Omaha daily bee., 1881-07-21
A DEAD LAND.
More Barren Than The Great
Basin, And More Deserted
Than The Sahara,
The Great Colorado Desert.
Views OF Gov. Fremont on the Great
Inland-Sea Project.

Now we shall o leave c~iviliza
ton behind, said the train-boy to IN,
as we stepped aboard the Southern
Pacific overland train as it pulled off
IRON Cabazan. "Do you see that
snow capped mountain over there
We shall go around that, and before
we have travelled many miles farther,
the very heart of the desert will be
reached. Button up your buster, put
your a window down, and protect
your eyes from the sand, and in a
few hours the ride will be over"
We were now 575 miles from San
Francisco, and still n good $50 miles
from the crossing of the Colorado
river at Yuma. The mountains
seemed now to close in about lis.
The landscape became full of the
crumbling wreck of past ages, and
h air grew hotter and more oppres-
sive. In less than half an hour we
had gone nine miles, and were at
White Water, near which station a
small creek makes it way through the
dry and thirsty land. In this distance
we had descended 653 feet, and were
now only 1l26 feet above the level of
the sea. On our right and left the
mountains faded away like shadowy
sentinels OF the horizon, while in the
front was the hot and scorching basin
"a silent, l~ifeless monotone of russell
gray. To every traveller the Colorado
desert is an W inspiring land. Sa-
harah or the valley of the Lower Jor-
dan IL not more unsuited for human
habitation, while the stories of its ex-
tent, its giant cacti, its translucent at.
mosphere! its wonderful mirages, its
caravans dying of thirst, buried by
sand storms or murdered by Indians,
are not less fascinating than Stanley's
famous explorations in Africa or the
fairy tales of the Black Forest and
the Rhine.
BELOW THE LEVEL OF IL SEA.
We were descending rapidly. In
seven miles from White Water we had
gone 542 feet more; and twenty miles
further we were on a level with the
water. The thermometers at the sta
tions marked ITO in the shade. Every
window and door in the cars was open
ed, every man took off his coat, and to
,counteract the effects of the drifting
sand and heat, a multitude of devices
were attempted. The train seemed 20
run on a track of velvet. On every
side was a bowling wilderness of rock
An unfinished realm which needed
to be ground over once again by the
millstones of the mighty glaciers, and
furrewed and made musical by rivers
and rills and springs. At Indio, SO
miles from Cabazon, we were 20 feet
below sea level; at Walters, 13 miles
further on, the depression was 1876
feet; and at Fink's Springs, 26O feet.
Eleven miles east of Walters the de-
preston was 266 feet, and not far from
the road the lowest point of the de-
sert was 2S7 feet below the level of
the Pacific.
The entire length of this remarka-
BILE depression in which the train was
now running Is about $50 miles, with
a width of from ten to fifty miles. 1t
has often been called the Sahara of
the American continent; but, if the
statement of DIR. LEM in a recent
lecture be true, then the natural fea-
lures of the two great plains are alto
gether different. The African desert
is really a great plateau, about LOO
feet above the level of the Atlantic.
In part of the plateau is there to be
found that depression below the level
of the ocean which is shown on the
maps of certain ~geographers, and
which has led to wild schemes of con
verting Sahara into a great inland sea.
Moreover, the desert is not n dead,
sandy level, but is greatly varied in
its aspect. Rocks are succeeded by
sandy plains: here and there are GASES
covered with alfa-grass; and even stag
nant, shallow sheets of water are
found. The fresh water fossils which
are met with in many parts show that
the bottom is not that of q dried up
sea; and again, the temperature is not
nearly as hot as might be expected.
In short, the desert is not so bad as it
has been called.
LIFE ON THE DESERT.
If the above be characteristics of
the Sahara, then it is much less a
desert than the famous of South
ern California. No pen can describe
the utter desolation of this region.
For many miles not a shrub, or even
blad of grass, is seen; at other times
palm trees, various forms of cacti, the
mesquite trees, and sage brush exc
out a sickley existence. In many
places the vegetation seem to live on
air. The giant cactus often grows
and iourishes with its roots mostly
exposed, or growing down into the
crevices of the rocks where decompos.
ed sandstone or gravel is the only
soil. In this situation the plant ap-
pears strong and healthy, and, with
the palm, is something fifty or sixty
feet in height. When water can be
obtained on the desert, fine crops of
grail, vegetables and fruit can be
raised, and, even where irritation IS
impossible, the culture of the yucca
and date palm is something rendered
profitable. Growing of dates is a sue
cess ON the deserts of Asia and Africa,
and the value of the ghostly yucca in
paper making has long been establish
ed.
The animal life of the Colorado
desert is scarcely more varied than
the vegetables. Coyotes, hares and
rabbits are the largest animals; but
chipmunks, gophers and moles are
the most abundant. Large focks of
quail are also found in the vicinity of
surface water, and hooking and hum
ming birds are often seen. The
lizards serve as food for the ravens
and crows; and rattlesnakes, tarantu-
las and toads everywhere abound. A