OCR Text |
Show -13- being composed of alluvial earth, marl, and shells, which, if it could be irrigated, would undoubtedly prove very fertile and productive. After showers of rain, which fall very seldom on the desert, and cover but small patches here and there when they do fall, I have known the "car-less" weed to grow as high as ten and twelve feet in a few weeks. * * * The temperature of the desert, especially during the summer months, is very high, ranging from 120° to 130° Fahrenheit in the shade, and the sand-storms are sometimes so violent that mountains of sand are, during one continued storm, removed completely from one locality to another. There can be no doubt, however, with irrigation, and consequent verdure, the climate would be greatly modified and adapted to a dense population. At the Coyote Valley, where there is an Indian rancheria, near the eastern base of the mountains, grapes, watermelons, &c, are ripe six weeks in advance of those at San Diego and Los Angeles. This section of country is of no earthly use in its present condition, and I think any company who would reclaim it for getting a fee simple title to it would be conferring a blessing, not only upon the people of California and the United States generally, but upon the rest of mankind, and especially those who have to travel across the Colorado desert. I am, very respectfully, yours, &c, B. C. Matthewson. Dr. O. M. Wozencraft. |