Omaha daily bee., 1895-10-13
POSSIBILITIES OF IRRIGATION
Transforming Desert Waste Into Fruit
full, Populous Region.
THE MAGIC OF ARTIFICIAL MOISTURE
Wonders Wrought by Irrigation in
CaIifOrnin-SOiI Ticl<Icd with
Mountain streams Smiles
an Abundance.
THE MAGIC OF ARTIFICIAL MOISTURE

Some years before the building OF the
Southern Pacific railroad, writes Kirk Mum
roe in Harpers Weekly, l was one of an
exploring party that struggled across the
burning deserts Of southern California from
the Colorado river to the Sierras. Never
can / forget the sufferings of that Journey
the agony of three days and nights without
water, the intoerable glare of shining sands
that slipped from beneath our feet or were
driven hither and thlther in sitting clouds
by blasts of furnace-tempered winds, the
quivering heat waves, the lying mirages that
tormented us with the visions of Tantaus,
the awful silence and the ever present evil
dences OF death abounding on all sides.
Horses and mules perished, wagon after
wagon was abandoned and men wel-nigh
lost their reason as they plodded mechan-
ically on through that Gehenna of sand, sunk
far below sea level, rainless, treeess and
verdureless save for sparse punches of sickly
sage or thorny cactus. In the distance
cleaned peaks of the San Jacinto and San
Bernardino mountains Between them lay
the San Gorgonio pass, the goal of our fierce
desires and fainting hopes-a place of which
we had been told as one of rustling palms
and living. springs.
From that day the experiences OF those
weeks on the Colorado desert have been as
a nightmare, and when recently compelled
to traverse the same desert for second
time, though l might now be whrled over
its sands in a parlor car, i still looked for
ward to the trip with dread.
AS the train crossed the summit OF the
pass and rolled swiftly down its eastern
slope heated blast Of kiln-dried air. sweep
ing up from the desert, gave warning that
the latter still existed in all its untamed
savagery, and that beyond the narrow thread
Of steel that spanned 1t suffering and death
stll lurked in its pltlless sands. The air Of
the car became sitting and the heat almost
intolerable. In spite Of closed doors windows
and ventiators dust filtered In, until one end
OF the interior was barely visible from the
other. When, after weary miles OF this ex-
perience, the limit OF endurance was nearly
reached, the train suddenly dashed into a
place Of dense shadows and came to a halt.
We had reached Indlo, as yeritabe an oasis
as exists In any desert OF the world, the home
of waving palms and double rows OF tall
foliage trees, beneath which the tracks ran
as through green tunnel, place Of vines
and towering shrubs, of singing birds and
whispering winds-above all, place OF
pashlng waters and delicious coolness A
predetermined inn offered hospitable doors
and dimly lighted interior that seemed al
most dark after the recent glare OF the
desert On the dining table were fruits and
vegetables from an adjacent garden. After
dinner the refreshed travellers still had
time to examine the great artesan well that,
from a depth Of 600 feet, pours forth 5000
gallons OF water per hour, lifts II twelve feet
above the surface and has by its magic created
this spot OF charming yerdure amid those
savage wastes Of sand. Not far from the
well stands a group Of superb fan palms, one
of which only eleven years old, measures
twelve and half feet about its trunk at a