THE COLORADO DESERT 341 



soutliward once more to the !?ea. Tlie lake, fed irregularly aiul poorly, 

 gradually dwindled as the silted banks of the Colorado became more 

 secure, until it is represented today only by the Salton morass and 

 other lagoons and the summer overflow streams by which these are 

 sup]>lied. 



All this took place in ver^' recent time. The C'oahuila Indians, 

 who today inhabit the upper end of the valle\% have a distinct and 

 credible tradition of the dr\'ing-ui) of this lake and of the occasional 

 sudden return of its waters; and the Dieguefios, who lived at a time 

 when the supply of water along the central ])ortion of the valley was 

 probably luuch greater than at present, raised- on tlie naturally irri- 

 gated soil abundant crops of maize, melons, and beans. lh\i slowly 

 the valley was al)andoned to aridity. Almost unvisited by rainfall 

 exce])t about the edge of the mountains, the loss of the river left it 

 cruelly dry. Low and inclosed between heat- reflecting ranges that 

 shut otf the breezes of the ocean, itgaiued a temperature which is one 

 of the highest on the globe. The wind storms that rage up the valley 

 from the southeast have drifted great dunes of sand over certain por- 

 tions, and much of the country never reached l)y the deposits of the 

 lake is as black, stony, and repulsive as eruptive rock formations in 

 the desert can be. Apparently about the middle of the first half of 

 the century the overflow from the Colorado was largely checked and 

 not resumed to any extent until the year 1849. The Indians, who 

 had livetl in plenty along the central valley, were driven by the 

 drought forever from their homes. 



In November, 1847, the advance column of American troops, under 

 Kearii}', moving across from Fort Leavenworth for the conquest of 

 California, crossed the desert from Yuma to San Diego. The troops 

 suffered severely from thirst, finding no water, except a scant sup])ly 

 at Alamo Mocho,the first station after leaving the Colora<lo. In the 

 middle of the [)lain they found a salt pool, api)roached through a, 

 thick, soapy quagmire, but the water was unfit for man or l)east. This 

 lake indicates at least a slight overflow at that time, and Major lunory 

 reported that captured 8|)aniards who guided tbein told of a stream 

 of running water some miles south of Alamo, 'i'his stream the Amer- 

 icans were unalde to (ind (no ovt^rllow taking place so late in tlic tall), 

 and their experience led th<3in to announce the desert as almost wholly 

 without water supph'.* 



i'>iit in iSli) came the rush of emigrant parties from the soutbcni 



♦ See the roport c.f Mujni- Knhiry, ".Noti'sol' n Miliiiiiy KiM-rdiiioisMiun;.-," i-n-., W:iNliiiij{li>ii, 

 1848. pp. IWJ-irK. 



