Arizona republican., 1904-09-10

the lake The works are on a large scale, about 100 acres being covered with large vats which are filled with the lake water. When the water has evaporated till it reaches certain den- sity the soda sinks to the bottom and the water with its other constituents is drawn off and run back into the lake. The transportation facilities con sist Of a narrow guage railroad from Reno, Nev.
 This valley runs in a general north and south direction and is along the line of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which forms. it's west face, this face being al- most a sheer precipice with vertical peaks over two miles high, tipped with glaciers and perpetual snow. The high est of these peaks is the highest noun tain in the United States, Mt Whit ney, which towers up about 470G feet. The eastern face or enclosure of the valley is the White Mountain range, in general almost as high as the Sierra range.
 The valley is a wonderful little place and it has been the scene of great volcanic action, being the central point some years ago, of what is considered the biggest earthquake that ever shook this country and in which quite num- Der of people were killed.
 Strange as it may seem, though there is always perpetual snow in sight, there is a very slight rainfall, as the clouds cannot pass the high mountains without condensation and precipitation. The records of the gov ernment show the average rainfall to be but little over three inches, though it rains in sight of there the greater part of the time through the summer The soil is wonderfully rich and there is ample water supply from the river that drains into the lake, and it's tri- butaries, for the reclamation of all the lands of the valley and further there is available a most excellent dam site It is in the basin of an old lake that has cut down its outlet and a dam | across it would make an ample reser- voir.
 But there is scarcely any develop ment, wells, etc.. by which one may study the underground flow of the wa ter, so MT. Lees investiga tions were necessarily confined to surface indica- lions. After canvassing conditions in the valley he climbed Mt. Whitney. go- ing we'll up toward the summit of that | huge pile of rocks. The same pack train that took him up, came down the trail the day before with the body of a man, in the employ of the United States fish commission, who had been struck by lightning near the top of the mountain, and killed The mission of the unfortunate man is itself an inter- | esting story, though it has nothing to Y do with, MT. Lee. Some time ago, per ! maps during his western trip, the at i tention of President Roosevelt was | called to the fact that a fish known as | the golden trout, is found only in this | region and that it was fast being kill ed out by fishermen. Being a particu- | larly fine fish it was desirous that it's
 tribe should be saved and multiplied. The president was interested and call | cd the attention of the fish commission ] to the fact, whereupon efforts were at | once begun looking to the preservation ] and propagation of the golden trout.
 It was in furtherance of this project
 that the unfortunate man referred to above, was sent into that region and met his death.
 The temperature of Owens valley is as warm as Phoenix in the summer time. MT. Lee says that when he start ed on this trip the thermometers in the valley registered no. The next day
 they were caught in a snow storm that forced them to stop and make camp,
 the snow falling to the depth of two | inches on a level Returning from the Mt. Whitney trip Mr. Lee started for
 the outside world again, going via 1 Mono Lake, which lies in a similar val l ley. From there he went over Bloody | Canyon trail to the foot of Mt. Lyell 1 then took a two days journey to a big
 glacier near its summit. Just before
 the party reached the glacier rather a remarkable incident occurred. They | had a pack horse, loaded on one side l with his large camera, plates, etc.. and 1 on the other with provisions, bottled
 goods, etc. On the top of the pack was
 the bedding. For some. reason the
 horse stopped in the narrow trail
 reared and fell over backward. He | turned over once and a half and a!ight-
 ed, feet up, on a narrow ledge below
 By measurement, later, it was found l that he had fallen 100 feet on a hillside
 too steep for grass to grow on and that
 his last bound cleared thirty feet. II
 was supposed he was all smashed tc
 pieces but when they got to him they
 found him unharmed except for one
 ankle which was slightly hurt, not withstanding he fell over jagged rocks
 and stopped on the same sort of a for nation. The pack saved his life, all
 though the saddle was broken tc
 pieces. But the most remarkable part
 of the performance was that the cam-
 era was uninjured and not a plate nor I L
 | broken.
 After the descent from Mt LyelI MT
 Lee returned again to the outside
 world, travelling through the famous
 Yosemite valley to Merced, where he | took tbe railroad fer Phoenix.
 HOWS THIS?