Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-30
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT.

One of the Strange Corners Of Our Country,
From ST. Nicholas.
The great American desert was almost better
known generation ago than it is today. Then
Thousands Of the hardy Argonauts on their
way to California had traversed that fearful
waste on foot with their dawdling OK teams,
and hundreds Of them left their bones to
bleach in that thirsty land. The survivors O,
those deadly journeys had o very vivid idea OF
what that desert was; but now that we can roll
across it in less than q day in Pullman palace
cars its real-and still existing are
largely forgotten. have walked its hideous
length alone and wounded, and realized some
thing more Of it from that than q great many
railroad journeys across it have told me. Nov
every transcontinental railroad crosses the
great desert which stretches up and down the
continent, west Of the Rocky mountains, for
nearly two thousand miles. The northern
routes cnt its least terrible parts; but the two
railroads which traverse its southern half-the
Atlantic and Pacific railroad and the Southern
Paclhc-pierce some of its grimmest recesses.
Tho first scientific exploration of this region
was Lieut. Wheeler's United States survey
about 1850, and he was first to give scientific
assurance that we had here a desert az absolute
as the Sahara. II its parched sands could speak
their record what q story they might tell of suf-
ferlngs and death; OF slow-plodding caravans,
WuOSc pdtltut OASu lllttu tUelr lcet ce8selessly
from the blistering gravel; of drawn human
faces that peered at some lying image of a
placid lake, and toiled frantically on to sink at
last, hopeless and strengthless in the hot dust
which the mirage had painted with the hues and
the very waves of water.
No one will ever know how many have
yielded to the long sleep in that inhospitable
land Not year passes, even now, without
record OF many dying upon that desert and Of
many more who wander back, in deliriuia of
thirst Even people at the railroad station
sometimes rove off, lured by the strange fasci-
nation OF the desert and never come back. and
OF the adventurous miners who seek to probe
the golden secrets Of those barren and strange
hued ranges there are countless victims
A desert is not necessarily an endless, level
waste of burning sand. The great American
desert is full Of strange, burnt. ragged noun
tain ranges, with deceptive, sloping broad val
leys berween-thougE as we near its southern
end the mountains become somewhat less numer-
ous and the sandy wastes more prominent
There are many extinct volcanoes upon it. and
hundreds Of square miles of black, bristling
lava flows. large part Of it is sparsely clothed
with the hardy greasewood; but in places not
plant of any sort breaks the surface as far as
the eye can reach. The summer heat is unbear-
able, often reaching 1862 in the shade; and
o piece of metal which has been in the sun
can no more be handled than can q red-hot
stove. Even in winter the midday heat is in
siderable. while at night ice frequently forms
on the water tanks. The daily range Of tenn
perature there is said to be the greatest ever
recorded anywhere, and q change Of 80 degrees
In few hours - not rare.