CHAPTER IX 

 THE COLORADO DESERT 



The southeast corner of the southwest corner of the United 

 States is one of the most unique regions of the North American 

 continent. California has the distinction of the most extreme 

 variations in physical features of any State, province or coun- 

 try. In no State or region are there acres that produce more 

 in value of products annually than do acres of California's fer- 



Pboto by David G. Thompson, U. S. Geol. Survey 

 FIG. 32. Creosote bush, in Mojave Desert. 



tile fields in this unique region. Hard by are acres that produce 

 nothing, and by no stretch of the imagination can be conceived 

 to have any value whatever for any agricultural use. Here, in 

 a State famed for its productive soils, is also the abject desert. 



Nature has her moods and man has inventive genius. A 

 peasant laborer from far-off India (more a philosopher than he 

 knew) looked out upon the broad land, then looked far away 



