The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-05
sTEAMBoA1ING on THE COLORADO.
A Trip on Niue and Water In n Region
Where Gnmc IL Abundant.

POMONA. Cal. March 2j.-Among the winter
attractions Of southern California is n trip to
the mouth of the Colorado River. The naviga-
ton of the river Mt low water is alone worth
seeing. 1t Is Western river navigation of the
extreme type.
No river in the country changes its channel so
often as the Colorado. 1t leaves the famed Mis-
souri, in the shade. II changes not merely by
the day. but by the hour. a pilot never tries
to remember it, rs on the Mississippi, but runs
by the appearance Of the water. Even this is so
often deceptive that the boats are built to run
almost as well on mud as on water. The MIojavo
is 100 feet long by 81 broad. with three decks,
three boilers and two engines, a fiat
bottom, and Il big stern paddlewheel,
and can accommodate sixty passengers.
Now she slides at full speed down n long
reach of timbered banks. then suddenly strikes
bottom with n heavy jar. Butthero is no danger
and little delay. She may stop entirely. but the
engines keep puff ng, you feel the boat move
again, and after a few hundred feet of crawling
she goes again at full speed. She simply rides
the shifting mud. Perhaps at the next bar she
has to swing around sideways and wiggle over,
but she is equal to the emergency. At times a
bar is reached where this device fails, and then
she swings around, stern to the difficulty. backs
water with the big wheel, and in n short time
washes out a channel through which she rides
with ease into the next stretch OF good water.
Thus. with evolutions to meet the various
emergencies of the cranky stream. she threads
its winding course amid cvcr-varying scenery.
For miles below Yuma there is little game
along the river. though quails abound in tho
mesquite n little way from 1t. The species Is
Gambel's partridge. a bird quite distinct from
the quail of Colorado. but fully his equal in the
science of disappearance. and considerably his
superior in the art of dnrting away downward
out or the top OF n mesquite when you are on
the opposite side. Occasional, ducks and geese,
VII nthRr Wuf fnwl N nnuN nliN "a
circling i'll the sky, soon begin to appear, and
lines lowering or circling inland show the ex-
game neg ms to increase, and shore birds OF all
kinds become abundant; The ponds. lagunas.
and along their shores the curlew, willet, md
other wanderers are at home.
At the head OF the gulf the quantity of birds
Is something that can now be seen in few places
in America. The sheets of ducks that st cam
along the water or darken acres OF its blue or
are strung In long chains along the sky above
remind one of the pnlmy DAYS of the Illinois
River before the market shooter and the gem
on it. The shore ut obb tide is lined with an
assortment of hay birds such as can be seen
brown curlew. with his sickle bill. stands beside
the avocet. whose long bill turns the other way,
nfar over the waters. Dowitchers anil sander
lings. willct and pharlaropcs. plover and sand
pipers motley host. little and big, gray. white.
brown. black. pepper and salt. and all sorts of
com binations dot almost every foot of tho
shore for mile after mile. league after league.
Z tiltS run III lllll'- tIOppS. anu tntlc tTOt
about singly and in pairs: there they skim the
bars with restless wing, and there wade about
in the ehbing tide. One prepared for IL can
have the finest OF shooting.
Fish and green turtles abound In the gulf,
but. rs in California waters, mid winter il not the
season for the best fishing. The head OF the
gulf is shallow for a long distance and quite
free from danger OF heavy waves. and early
spring would doubtless yield fine and curious
fishing there. Several varieties of fish are
found In the river. hut it's waters arc so turbid
that. though the fish are fairly good. the fishing
cannot he called attractive.