Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-07-27
LAND OF DESPAIR.
Expedition to Explore an Almost Un-
known Region.
Least Known Part Of the United States Is H.,
Great Bend Country Of Texas.

the least known portion OF the ohiteu
States-namely, the Great Bend region
of southwest Texas, so called because
il lies in the great bend OF the Rlo
Grande river. An old saying in that
country is that this inhospitable do
main was originally designed as a
location for Hades, but that somehow
the plan to utilize it thus was not car
ried out-for what reason cannot be
imagined, inasmuch as it seems adj
mrably adapted for the purpose. 1t
is a land of weirdly horrible desert
basins. sandwiched between ranges of
gigantic mountains, which are carved
into all sorts of astonishing shapes;
but the strangest feature of its for
nation is a series of mighty canyons,
almost equalling in grandeur the
famous canyon of the Colorado.
1t 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 available fuel,
in the absolute absence of trees, is fur
nished by the huge roots of the mes
quite, which are dug out of the ground.
For Il distance of 225 miles the Rio
Grande flows through this remarkable
region, piercing range after range of
mountains, through which it has cut
the canyons described. Nobody has
ever Ventured to attempt a passage
through these canyons by the river,
which is INSTRUCTED by frightful cat
aracts ana rapids, but Mr. Hill is going
70 try it.
Interest in the region has been
aroused recently by the discovery of
rich deposits of quicksilver in the
ChiSoS MOuntainS-onc Of the greatest
ranges through which the Rio Grande
has cut its rock-walled tunnel And,
b.- the way, it is in the same country
that the celebrated Shaftcr mine, the
only profitable silver mine in Texas. is
located. This mine was discovered by
General Shafter, of Santiago fame. who
made one of the earliest journeys
through the Great Bend territory, and
since then it has yielded him good
sized fortune. 1t was there, to the west
Of the PccuS river. that he sought the
ApacheS and Comanchcs. and cleared
them out-Whence his sobriquet Of
Pecos Bill. Across the great bend of
the river is Comanche Pass. through
which the COmanchc Indians used to
make their raids into Northern Mexico
The canyons of the Rio Grande are a
series Of gigantic roofess tunnels
carved by the river through range
after range of mountains. Between
the ranges are dry plains called Dol
sons"-a Spanish word signifying
nv. enclosed ha ci
are the most dismal and horrible de-
serts imaginable, such vegetation as
they have being of weird and abnor-
NAL description. on the mountains
likewise, nothing grows except cacti of
thousand different varieties and
spiky shrubs of forbidding appear
ance, and the streams that flow down
their sides are lost in the burning
sands below.
Nevertheless the country is a hunters
paradise. There are plenty of deer and
turkeys as well as the "yow-yow." and
many other kinds of cats. The vow
VOW" so pronounced, is spelled iaguar
in Spanish, but few Americans know
how to call it BY its proper name, which
IS phonetic rendering 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 a 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 faster than a
horse. and others yet live on flowers
50 that one can get big bouquet by
cutting one of them open.
Notwithstanding the arid character
| 81 the country, there is plenty of food
| for all these animals. The cactus
fruits are nourishing, and 50 are the
seeds of the prickly pear, while the
mesquite beans are extremely nutri-
| tious, and other desert plants Weld
Sustenance in one form or another.
| me loftier mountains, too. bear pine
forests on their tops, which produce
| edible nuts. one naturally thinks of
the timber line" on a mountain as
marking a zone, reached in going up-
ward, where trees cease to grow: but
IN this strange region it is only on the
mountain tops that timber is found
the slopes below being devoid of tree
growth.
When the Mexican boundary was
surveyed, the parties engaged in the
Wnrk could not get into the canyon
country with their wagons and outfit.
and We're obliged to make "a detour
around it. 1t is domain full of myth
and legend, as might be expected
from its photographic pecularities. In
places the canyons have perpendicular
walls Of chalk and limestone. built with
exquisite regularity of natural mason
~, which rather resembles the work
OF art than of nature. AS the Rio
Grdnde goes around Mt. Emory-the
Hottest elevation in that part of the
world, with altitude of 5000 feet
it makes its deepest cutting, a channel
fully 1000 feet in depth. Think of the
length Of time, doubtless running up
into thousands of centuries, that must
have been required for the stream to
eat its way downward through nearly
q mile and a quarter of solid rock,
Seen from the canyons edge the river
is Il mere thread, and the roar of its
rapids and falls is scarcely audible.
1t is supposed that CabeZa de Vaca
who was the first white man to cross
the present territory of the United
States from Atlantic to Pacific, went
through the Great Bend country He
had with him three cDmpapionS ona