Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-05-23

ciety. Washington d. C)
The Gulf of California, one of the
great CULTS of the world, is next-door
to the United States, yet little known.
A recent resolution of the Arizona
house of representatives seeking to
have the United States acquire a strip
Of territory between Arizona and the
Gulf, whatever it's fate, at least CEN
tiers attention on the potential impor-
lance of this great body Of water.
If the Gulf of California were
stretched out inland over our country
from New York harbor, it would swal-
low up a stretch of country from 80
to $50 miles wide back as far as De-
troit and it's busy factories. 1t was
shown on the early maps of North
America as the Sea of Cortez, since
this bold corsair explored it first. It's
depth varies from 600 to 5000 feet, it's
coast line on both sides is irregular, and
in it are many islands, Angel de la Guar
da and TiburOn being the largest. The
latter island points it's rocky crest 1000
feet above the level Of the sea, and
Is inhabited by a fierce and war-like
tribe of Indians, the Seris who, it Is
claimed, have cannibalistic instincts.
1t can be easily understood that it is
solely because Of the outlet that there
has been a move toward acquiring the
strip of northern Mexico south Of Ari-
IONA, for it is one of the most desc
late regions of North America. The
not
boundary Of the state extends due
west for a space from the southwest
ern corner of New Mexico, it then
strikes northwestward at a very slight
angle. The resolution sought an ar
rangement with Mexico by which this
bend in the southern boundary of the
state would be eliminated so that the
line would continue as it started, in
a due east and west direction. The
triangular area that would be added
to the state would be about 240 miles
long by about so miles wide at the
point of greatest breadth.
Arizona Would Be Coast State.
The important consideration is that
this long narrow triangle is all that
separates Arizona from the sea. Add
1t to Arizona, and overnight the state
would desert the q inland common
wealths and join the 81 that border on
salt water. With it's hundreds Of thou
sands Of tons Of minerals to snip, the
state is now bottled up by a narrow
region undeveloped and little likely to
be developed by it's present owner. 1t
is felt that even the desolate, prac-
tically trailless desert, and the lack of
natural harbors on the Gulf would not
deter Yankee enterprise and Yankee
engineering ability from laying down
a trail of steel and constructing quays
or piers at which ocean steamers
would soon be loading, furnishing the
cheap transportation that bulky prod
ucts demand.
The areas Of most states are well
known, even the parts sparsely popu-
lated. It is hard for jewellers in many
other portions of the United States to
realize, therefore, that hot only is this
triangle of Mexico a terra incognita,
but that the portion of Arizona which
of the region south of the Southern Pa
cific railroad may be thought of as a
desert on which small broken rocky
ranges of mountains have been super
imposed. In the valleys between the
craggy mountains are numerous
patches of fertile soil, but little rain
falls and there are practically no run
ming streams-only dry stream-beds
which now and then carry water for
a few hours until it is lost in the sand,
and very few water holes.
Both north and south of the border,
this region is given over almost wholly
to a handful of Papago Indians with
communistic customs who range as
freely as did their remote ancestors,
needing to give, in their desolate home
land, little or no thought to border
lines or to the governmental machinery
Of states and nations. The region
both American and Mexican-is known
roughly as "Papagueria, and is sell
dom traversed by white men.
Through it the international boun-
dairy extends, the ultimate in arbitrary
lines. Swerving neither to the right
nor to the left it extends. a straight.
geOmetrical line, running up sheer
cliffs and over craggy peaks, hurdling
great valleys and tiny arroyos, cross
ing deserts. lava flows. and sand dunes.
until it strikes the Colorado river some
fifteen miles below Yuma. And 1t is
Imaginary ne we'll as arbitrary Lit
tie monuments from three to five miles
apart mark its progress, but these arc
Iften obscured: and the Indians and