MUNZ] A JOURNEY TO THE S ALTON SEA 5 



The Wednesday journey led through the famous Coachella 

 valley, the date region of California, to the fascinatingly interest- 

 ing country beyond, that of the Colorado desert, the Salton 

 Sink. 



Those who have read the "Winning of Barbara Worth", have 

 some idea of this tremendous region which lies below sea-level. 

 There are everywhere evidences of its having once been filled with 

 water; one can see old shore-levels about the edges, the now barren 

 desert sands are full of shells of clams and small univalves which 

 can be scooped up by the handful where the winds have concen- 

 trated them like common sand. 



Geologists generally believe that the area of the Salton Sink 

 was at one tim.e an arm of the Gulf of California, that the Colorado 

 River separated the two by its delta, that the waters of the river 

 being diverted to the south, those in the Sink gradually evaporated 

 and receded, occasionally perhaps being added to by the Colorado 

 River in flood time as it washed new channels in its delta. But 

 Mr. E. E. Free, apparently on good grounds, urges that the water 

 to the north of the delta, Blake Sea, whatever its origin, was'soon 

 comparatively fresh; for the shells to be found are none of them 

 marine, and some of the rocks near the old shore-level are coated 

 with a thick tufa, a calcareous mass which cements rogether many 

 of the rocks, and which is very evidently of fresh-water origin. 

 At any rate it is evident that this basin was once filled with water 

 and to see xerophytic desert shrubs growing among water deposits 

 and shells, is, to say the least, interesting. 



The Sink is an area eighty miles long and with a maximum 

 width of thirty miles. The Southern Pacific Railroad crosses it 

 near its northern limit and apparently was far from any water 

 when built. During the season of 1891 the water from the 

 Colorado River many miles to the south, having filled many of 

 the small channels and lagoons to the south-west flowed through 

 into Salton Sink and formed a lake several miles long. The 

 intervening region was little known and the appearance of this 

 body of water so near the railroad caused all sorts of rumors 

 imtil one or two venturesome individuals made the journey by 

 boat from the river to the lake and solved the mystery. It is said 

 that old settlers are of the opinion that some water came into the 

 Salton in 1840, 1842, 1852, 1859, 1862, 1867 and almost every year 

 since 1890. 



