WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



streets or other places where white people 

 congregate, as was common a few years ago. 

 The men now were as fully occupied with 

 business affairs and as active as their white 

 neighbors. 



Their wives were at home attending to 

 household duties, and some of the children 

 were in attendance at the public school. And 

 what is more to their credit the school teacher 

 told me that their children were as bright and 

 as quick to learn as the white children. 



In describing the location of Palm Springs 

 I should have mentioned the fact that it is 

 situated on the edge or western side of the 

 desert, at the foot of the San Jacinto range 

 of mountains. In fact the shadow of the high 

 San Jacinto peak is thrown over the town 

 comparatively early in the afternoon as the 

 setting sun drops behind the summit. This 

 mountain is nearly eleven thousand feet high, 

 with several neighboring peaks reaching six 

 to eight thousand feet of elevation. Palm 

 Springs has an elevation of about 500 feet 

 above sea level, but the grade of the desert 

 toward the south drops rapidly and at a 

 distance of fifteen miles, or at Indio, the 

 floor of the valley is twenty-two feet below 

 the sea level, and at a distance of fifty-seven 

 miles further on, at Salton, the floor of the 

 valley is over two hundred and sixty feet 

 below. 



Like all other mountain ranges, the sides 

 of San Jacinto range overshadowing Palm 

 Springs are gashed with canyons. Some are 

 insignificant, but many are deep and can be 

 followed back into the mountains for miles. 

 Three miles north of the springs is the en- 

 trance of Chino Canyon. Six miles south is 

 the entrance of Palm Canyon. Between the 

 last named and the springs are several other 

 canyons, the principal ones being Murray. 

 Andreas and Tahquitz. The latter is located 

 only a mile and a half from the springs. 

 Andreas four miles and Murray five. Tahquitz 

 has a beautiful waterfall made accessible by 

 an easy trail. 



The features of interest in Palm Canyon is 

 the growth there of numerous native palm 

 trees known in botanical circles as the 

 Washingtonia filifera. A few of these trees 

 are found in the other canyons previously 

 mentioned, excepting in Tahquitz. They also 

 appear in one other canyon north of Chino, 

 and in several other canyons south of Palm 

 Canyon. They are more numerous on the 

 opposite side of the desert or along the base 

 of the San Bernardino range. The maximum 

 height of the trees is about seventy-five feet, 

 the largest trees have a trunk diameter of 

 about three feet. The huge fan-like leaves 

 thrust from the top of the trees give a pleas- 

 ing shade. As the trunk ascends in growth 

 the leaves die and hang down, making a thick 

 thatch around the trunk, suggestive of a great 

 petticoat. But it is only occasionally you will 

 find a large tree with its petticoat preserved. 

 Fires, intentional or accidental, have burned 

 them off. Unless the fires burn into the top. 

 or green part, which seldom happens, the 

 trees are uninjured. It is said these trees 

 are peculiar to that section of country ex- 



tending from the margins of the northern 

 part of the Colorado desert into. Lower Cali- 

 fornia. They are commonly called California 

 fan palms. 



We made the hotel, or inn, as it is most 

 commonly called, our headquarters. It is 

 centrally situated in the territory that we 

 wished to cover in our study of nature's pro- 

 ductions. So it was from this point we made 

 daily excursions out on the desert and to the 

 various canyons mentioned. Generally we 

 took our lunches with us and would walk 

 from six to fifteen miles. Some of the places, 

 the larger canyons in particular, we visited 

 several times to enable us to observe all of 

 the features of interest, such as the geological 

 formations and recent changes therein, the 

 flora peculiar to the section, and especially 

 some of the desert insect life. 



The remarkable vigorous growth of the 

 numerous citrus trees, the strong and healthy 

 appearance of the fig and numerous other 

 fruit, shade and ornamental trees in and 

 about the little town suggested a soil con- 

 dition of unusual fertility. In the hotel 

 grounds there were growing many beautiful 

 trees of different kinds, among which were 

 a couple of trees near the office bearing 

 grape fruit. These trees were about twenty 

 feet in height and the great size of the fruit 

 hanging from the branches at once attracted 

 the attention of all incoming guests. Some 

 of the largest fruit measured within a frac- 

 tion of twenty-four inches in circumference, 

 which would give them about eight inches 

 diameter. 



We had not been long in the place before 

 we noted that it was teeming with bird life, 

 with numerous songsters. In fact the air was 

 filled with bird music, in which the singing 

 of the linnets and Bullock orioles was the 

 most prominent. The last named was one 

 of the most numerous birds around the 

 springs grounds. As the nesting season was 

 now* on we found several pairs of these birds 

 at work constructing the peculiar hanging 

 nests for which they are noted on the under 

 side of the big leaves of the palm trees. 



A few moments' walking northerly, east- 

 erly or southerly would take a person beyond 

 the lands reclaimed for town purposes, out 

 among the shrubs, cactus and wild flowers of 

 the desert. The floor of the desert consists 

 of what might be roughly called coarse sand, 

 but properly speaking it is composed of the 

 erosions from the granite masses forming the 

 mountains bordering the desert. In the 

 course of time where it receives an abund- 

 ance of water and some humus, and is 

 worked, it seems to slowly decompose and 

 form soil. It should be rich in some of the 

 elements nutritive to plant life, especially 

 potash. Ordinary sand is composed almost 

 wholly of silicia, which is insoluble and there- 

 fore differs from the so-called sand of the 

 desert. 



As you approach the mouths of the canyons 

 from the main level of the desert this sand 

 becomes coarser and coarser until finally you 

 begin to encounter boulders, then big broken 



