El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-27
The Great Bend
Of the Rio Grande
An Almost Unknown Country Many Miles From FL paso Will
Be Explored United States Geological Survey-Ihe
Least Known portio United States

An expedition sent out by the United
States geological survey, under the
leadership of Robert T. Hill, is abou,
to undertake an exploration OF tne
least known portion OF the United
States-pamely, the Great BENZ he
Rion of southwest Texas, so called pc
cause it lies in the great bend OF tne
Rio Grande. It is land of we1rdly
horrible desert basins, sandwiched be-
tween rangers of gigantic mountains
which are carved into all sorts OF as
tonishing shapes, but the strangesl
feature OF it's formation is series OF
mighty canons, almost equal1ng IN
grandeur the famous canon OF the
Colorado.
It is a country In which, as the phrase
goes, the traveller must "climb for
water and dig for wood" and this ex.
preston is correctly descriptive, mas
much as water can only be obtained by
ascending the mountains, to find
streams, while the only availa BILE fuel,
in the absolute absence OF trees, is fur
nished by the huge roots of the mes
quite, " hich are dug out of the ground.
For g distance of 225 miles the Rio
Grande flows through this remarkable
region, piercing range after range OF
mountains, through which 1t has cut
the cauons described. Nobody has ever
ventured to attempt passage through
these canons by the river, which Is OBJ
structed by frightful cataracts and
rapids, but Mr.. Hill is going to try it..
Interest in the region has been
aroused recently by the discovery OF
rich deposits of quicksilver in the
Chisos mou ntains-one OF the greater
ranges through which the Rio Grande
has cut it's rock-walled tunnel. And,
by the way, it is the same country
where the celebrated Shafter mine,
the only profitable silver mine In Tex
rs, is located. This mine was discov-
cred by General Shsfter OF Santiago
fame, who made onelofthe earliestjou
neys through the Great Bend terri
tory. and since then it has yielded him
a good-sized fortune. 1t was there,
TO the west of the Pecos river, that he
sought the Apaches aud Comanches,
and clean-d them out-whence the
sobriquet OF Pecos Bill. Across the
great bend of the river is Comanche
pass. through which the Comanche In
dams used to make their raids into
Northern Mexico.
The canons of the Rio Grande are q
series of gigantic roOhess tunnels carv-
ed by the river through range after
range of mountains. Between the
ranges are dry plains called "bolsons"
"a Spanish word siguifying purses or
inolosed basins-and these are the most
dismal and horrible deserts imaginable,
such vegetation as they have being of
Q weird and abnormal description. On
the mountains, like nothing grows
except cacti of o thousand different
varieties and stray shrubs of q forbid
ding appearance, and the streams that
aow down their sides are lost in the
burning sands below.
Never aheIess the country is hunt
ers' paradise There are plenty OF
deer and turkeys, as we'll as the "yow-
yow" and many other kinds OF cats ::
spelled jaguar in Spanish, but few
Americans know how to call properly
Its name, which ia phonetic render
ing of the animals cry. Included in
the minor fauna of the Great Bend |
region are myriads OF pouched gophers,
kangaroo rats and pocket mice: also q |
great variety of queer reptiles, such as
horned toads, horned rattlesnakes and |
desert lizards. Some of the lizards are
good TO eat, while others can run fast
er tn IN q horse and others yet live On |