The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1907-10-04
LOST RIVERS OF THE WEST.

On the American continent there
are no natural phenomena OF more
mysterious and fascinating interest
than the "lost rivers of the far west
These hide-and-seek streams as rule
head in mountainous areas and rush
downward into bow like valleys.
where they incontinently vanish
Some of them reappear miles from
the vanishing point, while others are
lost forever and no man knows what
becomes of their waters.
The floors of the valley into which
they flow generally are comparative
ly level and are built up of loose
sands and gravels washed down from
the rocky and forest-clad slopes
which absorb the water and through
which it peroculates slowly beneath
the surface. When the moving
underground current encounters an
obstruction, as it often does, in the
shape of natural dixie or the rocky
rim of the lower end of the valley
the water is forced to the surface
and the stream is born again.
Sinks and Rises Often.
Thus the Santa Ana river in Cali
fornia sinks in the wash above Red
lands, rises to the surface above
Bunker Hill dixie" sinks below it.,
rises from Riverside to Bedrock can
yon below Ell Rineon, sinks in the
wash above Santa Ana, and finally
partly rises again in the large peat
land springs about Talbert. The San
Gabriel and the Los Angeles rivers
exhibit the same characteristics, but
disappear and reappear less often in
their much shorter course to the sea-
At some points these sunken rivers
flow for long distances under wide
stratum of impervious material where
the water is under considerable pres
sure. When wells are driven through
this stratum an artesian flow results.
The discovery of this fact added
many thousands of acres to the Guilt
waited area of California most of
which is in oranges, lemons, grapes
and other high-priced products.
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 filter
miles and miles in length into the
Deschutes. In fact there are no
floods at all. Day after day and year
after year it's flow is uniform and its
waters sparkling and clear For this
reason, probably, it is the finest trout
stream in America.
New Mexico Truant Stream.
New Mexico also has truant
stream-the Rio Mimbres. 1t drains
many miles of mountain country in
the southern part of the territory,
and for time is stream of import
ance. Then, as If tired of existence,
1t flows out upon the plains near
Deming and is lost forever, swallowed
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.
Utterly DesOlate Now.
Ages ago, when the earth was
young, the great Snake river plain
in Idaho, now scene of utter DESC
lation, was semi-tropical garden.
Countless streams crossed it and
lengthwise through it flowed the
mighty Snake. In the forest primeval
and over the verdure clad plains
roamed the mastodon, the mammoth
the camel, the queer kind of horse,
and many other species of prehis-
toric manuals. We know all this to
be true by reason of the extinct ami
mails In the recent excavations made
at Minidoka rapids.
great catastrophe overwhelmed |
this valley. On seven different oc-
asions the lofty Tetons which frame
its eastern boundary. and which were
then active volcanoes, erupted and |!
poured forth sea of lava, which |
swept downward and westward COW
ering the beautiful valley with
blanket of fiery liquid more than 500
feet thick. In the cataclysm all the
teeming life was annihilated. The
rivers were burned up and their chan
nels obliterated.