The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-24
NO. ".

most remote and barbarous regions as
a magnet to draw thitlSer the children
OF civilization! One must come TO such
conclusion when they make the jour
hey from Csliente to De Lamar. A
more weirdly forbidding country than
the first fifteen miles of the Journey
IL would be hard to conceive. 1t is such
country as a Rider Haggard would
people with all that is fantastic in the
supernatural.
II is a series of canyons so oppres-
slNe In their desOlatiOn. and the lack
OF anything having life is so painfully
palpable that tka appearance of a
horned toad or a RATHER" would be r
Joyful relief. And yet men wandered
YEARLY, perhaps, and not so long ago,
braVlng the dangers of this inhOspita-
Ole desert, the cravings of nature be-
ing subdued by the thirst for gold
About forty miles by stage from Cali
ente IS the famous De Lamar gold
mine. IL has paid Handsomely in divi-
bends, and today is in better shape than
ever before. This mine supports a pops
ulation of about 500 people. The ma
1ority Of the miners, however, are Aus
TRANS or Italians, Whatever business
IS done in the liquid refreshment line
is confined 10 these nationalities. There
is not an Irish saloonkeeDer in the
camp.
There is "a big body Of ore in sight
and the De Lamar promises TO be a big
producer for many years 10 come. The
mining industry along the country trib-
uJary 10 the Salt Lake & Los Angeles
railroad has taken on a new lease of
life. When one considers the enormous
cost of working those mines when ev.
erything had to be hauled a distance
of 500 to 500 miles by team to or from
the mines, one can easily see that il is
only mines of extraordinary richness
could stand such an embargo. Today
the new railroad between salt Lake
and Los Angeles has galvanized into
new life all of southern Utah and
southeastern Nevada. That the entire
belt of country traVersed by this rail-
road is rich in minerals is beyond ali
peradFentuTe, and it is safe 10 predict
that some of the best paying mines in
the entire west win at an early day be
IN full operation in this new FL Dorado.
Not only has the salt Lake & Los
SAugeles railroad given an impetus in
the mining industry, but it has, in an
unusual degree added TO the wealth Of
the ranchers located along the Big
Muddy river. where the richness OF
the soil, with a combination of heat
and moisture, produces such an eX-
uberdnt growth of crops as TO challenge
even the fecundity of the River Nile.
a few years ago these ranches had
but a nominal value. They averaged
about 120 miles distant from the near
est railroad. Whatever farming or
fruit raising was done there amounted
10 very little or nothing. There was no
Immediate reward in view, and il is
We'll said that the hope OF reward
sweetens labor. Now these ranchmen
can drive 10 railroad station in few
hours, ana as one of them expressed
himself TO me, We have the world for
our market"
Remember" he says. the world, for
that's just what we intend to do is TO
supply the entire country with thou
sands of carloads of Cantaioupes. and
every other variety of melon" Of
course, these same farmers. when their
ranches have appreciated in such value
as to carry decent dwelling houses,
barns, etc, and their land substantial
~ fenced, and with good showing of
livestock ia horses and cattle, win bear
in mind that the railroad has given
them an independence hitherto unat-
tainable given them markets in the va
rious mining camps at their doors, be-
sides facilities for shipping their over
production. and with ii all an OppOr-
tunty TO hold mass meetings under the
tutelage of demagOsues, who viii want
10 go to a legislature TO enact hostile
laws against their charlottesville
men who build railroads.
Enough of this. We are again on
our journey, now entering one Of the
most picturesque stretches of scenery
in this continent of scenic grandeur.
I have travelled much. but such
series of surprises as the canyons
which kaletdescope-iike at every hand
or turn come upon YOU battles descrip-
ton. Al last We come 10 the famous
Rainbow canyon-TanbOw, What a
poverty Of words that cannot afford
anything less effeminate than this. The
sun, now high in the heavens illumined
the opposite sides, bathing their pin
nacles The most fantastic variety of
form was exhibited by the surrounding
sides or walls, here il rose in tuTTets
and towers, then spread into crags,
then again fell in blank abrupt preCi-
pices. Beautiful indeed, was the ever
varying prOfusiOn of color and bcdUti
full were the ethereal tjnts Of the can
yon's peaks TO which the CiOudlesS sky
seemed 10 impart a tinse of its azure.
ON the edge Of the raVine, midway up
one side of the canyon. We're seen the
seemingly crumbling walls and "a fraS-
ment of a broken tower. like the re-
mains of an ancient stronghold which
centuries before had frowned OV-r the
narrow place below. Notwithstanding
the sterile nature of the country out
side those canyons, almost evidences
have been found that the arid and bar
rem plains Had once been peOpled by a
superior race OF men-far superior 10
the nomadic tribes who roam over il.
There are traces as If quantity carved
idols and WOmens ornaments of agate
and Obsidian have been picked up here
BY prospectors, examined with child
like curiosity and thrown carelessly
aside. There is no doubt but the Az
tecs-that the region from salt Lake
south and west, extending through
New Mexico, was the region whence
they emigrated
Rainbow canyon is held in great VEN
Grafton by the Indians. as they regard
il as the seat of past greatness. where
the tribes Of Old gathered there, and
held council 1t is the Valhalla of an
extinct people. I remember, during the
rush 10 Phoebe, that miners coming
over the southern trails which led into
Nevada from Arizona and New Mexico;
the "hairbreadth" escapes related by
many who had made the journey.
A party of seven camped one night
by the Rainbow canyon. A Navajo In
dian, who was among the band, was
evidently impressed with a melancholy
awe as he regarded those ancient meet
ing places Of his fallen people. At mid
night he rose from his blanket and left
the camp. stealthily picking his way
through the line of slumbering forms
which lay around, and the Watchful
,o,,ff,af rFcaFrt-a1 him anr-g4rF4 tf,a