The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-08-05
LOST RIVERS OF THE WEST
Mysterious Streams that Disappear In the Earth, Lev.
ing Man 10 Guess Whittier Their Waters TO-
BY FREDERICK oRDwAY.

I'M THE American continent ther
col are no natural phenomena q
more mysterious and fascinatin
W interest than the lost rivers 0
the West, These hide and seek stream
as rule head in mountainous area
and rush downward into bowl-like val
leys where they incontinently vanish
Some of them reappear miles from tn
vanishing point while others are los
forever and no man knows what be
comes of their waters.
The floors OF the valleys into whicl
they flow generally are comparativel.
level and are built up of lose sands an(
Igravels, washed down from rocky ant
forest-clad slopes, which absorb tn.
water and through which il percolate:
slowly beneath the surface. When the
slow-moving underground current en-
counters an obstruction as II often does
in the shape OF natural dyke or the
rocky rim OF the lower end OF the valley
the water is forced to the surface and
the stream is born again.
Thus the Santa Anna River in Cali
fornia sinks in the wash above Redlands,
rises to the surface above Bunker Hill
dixie" sinks below it, rises from River
side to Bedrock Canyon below Fl Rineon.
sinks in the wash above Santa Ana,
and finally partly rises again in the
large peat land springs above Talbert,
The San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers
exhibit the same characteristics, but
disappear and reappear less often in
their much shorter courses to the sea.
At some points these sunken rivers flow
for long distance, a wide stratum Of
impervious material where the water
is under considerable pressure. When
wells are driven through this stratum
an artesian flow results. The discovery
of this fact added many thousands OF
acres to the cultivated area OF California
most OF which is in oranges, lemons.
grapes, and other high-priced products.
Another peculiar stream is the De-
schutes, which drains a large area in
Central Oregon. 1t is known to hydro
graphers all over the world for the ex-
traordinary regularity of its flow
throughout the year. This is accounted
for by the porus lava formation, which
constitutes portion OF the drainage
AREA, and which is especially prominent
where the headwater tributaries leave
the foothills OF the Cascades. Successive
flows of lava, ruptured, fractured, and
fssured by convulsions of nature, ex-
tend over many miles of this region.
When the streams encounter this sheet
OF lava they are taken up by the sponge
like material, and disappear from sight,
passing beneath and through the lava,
and finally emerging through dark cav
erns and deep canyons into the main
stream.
This wonderful lava bed is natures
regulator. 1t swallows up the floods
that come down the steep slopes. 1t
absorbs the rains and SHOWS, and then
releases them slowly through a filter
miles and miles in length, into the river
There are no turbid floods in
the Descheutes. In fact there are no
floods at all. Day after day and year
after year its flow is uniform, and its
waters sparkling and clear For this
reason it is probably the finest trout
stream in America.
New Mexico also has truant stream,
the Rio Membres. 1t drains many miles
of mountain country in the southern
part of the territory, and for a time is
a stream of Importance. Then as if tired
of existence, it flows out upon the plains
near Deming and is lost forever, swal-
lowed up in the loose sand and gravel.
The Pecos, too, is a truant at times,
and seeks seclusion beneath the surface,
coming up miles below in artesian
springs of great volume and flow.
Ages ago when the earth was young,
the great Snake river plain in Idaho,
now a scene of utter desolation, was