THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



17 



THE ESCALANTE DESERT. 



BY WM. H. WILE JR. 



This vast arid expanse of Southwestern Utah is 

 comparatively unknown to the outside world. 



Walled in by snowy mountains this wonderful land 

 of sunshine and sage flats has marvelous possibilities 

 for development. Bounded on the east by the beauti- 

 ful Cedar and Parowan ranges spurs of the mighty 

 Wasatch, and on the west by the endless desert ranges 

 of Nevada the San Francisco Mountain of myth and 

 legend, this great desert rises toward the south, to sink 

 away through mountain passes into the alkaline wastes of 

 Nevada, and slowly falls toward the north. The Wa- 

 satch Mountains, which run from north to south through- 

 out the central part of Utah, present an enormous mon- 

 oclinal uplift which gradually falls away at a low angle 

 toward the east and breaks off abruptly at the west. 



Hence the western slopes of the Parowan and Cedar 



raspberries of the most delicious flavor are found on the 

 very tops of these ranges where the winter snow has left 

 the rich, black soil exposed. 



Most people imagine a desert to be a vast level ex- 

 panse of sand, on which nothing lives, not even planfs. 

 Pew deserts fulfill these conditions. All our American 

 deserts are inhabited by a rich fauna and flora. The 

 desert plants and animals, like the desert people, have 

 adapted themselves to the conditions, in a wonderful 

 way. Those animals who have been able to exist on 

 the desert have become stronger and more active, often 

 larger. They have had all their faculties sharpened 

 to a wonderful degree. 'They are more keen and alert 

 in avoiding their enemies, simply because they have had 

 great difficulty in obtaining food and those who have 

 been less keen and active have perished. The desert 

 wildcat is very much larger, stronger and more ferocious 

 than the ordinary wildcat of the forest and the river 

 valley. The jack rabbit, whose flight resembles that 

 of an arrow more nearly than anything else, attains a 



Land laid out in Basins. [An illustration taken from the Primer of Irrigation, 

 fully explained in chapter 13 of that work.] 



Mountains present toward the desert mighty cliffs, and 

 rock masses, grand canyons and rock walls rising thou- 

 sands of feet perpendicularly. At their bases bare and 

 gaunt rocks, splintered and shattered by the vast ex- 

 tremes of temperature to which they are subjected, pre- 

 sent a great variety of color. Every shade of red and 

 yellow, with delicate tints of gray contrasted with the 

 gorgeous blue of the sky, or the marvelous colors of 

 sunset or sunrise enchants and charms the eye. 



Above the rock faces, the range rises less steeply 

 and is clothed with small, stunted trees, mostly pinion 

 pine, which with grasses and sages, gives a green appear- 

 ance to the mountain flanks. A vast and wonderful 

 country is found on top of the range extending back to 

 the main ranges of the Wasatch. 



Prosperous farms are sometimes found in some 

 protected amphitheater at the base of some vast snow 

 deposit, whose size enables it to last from season to sea- 

 son. Beautiful meadows, nurtured by the loving care 

 of Nature, are found at other places. Tender flowers 

 more delicate than those reared by man bloom unseen 

 in these garden spots. Fields of large wild mountain 



size and speed on the desert not found elsewhere. His 

 wonderful constitution enables him to live from year to 

 year practically without water. Indeed, it is said he 

 never touches water. I have seen hundreds of these 

 beatftiful creatures skim lightly, gracefully, with great 

 bounds, across the desert, scattering in every direction 

 from the wagon road as we approach. Antelope and 

 wild horses are occasionally seen in the distance. But 

 the king of the wild animals found on the desert, and 

 the most dreaded, is the dull brownish yellow desert rat- 

 tlesnake; they occasionally invade your tent and curl 

 up under your stove, ready to strike you unawares, but 

 always with the terrible rattle. Besides the wealth of 

 animals and plants on the American deserts, there are 

 rolling hills and mesas and vast rocky buttes, and moun- 

 tains covered with stunted trees. What may seem more 

 strange, there are at times violent rain and thunder 

 storms, and in winter fearful snowstorms. 



And just as the animals have undergone a transfor- 

 mation, so have the men become a strong, vigorous, 

 active race. Carlyle's words speaking of the desert cer- 

 tainly apply here: "Consider that wide waste horizon 



