Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-09-13

ot these deposits are hundreds or Ieet Ill thickness, forming large mounds and low hills.
 California, formerly famous for her wealth of gold, and now equally and just ly famed for her excellent fruits, has no more important possession than thls neglected southeastern corner. which some day will greatly enhance the fame of our beautiful State.
 Future generations may see it become [ one of the most densely populated and | wealthlest sections i'll the State. Here the 1 date, the banana, the mango, and all the | luscious fruits of Asia, Australia and | tropical America, will flourish as nowhere else within the present limits of the | United States
 To review, even briefly, the natural re- sources, the mineral wealth, the questions of geological moment of climate and the great horticultural possibilities of this region, would consume a good sized volume. but l hope the rural population of California may gain better idea of this portion of the nations arid lands, and not be entirely ignorant of its exist ence within our boundaries.
 THE DESERT AND THE GULF
 It can be very readily understood that the sea must have occupied this basin within. geologically very recent times. The cause of the separation of this ancienr arm from the gulf is very apparent, and the same agency in the sediment from the Colo rado river IS constantly increasing the barrier between them. Doubtless this separation took place within the history of man, for the Indians still preserve the memory of catching fish along the base of the San JaclntO mountains ln an ancient sea, and will point out to the stranger the traps or artificial walled-up pools where they caught the fish when the tide receded. As 1 have already shown, 1t is evident that only few years have elapsed since | this whole expanse was portion of the i Gulf of California-a branch separated by ! narrow strait since closed by the sedi- ment and debris of the Colorado river l This is the only way by which I can at
 present account for the presence of the
 recent marine shells strewn along the edge
 of the Dry lake. The Colorado river, flow
 ing into the isolated shallow sea thus
 formed, soon changed it into brackish and
 ultimately into comparatively fresh water.
 The salt of the sea was precipitated by
 the evaporation that went on into valuable
 salt mines (that are now being worked,
 as the evaporation exceeded the inflow.
 Meantime the marine fauna had perished
 except few which were able to stand
 the brackish water-such as Solecurtus
 Californeinsis being the last to succumb.
 The main branch of the Colorado hurried
 past to the Gulf, and only the overflow,
 surcharged with the fine reddish sediment
 reached the basin.
 But this was sufficient to form q great
 depth of the finest and richest of alluvial
 soil along its route through New river to
 the Dry lake. Evaporation was rapid
 Few years were probably sufficient after
 this basin was shut off from the sea and
 the main branch of the Colorado river
 flowed into the gulf before it virtually be
 came what it Is to-day, a barren, desert plain, which occasional overhows are able to convert into garden of tropical lux uriance.
 The Colorados overhowing it's banks , doubtless resulted in such a condition ol affairs as Dr. R. E. c. Sterns suggests
 system of shallow lagoons just adapted
 to the multiplying of the pond and rive
 snails from the Colorado. These lagoon: } must have been of sufficient duration tC
 allow of the maturing of the fresh-wate 5 mussel, and still they may have been dr.
 a good portion of the year, as is now tn, 2 case.
 - Leaving the discussion of the geologi cal problems that confront us to som more convenient time, We will return t. the present. It IS truly something fear T ful to contemplate these scorching plain l as they exist to-day. with the sun beating down upon the drifting sands with an in
 tensity of heat that. often raises the tenn
 perature to 130 degrees or even 40 de n grees Fahrenheit.
 ? Woe to the adventuresome spirit tha ventures unadvisedly at such time a V this upon the stony trails leading int I this inhospitable region. Many a ma r has left his bones to bleach on the clear Q white drifts of sand, and the skull of on f of these unfortunates rests within m
 museum as 1 write. And how man l., others have left their earthly tenement e to decay in poisonous springs of alkaloi e or other mineral water, after quaffing thei last welcome but fatal drink! Only tn r coyote or the winds can tell
 It Still, many more stand ready to talk # their chances in the unsuitable greed fc
 gOld-gold, which if found might prov ,s more deceitful than the false mirage-o1 e ly tempting them On both to temporal an s everlasting ruin.
 f Ohl what beautiful visions arise to th e weary eyes. What entrancing landscape B lie spread out before the traveller Lov, n ly streams of water seem dancing owe h sands of gold, and placid lakes surrounC " ed with trees and palatial residences il
 vite the unwary to their destruction
 What hopeless agony the poor delude
 victims suffer, when, with staring eve g and lolling tongue, they realize too lat 7r and sink to their last rest upon the burr IS ing sands. Perhaps, however, they al T. spared the pain of realization Let | le hope so at least. The hundreds of beal Is tiful variations assumed by this naturi p phenomenon have often been describe u and to one Ill safety are ever a source IT pleasurable wonder and speculation. ,o WILD FLOWERS
 i- There is another side, however. to il r. picture we have draTn-one more plea ar ing to contemplate, though it may see ed to the uninlhated scarcely less visional Id than the optical illusions just mentione le In early springtime-if there has bet T. sufficient rain, as IS sometimes the case le these plalns are transformed into a "a ln garden of the choicest flowers in immune
 able variety. Every color of the Tainbo ps IS imprinted on the smiling faces abo lg you, and the traveller may roam at plea k. ure among the imperial beauties of fai st queens throne room.
 D. The stately day lily mods its hes a familarly to the multitude of humbl CT flowers that have sworn it allegiance. IT ry foot treads over carpets of vari-colored G
 lias. The butterfly tulip startles the e, to with its brilliancy, blue-eyed Phacelis of beds of the Golden Eschseholtzia. al a. numberless other flowers in every for s- and coloring challenge attention. Id The wild fruits and native production he offer a slight index to its capacity for u
 production of other fruits and flowers. ne capable of growing in favorable seasol an such wealth of floral beauty. is not tn 1T, so-called desert capable of better thing at If flowers that are destined to bloom al .e waste their sweetness on the desert al at and blush unseen," find congenial su ga roundings here, may we not believe tn it's man may transplant others for his use al be delectation?
 PALM TREES.
 The traveller on the Southern Pacii CT railway may obssrYe something dark al us indefnable against the barren and di ne tant hills near Indio. On investigate ce this will prove to be forest of thousan, 's- of wild palm trees, the fine Washington