Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-03
IF AN INLAND SEA, WHAT THEN?

| IF AN INLAND SEA, WHAT THEN?
The phenomenon now witnessed in
the Colorado desert is giving rise to
much speculation as to the possibility
that at some tine the whole of that de-
preston may again form the bed of a
permanent inland sea. There is no
doubt that at one time the Gulf of Cali
fornia extended over this desert, and
that the detritus brought down by the
Colorado river gradually raised an en-
bankment which shut out from it the
waters of the gulf. Evaporation soon
disposed OF the water that was left. The
sitting of the Colorado river has raised
the bed of that stream until it is now,
at point near Yuma, $50 feet above the
sea level. As the lowest depression in
the desert, say at Salton, is 265 feet be-
low the sea level, it will be seen that in
the event of the river emptying its
waters into the desert there would be a
fall of over four hundred feet from that
stream to the deepest point in the desert.
These facts suggest two ways in which
the desert may become the bed of
great inland sheet of water. The gulf
may at some time work its way through
the embankment created by the wash
from the river and extend itself again to
the desert, or the river itself may be-
come the source of the water that will
turn it into great inland lake. Gen
eral Stoneman, however, is on record as
saying that this last hypothesis is an
impossible one. His view is that the
water which ordinarily flows in the Col
orado river, if spread over the desert,
would be SO rapidly absorbed by evapor-
alton that it could form no permanent
sheet. But then at periods of extraor-
dinary freshet, such as has been the
case this season, the volume of water
would be SO much greater than the
evaporation could absorb that large
lake would readily be formed. 1t could,
however, only remain for short time,
for as the supply diminished the evap-
oration would dry it up by absorption.
If, on the other hand, the water of
source of supply, then permanent
inland sea would be the consequence.
There are circumstances in the present
influx that point to the gulf theory. A
dispatch from Salton yesterday after
noon says that the water is steadily
rising. There is now so vast an expanse
and depth of water on the desert that it
is believed by many intelligent people
who have paid close attention to this
phenomenon that the Colorado river,
even at its present fullness, could not
furnish enough water to create this
great sheet and also make up for the
tremendous process of evaporation that
must be going on with the thermometer
marking from 1856 to $50 degrees.
1t is therefore possible that we may
be actually confronted with all the con-
ditions which render the formation of
permanent desert sea inevitable. If
that should prove to be the case, the
inquiry is timely as to the climatic
effects which such body of water
would have upon this immediate Sec
ton. That lit would change in some
degree the temperature is certain. The
great heat of the desert would undoubt-
edly be lowered, and the ratification of
the air, which now creates the vacuum
that is filled daily by the trade currents
that cross US from the ocean, would be
modified. The absence OF these cur
rents would doubtless have some appre-
ciable effect upon the temperature
this side of the mountains. But
whilst the lowering of the desert tenn
perature might deprive the cis-mountain
region of the daily eastern air currents,
there would be compensating effect
from the moisture that would be dis
titled from the waters of the inland sea
and shed upon the range which divides
US from it. The day of Santa Anas
would be forever gone, and a fruitful
country would in all probability spring
up on the eastern slope of the noun
tains. Places that are now sterile would
doubtless be fructifed by the moisture
from the new sea, and vast stretch of
arid country be made inviting to the
husbandman by the operation of the
humid atmosphere.
Speculations upon the effect this new
sea would have upon our rainfall during
the winter season would be Of interest.
Would it increase the annual volume of
rainfall this side of the mountains, or
would it have no perceptible effect
whatever upon the annual precipitation
Of moisture? This is question that
will admit of learned discussion on both
sides, and if in the next few days we are
assured beyond the peradventure Of
doubt that the Gulf of California has
returned to it's old desert bed, it will
take very prominent place in the live
scientific questions of the day.
THE Examiner is in dead earnest to