The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-01-03
,oONTIER STONES.
~,. lie MEXICAN BOUN-
BARKING 4 " LINE.
i0AA
The 25S Mont,neents b -
tance Of 700 NiIes-h>
the Dangers OF the Dese'.
The Work Nearly Done. = a

al Boundary, Commission has
arrived at San. Diego, Cal. and
is COMPLETING he work of es
tablishing 25S monume nts mafKiIns
the line between Mexf, % ana tne
United States from Ell P. $50 TO N
Pacific Ocean, distance of ABOUT NV
miles. The Commissioners re Colo
mel Barlow, United States army
Lieutenant Gaillard, United state
Army, and Mr.. Mossman of the e nltet
States Coast and Geodetic Su, 7ey
Their staff of engineers. soldiers, m
laborers numbers about eighty. F
two years and a half this party la
been in the field erecting the monu.
ments and re-surveyine the boundary.
line, which was originally established.
by Commissioner Emery from 1S4Y
to 1858.
The fifty-two monuments then
erected have been supplemented by
2O6 more, which ere, for the most
part, plain iron shafts on rock and &C.
nient foundations. By agreement with
Mexico any errors discovered in the
original survey by the present COM
mission shall not be corrected, so far
as ownership of territory is concerned.
Few errors have been found in the
first survey. The largest was along
the New Mexico boundary, whereby
Uncle Sam gains nearly forty square
miles of land which the new survey
shows to be in Mexico.
Much of the trip of the commission
was through Arizona deserts. At
times 1t cost twenty-five cents gallon
for water needed at certain remote
points by a small party of men and
horses. To get water there at all re-
quired four water tanks holding 400
gallons each and drawn by four mules.
The water in three tanks was ex-
hausted and the tank sent back to the
main camp, in order to get the fourth
tank to the point where observations
were sought. The supply in this tank
was sufficient to maintain the several
men and four mules until the return
to camp. The water question is one
OF serious import on the desert. Thou
sand hav- Iner.ashed along the bound
sry line of thirst. -
During a march of seventy-fve
miles on one desert the surveyors
counted $50 graves along the trail of
the victims of thirst. At one point
family of eight was buriieedd T Fl
foolish people carried their water
supply in large demijohns. The bot
ties were broken. The most precious
fluid was swallowed by the sand.
Mother, father and children lay down
beneath mosquito bush and died the
most horrible of deaths The bodies,
broken water bottles ana dead horses
were found just as they fell. 1t is the
custom on the desert to bury all bodies
and mark the graves with crosses of
stone imbedded in the sand. Curl
ously enough, the few animals of the
desert appear to exist without any
regular water supply Coyotes, an
telope and gophers have been seen
eating the pear of the prickly cactus.
This fruit is full of minute spines. 1t
is wonderful, therefore, how these
animals with delicate tongues can eat
the fruit. From it much moisture is
obtained.
The air on the desert being intense
ly dry causes rapid evaporation from
the body. Observation proved that
nine quarts of water daily was needed
by one man to prevent the blood
from thickening and becoming fever
ish. Each mule required twenty gall
Ions daily. One surveyor was without
water for several hours. He became
feverish and lightheaded. Lack of
water for few hours longer would
have killed him. This was in shade
temperature of 120 degrees, where the
air was almost absolutely dry, SO dry
that fresh meat, instead of purifying,
simply dries up. At one place the
surveyors found the bodies of three
within hundred feet of q
natural water tank formed in the
rocks. To get to this water the poor
fellows had to climb upward twenty
feet or SO. Their strength was ex-
They had been too long
without water. And here with the
life-giving fluid just few feet beyond
them they died. Thirst on the desert
is horrible. The victim first feelspain
between the shoulders. The tongue
thickens and feels filled with needle
points. The eyes become painful, and
finally any movement of the body
causes excruciating pain. As the blood
thickens the brain gives way, and the
victim is a raving maniac. Death
soon ends his sufferings.
Death in sandstorms is one of the
dangers of the desert. The sur
veyors were once nearly killed
by sutfocation during such storm.
For half an hour they watched
o black cloud approach. The
camp was made ready. The wave of
wind and dust broke over it with much
violence. The air was literally filed
with fine dust. The men began to
suffocate. An officer ordered them to
breathe through their handkerchiefs.
Thus they were able to get barely
enough air to sustain lie. Without
the handkerchiefs the noses and
mouths of the men became caked
with dust, and they gasped for breath.
The fury of the storm passed in fifteen
minutes, but at o'clock in the after
noon the camp was enveloped in as
pitchy darkness as at midnight. Even
officers thought that the whole
outfit was doomed. They marvel now
that they escaped alive.-New York
Times.