El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-11


Two or three hundred feet. with a des-
perate whirring of their wings. and
then fell back. almost exhausted into
the rocky debris of the canon.
While buried in this canon at Camp
Misery we were constantly impressed
by the impossibility of escaping from
it in case we should lose our boats or
be overwhelmed by sudden floods.
Leisure moments were devoted to look
ing for some possible manner by which
the vertical walls could be scaled.
For its entire length there was not
place where this cliff could be climbed
by man. In order TO reach its sum-
nit after finishing my river trip, 1
made special overland journey from
Marathon, and succeeded in surmount-
ing it's north end some ten miles from
the river and making Photographic
view of the canon from above. -
Having finally succeeded in ssr0ssing
The obstruction early oLs"morning. we
transported our h2seagc to our boats.
ta--Ieaving. Before the
boats were foaded a tremendous roar
ing sound like distant thunder was
heard up the canon, and We saw that
what we most dreaded was happening
the river was rising. A big flood of
the ordinary kind would have veneered
our prospects for escape would hove
been small. We hastily piled our bag
gage into the boats and sprang aboard.
1t was either stay and Starve or go and
chance it Fortunately this partic
ular rise proved to be small one, just
sufficient to give the desired impetus
- our croft. and our course through
anon was rapid. The walls in
ed in altitude as We descended
.tream. and just as they reached
greatest height, some seventeen
red and fifty feet. our boats sud-
emerged into the sunlit desert.
,king back, the outlines of the
cliff of the plateau of Santa Hell
from which we had emerged,
seen. We fingered long in con-
ltion of this most remarkable
re- 1t is an abrupt escarpment
assive limestone which rises in
.tical wall to a height of seven
hundred and fifty fee and ex-
miles in Texas. Its skyline
square cut and horizontal as
.op of atabIe. The face of the
appears absolutely vertical. al
III it is marked by one slight
Nicking the summit here and
at wide intervals are deep W
edrifts of minor waterless can
whose mouths are suspended in
iir. As bold and extensive as-is
mountain, has hereto found no
or name on published maps.
week after passing out of the
cen behind us
lis majestic wall of rock forming
eastern escarpment of the Santa
ena owes its contour to the geo
C process known as faulting.
ing a graet fracture developed
IL ste fhn vol how
)pped down over five thousand
t Some forty miles to the east
ere is another scarp line, parallel
that of the Sierra del Carmen.
lis faces in the opposite direction,
toward the west. SO that these gig
ltic cliff oppose each other. Between
lese two walls of rock the strata
nee met in an arch. making the great
rest of the regional mountain up
lift. The intervening region. or lower
represents downfallen
wedge. Such country constitutes
lift valley, just as if a longitudinal
and then pushed in until
is area was below that of the remain
ng surface. In this case it was the
rch of the Rocky Mountains which
lad dropped down. constituting a
secular belt of the country, into
which we suddenly emerged as we
eft the canon, and which may be
allied the Terlingo Desert. AL
hough this desert is only forty miles
vide. the river pursues a circuitous
curse through it of fully one humid
ed miles. For days we followed |
asst bends or ox-bows until we had !
made the graet south bend of the |
\ver.
,,\he Terlingo Desert is one of the |
os\t bizarre pieces of landscape that |
n \be imagined. Though called a |
ain this is only out of courtesy to |
; more mountainous perimeter. Its |
rface III covered by nearly every form
relief Within the topographic cate
nv incIuoNing stretches of level plain
ST terrace\s, deep arroyos. lava-cap
d hills. netAks and bikes of old vol
noes. huge m\esas, submits and small
ountain RANGES, collectively form
2 one of the HOTTEST and most sterile
gions conceivable.
The crowning feature of this desert
the LOFTY and pAceuliar group OF
osts'O. These weird forms are ap-
opriareIy named They are ragged
ints of a reddish granite rock,
into yellow AMI orange col
S like those from which the Yellow
one derives its name: they rise al
ost straight into the, saf' to total
titude of nine thousand fest, OR sixty
re hundred feet above the river. The
rtical slopes of the peaks. Nrifted
re and there by joints and SEAMS.
We to them the aspect of being clad
fine drapery- Whenever one :
limbs out of the low stream groove !
csc peaks stare him in the face likel {
group of Whitehead spirits rising \,
ON a base OF misty gray shadow and i
,getation. Many are the weird forms
Id outlines which the peaks assume.
wo specially conspicuous rocks are