, 1897-03-02
THE AMERICAN NILE.
SUCH IS THE GREAT RIO GRLNDC,
WITH ITS VAGAR!ES.

Ap' nhN
Must BE Seen More Than Once to BE Tn.
derstood Flows Mainly Underground,
but at Times There Is a Torrent on Ton,
It's Il river /. 800 miles long. meas
ured in its windings,' said the man
from New Mexico, speaking of the Rio
Grande. For afcw miles. ut its mouth.
light draft steamers run M from the
gulf of Mexico. Above that it doesn't
float a craft except at ferries. In the old
avs, when New Mexico was a province
II Spain, the people along the river
didn't wen have %ferryboats, and the
only way they had of getting across was
by fording. For this purpose Il special
breed of large horses was reared to be
kept at the fords. When the river was
too high for these horses to wade across.
travellers campcd on the bank and wait
ed for the waters to subside. Now there
are bridges over the river at the larger
Rio GIandc towns. and i'll other places
rope ferries and rowbOats are the means
of crossing.
I'm times Of low water Il stranv
seeing its current for the first time
would be apt to think slightingly of the
Rio Bravo del Nortc, as the New Mcxi-
cans owe to call the great river. Mean
dering in a small part of a very wide
channel he would see only a little muddy
stream, for ordinarily nine-tenths of the
Rio Grande is underground. the water
soaking along toward the gulf through
the sands beneath its channel. The val
low Inrrla1 oyn,y,,b,r, " 1.r. ,,l
right by mountains or foothills, is sandy,
and the water, perColatlng the sands
down to hard pan, spreads out on each
side so that it may always be found
anywhere in the valley by digging down
to the level of the rivers surface. For
the greater part of the year the river
above ground flows swift and muddy,
narrowing as it swirls round a sane bar
and widening over shadows. But the
thing that strikes the stranger most
quecrly is its disappearance altogether
for reaches, many miles in length, of
its channel, which, except, it may be.
for q water hole here and there. is as
dry rs Sahara. The river is keeping
right along about its business, however,
and where a rock reef or clay bed blocks
-
its subterranean current it emcrgcs TO
the surface and takes Il fresh start above
ground, running as a big stream which,
farther down, may lose itself in the
s"hus .Sain'
IL IL Wien 'he iioous COME uo"h
'li.e INC MO or'.iue SHOWS why IL re-
quircs so big Il channel for its all tho
year rouho use anu oeilons'ra'cs 'hae
II ne W''er""! were even "locr II
"oulo DC "n "u'ah,'Se 10 reSlocii's
'toi'S i's p'i'hS' II Is 1t" a"a'ersneu
VI '"S' ara AMI S.eep o'Sceh'' "hich
III tllllcS Oh RAIN ana lie!'liiS SHOWS pre-
cip'ta'cS the waters rap'diS INTO the
craliilei. III June Whcil tne sno" incltS
III 'he l"ahs ''oou' us heau"a'crs III
Coiorauo anu hol'herl Ne" NlcAlco, anu
ia'er III inc sui'iiiicr' "heh hca'S SNOW
eis III ciou'.D"'s's Nv 'ne oruel vi .he
u";' me oi"iue .ellio"s us o"iihs'
ue'"sinS "i"c 'f'c''o >"iley ana SOM
LINES carving " hc" cii''illel lor l.scll'
chalsiiS l.s course ior mics. where
III ''licy Is uliusu"ilS Wldc allo sandy
"s peio" iSie,' anu III 'he Aierill' val
ley' 'lle GA cilaiihc!s III "hic1 'he river
usea 10 no" are PLAINLY lnulcated IN the
i"'iusc"pe'
NO IL VINO mas seen the great river
III 1loou IS likeiy 10 lorSct tEe POSITIVE
1er"clty IL seems 10 display as It's waters
sweep al before thc1l, ana woe 10 the
man OF pc'st VINO Is o'ertakeh ny thcll!
Inc 1904 arrives Wlthoat warning. ihe
SKY may DC clear ABOVE Whell inc travel
er, ClSufp Jogging across the wide