The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1892-03-04
Ghe1rmurrM-S Star
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESSERT.

st. Nicholas.
The Great American desert was
almosi better known n generation
ago than it is 10 day. Then thou
sands OF The hardy argonauis on
their way 10 California had ira.
verSed that fearful waste on faot
with their dawdling OK teams, and
hundreds of them left their bones
10 bleach in that thirsty land. The
survivors Of those deadly journeys
had a very vivid idea of what that
desert was; bat now that We can
roll across il IN less than IA day in
Pullman palace cars, lis real-and
still exisiing-hurrors are largely
forgotten. have walked its hid.
eOus length alone and wounded,
and realize something more OF it
fiom thai than a grea, many rail
road journeys across il have told
me. Now every transcun,inenlal
railroad crosses The great desert
which stretches up and Gown the
continent, west of the Rocky
Mountains, for nearly 1000 miles.
The northern routes cut lis least
terrible parts; but the two rail.
roads which traverse its southern
half-lhe Atlantic d. Pacific Rail
road and The Southern Pacific
pierce some oil ii; grimmeSl recess.
eS.
The first scientific exploration
Of this region was Lieut.. Wheeler's
United States survey about 1850;
and he was first ~ give scientific
assurance that We had here Il DIES
ert rs absolute Us the Sahara. II
its parched s%andScould speak their
record, what Il story they might
tell of suffering aud death; of
slow-plodding caravans, whose pa.
,ieni oxer lifted their leet cease
lessly from the b%lislering gravel
Of drawn human faces that peered
al some lyi:,g image Of il placid
lake, and toiled fran,ically ON to
sink at last, hopeless and strength,
less, in The hot dust which the mi
rage 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 Il year passes, even now, with.
out recor! of many dying upon
that desert, and IF many more
who wander back, in "A deliriuin Of
thirst. Even people at the rail-
road station sometimes rove off,
lured by the strange fascination OF
The desert. and never come back
and of the adventurous miners
who seek to probe The golden Sc.
rrels of those barren and strange
hued ranges, there are counless
victims.
A desert Is not necessarily an
endl. 81, level waste OF burning
sand. The Great American Des
ertls full Of strange, burnt, ragged
mountain ranges, with deceptive,
sloping broad valleys between
though as we near It's southern
end The mountains become some
what less numerous. and the sandy
Wastes Mure prominent. There
are many extinct volcanoes upon
it, and hundreds of square miles
OF black, bristling la,a-flows. A
large parl of 1t is sparsely clothed
with the hardy CROSSWORD; but in
places mol IA plant of any sort
breaks the surface, as far as the
eye can reach. The summer heat
is unbearable, often reaching 1856
degrees in the shade and a piece
Of metal which has been in the sun
can no more be handled than can
redhot stove. Even in winter.
the midday heat is insulftrabl-,
while at night ice frequently forms
on the water tanks. The daily
range of temperature there is said
10 be the greatest ever recorded
anywhere and Il change of so lie.
49,. - .,., -., =, a., ...r