California Art & Nature 



12 



lagoon or chain of lagoons, connected 

 or disconnected, according to the vol- 

 ume of water, which probably varied 

 one season as compared with another; 

 a system of shallow reservoirs, receiving 

 the catchment or surplus water in per- 

 iods or seasons of unusual rainfall, 

 sometimes, after a prolonged and wide- 

 spread storm of great severity, uniting 

 and forming an extensive expanse a 

 few feet only in depth, as was seen in 

 the valleys of California during the 

 notable winter of 1861-62. The rate of 

 depression may have been such as to 

 continue to keep the lagoons supplied, 

 • • * and that only within a very re- 

 cent period has this depressed por- 

 tion of the Colorado basin become bare 

 and dry. Are the phenomena which 

 this vast and remarkable region exhib- 

 its * * * the result of catastrophic ac- 

 tion, sudden, violent, and widespread, 

 or the result of gradual changes mov- 

 ing slowly through countless cen- 

 turies?" 



At Salton fresh water sihells are found 

 in countless myriads, with recent spec- 

 ies of marine shells, on the surface of 

 the plain, 250 feet below sea level. Por- 

 tions of the Dry lake are 300 feet below 

 sea level. These minute fresh water 

 shells are drifted into windrows in 

 places, where they may be scraped up 

 by the quart. 



Along the eastern base of the San 

 Jacinto mountains, an old beach line 

 is well defined, and can be easily traced 

 for miles. The rocks are worn and 

 rounded up to this line, sharp and jag- 

 ged above. This line by actual meas- 

 urement has been found to be even with 

 the present leval of the sea. 



Major W. H. Emory, in report of the 

 United States and Mexican boundary 

 survey, gave the following table of 

 distances: 



San Felipe to Vallecito, 17.85 miles, 



Vallecito to Carrizo creek, 16.6 miles. 



Carrizo creek to Big laguna, 26.41 

 mile.si. 



Big laguna to New river, 5.83 miles. 



New river to Little laguna, 4.5 miles. 



Little laguna to Alamo Mocho, 16.44 

 miles. 



Alamo Mocho to Cook's well, 21.84 

 miles. 



Cook's well to Fort Yuma, 20 miles. 



Dr. Charles Christopher Parry, bot- 



anist and geologist of the United Statss 

 boundary commission, in reporting a 

 reconnoissance made in 1849, wrote, 

 concerning this region, as follows: 



"On leaving the last rocky exposures 

 to enter on the open desert plain, we 

 pass, some distance down the bed of 

 Carrizo creek; along the course of 

 which are exposed the high bluffs of 

 sand, marl and clay, exhibiting a fine 

 sectional view of the tertiary format'on 

 on which the desert plateau is based. 

 At the point where the road leaves the 

 bed of the creek, to mount to the des- 

 ert tableland, some 150 feet above, fos- 

 sil marine shells of Ostrea are found, 

 and gypsum makes its appearance in 

 extensive beds. The upper layer of 

 the tableland shows a variable th'ck- 

 ness, composed of water-worn pebbles, 

 derived fromi the adjoining mountains. 

 Near the mountain base this plat au 

 has a height of about 500 feet above 

 the level of the Colorado river. The 

 surface extends in a gentle slope to- 

 wards the Colorado, or eastward, about 

 the distance of 25 miles, where it reach- 

 es its lowest depression at the lagoon 

 or Newi river basin, which is in fact a 

 part of the extended alluvial tracts be- 

 longing to the Colorado river." 



The New river region receives the 

 drainage of a large scoce of country, 

 which is sometimes visited by heavy 

 showers. "It retains this rain-water, 

 and river overflows, for several 

 months; when both these sources fail, 

 it becomes a perfectly dry bed, or con- 

 tracts into quaggy saline marshes" 

 (Parry). After a heavy rain or over- 

 flow there is a rank growth of grass, 

 and other vegetation, while consider- 

 able portions sustain a heavy growth 

 of the mesqulte. This affords fine 

 grazing for stock, which cattle men 

 have not been slow to appropriate. 



Between the peninsula range and the 

 Colorado river and the gulf lies a high 

 mountain range, to the most northern 

 and western point of which has been 

 given the name of Signal mountain; 

 this consists of a form of syenite, as- 

 sociated w.ith recent lava. "Its sur- 

 face is bare, and presents a forbidding 

 outline of dark weathered rock, vari- 

 ously marked by furrows, and shows 

 an irregular crest, gradually sloping 

 towards the east." (Parry). 



