Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-06
HOT AS HADES.
The Heat at SaltOn Increas-
ing in Strength.
A Graphic Picture Of the New
Lake.
Its Supposed Effect Upon the Vine
yards at IndiO.
The Fiercest Summer Ever Known OF
the Colorado Desert-SaltOn Aban-
dOned - Appearance OF the
Sea-It Is Shrinking.

| Il
Mr.. J. III. Gilmour, of Indio, has in
the San Francisco Chronicle of Friday
an interesting letter on the 5alton sea,
from which the following extracts are
taken:
INDIo, August 30.-The Salton lake has
much to answer for, and it's responsible
ties are daily increasing. No thunder
storm, dust-storm or lightning fash can
occur without its presence being i'm
puted to the sinister effects of this vast
inland lake. 1t was also claimed that
the Salton lake would have benefcent
effect upon the climate and render the
summers less hot. 1t is admitted that
in this valley the summer has been
tiercer, and the inhabitants of the ad-
jacent country say the same thing. In
deed, by them the Salton lake is not
looked upon exactly as blessing. p. II.
Gale, who has a thriving vineyard in
the vicinity of Indio, and who knows the
climate well, said today that up to June
9th it was the coolest summer he had
| known.
"Since then" said Gale, "the weather
has been most oppressive. wore my
coat when working in the vineyard on
June I'd, and was congratulating myself
on the GOODNESS of the place, but after
four days the heat was worse than ever
knew it.
The idea that the Salton lake has any
influence upon the climate on the fur
ther side of the range Mr.. Gale scouts
as ridiculous. The fond hopes that were
INDUCED in as to the cooling of the eli
mate have turned out otherwise, for
though the thermometer may not so
frantically plunge upward, yet the heat
is less endurable. The Salton heat,
though fierce and trying, was after all
not enervating. The extreme dryness
of the atmosphere prevented that dis
comforting, clammy, perspiring feeling
which is so trying. A person could be
bathed in sweat, but the slightest
breeze through the clothes dried the
skin. But it is all changed now, and
the perspiration trickles in many rills
down the head, face and body and no
hot, dry wind comes to bring refresh
ing coldness through the soaked cloth
ing.
Salton is a ghost OF its former self.
Before the food the numerous huts of
the Indians lent to this desert spot quite
a metropolitan air. The houses occu-
pied by the white force always looked
CHEEKY. The amiable wife of the super
intendent of the mill had planted a
| little garden in boxes in soil carefully
brought from distant point. 1t was
the first time that the geranium had
flung its scarlet blossoms defantly to
the breeze in this inhospitable wild, and
the other flowers, carefully nurtured and
looked after, unfolded their petals.
| Behind the main house Superintendent
Durbrow had with great patience
brought into existence a small patch of
alfalfa, whose verdancy tempted the few
rowing birds of the desert to stay and at
tempt to wrest from under its wire cover
juicy leaf. Never in the history of Sal
ton had the salt industry been so pros
porous. Cars were sent out every day
and the Southern Pacific company
freight bill amounted to $25, 900 year.
The mill, with the exception of Sunday,
was ever at work, and this hive of in
dustry was the most remarkable specta-
Gle that met the travellers eye from Tue
son on his journey west.
1t is entirely different now. The lit
the frame dwellings are abandoned. The
mills and huge warehouses are standing
in water, parts of the mill machinery
lay on the depot platform and the little
| locomotive is side-tracked on the branch
that once ran out to the great salt
marsh. Where was once the enormous
bed of salt is vast sea whose waters
are intensely blue, and which, under
the influence of the wind, curl and lash
themselves into miniature foam-crested
waves. The sea extends as far west as
Mortimere and east to the Colorado
river. Its greatest depth is four feet,
and Mr.. Thomas, whose duty it is to
daily measure it, said yesterday that
the waters had been going steadily
down during the past month. The
water shows an average OF 10
per cent. salt and sometimes IL,
then again dropping to 8 per
cent. 1t was hot, uncomfortably hot,
last Saturday, though the day was
cloudy and there was every appearance
of storm. The heat was OF that nature
which is best described by the word
muggy. 1t was close, sitting and most
disagreeable, utterly different from the
old climate of Salton.
The sea looked most beautiful when
seen from the freight train, which APP
preached it from the west. There had
been copious rains in the desert and the
silvery sand had been darkened. Here
and there the dark green of the sage