Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-05-13
THE PLAINS OF YUMA
SOME OF THE cURIoslTlEs OF The
COLORADO DESERT.

Graves Each of which Tells story
of m Tragedy of Heat, Thirst and
Death-Odd stones and Shells That
strew the Barren Region.
There is 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 1t with neither 1t is the
most desolate, wild, barren, forDiuuihB
mart of the desert, says the Los Ange-
les Times, and 1t is Stunned alike by
man and beast. That there is good
and sufficient reason for avoiding TINS
locality is attested by numbers OF
graves. nameless for the most part,
found in the terrible region.
These graves are simple a1airs'
merely mounds Of earth with border
of stones about each and pile OF
rocks two or three feet high at the
head. Each tells the story or a
tragedy of heat, thirst and death'
Those items are about all that Is ever
known of the stories of those VINO
nerlsh. Their mummified bodies or
bleached bones are found long aIter
the struggle is over, and the finder, re-
specting the memory Of the unknown
SCOOPS a hole In the earth, lays the
CHASTITY relic within and piles up ue
only monument available in that wild
region.
The plain now lies nearly hundred
feet below the level of the sea, ana the
rocks of the plain and the bases OF the
mountains are washed and eroded III d
wonderful manner. Mingllng with the
burnt stones and volcanic debris are
rocks worn by the waves and shaped
into hundreds of fantastic forms Ihere
are many acres Of these stone curiosl-
ties. and certain sections OF the neiu
seem devoted to certain shapes ana
| figures.
For instance, one passes through d
region which he at once names the cap
hare match. for It presents the appear
ance Of field Of those vegetables
which have turned TO stone. The waves
have worn the rocks into round Dowi-
ders about the size of the vegetable
which they so much resemble and have
cut into the globes Eliminating them ID
nerfect imitation Of the leafy layers OF
the garden vegetable.
| Another locality Is devoted almost ex'
clusively 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'
ectlv ike the crockery which adorns
our tables and quite as thin and sym
metrical.
Another section Of this truly wonder
full region is given almost wholly tc
ldnmbbells. These vary In size from
pieces weighing one or two pounds UP
to those seemingly calculated for exer
cising the muscles of a giant ano
weighing thirty or forty pounds each
In almost every instance these natural
dumbbells are we'll 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 bayonet'
land powder were not there to be found
there are thousands Of cannon BALI
varying in size from two and three Incl
halls TO those fit for the big thirteen
Inch guns of modern warfare. And al
are Of stone, all formed In nature
workshop.
There are other objects innumeraole
There are stone roses, stone lilies, ston'
tulips, stone leaves, stone birds, ston'
animals, stone Quoits, stone ornament
| In varied and unique designs, ston'
canes-in fact, almost everything con
ceivable In nature or art initiated II
stone on the plain Of Yuha.
In one portion Of Yuha rise two hill
or small mountains. One might mis-
take them in the distance for ancien
craters, but when he approaches tn
eminences he discovers them to b.
monuments to an ancient life-the rec
ords Of species now extinct. They ar
BQ6Il 6ANoN OSNS -
toric bivalves which were left strande'
when that ancient sea swept back iron
the region and left dry and desolat
land.
One of these mountains, the larg
one, is composed wholly Of large roug
shells, much larger, but less elongated
than the shells Of the modern oyster
which in some respects they so muc
, resemble as to lead to the suspicion
J that they are the remains Of the ances
tors Of our much priced bivalve.
The lesser hill Is composed of tin
J shells Of prehistoric type Of brachi(
poda. Like the larger shells, they ar
found except on the surface In an III
/ disturbed state, both valves Of nearl
every shell being found In position
: Although the mollusk jewellers Of thes
shells vanished several centuries age
so perfect are the shells one almost e1
poets when he opens the valve OF tn
shell to find the living creature within.