The record-union., 1891-07-02
THE FLOOD AT SALTON.
WATER IN TIE LAKE SAID TO
BE SLOWLY RISING.
But Little Information Obtainabie as
to It's Extent, on Account of the
Extreme Heat.
Special to the REcoRD-US1oS.

Special to the RECORD-UNIoN.
Los ANGELES, July 1.-There is no
| Improvement in affairs at Salton. The
water in the lake is rising, but no special
uneasiness is felt by the railroad people.
Owing to the almost unbearabIe heat, it is
impossible to get any white man to ven
ture on the desert at this time of the
year. An Indian runner sent out by the
railroad people has not yet returned, and
the beat sent out from Sa6ton has only
been able to get short distance.
a telegram received at the railroad
office in this city to-day is as follows:
"a strong wind last night from the
southeast raised the water on the north
shore. The west water line is moving
westward slowly. L cannot reach the
end of the track. / fear the track will 90
with the next strong wind. The water is
surely but slowly rising. The saturation
is sixteen per cent. tresher than yester-
day"
Old-timers attach but little importance
to the flood. They say that the water
comes from the Colorado River through
the break at Pilot Knob, some fifteen
miles from Yuma. In 1853 there was
similar overflow, but the water did not
reach as high as at present. That the
water comes from the Colorado River.
Il
Knob, there is but little doubt.
In answer to a dispatch of inquiry ves-
day, Superintendent Muir of the South
ern Pacific, received the following YES
terday morning from II. w. Blaisdill.
superintendent of the mines at Ogelby.
eighteen miles this side of Yuma: "In
regard to the water that Is flowing into
the desert from the Colorado River at a
point some fifteen or twenty miles below
Pilot Knob ever since the great overflow
| In February, we have been wondering
where it was going to. l cannot state
that 1t IS running to-day, but it was
week ago.
A dispatch was received late in the day
saying that the San Pedro boat had again
been sent out. At a point fifteen miles
from Salton they found the current run
ming at rate of four and One-half miles
per hour, but the water was only fourteen
inches deep. The deepest water they
found was at point three miles south
east OF Salton, where it is twenty-One
inches deep. At this place it was only
eight inches deep the day before The
sailors were compelled to come in soon
after the sun rose, as the heat became un-
bearable, but they started out again last
night, and had not returned when the
dispatch was sent.
4 special dispatch to the Times late last
night says. The water is now within
1000 feet Of the main track. 1t came in
200 feet in two hours to-day. If it con-
tinueS to come in as it has been doing it
viii wash out the railroad track in three
days. The deepest water found was three
feet and Shallowest in current of four
teen inches.
Superintendent Darbrow, of the Salt
Works, is much alarmed, but says he will
stay with the works to the last moment.
III wants the railroad company to send
men to fix the break in the new river.
l. 4 III
and is about seventy miles from Salton.
The Indians are badly scared, All
desert Indians have fled to the hills, and
even those as high up as Banning are
leaving for the mountains. a week ago
medicine man came to the Banning
Reservation and told the Indians that the
Messiah said there will be bio flood by
July 4th. All whites will be swept away
and only the Indians saved. He said
that Indians that worked up to July 9TH
would not have time to get away. All
Indians are much excited. Even the
most Intelligent ones are going to Gray
back Mountain with their families
tomorrow.
\ special dispatch to the Times from
Salton at II o'clock tonight says the
water is still rising, but not SO rapidly as
in the afternoon. Old residents of this
city say that while the water is higher
than ever known before, the desert lake
10 ilOI ~ lloW luiIS, anu tne phenomenon
has occurred frequently, but from the
fact that the desert is uninhabited and no
one ever ventures across it, it has not
been noticed.
OVERFLOW FROM THE COLORADO.
WASHINGTON, July 1.-Maior Powell,
of the Geological Survey, speaking of the
flood in the Colorado desert, says that the
Gulf of California formerly extended
about 200 miles into the State of Califor-
mia, and that the upper portion of the
gulf was shut off by the great alluvial
''Then the water in the upper basin
evaporated. so that the bottom cut off is
now below the level of the sea. When
ever the Colorado is at great flood hight,
some of its waters are likely to find,
and usually do find, their way across the
delta to the north, where they flow into
this low ground"