California Desert Trails

California Desert Trails
by Joseph Smeaton Chase

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Text extracted from opening pages of book: CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS BY J. SMEATON CHASE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR AND AN APPENDIX OF PLANTS ALSO HINTS ON DESERT TRAVELLING BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1919 COPYRIGHT, 19x9, BY J, SMEATON CHASE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ILLUSTRATIONS AT TWO-BUNCH PALMS; SAN GORGONIO MOUNTAIN IN THE DISTANCE-Frontispiece A CHARACTERISTIC CASTON-MOUTH WITH ITS APRON OF DEBRIS 6 THE REALM OF GEOLOGY ALONE 10 IN CHINO CANON 18 LA REINA DEL CANON 22 AN INDIAN OLLA CACHED IN A CANON-WALL .... 30 SEVEN PALMS AND SAN JACINTO MOUNTAIN .... 34 DESERT-BRUSH: OCOTILLOS THE MAIN FEATURE ... 50 AN OASIS WATER-HOLE 58 AN INDIAN CUTTING OUT THE HEART OF AN AGAVE FOR BAKING 62 AN EMERGENCY WATER-SUPPLY 62 FLORAL SPRING: ABRONIAS AMID MESQUITS .... 66 SEVEN PALMS AND SAN JACINTO MOUNTAIN: A NIGHT EFFECT 94 THE PATHWAY OF THE TORRENT 102 IN THOUSAND-PALM CANON no SMOKE-TREES IN A CANON WASH 116 SAND, MOUNTAIN, SKY, AND SILENCE ^ . 120 THE WATER-LINE OF THE VANISHED SEA 126 AMONG THE MUD-HILLS 130 xvi ILLUSTRATIONS THE SIDE-WINDER, THE LITTLE HORNED RATTLESNAKE THAT GOES SIDEWAYS 134 CHOLLA CACTUS, THE VILEST OF THE VILE 134 JOSHUA-TREES ON A HIGH MESA 140 AT TWENTY-NINE PALMS 150 IN PAINTED CANON 170 AT AGUA DULCE: HOME OF FIGTREE JOHN . . . .182 SUNRISE OVER THE SALTON SEA 188 ON A DESERT MOUNTAIN TRAIL 230 THE OLD STAGE-STATION AT VALLECITOS 248 IN THE SUPERSTITIONS . . 266 A DESERT SETTLER'S HOME ......... 288 AN OLD SAGUARO, WITH HOLES OF THE ELF-OWL . . .312 THE CITY OF LA PAZ 334 CAHUILLA INDIAN ADOBE HOUSE AND STORAGE-BASKET . 348 PlCTOGRAPHS OF THE CAHUILLA INDIANS 348 GOD'S ACRE: CHOLLAS AND MORTALITY . . . . .356 TO MY AUNT IN THE LITTLE RED TOWN AMONG THE RAINY CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS THIS UNCOMMONLY DRY VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED I ACKNOWLEDGE a sense of mystical rev erence when first I approach some illus trious feature of the globe, some coast line of ocean, some mighty river or dreary mountain-range, the ancient barrier of kingdoms. KINGLAKE: Eoihen. PREFACE THAT appetite comes by eating I have found to be as true in the matter of geography as in the affairs of the table. After long wanderings among the incomparable forests and mountains and by the ro mantic shores of the most scenic and diversified of our States, I fell an easy prey to the beckonings of the other principal feature of California's topog raphy, the dreamy, dreary desert. Long ago, on short expeditions into and across it at various points, I had fallen under its inexplicable charm; now I determined to know it more closely, by daily and nightly intercourse through months of travel in its sun-blasted solitudes: gaining the experience I de sired at the price, certainly, of some discomfort, and, possibly, of a trifling degree of danger merely enough for spice. This volume, then, is the fruit of over two years' continuous camping and travelling on the desert. It might more exactly be named Colorado Desert Trails than California Desert Trails, since there are within this State other expanses of desert ( such as the Mojave, contiguous on the north to the region I describe) which are not touched upon in the book. But there seemed a danger of confusion in the other name, since, on a casual sight, the word Colorado in the title might give the impression that the sub ject-matter was some region in the State of that x PREFACE name. The tract I deal with is, in truth', unfortu nately named though the misfortune is acci dental, since, when it was labelled, in 1853, there was no State of Colorado and out-and-out Coloradans might justly petition our common Uncle that the mere suspicion of harboring a desert should be lifted from them and the odium plainly fixed upon the rival tourist-claiming nephew, California. The book might have been made of more instruc tive value, no doubt, had the writer been a man of science naturalist, botanist, or geologist; for in all those fields, and others that are outside my range,

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