United States. It is found in strata four or five feet in thickness 

 and it possesses 45 per centum efficiency as a hi^h explosive. An 

 r\liau,-li\i' scarcli for potash has revealed several rich deposits in 

 \arious localities in such quantities, which, with the production from 

 the kelp of the Pacitk- Coast, will at an early future free us from 

 ihc lu'ccssily i>f forri^n importation. 



PLATE 4. 

 Yuccas, nicknamed "Joshuas," and skyline of Needle Pointed Moun- 

 tains marking the California and Nevada State Line. 



George Whitwell Parsons, during his younger days, lived in Ariz- 

 ona where he had the exacting experience of prospector and where he 

 participated in the lively activities against the Apache ferocities 

 under Geronimo and of the Vigilante Committees in their work of 

 establishing order and decency among the lawless and "bad-man" 

 element which infested the Territory in its early age. He threw the 

 lariat, rode the bronco, loaded his burro and in traversing the desert 

 plains, and crossing the great mountain ranges he became an expert 

 in mining development and familiar with the necessities for an ex- 

 plorer of uninhabited sections. The experience he gained in those 

 primitive times made him an authority after coming to Southern 

 California, and the reports made by him from the knowledge he 

 gained in the thousands of miles he traversed in exploring the mineral 

 deposits in California and Xevada, were received with absolute trust 

 and faith as to their verity. 



In his long and wearisome journeyings he frequently encountered 

 the shocking evidences of the many ghastly tragedies of these track- 

 less wilds, in the bleaching skeletons of those who had perished, some 

 at miles away, and others but a short distance from the life-preserving 

 water. 



32 



