The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-03-24
THE RICHES OF THE DESERT
Gold, silver, Lead Iron and Copper all
Found in the MoJave sand.

The train was rushing over the white
Mojave desert, trail Of sand and dust
behind, an eternity of dust In the dis
tance. q coming sandstorm high In the
all. The thermometer was dancing q
Highland ding, 100 degrees perhaps, any
where you thought 10 might be, and the
heat waves rose from the sands.
81 wouldn't care to own this land,
remarked q tourist.
"Why!" asked Q Californian.
"It's 60 absolutely worthless.
"Ihers's just where you Eastern people
are mistaken" said the native. "True.
this isn't the most beautiful part Of Call
formal like Los Angeles bsttar myself
but can tell you, no one is going to
give you the desert this year. Why, all 1t
wants is water to convert it into the
garden spot Of the world"
"Ihats true Of Hades." retorted the
stranger, "but the trouble Is You haven't
the water, and you're not going to get it
here"
"wrong again." said the Californian.
"Thsy are fnding this finest kind of ar
tssian water all over the desert. Some
day you'll finu this desert banana Or
chari; and as for value, Some Of the most
valuable mines In this state are ON the
desert The land that water has been
put en- has been found to be very rloh.
and fruit ripsus five or six weeks earlier
here than anywhere else. 1ha desert Is
rich In gold, silver, copper, lead and
iron; you don't happen TO Gee IL nom
the cars, hut lis there all right. Dozens
of paying gold mines are being worked
on the desert. The richest and largest
iron mine In the West 10 right In such q
place ss this, and not far away. The
iron lies around like sand, ard is pre-
ferred In the fine work on the cruisers 90
all others. Over beyond here they raise
trees, yucoas, that are ground up and
sent TO England where they print papers
on 1t. Down at Ivanpah-thas's town
right out on the desert, red-hot place
they have started copper niue; began
this year sand Its panned out SleO. OOO
profit so far. i suppose you wouldn't
refuse that. And II you want to bet I'll
go you any amount that within year
thefsill be a dozen copper mines at work
rolling In wealth all ready to be picked
up. It's warm. I'll agree to that, but
there are hotter places. Wren you come
to silver mines, there are lots of them on
the desert, at Barstow, and Calico. In
the worst part of the desert in the hills
over beyond Daggett, Is the most valua-
BILE borax deposit In any land. About six
hundred people are working at 1t, and
they think they are In great luck. You
can't touch the horax king who owns 1t,
with q ten-foot pole. He makes thous-
ands out OF it.
in America continued the enthusiastic
Californ ian, ''in the way Of a salt mine,
60 down to Salton, on the desert. There
they plough 1t out and there are acres OF
salt, pure and white as snow. i know
another desert landholier who gets a crop
Of bitumen; another gets phosphates; an
other asbet tog. Another has sulphur de-
potit; and still another takes ont gyp-
gum, sn on the desert, and the great waste
has Just begun to be known. There g
enough gold and silver and copper lying In
that desert to make hundreds OF men
miliionairss, and It's going to be found
yet. And" added the Californian,
"theIe's another side To It; it's hot, but
Its the healthiest place ON earth. People
are living here now who would bs dead
in a few months anywhere else.
"Then look al the curiosities,h he went
on. "Iaks Sal:on, wsy down below the
level OF the sea. Ten yeaEs ago it was
one of the wonders OF the cluntry. Sal
ton Is $50 fees lower than sea levsl-a ou-
rlous sort OF place. All at once the
men at The salt station heard that the In
dams said the whole eink was full once
and was going to I'LL up again, and t hey
began TO take to the mountains until
not one was left. That there was some
thing IN what the Indians said any one
who has tesn there knows, as you can
see old water lines and the old q 81 trans,
made Of rOcs, along the shore line. The
white men didn't take much stock In the
story, but one day they found water rum
mig into tbs desert from New River. and
In a few weeks there was an inland sea
on the Mojava desert that you couldn't
see across and 1t came down iHto Salton
and threatened to ruin the salt works.
There 1t staid for month or two, one
OF the wonders OF the country, and thous-
apds visited 1t.
"IheD," said the Californian, "thsre's
the town OF Indie on the desert that's
many feet below the sea level; and few
miles from there 1t blows so hard that
they've started = wind ground-glSss fac
tory. All they do IL to sat TIE glass out
door, and the first sandstone grinds 1t
all right.
down at Palm Springs they have a
pal n tree forest that Is desert attraction
How the trees got there no one knows,
but there are hundreds OF them. Some
people live there. One man told me
that in summer he spent most of the
time lying In an irrigation ditch, 1t WINS
that or roast: and In some places on the
desert the nights are so cold you feel as
though you'd freeze to death. l tell you
the desert is a great place. 1t Isn't exact
ly a summer resort, but for actual value
of resources it will go ahead Of many
like areas In the richest parts OF America.