Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-11-01
A CALIFORNIA WONDER.
The Strange and Lonely Valley of Owens River
The Dead Sea of California.


The Dead Sea of California.
from the San Francisco ChronicleJ
In Inyo County, stretching from the
eastern line southwark toward the Mo-
have Desert, lies the Owens Lake coun-
try-a transverse valley region lying be-
tween lofty spur of the Sierras and the
Inyo range. Through it's heart flows
Owens River, from it's source In the
Sierras, a distance Of nearly $50 miles,
to lose itself at last In the waters of
Owens Lake. The river drags its weary
way through r2any miles of sage brush
"a fresh water stream winding its tor
tuous way through miles of alkaline
plain and stretches of desert land. No
line of waving trees or green meadows
marks its course. It flows like a great
canal, having but few features of liv-
ing stream. Its waters have no flash
and sparkle, no dance and ripple In the
sun. It is, indeed, a desert river, How
ing through desert land. The Owens
Lake country is a vast volcanic basin.
Evidences of the dread earthquake and
the mighty upheaval are visible on ev
erv hand The marks of volcanic action
are exceedingly fresh. The lime cliffs
OF the Inyos seem yet to smoke, and the
presence of force is SO evident that one
would be but little startled to see some
near summit blaze with flame. The
Inyo range, extending along the eastern
borders of the valley more than hun
bred miles, and plunging at last into the
arid plains of Nevada, is remarkable for
its great cliffs of lime, its dykes of slate
and porphyry, its masses of granite and
Al %1,
colors by chemical action.
These mountains are the most ancient
Of the coast. Ages before the Sierras
were upheaved this range was standing.
Extinct craters are found here, quiet
now, but once giving to the country
aaily beptisms of ashes and fire. There
can be but little doubt that this lake
region was the center of the fiercest vol
canic action that ever convulsed the
North American continent. Thousands
of square miles are burnt, shattered, and
buried under volcanic ashes, with
leagues of lava mingled with a boundless
variety of minerals, distributed over a
wide territory, and found in veins and
deposits, or soWn broadcast over the
general face of tie country. From its
peculiar situation, Owens Lake, by
many students of this region; is thought
to occupy the crater of the chief volcano
that, through past ages, hlazed and
burned. The remembrance of a time
when this country was on fire still lin
gers in the traditions of the Indians
who now live in this section. The lake
lies at the southern end of the valley.
between the SurIa, the Coso, and the
InyO ranges, occupying basin fully
eighteen miles in length by twelve in
width. It is a sheet of water as won
derfuI and mysterious as the lands that
surround ii. It's shore lie is whitened
by deposits of alkaline SALT Stretching
around it like band is wide belt, left
white and barren by the receding
waters, and presenting most desolate
shore. It gives no nourishment to vege-
table life. Not tree or flower buds or
blooms within its dead-sea influence.
There it lies, Swallowed by the lofty
peaks of the Sierras rising just along its
western borders, sullen waste of
waters refusing to shine In the sun or
mirror the stars. Unlike sweet watered
Iahoe-a jewel, full of light and color
this lake wallows In its bed, shiny worms
crawl along its banks, and it's breezes
diffuse an oppressive stencil. A mystery
seems aBer to brood over the lake. It
has It's strange moods, often for days ly-
ing still and dead, then suddenly NOV
ing, as if by will of it's own. 1t has
also its phases of terror, for when swept
by storms it Iashes its shores and
beats its waters into foam. It's
action has always been exceedingly
strange, for although fed by Ovens
River, which pours daily into It's bosom
millions of gallons, and with no known
outlet, it has steadily receded, until it is
at present more shallow by at least ten
feet than 1t was ten years ago. This
process of rise and fall-for it has been
known to rise as steadily-occurs in de-
cades, though the rise and fall of each
decade brings its waters to lower level.
and suggests finally It's complete absorb
ton, as there are marked evidences that
it anciently occupied a wider basin.
Subtle forces other than evaporation
must haze operated to cause this phen-
e0menon-
The region of the lake is historic
ground, it having been the scene of a
tragedy occurring during the Indian out
break of 1862, when the tribes then
dwelling In this section rose in arms
against the invasion of their domain.
The massacre of a number of whites
reused the settlers to fury, and deter
mined them, by severe blow, to pre-
vent futHre hostillties. Obtaining the