Cafifornia Art & Nature 



organic and inorganic kingdoms of 

 nature; it inquires into the causes of 

 these changes, and the influsnce 

 which they have exerted in modifying 

 the surface and external structure of 

 our planet." 



In the decade commencing with 

 1850 the more depressed part of the 

 ColoradQ desert seems to have been 

 known as the Cienega Grande, now 

 hetter known perhaps as the Salton 

 Sea.but more usually designated as 

 the Dry Lake; in 1870 we are told by 

 early emigrants of that period that the 

 Colorado river was in the habit of 

 annually overfTowing its banks during 

 the time of summer freshets, when the 

 snows melted in the mountains whence 

 the river has its source. This "annual 

 overflow" (as often omitted as other- 

 wise, it is said) formed a channel 

 through the deep alluvial bottom 

 lands of the great basin, to which the 

 name New River was applied by the 

 earlier pioneers who crossed the des- 

 ert on the old overland route from 

 Ft. Yuma to San Diego. 



Along the course of New River, the 

 Cocopa and other tribes of Indians 

 planted and raised magnificent crops 

 on the overflowed lands. Corn, melons, 

 squashes, and other vegetables, and 

 grain, reached the rankest growth at- 

 tainable, and some of these early pio- 

 neers spoke with wonder of the fer- 

 tility of the soil and the success 

 attending these Indians in their agri- 

 cultural labors. These fertile lands 

 were formed of the sediment deposi- 

 ted by the waters of the Colorado 

 river, and as the soil increased in depth 

 the overflow decreased; with the in- 

 creasing Jnfrequency of these overflows 

 now of more rare occurrence, the In- 

 dians were compelled to depart — the 

 Cocopas retreating to the region of the 

 gulf, the Cahuillas to the mountains 

 around the northern arm of the desert. 

 In 1890 the desert Indian huts might 

 yet be found among the mesquite 

 groves of New river, and in 1892 I found 

 the Indians producing from the unfill- 

 ed soil crops of promise, after an over- 

 flow of some of the lands below the 

 United States boundary. 



"Approaching Carrizo creek, we saw 

 for the flrst time in many days, strata 

 of unchanged sedimentary rock. These 



CEffiEUS OHLOBANTHUS Eingelm. 



consist of shales and clays of a light 

 brown or pinkish color, forming hills of 

 considerable magnitude at the base of 

 the mountains. Prom their soft and 

 yielding texture they have been eroded 

 into a great variety of fantastic and 

 imitative forms. This series of beds 

 have been greatly disturbed, in many 

 places exhibiting lines of fracture and 

 displacement. Where they are cut 

 through In the bed of Carrizo creek, 

 they contain concretions and bands of 

 dark brown ferruginous limestone, 

 which include large numbers of fos- 

 sils, ostreas and anomias. These have 

 been described by Mr. Conrad, and are 

 considered of Miocene age. In the de- 

 bris of these shale beds I found frag- 

 ments of the great oyster (Ostrea 

 titan), characteristic of the Miocene 

 beds of the California coast. A few 

 miles north of this point, similar 

 strata, probably of the same age, were 

 noticed by Dr. Le Conte, but there they 

 contain gnathodon, an estuary shell, 

 showing that the portion of the desert 

 where they are now found was once 

 covered by brackish water." — J. S. 

 Newberry. 



