Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-08-23
LoE1Y SAN pgpso MARrlR.
A Great Mountain with 500. 900 Acres o
Good Timber.

| Sun, items have been published In the
. press that all the great pine region oil
San Pedro Martir, in Lower California,
was an entirely unexplored and unknown
country, while the facts are simply these:
Three years ago Col. d. X. Allen care
fully examined that most beautiful por-
ton of this coast. Col. Allen spent near
ly 100 days in this great work. In his
report, most of which has been published,
largely quoted from by Charles Nordhoff
and others, he says;
..San Pedro Martir Is one single great
mountain, instead Of a range of mount
| aims. 1t is about 100 miles in length from
| northwest to southeast, and from ten to
| thirty miles In width, covering on area
| of more than 900. 900 acres, one-half of
| which Is covered with fine timber. l
| found, on measuring hfty-tive acres, Sc
| lected in different parts OF the pine and
| taken carefully as an average, that there
are twentv-seven large trees and nine
| small ones to the acre. The large ones
will average two to four logs to the tree,
each twelve feet in height and two and
one half feet in diameter at the small
end"
| The only white man that ever reached
the summit of tho growth Of the yellow
and sugar pine, 1880 feet above the sea,
| is Col. Allen. At three points, near and
| to the north of Tres paiomas, did he reach
| an altitude of IL, 800 feet above tide wa
| ter at its lowest point. This was at the
| three points known as Mounts Jesse, Isis
| and Orion. Taking the level at that
q 1. .l...t l,gs. l,..
height of the highest OF the Tres Palomas
| (three doves) was not less than $4,000 TO
| 10. 900 feet above the sea.
| The canyons on either side--grand,
| wild and magniiicent-are filed with
| pine up To the IL. 800 foot line. Above
this only the pinion grows. which is
| found nearly to the summit. The finest
springs of pure cold water are found at
| an altitude of II 600 feet No snow is
ever found on any OF the peaks after July
| until September. The annual rainfall
In summer is not more than thirty inches,
as given by the Espinos. Out of the
ninety Sc ven days rain fell on fifty one Of
them. Never less than four feet of snow
| falls In winter. The past two winters
| ten feet of snow has fallen on tho level
each winter. This accounts for the great
supply OF water found in the Rosario,
San Simeon, San Domingo, San Rafael
| Abaic, San Vicente Santo Thomas and
| San Rafael Arriba streams in Lower Cali
fornia Beside Col. Allen, Capt. Frank
| Adams and frieah from Los Angeles,
George Tagart. visited San Pedro Martir
and reached the great level plateau l 900
feet above the sea, in which are situated
| the beautiful Castillo, Vallectos, Vanada
Deer and White Pine valleys, which for
growth of pine, red cedar and spruce,
wild oats. wild rye, wild barley, red top
and clover, cannot be equaled on the
Pacific coast. Deer lacktail, Whitehall
and moose--abound in great numbers,
and are gentle as cattle.
The grandest view of the world is said
by Col. Allen and his men to be had at a
point 10000 feet high, just north and
near the Tres Palomas. Facing the east
and northeast, tho Colorado river lies
stretched out before you like thread Of
silver from Yuma to its mouth On
clear day Yuma can be plainly seen.
The great peaks near Altar and Magda-
lena, aud south to Hermocllo, are in
sight. Down tbs gulf Angel dc Guardin
and Tiburen islands lie out in the gulf
as ii asleep. Turn to the west. and
every point almost from tho Coronado
Islands to Cerros island is in plain view.
San Quintin bay and harbor lie at your
feet, 100 miles distant, like n map, To
the southwark lie the great valleys Of
Buenos Ayres, San Fernando and others
As you turn TO the west San Quintin, San
Ramon, Camalue and Colnen valleys. to
the north VALID Trinidad, and to the
east San Filepe valley and the great val
ley Of the Coronado are seen.
Other visitors from San Ian Diego
have been as far up the mountain as La
Gruila. Encantada, old mission OF San Pc.
dro Martir, San Tomus, Santa Rosa and
Ulalle, among whom were DIR. Greggs
T. s. Van Dyke, Fred Anthony and Mr.
Townsend. of the Ranger. But they
, only reached an altitude Of about 8, 00I
. feet above the sea. Very few deer are
found at this altitude, as every yeai
| more or less cattle are driven there fol
pasture, and the Indians sent to lool
> after tho cattle kill and drive off til,
, deer to parts where no one lives. No on,
at present lives on tho mountain only il
summer. J. NJ. Espinosa and famil,
formerly, for fourteen years, lived at tn
4 old mission and kept their cattle ther
! every winter. At one time they ha
a 25, 600 head of cattle on the mountain.