The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-06-01
REGION OF WONDERS.
eOME OF THE NATURAL MARvElS TO
BE SEEN IN OREGON.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF both the Dead ana the Ltv-
ing Past-Premonitions In Abundance Of
Something Strange to Come-In the VAL
ley Of D~esolation.
Nowhere on the known globe is there
another region Of the same extent repre-.
senting the weird and grewsome as well
as the sublime and grand in nature as
in q long and wide strip lying a consid-
cradle distance inland from the western
coast Of tho United States. Here can be
found an abundance Of illustrations Of
both the dead and living past-that
strange past Of physical violence proceed
ing the age Of man, and that solemn
past when the forces had gone to rest
and the imprint Of chaos lay everywhere.
There are premonitions In abundance of
something strange to come in the u
ties Of Snohomish, Okanogan, Douglas
and Yakima in Washington, but this is
not fully emphasized until the Oregon
counties Of Morrow, Gillian, Grant and
Lake have been considered, and the mar
velous receives a wonderful accession in
the long line Of eastern California u
ties, southern Nevada, a considerable
region in Utah west Of Great Salt lake,
southern New Mexico and O region Of
no small dimensions in northern Texas.
Here, to the mental and the ocular sight,
are unsolved problems in geology, para
doxes in physical formation and number
less instances Of what may be termed in
versions Of established geographical or
der.
In Oregon we are confronted with the
still and silent Sagebrush desert, hem
med in by a wildly picturesque yet as
dreary and inhospitable a region as can
be found anywhere. In the midst Of this
desert, as If to reflect the surrounding
awfulness, is Fossil lake, and all the
surrounding region is one vast and wide
cemetery Of the fauna Of a precataclysmal
world. Here are massed together more
| fossil specimens of a greater variety of
early animal life than can be found any
| where on the earth, excepting the i'm
mense fossil islands northward Of ST.
beria--horses Of rare form, different spe-
cies of camels, llamas, mammoths, sloths
of huge proportions, wonderful birds, and
the evidence that primitive man at some
time was there is indicated by the pres
ence of arrowheads Clipped from vol
capic glass. But what long ages have
been entombed since these tropical ami
mails in their untamed strength trod the
soil Of Oregon and what mighty changes
have swept over the earth since then
How came they there in such amazing
numbers, and what were the causes of
such universal and evidently such ST.
multaneous death? No conditions Oh
the earth as we know them now could
bring this about. Yet here nature chose
to locate one Of her remarkable mortua.
~ establishments and to enshroud il
with the gloom of unrelieved desola.
ton. Commencing in this region and
extending down into California, the
mountains are freakish. They are moi
constructed on the chain or continuous
system. The earth did not wrinkle he,
crust, but she erupted into huge boils;
the peaks stand isolated, sometimes in
terrupting an otherwise comparatively
even plain.
And nov the valleys, rivers and con
siderable lakes take on a habit Of be-
coming lost. The streams, after consid'
cradle underground meandering, find
themselves again OF the surface, anG
after a succession Of Temperatures ant
disappearance either stay found or are
lost entirely.
Chasms, with almost a mile Of deptl
and faced with perpendicular walls O.
solid rock, now begin to appal botl
sight and sense, and in Mariposa coun
ty the tremendous canyon Of tn,
Yosemite exceeds anything Of tn
kind on the earth. Before this no
springs have become common, lakes O
soda water abound, and San Bernardin'
has valleys where the soil is hot ant
boiling geysers obtrude. Lava fields
covering immense tracts, have exhibited
vitrifed scori@ from northern Oregon
down, and Nye county, New, has Law
beds In profusion. In Inyo county, ant
taking in a portion Of San Bernardino
Death valley, grim. hot and repellent
presents itself, it and the surrounding
region constituting, not in the min'
only, but in reality, q region bordering
more ON the human conception Of tn
internal than can be furnished by an,
other locality ON the globe.
In this valley Of desolation the sum
mer temperature reaches 140 degrees
rivaling that Of the Sahara. 1t is som
hundreds Of feet below sea level, en-
tirely destitute Of water, although tn
Amagosa river discharges into n en-
Of 1t, and In the interior has an atmos
phere as Of burning sulphur that neithe
human nor animal lungs a long III
hale without great risk to life. Embrac
ing hundreds Of square miles, it afford
not Q sign Of either animal or vegetabl
life In It's interior, while Its furnacelik
heat renders 1t ono Of the hottest spot
ON the globe. In the same system is 81
d. lake, into which the troubled Mohav
river finally enters, discharging il
) braokish waters as into q sieve. Th
, country abounds with sinks, stream
! suddenly plunge into subterranea
! depths farther south to furnish hot W;
q ter, hot mud and sulphur volcanoes
dotted in miniature over an immeni
! area, kissing and splitting and loadin
. the air with most d~isagreeable fume
The Utah section duplicates many
the remarkable features common to Il
other localities mentioned and affort
tndisputable evidence Of having been II
= volved In the throes Of the mighty di
n k--A~--o -~o~lnl kl,1rLLA,