The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-11
he GREAT SALT0N SEA.
Has Many Things 10 Answer for,
Among Them an 0pprss-
siye Summer.
instead OF a Good Effsct on the
Climate the Reverse Is
the Case.
the Face Of tho Country and Killed
the Salt Industry.

d G& UN6 " "a - SOSNWAy - AhAsoS M /
the Salt Industry.
The Sslton lake has much to answer for,
Ind its responsibilities are daily increasing,
bays an Indio, California, correspondent OF
hs San Francisco Examiner. No thunder
Etorm, dust storm or lightning fash can 90
,ur without its presence being imputed TO
hs sinister effects Of this vast inland lake.
was also claimed that the Salton lake
would have q bsnefoient effect upon the
I,lim ate and render the summers lsss hot.
II ID admitted that in this valley the sum
ner has been ~iercer. and the Inhabitants
BIT the sdjaosnt country say the same thing.
Indeed, by many the Salton lake isnot looked
lpon exactly as a blessing. p. II. Gale.
who has . thriving vineyard in the vicinity
of Indio, and who knows the climate we'll,
bald to-day that mp to June 9th 1t was the
ooolest summer he had known.
"sincc them" said Gale, "the weather has
been most oppressive. ] wore my coat
whom working in the vineyard on June 2.
and was e~ongratulatinR myself on the cool
ness Of the place, but after four days the
heat was worse than I ever knew it. 1t is
b he first time that I have had to take my
horses out of the harness and put them in
the shade. So excessive has besn the heat
shat twice during this summer my vines
have been burned al Indio Spur. This has
been caused by tho wind. which blew upon
them direct from the Salton lake. Indeed
I can say this il the hottest summer ! have
ever known. There is now a great deal of
moisture in the air, which makes it exceed
|tnply sultry. We used to have a force dry
heat, which We could we'll stand, but now
it ID moist. / nave been able to work and
work with impunity when the thsrmom-
etsr registered 11s to 100 degrees, but o
! suffer ~fearfully at 1o5. For the past years
we had ut nights, from March 1 to Oct. l, =
good breeze from the northwest; now the
breeze IL from ths southeast and not at all
cool. l have an idsa-of course time alone
can prove it-that our winters will be
milder. At Indio we have had sharp frosts.
The absence of these sharp frosts and
n mildsr climate will enable us to raise the
orange successfully, which at present We
have been unable to do"
The idea that the Salton lake has any in
fuence upon the climate ON the further
aide Of the range Mr.. Gale scouts AZ rldicu-
lous. The fond hopes that were INDUCED
in M to the cooling of the climate have
turned out otherwise, for though the thsr-
ward, yet the heat is less endurable. The
Salton heat, though fierce and trying.
was, after all, not ensrvating. The ex-
trerne dryness of the atmosphere pre-
vented that discomforting, clammy. per
could be bathsd in sweat. but the slightest
breeze through the clothes dried the skin.
But il il all changed now, and the pOlspirA-
tion trickles in many rllls down the head,
face and body, and no hot, dry wind comes
to bring q refreshing GOODNESS through the
soaked clothing.
saltor is a ghost of its former self. Be-
foe the flood the huts of the Indians lent
to this desert spot quite q metropolitan air.
The houses occupied BY the white force al.
ways looked CHEEKY. The amiable wife OF
a little garden in boxes in soil ccrefullv
brought from n distant point. 1t was tbs
first tins that the geranium had
flung its scarlet blossoms defantly
to tho breeze in this inhoapitable wild.
and other flowers, carefully .nurtured
Behind the main house Superintendent
Durbrow had with great patience brought
into existence a small patch of alfalfa,
whose verdnncy tempted the Sew rovinR
birds of the desert to stay and attempt to
wrest from under it's wire cover a juicy
l0nls N8VOT III Uu0 AlbUOly "a 6hiuVA ANS
the salt industry been 50 prosperous. Carr
were sent out every day and the Southern
Pacific company freight bill amounted te
$25, 600 a year. The mill, with the e1cep-
ton of Sunday, was ever at work, and thii
hive Of industry was the most remarkable
spectacle that met the travellers eye from
Tucson on his journey west.
1t is entirely different now. The LITTLE
nest Of huts which clustered round thu
frame dwellings are abandoned. Iht
mills and huge warehouses are standing
in water, parts of the mill machinery lay
motive is side-tracked on the branc that
once ran out to the great salt marsh
Where was once tho enormous bed of sal
ia a vast sea whose waters are intcls ell
blue. and which, under the influence Of thu
wind. curl and lash themselves into minia'
as far wvst as Mortmere and east to thu
Colorado river. Its greatest depth ia fou,
feet. and Mr.. Thomas. whose duty it is tt
daily measure 1t, said yesterday that tn
water had been going steadily down during
the past month. The water shows an aver
then again dropping to 8 per cent. 1t wa
hot, uncomfortably hot, last Saturday
though the day was cloudy and there wa
every appearance of a storm. The hsa
was of that nature which is best described
by the word "muggy." 1t was close
SLlHllk HAu u4Obb ulbdkIeCHDlcs uGuSIA,
different from the old climate of Salton.
The sea looked most beautiful whom see1
from tho freight train. which approached i
from the west. There had besn copioul
rains in the desert and the silvery sand ha'
been darkened. Here and there the darl
green of the cage brush showed, an'
straight, broad patches of white sand
which looked Rarish and strangely out o
harmony with the dull soil. hen came
perfect beach. and beyond hat a sea of
moro vivid blue than the Mediterranean
rerohing out to the base of the high, bar
mountains. As far as the eye could strait
VIVA this endless, ripping sen, with a we'll
marked side. In no point was it near tn
Fouthern Pacific railroad track, nor wa
thore ever any danger OF washing ava
the line. Owingto the sensational report
that as yot appear in the eastern
prsas, panicn have taken place on tn
wsstbound overland among the rasscn
gers who heard that they were approaching
the vicinity of the new lake. One lady OF
a recent train WAS no overcome with terroi
at the thought OF being drowned that sh
almost concluded to abandon her ~iourne,
west at Yuma.
From the present Indications. and from
what Mr. thomas Gays, there 10 ever:
possibility TINT n grant ahrinkn1e in tn,