, 1905-05-12
CURIos IN DESERT
DAME NATURE SHOWN IN HER
F%REAkIEsT MOOD.

DAME NATURE SHOWN IN HER
FREAkIEsT MOOD.
Region in Colorado, Alternately Visit
ed by Fire and Water, Now Presents
Remarkable sisht-shunned With
Good Reason by Man and Beast.
There ID a section of the Colorado
desert where nature has left some re-
markable records. She has visited
the region. alternately, with fire and
water. and has left it with neither. It
is the most desolate. wild, barren, for
bidding part OF the desert, says the
Los Angeles Times, and 1t is stunned
alike by man and Beast. That there
Is good and sufficient reason for avoid
Ing this locality is attested by num-
bers of graves-nameless, for the
most part-found in the terrible re-
gion.
These graves are simple affairs,
merely mounds Of earth with a border
OF stones about each and a pile Of
rocks two or three feet high at the
head Each tells the story of a trag.
edy of heat. thirst and death. Those
items are about all that is ever known
of the stories of those who perish.
Their mummifed bodies or bleached
bones are found long after the strug-
gle is over and the finder, respecting
the memory Of the unknown, scoops a
hole in the earth, lays the CHASTITY rel
&c within, and piles up the only monu-
ment available in that wild region.
As recently as Dec. 10, 1904, the
bones Of a thirst victim were laid in
one of these lonely. flowerless, turf
less graves on the plains of Yuha.
The plain now lies nearly 100 feet
below the level of the sea and the
rocks of the plain and the bases Of
the mountains are washed and eroded
In a wonderful m Mingling with
the burnt stones and volcanic debris
are rocks worn by the waves and
shaped into hundreds Of fantastic
forms. There are many acres Of these
stone curiosities and certain sections
VI VIC hOlo oSSm uSNOltu W CtTldlu
shapes and figures.
For instance, one passes through a
region which he at once names the
cabbage patch, for it presents the ap-
pearance Of a field Of those vegeta-
bles which have turned to stone. The
waves have worn the rocks into round
boulders about the size of the vege-
table which they so much resemble,
and have cut into the globes, laminat-
ing them In perfect imitation of the
leafy layers Of the garden vegetable.
Another locality is devoted almost
exclusively to dinner plates. Thou
sands Of rounded. thin disks are scat
tered over the plain or are pilec
scores deep in singular piles, each
piece shaped exactly like the crock
cry which adorns u tables, and
quite as thin and symmetrical.
Another section Of this truly won
derful region IL given almost wholly
to dumbbells. These vary in size from
pieces Weighing one or. two pounds,
up to those seemingly calculated for
exercising the muscles Of q giant and
Weighing thirty or forty pounds each.
In almost every instance these nat
ural dumbbells are we'll balanced,
the balls at either end Of the con
Meeting piece being Of the same size
and weight.
There is in this plain Al arsenal.
also. While guns and swords and bay
onets and powder were not there to
be found, there are thousands Of can
non balls varying in size from . and
3-inch balls to those 1T for the big
13-inch guns Of modern warfare. And
all are Of stone, all formed in natures
workshop.
There are other objects innumera-
BILE. There r stone roses, stone Ill
les, stone tulips, stone leaves, stone
birds. stone animals, stone Quoits,
stone ornaments In varied and unique
designs; stone canes-in fact almost
everything conceivable in nature or
art initiated In stone on the plain Of
Yuha.
In one portion of Yuha rise two hills.
or small mountains. One might mis-
take them in the distance for ancient
craters. but when he approaches the
eminences he discovers them 70 be
monuments to an ancient life-ths
records of species new extinct. They
are shell mountains. great beds Of pre-
historic bivalves which were left
stranded when that ancient sea swept
back from the region and left q dry
and desolate land.
One of these mountains, the large
one. is composed wholly Of large
rough shells, much larger, but less
elongated than the shells of the mod.
ern oyster, which In some respects
they so much resemble as to lead to
the suspicion that they are the re-
mains Of the ancestors Of our mack
priced bivalve.
The lesser hill is composed Of tiny
shells Of . prehistoric type Of brachi-
opoda. Like the larger shells. they
are found. except on the surface, In
an untisturbed state. both valves Of
nearly every shell being found in po-
sition. Although the mollusk DWELL
ers of these shells vanished several
centuries ago, 20 perfect are the shells
one almost expects, when he opens
the valves Of the shell, to ind the liv
ing creature within.