The Old Yuma Trail 



^33 



alkaline sweetness of the water, prop- 

 erly as " Agua Salada " from its salinity. 

 The''agua" is merely the small residuum 

 of underflow and local seepage brought 

 to the surface of the Sonoyta sand wash 

 by impervious ledges of Cerro Salado in 

 their subterranean extension across the 

 valley ; and the banks and bottom are 

 encrusted with frost-like efflorescences 

 of mineral salts. The water is fair for 

 stock, just potable for men ; it is a re- 

 sort for half-wild cattle and horses and 

 burros ranging the sierras and valleys 

 for twenty miles beyond ; but the latest 

 sign is that of Don Bartolo's outfit, 

 whose casks and kegs were filled twenty- 

 four hours earlier. Here we pitch a 

 tentless camp, w^ith the first graves of the 

 Old Yuma Trail on a low spur hard by ; 

 the sky is clear, though the air is heavy 

 and warm ; and Co3'ote (the Wise One 

 of Papago lore) creeps near to sing his 

 rain-song — a sleep-breaking wail well 

 understood of the vaqueros. 



THE SUMP OF THE SONOYTA 



The first faint dawn of the 17th is 

 ushered by a slow sprinkle from low 

 clouds, forming a fog-bank half way up 

 the Cerro, but so light overhead that the 

 brighter stars glimmer through ; and 

 blankets are hurriedly rolled and loaded, 

 breakfast is bolted, and the outfit is under 

 way in the gra}^ twilight. With sunrise 

 the floating fogs fade, revealing the en- 

 tire salt-pan in which Rio Sonoyta comes 

 to an end — a basin of a score square 

 miles, bounded on the north by Cerro 

 Salado and its footslopes, on the west b}^ 

 minor ranges running down from Sierra 

 Pinecate, and on the southeast by a 

 sheetflood slope studded with volcanic 

 buttes and mesas ; while the old valley 

 opening southwestward to the Gulf stops 

 at a dam of hundred-foot dunes marking 

 the margin of the Red Desert — a sea- 

 born tide of sand slowly engulfing the 

 lowlands of Sonora from Rio Colorado 

 to Lobos Point. This is the " sink " 



of the Sonoyta in the pioneers' vernac- 

 ular, its evaporating vat in physical 

 fact ; after freshets it is lake or mo- 

 rass according to the volume of the 

 flood, and then bottomless mire for 

 weeks ; now it is a Titan-patterned car- 

 pet of red, white, yellow, and black 

 efflorescences, relieved b}^ the greens of 

 salt-enduring shrubbery on higher spots. 

 On the hard-baked surface-crust the 

 hoofs drum and the wheels rumble with 

 a hollow reverberation more disturbing 

 to animals than to men — albeit reminders 

 to these of tragedies galore in the treach- 

 erous sump. A herd of wild burros see 

 or scent the leading horseman from afar, 

 and after deer-like stamps and snorts 

 and other signals gather in a bunch, with 

 dams and foals in the lead and males in 

 the rear, to skim with amazing swift- 

 ness — recalling the wild asses of A rabia — 

 down the rocky slQpes and over the re- 

 sounding playa obliquely across the trail 

 toward the impassable sand-dunes ; 

 while an occasional band of half-wild 

 horses ma}' be glimpsed lurking behind 

 mesquite clumps or scurrjang for more 

 distant shelter. 



The trail leaves the Sonoyta basin 

 about longitude 113° 10', and ten miles 

 south of the boundary ; thence it wan- 

 ders northwestward over rocky foot- 

 slopes, bending slightly to avoid isolated 

 buttes and curving more sharply to cross 

 arroyos, for a dozen miles — to an imper- 

 ceptible divide and the invisible fron- 

 tier, where it enters a typical valley-plain 

 of southwestern Arizona. Just outside 

 the basin we overtake the supply outfit 

 (which should have been thirty miles fur- 

 ther on), and learn of the broken queen 

 bolt and the long night ride by the Mexi- 

 can to replace it, while the Indian staid 

 by the stock ; and we foregather to re- 

 vise plans, swallowing apprehensions 

 and a cold bite as the rare clouds of 

 Papagueria gather to break in noonday 

 showers and dispel the darkest danger 

 of the desert. After arranging a ren- 

 dezvous where galleta grass may be 



