Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-04

supplied the wells has burst through
the thin crust of earth above it, and is
now inundating the plain. Nothing
could be easier to account for"
But the next day the well began flow
ing again after its sligEt cessation, and
Durbrow was again in despair.
Then the worthy superintendent
turned his attention to the theory,
which he still holds and which now
seems most tenable, that the water
came from the overflow of the Colorado.
He does not think, however, that it
comes overland, that is, on the sur
face of the ground, but that the
source of supply for this alleged
desert sea" is some subterranean pas
sage. Acting on this idea he has sent
faithful runner to Volcano springs, "a
miles east, with instructions to get over
to the sand hills to the southeast of the
lake and see if water is coming through
from the New river basin. The Indian
chosen for this important mission, An
tonic by name, is a trusted and reliable
man and will be able to give an intelli-
gent report of what he sees. The return
of Antonio will settle vexed question
tomorrow.
The geography of this region, that
part of it at least which has bearing on
the present phenomenon, ought to be of
great interest to scientists. Mr.. Dur
brow has received letter from friend
| at Yuma who knows this country like
book, which endorses his theory as to
the cause of the food and gives reasons
why 1T appears to be the only tenable
explanation. The following facts have
been taken from this correspondence,
which the recipient has been kind
enough to read to me:
On February 10 the Colorado river,
after a period of flood in which it
reached a higher mark than it was ever
known to have attained before and
washed away large part of the town of
Yuma, overfowed its west bank at AL
godones, twenty-seven miles below that
town, and sought an outlet through the
old channel of New river. Ever since
that date water has been flowing stead
dones to Mud lake and the "Big holes :"
river channel widens and twists about
| feet, from 120 feet above sea level at the
Colorado river to 3S feet below at the
lowest point in the basin of Mud lake.
OF all the remarkable freaks of ma
ture in this almost supernatural region,
probably the "Big holes" in the Mud
lake basin are the strangest. These
vary in diameter from one to eight feet
and have no bottom. They are thou
sands in number, and when the heavy
rains of the winter months send torrents
down from the surrounding mountain
cafions these sink holes take it all in and
have never been known to get full, no
matter how great the quantity of water
which flows through their hungry ORR
fees.
Mud lake and the Big Holes lie to the
southeast of the spot where this is writ
ten. There is fall of 232 feet from the
level OF the plain at Mud lake to the
lowest level here at Salton, but there is
bank of sand nine feet high and mile
wide separating the two basins. This
bank, which is the one Antonio is inves-
tigating, as far as known up to date, is
still intact, and in all probability it will
remain so. For every inch that the
water may rise on the other side of this
natural levee, it must spread over thou
sands of acres of land, for the plain is as
level as billiard table, and it would
take all the water of the Colorado river
months to surmount the obstacle.
l repeat that there has been no break
in this barrier that serves so we'll to
keep the irresistible flood of billions of
gallons of water from pouring in on this
valley from Mud lake, and the theory
that the flood in the Dry lake comes di-
rectly from the Colorado river must
therefore be given up as untenable.
Now as a last resort, to account for
this food, Messrs. Durbrow ct al. have
evolved this theory: The heavy rush of
waters through the New river channel
to Mud lake, has at last and for the firsc
time in the memory of man, filled up
the big holes"
The pressure on the subterranean
chamber to which these holes lead has
exceeded its capacity to withstand, and,
forced by the irresistible pressure of a
head Of water several hundred feet high,
the underground chamber has sought
relief by bursting out passage into Dry
lake. This is the present theory, and
it will doubtless prove the true one.
On Antonio's return, which will be to-
morrow, if he report that no water is
flowing over the surface of the land into
the new lake, skif will be obtained
which will draw not to exceed thu
inches of water and men will be started
OuG LII ~ W pun VI INV OFCl ClC idhc dllQ
discover the spring which forms it's sup
ply, and of whose existence Superintend-
ent Durbrow has no doubt.
The widest part of this new salt lake,
which may possibly put out of date all
the present maps of California, is that
part from Salton directly across to the
base of the San Jacinto mountains,
whose very feet the waters seem to lave.
To the west the water narrows to a
point about three and half miles away,
but to the east and southeast the shape
of the lake is indeterminate. the dis
tance rendering clear view of it's ex-
tent imperfect.
l have placed its length at thirty miles
because Antonio has started south from
Volcano Springs, twenty-four miles east
ward, to get around its eastern edge, and
his guess is liable to be more correct
than any l could make. Thus it will be
seen that the amount of land covered
by the water has been greatly exagger-
ated. 1t does not even fill the basin
known as Dry lake on the maps, which
undoubtedly at some earlier age
was fine body OF water, its
outlines being still plainly dis
tinguishable by the salt-line the waters
left in their evaporation.
The nearest point to the Southern Pa
citic main line which the waters reach
is about two miles east of here and