The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-23
The Great Desert on the South.

1t Is only few days ago that we
had report of a terrific sand storm
raging along the lower side of San Ber-
nardino county. These storms may be
traced In some of the effects as high up
as Point Conception in Santa Barbara
county, and inland as far north as TuI-
are county. On the stage road from
Visalia to Los Angeles three storms
have been encountered in such terrible
force that it has been necessary to de-
tach the horses and put them on the
leeward side of the stage for protection.
The hot, destroying winds have
baked fruit on the trees in the lower
tier of counties. In fact, the sirocco of
the great Colorado Desert is more or
less felt in the five or six great counties
comprising the southern half of the
state. There is also vast rainless area
along the upper side of this desert.
The rain storms which water the north
ern portion o. Mexico do not travel
across the desert, but the moisture is
exhausted by the dry and heated air.
The desert is great oven, where a
hot and rarifed atmosphere is genera
ted which RACES in hot blasts from time
to time over these counties. These dry
and heated currents encounter the mois-
ture which comes down from the north
in the winter, so that there is district
on the southern border of the state
which is always robbed of moisture by
the proximity of this desert. There
was time when the greater part of
this desert was covered by the waters
of the Gulf of California. Much of it
has also been covered by fresh water,
as the marks of two beaches or water
lines distinctly show.
The theory has been held that if the
greater part of this desert was again
covered by water there would be no
more hot winds raging over the south
ern counties; as much rain would fall
there as in the most favorable parts of
the state, and the climate would be so
tempered by the proximity of large
body of water as to become cooler and
more equitable Plans have been
brought forward at one time and anoth-
er for the reclamation of such parts of
the desert as are within the boundaries
of the state.
A few months ago a well-known citi-
zen of San Francisco commissioned at
his own cost civil engineer and sent
him down to gather facts respecting this
desert. He explored the country
between the Gulf of California and the
southern boundary of the state. The
engineer (J. E. James, began his work
by running a series of levels from
point on the line of the Texas Pacific
railroad, known as Indian Wells, to
Montague island, near the head of tho
gulf. He found tina! the ordinary tides
at the head of the gulf rises about fiji.
teen feet; the rise of extreme high tide
is thirty feet.
The Cocopah Mountains extend over
this desert for about fifty miles, and
are about 1000 feet high. They are
supposed to be rich in gold, silver, and
copper. On the northwestly side of
this range is Lake Maquata, consider
able body of salt water, which is fed
sometimes by the high tides from the
gulf, and at other times by the over
flow of the Colorado river. On the
southerly side of the Cocopah Noun
tains is large body of land, having an
alluvial soil, and is every way suitable
for agricultural purposes. In this dis
trict are great number of mineral
springs and volcanoes, and lake of
fresh water Hake Chapman), whose
waters flow northward down New river
North of what is known as the Colorado
Desert is the Mohave Desert, and
further on the Armsgosa, or Death val
lev. The two latter are below the level
of the sea, and both are really connect
ed with the greater one and constitute
one desert.
The engineer found that New river,
a branch of the Colorado, could be
turned into the desert SO that all the
lower levels, embracing the barren and
worthless part, would be covered with
water, leaving the mountains and the
fertile districts above water.
The theory is that this great desert
furnace can be cooled by covering a
large and now worthless area with wa
ter, at comparatively small expense.
This theory is endorsed by the engineer,
who holds that were the desert a sea
it would send mp a column of atmos-
phere charged with moisture, which
meeting re colder currents from the
ocean, would precipitate frequent show
ers, and thus change large tracts of
country from baroness to fertility.
The rain currents moving from the
southeast toward the northwest cross
the desert, the moisture falling to the
upper edge, at which point rain disap-
pears, it having been absorbed by the
heated air of the plains. The engin-
eer observed this phenomenon for near
ly month, including parts of July and
August of the present year.
We have drawn on this report only
for some of the more prominent facts.
It is a collection of important data.
From the field notes and observations
made. large map has been constructed
showing all the country from the head
waters of the gulf of California to the
line of the Texas and Pacific railroad.
There are lakes, mountains, meadows,
old river channels, water-marks of fresh
and salt water lakes, sheels of living
and extinct species, thermal springs and
vast areas of sunken deserts, which are
the furnaces whence come the hot and
blasting winds.-SdR Francisco BuL.