The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-10-27
THE GREAT SOUTHWESTERN
DESERT
(Arthur Lakes in Mining WORLDLY


A great desert extends from beyond
the Pacific railway in Nevada, south
to the Gulf of Mexico, including por-
tions of Nevada, Arizona and Southern
California. Parts of it are known un-
der different names, such as the Rail-
ston, Esealante, Mojave and Yuma
deserts and Death Valley. 1t is the
hottest and most arid region of west
ern North America, yet with all it has
certain charms that make some people
so Infatuated with it that like "desert
rsts, - they will live nowhere else. One
# the charms may be an un~mitigated
freedom with which the outside world
cares net to NEEDLE. 1t has, too, GER
tam peculiar and picturesque charms
not met with elsewhere.
AS the geology of a region is natur-
ally its fundamental starting point, we
may take that of the celebrated Death
Valley recently described by Mr.. Spur
as typical. -.
The geological history of this notori-
Gus and weird part of the desert is as
follows:
In ancient times the desert was an
arm of the Paleozoic sea in which were
laid down horizontally a considerable
thickness of sediments, sandstones,
limestones and conglomerates. These
were elevated bodily without marked
folding into a land mass, later eroded
and tilted into sharp lofty mountains
with deep valleys. Then the area was
covered with a great fresh-water ter
tiary lake or inland sea in which an
other great series of sediments was de-
posted. Along the shores and on
islands in the lake were many volcanic
cones and craters pouring forth sheets
of lava into the lake, which subse-
q~uently became intercalated with sedi-
mentary beds.
The fresh water of the lake was at
certain times reduced and evaporated
so that beds containing salt, borax,
silica, gypsum and lime were chemic-
ally precipitated and mingled with the
detritus silt. A second great lava erup-
ton took place of divine basalt,
shown in the lake beds of brown and
red c~onglomerates and flows of basalt.
This was followed by a disturbance
accompanied by rapid folding. The
crust vas bent and broken, forming
hills and valleys and Death Valley was
created.
The mountains were eroded into
minor irregular forms. The climate
being slightly moister than now, a lake
a few hundred feet deep was formed in
the bottom of Death Valley. This
soon became charged with salt and
borax derived from the teaching of the
earlier lake beds, now become noun
tains.
The climate becoming drier the lake
e~vaporated, leaving the area a salt
desert.
Thus we see that this typical mod
ern arid region in ancient times was re
markable for the amount of water COY
ering it at successive periods; first, BY
the Paleozoic seas, and later by Ter
ftiary fresh water lakes. 1t is a euriou:
fact that the world over the regions a.
present most arid and forbidding were
in earlier times covered with abundant
water and supported in many cases a
luxuriant tropical vegetation. These
Z" bad lands represent the dried VI
relies of ancient or comparatively re
cent bodies of water, lakes or milan
seas far greater in area than any lakes
now existing.
Thus the Green river desert of Wy
oming and the "bad lands'' of Ne
braska and Dakota are the dessicated
representatives of prehistoric vast in.
land seas. The state of Nevada was
covered by the great lake Lahotan;
Utah by the great lake Bonneville, of
which the present Salt Lake is but a
shriveled up diminutive residuum. The
southern deserts of Arizona and South
ern California, besides representing
areas of dessicated lakes, are
also examples of an exceedingly
~overdrained region, all whose waters
and drainage have been ab-
sorbed by and sunk down into
the depths of the great arterial drain
of the Countrywide Grand canon of
the Colorado river. 'Alkali, sage-brush
and rocks' characterize these deserts
In some the scanty covering of sage
brush is absent, and its place taken by
a peculiar desert vegetation, armed
with ferocious thorns. In places even
these too are wanting, and the ground
is a parched salt or sandy desert. Death
Valley is such. 1t is a great brown
desert, having the appearance of a
newly plowed field. On examination
Ln6 suEIdCe 10 IUuhd I COhSi5I UNIV
of salt rendered brown by a mixture OF
soil. Despite the surface aridity, there
is generally a supply of water beneath
the soil ~obtainable by digging. The
Amargosa river originally fed the lake
of Death Valley, and at times this river
has been known to be 200 feet wide al
the southern end. Although generally
it's course is dry, yet it flows beneath
the surface.
Our first view of this great weird
desert region was from the summit OF
the Laguna mountains, part of the San
Diego range of Southern California
To the west was the blue sea of the
Pacific, cool, refreshing and sparkling
in the sunshine. From its shore to the
summit of the mountains extended
fields, vineyards and orchards, with q
luxuriant brush vegetation mingled