OBSERVATIONS IN THE COLORADO DESERT 



S. B. PARISH 



Scm Bernardino, California 



An historic highway leads from Fort Yuma, on the Colorado 

 river, to Warner's Ranch, situated at an elevation of 3000 feet 

 in the mountains of San Diego county, California. In the 

 early days of the American occupation it was the great thorough- 

 fare from the regions beyond that river to the primitive settle- 

 ments of southern California. Not until this grassy valley was 

 reached did the weary traveler feel that the perils of the desert 

 were passed, and a comparatively easy way was open to San Diego 

 or Los Angeles. Several of the botanists connected with the 

 early government surveys passed over this route, and places along 

 it find mention in their reports. Later the construction of rail- 

 ways, and the building of another and better road, deprived the 

 old one of its former importance, and at present it is little trav- 

 elled. Early in April, 1914, the writer drove over a part of it, 

 and the following notes, the last two excepted, relate to places 

 situated upon it. 



SAN FELIPE 



Five miles beyond the Hot Springs in Warner Valley, as one 

 travels desertwards, the summit which divides the desert from 

 the seaward mountains is passed at an altitude of 3780 feet 

 and San Felipe Valley is reached. San Felipe is 1600 feet lower 

 than Warner's, and both of them drain through steep canyons 

 to the Colorado desert and the lower part of Carrizo creek. 

 They are, therefore, part of the catchment area of the Cahuilla 

 basin, but their flora, especially that of the first named valley, 

 belongs largely to that of the arid San Diego Mountains. 



Both valleys contain considerable areas of coarse grasses, and 

 numerous herbs and shrubs which are common in the dry mon- 



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