The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-10-18
NO. 80.
From the Pacific Slope.

From the Pacific slope.
Fort Yuma, Sept. 20, 1870.
EpIroa OF REGISTER The distance
from San Diego to the Colorado River is
1SO miles, and they are the longest
drawn out, most disagrecable, monoto-
nous, and fatiguing miles that ever ex.
hausted the patience of a weary traveller.
Having survived the trip, we propose to
stop few days to shake off the dust, re-
cruit our teams, and recuperate general
ly before setting out upon the 800 miles
that intervene between this point and the
Burro Mines. Seventy miles east from
the coast the road strikes the great
American or Colorado desert, which
stretches out in broad expanse constitu-
ting vast extent of country, Or sea Of
sand, comprising several million acres, as
entirely barren of every living green
herb as the top of a bald head. Why
this prodigal waste of acres must remain
mystery. The ways of Providence are
inscrutable, and should not be questioned.
The sand in many places is from three to
six inches in depth, and every afternoon
at this season the wind blows furiously,
filling the heavens with clouds of rolling
dust which floats like Emusic in the
air."
Animals sneeze and shake their heads
snuff takers blow their nasal organs con-
tinualy, and curse the wind, the sand,
and everybody generally. The weather
is so extremely warm, Notwithstanding
the high winds, that after a days ride, the
traveller is so well coated with the muci
lege of dust and perspiration that it would
be impossible to tell whether his mother
,cas blonde ora compound ofthe fifteenth
amendment The stage line have made
their stations wherever they can obtain
water, consequently they range from 20
80 miles apart. Water can be had at no
place except these stations and that
mostly of an inferior quality, it being
strongly impregnated with alkali. Many
times while making distance of so
miles without drop of fresh water, did
we think Of the gushing founts left be-
hind, and sigh for the wonderful power
of the Prophet, that we might lash the
ground with the ram-rod of our rife, and
behold crystal stream leapng from the
sand But alas, we sighed in vain ! A
few weeks since the hull of large ves-
sci was found in the interior of this desert,
and the wood of which it is made is found
no where else but in India. The ques-
tion naturally arises where this vessel
came from, and when and how it came to
be buried in the sands of desert so far
remote from all navigable waters. 1t
may have been one of Noahs feet sent
out during the food with the Indian
forefathers and such animals as are not
found upon the eastern hemisphere; or it
may be one OF many vessels that Aoated
the commerce upon great inland sea, OF
a nation that may have occupied this
country many centuries before the Az
tees. The phenomenon of mirage is
beautifully verified at one point upon the
desert The eye that looks upon it once
must see it as long as vision lasts. A
lone mountain in the distance seems to
rise abruptly out of u lake of silver, with
waterfowl of brilliant plumagc swarmine
upon its shores. At once the lake disap-
pears and the picture changes to others
symmetrical in all their parts, perfect
models of architectural beauty.
Ramparts and embattlements appear
and melt into dreamy haze, out o
which palaces with pill rs, cornices, arch.
ways emerge, surrounded by great blue
domes, encirced by dazzling halo. Al
the same time other objects in the dis
tance assume equally strange and fantas.
tic shapes. Gardens. forests, and ctiel
are daguerreotyped to momentarily van
ish in the warm glow of the horizon s.
perfect is the illusion that on,
stops to gaze in breathless wonder.
Weird and barren as the country il
west of Fort Yuma, it is not destitute O.
compensating beauties here The bank
of the river for many miles below ar,
fringed with groves of cotton and mes
quit wood above the junction of tn
Colorado and Gila, (Hela) which is nea
| tuS lOlt, an tAtCuSlNt tdllt
cloathed with willow, cottonwood, mes
quit, aud arrow-weed, stretches far off t.
the foot hills of Castle Dome, a mountain
Of magnificent grandure, forming tn,
, background Of the scene which loses it
self by degrees in the immcnsity of dis
a tance The fort stand on an elevation o
: bluff commanding the adjacent countr
for many miles. and presents an exceed
q ingly picturesque view, with its nea
{ quarters, store-houses, and winding road,
Across the river on the eastern BAN
r stands the neat little town OF Arizon;
. which contains 700 or 500 inhabitant.
/ The river is navigable from this point q
far up as Calvillc, and of course froI
q here to its mouth, distance of 100 mile
). A small steamer makes the trip once i
two weeks. The sharp crack of the viii
n denotes that the driver is getting u
q steam, and that we must soon be off 0
the rough and rugged road to Tucsol
8 So with wave of the hand we bid yo
: adieu. L. w. p.
New York City Items.