Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-08-06
PORT LOB0S.
The TerminHs of the Tucson and Gulf Of
 California Railroad.

prediction that it will some day be metropolitan port. A CITIZEN embas- sador was there recently and spent several days looking around-noting the sea advantages, the land approaches, the merits of the port as acommercial point, and was impressed with the belief that the harbor will in very short time be the valuable port of entre of some city in this Territory or of the Republic of Mexlco. As Tucson has taken the initiative step, the first conclusion Is that she wlll take n that benefit and eventually derive great prosperity from that direction.
 Port Lobos is at present a dismal looking place-in fact It is not a place but rather a locality. There IS no town there and the nearest house IS fourteen miles distant and that house is without a tenant. The only evidences of civilza- tion are indicated by frame work of poles and well, the latter being just half mile from the beach. The San Felix Mining Co, some years ago be- gan excavations for n mill Tn tine sea wall, built two miles of road from can yon to tue beach, but never finished the work for the mill and left the excava- tion which now stands as a monument to an evidence of prior civilization.
 The point designated as Port Lobos is simply a small canyon that extends from the foothills of the coast range of mountains down to the beach, and IS only about one mle long and half mile wide. The foothills of the coast range extend, at this point to the beach and there form a wall ranging in height from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet. There are at intervals deep gulleys or little canyons courslng through these foothills, through which the water from the mountains find passage to the sea and not having been disturbed by human hands for years un
 told, form . most picturesque view from the gulf, most of them being more than one hundred feet deep and not more than ten feet wide, and forming miriads of figures in the earth. These little caves are filled with particles in the way of shells, cane, pieces of ship wrecks and other trilIng treasures of the deep, cast up by sudden rises and would dobtless be considered by treasure hunting ladies very profitable retreats.
 At Port LobOs one cannot but ex- perience feeling of lonesomeness and possibly home sickness. There are only the sea birds, the lizards and the eagles to keep one company and the perspec- tive youchsafes no further amusements. The eagles, bird of which every Am erican feels proud, build their nests in tLe steep canyons, or gulleys, that lead from the mountains to the sea and can be seen dreamily waving here and there at all hours Tn the day. They are silent and prefer to be solitary, but the ap proach of suspicious vandal will call forth what our literature terms "the eagles scream" but which ln reality IS only very mild squawk, which Is &C., companied by most ferociOus talon-at- tack, as one of our party well knows, having indulged In the luxury of some -xperience while ill quest of young eagles which he intended to bring home but which he never brought Port Lobos Is said to be the best harbor Ou the Gulf of California and 1t has been for years designated on the maps of the Uuited States and adjoining Republic, because of it's excellence ID this res pect The Spanish call 1t Puerto de Ia Enseuada de Lobos" Port of the ba! of wolves. The Gulf of California Is called by the citizens of Mexico "El Uiulfo de Cortez," the Gulf of COrtez, and the natives are 10th to give up thIs name, although the Americans and all the maps, except, perhaps, a few pre- pared for local use in that country, de- signate 1t as the Gulf of California. When the writer was there he remarked 10 a native who mad stopped near the sErk aT.1F FuN fornia is a quiet and undIsCurbed eX- panse of water" He replied Tn very badly broken English, "Yes, the Gulf of Cortez is not inhabited by ships very much" The beach Is only about fifty feet wide and IS very steep. As a drive
 t would not be considered au falt and at the point of which We speak will never be more enticing Tn that regard until hundreds of dollars are expended in cutting away the mountain wall that juts up against the tide line and against which in high tide, the white-capped waves break and lash with furious gran deur. Two miles above or west of Port Lobos narrow neck of land terminal ing with picturesque peak of rocks eI- tends into the sea forming most de- lightftl nook for bathers and clam and oyster fishermen and from which a de- lightful view of the great expanse of water to the south, east and west can be made. From this intrusion upon the sea-bed an excellent beach extends to the westward for many miles and al though but little of it has been trOdden by human feet, it now affords a most excellent driveway and with a little work could be made fully equal to the beach on the Gulf of Mexico at Calves ton, Texas. Port LObOs, as the map will show, IS at the point of extremity Tn curve of the Gulf and the smooth circle againsthe iutting foothills Is as true as though cut with a knife. During high tide the waves beat noisily against these foothills and accomplish Q work ID architecture that would be difficult to counterpart by human ingenuity and skill.
 From the strand on a clear day the Isla del Angel de la Guardla-the Is land of the Guardian Angel-can be plainly seen looming up like some grand old extended castle, gray and sombre, against a most transparent sky, and the sparkling blue eXpanse that strikes a level fromits base. This island, though a gloomy appearing stretch of land, as viewed with the naked eye ar through the telescope, is inhabited by tribe of Indians, and is gilded sith the glitter ing out-croppings of mineral wealth, which can not be duplicated anywhere else in the West Those Indians are not people who would be considered ID the aesthetic precincts of Arizona ar epicures, and take to roasted Mexican, all lf ha rlns avidity wirh which an ordinary newspa per man would tackle stuffed turkey. They rarely allow man to escape them, and an arrival from the opposite shore IS an emphatic indication of a grand feast for the natives. They live mainly on fish, small game and luckless visit itors, and are very fond of horses and especially fast stock. They have a chief who lives in all the style of an Egyptian Khedive, and when he concludes that his cannabshstic stomach pulsates for human flesh, the indigeat fishermen hasten to supply that want. Vegetation on the island IS not much more prolific than 1t could be expected on the heads along the front row of seats in variety theater during a meeting of a State Bar Association, and the perple1itles Of ag- riculture are not experienced there to an extent that would rob the adjacent waters of their crude and useful fishing boats. No ship ever drifts into the har bor of Port Lobos unless driven there by storm or a mishap, and no sail is sighted at any time from its dreary sur roundings. The angry waters lash the shores undisturbed, and the mOnotony of the level expsnse to the south is only relieved by surging white-caps that rush to the pebbly strand only to meet complete extinction. It tls lonely sea, and the surroundings are in perfect keeping with the undisturbed waste of salt water. Once a month a small steam CT runs from San Francisco to Guymas and back, and this one rarely hoves ln