84 SB. PARISH 



After travelling some 4 miles through this desolation the old 

 road, which continues along Carrizo creek, was left in order to 

 visit the canyon of Split Mountain, on the other side of the 

 range, and opening directly upon the Salton Sink. The way, 

 for it cannot be called a road, is to be followed only by a careful 

 watch for an occasional half-effaced wheel mark, or a monu- 

 ment made by placing a cobblestone atop a boulder. By such 

 uncertain indications one is guided through the right branches 

 of a sand wash, all of which appear exactly alike. 



The vegetation was sparse, and consisted of the same monoto- 

 nous shrubs already so often mentioned. The extreme aridity 

 was emphasized by the absence of Agaves and Cactaceae. 

 Toward the upper end of the wash were tufts of Arisiida bro- 

 moides, A. Parishii and Pleuraphis rigida, too few to affect the 

 general barrenness. 



As the summit is neared ledges project composed of small 

 oyster shells closely compacted. The divide itself is a wide 

 expanse of grayish clay, cut by ravines hundreds of feet deep and 

 precipitously steep. The pathway follows the ridges, so narrow 

 as barely to afford a precarious passage. The barrenness of the 

 clay is untouched by a trace of vegetation. At last a slope is 

 reached down which it is possible to descend to a wash leading 

 to the canyon. 



Split canyon well deserves its name, since it seems an enor- 

 mous crevice riven into the heart of the mountain. For a mile 

 or more its perpendicular walls of sandstone and conglomerate 

 tower hundreds of feet on either hand. The floor is from 100 

 to 300 feet in width, and in places is so littered with great angular 

 blocks of stone that it is with difficulty that passage for a wagon 

 is found between them. Plant growth was very limited, both in 

 species and in individuals. Among the rocks were Hyplis Emoryi, 

 Parosela spinosa and Acacia Greggii; and a few herbs, Chamae- 

 syce polycarpa, Achyronychia Cooperi and a desert form of Hosackia 

 strigosa, spread their radiate stems upon the sand. With them 

 grew some clumps of Astragalus limatus, and along the base of 

 the cliffs Aster Orcutiii, Phy salts crassifolia and Oenothera cardio- 



