translates the fame cano to his brother indians who receive the news with queer groans and grunts when charley wag was aa asked what ho he thought of the war i in n dakota he roslind ro plind all wild men no want work they work keep heap good no work all bad it appears that be has struck the keynote keyno teof of the wrongs done the indian the people of 0 arizona think about the same iray way and declare that if the reservations were ere closed the indians would work and helo themselves I 1 ves the indians around salton seem em to have satisfactorily solved that question work keeli them happy their tepees are woeful habitations it is to true they are simply loga logs thrown up lip one against the other three sides closed and the fourth left open tor for an entrance this terrible aperture ia is guarded by a thin sha shaul I 1 or sheet and as the weather ia Is now exceeding cold it is really surprising that they do da not freeze to deth death theba indians are they buy all aorta sorts of canned goods and fruit and their children have as ardent a he lute for loly pops as white children about sundown the women coma out bedora their tepees and begin to prepare the meal against the return of their liege lords they are not bad looking these dusky wives their features aro are straight their noses noea thin end and lone long their eyes are unusually mild and benevolent and ad n their hair long fini find and of an intense black not even seen in india there is ono one woman who ia Is exceedingly good looking she Is a pronounced blond for an indian is slight and has really pretty features she is quite a coquette in he be way and one can imagine her to be a confirmed flirt she ia is married to a it very intelligent buck who is inordinately jealous of her she seems to ba be the ruling spirit of the little camp and her dress has bas more pretensions to artistic artia tic untidiness than most of her friends she hag has quite a modest look and would form an admirable heroine for an indian love story she does not appear to do any hard bard work such as carrying water and making the fire having with her a youn young girl dependent who Is now pumping industriously at the well for her benfit the indian manner of baking bread I 1 is a becu peculiar liar A fire is lighted anthe on the iron lid of a dot and in the pot is laid the bread to this is is when the bread is to be in the shape of those indigestible cakes which generally grace the he table of some country hostelries lea those these they eat with their corned beef oc oe ham and sweeten it with mo molasses lassei or the syrup from the c canned anne d fruit wherever they are th they ey are good quiet inoffensive and above all bard hard workers and when execration is piled upon the indian except a dead one the speaker should remember that antho on the colorado desert the live indians are good and the only bad men in the desert are the eastern immigrants giants better and more unfavorably known as tramps J 11 G |