Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-21
cURIosITlEs OF A DESERT.
Stones and Shells Strewn Over the
Deadly Plains of Yuha.

Stones and Shells strswn Over the
Deadly Plains of Yuha.
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 wa
ter, and has left 1t with neither. 1t Is
the most desolate, wild, barren, forbid
ding 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 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 a pile OF
rocks two or three feet high at the
head. Each tells the story Of tragedy
of heat, thirst and death. Those items
are about all that is ever known OF the
stories of those who perish. Their
mummified bodies or bleached bones
are found long after the struggle Is
over and the finder, respecting the
memory Of the unknown, scoops hole
in the earth, lays the ghastly relic
within, and piles up the only monu-
ment available in that wild region.
AS recently as Dec. 13, 1904, the
bones Of a thirst victim were laid In
one of these lonely, fiowerless, turfiess
graves on the plains Of Yuma.
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
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
curiosities and certain sections OF the
field seem devoted to certain shapes
and figures.
For instance, one passes through
region which he at once names the
cabbage patch, for 1t presents the ap-
pearance of a field Of those vegetables
which have turned to stone. The waves
have worn the rocks into round bould'
ers about the size Of the vegetable
| which they so much resemble. and
have cut into the globes, laminatint
them in perfect imitation Of the leafJ
layers Of the garden vegetable.
Another locality is devoted almos
exclusively to dinner plates. Thou
sands of rounded, thin disks are scat
tered over the plain or are piled scores
deep in singular piles, each piece snap
ed exactly like the crockery which
adorns our tables, and quite as thir
and symmetrical.
| Another section Of this truly won.
derful region Is given almost wholly
to dumbbells, These vary in size from
pieces weighing one or two pounds, ur
to those seemingly calculated for -ex'
ercising the muscles of a giant ano
weighing thirty or forty pounds eacn
In almost every instance these natura.
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 ano
bayonets and powder are not to oe
found there, there are thousands oi
cannon balls varying in size from two
and three inch balls to those fit fol
the big 13-inch guns Of modern war.
fare. 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 piros
stone animals, stone quoits, stone Or
naments 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 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 were left strand
ed when that ancient sea swept back
from the region and left a dry ano
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 modern oyster
which in some respect they so mucf
resemble as to lead to the suspicior
that they are the remains Of the an
cestors of our much priced bivalve.
The lesser hill is composed of tiny
shells Of a prehistoric type Of brachfo'
poda. Like the larger shells they are
found, except on the surface, In an un'
disturbed state, both valves Of nearly
every shell being found in position
Although the mollusk dwellers of these
shells vanished several centuries ago
so perfect are the shells one almost ex-
poets, when he opens the valves OF the
shell, to find the living creatures with
in.
THE POWER OF A CoIN.-How tina,
lS.S- Ala oryt Tto tripla pYna naiOr