Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1908-06-06
What These Sandy Wastes Mean
to Mother Earth.
A DEATH GRIP ON THE WORLD
They Indicate the Beginning of the
End of Our Beautiful Planet, Which
Is Doomed to Roll Through Space a
Parched and LifeIess Orb.

gifted with Imagination to conceive is
in truth greater than we commonly
suppose, for the cosmic circumstance
about them which is most terrible is
not that deserts are, but that deserts
have begun to be. Not as local evita-
bic evils are they only to be pictured,
but as the general inescapable death
grip on our world, for it is the begin
ming of the end. What depauperates
the forests to grass lands and thence to
wastes must in turn attack the sea bot
toms when they shall have parted with
their seas.
Last of the fertile spots upon the
planet because of the salts the streams
have for ages washed down and of the
remnant of moisture that would still
drain into them, eventually they must
share the fortuLe of their predecessors
and the planet roll a parched orb
through space. The picture is forbid
ding. but the fact seems one to which
we are constructively pledged and into
which we are in some sort already adj
ventured.
Girdling the earth with what it takes
but little personification to lflzen to the
life eXtinguishing serpents coils run
two desert belts of country. The one
follows. roughly speaking. the tropic of
Cancer. extending northward from 1t;
the other. the tropic of Capricorn. Ari-
zona is in the northern band as are the
Sahara. Arabia and the deserts of cen
trail Asia.
Now. these desert belts are growing.
In the great desert of northern Arizona
the traveller. threading his way across
sagebrush and cacti plain shut in by
abrupt sided shelves of land rising here
and there some hundreds Of feet high
er, suddenly comes upon a petrifed for
est.
Trunks of trees in all stages of frac-
ture strew the ground over a space
some miles in extent. So perfect are
their forms he is almost minded to
think the. usual wasteful woodchopper
has been by and left the scattered
products of his art in Uttered confu-
sion upon the scene of his exploit
Only their beautiful color conveys a
sense Of strangeness TO the eye, and,
leaning down and touching them. he
finds that they are-stone: chalcedOny,
not carbon. Form has outlived sub
stance and kept the resemblance. while
the particles OF the original matter
have all been spirited away. Yet so
perfect is the presentmcnt one can
hardly believe the fact. and where one
fallen giant spans a little canyon one
almost thinks to hear the sound Of wa
ter rushing down the creek
But II is some millions Of years and
more since this catastrophe befell, and
the torrent. upr0oting IL left It prone.
with limbs outstretched On futile grasp
upon the other side. A confer A was,
cousin only 10 such as grow today. and
iourishod probably An the cretaceOus
era Tor the land has not been under
water here since the advent OF tertiary
times
Nowhere near A. except for the rare
coti0nWoods along the bank OF the Lat
tle Colorado grows anything today.
the land which once supported these
Forests rs iucompetent to do 80 nov.
lef nothing BIAS changed there since
except the decreasing water sup
ply During tertiary ana quaieuary
dime ihe wluiall has been growing less
and loss. PROOF of lhls Is offered by
tho great pine oasis ibaf caps fhe pla-
ipuu of which these peirlAed forests
form part und n kerneled Dbl fhe 6an
Francisco peaks Ih3 height above
fen inle' of fne spot where ihe chal.
NnInuN IIIIulla are fllrn.u IA al.uf
1000 feof 1he loNer present limn NJ
iNr plne NJ ~ ful development b
5000 ff0f INo thousand foei upWard
iN0 lrl0Nre l|pe haf folleaind since ile
inlWnf forests Npre And tlls n no
lo0l| alteration. for ppQn iho other flae
Al lli0 plateau peil|NNi lemalns NJ lgoea
Nlt similarly found
INN llnf M pnfiNiual HInon haf rlaeu
because in N0anu regions flp moisture
a f4nnd moal plennful nearosl ~ az
f'4lia il0W Hllen y falH upQu a
lAlNN'nF NallN fH0anH. lnsinad M
gathering lu'N'4p M iNDY ~ al0 lal
NnHi NNW iNNN llYl0n 900 1905 no
NNl ''H Nlll eNfN Gosh mllN M n1H
M NNN'H a NNllnH llpn flD AMI
lfaHNNl AZ Hf'a NaiNl lle Haiaenf
IA li0NN.NNf lNi iNnN0n lasulNf up1u
NN lNN lnf lNNMaeliaf lpal lal0na
NN INli0iHI III NJ HHifl AZ NJ iip
hltNH IN fl iNllNN M lrf N.
NI. NNl l'NN nNN |hf llNl0 hN0N "A
l|f lH. n luW l'NnNN lANHllf
lNH NNN lN1 lNinip ~ AN failp'