Chapter I: Front Matter

The Mystic Mid-Region

The Deserts of the Southwest

By

Arthur J. Burdick

With 54 Illustrations

G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press

1904

COPYRIGHT, 1904 BY ARTHUR J. BURDICK

Published, April, 1904

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

Kingdom of solitude, thou desert vast,
The keeper thou of secrets of the past,
For what, O Desert, was thy land accurs'd?
Thy rivers dried, thy fields consumed by thirst?
Thy plains in mute appeal unfruitful lie
Beneath a burning, stern, relentless sky
That brings its showers of life-renewing rain
Unto the mount, but ne'er unto the plain.

What secret guardest thou, O Desert dread?
What mystery hidest of the ages dead?
Doth some strange treasure lie within thy breast
That thou wouldst guard from man's most eager quest?
Or doth there in thy solitude abide
Some mystery that Nature fain would hide?
Some secret of the great creative plan
Too deep, too awful for the mind of man?

O Desert, with thy hot, consuming breath,
Whose glance is torture and whose smile is death,
Realm of the dewless night and cloudless sun,
Burn on until thine awful watch be done.
Then may the shifting winds their off'rings bring--
The yielding clouds their life-fraught dews to fling
Upon thy yearning, panting, scorching breast,
That with abundance thou at last be bless'd.

So, where thy wasted sands now barren lie,
Green fields may some day meet a smiling sky.
Where now but lurks grim, ghastly, burning death,
The violet may shed its fragrant breath.
It hath been said--a sure, divine decree--
That in the solitude shall gladness be;
And, by that One from whom all goodness flows,
That thou shalt bloom, O Desert, as the rose.

A. J. B.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I.--THE DESERT 1

II.--THE LAND OF THIRST 17

III.--CURIOUS PLANTS WHICH LIVE IN THE DESERT 38

IV.--STRANGE DWELLERS OF THE DESERT 60

V.--HUMANITY IN THE DESERT 68

VI.--A FUNERAL IN THE REGION OF DEATH 80

VII.--DESERT BASKET-MAKERS 92

VIII.--SHIPS OF THE DESERT 107

IX.--THE STORY OF A STREAK OF YELLOW 124

X.--DESERT BORAX MINES 142

XI.--OTHER MINERALS FOUND IN THE DESERT 154

XII.--A REMARKABLE HARVEST-FIELD 162

XIII.--DEATH VALLEY 172

XIV.--THE MOUTH OF HADES 184

XV.--DESERT MISCELLANY--UNUSUAL AND PECULIAR FEATURES 189

XVI.--JOURNALISM BELOW SEA-LEVEL 209

XVII.--THE END OF THE DESERT 218

INDEX 235

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

*TEAMING IN DEATH VALLEY _Frontispiece_

*THE DESERT 3

* MOUNT SAN JACINTO FROM THE DESERT 7

*ANCIENT SEA BEACH, COLORADO DESERT NEAR COACHELLA 11

*WHEN CALIFORNIA WAS AN ISLAND 15
From an old Spanish map.

*AN INDIAN WELL IN THE DESERT 19

*AN OASIS IN THE COLORADO DESERT 23

*SENTINEL PALM 27
A welcome sight to the desert traveler, for
it marks an oasis hidden in the cañon.

*AN OASIS DWELLING THATCHED WITH PALM-LEAVES IN COLORADO DESERT 31
This might pass for a cannibal's hut in the
South Sea Islands.

*A DESERT BEDROOM 35

*SAHUARO, OR GIANT CACTUS 39

*SPANISH BAYONET 43

*A DESERT CACTUS IN BLOSSOM--ONE OF MANY VARIETIES 47

*"THE WELL OF THE DESERT" 51

*ONE OF THE DESERT BLOOMERS 55

*A YELLOW DIAMOND-BACK RATTLER 58

DESERT LIZARD, CHUCAWALLA, CLOSELY AKIN TO THE GILA MONSTER 61

HORNED TOAD 62

TARANTULA 64

CENTIPEDE 65

SCORPION 66

*A CHEMEHUEVI INDIAN AND COYOTE 69

*A CHEMEHUEVI DWELLING 73

*A CHEMEHUEVI SQUAW AND CHILD 77

*A DESERT DWELLING ON THE COLORADO RIVER 81

*THE DESERT "WHITE HOUSE" 85

*THE FUNERAL PYRE 89

*A MOJAVE INDIAN POUNDING MESQUITE BEANS IN WOODEN MORTAR 93

*RARE TULARE AND POMO BASKETS 97

*A YUMA WOMAN WEAVING COARSE BASKETS 101

*MOJAVE BASKET-MAKER 105

*THE ADVANCE AGENT OF PROGRESS 109

*SHIPS OF THE DESERT 113

*BEARING THE RED MAN'S BURDEN 117

*TAKING ON THE CARGO 121

*THE PROSPECTOR SETS FORTH 125

*AN AGED PROSPECTOR AT MOUTH OF HIS MINE 129

*AN ANXIOUS MOMENT--LOOKING FOR THE YELLOW STREAK 133

*AN AËRIAL FERRY--PROSPECTORS CROSSING COLORADO RIVER 137

*A TRACTION ENGINE HAULING BORAX FROM DEATH VALLEY 143

*THE PAINTED DESERT 147

*A MONUMENT IN THE LAND OF THIRST 151

*A TYPICAL DESERT MINING TOWN 155

PLOWING SALT IN COLORADO DESERT 163

*TEAMING IN DEATH VALLEY 173

INDIAN CHIEF LYING IN STATE 179

A DESERT POTTERY FACTORY 191

BLACK BUTTES--PHANTOM SHIP OF THE DESERT 197

DIGGING THE IMPERIAL CANAL 203

IMPERIAL CHURCH--FIRST WOODEN BUILDING IN LOWER COLORADO DESERT 207

YEAR-OLD WILLOW TREES AT INTERNATIONAL LINE 211

IRRIGATING DESERT LAND 219

DESERT SORGHUM 223

MILO MAIZE ON RECLAIMED DESERT LAND NEAR HEBER 227

ADOBE HOTEL, CALEXICO, WHICH HAS THE ONLY SHOWER BATH
IN THE DESERT 231

* From photographs reproduced by permission of C. C. Pierce & Co.

THE MYSTIC MID-REGION