The Alaska citizen., 1912-12-30

being about one thousand feet abov.
sealevel On its further. or west
ern. side is the Argus range. eight
thousand feet in elevation.
Proceeding on its journey from
the bottom TO the top of the United
States the expedition climbed over
pass in the Argus range, and, on
the other side. found itself in the
Owens valley and in the midst of a
thriving agricultural population. For
the Owens valley is irrigated and
fruitful, yielding great crops ii
alfalfa and affording pasture to
many cattle. 1t is from this source
that the city of Los Angeles now
gets its water supply. thanks to
the recent completion of huge con
crete aqueduct (the longest ever
built, which brings the water (de.
rived from the melting SHOWS of Mt.
Whitney and adjacent heghts) dis
lance of $40 miles. This. indeed, is
one of the worlds greatest engineer
ing achievements.
In the southern part of this val.
ley is Owens lake. &c miles long
and 10 miles wide, which is perhaps
the most remarkable sheet of fluid
in the United States, being compos-
ed largely of carbonate of soda.
Commercial sodium carbonate. in
fact. is obtained from it on an i'm.
mense scale, the water being pump
ed out into bitches and allowed to
evaporate. whereupon the residuum
is smelted In furnaces and exposed
while hot to blast of cold air.
This precipitates the carbonate of
soda in a pure state. in the form of
powder If one bathes in Owens
lake one can stand up in the wa
ter without taking the trouble to
make any swimming motions. and
II will not rise above the chest. It
is much more dense than the water
of the Great Salt lake in Utah. But
when one comes out. ones body is
covered with white coat of soda.
which has to be washed off.
The stopping place of the expedl
tons in Owens valley was the town
of Lone Pine, which in earlier days
was said to consist of two stores
and four saloons. Today. however
it is a thriving little place. and is
connected with Los Angeles by new
broad-gause railroad In 1876 It
was wiped out by an earthquake
half of its inhabitants being killed
for it stood almost directly on the
line of crack which suddenly ap-
peared in the earth's crust. carrying
part of the landscape down for dis
lance of some feet below the ad-
joining territory and at the present
time this crack is still visible for
many miles.
At Lone Pine it was necessary to
make up a pack train of mules for
climbing Mt Whitney-the town be-
ing located not very far from the
foot of that monarch of the Sierras
On its western side Mt. whitney
has a slope comparatively gradual
covering a distance of 40 or 30
miles, but on the east it is alarming
ly steep, as may be judged from the
fact that Mr.. Davis and his compan-
ions were obliged within a horizon
tai distance of 10 miles to pass
from a level of 1000 feet to one of
14,50O feet above the sea. Further
more. most of the climbing had to
be done within the last -four miles
that is to say. from $500 feet to
the summit.
When it Is considered that the
snow in many places was from 90
to 80 feet deep some notion may be
had of the difficulties involved
There was sagebrush up to the tim
Der line, which was reached at an
elevation of about a mile and a
half, and at 1900 feet the tree
growth ceased the men and mules
coming out upon the barren and
snow-covered rocks of the ultimate
heights
To run a line of levels up such an
activity was most formidable un-
dertaking. But the surveyors enjoyed
the privilege of beholding the grand
est mountain scenery to be found
anywhere in North America. Nestled
among the peaks are thousands o.
lakes, some of them of considerable
size deep blue in color. mostly
very deep and crystal clear. Their
waters, derived from melting ice
and snow. owe their purity to the
fact that there is no vegetation
nor even any soil in their neighbor-
hood. to muddy them.
Game fishes have been planted in
some of the more accessible of these
lakes for the benefit of sportsmer.
But in waters to the south of Mt
Whitney there are certain native
trout, called golden trout by rea-
son of their color. which are pc
cular species known nowhere else
in the world. An odd thing abou-
lem is that when transplanted to