Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-15
Special correspondence to the HERALD.

F. YUMA, August 13, 1891.
The mercury only marks SO degrees F.
as I sit writing this forenoon on the
verandah of the railroad hotel. the
sky is partly overcast with clouds, max
ing the weather slightly sultry. The
perspiration runs in streams, but there
are hotter places today in the world
then Yuma. West of here, at Salton, 1853
feet below sea-level, the mercury is about
l116 degrees F., and east of here, at Casa
Grande, it is reported at ITO degrees F.
I The scenery here is striking as it is
beautiful, northward is chain of SER
rated, barren peaks, the highest of
which is Chimney rock. 1t lis curious
looking pile Of rock, with its steep sides
rising hundreds of feet. To the east is
Castle Dome mountain, whose name
we'll describes its appearance. A mighty
ldome-shaped mass of rock rearing
itself a thousand feet or more on top of
a castle-like mountain. Far from the
north the lordly Colorado river winds in
and about the desert plain between low
ranges of hills, and sweeps majestically
by the town. Its waters look redder than
I ever saw them before-hence it's name.
Colorado or Red river. Here at Yuma
the river is $50 feet wide, and this morn
ing it's waters touched the nineteen-foot
mark in the gauge.
At the east of the town, on a hill,
right at the junction of the Colorado
and Gila rivers is the territorial peniten-
tiary, now containing about 140 prison
ers. Large groves of mesquite and syca-
more line the western bank, making
green ribbon along the desert side half a
mile wide.
Here and there are groups of Indians,
who practically call themselves "sons of
the river''-Yumas. They number some
1900, and live on the reservation on the
California side. Some sisters of charity
conduct an Indian school across the river
in the old fort. Early this morning 1
saw number of Indians of both sexes
bathing in the river. The bucks re-
tanned their gee-strings and the squaws
kept on their skirts, and there were
some good swimmers among them.
have just had long interview with
Colonel d. X. Allen about the Salton
flood and the volcanoes in Lower Cali
forria, and his accounts of the curious
region between here and the gulf of Cal
ifornia are very interesting. Colonel
Allen is an intelligent man, regular
physician, and for many years resi-
dent of the peninsula. When in the
employ of the late lamented Interna-
tional Company of Mexico he made sur
veys of the northern part of the penin-
sula, including the Colorado river re-
gion, and has several valuable maps; in
fact, the only ones l know about of that
country.
The rails on the bridge at Yuma are
1876 feet above sea level at San Francisco
and 12O feet above the level of the gulf.
From the bridge to the mouth of the
Colorado river is exactly eighty miles in
an air line, and about 165 miles by the
river course.
Lerdo, the seat Of the defunct Blythe
colony, is sixty-five miles below Yuma,
on the Sonora side of the river. Before
the earthquake of July 3Oth the place
had seven houses and two Mexican
families. From all accounts, which have
go far reached this place, the earth
quake was very severe. Some of the
houses at Lerdo were utterly demolished.
The first shock came at O'Clock in the
morning, and knocked things into "pi''
generally. The Cocopah Indians along
the river were very much frightened,
and their fears were greatly increased
by the roar of the numerous