The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-11

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! western Texas. To be accurate. the lake is
/ situated in Donna Ana county, New Mexico,
I and was formed early last spring from the
! copious rainfalls that visited this section.
The place IS valley Of pure white sand,
about twenty-five miles long by six OF seven
J broad, situated IN tine hollow of some low
| lying bills or fluctuations into which drains
all tine rainfall of the neighborhood. There
] are no springs, lakes, rivers or streams Of
/ any kind near by The lake covers a out
$50 acres, is several feet deep, and although
formed III the sand. yet the action of the
/ water has cJnv erted the gypsum bottom
! into a solid, snow white mass, cemented so
substantially and compactly that there IS
no way of the water escaping except by the
! slow process of evaporatiON. Seen at mid
! day when the sun is at It's brightest the
human eye cannot sustain for even a few
seconds the brilliant and binding glare
| from this wonderful formation of nature.
| Even in dead of summer when there is no
moisture whatever in the place, it is a terri
Bile thing for human creatures TO attempt
passage through this gypsum valley. The
| heat is intolerable ami the retraction so
| terrific that 1t is positively painful and even
| dangerous TO experience IL. Possibly in
| connection with the heavy rams of last
season a cloud burst or waterproof may
have played an important part in the
| formation of this lake.
| There seems TO Q some trouble over the
imp rtation of gypsum rock into the United
States from Canada. II may be interesting
! to know that not single entry has been
made in this gypsum district, the largest
| and most extensive in the world, neither
under the homestead or presumption laws,
nor under the mineral laws of the United
| States.
Ages ago there lived in portions of Ari-
IONA and New Mexico a curious race of
| people, who evidently could not trust their
| fellowmen. Their houses were suspended
| in the air, so to speak, built against cliffs
| and preciplceS, or we carved ont of solid
! masonry in the side of precipltous hills, and
so high that it was impossible to reach them
| except by means of ladders. The people
who lived in these strange abodes kept
| hocks and herds, titled the ground, andput-
| sued agriculture generally, yet so careful
were they of their own precious hides that
| the general custom at night was to climb
up into their dwellings and pull
the ladders up after them.
There are about 5000 square miles of
country covered by these curious dwellings,
and though little off from railroads and
out of the way of travel yet visit Of in
| ectlon to any one of them would richly
pay the archAologiSt who has the nerve and
| endurance to undertake the task. The av-
! erage cliff house is of firm. neat masonry,
attached or cemented to the cliffs in a most
dIN6IOuS ldSulOu, anu eNlueEJIy COSU d
great outlay of energy and ingenuity in
| It's construction. In some cases the rock
and mortar of which they are built have
| Teen broug hU hundreds of feet up the most
precipitouS places. and tris with ut the
aid, apparently, of mechanical contriv-
ances of any ki d. Some of the hous S
were constructed of adobe bricks, for which
an everlasting cement was used In the
| Apache cou try of Arizona, near the en-
trance of wild, rugged mou tain gorge.
are series of remarkable cliff dwellings,.
In reality they are not cliff but cave
| dwellings, yet, as in the former case, the
only mode of access is b means of ladders,
for they underlie tremendous precipice
The doorTayS are square holes from 4 to 6
feet IN diameter, and crawling into one of
these murky, damp places one must be
careful o reptiles and vermin, which seem
to have taken absolute pos -eSsion since the
rightful owners have departed. The cell
| ings are or feet high, walls a square of
about the same diameter, and the whole III
terror in some cases is decorated with stars,
comets, and other astronomical figures
Who the cliff dwelers were no now can
tell. They probably preceded the Azcecs,
who emlgrated from the region, and, per-
haps, they were contemporary with the
| Toltecs, who are said to ave been extinct
before the AztecS were people.
At the base Of these cliffs is another re-
|
| well. 1t was built by the inhabitants of
that period, supplying them with the neces-
sary N lstute to sustain life. The wonder
of all curiosities, however, in the southwest
in tho petriied forest in Apache county,
! Arizona. What makes it more remarkable
than it otherwise would be is the fact that
the forest never grew on the sp t where it
now lies, but was transported bodily from
some region by force of nature that we
can little imagine. There are no stumpS or
| trunks OF trees left in the GROUNDING
roots, small limbs, or anything to show that
vegetable matter could live and thrive in
the volcanic ashes of the section, and yet
| mammoth tree trunks turned into hard
! a1amantine stone lie here in the greatest
pFofusion, millions of tons in sight, and no
definite a .swer is there to the puzzle. In
some cases the trees are of gigantic size,
| having & diameter of IS or 20 feet at the
base and a hight of more tn IN $50 feet
The scene reminds one of Sinbad'S dream
| or Aladdln's cave. AS tar as 9 eye can
| re 2ch pieces OF chrysoDrase. carnelian, sard
| aud chalcedony are scattered; bits Of anne
| thyst, !sper, calcite, and agate glitter in
the sunlight, Blazing with Undesirable brill
| fancy, and so thick on the ground that one
| can hardly step without placing his foot on
| a gem OF ''pui est ray serene" This miner
| ah2ed wood is scattered over more than
1900 acres OF surface. Situated in q desert
! VI lava dllu GSuBS. dS remarked,
millions of tons OF me material are in sight,
yet all this mass must be mere bagatelle
to what is really concealed beneath the
volcanic ruin which at one time swallowed
the whole country in its deadly embrace
1t is scarcely possible to solve the mystery
that surrounds the wonderful chalcedonY
park of Ariz ma. There is something in the
soil that silicities wood, for on the northern
border of Arizona, near the Colorado line,
is cabin. built some years ago by noun
tain desperate, which has since been con,
verified into stone; probably the same petri-
flying action operated upon this as upon tine
Arizona forest.
1t seems reasonable, since tho trees
are of mammoth proportions ami similar to
those now growing in Oregol and Califor-
MIA, that at some distant period of time a
trer. endous food or glacier swept down
from the northwes and transported the
forest bodily to its present location in the
Apache valley. Possibly volcano or
earthquake finished the ruin, leaving the
enig ma for future az to solve as best they
may. At any rate the ashes and lava are
there. the trees have been shattered and
smashed into every conceivable form, and
the spot is truly he greatest natural Won