The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-18


I lists. with two gentlemen connected
with the United States geological sur
: vey, have Just returned from a triT
down the lazy, muddy Colorado river
/ from Yuma to the Gulf of California
E and have spent several weeks in in
vestigating the volcanoes in that re-
: gion- The men who comprised the ex-
petition say theirs were the first pale
: faces seen in the valley of the vol
canoes IN several years, and that the
region at the mouth of the Colorado
river is full Of natural wonders.
The exact location of the land of vol
canoes is southwest of the Cocopah
mountains and exactly on the boun-
dairy line between the state of Sonora,
. Mexico, and the eastern part of Lower
California. AS a bird would fly, il is
21S miles southwest from the quaint
old Mexican and American pueblo of
Yuma, and a few miles from where
the Rio Grande sprawls its muddy wa
tiers of the Gulf of California.
All indians are superstitious and
those in Arizona and northern Mexico
believe that the land of the volcanoes
is the next door TO hell itself There
are hundreds of legends and stories
among the Pimas, Maricopahs and
Cocopahs about
THE HORRIBLE BEINGS
that have, in ages past, come from
among the volcanoes, to the injury of
the Indians, and of the spirits of dead
and wicked red men that wander about
down there in the sulphurous at
mosphere, only awaiting an opportu-
| nifty to wreak vengeance upon some
unsuspecting savage. The Jesuit mis-
sionaries, who came up the Rio Colo
RADIO in 1888 on a mission of Chris
tianity and civilization among the
savages, were probably the first whites
who saw the volcanoes in that region.
Their diaries contain several pages of
| the grewsome legends the Indians con-
nected with the land of the always
mad spirit
The air for miles around the valley
of the volcanoes is heavy with the
foul fumes, and only persons of strong
lungs and Threats can stand the odors,
even a dozen miles away, for more
than a few hours. When one has gone
to the volcanoes the odors are found
to be dangerous to animal life unless
there is a strong breeze blowing to
carry the sulphur-laden air away.
There are undoubted stories of per-
sons who have ventured too far among
the volcanoes, where the air was CAIN
and heavy with poison, who have died
in a few minutes.
SCIENTISTS NARROW ESCAPE.
Several years ago Professor Srnediey |
of Ontario college, fitted up an appar- |
atus whereby he could carry a rubber |
bag full of pure air while he was ex-
ploring among the liveliest of these vol
canoes. In some way his device did not /
work, when he had gone only 200 yards |
into the valley Of the "fire-spitters." as /
the Indians call them, and, had he not
been seen to stagger and fall by sew
eral of his companions, who, at the risk
of their lives, rushed in to his rescue,
he would have. died in a few minutes.
AS it was, the whole party was i'll a
week or more from the effects of in
haling the poison.
The. first view of the locality of the
volcanoes, from an elevated spot on a
hill on the edge of the valley, is memoir
able. The feeling as one gaZes over an
area of 80 miles, under the burning sun
of the desert, dotted everywhere by
thousands of hummocks and mounds,
with blue smoke curling up from some
of these, and flames and particles of
molten lava from others, is here in
deed a literal
INFERNO ON EARTH.
The mounds or volcanoes are of all
sizes, from that of a hogshead to a
mound some $50 to 200 feet high. The
u dAC cDONL III ACCl
and are so feet in circumference.
Most of these little volcanoes are ac-
tive and when they are not splitting
forth vapors and lurid flames are boil :
ing and stewing within. The noise of
several thousa nd volcanoes seething,
grumblng and bubbling is indescrib-
able. The ground trembles beneath |
ones feet and a peculiar purple haze
anvelops the scene as far as one can /
see. On some days a few of the larger
that are 100 feet high, :
and slightly less than an acre in area !
may be in eruption. Then the scene is /
even more impressive. The rumbling c
IS so loud that one must shout to be c
heard by bystanders. A dozen times +
minute a flame Is feet high and feet '
n diameter bursts from the crater of
ZACH of the large volcanoes and IS ac- a
by a sound like the escape G
If steam from an enormous safety o
valve on a steam engine. {
CHARACTER OF AN ERUPTION. v
The flame is of a peculiar dark-red- e
iish hue. and when hundreds of bits t
# lava the size of cabbages are thrown +
With it, the noise is louder. The flame e
ettles back within the volcano as
quickly as it shoots out, only to rush
orth again in four or five seconds h
sometimes the large volcanoes are ac- e
i've for a fortnight at time. and then a
nay rest for year. A few days is the Z
Usual period of eruption with these, O O
nd the periods may be months apart. o
The valley OF volcanoes may be e.
cached only by a boat from Yuma a
own the Colorado river. The journay s.
an be made only at a certain season =
n the year, and then it is hazardous. n
he danger is in the treacherous eddies
nd rapids of the Colorado. There are Il
ut few reliable Indian pilots on the 5.
liver. and none of them can be in =
uced to go within miles of the valley, o.
;hich they know as Bad Mans II
Iunting Ground" The route is I'M u
ertain, owing to the unaccountable IL
reak the stream has of suddenly dry a.
lg up when it is least expected. The ffee
est time is in May or the latter part n
f April, because later IN the season h,
gets too hot down there. 81
If the prospective traveller be a good tr
oatman he might be safe in at 81
empting the trip by the Colorado II
own to the points where it meets the tn
stream, which thus early in al
.e year is always dry. His craft he w
an safely leave moored to the banks e.
{ the Colorado, for in this country d.
lere are no rowing bands of Indians or
redatory boatmen to steal it. There
re probably not 80 human beings in
lat whole region of the mouth of the VI
dorado from one decade to another. ", W
he Journey across the intervening 80 "a &c,
lies of desert and mountain can be in
lsily made by following the dry bed WI
the little river. which will bring is
lie directly to the edge of the basin ia
herein lies one of the greatest W.
4 fural wonders of the continent It O.;