A LAND OF DROUGHT AND DESERT 



447 



Mr. Goldman with Dr. D. T. MacDougal, 

 of the Carnegie Institution, to the delta 

 of the Colorado in March and April, 

 when the flood-plain of the Hardy River, 

 at the base of the Cocopah Mountains, 

 was covered with water. 



In May we proceeded to Ensenada, a 

 small port on the west coast of the pen- 

 insula, about 75 miles south of San 

 Diego, to outfit for our long journey. 

 This place is at the head of a small bay, 

 with the steep slopes of the coast moun- 

 tains rising a short distance inland. 

 Some years ago Ensenada had a tempo- 

 rary "boom" while efforts were being 

 made to establish an agricultural colony 

 there. At the time of our visit the town 

 was more deserted than usual, owing to 

 the number of people who had gone to 

 seek employment on the irrigation works 

 of Imperial Valley. This town is the 

 main port of the northern part of the 

 peninsula as well as the capital of the 

 northern district. Lower California has 

 a territorial form of government, and, 

 owing to its great length, is divided near 

 the middle into a northern and a south- 

 ern district, Ensenada and La Paz being 

 the capitals of their respective districts. 



The governor of the northern district, 

 Colonel Celso Vega, received us courte- 

 ously and did everything in his power to 

 forward the object of our visit. After 

 some delay we secured the services of 

 two Mexicans, who claimed to know the 

 trails and water-holes along our intended 

 route, with four saddle-horses and four 

 pack-mules. Many of our self-consti- 

 tuted advisers predicted a sad ending to 

 our journey, comforting us with the 

 assurance that we should have secured 

 saddle-mules in place of horses, for the 

 latter would never carry us half way 

 across the desert. It is no doubt true 

 that mules are better fitted for desert 

 work, but our horses, with a single ex- 

 ception, made the entire journey. 



During the next 10 months we trav- 

 ersed the entire length of the peninsula 

 and crossed it eight times from shore to 

 shore, traveling on horseback a distance 

 of more than 2,000 miles, in addition to 

 several boat trips to islands offshore. 



THE COUNTRY IS MAINLY MOUNTAINOUS 



Lower California is mainly mountain- 

 ous, with irregular plains, mainly along 

 the Pacific coast, and smaller plains and 

 valleys here and there along the Gulf 

 coast and in the more elevated interior. 

 In climatic and other physical features 

 the northern third of the peninsula is a 

 continuation of extreme southern Cali- 

 fornia, with local modifications. In the 

 east the southern end of the Colorado 

 Desert crosses the border and continues 

 down the Gulf coast to San Felipe Bay, 

 but is more broken by desert mountains 

 than on the Californian side of the line. 

 The part of the desert lying immediately 

 south of the Californian border, with 

 Mexicali as its chief town, is already 

 being improved by irrigation from the 

 Colorado, and will share with the adja- 

 cent Imperial Valley of California in 

 extensive agricultural development from 

 this source. 



Along the Pacific side a low range of 

 coast mountains rise from 1,000 to 4,000 

 feet a short distance inland and extend 

 over 100 miles southerly from the bor- 

 der. Back of this range lie a series of 

 narrow valleys, beyond which rises the 

 main interior mountain range, forming 

 the backbone of the peninsula. These 

 mountains constitute a high, narrow 

 range over 150 miles long extending 

 southeasterly from the California border. 

 The southern section of this range, form- 

 ing the San Pedro Martir Mountains, 

 rises from 6,000 to over 10,000 feet 

 above the sea and has a rugged and 

 broken crest with bench-like valleys. 



These are the highest and most pictur- 

 esque mountains in the peninsula. From 

 their bold summits one has a superb 

 view across the Colorado Desert, with 

 its barren ranges far below appearing 

 like the ridges on a relief map. To the 

 northeast a distant silvery line marks the 

 course of the Colorado, while to the east 

 one's vision crosses the shining waters 

 of the Gulf of California to mountain 

 ranges in the far interior of Sonora. 

 The San Pedro Martir range bears a 

 striking resemblance, on a smaller scale, 



