Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1917-05-10

YN THESE days of the universal
globe-trotter few corners OF the
earth escape intimate description.
No mountain is too high to be
climbed and no forest too dense to be
threaded. Perhaps the most potent
barrier to invasion Is dearth of water
and right at our door Is little strip
of country that possesses so many OF
the attributes of a real desert that 1t
frowns away nearly every intruder,
writes L. Worthington Green In the
Los Angeles Times.
We know all about such places as
Death Valley, for no desert, certainly
one that Is not big, can remain fnvlo-
late, if it be surrounded by passable
country, as Death Valley Is. But this
waste of which l shall speak has salt
water on one side and sufficiently diff
ficult mountains on the other, and 1t
is not ut all easy to even get there.
1t is on the eastern side of Lower Cal
ifornia, about halfway down the Pc
ninsula.
The entire middle section Of Lower
California might be called a desert;
It is almost uninhabited, its rainfall
is Just above naught, and its springs
of water, nearly all very small, could
be told off on the fingers. But the
western part Of that section Is made
tOlerable by the trade winds from the
Pacific, and it is only the eastern part
that adds to it's other qualifications
those of torrid sun and GREATNESS
atmosphere.
No official road crosses this middle
section the mail goes from Ensenada
down to Santa Catarina, and comes up
from Santa Rosalia in the south as far
as Calmalli, leaving broad strip OF
untraversed country. Natives who
must travel up or down make use OF
two main saddle trails; one trail
passes west to the center and is called
the coast road, though it nowhere ap-
proaches the Pacific; the other goes
to the east and Is called the mountain
road, and that Is the one which crosses
the real desert. Leaving San Fernan-
do, If enc goes with burrOs, he Will
travel eleven or twelve days without
seeing an inhabited place, and proba-
bly,, as did, without meeting person.
Before he gets through he will long,
not for the flesh pots Of Egypt, though
they would not come amiss as
change from beans and baking-powder
biscuit, but for drink of sweet water.
Water Scarce and Bad.
There is not much water of any
kind, and what there Is us most I'M
necessarily bad, with great variety
of badness. Some of 1t Is so nauseous
that coffee made from it Is almost I'M
drinkable, though tea made of the
same water may be swallowed with a
great degree of comfort. At San
Francisquit the water is so salt that
II one were set down there blindfold
he would be sure he was drinking from
the ocean itself. At Calamoge there is
a choice; the worst Is indescribable,
and the best Is so impregnated with
SOFA that it will cook beans tender in
an hour, and with the addition of a
little citric acid makes sparkling
drink. At Aqua Amarga, the name
tells the story, bitter water, SO bitter
that the animals, after two days with
out drinking, almost decided to endure
another dry day rather than imbibe 1t.
One watering place is the Tinajas of
Uvai in a granite canyon. There one
must dig down through many feet Of
loose sand that has drifted in to reach
the water in the rock basins, and then
it Is such q disappointment. One
would imagine that water preserved
in natural bowls Of rock must be deli
cious, but during the months, and per-
haps years. since the last rain, 1t has
absorbed all the vile flavors Of the va
ried drift washed in with the torrent
that filled the basins.
Vvai Is full of interest. When Low
er California supported thousands of
Indians 1t was populous place. The
granite sides of the canyon are hon
eycombed and each little cavern pos
SeSSeS us ttuduIS.
In the sand below the caverns and
about the tinajas are to be found flint
arrowpoints and knives. One point
I picked up was the smallest 1 ever
saw, barely an inch long and scarcely
larger than a darning needle, and yet,
though so minute, in perfect condi-
ton.
Only Ono Ranch There.
There is only one ranch in this des-
olation, San Luis, bat 1t is some ten
miles to one side of the road, and one
who is not informed would never sus-
pect its existence. In rocky rincon
wells spring of most excellent water,
which has always been sufficient fol
two or three hundred head of cattle.
The spot Is veritable oasis, where
grass along the stretch Of the canyon
springs up as If by magic and shrubs
remain green beyond seeming posi-
bility. The cattle Of the ranch prove
that, with an abundance of sweet wa
ter, animals may maintain a fairly
good condition by browsing on desert
shrubs, for on the surrounding noun
tains there Is no grass whatever.
There are, however, other growths be,
sides shrubs, notably the mescal, upon
which cattle feed.