Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-08-08
Great Salt Mountains.
Strange Story OF Capt. Mellon Of the
River Colorado.
They Dazzle the Eye-Some Relics OF
the Prehistoric Man Discovered
in the alt Beds.

Capt. j. A. Mellon, one of the oldest
white settlers of Fort Yuma, A. T., who
lived IN Yuma two years without seeing a
white woman, and who commanded the
first steamer, the Gils, that ever went up
the Colorado river to the mouth of the
Virgin, is at at the Lick, heviug arrived
reoeu ly, says the San Francisco Elk
aminer.
Few pioneers in any land have mad the
strange experiences of Capt. Mellon.
81 have not" says he, 'sinc- wgs 10
wears old, been ia an American city OF
80 600 people on the Fourth of July. 1t
is over twenty five years now since went
to Fort Yuma, aud the changes / see in
San Francisco surprise me. l expect to
see a crowd here on the 4th that will look
pretty big to me.
Have [ been running on the Colorado
river all this time? Yes, and let me say
that there are stretches of hundreds of
mIles OF that river that are less known
than the heart of Central Africa.
eve go up there to get salt. There
are great mountains of salt up on the Vir
GIN which is a tributary of the Colorado,
each OF which is larger and higher than
Goat Island. The salt 10 pure and white.
II is clearer than glass. You may take
piece of it seven or eight inches thick
and read q common newspaper through
il.
The salt mountains cover a stretch of
about twenty five miles on both sides of
the Virgin, seven miles up from the Col
orado. A single blast OF giant powder
will blow out tons upon tons of it.
This salt does not dazzle your eyes, as
you might expect, while riding along on
the river steamer or clambering over
them. II has layer of sandstone from
two to eight feet thick over it. When this
is torn away the salt lies ip full sight,
like a great snowdrift. How deep 1t Is
nobody knows. This salt is destined to
be the source of greH wealth. Hamilton
Disston, the big saw manufacturer, and
Baldwin, of the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, arc the only men who have Sc
cured any of these salt mountains. When
the Utsh Southern Railroad is pushed on
from Frisco, Utah, it Will tap the
gigantic salt mountains, and then al
enormous revenue will be realized from
them.
81 brought down from the mines for
the Academy of Sciences here some queer
things from the salt mines.
"Under the cap rock was found charred
wood and charcoal, besides some mating
made of cedar bark. The salt had pre-
served it. II might have lain there thou
sands of years.
evidently there had been a slide that
covered up the camp equippage OF some
prehistoric men. Strange to say a SINH
lar discovery has been made in the salt
mines of Louisiana.
THE rocks up toward the salt noun
tains are painted and cut into heirogly-
phics which none of thesMujave, Yuma,
Piute or other Indians know the mean
ing of.
"There are valleys along the great but
as yet unknown Colorado, singly as much
az twenty miles long and twenty wide.
That will be the real orange country Of
the globe. They are as rich "a the val
| ley of the Nile Irrigation will redeem
them Water will be brought on them a.
sore as destiny.
Gel Dorado canyon il grander than the
Grand canyon of the Colorado. The tops
of the windows in the steamer ella do
not project out more than six inches, yet
| may put my head out and look as high
as can and can't see half way up the
mighty sails of the canyon. The river Is
$50 fe, wide there, too.
"The only way you can see TO the top is
to get right out on deck and look straight
up.
The walls are so high that there is
| perpetual shade there. Neither the sun
nor the moon can shine in. II takes ten
hours going up to go through the canyon
6ud two hours coming down.
! "By the Colorado rIvei aud the Virgin
/ you can run clear up into Nevada and
I L ali. Many people have laughed at me
| for saying I was going up into tbs mouI.-
\ famous country of Nevada by boat, out
| that's Just what I've been doing right
along Strange as it may seem, and lit
| tie known as II is, the Colorado has
more navigable water without portage
| than any other river on this Pacific coast.
| Il has 700 miles, while the Columbia has
I bu $50.
"The Colorado is the only real Geld for
explorers o.. the Moth American cont
ueut outside the frigid north The Won
ders that would be unesrthed there will
VI. attract the attention of the greatest
saYaptisra pf the world "