Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-01-21
Colorado River, Desert & Fossil Shin

"A correspondent of the Painesville
Iefegrdph, says: The exciting rumor and
MS apparently truthful confirmation of a
snip ot twenty tons burthen now living
tar inland, imbeddtd in the sands of tho
Colorado desert which the undersigned
communicated TO your Journal the l9th
inst, has led to study of the localities
as lar as means at llhrd furnished.
In absence of the report from another
eXpidltlon, to givea fuller and more de-
tailed account of the strange ship. we cx-
prct i'll due time, under Mr.. Charles
CiuSker, L send you the following article.
which, if considered worth the space. is
at you Service.
IN 1910, all exploring expedition un-
der the command of VaSquez de Corou.
ado, followed the Colorado river 70 its
month from hong distance from above.
Capt. Fernando Alarcon also, about the
same time, aScended the river in boats
for long distance Jesuit missionaries
established missions at the junction of
the GlIa and Colorado rivers in l744. In
l776 another Catholic missionary eyplo-
red this region also; but from this time
IL renamed unknown to the civilized
world I'll the establishment of Fort Yu.
ma in 1850 by order Of our government.
Fort Yuma is $50 miles by the river from
Its mouth.
The Big Canon" of the Colorado was
visited by the Spaniards at place far
above, in l54o. In the expedition OF
Lieut.. ). {. Ives, in ls57-'5s, tins inter
rstlng but mott desolate of all regions.
was very carefully explored. TO the
valuable and truly graphic report bv
members OF that expedition, am in-
dehted Tor many of the statistics of this
article.
Fourteen miles below Fort Ynma. at
IL 1blnson's landing, the whole country
near the west bank is said to be low and
ovel flowed at the highest tides. Above
this PORT the banks are low, end the
country flat for long distance; while
SInes branch off in every direction in
land
Approaching the Colorado from the
Pacific coast, over the foot hills of the
Peninsnlar mountains, and thence for a
hundred miles, are multitude of ranges
and vallies of this mountain belt.
After crossing Carisso Creek, and
some twenty miles beyond, nearly the
sea level is reached as DIR. Newburv re-
ports; and portion of the desert be-
yond this is so much depressed that
New river sometimes Gverfows. "This
stream" he says "iS formed by the sur
plus waters of the Colorado, which, oc-
caslonally, during the summer freshpt,
over1ows the banks and runs northward
towards the lowest parts of the deserts,
which are many feet below the surface
level of the river"
The river is always charged with fine.
mleaeeous sand and red CLAW, washed
from its banks. Hence it's name "Colo-
RADIO" or Colored river
Nothing can exceed the desolation and
forbidding aspect OF the Colorado de-
sert while tor sublimity and unparalleled
grandeur, the great Canon of the Colo
RADIO river stands without a rival upon the
continent, or perhaps, the globe itself.
Now reverting TO the report of the
sand-beleagured ship above referred to,
have we not found the possibility of it's
transportation thither, and the possible
crgft form some early exploring expedi-
toni
From l540 TO 1916, the early Spanish
explorers and Jesuit fathers penetrated
the region above described through the
waters of the Colorado. In some of
I hose early ventures it is quite possible
hat some unfortunate ship may have
been stranded I; while the description of
the low desert intersected by slues, and
washed by high foods and tides, aided
possibly by some terrestrial commoton
80 common to that lalitude-may have
landed the stray craft SO far inland, that
the always shifting desert sands may
have shut up all means OF egress, aud
lett the ship now mysterious wait on
desert almost unapproachable.
l Offer the above theory as possible
explanation of a phenomenon, now ap-
parently real, which treated in. my first
article relating to it, as fabulous.