The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-24
WATER THAT ISN'T WATER.
Some Wonderful Mirage Effects on
the q american Deserts

Some Wonderful Mirage Effects on
the American Deserts
From the San Eranctseo Chronicle.
CALIFORNIA; mirages are second to none.
Go down to the Colorado desert You will
find there a mirage that is q mirage. You
may find more than one. Perhaps, two.
three four. FIVE, each differing in kind from
the other Take the one that fixes itself
over the bed of Dry. lake and counterfeits
water. There ia a curious coincidence about
that Everybody remembers how a year
ago the Colorado river broke its banks and
wiped the lake from the map. 1t was dry
lake no longer, it will be remembered. Yhs
overflow from the Colorado came into it,
and it became known as the Salton
sea. IL was q nine days wonder
when the basin OF this lake, fully $50 feet
below sea level began filing with water.
Then, the source of supply becoming known
popular in terest became satisfied, and the
political newspaper men who had been
glowingly specializing On the future, when
the new salt sea would temper the winds,
when gardens aud flowers and cities would
spring up thereabout, when that whole
area Of shifting sands would be scene of
agricultural thrift-these prognosticatorS
hung their pens in the air ana withdrew
from the arena.
The Saltoa sea is gone now, evaporated
into thin air. Dry lake, however, is al
right on the map. The he'd OF the lake is
about twenty-eight miles long and about
one-half TO one mile wide. The Salkon, Sea
covers those dimensions; SO apparently does
the great mirage. Therein is the coinci-
dence.
The bed of Dry lake comes within half
mile of the Southern Pacific tracks at Sal
ton station. IL trends of from there In a
=
travelling south on the railroad during the
period that Dry lake contained water would
have observed the water to the west at
distances of one-half mile to two, three and
FIVE miles away. The same thing may be
observed now, though the basin be dry as a
bone. tf- seq
met an old miner on the train when the
Salton SEA sensation was first started, A
humber OF us were viewing the water with
! field glasses and eomtneptiQz rhereon. The
old miner dropped into the eopversation.
He looked very knowing as he winked and
blinked at others outside Of our group. until
our ignorance of the situation made him
tired. Then he broke In on US, saying,
"You'se fellers don't think that's water, do
yea"
Beyond the possible shadow of doubt"
some one replied
"Wsll. yer all away off, ;" said the old
miner. II have hoofed over every foot of
ground from here to the San Jacinto mount
aims. Yes and over the San Jacinto
mountains, too for that matter, and never
got my SHOES wet either. I've been prospect
ing down here ten years or more I've seed
that water from here the same as you do a
thousand times. Bat that amt no woter :;
that's a my-rage." ...
We protected in vain. The old prnspector
brought up a half dozen other old pros
pectors who stood by his statements. The
brakeman was called in. He told the old
prospector that he too, had seen the mirage
there OFF and on for Eve years, but this
time he WAS cock~sure there was no decep-
ton. There was water there now for a
dead certainty, for he had been to the
edge OF it at Salton and dipped his fingers
in it.
We showed the honest old fellow the
newspapers, but that did not alter his posi-
ton. When he dipped his fingers in the
water as the brakeman did be would believe
there was water there, and not until then.
This illusion and reality are not 80 re-
markable after all. The circumstances are
easily explained. The presence of the water
has been explained already. Now about
that which resembles water:
Low lands under the same degree Of heat
and climatic conditions will become hotter
than high lands. Air from the ground up
Is found TO he in layers, hot and cold. Hot
air rises, cold air descends. From this
desert basin, under the hot and cloudless
sky OF summer, there is a strong rising of
overheated air. This, mingled with the
thrush of colder air. assumes the color Of
water by rejecting the rays Of the sun.
The vioratory motion Of the atmosphere
corresponds to the motion of the waves
Thus, water or no water, this spot away
below sea level is a looking lake
when viewed from distance.
About twenty-five miles southeast of
Salton, from a point near the borders of
Carrie creek, one Of the grandest mirages
In California, perhaps In the world, can be
witnessed. The ground of vantage being
remote from the railroad, and the mirage
not being as distinct as that which hoyers
about Dry lake, not many outside of old
desert travellers will claim to have seen il.
Besides, there is nothing to encourage the
most intrepid lover of adventure in enter
ing this section. IL is the most desolnte of
any In the country where desolation
abounds. There is nothing but sand sand.
everywhere; SAND packed and hard In spots,
sand in huge drifts. sand hot as fire
butfeted in the air by shriekinR
winds, sand that yeats in the face thicker
than hail and sharper than needles; mount
aims OF sand belonging to the San Bernar-
dino range on the east, more Of the same
kind from the San Jacintos on the west;
between them the wind plays, blows, bowls,
oaVorts in this direction, in that direction,
In every direction, forming whirlwind
here, another and another there. piling the
sand in loose pyramids IN places and sweep
Ing the soil into fiat, hard surface between
the drifts.
Not very inviting place to pitch a camp
and stay for several days, as one must il
one Is to get glimpse or the mirage Of all
mirages.
1t is seen only in the gray Of the norm
ing When the gold hue Is lining the east.
Looking toward Fort Yuma, which may be
located but not seen, a prodigious black
column Is first observed. Il lightens until
IL seems TO touch the canopy above, it ex-
pands, It breaks into myriads OF shapes, it
becomes clearer and clearer, until at last
you see the church steeples, towers, arches
oVerhangIng precipices, a city, and the
mountain Businesses hanging in mid air. AS
the sun rises the shadows fade; with the
first rays of the luminary they are gone.
thus spectacle was witnessed by William
r bake and his party good many years