The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-04-25


five miles southwest of Yuma is the
grand volcanic region of the Cocopah
mountains. 1t extends. says the Dem
yer News, from Black Butte on the
west to Lake Jululla, distance of four
miles. and from the lake south to New
river, two miles or more.
They lie out in the open plain, about
ten miles east of the most easterly
point of the Cocopah range and twenty
miles west Of the Colorado river, with
which they are connected by two
branches of New river, and the Pes
cadero, all three of which flow out of
Lake Julullu. The Padrones branch of
New river. which leaves the Colorado
sixteen miles below Yuma, flows past
the volcanoes into the lake. In high
water it cuts the volcanic region in two
making an island of the eastern portion
There are more than 10000 of these
mud, vapor and gas volcanoes, four
hfths OF which are small cones from
two to ten feet at the base, from two to
ten feet in height, running up to a
sharp point, having an opening at the
| top from two to twenty inches in
diameter. from which pours vapor,
steam, hot water, mud gases, smoke.
and in a few cases flame by day and
night, making a weird scene by night
| that is grand beyond description The
whole region is so strongly impregnated
with the smell of burning sulphur that
it can be detected for miles away. and
at times so strong that one has to
move to the windward Of some of the
larger ones. The vapor and gases are
so hot that coffee pot will boil sooner
! than on any stove or camp fire, and
will burn wool, clothes or paper to a
crisp in a second. The water is so hot
that eggs are boiled hard in five or
six minutes. Standing near them one
can hear the boiling and cracking Of
the burning masses below.
FANTASTIC STEAM PIPES.
In many Of these the steam and
vapor throw up particles and masses
of mud which are constantly deposited
on the sides and the top of the craters
and formed into a most curious clay
steam pipes, or escapes, made into fan
tastic shapes, out of which the gases
rush with a noise like the escape of
steam from the safety valve of a boiler
having an over pressure of steam.
One-half of the balance of the volcanoes
are from five to forty feet wide at the
base, and from five to fifteen feet in
height, with craters from a few inches
up to ten feet in width, which are filled
with boiling hot water and mud. Some
Oh THESE TOiI the dS loo
to lift it to the surface Of the cone;
others sputter, spout and spit the mud
all over the place, throwing it often
forty to fifty feet in the air. covering
everybody and everything near BY
with the boiling hot, smelling,
dark gray clay mud. Some of them
will now and then throw great masses
of mud into the air for twenty feet or
more, which falls back with a rhud
that jars and makes the whole sur
rounding surface tremble. All are more
or less intermittent in their action.
Some of them remain active for only
a few hours, others for days. and are
silent for week, and then esume their
work with increased activity The
very small ones are always at work,
but with more force at tim9s than at
others. Two-thirds of the remainder
have little or no walls, around which
thrive great open mouths ten to forty
feet in diameter. filled to the brin with
seething. boiling mud. These foam.
roar puff. and then shoot great masses
of mud into the air, scattering it far
and wide The balance of .he lot be-
long to the mammoth class. Like the
others, these work and play, active
today and asleep tomorrow. Some of
these have mouths 40x100 feet, in which
they roll and tumble the mud about,
= rolling it up one side, nearly out Of the
crater. then allow is to slump back into
r it's bed again.
: THE MONARCH OF THE DESERT.
! The largest Of the group. with a
mouth 100 feet wide, but which has
the surrounding country, is the giant
: and master of the whole region. For
days it will loIl about, quietly rolling
S the mud to and fro, and then it will
heave hundreds of tons of mud into the
t air, with noise that is heard for miles
away. The ground for miles around
! trembles and shakes beneath the great
;. pressure. Then "Old Monarch" rests.
e perhaps only for few hours, then
f again for days, if not for weeks.
d During the great earthquake Of July.
e 1881. seventy-five of the largest and
: finest of the group sank and now only
n pools of hot water fill the places where
g they stood. "Old Shylock." situated
y upon a small elevation, whose voice
could be heard for miles, became al
d most extinct and now he only speaks
= in a whisper. Since the earthquake
k several new ones have broken out.
e THE LAKE OF INK"
= If not that, what is it? The water
e if it is such, is black and is covered
n with an ash and oil nearly half an inch
n thick. To the taste when hot it is bit
- ter and saline. When cold it is palata-
p BILE To step into and battle in it the
d sensation is delightful, giving the
Ie weary rest, to the panied relief, enh tC
< all such a bath as is not found else
where in the world. The lake is one
g fourth of a mile long and one-eightf
y wide. No bottom has ever been found
Il though it has been sounded with Z
If line $50 feet in length. The surfac'
Of is one vast body of bubbles, caused b!
the escaping gases from the volcanoes
tbeneath it, Such is the Lake o
Ink" with its curious makeup ant
e IFS waters from milk warm to boiling
d hot.
a Here is the Baden Baden Of tn
ic western world, if not today, then
: will be not long hence. The cures al
a ready effected by these springs, whicl
! adjoin the volcanoes, of which ther
= are also more than 10000. are wonder
10 full. Hot and cold containing all TIL
70 minerals known to mineral waters, on
- can enjoy a bath in any kind Of mu
a or water and of any temperature h
e wishes. The ground on the surface ha
~ a. Temperature of 104 degrees, so warn
ar that one can hardly stand, sit or Ii
r down. A mesquit tree, vigorous
r. strong and large. grows out OF one o
N the old volcanoes, now dead Unde
- This tree one can lie on a blanket an
"A watch the mysterious action of tn
a. thousands of craters near by and /
7r sight. The mystery of all is the fac
n that right among the hot springs Their
70 are two with good, fresh cold Watel
ST This whole volcanic region is incruste
w with sulphur and alum, covered NOR
Is or less with drifting sands. The erus
m which covers the surface sounds no
of low to the tread of man or ANNA
Il From the banks of sulphur. from tn
y. volcanic rocks, from the hill-sides flo
i, r1noherIess springs and streams wit