CHAPTER IX. 
WAIINE It’S TO THE COLORADO DESERT-COLORADO DESERT TO THE 
MOUTH OF THE GILA—CAMP YUMA AND THE VICINITY. 
Warner’s to san felipe.—Granitic veins.—Granite and gneiss.—Valley of carrizo creek.—Drift.—Fossils.—View of 
the desert.—Signal mountain.—Mirage.—Distorted images of mountains.—Slope of the desert.—Fossil shells.— 
Polished pebbles.—Silicified wood.—Big lagoon.—Little lagoon.—Water courses.—New river.—Alamo mocho.— 
Well.—Skeletons of cattle.—Mezquit.—Larrea mexicana.—Sand.—Mountains.—Pilot knob.—Mezquit wells.—Cook’s 
well.—Continuous bank or terrace.—Conglomerate. -=-Sand-drifts, dunes.—-Willows and cotton-woods.—Indian vil¬ 
lage.—Fertility of the soil.—Colorado river.—Bed mud or silt.—Pilot knob.—Blackness and polish of the rocks.— 
Granite.—Volcanic or erupted rocks.—Travertin.—Agates.— Pebbles filled with fossils.—Conglomerate.—Plain 
of the desert.—Dust.—Fort tuma.—Porphyritio granite.—Chimney peak.—Section of the butte at fort yuma.— 
Section along the river.—Inclined strata.—Probable origin of the fissure in the butte.—Earthquakes.—Mud vol¬ 
cano.— Mountains nearest the fort.— Plain covered with polished pebbles.—Glittering surface.—Agates and por¬ 
phyries.—Silicified wood.—Gneiss.—View of the desert and sand-hills. 
December 1.—Warner’s Valley to San Felipe, 16 miles. —We left the camp at Warner’s and 
commenced the journey to Fort Yuma, at the mouth of the Gila, thus retracing our steps over 
the mountains to San Felipe and Carrizo Creek. Arrived at San Felipe at 4 p. m. The 
temperature of one of the springs at camp was found to he 68 degrees. 
December 2.— San Felipe to Vallecito. —Large veins of granite, or feldspar and quartz in coarse 
grains, are very numerous in the granitic or gneissose rocks along the route. In some places 
they cut the gneiss nearly at right angles to its dip, and at others are parallel to the layers. 
At San Felipe the veins are of great size, and immense, imperfect crystals of tourmaline were 
observed. On approaching Vallecito, I turned to the left of the road, just before crossing a 
spur of the mountain, and followed the course of a small brook, then nearly dry. This led me 
through a narrow gorge which was invisible from the road, but which opened out into the next 
valley. The ascent of the spur was thus avoided, but the trail was impassable for wagons. 
Great blocks of granite and gneiss were abundant in this gorge, the mountains on each side 
being composed of these rocks. Beached Vallecito in the afternoon, and encamped near the 
springs and adobe house. 
December 3.— Vallecito to Carrizo Creek. —After obtaining a supply of barley, which was stored 
in the adobe house, we travelled towards the desert, following the same road previously traversed 
by me when with Lieutenant Parke. The general dips of the sandstone strata along the creek 
appeared to be southeast and southwest, but as the inclination of the strata is slight, and they are 
cut in many different directions, as many different degrees of inclination and direction of dip 
were apparent. We passed the usual camping ground on the creek, where the bones and skulls 
of animals paved the ground, and following the water down to the point where it sank away in 
the sand, we tied our mules to the limbs of the mezquit bushes and spread our blankets on the 
clean, dry sand. A party of Sonorians, with several ladies, arrived shortly afterwards from the 
desert, and encamped just below us. 
December 4.— Carrizo Creek to the Big Lagoon, 25 miles .—The dry bed of Carrizo Creek is ex¬ 
tremely sandy, rendering it difficult for the animals to draw the wagon. Sandstone hills were 
