The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-21
DEATH VALLEYS RIVAL.
Strange Freaks of Nature Seen in Des-
olate Region of California

olate Region of California.
The search for Murderer Durham
brought into notice q corner of Fresno
county which is almost as little.-known
as darkest Africa The district com
prises 200 or 300 square miles, and Death
Valley is no more desolate, nor more
truly n desert, and is fully as well
known. Deputy Sheriffs l.. p. Timmins
and t. X. Lynch received information
which led them to believe that Durham
was in hiding in the barren region among
the Coast Range mountains between Big
Panoche and Cantua canyons, in the
western part of Fresno county. So far as
known there is only one spring of water
in 200 square miles, and that spring can
not be depended upon, as the Fresno Off
GERS discovered TO their sorrow after they
had travelled all day over treeless, grass
less hills, only to find the spring dry.
GAS the sun rose and the day grew
hot says Mr.. Timmins, in speaking of
the journey to California canyon, to San
Francisco Chronicle scribe, "the white
soil reflected the light until the whole
landscape was hidden by an apparent
haze. The sharp, angular hills became
vague and indistinct in the simmer of
the mirage. l soon became so dizzy that
/ sat on my horse with difficulty. l could
see nothir z distinctly but my horse. The
fierce reflected light was so painful that
tried to see nothing else, the canyon, no
doubt, were not bottomless on each side
of the ridge along which we rode, but /
could see no bottom.
The territory crossed by the trail is all
barren and all rugged in its extreme, but
fortunately it is not all covered with
white ashes. The officers came to Il
mountain rising high above the others
and in strong contrast with them. Geo
logical forces had played strange freaks,
and had apparently called in the assist
ance of chemistry. The mountain was
streaked with bright colors, apparently
strata of different colored rocks The
colors stood out bold and beautiful in the
j sunlight, and the change from the SHIN
| mering Wilderness of the surrounding
country was rcstful to the eyes. The
scene might have been enjoyed, but ~
| journey of six hours without water, and
uncertainty as to the future created lit
tie desire to linger long in contemplation
| of painted mountains. The officers
| pushed on.
The region is remarkable in many
ways. 1t is apparently new from II geo
| logical standpoint, and seems to have
| been formed but yesterday. The rocks
lie in strata, clearly of aqueous origin,
wonderfully warped and distorted by
| seismic disturbances. So lately has the
| land been lifted above the sea that in
| places the ground is covered with sea
| shells. some petrified and many very
| large. Near a place called Elkhorn
| Mountain, the officers found sea shells
weighing fifty pounds. There was once
| timber on the hills which are now bar
rem. for petrified logs lie here and there
| Elkhorn Mountain receives it's name
| from the abundance of horns of elks found
buried or half buried in the soil.
, These animals, now extinct in the coun-
/ try, evidently We're abundant once.
/ What they ate is n mystery, as there is
not sufficient vegetation there to sustain
the life of grasshoppers. The most .rea-
| sonable explanation is that the climate
or soil has undergone rapid changes in
very recent times, and n once fertile re-
| gion is now a lifeless desert.
This view of the matter is strengthened
| by the fact that near the base of Elkhorn
| Mountain are the remains of large In
dian village. Stone mortars strew the
| ground. The state of preservation of
these relics indicate that the village must
have been inhabited rs recently as the
early part of the present century. Any
| change in conditions must have taken
place very recently, if the Conjecture is
correct that the village was abandoned
within the memory of the living There
| seems very little doubt that such was the
case, and change is rapidly going forward
! still
The land can never he reclaimed No
| system Of irrigation can ever reach it:
but If irrigated the angular ridges,
| yawning canyons and chasms and the al
Kali soil would still be proof against re-
| clamation by the hand of man. There is
nothing to sustain animal life, and so far
as the future may he Judged by the
present there never will he ANYTHING
| there on which man or beast can find sus-
| tenance. 1t is IL rugged, irreclaimable
desert surrounded by the broad, fertile
San Joaquin valley on the one side and
the wooded slopes of Monterey and San
| Benito on the other