December, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



397 



The Sea of Salton 





By Charles F. Holder 



HE mysterious sea of Salton has 

 again appeared. The great sink, 

 two hundred and eighty feet below 

 the level of the sea, in which 

 stand the towns of Indio and 

 Salton, is receiving vast streams of 



water, and where a few months ago men were working only 



the top of a large warehouse is seen and a sea stretches away 



to the horizon. 



Of all the desert phenomena the so-called Salton Sea is 



the most remarkable. This vast basin is the last end of the 



desert before one reaches the divide 



near San Jacinto mountain and 



plunges down into southern Cali- 

 fornia. It is a depression two hun- 

 dred and eighty feet, more or less, 



below sea level, and for many square 



miles about it there is a general dip in 



that direction. If water breaks out 



of the Colorado and obtains good 



headway, it runs, not south to the 



gulf, but northwest toward Salton. 



Salton is a vast salt bog, remarkable 



for its salt. A large building has 



been erected there and salt made for 



many years in the lowest portion of 



the pit, nearly three hundred feet 



below the level of the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia. This is a most interesting 



country. The man who keeps his eyes 



open soon observes strange things. 



He sees an old beach, masses of shells ; 



along the foot of the range a long, 



decided line, suggesting an ancient 



water line. He finds curious rock 



inclosures reaching out into the desert 



from the mountains that look as though they were made to 

 hold fish. He discovers various remains of marine animals, 

 and it dawns upon him that sometime the Salton basin, so 

 far below sea level, has been a sea bed filled with water and 

 possibly a part of the Gulf of California, or Cortez, as it 

 should be called. If you talk with the Indians they will 

 tell you that long ago a big sea came in and filled the basin 

 and swept their tribe back into the furnace-like mountains. 



About ten years ago the Indians of the Salton salt works 

 began to grow discontented. Some threw up their work and 

 left, others followed, and the big salt plant was in a fair way 

 to become deserted. The Indians told the white men that 

 once, many ages ago, the water had suddenly filled the basin ; 

 they had a legend to the effect that it would occur again, 

 and a runner from the great river had told them to flee — that 

 it was coming. The white men at the sink paid no attention 

 to this, but the Indians began to leave in greater numbers, 

 and finally the works shut down. It was learned that a 

 mysterious rise of water was taking place in the basin. In 

 a short time the entire area became a sea, and no one could 

 explain why. 



The extraordinary appearance of this sea, covering many 

 square miles, created a sensation, and it w'as believed that the 

 gulf had claimed its own and that a permanent inland sea 

 had been established. The drear mountains of the desert 

 from the railroad now appeared to be standing in the water, 

 and the mirage added to the strangeness of the scene. Indian 

 runners were sent out by the white people, and several enter- 

 prising men imported boats and followed up the stream, 

 which was found to be pouring in and eating up the desert. 

 For weeks the mystery continued. Great clouds hovered 

 over the region, rising one thousand feet into the air, and the 

 report gained credence that this fresh water sea would change 

 and render humid the atmosphere, and all southern Cali- 

 fornia would become tropical. 



None of these things happened. The water poured in for 

 weeks, the sea of Salton increased; but when the Colorado 

 River went down the supply ceased, and in a few months 



A 



inister Making Adobe Brick Sun-Dried at a Temperature of 1 30 Degrees, with which 

 to Build a Church. The Present Church is Seen in the Background, and 

 is Called " Grace and Glory Land " 



