The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-26
THE DESERT FLOOD.
(Continued from Page 81

they gathered great stores of food. These
Indians have many traditions of known
floods in the basin, some of which are
curiously woven into their mythology. It
is thus seen that the bursting of the water
into the desert is no new thing, but
phenomenon which may be expected from
time to time, due to the ever-shifting chan
mel by which the Colorado carries its
waters over the desert.
The deltas of great rivers are everywhere
interesting subjects of study. The water
that is caught in great drainage basin like
that of the Colorado or of the Mississippi
is might torrent where it is emptied into
the sea. The sediment which such a river
carries is here deposited and by thus throw
ing it down the river, chokes its own chan
mel. Then there is always a great differ
ence in the low water volume and the flood
water volume, and when extraordinary
floods come every such riveris apt to find
new outlet. In passing over delta, river
builds up the ground over hich 1t flows,
SO that the immediate banks of the stream
are higher than the country further back.
Then when a great flood comes this barrier
is burst and new channel is formed.
Sometimes a new channel is temporary, at
other times the breach in the bank is on so
great a scale that it becomes the principal
one. This may be the case in the Colorado
delta at the present time, but it is not yet
known whether the breach is small or
great. 1t is. however, likely to be trivial
and to involve but a slight inundation of
the interior basin.
In the southwest portion of the United
States there is large area of country
part of which is known as the Great Basin,
where the rainfall is so small that no
streams are found which deliver their
waters into the sea. They all flow into
more ar less saline lakes or sink into sands.
L.. <1f, rhror 40 -
Southern California, the greater part of
Nevada, much of Utah, and the western
half of Arizona. In it there are other dis
tricts, like the one at the head of the Gulf
of California, that sink below the level of
the sea- The most notable one is Death
Valley. This region is beset by long north
and-south ranges of mountains, usually
not very high. In late geologic
times it has been the scene eff great
volcanic activity, the mountains being in
large part of Volcanic origin. Between
the mountains there are deep basins, the
Great Salt lake lies in one, Pyramid
lake in another, but there are great
many more. The basins themselves are
being slowly filled as the rain, falling
products of disintegration down into
the valleys. These depressed valleys that
have no outlet, but which gather the wash
from the mountains, are locally known
as playas, and except when they are
filled with salt lakes they are fearful des-
erts, much like the one described at the
head of the Gulf of California. All of these
playas are valueless; mono of them can be
redeemed even by irrigation. For even if
there was water they are so saline that
crops cannot grow thereon. In the region
described as being without rivers that run
to the sea, the little irrigable land is chiefly
found at the foot of mountains or in ele-
waited valleys amoung mountains. Hence
it is that settlement of the region must
always be exceedingly sparse.
Gold, silver and other minerals are
found in the mountains, and thus mining
industries are established, but there is
scarcely agricultural land enough to sup
ply with the necessary food the people
engaged in mining. Where the water can
be put upon the land by carrying out the
few streams or by sinking wells, agricul-
ture is highly productive. 1t is semi
tropical region, and all the vegetables
and fruits of such region
can here be raised successfully.
Oranges, lemons and all citric fruits grow
there with luxuriance. No more bounti-
full vineyards can be found in the world.
In some parts of the country cotton and
sugar cane are raised successfully, and now
the date palm OF Egypt is cultivated, and
it appears to be far more productive than
even in the valleys of the Nile. Such is
the story of the flood in the desert.
]. w. POWELL.
wAILA wAILA ADDITION.