The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-02-24

eh tne tales toiu Dy tho White
Arabs Of the Mojave Desert
few will stir the mind Of q
hardy tonsists as 40 those Of
tho rafn storms that now aud then deluQe
this arid region. For practical purposes
for the purpose OF agriculture or the
amelioration Of tho ard atmos phere-it
is rainless region. At intervals Of
years general, or what the weather
sharps would call blanket rain storms,
do prevail, and then the desert become,
thoroughly moistened and the brown,
hard. baked sand disappears under the
most luxuriant, fragrant charming
flowers imaginable. But in ordinary
years nothing OF the kind Is seen there.
And yet the tales OF the downfall OF i'm.
mensc masses OF water are 20 DO heard
from every old Arab, and tho physical
evidence OF such downfalls are to be,
seen on every hand In journey across
tho region. One does not have TO leave
tho railroads to see these evidences.
Just east OF Mejave Station, in California,
the road runs for miles over mass OF
what looks like yellow clay that has
b.ked and cracked in all directions
SpcTuic I IN sight. II Is a cracked -ah...,
OF earth, that looks so much like the
bottom OF the dried -out ponds to be
seen in tho East that any tcnderfoot
would recognize 1t rs tho bottom OF q
desert dry lake. The wayfarer who
drives across the desert finds these dry
lakes wherever there Is bow.shaped
valley between mountain ridges, and
sometimes on what seems to be level
mcsas. That these dry lakes are occa-
sionally hoodcd need not bc doubted,
for tho water marks are visible.
But more im prcssiye than the dry
lakes are tho water marks wherever there
Is canon or even n depression leading
down from mountain. In those canon,
the tourist drives or rides along tho dry
bed of torrent invariably and it is in
such places rs these that tho guide tells
his stories OF desert raj l storms. The
usual season for these rains IL, curiously
enough, tho dry season, il ono may be,
liovo them. While the sky is clear and
flaming hot black cloud appears unex-
pectcdly over some mountain crest, where
it sways about and Increases in volume
until its bottom strikes tho mountain top,
aud then, rs if pierced by lancet, II
releases such a volume Of water rs would
pass belief did not one sec tho work
done by the foods in every canon.
In the valley Of tho Amargosa lives old
Cub Lee, man who for nearly thirty
years has made the desert his home. His
house Is one Of tho shanties formerly
used by tho workmcn who gathered
bora1 there. 1t stands under cliffs Of
clay thnt arc cut aud slaShcd ut frequent
intervals by deep tissurcs running from
the river bed up toward tho mouutain1
that rise on each side of the valley. OIe
day last winter he pointed to mark
about three feet up on tho porpcndicu.
lar walls OF the assures on tho Funeral
Mountain side, and said:
water came down so deep after
n cloudburst up yonder ono 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 nearest
peak. This storm had released its food
on the crests of mountains from ten to
twenty miles away, the water had flowed
down tho can0ns between those noun
tains, had poured ous over the mesa, had
filed the gulchcs and assures in its route,
md had ut last rolled out through the
wide splits in the river baUk solid wave
three feet high.
GLOW long did the flood lasti" wa
asked.
"Pcrhaps twenty minute,-not hal
hour, anyhow"
"Did it rain in the valleys"
"Not drop"
AS described by Lee, this cloud wa
not very much like the tornado common
to the prairie c5ion east of the Rockies
1t was not whirling storm. nor did i
travel away from the place where 1t wa:
formed, as q tornado does. 1t was SIM
ply great mass Of black vapor onstantl,
ahamc with zigzag lightning. 1t seemed
to gather n trcu cndous bulk Of wate
from stratum Of air above tho noun
tain tops, to swell in volume as it gath
cred the water, and finally, wien
change Of conditions was created b,
touching the mountain tops, 20 -eleas
its gnrnercd floods instantly. The clou,
was strcakcd with lightning until atte
the mountains were embraced, and the
the flashes disappeared aud in shor
time the cloud itself was dissipatcd
Lee did not notice ony unusual wine
while the storm lasted.
The effects of these cloudbursis oar
best be realized by a consideration O
some Of the authentic reports Of sue
storms. For instance, n cloudburst i
the Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, o
June 10, 1884, flooded the valleys abou
Rye Patch and badly damaged the Cen
trail Pacific tracks for thirty miles. o
the 10th OF March the same year stretcl
OF the Atlantic and Pacific track 81
miles long was washed away just west c
Dasgctt, CAL. and on the same da
another cloudburst near Yuma, Arizona
washed away about as much more Of tn
track there. Three days earlier, Marc
9TH, 1884, the streets of Florence, Ar
zona, were flooded four feet deep by
cloudburst at the nearby mountains. ri
elect Of such e food among the hous
OF mining camp may be imagined |
New Workers il they will consider wht
L. q