Salt Field of the Southwest Left by a Flood
v NE OF thu most curious pieces of
real estate in existence Is now thu
I I subject or a suit brought by the
government to rceovi r the prop
erty. It Is u salt farm 1.0U0 acres
of solid salt, which Is plowed mid hoed and
hilled up like so tnucii curth. It Ilea lu a
depression, 1IC1 feet below the level of the
sea, In the midst of the great Colorado
desert, just not lit of the Mexican lino In the
stnto of California, and the town which has
Brown up ou its border takes Its name, Sal
ton, from the crystal deposit.
For many years salt has been taken from
this district, but on a small scale. In 1M2 u
temporary stoppage was put to thu local
dustry by tho overflow of tno cnotado
river, forming what was known as tho Sal
ton sea. In time the water receded, evapo
ration followed, and there was left n re
siduum of almost pure crystal salt, a vista
of unimaginable and almost unbearable
brilliance and beauty. From a distance the
effect was that of a sheet of thu purest
snow, glittering In the sunlight; but when
tho first explorers ventured upon the newly
formed crust they were unable to endure
for long thu fierce refraction of tho light,
and fled blindly with aching eyeballs from
that insufferable radiance. Equipped with
colored glasses they returned ami soon a
company was working the richest salt
crystal field In existence.
All that was necessary was to plow out
tho salt and grind It up. A salt plow wiu
devised ami built. It has four whcel3 and a
heavy and powerful steel beak, or breaker,
ami tho motive power Is steam. Then a
grinding mill and drying plant was put up. a
dummy Hue run up to connect with the
Southern l'aeiflc railroad, nnd the work of
taking out five and a half tons dally at
from $G to t'i'i a ton began. The great dlt
llculty, however, was to get labor, Probablv
uowhero else on the earth's surface do niun
work under such terrific conditions of torn
peraturo ns at thu Saltun salt faun. The
normal heat of tho Colorado desert, which
is such that few white men can live in that
region. Is enormously Increased by the re
fracted and reflected rays of tho sun. For
weeks at a timo tho temperature of the
field reaches 140 degrees every day. Under
these conditions, of course, no whlto man
can work. Tho salt plowing Is done by
Japanese nnd Indians, mainly tho latter.
How
lOipyiight, r.Mj. iiy William 10. Simmons.)
rN VIEW of the effort and money ex
pended in recent years ou thu deft use
of tho America's cup, it seems Htrange
that In the earlier contests for the
trophy no ono should havo deemed It
expedient to build a yacht for the spoulllc
purpose of beating tho challenger.
Tho famous M'hc.onor America, which so
tcumlly heat tin llritlsh boats In thu first
of tho lnlcruational races, was not built
ns a racing yacht. Even ns lato m thirty
years ago yachts were not specially built
to defend tho cup; yet the American yachts
men of these days were lacking In neither
enthusiasm, enterprise nor means, Por
hnps they rested secure In tho conviction
of thu nll-around supcr'orlty of Ami lic.in
yachts; perlwiw. again, It was ccnllbncu
in numbers, for In tho first match for tho
cup sailed lu American water tho Now
York Yacht club pitted Its entile Hoot of
schooners against the challengor, Mr.
James Ashbury's '('nmhr.n," and many of
tho twenty-live Yankees heat tho British
boat badly. This nice was notoble lu yacht
ing annals chlelly for the reappearance or
"tho original cup winner, America, which,
after twenty years of n varied caret r as a
trader, a blockade runner nnd a trn'nln
vessel of tho navy, was put lu racing trim
at a cost of $2.-1,000, nnd finished lu lourth
place. This was really tho first stop taken
In tho direction of building a cup defender.
who hcom to endure the rigors of tho
ellmato without eil effects. To watch tho
steady, stoic performance of the red-skinned
toiler as hu hoes, shovels and scrapes tho
field, or operates the engine that propels the
plow, Is to appreciate the qualities of 111"
Indian as a worker under tho most trying
conditions. Some of the Indian inborn 8
even work without glasses, but all the .Hps
1 roiect their eyes from the baneful glare
PAHTIAL VIEW OF THE GUANO STAND DUUINO A HACK AT TUB STATE FAIR AT LINCOLN Photographed by a Staff Artist.
the America's Cup Has Been Defended
Mr. Ashhury challenged for tho following
year, 1S71, but objected to tho principle of
defense en masse, 'stipulated for seven
races Instead of one, and Insisted on racing
against a single defender. Whllu appar
ently acceding to his terms, tho committee
designated four schooners to appear nt thu
lino each day, from which a defender could
bo chosen according to the naturo of tin
weather. Ills objection to that proceeding
was regarded as llttlo short of Imp-rtl-nence;
nn ncrlmnnlous controversy followed
and he retired from International ynch lng
forever. Ills death In London, In com
parative obscurity nnd poverty, wa an
nounced on tho morning of September 10,
lS!i.ri, tho day of tho second race botwecn
tho Defender and Valkyrie III; a raco that
produced nnother controversy even more
lengthy nnd ncrtmonlous.
lu tho third and last schooner raeo for the
tup In 1S70 a single defender was required
by tho terms of tho challenge, and tho
Madeleine was named to meet the Countess
or Dufferln. Gonernl Henjamln Ilutler snll.'d
tho America In n leeward raco nnd beat tho
Madeleine to wlndwnrd, but wns beaten on
tho run homo. IIo, however, bent tho chal
lenger by nearly half nn hour.
The (list boat built for a defender was ho
simp l'ocnhontns. In 1SS1 tho Hay of Qulnte
Yntdit el lib (Canada.) challenged for the
sloop Atalauta, about eighty feet on the
water line. The ling ollleers of the New
(i tiiehini: the salt on the cheat slt
with the d.itkest of Mpecliules, and eun m
they aro often laid off with optic inllaiu
matlou. In addition to the oilier discom
forts of the sail fields the Hying pni tides
gtuerato a p cullarly Irritating and peisls
teut thirst The workers drink gical quan
tltles of water, ami this serves as a s-afe
guard ngalust sunstioke as it keeps them
perspiring fieely.
The deposit of salt varies in thickness
urk Yacht tlub, Commodore "Jack'' Waller
Vice Commodore James D. Smith and Hear
Commodore Herman Oelrlchs, employed a
rule-of-thiimb deslguer, a man of skill, but
not of scieutllie training, named Kirby, who
had built the Madeleine and the fifty-foot
sloop Arrow, which beat everything In Its
class, to build tho I'ocahoutas ou tho lines
of the latter. Hut tho Pocahontas was a
Hat failure. Tho Oracle and the Mischief
beat II ou every point of sailing. The lutt t
was chosen to defend the cup, but the se
lection was criticised becauso Us owner
was an Englishman and tho Oracle wa be
lieved to bo tho better boat. The owners
of tho (Iraclo. Charles H. Flinl ami Josepii
P. Earlc, put It in the contest, and, sailing
a leeward nice, beat the Mischief hand
somely lu tho llrst encounter, the Atalauta
being almost out of sight nsti'in.
Tho pitiable failure of the Atiilaula war
ranted the niithoiities of the New York
Yacht (dub In protecting theniKelves from
any further llnscoes from that iuuiter. The
cup was accordingly returned to Mr. Ocorgu
L. Schuyler, tho surviving donor, who re
committed it with an amended deed of gift,
restricting tho tight of challenge to yacht
(dubs located on or near the ocean.
Tho chnllenge of tho Oenesta brought
forth two new cup defender candidates In
18Sfi. The Prlscllla, an Iron boat, was built
from A. Cory Smith's designs for Commo
dore James Cordon Dennett and Vice Com
fiuu
from one to ei,;lit Inche It forms in a
crust mil the plow breaks this salt covering
by thiowlug a broad but nlinllnw furrow
of salt lumps up in parallil ridges ou
either side of thu machine. Here and thuru
und"i lying thu crystal plain are xpiiugs of
water. When thu crust Ik broken tho
springs beep forth their dirt. braekl.di
water and tho Indian lads follow thu plow
with hoe lu band, knocking to nnd fro tho
modore William P. Douglas of tho Now
York Yacht club. The Puritan, a wooden
boat nnd u radical departure from the ex
istlng type, was built by Edward Hurgess,
then unknown outside of Huston, for Coin
moiloro J. Malcolm Forbes, (icuorul Charles
J. Palue and others of the Eastern Yacht
club. Thu Puiitnu came In for lively
criticism from New York yachtsmen when
it Joined tho club's cruise at New London
and the run to Newport next day seemed
to show that the Prlscllla was the better
boat. Two days later, however, the Purl
tan showed its heels and proved Its Illness
for tho post of honor.
Mr. lloavor-Wobb, the designer of the
floncHta, and the hitter's skipper, Captain
Carter, watched this race from the bridge
of tho flagship. At ono of tho most ex
citing stages of tho content tho skipper
was soon to whisper something to the de
signer. After the match had been decided
Mr. Ilcavor-Webb wns asked one night at
tho New York Yacht club by ono who had
noticed tho occurrence what Captain Car
tor had said. Tho designer replied with a
fnlnt smile: "IIo said he wished the tree
that furnished the timbers for tho Purltnn
had never grown."
Ouneral Paine built the Mayflower In 188C
from Hurgess' designs to meet tho Galatea,
and another nnd Inst attempt was inado
with tho rule-of-thutnh model. Latham A.
Fish and other members of the Atlantic
clumps of salt nnd mud In this water, until
thu earth Is dissolved and then the crystal
salt Is studied In conical pjrainlds to await
transportation to the mill.
The salt crystals do not dissolve during
the washing, doubtless on account of the
iiiautlty of saline already lu tho water
No sooner has the plow gone over the
Hold than the crust begins to form again;
therefore it would seem that the salt Holds
of Sallou are Inexhaustible, The salt It
allowed to remain lu the pyramids mull
complete evaporation of all water taken
place, when It Is transferred to the llatcars
and rallied to the mills at Saltan. Tho
factory Is a structure nbi ut ('.(Hi feet lu
length and consists of a milling and drying
plant. When the salt arrives at the mill
It Is thrown Into n bulkhead breaker and
reduced to uniform particles, which are
run through a btirrmlll and thoroughly
ground, iiieio Is an almost Imperceptible
portion of catiioiiato of soda mixed with 'he
uatlvo salt and this simply aids In the
cleansing process. When thoroughly ground
tho salt Is sifted like Hour through bolt
Ing cloth, put through an aspirator, which
removes all foreign suludauecs and Is then
ready to sack. Aside from the rellned or
domestic salt there are tons and tonii of
hide salt shipped annunlly from Salton. This
grade Is only sold for commercial and in
dust rial purposes.
The most delightful time to visit the
crystal lake Is upon a moonlight night
The spectacle Is magnificent, but weird
The rows of glistening pytumlds, thu i.lit
ter of the moonlight from the facets of
millions of crystals, the distant hack
ground of low, black hills, the expanse ami
stillness of the shadow less plain, strike one
with nwe and wonder that can never be for
gotten.
last December the t'nlted Slates laud
olllce unearthed route records which seemed
to ludlcato that the salt farming eompau
had no right or title to the valuable prop
orty It Is now working. Owing to the pn
eullai' geographical condition consequent
upon the nvciilnw of the liver forming the
Salton sea and the sul secpient subsidence
and disappearance of the sea, the legal
points Involved nie unite Intricate. Th
case will probably mine up soon for ad.ii
dleatlon. S ( FOUHKS
Yacht club built the Atlantic from designs
by "Phil" Elsworlh, who had designed the
schooner Comet and other fast yachts. The
Mayllower completely outclassed It h rival
and forever relegated Hit1 old type raring
models to obscurity.
It has been generally supposed that Hi'
Volunteer, built lu 18S7, was a distinctively
Hurgess boat, but Mr. Hurgess has told tho
w i Iter that she was us much Ciucr.il
Palue's design as his. She w.'h of steel
and the flrnt metal boat, built for the speci
fic purpose, selected to defend the cup.
The Mayflower was no match for her, nor
was that year's challenger, the Thistle
lleforo tho start of the llrst raci the ThUtle
capered about the Hue with the Input one
of a race horse, while the Voliiuti er moved
like a beast of burden. A wall of disap
pointment escaped from the anxious spirta
tors. "What's tho mutter with the Volun
teer?" asked an alarmed patriot of his
companion. "Sho Ih tied down," topll-d
the latter. "Don't you seo her head Balls
aro trimmed to windwanl?" Vhn tho
start was given her sheols were lilinmol
properly nnd she bounded away from the
ThlBtlo ns If tho latter were nnehorod.
After tho raco Mr. Hell, the managing
owner of ho Thistle, naively sail lo u re
porter that ho could not account for Ih"
(Continued on Seventh Page.)
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