Santa Fe gazette. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1859-1864, 1862-07-12

In the acquisition Of territory from Mexico we
acquired not only good, bad, and Indifferent lands,
but We got DESERT and so large in its dimensions,
so formidable in its witherng desolations, that We
are as much at loss to know what to do with it
as was the party who drew the elephant Pro(es-
sOr Blake, who, from his position Of geologist
accompanying the exploring and surveying expe
diton Of Capt, Williamson, Of the Atlantic aud
Pacific Railroad Survey, acquired pesonal and
familiar knowledge Of this "jOrnada del mucTsc," !"
desert Of DEATH thus speaks Of it;
"'THE COLORADO D ,sERr.--prof. Blake, in a
recent lecture in San Francisco, speaking Of the
Colorado Desert, pronounced it as fine specimen
Of the desert as that Of Lydia or Sahara 1t ex.
tends from the base of San Bernarlino SOUTH
westerly one hundred and eighty miles, parts Gifts
surface being below our boundary line in Sonora
Its area is somo nine thousand square miles, and
excepting the Colorado, which cuts across its
lower end, Is without river or lake 1t stretches
Of to the horizon on all sides without one glimpse
Of fvegetation or life Its surface is ashy and
parched its frame Of mountains rise in rugged
pinnacles Of brown rock bare even of soil. Words
are unequal to the task Of describing its apparent
expanses, its air. the silence Of its night the bril-
lianCy Of the stars that Overhang it, the tnts o.
the mountains at daybreak, the looming up o
those beyond the horizon, the glare Of the midday
sun, the violence ofits local storms Of dust and
sand
"Parts are entirely destitute even Of sand beinl
smooth, compact, sun baked clay; other parts ar,
covered with heaps Of sand, disposed like snow
drifts in waves Of fifty and eighty feet in height
Near the mountains along the Colorado there is
terrace as fat as the floor, and paved with peb
bles of nearly uniform size, of prophyry, jasper
quartz corneIan, and agate, all rounded by the &c
ton Of the water, and polished till they glisten, b.
the driving sand In this respect again. the pore
Of our Great Desert is like that which outlines tn
!. Lybian Desert. Doubtless the northera part o
the deser. is the dry bed Of an ancient lake 9
fresh water, whose beach lines are strongly mari
ed. Probably, at comparatively recent periol
the water ofthe California Gulf covered all III
clay surface Of the desert. 1t lies below the
level now, and il a channel were cut through th
natural embankment Of the Colorado, it would b
doubtesscovered again with water 1t is yeT
probable that the Colorado Desert region wa
uplfted within historic times Earthquakes o.
casionally agitate its surface, and in 1852 thel
interruptions Of mud and hot water in the Ger
tral parts Of the valley"
The enterprise in question is no less than thf
Of converting this formidable desert into ruitf
field by introducing water from the Colorado rvI
on aud over ii, thus causing vsrdure to replat
stsrility the realization ofpoetic fancy, ITO eau
the desert to bloom as the rose"
. The prOpagator Of this enterprise having devo
: cd several years in the preliminary work, al
: having fully determined the practicability Of Il
/ measure by actual instrumental surveys, no
awaits the action Of Congress to make cessien
: this Sahara to the State OF California, in comp
:, ance with the expressed wish Of her Legislator
!, 1t cannot be doubted that Congress will at on,
y J comply with the application made By Californi
. % and allow the parties go on with this nov
= = work, which PROMISES TO be Of so much benefit
Z the Government and mankind