Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-01-30

railroads. 20 see these evidences just
east of the Mojave station in California,
the road runs for miles over a mass of
what looks Ike yellow clay that has
baked aud cracked In all directions under
the heat OF the sum There is not
pebble In sight. II is a cracked sheet
Of earth. that looks 80 much like the
bottom Of the dried Out ponds 10 be seen
IN the East that amy tenderfoOt would
recognize IL as the bottom Of desert
dry lake. The wayiaryr who drives
across the desert finds these dry lakes
wherever there is u bowl-shapcd valley
between mountain ridges, and sometimes
"a what seems to bc level nesas. That
these dry lakes are occasionally flooded
need not be doubted for the water marks
are visible
But more impressive than the dry lakes
are the water marks wherever there is
canon or even u depression down from
a mountain. In these canons the tourist
drives or rides along the dry bed OF a
torrent invariably and il Is in such places
0s these that the guide tells his stories
of desert rain storms. The usual season
Of these rains iH, CuriOusly enough, the
dry seasons, " one may believe them
While the sky s clear and flaming hot
black cloud appears unexpectedly over
some mountain crest, whore il swuys
about and increases I'm volume until its
bottom strikes the mountain top. and
then, as IL pierced by q lancet il releases
such volume uf water as would pass
belief did not one spp the work done
by the Hoods in every canon.
In the valley OF the Amargosa lives
old Cub Lee, man who for nearly
thirty yenrs has made the desert his
home Ills house IL one of the shuuticS
formerly used 10y the worlmcu WHO
gathered borax there It stands under
cliffs OF clay that are cut and slashcd at
frequent intervals by deep assures run
ming from the river bed up toward the
mountains that rise on each side of the
valley. One day last winter ne pointed
TO q mark about three feet up ON the
perpendicular walls Of the assures on
the Funeral mountain side, and said:
"Ihe water came down so dcop after
a cloud burst up yondcr one day last
summer
The crest of the Funeral mountain
divide was thirty miles away. The near
est peak was not less than ten. while a
gradually rising mesa swept back from
the immediate valley of the river for
five or six miles TO the foot Of the near
est peak. This storm had released It's
food on the crests OF mountains from
ten To twenty miles away, the water
had flowed down the Cauous between
those mountains, had poured out over
the mesa, had filled the gulches aud
assures in It's route, and had nc last
rolled out through the wide splits in
the river bank a solid wave three feet
high
"How long did the flood lsst;' was
asked.
Perhaps twenty minutes--not a half
hour anyhow"
did it rain in the yalleyY
Not n drop
As described by Lee, this cloud was
moi very much like the tornado com
mon to the prairie region cnst OF the
Rockies. II was not 4 whirling storm,
nor did 1t travel away from the place
| where il was formed, ns Il tornado does.
| IL was simply a great mass Of black
| vapor constantly aiame with Zigzag
| tightening. II seemed to gather tree
/ mendous bulk of water from a stratum
| of air above the mountain tops, to swell
! in volume as IL gathered the water, and
| was created by touching the mountain
| tops, 10 release is gauered floods I'M
| stnntly. The cloud was strcnked with
| tightening until after the mountains were
| embraced, and theu the flashes dlsup-
| pcared and in short time the cloud
| itself was dissipated. Lee did not mo-
| ticc any unusual wind while the storm
lasted
The effects OF these cloudbdrsts cau
| best be realized by the consideration of
some of the authentic reports OF such
storms. For instance, cloudburst In
the HumbOlt mountains, Nevada, on
| June no. 1884. flooded the valley about
| Rye Patch and badly damaged the Cen
! trail Pacific tracks for thirty miles On
the 10th OF March the same year a
stretch of the Atlantic and Pacific track
six miles long was washed away just
west of Daggett, CAL and on the same
day another CloudhuISt near Yuma,
| Al al % nj mara
of the track there, Three days earlier,
March Z, 1884. the streets OF Florence,
Ar, were flooded four feet deep 10y q
| cloudburst al the near by mountains
The effects of such flood among the
houses Of mining camp may be mag
med by New Workers IL they will con.
slider what a tide four feet high would
do If il swept through the shantes OF
| the goat district
4 still more destructive food was re-
| ported from Arizona in 1887. On sept
D several miles OF track ana q number
OF bridges were destroyed near PuntArro
while another clouuhurst on the tn
washed away five miles OF track and
| three bridges ON the Sonora utllroao
and washed out eight miles Of railroad
that was fifty feet high near Dragon,
Among the dangers that bcsct th'
miner everybody ~ iamiliHr WIN 4alhhl
| rocks. broken ropes that let the bucket oil
cage ny. and caye-ins that crush and i'm
prison the men at work. But IN the noun
tains of the desert the clOudburst is az
eyer-present danger, though it rarely
takes the life of u miner. Many OF thI
leads are discovered iIg canOns and SOM
nr. worked 50 the mouth of the mine d
right in the bottom OF the canon, cas-
| al the kind existed near Eureka, Ney
When the food poured through. Adam
| Hill canon il was in the form OF a WaN
that opposite the Williamsburg min'
was thirty feet wide and seven feet deep
4 little further on The mouth OF "a
Titus shaft opened right IN the pain o
r | The wave. The men about he top o
! | the shaft fed up the east side OIL IN
canon: but imagine the situation OF q
| man M the bottom OF the SHAFT Wh
/ could hear the roar Of the Hood and "a
shouts Of his fellows above but wa
2 powerless 60 escape the destruction tina
overwhelmed him
These heavy dowafalls Of rain nave !
few cases been measured AZ lily
nitas California, on Oct. u. lest -
inches of water fell between 10 ~ nlsi
\ and q the next morning ON the lSth q
October. 1888 between Cactus am ~
= too cal on the Southern PQdhc fll
road two inches of water fell IN an h9nl
I while nj Yuma, Ari.. IN August ~
I ei@ht-tenths OF an inch fell ~ iWenl
minutes OF course very extensive VIZ
ar floods accumulated ~ every suiy
aud canon under such downpYnlr aH