The Mystic Mid-Region Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PAINTED DESERT From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

When it was discovered that the real deposits of borax lie beneath the surface deposits, a genuine borax mine was located and developed at what is now known as Boreat, twelve miles north of Daggett, on the line of the Santa Fe railroad, where the reduction works are situated. The wonderful richness of this deposit has led to further explorations, and the remarkable finds in Death Valley have resulted.

When brought to the works at Daggett, the lumps of borax are fed into the mammoth iron jaws of a crusher which breaks them into lumps of an uniform size about the bigness of the average chestnut. These lumps are fed to the grinder, which reduces them to powder, and the powder, in turn, is pa.s.sed through rollers like those used in the manufacture of the finest grades of wheat flour. From these rollers it comes forth as fine as the product of the wheat from which our most choice bread is made. Then it is mixed with carbonate of soda, which is mined in Death Valley, and the mixture is thrown into vats of boiling water and agitated by means of revolving wheels till the ma.s.s is dissolved and thoroughly mixed. From this compound are precipitated two powders, one the borax of commerce, the other the well-known product styled sal soda.

Borax from Death Valley first entered the markets about twenty years ago. It was mined from deposits found in the Calico Mountains and from one or two sinks in the valley, and it was hauled out of the valley and one hundred miles across the desert in wagons drawn by mule teams of from eighteen to thirty-two mules each.

During the five or six years following the opening of the mines, large quant.i.ties of borax were taken out and placed upon the market. Then, in the spring of 1888, the mines were closed because it was impossible to find men to work the mines or drive the mules. It became known that few men who went into the mines came out alive. At the end of six or seven months the miner succ.u.mbed to the terrific heat and the poisonous atmosphere, or else he was a broken-down invalid incapable of doing further work. It came to be considered simply a form of suicide to engage in the work, consequently the mine-owners were unable to continue operations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A MONUMENT IN THE LAND OF THIRST From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

The desert borax wagons are a marvel of themselves. The wagon proper is made to hold ten tons of borax. It has a bed sixteen feet long by four feet wide and sides six feet high. The hind wheels are seven feet, and the front wheels five feet, in diameter. They are fitted with tires eight inches wide and an inch thick, and an empty wagon weighs seventy-eight hundred pounds. In addition to this combined weight of wagon and load, amounting to about fourteen tons, is the trailer, as is called the water wagon, which it is necessary to attach to the train in order that man and beast may not perish of thirst on the journey.

Altogether, the plucky teams have to haul through the yielding sands about twenty tons--nearly or quite one ton to the beast.

A traction engine is also employed in hauling the product of the mines.

This is a huge concern weighing hundreds of tons and doing the work of several mule teams. This machine has not been found adapted to all features of the work, however, and is not destined to supersede the mule wagons.

A little more than twenty years ago borax was worth, in this country, in the neighborhood of one dollar per pound. It is now being mined,--even under the present disadvantages,--prepared, and marketed at a profit at about ten cents a pound, with a prospect of still lower figures in the near future.

CHAPTER XI

OTHER MINERALS FOUND IN THE DESERT

Gold and borax, which have been given chapters in this work, are by no means all the minerals found in the California deserts. The deserts have tempted the prospector ever since California became known as a mineral field. For a time gold was the prime object of his search, but later it became known that other minerals were capable of yielding profits quite as great as the yellow metal, and he has become more critical in his observations. His care has been liberally rewarded.

Borax was one of the first of the mineral products to attract his attention. The discovery of large deposits of this in Death Valley was followed by the discovery of immense beds of niter, of sulphate of soda, nitrate of soda, and other mineral drugs in the same vicinity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A TYPICAL DESERT MINING TOWN From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

The gold belt of the Mojave Desert has been traced from the town of Mojave to Death Valley, a distance of one hundred and fifteen miles.

The belt varies in width from two to ten miles. Death Valley is known to contain rich deposits of gold in other portions of the desert. All along these gold belts, silver is also more or less abundant.

The silver mines of the Calico district have become famous for their yield of silver bullion. These mines are about six miles north of the Santa Fe railroad and near the station of Daggett. The belt extends in an easterly and westerly direction, and has been traced and developed for a distance of ten miles. The rocks of this region are violet or brown rhyolite, often porphyritic; green, yellow, and white tufa; greenish hornblende andesite; yellow and green breccia.

Copper, lead, tin, zinc, iron, manganese, baryta, gypsum, sulphur, onyx, marble, asbestos, and gem stones are also found in the deserts.

The minerals are scattered over the many thousands of square miles of territory. The difficulties of transportation, coupled with the lack of water, have greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded the development of the known mineral fields, as well as prevented the finding of other rich deposits which doubtless exist.

The character of the mineral rocks is mult.i.tudinous. In the Waterloo Mines in the Mojave Desert, ore is found in a belt of jasper which yields more than one thousand ounces of silver to the ton.

Twenty-eight miles east of Daggett are large bodies of iron ore--the largest known on the Pacific Coast. These deposits have been practically undisturbed because of the distance from railroad and the lack of water and fuel to mine and smelt the ores. When a railroad is laid to the locality this field will prove a wonderful source of wealth to those who secure possession of it.

Five miles south of Oro Grande are rich veins of copper which are found very near the surface. These deposits were discovered by the Mormons who settled on the Mojave River several years ago.

Variegated marble quarries have been opened twelve miles northeast from Victor, in which are found marbles of wonderful beauty and fineness.

Shades of crimson and gray, cream, rose, white, pale blue, black, chocolate, and yellow are mined from these quarries, the ledges of which outcrop and stand above the surrounding lands. Some of these marbles approach in beauty that of the finest onyx.

The Colorado Desert contains numerous valuable gold mines, as well as silver, copper, tin, and other important minerals. Cement and asbestos are found in abundance in certain sections. Rich deposits of the latter mineral are found in the vicinity of Indio and at Palm Springs. Lithia rock and fine clay are mined in certain sections and in 1902 the richest known tourmaline deposits in America were found at Mesa Grande.

There is an interesting story connected with the finding of these gems.

Mesa Grande is an elevated plateau or tableland. On the lower adjacent lands water is found, and ranchers--mostly Mexicans--have established themselves. Ever since the valley became settled the tableland has been a favorite playground for the children. A portion of the mesa is scantily covered with loam, where grow cacti and other specimens of dry-weather plants. A large portion of the mesa, however, is barren and the rock lies exposed, gray, mottled, or white beneath the glaring sun which s.h.i.+nes ever from a cloudless sky. Here and there the granite and gneiss show a belt of snowy white quartz which gleams in the sunlight, forming a pleasing contrast to the darker rocks in which it is set.

One day, while playing among these rocks, one of the children found a delicately tinted transparent pebble. When held up to the sun it emitted brilliant reflections and sparkled and scintillated like living flame. A cry of delight brought the other children to the spot, and then began a search for more of the pretty stones, with the result of the gathering of a dozen or more of the sparkling stones that afternoon. After this, frequent trips were made to the mesa in search of the pretty pebbles, and scarcely a house in the vicinity but contained collections of the beautiful playthings.

One day a professional gem-cutter chanced to visit the valley under the mesa and in a basket of playthings he saw some of the bright pebbles.

He examined the stones and learned where they had been found. Then he prospected the locality and found the gem-bearing ledges and staked claims covering the richer portions of the field. Since then some rare and valuable stones have been taken from the mines, gems equal to those of Ceylon, Brazil, or Siberia, which countries have heretofore supplied the world with these gems. The gem-bearing ledges extend over two or three hundred acres.

Salt is another valuable mineral found in both the Mojave and Colorado deserts. The famous salt-fields of Salton are in the latter desert, but they have a story all their own, which will be told in another chapter.

CHAPTER XII

A REMARKABLE HARVEST-FIELD

The most remarkable harvest-field in the United States, if not in the whole world, is located in the heart of the Colorado Desert. The spot is known as Salton, and it lies 265 feet below the level of the sea.

The crop which is harvested is salt. So plentiful is the natural deposit of this necessary article that it is plowed with gang-plows, is sc.r.a.ped into windrows as hay is raked in the field, and, like hay, it is stacked into heaps from the windrows and is then loaded into wagons and later into cars to be carried to the reduction works three miles away.

There are about one thousand acres in this saline field. When one looks upon this glittering, sparkling, and scintillating field, which lies like a great patch of snow dropped down into the midst of the burning sands of the plain, he is reminded of that pa.s.sage of Scripture which says:

"Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLOWING SALT IN COLORADO DESERT]

This field is literally white to harvest and a most phenomenal harvest it is. Over a briny, oozy marsh lies a crust of salt six to sixteen inches thick. As often as removed, the crust quickly forms again, so that crop after crop is taken from the same ground. In fact, although these harvests have been going on nearly twenty years, and two thousand tons of marketable salt are annually taken from the beds, but ten acres of the one-thousand-acre field have been broken.

The laborers employed in breaking up the salt crust, in loading the salt onto the wagons and taking it to the mills, in cleaning and preparing it for the market, are mostly j.a.panese and Indians. In the summer season the temperature reaches 130 to 140 degrees at Salton, and white men are unable to endure the work exposed to the burning rays of the sun.

The ease with which the salt is procured in this field makes it a valuable one. At very little expense the salt is made ready for market, and it brings from six to thirty-six dollars per ton, according to the grade.

The Coach.e.l.la Valley, in which this great field of salt lies, is ninety miles long and from ten to thirty miles wide. Its one thousand six hundred square miles of territory lie wholly below the level of the sea, its greatest depression being 275 feet. The southern portion of the valley is devoid of vegetation, save where irrigation has been introduced, but about the northern portion of the valley the sage and mesquite have obtained a foothold in the sandy soil. Near Indio, in the northern portion of the valley, an artesian well was drilled a few years ago and a copious supply of water was obtained. Now more than two hundred and fifty of those wells are pouring their waters over the thirsty soil, and a large tract of land has been brought into a high state of cultivation. The lands about the salt-fields, however, are too strongly impregnated with salts and alkali to offer any inducements to the rancher now or in the future. The constant harvest of salt, however, is a rich enough return for the lands thus unfitted for agriculture.

This desert salt is remarkable for its fine quality. An a.n.a.lysis made in San Francisco shows its const.i.tuents to be as follows: Chloride of sodium, 94.68 per cent.; calcium sulphate, .77 per cent.; water, .75 per cent.; magnesium sulphate, 3.12 per cent.; sodium sulphate, .68 per cent.; total, 100 per cent.

Until 1901, the t.i.tle to the Salton lands was vested in the Government, and the company which was reaping the harvest had no t.i.tle to the property and no legal right thereto. There is an interesting story connected with the change of t.i.tle.

This concern, the Liverpool Salt Company, had a compet.i.tor for the salt trade of the Pacific coast in the Standard Salt Company. The Salton fields are reached by means of the Southern Pacific Railway, which road has the handling of all the product of the salt-fields. The Standard Company alleged that the railroad people discriminated against it in the way of freight rates, excluding the Standard people from the coast markets, and thus securing a monopoly of the trade for the Liverpool Company. This led the managers of the Standard Company to look into the t.i.tles of the salt-fields. It was then discovered that the company operating was without t.i.tle, and that the lands were unallotted Government lands.

The attention of the Government officials was called to the fact that the Liverpool people were trespa.s.sers, and an order was issued for the company to vacate. A bill was then introduced in Congress providing for filing claims upon saline lands, and the bill pa.s.sed the Senate January 22, 1901. It yet required the signature of the President to make it a law, however, and it was then that matters became interesting in the desert.

Both companies congregated men on the lands adjoining the salt-fields, prepared to race to the choice portion of the field to stake claims the moment the wire should apprise them of the signing of the bill. Each company had an agent in Was.h.i.+ngton ready to telegraph the news the instant it became known, and each company had a man at the telegraph station at Salton, three miles from the field, to take the message to the men the moment it came.