Connecticut western news., 1876-04-21
THE DESERT VALLEYS.
The Project of Reclaiming the Land of tho Great American Desert by Irrigation.

Vhe Project of RoclatmfnR the Land of the
 Great American Desert by Irrigation.
 A correspondent of the Chicago Fri b,tsae says: There is wonderful chain of low valleys lying somewhat parallel with the great Colorado river of the West, extending from near the gulf of California, west of north through Cali. fornia and into Nevada, distance of nearly 700 miles. The first of these val leys is adjacent to the gulf and the mouth of the Colorado river, and is known as the Great Colorado Desert, embracing the immense area of 38, ,4OO,- GOO acres of agricultural land. It is we'll adapted to cultivation, and for produc- ing the grape, lime, lemon, orange, and other tropical fruits. The climate in the larger part of the valley is very uni form, the thermometer ranging from eighty to 1O5 degrees, which would be slightly modified by the introduction of water into valley which has not a sprinkle of rain, and possibly had none since it's creation. In the greatest of the over6ows of the Colorado river the water has set back into the center of this great desert distance of 25O miles, but 1t has received moisture from no other source.
 The Eden which could be made of this valley can scarcely be imagined. On the fifth day of January, 1873-the coldest month of the season-I found myself near @ spring called the Thousand Palms, from the fact that great num- Der of palm trees cluster about it. I there found cotton tree which, from it's immense size, evidently had had 8 long period of growth, though it's na- ture IS most tenderly sensitive. It was laden with hanging lint and beautiful white and crimson blossoms dotted it's huge surface. There can be no question as to the yield of most profitable pro- ducts in this valley. The larger part of it has been enriched by the salting of the ocean, which once overfowed it, and the decay of sea fossils, of which the number is immense. From the mountain tops these sea shells have the appearance of light snow fall.
 Lower Hot valley, Soda lake or val ley, and Death valley, show no particu- lar variance except in temperature and altitude. The Colorado desert is three hundred feet below the sea level; Hot valley, 8 few degrees warmer, is $50 feet below; Death valley has depth of 500 feet below the Pacific ocean, and tenn perature of from ninety to 13O degrees. That horrible name, Death valley, is ap- propriate. It is derived from the dis nal, deathly appearance of the valley from the peak of it's mineral mountain border, and from the fact that large number of men, women, children and cattle have perished within it's roasting confines. They were of the early immi- grants to southern California. The number of victims and their suffering were far greater than those in the tortur- ing Mountain Meadow massacre. In the summer of 1865 I was with party (of fifty-two, of whom forty-seven per ished) which crossed Death valley from the northwest to the southeast. It was intensely hot and indescribably dry. There was not the slightest indication that it ever rained there. The meander- ing of the crazy immigrants previous to their death, their trails, their wagon tracks, which had been made fourteen to sixteen years before, were plainly dis cernible, there having been no rain to obliterate them. I found metallic i'm plements which the party had left, such as monkey wrenches, axes, wagon tires, etc., with charred attachments of what had been wood, which bore that same bright polish as when dropped. There had not been sufficient moisture to cor rode or rust them.