Bisbee daily review., 1914-05-23
LOWER CALIFORNIA LEAST KNOWN LAND
 IN NORTH AMERICA
Interesting Facts Concerning Isolated Peninsula; Secured
 by Geographic Society.


 WASHINGTON. May 22.-Lower California. Mexicos isolated benin sula. the coast of which the Pacific Fleet fthe United States is now pat rolling, is one of the least known ter ritories in forth America, The fol- lowing facts concerning this army of land, which projects about 500 miles southeasterly from the southern bor- der of California, were given out by the National Geographic Society at Washington. D. C.. today:
 The width of the peninsula varies from about 30 to more than 100 miles. and its irregular coast-line over 2OO0 miles long. is bordered by numerous islands. Being mainly mountainous, desert region, it is thinly peopled and presents many sharply contracting conditions Low sunscorched plains where death by thirst awaits the tray eler, lie close to the bases of tow firing granite peaks, belted by forests audcapped in winter by snow; deso- late plateaus of black lava look down on valleys scanned with green bor. dered streams.
 At the time of its discovery in 1533 by an expedition sent out by Cortes in search of a fabulously rich island, it is estimated to have been inhabited by 25,OOO Indians. who wig orously resented the intrusion and prevented the new comers from get. ting a foothold for more than a cen ing missions. They established three were wonderfully successful in ex. ploring the peninsula and establish tury The Jesuits then came in and main trails, one along each coast and the third down the middle, which serve a sthe regular routes of travel today The Indians have vanished from all parts ftheir former territo- ry. except a few in the extreme north eru end.
 During the last helf century all parts of the territory have been vis- tied, mainly by Americans, in search of mines and other natural resources. but little of the knowledge gained has become available to the public Gold, silver copper. iron and other min erals and much fertile land have been found. but the scarcity Of water fuel, forage. and the difficulties of trans- portation have united with other causes to bring about failure to de- velop the resources.
 The climate of Lower California . in general is hot and arid Northern conditions are closely like those in ad- joining parts of southern California; in the middle they are more arid, but the extreme southern end. though arid tropical has more regular summer rains The peninsula suffers longper- iods of drought, during which no rain fall sufficient to start vegetation oc- CUTS over large areas for periods Of from three to five years. These dry periods may be succeeded by torren- ual rains which sweep the country and roll great floods down to the sea. Surface water is scarce and Him. ued mainly to isolated water-holes m | the rocks or to springs from which small streams flow a short distance. The Rio Santo Domingo is the one liv- ing stream within the peninsula which flows on the surfac from its source Go the sea throughout the year. These conditions have resulted in the deyel- Opment of the richest and most extra ordinary desert flora in the world. The
 bird and mammal life, however, is closely related to that of southern California The plains abound with small desert mammals, such as rab- bits, pocket mice. kangaroo rats and others A large number of the small l CT desert mammals never drink water 1t having been found impossible to teach some O fthem to take water iG captivity Antelope. mountain sheep, mule-deer and mountain lions are the only large game animals
 The peninsula is thinly peopled and enormous areas remain uniuhabited. The most populous section is the re- zion south of La Paz, where rains are
 more regular than further north. A few small towns and widely scattered communities along the coast, with a
 limited number of villages, ranches
 and miners camps in Che interior, coy CT the population Lower California
 has a territorial form of government and. owing to its great length, is di-
 vided near the middle into a northern
 and a southern district, Ensenada and
 La Paz being the respective capitals