Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-05
The Peculiarities of a Pecu-
liar Region.
Early Explorers and Their
Routes in Crossing 1t.
Some Points About Its Location and
Features.
An Interesting Paper Full of Informa-
tion About Region of Which Little
Known-Part of 1t Was
Once Sea.
lBY B. A. STEPHENS.

attention TO tnat wonderful SeCtlOn OF
Southern California. This desert has
been known to white men ever since it
was first crossed in IVA bv Captain Bau
tista ANA, governor of Sonora, who, ac-
cording to royal instructions from the
king of Spain, was exploring an over
land route from Mexico to California.
Crossing the Colorado river, where is
now the town of Yuma, he first bore off
in a southwesterly direction till he came
to the present New river, which he
termed "laguna," and which then inter-
posed further progress in that direction !;
he then turned more to the northwest
and emerged from the desert about War
ner's pass, and came to the mission of
San Gabriel. After him the route gen.
orally taken was through the San
Gcrgonio pass, practically that of the
Southern Pacific railroad. This, too,
was the route of the argonauts, who
came by the thousands in 1849 and 1850 !;
as many as 10000 of these hardy pion-
eers came this way in the latter year.
The Mexicans rightly called this strip of
country between the Colorado river and
the western mountains, "la jornada del
muerte," the journey of death. And
such it proved to be to many OF the
earlier immigrants, whose supplies of
water being exhausted, and led astray
by the fatal mirage, died under the in
tense heat of this sterile and desolate
region. When the Southern Pacific was
being built there in 1877, the bleached
bones and gr1nning skul1s of party of
argonauts was found by the workmen,
together with their wagons and outfits,
and also the remains of their horses and
cattle. that's, what the coyote, the desert
wolf, had not devoured. This was made
the subject of a delightful poem by A.
F. Kercheval of this city.
The Colorado desert is in the shape of
great triangle, the apex of which lies
at the mouth OF the San Gorgonio pass
just east of Banning, and opens south
ward some 200 miles toward the Gulf of
California. The base of this triangle is
about eighty miles long, and each side
is about $50 miles in length. The desert
area is considerably over 5000 square
miles, and it lies within the boundaries
of San Diego county and the northeast
ern part of Lower California. The west
ern side CT this triangle consists OF
the Sierra Madre mountains, run
ming almost due north and
south, with an altitude above sea level
of about 5000 feet. Their great eleva-
ton shuts out nearly all the moisture Of
the western sea winds. Through these
at elevations from 1000 to 5000 feet,
through which the winds blow very
strongly at almost all seasons of the
year. The trees in these passes all bend
one way, to the east, showing the main
direction OF the wind currents, toward
the desert. The eastern side of the
triangle consists OF the San Bernardino
mountains, spur of the Sierra Madre,
branching off from the main range
at Old Grayback, and run southeasterly
for about 100 miles at an altitude of
about 1000 feet. Near the base of this
triangle, and in the desert, are the Co.
copah mountains, running about ninety
miles in northeasterly and south
westerly direction, at an altitude of
about 1000 feet; this range is almost
wholly within the Mexican territory of
Lower California.
The supply of moisture in the desert
is almost nothing. From the Sierra
Madre on the west few streams like
White Water, Aqua Caliente, San Felipe
and CarriZo run down out on the foothills,
only to be quickly absorbed by the desert
sands. The eastern slopes of the Sierra
Madre, unlike their western sides, are
brown, barren and as forbidding as the
desolation upon which they look down.
The eastern range, the San Bernardino,
are wholly barren and rocky and have
no streams at all.
The topography of the desert is that
of a plane with general slope to the
southeast toward the Gulf of California.
Within this great plain is vast depres-
sion, 130 miles long with an average
width of thirty miles, having an area of
about 5000 square miles, that is wholly
below the level of the sea, its depth
varying from 100 to $50 feet.
Around the rim OF this great depression
are the marks of an ancient beach,
strewn with sea shells and water-worn
rocks, where rolled and dashed the surf
of sea that is now gone. This old
beach is very plain and marked all
around the rim of this vast hollow, and
has been noted by travellers for many
years, and gave rise to the famous scheme
OF DR.. Wozencraft to refill this old sea-
bed from the Colorado river.
The soil of the desert is mostly sand
duu STdVel, luCeTSperSeO III many places
with vast deposits of different salts, and
in some localities, as at Salton, with
large bodies Of common salt. The des-
ert, however, is not wholly sterile. In
many places there are quite large forests
of mesquite, of the locust family, whose
beans are the principa! article of
subsistence of the Indians, who
live here. Again there are many groves
of the date palm whose fruit is sweet
and delicious. But these are exceptions.
In some places grasses flourish for a
a brief season after the rains, only to be
Nqnickly parched by the intense heat.
The climate during the winter months
is quite endurable, but from March till
November the heat is terrible. At no
time then is it less than 100 de-
grees, and in the middle OF the
day it is nothing uncommon for the
mercury at the railroad stations to stand
at 13O and l45 degrees in the deepest
shade that the hotel roofs can give. In
the open sun it is many degrees higher.
While this heat is 80 intense, its baneful
effects are greatly lessened by the very
low humidity of the atmosphere, ranging
as low as and per cent. But amid all
this great heat there are no cooling
winds. The heated air rises with rapid
ity. producing an intense glare that is
painful to the eyes, and forming the
mirageS. those wonderful oc liar Illusions