The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-04-05
IN THE ARIZONA DESERT.
Experiences of a Party Which Has
Surveyed the Mexican Boundary.


The international Boundary Commis-
sion and Senor Blanco, Commissioners
for Mexico. have almost completed the
important work of resurveying the bound
aIy line between the two countries from
~ Paso Texas to the he Paeifc ocsan, os IVA
ears and a half the Commissioners, and
staff of the eighty engineers and helpers
have been working their way westward
from Ell Paso, placing monuments made
of. iron or masonry in positions several
miles apart. The fifty-two original
boundary monumnents H. egtabllshsd a3v Dy the ne
1858. have been restored, SO that now the
line is markeo by 9. series of monuments
ment another can be seen. and some
times several monuments. AS far as
possible, these monuments have been
ontories. So thoroughly and carefully
have the monuments been made and
placed that they ought to remain intact
shafts bolted to rock or cement founda-
tions, and weigh about 300 pounds each.
During march Of seventy-tive miles Les
graves along the trail OF. the. victims Of
thirst; At one, point g family of eight
tn Wers bgsa nnIs heaIe fGoisn q arg gsops Gabe
The bottles were broken The precious
fluid was swallowed by the sand. Mother
mosquito bush and died the most horrible
of deaths. The bodies, broken water bot
ties and dead horses were found Just
desert to bury all bodies and mark the
graves with crosses of stone imbedded in
the, sand. Curiously enough, the few ami
out any water supply. Coyotes. ante
lope and gophers have been seen eating
the fruit and the leaves of. the prickly
cactus, which are full of minute spines
These little .thorns are painful. 1t is
wonderful. therefore. how these ami
mails. with delicate tongues. can eat the
f,-1,tf II M H.
tanned
Edsa Mearn y y Sow = Al he gat eae
tus, a plant eighteen to tWenty-tour
inches il dian,ster and forty to !, fifty ityy
fesa agnk y ty per oen Of e these
feet long, T ranching. laterallys from the
straight down. A well near one of the
cacti was driven 14O feet before water
was strnck, The sun sun temmpeT,ature M ,a e., was a :
night. Air and soil were almost abso-
lutely dry.
The intense dryness of desert cir causes
rapid evaporation from the body. Obser-
syatlons proved that nine quarts Of water
daily was needed per man 10 prevent the
blood from thickenling and r5 becoming
gallons daily. One. surveyor was with
out water several days. He became le
War fos ar hours loneer woad have
killed him This is In shade teTnpera-
ture of 120 degrees, where the sir was 2b-
solutely dry, so dry that fresh meat, IN
stead of putrefying, dries up. AT one
place the Surveyors found the bodies. OF
three prospsetors within 100 feet of a
natural tank formed in the rocks. To
get to this water the poor fellows had to
climb upward twenty feet or so. Thelr
strength was exhausted.
They had been too long without water.
And Eere, with the Efe-giving fluid lust
few feet bayond them. they died. Tnirs
on the desert is horribls The Victim f. as
pain between the shou lders. fhe. TONGUE
fh;ckens and feels filed with neseie
points. The eyes become painful. ana
.ssnsJlv ~any movement of the bcly csuses
egcrueiating pain AS the blood thickens
She brain gives way, and the unfortnuate
sntr1nep becomes a raving maniac. De3th
soon eeads the horrible suffering:
No serious differences were fGune be-
.ween the newly surveyed b5unCary : ad
that of the original survey. In N,w NJ *,
b sthirtv-esgh square m.lss WoptG 'sisier
the new line, be in Mexico. But the trefsty
s+inl,I Ia tes that snan errors snai moi ne
correctol AT Nogaies the boundary runs
through the main business street. House
IA snleriGefss have fJuncatlon llnes ex-
$eetly On tho boundary Nne The front
steDs of these houses are in Maxi %; a
sffoe.k aew er has his store IN the. latsed
States while his c.gar stand on toe front
ss1I M is IN Mcxi 20. HI cus TONERS. Wben
buying cigars. stand In this ccuTsry send
rearh into thes ase on the Mexteaa Is, s .de
8. sile inc and select their weee. ,eaey
thus avoid paving duty on foreign c.S&rs
Los AnSeles Times.