104 
GEOLOGICAL RESUME OF MOJAYE VALLEY. 
account of its greater elevation above the desert to the south, and the number of ridges which 
rise 1,000 and 1,500 feet above the valley at their base, the fall of rain must be greater than in 
the latter place ; but this mountainous belt of country must still be looked upon as, to a great 
extent, a desert region. It is only where water is abundant that vegetation luxuriates, and 
hence, where the river bottom is left, sterility commences. Along the immediate bed of the 
Mojave, from the foot of the Cajon pass to where it sinks in Soda lake, cotton-woods, willows, 
and mesquite, are abundant; they are the only trees, except those upon the San Bernardino 
slope. There is no tree growth upon the sides of these short ranges, and grass is only found on 
their slopes in the immediate vicinity of springs, or upon those level terraces for a few weeks 
after the fall of rain in spring. Then a sweet though scanty herbage rises in April and May, 
which is all burnt up and withered in June for want of moisture ; a second vegetation springs 
up in the fall, which is of an inferior character. The scarcity of water and the general dryness of 
the district is testified by the dead carcases lying beside the Salt Lake trail; the cattle having 
foundered from fatigue and thirst, and their hides preserved from decay by the aridity of the 
climate ; the dropped saddles, harness, and wagons attest the same, and give to this trail, as 
well as that across the Colorado desert, the character of a G-olgotha ; the whole district pro¬ 
ducing in the dry valleys only larrea, artemisia, fouquieria, yucca, and cactuses. 
Such is the country through which the Mojave flows, and into the soft sands of one of which 
valleys it ultimately empties itself. In its course it crosses some of those ranges through wild 
canons, and rounds others to avoid them. Its course being distinctly visible by the bright 
green of the foliage of the cotton-woods, so remarkable from the upland generally : over these 
plains above the river, in spring, was scattered a profusion of vernal flowers, composite plants, 
many of them in full bloom, and resembling those of the Los Angeles and San Bernardino 
valleys, but of a more diminutive form. Upon no part of the Mojave river were there any 
traces of cultivation, although where it enters the valleys between ranges and widens its bed it 
is capable of producing fine growths; and as it occasionally rises and falls in its bed, dependent 
upon rains or snow-meltings on tbe San Bernardino mountains, irrigation might be adopted 
with success. The Indians who travel along these trails and live in the mountains, 60 miles 
down the Mojave, are the Cucoomphers, not speaking the same tongue as the Mojaves or 
Pay-utes, nor apparently so advanced in civilization—lizards, rabbits, and roots, constituting 
their chief fare. 
The winds blow with great violence along these plains and smooth slopes of the mountains, 
drifting the sands and accumulating it in small hillocks at the base of the hills. In summer 
the thunder and lightning storms are frequent and severe, although but little rain falls with 
these phenomena. At night time the air cools down so as to feel chilly before sunrise, and 
even deposits a dew upon the blanket and hair of the exposed sleeper. This radiation and 
production of dew is, no doubt, beneficial to vegetation, and enables animal and plant to sup¬ 
port for a longer time, without injury, the high temperature of the midday. 
Of the parallelism of the geological forces exerted over this district, there is an evidence in the 
existence of an extensive plain which is crossed by the Mojave, about 62 miles below the first 
crossing—the eastern boundary of this plain is a chain of granitic and porphyry hills, alluded 
to in Chapter XIX, which runs S. 60° E. to the Colorado river. In this direction the plain 
extends, crosses the river, and continues the same southeastly direction until the Gila is reached, 
a little west of the Coco-maricopas villages. 
Upon the portion of the plain near the Colorado the Chemi-huevas have their cultivated 
