A Desert Fishing Pool 383 



there will, doubtless, be good fishing along its 

 tropical shores. 



Of all the desert phenomena the so-called Sal- 

 ton Sea is the most remarkable. This vast 

 basin is near the last end of the desert before 

 one reaches the divide near San Jacinto Moun- 

 tain and plunges down into Southern California. 

 It is a depression two hundred and eighty feet, 

 more or less, below sea level, and for many 

 square miles about it there is a general dip in 

 that direction. If water breaks out of the Colo- 

 rado and obtains a good headway, it runs, not 

 south to the gulf, but northwest toward Salton. 

 Salton is a vast salt bog, remarkable for its 

 salt. A large building was erected there and 

 salt made for a number of years in the lowest 

 portion of the pit, nearly three hundred feet 

 below the level of the Gulf of California. This 

 is a most interesting country and the man who 

 keeps his eyes open observes strange things. He 

 sees an old beach, masses of shells; and along 

 the foot of the range, a long decided streak, sug- 

 gesting an ancient water-line. He finds curious 

 rock inclosures reaching out into the desert from 

 the mountains that look as though they were 

 made to hold fish. He discovers various remains 

 of marine animals, and it dawns upon him that 

 sometime the Salton Basin, so far below sea 

 level, has been a sea bed filled with water and 

 possibly a part of the Gulf of California, or 



