Evening star., 1901-08-31
GREAT RED DESERT
A Tract of Territory in the State
of Wyoming.
ALL KINDS OF TEMPERATURE
Practically UninhabitabIe in the
Summer.
S 0 L RICH A n D RED
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
RED DESERT, Wyo., August %, 1901,
To be consumed in the furnace heat Of
noon, to suffer the tortures of thirst, Of
| which no pen has truly written, and then
! in that same twenty-four hours to lie with
| face fearlessly uncovered to the heavens,
to pull the blankets close about to keep out
the chill night air. to start and wonder at
the mysterious noises of the night; all these
things and others fall to the lot of the
traveller N the wonderful Red Desert of
Wyoming.
The sun rises each morning at his duly
appointed hour with no cloud to make in
definite the sky line of the low hills. At
first his light and warmth are sensuously
pleasant. The coolness of the night still
fingers. The small bird which has ven
tured far from leafy bower fits smartly
from one clump of sage brush to another,
thCughtless of the painting heat of the day
to come. The ground even seems moist
from the dew of the night and the twigs
gathered for the carly camp fire are damp
and pliable. This is not the beginning Of
the day time however day time of many
hours, each one stretched to its full limit
of human endurance.
The sun hardens it's look to a braZen
stare. The fitting bird crawls under low
growing bush, the branches of which soon
loose their suppleness and become hard
and brittle in their dryness. The soil, dark
red with the slight moisture of early morn
ing, grows lighter in color and soon be-
comes as brick dust. drifting wind drives
the loose earth over the red ShaleS with
sound as of dancer stepping lightly on
the sanded boards. Between the clumps of
stubbed sage and horny greasewood gullies
are cut out and around each hardy growth
is piled the desert sand as though some
giant farmer had hiIled and laid by for
harvest unsightly crop.
12O Degrees in the Shade.
A flock of sage hens led by proud male
file quickly along by devious path, making
it's appearance suddenly and disappearing
almost mysteriously into the sea of shrub
beyond. Lizards flash across the bare
places on the earth and a horned toad
blnks comfortably in the shade of a thorny
spike. Rattlesnakes move quickly
though unusual heat was in their sluggish
bodies The horizon loses it's sharpness.
The heat waves quiver and roll across hill
and plain. Small buttes become great
mountains and some seem to float upward
until a strip of sky is between them and
the earth The thermometer marks nearly
40 degrees in the shade What is may be
in the sun is concern of man or beast
for where there is no shade it is not wise
to heat the imagination of brain already
on fire This is the Red Desert of Wyoming
at noon on an August day, and during that
time of day and year 1t is deserted by
man and beast unless the latter be driven
thereto by strange specimens of the former
whose curiosity defes nature In her most
inhcSpitable moods.
At evening time the sun, seeming to have
burnt out the fiercest of his heat, drops
below the hills n dull red ball, glinting
the redness of the shales into semblance
OF molten metal. The air soon grows chill.
and toward morning 1t is not far from
freezing. The sky is clear and ablaze with
For hoy n IL
merouS and hang from, rather than dos,
the heavens. Even the desert has no quiet
for the drifting sand rustles along the
runways and the slightest movement of
some small animal in the chaparral is
easily magnified into the sound of approach
ing danger.
On the outskirts of this desert the coy
otes proWl but they do not venture far
from the ranch stock range. for there
lies their easiest hunting. AT times, how
ever they hold nigh revel on the sand
dunes, and their sharp, short bark and
long plaintive howlS travel far out on the
night wind, a fit but uncanny dirge for
the life which ends where the sand begins.
In southwestern Wyoming lies the great
est red desert of all and its area is counted
to be at least 12,92o square miles. There
are other deserts of like nature, some of
them far to the northwest and others in
the Big Horn country near the Montana
line. Iron stained gypsum and salts give
the red color to the earth and soluble clats
and crumblng sandstone ledgeS take on
fantastic shapes in their decay.
Where the country is hilly and broken
the soft strata of stone washed by
fierce showers and blown by constant
winds until the erstwhile hill becomes a
terreted castle Or pile of temple ruins.
The broken columns often stand in rows.
as though they had been, in the glory of
their past, part of an ancient but now
f! dead civilization. Some still maintain their
| uprightness and wear Gaping of harder
| stone which spreads far beyond the dame
ter of the supporting columns. Mute and
| sphynx-like these sentinels of the desert
stand watching the changeless horizon un-
| til. worn with constant struggle against the
| elements the disintegrated columns give
way the capstones come to earth, and
heavy rains make short work of obliterat-
| ing the pedestals.
Uninhabitable I'm Summer.
During the summer season the red des-
| erts are practically uninhabitable In their
natural state but IN the winter when there
| is snow to furnish moisture. great herds
| Of cattle and sheep are driven to these
| hills and plains, and there they thrive, re-
| turning to their owners in the spring with
a minimum percentage of loss The land
is apparently bare of what Is commonly
called vegetation, but the strengthening
prowths which dot the red sand furnish
the necessary food for live stock.
| bright green hues are rare. The growth
| unon this arid, salt-impregnated soil is
| marked by colors which blend with those
of the earth. The land itself Is high and
rolling plateau crossed by ranges of low
| hills and occasionally gouged into deep
| canyons by torrential rains or cloudbursts,
| which are characteristic of the region
/ Some of these canyons are a thousand feet
| or more in depth. and the fantastic shapes
| assumed by the soft shale rock In its dis
| integration is one of the Notwithstanding
| features of the landscape.
| The soil is heavily charged with alkalies
or salts. The rainfall Is too limited to
carry much Of this away, and the whole
deposit . encrusted upon the banks Of