The herald., 1895-07-21

thiseOt w Wv 1oSiOCdtlLK DIOCESE. ana
those Spartan souls were not always Of
the male sex either, FOR the seat that was
vacated by DR.. Tanner at Ehren berg was
occupied by lady thence to San Ber-
nardino.
Toward the close OF our first day hither-
ward from the Colorado river we reached
| Chucawalla. Chuca awalla was then, and
is now, believe. station where refresh
ments and lodging are supposed to be fur.
| nished and supplied. The place was lust
| about as classic in its surroundings as the
! jingle of its name would suggest. We
| came upon the scene at a m oment when all
| the indications pointed to a recent do
mestic calamity. We were informed by
| he driver that the proprietor was blessed
| by an Indian wife, taken according to
| Indian rites, and that unhappy differ
enccs of opinion had agitated the do
| mestic hearth within the preceding
| twenty-four hours which deprived the
| establishment OF its mistress. A notice
which had just been posted in conspic
| nous place upon the outer front wall of
the family hut gave the only information
that We could gather concerning this un-
pleasantness. This was scrawled in plain
bnt uncouth letters-Roman and script
intermixed-was carefully copied into my
diary, and reads as follows:
Notice. An oldlsh squaw about S0
Blind in one eye-the left one. A slight
halt IN one foot. A thoroughbred. She
has abandoned my ranch. and anybody
who will get her back will receive two
sacks OF Mezquit BEANS
We were detained hero for some four
hours. ana up to the time of our depart
ure no person had come to claim the
proffered reward.
From Chucawalla westward was the
usual desert journey, undisturbed by in
cldent, but still an experience that must
nave been undergone in order to be ap-
precated.
While there are miles of territory
marked k'desert'' upon the current
charts. at either side of the desert proper
these app caches ere. IN fact, not desert
tracts, but have good soil that sustans
some trees and shrubs. But while this is
true, there are no words that can convey
an adequate conception of the desolation
OF the mid-desert REGION. The stiffness
and silence are oppressive and unsroken
by any motion or sound except 1t be the
vibration of the palpitating air under the
torrid heat or the voice of the driver as
he urges the weary mules to renewed
exertion.
In one direction the..view is swallowed
mp in the mirage or exnausts Itself over
an endless cxpanse of sand, and IN the
opposite direction reddish brown sand
stone bluff rims the horizon. But indi-
genoIs organic life there is none at all
nothing bur sand and sky and swetering
the twilight hour would bring relief from
the oppressive heat, but while the tenn
perature of the night might have been
much lower than that Of the day. there
sesmed always to be some CompeEsatlng
influence in the atmospeIe of the night
that would make such change hardly. il
at all, perceptible to the senses. The
night breeze. if such there happened to
be. was always so warm as to make 1t
much more comfortable to screen the face
from its.contact than to invite exposure
to its biting influence. While in calm
the constant radiation of heat from the
burning sands of the preceding hours OF
day maintained an atmospheric temper
ature always above the normal heat OF
the human body.
In the first week OF May. 1872 we ar
rived IN Los Angeles. and were regularly
delivered over to mine host of the Bella
Union, DR.. j. b. Winston. Only twenty
three years have elapsed since that day
and yet the Transform, alton in Los An
geles is the evolution of great populous
city, instinct with business life and IN
dustrial energy, from mere business
corner centered at tho little plaza in front
of the Temple block.
There was then practically no city west
Of Hill street or south of Fifth street.
and the outlying habitations within
those limits we're quite suburban. The
entire hill district of the city. in what
ever direction, were the undisputed home
OF the squirrel, the burrowing owl and the
rabbit.
The dreamers had not yet slumbered
whose future dreams were thereafter to
take form as the cities of Pasadena and
Santa Monica, ana Pomona and Santa
Ana. The erstwhile mound that raised
its summit where our magnificent court
house now stands still bore upon its
crown the ocean sediment with which it
emerged from an unknown sea. Broad
way came to an abrupt termination
against a bluff at point between First
ana franklin streets. and also directly
over the line of the southerly sidew ak
on Temple street there rose the crest of
ridge to nearly the same elevation as that
of the present site of the Bradbury man
sion. The intervening gulch or ravine
having been filled in by the demolition of
this ridge, is now the site of shapely res
ldences that fail to give forth any hint
of the nature of the foundations upon
which they rest.
But now, when we contemplate the
future and see in the distance the archae-
oogist of the fiftieth century excavating
at that point and turning UP the tons OF
broken china and refuse kitchen and
household utensils that were dumped into
that ravine some twenty-five or thirty
years ago. we are prepared to prehgmre
his report. He will have unearthed the
ancient city that was destroyed by the
northern invaders in the dreadful sack
and pillage OF 1916. But as l do not wish
to further anticipate the learned gentle
men of A. D. 5000, / will leave him to finish
his great work upon this plan.
OF course no archaeologist of the future
can possibly fall into any such grave
and ludicrous error if only the city Of
Los Angeles or the county, or if both OF
these municipal bodies com binod. will
take immediate action in the matter of
furnishing suitable permanent quarters
for the museum and records of the Histo-
rical society; ana we should see to it that
this purpose be persistently urged, not
merely as a matter of expediency, but as
a recognized necessity, to preserve the
truth of history.
n Keen Qsfrich Tins Handsau1e