Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1905-04-27
THE PLAINS OF YUMA
SOME OF THE CuRlOSITiES OF THE
COLORADO DESERT.
Graves Each of which Tells a story
Of Tragedy Of Heat, Thtrst Gnd
Desth-Odd stones and SHELF That
Stre~ the Ba Region

u Tragedy OF Heat, Thfrst GMd
Death-odd stones and shells That
strew the barren Region.
There is 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 1t is the
most desolate, wild. barren, forbidding
part Of the desert, says the Los Ange-
les Times, and it is stunned alike by
man and beast That there Is good
and sufficient reason for avoiding this
locality is attested by numbers Of
graves, nameless for the most part
found in the terrible region.
These graves are simple affairs,
merely mounds OF earth with border
OF stones about each and u pile OF
rocks two or three feet high 1t the
head. Each tells the story of a
tragedy of heat, thirst and death.
Those items are about all that is ever
known of the stories Of those who
perish Their mummitied bodies or
bleached bones are fouAd long after
the struggle is over, and the finder re-
speeding the memory of the unknown,
scoops a hole III the earth, lays the
CHASTITY relic within and piles up the
only monument available In that wild
region.
The plain now lies nearly hundred
feet below the level of the sea. and the
rocks of the plain and the bases of the
mountains are washed and eroded in
wonderful manner. 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 curiosi
ties, and certain sections of the field
seem devoted to certain shapes and
figures.
For Instance, one passes through a
region which he at once names the cab
bage patch. for it presents the appear
ance of field of those vegetables
which have turned 10 stone The waves
have worn the rocks into round bowl
ders about the size of the vegetable
which they 50 much resemble and have
cut into the globes. Eliminating them in
perfect imitation of the leafy layers of
the garden vegetable
Another locality IS devoted almost ex
ciusively TO dinner plates. Thousands
Of rounded, thin disks are scattered
over the plain or are piled scores deep
in singular piles, each piece shaped ex
actly like tie crocKery which adorns
our tables and quite as thin and SYM
metrical.
Another section of this truly wonder
full region is given almost wholly to
dumbbels These vary in size from
pieces weighing one or two pounds up
to those seemingly calculated for exer-
cising the muscles of giant and
weighing thirty or forty pounds each.
In almost every instance these natural
dumbbels are well balanced, the balls
at either end Of the connecting piece
being Of the same size and weight.
There is in this plain an arsenal also. |
While guns and swords and bayonets |
and powder were not there to be found, |
there are thousands of cannon balls |
varying in size from two and three inch !
inch guns of modern warfare. And all |
are of stone. all formed in natures |
workshop.
There are other objects innumerable |
There are stone roses, stone lilies, stone |
tulips, stone leaves, stone birds, stone
animals, stone quoits, stone ornaments |
in varied and unique designs, stone |
IA
ceivable IN nature or art initiated in
stone on the plain of Yuha.
In one portion of Yuha rise two hills
OK small mountains. One might mis-
take them in the distance for ancient
craters. but when he approaches the
eminences he discovers them to be
monuments to an ancient life-the rec
ords of species now extinct They are
shell mountains, great beds of prehis'
toric bivalves which We're left stranded
when that ancient sea swept back from
the region and left dry and desoiate
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 modern oyster,
which IN some respects they so much
resemble as to lead to the suspicion
that they are the remains of the ances-
tors Of our much priced blvalve.
The lesser hill is composed of tiny
shells of a prehistoric type Of brachio-
poda. Like the larger shells, they are
found except on the surface in an I'M
disturbed state, both valves of nearly
every shell being found in position.
Although the mollusk jewellers of these
shells vanished several centuries ago,
so perfect are the shells one almost ex-
poets when he opens the valve of the
shell to find the living creature within.