Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-03-23
THE SOUTHWEST.
The Deset-The Mirage of Silver Lake
The Hottest Place in the
United States-homs Of
the Montezumas.
THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO.

1nlS IOul0 oCgOoo tIC NOhkAhOhs
is full of interest and novelty nstxithstand-
ing its apparent monotony," remarked a
Boston gentleman to me, few evenings
since. "As you come East from San Fran
CISCO" he continued, you are carried
a hundred miles through the broad and
fertile valleys Of the Sacramento and San
Joaquin; across the plains OF Tulore;
through great farms Of grain, meadow and
pasture; by thriving orchards and vine.
yards, through nestly-built and busy towns
and villages, over the mountains where
the majestic Sierra Sevadas join the pic
turesque Coast Range; climbing by tortu-
Gus windings-describing the radius OF the
horseshoe several times and tying loop
In the ron-track-plunging through
eighteen tunnels; spanning as many can
yons; clinging to the sides OF gorges, and
tottering on the verge of dark abysses.
High up among the clouds you traverse
desert prolific only in sand and cacti; and
in an hour you are amidst the orange groves
of the valleys Of San Fernando and Los
Angeles"
AYE; and what shall we say OF
Los AngeIes.''
asked one of the ladies Of the party, with
its busy streets, lovely gardens asd homes
Of cOntentment@"
'Iet US only take the usual 30 minutes
for breakfast" said l, ''and pass on up the
valleys until you come to the Gorgonian
pass, some so miles TO the east; and where
else in the United States will you find
another such an 50 miles on March day?
Thousands of acres of neatly trimmed aud
carefully cultivated vineyards; hundreds
of acres of orange orchards with their gol-
den fruit rejecting lustre on the dark
green leaves which envelope them; num-
bers Of colonies of intelligent citizens, with
their domestic altars, their churches and
their schools. What valley of thrift aud
beauty
"And even the desert beyond is not
without its interest TO the traveller"
chimed in cousin Matte, whose hush md,
Major Frew is By the way, a cousin of our
neighbor, John Frew, Esq, of the IHteLi-
ge7lesr), and that is how he and l became
related TO each other.
"You are right" said l, 81 have crossed
the Colorado desert on the Southern Pa.
ciic Railroad three times, and each time |
saw new objects of interest even in that
almost utterly barren tract of land
"Why, the sight of that lovely sheet Of
water,
silver Lake,
aint't II? is, of itself, worth Journey
| across the Desert" she replied. Did you
| notice itY'
Notice it," OF course did-that even
| ing l came West, but isn't it singular that
saw nothing Of it as went East over the
same road?'
"You probably were sitting on the oppo-
| site side of the car, and nobody called your
| attention to ii. You know it is quite a dis
| tance to the South of the road, and l only
| saw il by accident. Did you ever see any
| thing more lovely?" she ran on with de-
cided dash of enthusiasm.
TT is a very large body of water, extend
| ing clear back to that distant range of
mountains; and l saw away of where the
mountains seemed to part broad channel
| of the same blue sea extending to invisible
| shores beyond the horizon of my sight ;
| and in that channel l saw great ship with
| its many sails furled to the breeze, and
| could see the nimble-toOted sailors, appar-
| emily no larger than monkeys, so far away
were they, clinging among the mastS. 1t
was the first ship ever saw, and / feasted
my eyes upon its graceful proportions"
And the green islands and trees, did
you see them" | asked.
Yes; and didn't they look refreshing in
that
Desert of Sand.
as the sun poured down his burning rays ,
The Isles were so intensely green, and the
shade of those broad spreading oaks looked
so cool and the placid blue waters so re.
iIeshing for those cattle which had gone
down to slake their thirst and enjoy the
protection from the sun. There must have
been thousands of cattle there; and do you
think those were their herders who were
riding a,Out 50 leisurely on the lake.
quite likely" | replied, TOR | can't
out in that desert"
And those couldn't have been volcanoes,
these mountains away back as far rs you
could see; where that smoke--or, ligAt col
umnS of steam, or misty spray-or what
ever it was. ascended to the blue sky just
beyond" In musing mood she went on
There were shades of the most delicate
green, the SofteSt blue. of salmon and of
saffron, of pink, and purple, and pearl, of
ameythist and gold of every imaginable
hue both brilliant and delicate but so dis
posed and adjusted as to make a picture
more artistically charming than ever was
painted by human hand; and over it all
was hung a veil, as it were, Of softest,
dreamiest liquid
"A sort Of ethereal rock-me-to-slee in.
your-arms'loye tint, interrupted the BJS
ton gentleman.
"0r, perhaps Of a soulful.bliss tint of the
Henry Ward Beecher school," came from
the Tramp as he stuck his head over the
piazza banisters.
Il pass, said my fair partner, desiring to
see he Heart turned down that she might
make the unpoetical Club the Trump.
"Did you know, Matte, that the Lake is
much farther away than it seemed to you?"
I ssked. That it is so far away that no
human being has ever yet reached its
shores, although many a poor emigrant
who came by the SAINTS. Fe route in the days
Of the
Early Gold Excitement
in California, weary, foot-sore and fsmish-
ed, sought to rest under the refreshing
shades of those trees and to slake his
thirst and bathe his parched skin in the
cooling waters beneath. Like Moses of
old, be was permitted to see the tempting
Land of Promise, but not one who left the
Trail to find il was ever permitted to share
the delights of those shady shores. Does
this seem strange to you, Madam"
But didn't / see
Mirage" chimed in the Major.
When the conditions of the atmosphere
are just right, the traveller will see to the
south of the road, between the stations of
Dos Palmos and Flowing Wells, most won
derfully perfect and extensive mirageS.
All Of this part of the road is
Far Below the Level OF the Sea,
going down as much as 266 feet for quite
a distance. This optical illusion is seen
over against the mountain beyond basin
probably twenty-five miles square, in
which are situated q number of springs
which spout up hot mud. Some Of these
springs are as much as 200 feet in diameter
and boil up as though in huge cal
dron.
The Desert
is all that its name imports, barren, great
billows of sand in some places, in others
immense stretches of alkali are perpetually
bleaching in the sun. Water is found by
boring. but il is too salt to be OF use. The |
desolation is so perfect as TO possess sort |
Of charm in its utter departure from al |
that is attractive.
As night closes around US we are at |
Yuma City, on the Arizona side of the Col |
,a h. hNEfaSf r,lana -, II