The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1917-03-08

YN THESE days Of the universal
globe-trotter few Of the
earth escape intimate description.
No mountain Is too high to be
climbed and no forest too dense to be
dreaded. Perhaps the most potent
barrier to invasion is dearth Of water
md right at our door is a little strip
f country that possesses so many OF
he attributes Of a real desert that 1t
'rowns~ away nearly every Intruder,
writes L.. Worthington Green in the
Los Angeles Times.
We know all about such places as
Death Valley, for 40 desert, certainly
me that is not big, al remain invio-
ate, If 1t be surrounded by passable
'ountry, as Death Valley Is. But this
waste of which / shall speak has salt
water on one side and sufficiently diff
icult mountains on the other, and 1t
) not at all easy to even get there.
t is on the eastern side Of Lower Cal
~fornia, about halfway down the pc
insula.
The entire middle section Of Lower
,alifornia might be called a desert;
t is almost uninhabited, its rainfall
} just above naught, and its springs
{ water, nearly all very small, could
e told Off on the fingers. But the
yestern part of that section Is made
Olerable by the trade winds from the
'acifc, and 1t Is only the eastern part
hat adds to its other qualifications
hose of q torrid sun and breathless
tmosphere.
No official road crosses this middle
ection; the mail goes from Ensenada
own to Santa Catarina, and comes up
rom Santa Rosalia In the south as far
S Calmalli, leaving a broad strip OF
atraversed country. Natives who
'ust travel up or down make use of
80 main saddle trails; one trail
asses west to the center and Is called
ne coast road, though it nowhere ap-
reaches the Pacific; the other goes
. the east and Is called the mountain
Duu, dlO lllut 10 Nv Nv "AliSL ioooSo
he real desert. Leaving San Fernan-
0, If one goes with burros, he will
ravel eleven OF twelve days without
eeing al inhabited place, and proba-
ly, as I did, without meeting a person.
;efore he gets through he will long,
OF for the flesh pots Of Egypt, though
hey would not come amiss as q
hange from beans and baking-powder
iscuit, but for q drink Of sweet water.
Water Scarce and Bad.
There Is not much water of any
ind, and what there Is Is most I'M
~ecessarily bad, with a great variety
hat coffee made from 1t Is almost I'M
rinkable, though tea made of the
anne water may be swallowed with a
reat degree of comfort. At San
'rancisquit the water is so salt that
{ one were set down there blindfold
,e would be sure he a drinking from
he ocean itself. At CalamOge there Is
/ choice; the worst is ln~describable.
md the best Is SO ~impregnated with
oda that 1t will cook beans tender In
n hour, and with the addition Of a
title citric acid makes q sparkling
rink. At Aqua Amarga, the name
ellis the story, bitter water, so bitter
hat the animals, after two days with
ut drinking, almost decided to endure
mother dry day rather than imbibe 1t.
One watering place is the Tinajas Of
val in n granite canyon. There one
lust dig down through many feet of
Dose sand that has drifted in to reach
he water In the rock basins, and then
t IS such a disappointment. One
would imagine that water preserved
n natural bowls of rock must be deli
ious, but during the months, and per-
laps years, since the last rain, it has
described all the vile fiavors Of the va
led drift washed in with the torrent
hat filed the basins.
Cvai is full of Interest. When Low
ar California supported thousands OF
Indians 1t was q populous place. The
granite sides of the canyon are hon.
eycombed and each little cavern pos
Sesses its tenants.
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 I ever
saw, barely an inch long and scarcely
larger than a darning needle, and yet.
though so minute, in perfect condi-
ton.
Only One Ranch There.
There is only one ranch In this des-
olation, San Luis, but 1t Is some ten
miles to one side Of the road, and one
who is not informed would eve sus-
pect its existence. In a rocky rincon
wells a spring Of most excellent water,