The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-11-12
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uark Twain On the Salt Lake sfs0A
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Aozo LAH, q - 1eal, Sc @ Cah-
t,Enia, ID o8e ofhSt m61t Sxts.pn0nary
curiosities, but being situated IN very
(ut-ofthe-way corner Of the country, snd
awuy nm among the eternal SHOWS Of the
Hierras. is little known and very seldom
visited. , mining cxdtennG1t carried ne
there once, and I spent Sevefal months in
its vicinity. 1t lies in . lifeles, treeless,
hideous desert, 6;000 feet above the level al
the sea, and is guarded by mountains A0OO
FEET higher, ,vhoee gummita are hiddmal-
WAYS IN the clouds This so1smn, silent,
saiiless sea-this lonely tenant of the lone
lest spot on earth-is little graced with
the picturesque. Il is an unpretendinx
expanse of greyish water, about 100 miles
in circumference, with two islands In its
center, mere upheavhls Of rent and
pprched and biiatefedt kv8, sn0ved Dyer
with grey banks ana Drifts 81. pt1mice and
ashes the winding sheet Of the dead vol
eano, whose vastcrater tho aka has sei7ed
upOn and occupied. q 90 r. - Nv aai-.E
The lake is 200 feet deep, and its slug-
gish waters are 80 strong with alkAn that
II you only dip the most hopelessly soiled
garment into them once or twice, and
wiring it out It win be found - clean - If
it had been through your ahlegt washer
woman's hands. While we camped there
our laundry work was easy. We tied the
weeks washing astern Of our boat and
sailed quarter of mile, and the job vas
complete, all to the wringing out. Il We
threw the water on cur headB and gave
them rub or 90, the white hther would
pile up three inches high. This water il
not good for bruised places and abrasions
of the skin. We had valuable dog. He
had raw places on him. He had more raw
places on him than sound ones. He was
the rawest dog Ialnost ever knew. he
jumped overheard neday to getaway from
the flies. But it was bad Judgment In his
condition it would have beea just a. com
Portable to jump into the fire. The alkai
water nipped him In sl1 the raw places
simultaneously, and he struck out f6r the
shore with considerable interest. He
yelped, and barked, and howled as he
went-and by the time he got TO the shore
there was no bark to hin--for be had
barked the bark all out of his
insides, and the alkali had cleaned
the bark all off his outside, and
he probably wished he had never en-
barked in any such enterprise. He ran
round and hound IN % CIRCLE and paved
the earth and clawed the air, and threw
double summersets, sometimes backward
and sometimes forward, IN the most fran
tic and extraordinary manner. He Was
not demonstrative dog, as general thing,
but rather of q grave and serious turn Of
mind, and never saw him take 80 much
interest in anything before. He finally
struck out over the mountains, sta Ait
which we estimated at about $50 miles an
hour, and he is going yet. This was about
five years ago. fWelook for Yhatis len of
him along hereevery d2y! . A. ,
A white man cannot drink the water of
Mono Lake, for it Is nearly pure I've. It
is said that the Indians in the vicinity
drink it sometimes though. 1t is not i'm
probable, for they are among the purest
liars I ever saw. There will be no addi-
tional charge for this Joke, except TO par
ties requiring an explanation of it. This
| Joke has received high commendation
from some of the ablest minds of the age.
Horace Greeley remarked to friend of
mine that If he were ever to make joke
like that, he would not desire to live any
longer.] '
There are no fish in Mono Lake-no
frogs, no snakes, no Nothing,
| in fact that goes to make life desirable
Millions of wild ducks and seagulls swim
about the surface, but no living thing ex-
lists under the surface, except Q white
feathery sort of worm, one half of an inch
long, which looks like q bit of white
thread frayed out at the sides. If you dip
I'D q gallon of water, You will get about
1900 of these They give to the water
a sort of grayish- whiteappearance. Then
there is f1y, which looks something like
our house fly. These settle on the beach
to eat the worms that wash ashore-and
any time you see there belt of flies an
inch deep and six feet wide, and this bell
extends clear around the lake-a belt Of
flies 100 miles long. If you throw stone
/ among them, they swarm up 30 thick thai
hey look dense, like q cloud. You can
hold them under water as long as you
please-they don't mind it-they are only
proud of it When you let them 60, they
pop up to the surface as dry Is ., patent
office report, and walk of As unconcerned
" as if they had been educated especially
i with view to sffording instructive enter
tainment to man in that particular way
4 Providence leaves nothing to goby chance
All things have their uses and their par
and proper place In Natures economy
The ducks and gulls eat the flies-the file
eat the worms-the Indians eat the flies
the wild cats eat the Indians the whit
folks eat the wild cats when their crop
fsil-and thus all things ere lovely,
III Mono Lake il $50 mfles ina strs1gh
line from the ocean-and between il ami
the ocean are one or two ranges of noun
tains-yet thousands Of scar ulls 60 Their
every season to lay their eggs and ree
! their Young. One would as soon expec
to find sea gulls in Tennessee. And il
this connection let us observe another in
stance of Natures wisdom The island
/ in the lake being merely huge masses o
lava, coated over with ashes and pumice
stone, and utterly innocent of vegetation
or anything that would burn and sea
gulls' eggs being entirely useless to any
body unless they be cooked, Nature ha
provided an unfailing spring of boilin,
water on the largest island, and you cal
put your eggs in there, and in four min
utes you can boil them as hard g an,
statement I have made during the pas
fifteen years Within ten feet Of the boil
ing spring lisa spring of pure cold water
sweet and wholesome So in that islam,
you get your board and washing free o
: uchafse--ana Il. Nature .hAa- eones Ansthe
and furnished nice American hotel clerl
who was crusty and diso6liging, and didn'
know anything about the time tables, O
the railroad ything-ant
was proud of i'll would not wish br
more desirable boarding house. ~ >
Half adozenl little mpuntain brooks flov
into Mono Iake, but not : stream of an,
kind flows out of it. 1t neither rises NO
falls, apparently, and what it does with it
surplus is a dark and bloody mystery
All the rivers of Nevada sink into tn
earth mysteriousiy after they have rul
100 miles or so--nOne of them flow TO tn
sea, as is the fashion of rivers in all othe
lands.
There are only two seasons in the regiol
round about Mono Lake-and these are
, the breaking up of one winter and tn
beginning of the next. More than ono
: have seen perfectly blisterlng mornin
open up with the thermometer ut ninet,
degrees at 8 O'Clock, and seen the SNOW
fall fourteen inches deep and that sam
, identical thermometer 90 down to forty
four degrees under shelter, before
o'clock at night. Under favorable Gil
cumstances 1t SHOWS at least once IN ever
single month in the year, In the little tow
of Mono. So uncertain is the climate b
summer that lady who goes out visitinl
cannot hope to be prepared fox. ala mel
!, gencies unless che takes her. hns unde
f'one arm and her snow shoes under tn
other. When they have q Fourth of Jul.