Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-15

little mud volcanoes on the west shore
of Lake Pasqualitas, forty-five miles
northwest of Lerdo, and forty miles be-
low the boundary line.
The second shock came at half past
five O'Clock in the afternoon, and COM
pleted the damage to property. In the
Cocopah villages, nearly all of their
we'll built, one-story adobe houses, were
thrown down. No lives are known to
be lost, but an immense wave came up
the river from the gulf, following the
earthquake. and drowned many head of
horses and cattle.
Last Tuesday evening Mr.. j. J. Stein,
reporter OF the Yuma Times, left
Yuma in boat, accompanied by guides,
and sailed down the Colorado. Mr..
Stein will ascertain the exact extent OF
the earthquake and the amount OF dam
age it has done. He will also visit the
volcanic region, and explore New river
to the gulf to discover how much the
| gulf is assisting in the Salton flood. The
trip will occupy about two weeks.
Last night an Indian runner arrived
in Yuma with message from Stein.
He had encamped for the night just
above Lerdo, and reported that the sky
| to the west was illumined in the direc-
tion of the volcanoes.
Several white men and many Indians
from the lower Colorado have visited
Yuma since the earthquake, and while
their stories appear extravagant, possi-
bly, they contain more or less truth.
| Several Indians say that four miles
below Lerdo the earthquake opened q
crack about ten feet wide into which
the whole body of the river flows and
disappears, supplemented by the tides
from below. On close cross-examina-
tion their stories substantially agree.
Another story is that one of the vol
canoes is belching out great stream of
black stuff, possibly mud, which is run
ming towards the river. They were COM
pletely terrified by the earthquakes all
their old superstitions are aroused, and
their medicine men are predicting all
sorts of dire calamities. If the great
wave from the gulf touched the heights
they describe, it must have been at
least S5 feet high.
One of the Cocopah Indians, trust
worthy guide, who came to Yuma the
other day, crossed the great break in
the bank of the Colorado, where part
of the river flows into the desert. He
had ten-foot pole, with which he said
he had been unable to touch bottom
although he had run it down as deep
as his arm could reach,. which would
make it over twelve feet deep.
He also said that the channel was over
200 feet wide. This point is 13 miles
below Yuma. During the food the river
there shifted its main channel three
miles to the west. and then broke
through in ten different places. These
breaks are from 80 to so feet wide, and
6 to 8 feet deep. The main break has
cut down to hard-pan, and through it an
immense body of water continues to
pour into the desert.
| The river at Yuma has been fluctuat-
ing. Two weeks ago it was down to the
19-foot mark on the gauge. A few days
afterwards it was two feet, two inches,
and then fell again to the 19-foot mark.
If the river keeps up its record of former
years, it will not 60 much below its
present figures for some time, as this is
known as "a year of big river" Col.
Allen thinks if the HERALD lake can
keep up for four weeks more its perma-
nence will be assured, and then, with
the next winters rise in the river, its
area and depth will be greatly increased.
No map of the lower Colorado river
| LAduC AOI OAC yCdl 10 SOOu lOI buC ACAt
year, on account of the many changes
the river continually makes in its chan
mel. The country shows that once the
river ran through the Salt creek channel
near Lerdo, eastward Of its present
course, into the gulf. The evidence is
plenty that it once flowed into the desert
through its new branch channel. 1t
is an ordinary freak for the river
to change it's bed several
miles east or west. Lerdo, once on the
east bank of the river, is now three
miles distant. New river plays the same
pranks. Its present point of divergence
from the Colorado is only twenty-five
miles from the gulf, while only few
years ago it was twenty miles further up
the Colorado. The lower part of New
river is always full of tidewater from the
gulf, and is navigable to the sulphur
mines in the Cocopah mountains. When
the water is at the nineteen-foot mark
at Yuma the overflow always finds vent
through New river into the Indian
Wells region, tLirty-eight feet below sea-
level. New river is booming now, as
well as the main break below Yuma.
The two streams have now connection
ten miles west of Alamo Mocho. The
latter stream bends snake-like along on
the desert, and empties into the Salton
basin. ]. s. Carter there saw on July