UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Harold L. Ickes, Secretary W. ©. Mendeabal, Director meg FS5 F , to. Bulletin 845 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Part F. THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES NEW ORLEANS TO LOS ANGELES BY N. H. DARTON UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : Sy | y Se ‘ A WASHINGTON : 1933 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. - = = Price $1.00 (Paper cover) RussOUR! SOT ANICAL SEN Principal divisions of geologic time + Dura- Era Period Epoch Characteristic life tion,» ss Recent. “‘Age of man.’”” Animals and plants of Quaternary. Pleistocene (great modern types. ice Cenozoic (recent age). 60 life). Pliocene. ifiocene. “Age of ape peace nga first Tertiary. Oligocene —- of m: Rise and devel: Moses: ment of highest ¢ orders of plants, ‘Age ofreptiles.’’ Rise and culmination Cretaceous. (*) of huge land reptiles (dinosaurs), of shellfish with complexly itioned coiled shells (ammonites), and of great Mesozoic (inter- (4 flying reptiles. First appearance of | 120 mediate life). Jurassic, birds and pligoe ee (in Jurassic); of palmlike plants ©) plan Se and of ris : ; ¢ an _— Ww . are Triassic. ood trees (in sarnchoas S). “Age of amphibians.” of pee ater slg Ae en rev gs ‘ants of ve Permian. flowering oe. pe aaa o wai Carboniferous. | Pennsylvanian. g trees. Beginnings of back- | 120 - Mississippian. boned land animals (land vertebrates). lee sects. Animals with nautiluslike , Louse so aay (ammonites) and sharks “Age of fishes.”” Shellfish (mollusks) Devonian. (°) also abundant. Rise of amphibians | 90 a and land plants. ain pine faces viene ean = tilus es y nau sk ag aoe OE (cephalopods). Rise and Silurian. (©) of the : 30 om known as sea lilies (crinoids) and of giant scorpionlike crustaceans ( ape ). Hise of fishes and of: Ordovician (G) 90 tes. niet trace of insect life. Trilobites and oe en : 2 © acteristic weeds (algae Cambrian. ad abundant. No trace of land _ (algae) 60 found, os <8 BM an - Ai a ge Proterozoic (pri- | “!eonkian. ; —— ~~ mordial life). 2 ee Archean. Crystalline rocks. | No fossils found. «The record consists mainly of sedimentary beds (beds deposited - oe Over large areas long pei of uplift and erosion intervened between See ete ee mnonition, aia pip hape ends wave deposition in any area produces there what geologists term an unconformity. Tlany oftie pitas por sina a” ag ge aed heer ti unconformities; that is, the dividing lines in the table represent local or x widespread oe -_ “tthe serie. Ages interpolated from H olmes, geo Eart wets k, Harpe B 1927. ¢ Epoch names omitted; in less common use than those gi had = oe _ Notz.—Total estimated age of earth, 1,800+ million years, i 4 CONTENTS Ts b | 4: Itinerary New Orleans, La., to Lobo, Tex Side trip to Carlsbad Caverns, N. Mex North line from El Paso, Tex., to Meseal, Ariz South line from El Paso, Tex., to Mescal, Ariz Main line, Picacho to eae and Wellton, Ariz Detour by the Apache T aso, Tex Main line, Phoenix to wWaltiis Ariz Old main line, Picacho to Wellton, Ariz Wellton to Yuma, Yuma, Ariz., to Los Angeles, Calif Yuma, Aris, to San Diego, Calif Index Sueer 1. SOMN HAP wh —_ eailardintl al HASgaRARE pee © . Toreer to El Paso ILLUSTRATIONS New Orleans to Schriever, La Chacahoula to Segura, La Burke to Welsh, La Lacassine, La., to Orange, Tex Terry to Liberty, Tex Liberty to Richmond, Tex-__- Rosenberg to Borden, Tex Weimar to Luling, Tex . Sullivan to Macdona, Tex Idlewild to Ra Tex Rosenfeld to Alpine, Tex . Toronto to Chispa, Tex . Wendel to Lasca, i N. Mex. tacit line) aso, . Ysleta, Tex., to Caton. N. Mex. (north line), and Malpais ? Akela to Ladim, N. Mex. (north line), and Arena to Hachita, N. Mex. (south line) Iga, Ariz. (north line), and Minero, N. Mex., par, N. Mex., to Perilla, Ariz. (south line) rt IV ILLUSTRATIONS Sueret 21. Holt to Chamiso, 7 haya line), and Silver Creek to San Juan, Ariz. (sout 22. Mescal to Wymola, ner 23. Ocatilla to Norton (north line) and Estrella, Ariz. (south line) _ 24. Liberty to Athel, Ariz. (new line), and Shawmut to Aztec, Ariz. (old line 25. Horn (new line) and eee (old line) to Fortuna, Ariz_______ 26. Araby, Ariz., to Niland, C 27. Mundo to Carnes Calif 28. Hugo to Colton, Calif 29. Colton to Los Angeles, Calif Bic PuaTE 1. Map showing precipitation in the Southwest___.____________- lief map showing larger features of the Southwest and the location of areas covered by sheets 1 to 29 3. A, Old French market in Vieux Carré, New Orleans; B, Typical graveyard in New Orleans 4. A, Woodland scene, south-central Louisiana; B, Salt mining, Avery Island, La 5. A, Oil field near Jennings, La.; B, Galveston, 6. A, Cotton ready for shipment, Galveston’ Nel: B, Block of sulphur at New Gulf, T FA, — Alamo, San hekiuin Tex.; B, Palace of Spanish gov- rnor, San Antonio, Tex 8A, anetii chalk, San — Tex.; B, Quaternary and Eocene deposits, San Antonio, T 9. A, Armadillos in central Seek B, Fault in Buda limestone northwest of Bonds Tex.; C, Columnar structure in basalt near Knippa, T 10. A, Asphalt aides pon ab of Cline, Tex.; B, oe Ford and Buda contact northwest of Hacienda siding. 7 11. A, Anacacho limestone north of Hondo, Tex, * B Del Rio clay Recesses and capped by Buda limestone, Comstock, Tex. Gad buttresses, Castle Canyon, west of Del Rio, T 12. A, Bridge over canyon of Pecos River, Tex.; B, Miskin cattle_ 13. A, Comanche limestone on tilted Pennsylvanianstrata, Tesnus, rae B, Sinuous ridges of esi beds in Marathon Basin, Tex.; C, Mitre Peak, near Alpine, T 14. A, Lava mee tuff of Davis Mountains west of Alpine, Tex.; ass, Davis Mountains, T spa se 16. A, Finback lizards of Permian time; B, Carlsbad Caverns, ex 17. A, Badlands in lake beds; B, Overturned syncline of Malone Mo i untains, Tex 18. A, Smelter at El Paso, Tex.; B, Kilbourne Hole, a crater west of El x 19. — — of lava west of El Paso, Tex.; B, Restoration of giant ye ie a, of the desert”; ‘'B Water from the biznaga_------- 21. Mission of San Xavier de Bac, near Tucson, Ariz Ariz 23. A, Rattlesnake, common in the = sete B, Gila monster_-_ 24. A, Casa Grande, Ariz.; B, Typical Pima home_.__._._______ ILLUSTRATIONS PiaTE 25. A, ees plain, western Arizona; B, Pictographs near Sacaton, 26. A, “Dries = ee River Valley, Ariz.; B, Cotton field, Salt River 27. A, stad of "Salt River Valley, Ariz.; B, Irrigating in Salt River Valley 28. A, Cliff bets S isag National Monument, Ariz.; B, Roosevelt Dam, A 29. A, Encampment of jee Indians; B, View across Canyon ke, Ariz 30. Canyon of Fish Creek, Ariz 31. A, Blossoms of prickly pear cactus; B, Superstition Moun- tain, Ariz 32. A, Montezuma Face, near Hyder, Ariz.; B, Northern part of ohawk Mountains, Ariz 33. A, The Explorer, of the Ives expedition; B, Gila River from Antelope Hill, Ariz 34. A, Part of Yuma, Ariz.; B, Irrigated district near Yuma_-_-_-_- 35. Map of the Colorado River delta region, below Yuma, Ariz_- 36. A, Drifting sands near Amos, Calif.; B, Salton Sea, Calif __-- 37. A, _ Trrigating date palms, Imperial Valley, Calif.; B, Cotton mperial Valley 38. A, Mud voleanoes eae apy of Niland, Calif.; B, Travertine of Lake Cahuilla, C 39. A, B, San Andreas ca northwest of Indio, Calif 40. A, ee pgs east of Mecca, Calif.; B, Tilted late Ter- beds in Indio Hills, Calif 41. A, ‘Ocotillo and cholla, Coachella Valley, Calif.; B, Washing- ton palms in Palm Canyon, Calif 42. A, San mages A jatar Calif.; B, Orange trees in fruit, Redlands, C 43. View up San visi Valley, Calif 44, A, San Bernardino Peak from point near Redlands, Calif.; B, Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, Calif 45. A, Picking lemons near Riverside, Calif.; B, Orange groves near Riverside 46. A, The great arrow-shaped scar near Arrowhead Springs, Calif.; B, Bitcreed strata in Palen Phi CO sce t ie 47. Los Aeeeien Plain, Calif 48. A, Shore of the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica, Calif.; B, pins pits at La Brea, Calif 49. Carrizo Gorge, Calif Ficure 1. Hypothetical section of salt dome at Avery Island, La . Section across dome near Sulphur, 3. Section through Spindletop salt dome, Tex 4. Section through Columbus and oi Tex 5. Section across Salt Flat oil field, T 6. Diagram = changes in ERE Spofford to San Antonio, 7. Sketch ae from Turkey Mountain through Anacacho Mountain, Tex 8. Section at Langtry, Tex 9. Section near Maxon. Tex 264 vI ILLUSTRATIONS Page Fiaure 10. Section through House Mountain, Tex 89 1 section showing lithologic variations in the Permian of Glass Mountains, Tex 94 12. Section southeast of Dugout oan, Tex 95 13. Section of Altuda Mountain, Tex 95 14. Section across Alpine Basin north of Alpine, Tex 96 15. Profile of northern part of Tierra Vieja Mountains, Tex___-- 102 16. Section across Van Horn Mountains, Tex 103 17. Map showing route from Lobo, Tex., to Carlsbad Caverns, N. Mex 104 18. Section of east front of Sierra Diablo at Victorio Peak, Tex-.-- 107 19. Section across Sierra Diablo and Baylor Mountains, Tex-___- 108 20. Sections across Guadalupe Mountains at El Capitan, ae and Carlsbad Caverns, N. Mex 109 21. Section across western part of Wylie ape {30 ee 110 22. Section from Diablo Plateau to Eagle Fl ex 115 23. Section from Quitman Mountains to ber piace ee 117 24. Section across Malone Mountains, Tex 118 25. Section through south end of Hueco Mountains, Tex_______- 121 26. Section across Franklin Mountains, Tex 127 27. Section west of El Paso, Tex 134 28. Cross section of Kilbourne Hole, west of Lanark, N. Mex.___ 134 29. Section through Goodsight Peak, N. Mex 136 30. Sections across Florida Mountains, N. Mex 139 . 31. Sections across Little Florida Mountains, N. Mex 140 32. Section across Fluorite Ridge, N. Mex 141 33. Sections across Cooks Range, N. Mex 142 34. Sections across Victorio Mountains, N. Mex 144 35. Map showing Gadsden Purchase 151 36. Section of Dos Cabezas Mountains, Ariz 155 37. Sections across n Mountains, Ariz 158 38. Section through Johnson mining district, Ari 159 39. Section across northwest end of Whetstone iadatainn. Aris. 162 40. Section through Bowen siding, N. Mex 163 41. Section across Tres Hermanas Mountains, N. Mex 165 42. Section across north end of Hatchet Mountains, = Mex... 467 43. Section of Chitication Mountains near Portal, A 170 44. Section a t of Chiricahua, Avis. o': 37% 45. Section across Bis bee region, Ariz 176 46. Section north of Helvetia iting camp, Ariz 182 47. Geologie map and sections east of Vail, Ariz 184 48. Section at Picacho de la Calera, northwest of ee Ariz-. 192 49. Section of west side of Tucson Mountains, Ari 193 50. Section through Tempe Butte and Tempe Well, Artec: es 203 51. Map showing route of Apache Trail, Ariz 209 52. anon across Hayes Mountain, southwest of Saa Carlos, Sota reat se eaten a 211 53. aver of region near Globe, Ariz 212 54. Outline geologic map of etna region, Ariz 212 55. Section northwest of Miami, Ar 213 56. Section through Sierra Ancha, jes 214 57. — at Roosevel elt Dam, Ariz 215 58, Section t of Roosevelt Dam, Ariz 216 : Fiqurn 59. 60 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. Restoration of saber-toothed tiger, sloth, and dire wolf at La 70. ai: Section at Gillespie Dam, A ILLUSTRATIONS Section in Yellow Medicine Butte Ari Section of north end of Gila Moun ita Ari Diagrammatic section across Coachella "Valley through Mecea, Calif Section through San Jacinto Mountains, Calif______________ Cross section of San Gorgonio Pass near Cabazon, Calif_______ Section from Banning, Calif., north to San Bernardino Mountain Sections northwest of San Bernardino, Calif ei; eee man Jose Hills, Calif.-..--.. 5s BO A so i ee Sh a Section across Coyote Mountain, Calif Section north of Jacumba Springs, Calif a 4 sry 7 4 : 3 Bes) Sate stay i= ite ; z . * : rae Be fe Bes Fie ok Leh ¥ ee pee io ee rat Shap ese GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES PART F. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES, NEW ORLEANS TO LOS ANGELES By N. H. Darton INTRODUCTION The Southern Pacific Railroad from New Orleans to Los Angeles, a distance of about 2,000 miles, passes through a region exhibiting a great variety of geographic and industrial conditions. The climate, especially the amount of precipitation, is the most influential factor in causing this variety. (See pl. 1.) The low Coastal Plain of southern Louisiana and eastern Texas, with ample rainfall and thick rich soils, is a province distinct in con- figuration, human occupations, and products. There are extensive swamps, prairies, and wooded areas, but a large part of the land is under cultivation, with sugarcane, cotton, and rice as the principal crops. The streams are wide and slow, the winter climate is mild, and the summer heat is tempered by breezes from the Gulf of Mexico. Flourishing towns occur at short intervals, and some of them are growing rapidly. The entire region is underlain by a great thickness of sand and clay of alluvial origin. In central-eastern Texas the Coastal Plain is higher, the soil con- ditions are materially different, the streams run more swiftly, swamps become rare, and although much land is under cultivation, many areas are either in pasture or not cleared. The vegetation changes with change of soil and increase of altitude, and the crops are more diversified than in the lower parts of the Coastal Plain. The region is underlain by sandstone, shale, and other formations, which rise toward the west, cropping out in regular succession as they are crossed from east to west. Some of these formations are hard enough to make ridges and knobs, and there is general terracing at various levels. Parts of the highest lands are remnants of an old plain of former wide extent. Beyond San Antonio the traveler observes several changes inthe general aspect of the country, for although the Coastal Plain extends west to Del Rio, there is both a gradual increase in elevation to about 1,000 feet and a marked diminution of rainfall to the west, which greatly affect landscape and industries. Cacti become larger and i 2 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES more abundant, and many special trees and plants are prevalent, notably the mesquite; forests diminish in density, and far to the west trees occur only in the bottom lands. Agriculture here depends largely on irrigation, and the raising of cattle, sheep, and goats is the dominant industry. The principal underlying rocks are shale, soft sandstone, and chalk, which do not make strong relief but produce hills and ridges of moderate height separated by wide valleys, which along the larger streams are bordered by bottom lands. Northwest of San Antonio the Coastal Plain gives place rather abruptly to the Edwards Plateau, owing to the rapid rise of hard limestones; from San Antonio to Del Rio this feature lies north of the railroad but is visible at many places. For many miles west from Del Rio the railroad is on the plateau, which is floored by hard limestone and deeply trenched by the drainageways, notably by the canyons of the Devils River, the Rio Grande, and the Pecos River. In this district, where semiarid con- ditions prevail, vegetation is sparse and trees are mostly confined to valley bottoms except where the limestone supports a growth of juniper or live oak. The soil is thin, but it sustains grass and shrubs which afford good pasturage for many goats, sheep, and cattle. Owing to the gradual general rise of the strata to the west the land — increases in elevation, and much of the plateau in south-central Texas is 2,000 feet above sea level in its eastern part and 3,000 feet in its western part. Near Sanderson this rise develops into the great dome of the Marathon uplift. The central part of this uplift is truncated, revealing a large area of closely folded Paleozoic rocks, making sharp ridges of the Appalachian type. The Edwards Plateau ends on the east side of this uplift. To the west is the Davis Moun- tain region, a wide province of volcanic rocks, characterized by rugged peaks and irregularly disposed ridges in great variety, which rise to elevations considerably more than 6,000 feet. The voleanic rocks continue far west of Marfa, but near that place begins the Basin and Range province, which extends thence across New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. In this province there is a prevalence of long ridges separated by wide plains or bolsons floored by sand and gravel. They present a succession of strata or of voleanic flows, mostly tilted or flexed and faulted. Many of the great mountain faces stand along lines of uplift. At intervals there are large masses of intrusive rocks, which have been forced up in a molten condition and are now so hard that they are conspicuous topographic features. The climate of this region is arid or semiarid. The Rio Grande flows between ridges in New Mexico, but at and below El Paso it either crosses the axes of the ridges in canyons or passes around their ends, The Gila and Colorado Rivers have similar relations in south- SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 3 western Arizona after leaving the canyons in which they cross the Arizona Plateau. The mountains of the Southwest are rocky and jagged, and the meager vegetation is so scattered that they appear to be bare. The broad desert plains of gravel and sand between the mountains likewise sustain only scant vegetation, for this is the most arid province in the United States. Parts of it, however, that have water for irrigation are highly productive. The San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and associated mountain ranges in California form high barriers on the north and west sides of the Salton Basin which intercept the moist air currents from the Pacific and thus cause the aridity that prevails over a wide area to the east. These mountains are uplifted blocks, made up largely of granitic and meta- morphic rocks. In southern California lowlands extend from the mountain slopes east of Redlands to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of about 120 miles. The surface slopes mostly to the west and south and is diversified by scattered rocky ridges. The climate is mild, and although the precipi- tation is only moderate in amount, water is available for irrigation and wide areas are under cultivation for citrus fruits, grapes, nuts, and many other valuable crops. In these days of wide culture it is hardly necessary to point out the practical utility of geologic knowledge and the relation that exists between geology and the occurrence of nearly all materials of economic value. Soils are derived by geologic processes from rocks of various formations. Ores, minerals, oil, coal, and water all have close rela- tions to the structure and history of the geologic formations in which they occur. Some igneous rocks carry or have been the source of ores, and their history and relations have much to do with mining. The order and general succession of the strata making up the rocky shell of the earth are shown in the table on page m1. The oldest rocks now seen at the earth’s surface include some granites and other crystalline rocks, partly of igneous origin and partly of other types that have become crystalline through the agency of heat and pressure within the earth and have later been exposed by erosion. These are overlain by a great succession of sedimentary strata (laid down by water), consisting of sandstone, limestone, and shale, which have a thickness of many thousand feet. Some of these later rocks have also been altered by heat and pressure into schist, marble, and quartzite. In many areas there are lavas, ash, and tuff extruded by volcanic action at various times, some of it recent. Seas, lakes, and rivers have been the principal agents in depositing sand, clay, and limy sediments, which have later become sandstone, shale, and limestone. In general, sands were deposited mainly on the shores and by streams, clays in quieter waters, and limestones in deeper waters, so that these various materials indicate the geologic conditions at the time of 4 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES their deposition. The wind has also played some part in the accumu- lation of sand, and much detrital material has been moved by glaciers. The character of the rocks and the order of the sedimentary succession vary in different regions; thus a system may be fully represented in one district and be entirely or partly absent in another, owing to lack of deposition or to removal by erosion in an interval of uplift. In some places a portion of geologic time may be represented by limestone alone, while in others the same portion is represented by shale, sand- stone, or volcanic rocks. Fossil shells, bones, and other parts of they are the key to geologic problems, such as the structure and order of formations, that in many places could not be solved without them. The total thickness of the sedimentary formations is many thousand feet, and the time represented is hundreds of millions of years. Note.—For the convenience of the traveler the sheets of the route map in this bulletin are so arranged that they can be unfolded one by one and kept in view while reading the related text. The contour lines, in brown, represent elevation above sea level. Each line indicates the path that would be taken by one who walked over the country by a course always at the same level, curving in and out with the irregularities of the land surface. The lines are drawn at the vertical distances apart (‘‘contour interval”’) stated on each map; where these lines are close together they indicate a steep slope; where they are far apart, a gentle slope orplain. Most of the contour lines have been compiled from detailed topographic maps published by the United States Geological Survey, the names of which are given in the southwest corner of each. In some areas the contour lines are taken from surveys by the Engineer Corps, U. S. Army, and the Los Angeles Depart- ment of Water and Power, and from reconnaissance by the author. A reference to each map is made in the text at the place where it should be unfolded. The areas covered by these sheets are indicated on Plate 2, and a list of the sheets and the other illustrations is given on pages 11I—vil. res given on mileposts in Louisiana indicate miles from Algiers, a Southern Pacific freight terminal on the south bank of the Mississippi River opposite New ime they are about 1% miles less than the distance from the Union Station, West of Houston the mileposts give distances from Harrisburg, an Rae terminal off the present main line about 3 miles south of Houston station. West of El Paso the mileposts give ‘distances from San Francisco. As a rule the mileage given on the posts does not allow for differences due to subsequent eaeelerscoe.! or Provencte sige ae of — eet _ Most of rena ethan at stations given in compan but others are derived from | precise levels of the United “it Coast and Geodetic Survey or the United States Geological Survey. The statistics given in t idebook tal official Government sources, such as the United States Census and the United States Bureau of Mines. stated or not. Authors’ names cited in parentheses refer to the bibliography on pages 293-296. ITINERARY NEW ORLEANS, LA., TO LOBO, TEX. The journey westward over the Southern Pacific lines begins at New Orleans, one of the largest cities in the United States and one that is unique in character, history, environment, and economic relations. Founded in 1718 by Capt. Hits voot pol Jean de Bienville, as a nucleus of a French settlement in America, it was named in honor of the Duke of Orleans, the regent of young Louis XV. It was colonized mostly by people from France, and a part of the population still follows the cus- toms and traditions of their French ancestors. The city consists of two portions, presenting the strong contrast of the quaint old French with the new American. The area of the original palisaded city is now known as the “Vieux Carré”; it centers about the old St. Louis Cathedral in the Place d’Armes, now Jackson Square, laid out in 1720 by Le Blond de la Tour, Bienville’s engineer. A few French and a great many Spanish houses, built from 100 to 150 years ago, still remain; once the homes of aristocratic and distinguished people, they are now mostly con- verted into trading establishments and rooming houses. The Place d’Armes has been the scene of many historic events, notably the gathering of troops to repel the expected attack of the Natchez Indians in 1728, the reception of the Acadians driven from Nova Scotia by the British in 1755, the arrival of Gen. Alejandro O’Reilly in 1769 to take possession after the transfer of the colony from France to Spain, and the triumphant return of Gen. Andrew Jackson from the Battle of New Orleans January 8, 1815. Here also were made the three great transfers of Louisiana Territory subsequent to the treaties of cession—first from France to Spain in 1764, then from Spain to France in 1803, and finally, in 1803, from France to the United States, a transaction very distressing to many of its Creole inhabitants but resulting quickly in marked increases in property values and population. _ The cathedral, erected in 1795 by Don Almonaster y Roxas, who is buried under the altar, replaced a small church built in 1718 and destroyed by fire in 1788. Next door is the Cabildo, built in 1795 for the Spanish Legislature and for nearly a century the seat of govern- ment. Adjoining the cathedral is the Presbytére, formerly the house of the Capuchin priests, used later for the civil courts of the city. New Orleans. 1 The figures given in this book for population has been estimated, and population of incorporated places are such figures are marked with an those of the United States Census for asterisk (*), 1930. For some of the small places the 6 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES This and the Cabildo are now part of a free museum and the home of the Louisiana Historical Society. Not far distant is the house built for Napoleon, who was to have been rescued from St. Helena by one of Lafitte’s pirate crew had he not died before the expedition could start. Many other buildings near by have great historic interest and also present peculiarities of construction not seen elsewhere. The city was largely destroyed by fires in 1788 and 1794; in its rebuilding the Spanish influence has affected the architecture. The French market (shown in part in pl. 3, A), on the site of the market built by the Spaniards in 1791, attracts many tourists. Not far away (1727 Chartres Street) is the Archbishopric, erected in 1734 for an Ursuline convent, said to be the oldest building now standing in the Mississippi Valley. Rampart Street is on the outer line of the city defenses, built in 1793 by Baron de Carondelet, then Spanish governor, and the Terminal Station is on the site of Fort Burgundy. The old ceme- teries are filled with vaults, many with three tiers of niches for caskets, for originally the water level was so near the surface that burial in the ground was impracticable. (See pl. 3, B.) The Spanish fort where Bayou St. John joins Lake Pontchartrain marks the place where the first colony landed. The Chalmette Monument, in the lower end of the city, commemorates the battle in which Gen. Andrew Jackson and his 5,000 backwoods militia routed a good-sized British army under Sir Edward Pakenham in 1815. The mint, erected in 1821, the oldest one in the country, was built on ramparts of General Jackson’s old fort. The Pontalba buildings, still in use, were erected in 1849 and were long used as high-class apartment houses. In 1862 New Orleans was captured by Gen. Benjamin Butler and held by the Union forces until the end of the Civil War. New Orleans is built on the “Isle d’Orléans” (no longer an island) in a great crescent-shaped bend of the Mississippi 107 miles above its mouth (South Pass). It lies on the slope of a natural levee, or low ridge built up by the river, and comprises an area of 44 square miles. Most of the city is below the high-water level of the river, and parts of it are below the level of the Gulf of Mexico. The first levee, built *The land slopes down from the river bank into two basins 1 foot or under New Orleans are sand, silt, and clay, probably of the overflow or levee more below sea level—one north of Claiborne Avenue and another in the neighborhood of Earigny and Elysi Field Avenues. North of these basins there is a ridge with crest 3 to 5 feet above sea level that was probably built of this ridge the land is less than 1 foot above sea level and slopes gently to Lake Pontchartrain. The sediments deposits, though they may have been deposited in the Gulf in front of an off- shore bar. In the sediments are unde- cayed cypress stumps, some as deep as 12 feet below sea level. At depths of more than 43 feet below sea level recent marine shells are found (Trowbridge). It has not been definitely determined how much true delta material underlies New Orleans, SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 7 in 1727, was 900 feet long; eventually, as levees were extended, the city developed in a wide, deep saucer, out of which no drainage could flow. Throughout its history, therefore, it has had to contend with flood overflows, rain water, seepage, and sewage removal. Now, however, pumps with a capacity of 7,000,000,000 gallons a day lift surplus water into Bayou Bienvenue aiid Lake Pontchartrain. At times of heavy downpours the volume of water to be handled is very great,* but it is claimed that the present pumping system can dispose of a rainfall of 14 inches in 24 hours. The annual precipitation is 57 inches. The sewage is pumped to an outlet down the river, 20 feet below mean water level. Surface water and seepage are collected in large canals, and by this means the general ground-water level has been so greatly lowered that cellars are practicable and graves can be dug where formerly all interments were made in tombs.” In these days of large buildings it has been difficult to obtain stable foundations, but by the use of many wooden piles, in some places 80 feet long, office buildings and hotels of considerable height have been erected.> One notable structure is the auditorium, which has a seating capacity of 12,000 and is used for the great balls of the Mardi Gras estiv There are four great institutions of learning in New Orleans: Tulane University (formerly the University of Louisiana), the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College (the women’s department of Tulane University), Loyola University, and the Isaac Delgado Cen- tral Trades School. There are many parks, libraries, churches, and clubs. About two-thirds of the population are native whites. The city water supply, of about 50,000,000 gallons a day, is pumped from the river, and plans have been developed to double this amount; the water is purified by treatment, so that its quality is satisfactory. New Orleans once had a high death rate, but this has been reduced by sanitary measures to 12% per 1,000 for the resident population, according to local records. The divided scourges of yellow fever and bubonic plague have been eliminated, and malaria has been made * One night in April, 1927, a fall of 13 inches of rain ca h an inunda- tion that the levees had to be opened at Poydras, 15 miles below the city, to let out the flood waters, an expedient that cost the city $5,000,000 for dam- a spillway 35 miles above the city serves to divert water into Lake Pontchartrain in times of river flood. 5In building most of the railroad embankments a great canal was first excavated to remove mud and then filled with sand. For foundations in the lower part of the city 30 feet or more of silt is removed to a layer of long-buried cypress stumps, through which closely spaced piling is driven to form a mesh which by friction will sus- tain heavy buildings. One high build- ing with a foundation of this character has settled a few inches, but the subsi- dence has been so uniform that there is no rupturing. In some places even the lowering of water level by drainage has resulted in the decay of wooden substructures with consequent settling of buildings. 8 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES rare.© Although in latitude 30°, and with a warm climate for much of the year, the mean annual temperature is only 69.3°, with rather small seasonal range from 54° in January to 82.4° in July. New Orleans has become a great commercial center, as much of the vast foreign commerce of the Mississippi Valley and central United States passes through its portals. It is reached annually by about 1,000 vessels whose capacity in 1928 amounted to 11,204,573 tons, according to the New Orleans Association of Commerce, It is a port of entry for a large part of our business with Latin-American ports. It claims to be the largest market in the United States for cotton, bananas, rice, and burlap and one of the largest for sugar, mahogany, coffee, furs, hides, and naval stores. According to state- ments furnished by the New Orleans Association of Commerce, from 350,000,000 to 450,000,000 pounds of coffee, 500,000 bales of cotton, and 23,000,000 bunches of bananas are handled every year. The grain elevators have a capacity of 2,622,000 bushels. The imports in 1928 amounted to $208,430,587 and the exports to $384,597,092, all transported on the Mississippi River through the great passes at its mouth. This river at New Orleans is 2,000 feet wide and in places 200 feet deep. Although there is provision for many vessels on the city’s long water front, additional space to ac- commodate the heavy traffic has been obtained by the construction of a canal 30 feet deep and 5 miles long, connecting the river with Lake Pontchartrain. This canal has a huge lock to provide for the drop from river to Gulf level and cost $21,000,000. In order to permit the access of large ocean-going vessels to New Orleans, two of the outlet channels, South Pass and Southwest Pass, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, originally having only 10 or 12 feet of water, have been dredged to depths of 30 to 35 feet, with widths of 750 to 1,000 feet. The filling of these channels by the great volume of silt carried by the river is prevented by a current of sea water which passes under the fresh-water outflow, forming a deep- seated eddy which keeps the sediment in suspension and carries it off, Great care, however, has to be taken to prevent the river from creating new passes, which would decrease the strength of the current in the main channel and diminish its effectiveness in transporting sediment, New Orleans is also a great manufacturing center, the 1929 output of its 786 factories being valued at $148,388,315, according to the United States Census. Its manufacturing industries have the great advantage of natural gas from the Monroe field, in Louisiana, cheap $In the summers of 1853 to 1855 | present water supply has been estab- there were 37,000 deaths from yellow | lished the death rate from typhoid fever fever, at times at the rate of 300 a day. | is only 2 per 100,000. (Data from New In 1889 the death rate f: laria was | Orleans Association of Commerce.) 156 per 100,000; now it is 1. Since the . S&S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 1 105° (de® ga‘ 1 ons = a ee re Be bs. ig = S ia. -—-¥ 3 Ps ase = Tuls a ‘ 2 | Rive ; © = = T VER E = = Memphis ja a) i oo at 1c ba © ri Amarillo = ittlaRocry,, | 3 1 {O a; AS Ii |? - ie) hr oe ef Cy - My Re *XAdmore rst aN a. ’ | Greenyilie | — y : Y ; 5 mae n €/ Vicksbur oy warisbad Abilene % rsican g 5] a. 9 * Cc a eS - (an Ge’ at, 4 60—- NS, j wD, 5 Ee NX Ss = ae A Ss a T = y = = e' 2? o > ¥ FI Ore 230 9 . oe b & Lake gharles x sti a eee 4 ° : AF i J oe el Ri *San Antonio eston f ~s M Ex POD * 0 a f 27 O60 ___300Miles a imi ———————————==—_—_—— 7 (0) pe es ee O Brownsville nS” 110° 105° 100° 90) MAP SHOWING PRECIPITATION IN THE SOUTHWEST U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY . NE BULLETIN $45 PLATE 2 119° 17° 115° 113° mee? 109° 107° 10s° 10 B9° . \ Oe U5 wi Trinidad ee et - o 0 um Saat b \ ee: C ae 4a/ ral S| % fr Se BIN OS \ ; Wie ts NS / . 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Sy eS Po = y OY) Roswell 5 o> ‘ > ws of ove 2 \ of), a pm = s 6 z 6 a . ra) ‘ , ae cae abe oe ee rater j ' I y g cy Ge* > J os |V ‘ 3 mad ’ Chatty LTRS pe 5 0 a ~ wre ; oe wat, Cag a i Xv Vv v : WIN ee! = Wie veal! a | oie 3 ss ~ oo = ~ A AR) 2 2 7 % s ee No ve = << > a | Shr fe ¢ z : i" O) Is Cl ey " ¢ nee > 2 2 Oe 9 V2 : Carisba Jen a aah | a db OO (2 9 ) ing) : Ness ¥ S OS \ s 3 AS ' Oe} " \ ! Tv be Ay as CY sa) ai = ° y \W .) Prod “G ° ‘ \ “ ed ‘Corsi a ~t ~ ie \ oe Ms ao 8 jt o Sy , a, Se a YO AS 1 Wey 2 6 o “a { 4 a mi OW in ne > Brownsville 00, SOO, 1500 foot dashed contours added i | Topography ~ ates of Arizona, New Mex — Texas by N.H.Darton 7? 115° 113° mice 109° 107° 105° 103° 101° 99° ea a CONTOUR MAP OF THE SOUTHWESTERN Aaah STATES Areas shown on the route maps are outlined in WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WASH. D.C. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 3 A, OLD FRENCH MARKET IN VIEUX CARRE, NEW ORLEANS Looking out a typical street in center. B. TYPICAL GRAVEYARD IN NEW ORLEANS In the early days the water plane was so near the surface that interment was undesirable. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 4 x : A. WOODLAND SCENE, SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA Showing the parasitic Spanish moss. B. GALLERIES IN THE SALT MINE, AVERY ISLAND, LA. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 9 oil, and water transportation. Sugar, cane sirup, cotton goods, and celotex (board made from bagasse, or sugarcane refuse) are important local products. Louisiana, with an area of 48,506 square miles, had in 1930 a population of 2,101,593, an increase of nearly 17 per cent since 1920, placing it twenty-second in rank in the United States. Owing to large areas of thinly populated swamp lands, however, the average density of population is only 43 to the square mile. New Orleans is by far the largest city. Shreve- port, which is growing rapidly, is next in size; Baton Rouge (the capital), Monroe, Alexandria, Lake Charles, and Lafayette are considerably smaller. The greater part of Louisiana consists of lands less than 100 feet above sea‘level, and a large area along the Mississippi River and the Gulf coast stands at less than 50 feet. The alluvial valley of the Mississippi occupies all of the eastern half of the State. There are more than 4,700 miles of waterways, but some of them are small. A great intracoastal canal utilizing many of these natural waters is in course of construction. (See p. 17.) The principal products of Louisiana are agricultural, with crop values of $161,078,688 in 1929,’ but only about one-fifth of the area is under cultivation. Furs, lumber, petroleum, natural gas, and miscellaneous manufactures, especially sugar refining, are sources of large income, In 1929, 402,422 acres of rice yielded 16,317,463 bush- els, 1,945,354 acres of cotton yielded 798,828 bales, and 205,394 acres of cane yielded 208,000 short tons of sugar. Corn production was about 20,000,000 bushels. According to data from the New Orleans Association of Commerce, the lumber cut in 1928 was 2,278,442,000 board feet, the State ranking second in the production of pine lumber, and its value, together with turpentine, rosin, tar, and other naval Louisiana. general, has a higher sugar content and tougher fiber, and requires replanting only every second or third year, in- stead of annually. According to data 7 Statistics are taken from United States Census reports except as other- wise stated. 8 Sugarcane was introduced from Santo Domingo by Jesuits in 1751, but not until 1780, when slave labor was utilized, did its cultivation become Louisiana grows about 95 € siderable raw sugar for its refineries. For a while the extinction of the sugar industry was threatened by a blight called the mosaic disease, but it was saved by the aubptiiution. of cane im- rted from Jaya, which not only re- sists the disease but is more hardy in 152109°—33——_2 furnished by the New Orleans Associa- tion of Commerce, 200,000 acres of this cane was growing in 1929, with a yield of over 18 tons of cane to the acre, or more than double that of the earlier cane, and yielding 160 pounds of sugar to the ton, instead of 1388 pounds. The 1929 sugar crop ranked next to cotton and rice in value. Sugarcane makes a heavy draft on the soil, but many fields have been producing it for 100 years or more. 10 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES stores and wood pulp, was $154,766,819. The petroleum production in 1931 was 21,804,000 barrels, according to the United States Bureau of Mines. Refining of petroleum is one of the principal industries, with an output in 1929 valued at $151,966,142, or more than one-fifth of the total value of the manufactures of the State. The sugar re- fineries in 1929 had a production valued at $74,706,373. \ Natural gas is obtained in several fields. The Monroe field gave 103,000,000,000 cubic feet in 1931, much of which was piped to many cities, although some was used at the source for the production of carbon black, of which Louisiana produced 28,740 tons in 1931. (U. S. Bureau of Mines.) There is a large yield of fruits and early vegetables in Louisiana, and pecan nuts are an important product. The annual output of oranges, both Louisiana Sweets and Satsumas, is about 82,500 boxes. On account of the mild climate there is a long growing season, and in places three successive field crops can be raised in a year. Pastures are perpetual. Corn, which is increasing in popularity, yields 30 to 75 bushels to the acre. Rice, one of the principal crops, occupies a wide area in the southwestern part of the State, Louisiana ranking first in the United States in rice production. Hay is raised in large amounts, also lespedeza, or Japanese clover, which grows 12 to 15 inches high. Although many forest areas have been cut off, reforest- ation is in progress, and 500,000 acres has been planted in pines, to be sold years hence for lumber and pulp or to furnish turpentine. These plantings are mostly in areas not favorable to agriculture. Meanwhile, in order to conserve trees now developing, logs are imported to help supply the great sawmills at Bogalusa. There are three game preserves in Louisiana, created to give sanc- tuary to the wild birds that live in or visit the State in vast numbers. These preserves are Avery Island, 34,000 acres; Rockefeller Preserve, 104,000 acres; and Russell Sage Preserve, 94,000 acres. Louisiana is the largest producer of furs in the United States, for its great marsh areas sustain a vast number of fur-bearing animals. The muskrat is the one principally sought, and during the open season of 1928-29 about 5,000,000 pelts of this animal were obtained, at a value of about $1 each. These, with opossums, raccoons, minks, skunks, otters, wildcats, and foxes, yielded 6,000,000 pelts (equal to the Canadian production), valued at $8,500,000, according to data furnished by the New Orleans Association of Commerce. The pelts are all obtained by resident trappers, who in most places pay a rental for the land on which the trapping is done. Louisiana produces many terrapin and shrimp, and according to local reports it ships 6,000,000 pairs of frogs’ legs a year. Oysters are marketed in large numbers, and there is a vast area available for their culture, with the advantage that the oysters mature here in two years. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 11 The great shell reefs on the Gulf shore are valuable for lime, road metal, chicken feed, etc. Salt is one of the great resources of the State, with a production of 529,280 tons in 1931, valued at $1,962,690, according to the United States Bureau of Mines. A part of the salt is used for the manu- facture of sodium carbonate, soda ash, caustic soda, and sodium sul- phite, used for glass, in paper making, and in dyeing. Large factories in New Orleans produce these and other chemicals. The Gulf region has an annual rainfall averaging about 62.5 inches, and although high temperatures occur during the summer, the heat is tempered by nearly constant breezes from the Gulf; these breezes also diminish the chill of the winter. The history of Louisiana is full of interesting events, of which the first was the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi River by the Spanish explorer, Painfilo de Narvéez in 1528. In 1542 Luis de Moscoso, who had accompanied Hernando de Soto to the mouth of the Red River, descended to the mouth of the Mississippi and sailed down the Gulf coast to Mexico. In 1673 Jacques Marque tte and Louis Joliet, sent by the Canadian colonial government to find an outlet to the West, descended the great river to its junction with the Arkansas ee aad in 1682 René Robert de La Salle sailed to its mouth, possession of the region under the name of Louisiana, in honor ot his patron Louis XIV. The region claimed by La Salle included the entire drainage basin of the Mississippi River and much of the Gulf coast. Three years later he returned with a colony which he expected to locate near the mouth of the river, but he missed the Mississippi and landed instead at Matagorda Bay, in Texas, near which he was murdered in 1687. In 1699 Pierre d’Iberville, a French naval officer, landed at New Orleans with a colony, the first permanent settlement of the region, but he established it in Spanish territory (near Biloxi, Miss.). In 1712 Antoine de Crozat, a French merchant, obtained the exclusive right to trade in ‘‘ Louisiana,’ but he surrendered this grant in 1717 to the Company of the West, which began sending out colo- nists. In the following year Capt. Jean de Bienville, a brother of Iberville, landed a colony of 68 persons at the site of New Orleans. In 1719 the first cargo of slaves arrived from Africa, valued at $150 each. This was just a century after the first slave cargo landed at Jamestown, Va. The seat of government was established in 1722 at New Orleans, and in 1726 the settlement had a population of 800. Life was made difficult by floods, Indians, diseases, and hurricanes. November 3, 1762, France, finding the territory a burden, ceded the portion west of the Mississippi, together with the city and island of New Orleans, to Spain in the secret treaty of Fontainebleau; the next year the remainder of Louisiana, east of the Mississippi, was ceded to England. The boundary between Spanish and British possessions, 12 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES exclusive of the Isle of Orleans, was defined as the center of the Mis- sissippi River. Spain, fearing that the settlements to the north would interfere with the interests of her possessions to the east, endeavored to defeat progress by prohibiting access to the mouth of the river. In 1800, in the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain returned to France the area west of the Mississippi which she had acquired in 1762, but the actual transfer of authority was postponed for three years. On April 30, 1803, Napoleon ceded this territory to the United States for the sum of 60,000,000 francs and the assumption of certain claims against France. The part of Louisiana east of the river which was known as West Florida was ceded in part to Spain and in part to the United States by Great Britain in 1783. The Florida Purchase, effected by the United States in 1819, completed the transfer of Louisiana Territory. The part of the State lying west of the Mississippi River was organ- ized in 1804 as the Territory of Orleans, and in April, 1812 (the year the first steamboat made the trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans), it was admitted to the Union under the name Louisiana. The area lying east of the river, although its ownership was disputed until 1819, was added to the State a short time later. The present State of Louisiana is about one-twentieth of the area of the Louisiana Purchase, which was divided into 15 States. New Orleans was the capital until 1829 and again from 1831 to 1846. Leaving the Union Station, New Orleans, the Southern Pacific train uses the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad as far as Harahan Junction, a switch station on the north side of the Mississippi River. (Turn to sheet 1.) Thence the line crosses the river flat in a southerly direction and in 2 miles reaches the levee, over which it passes on an incline. Here on the bank of the Mississippi the entire train, divided in sections, is placed on a huge steel barge (The Mastodon) to be ferried ° across the swift current to Avondale, on the southwest bank, a distance of nearly a mile. The floats are adjustable for different stages of the river, for there is considerable variation in the water level consequent on floods and droughts. The Mississippi River, flowing past New Orleans to its great delta in the Gulf of Mexico, is the largest river in North America.” It has a drainage area of 1,231,492 square miles, and it flows across nearly the entire width of the United States. * This ferry is regarded as a tempo- | Orleans is from 135,000 to 1,360,000 rary expedient, as a $20,000,000 bridge | cubie feet a second. There is @ is projected. mean flow of 800,000 cubic feet a second ies It is estimated by the Mississippi | at Old River, 130 miles above New River Commission that the Mississippi | Orleans, equivalent to a total annual River carries ually 500,000,000 tons | discharge of 25,228,800,000,000 cubic of sediment. The average flow at New feet. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 13 At Avondale, not far south of the ferry, the train reaches the Southern Pacific tracks coming from Algiers, the terminal on the south side of the river opposite New Orleans, used only for freight. The land is low behind the levee, and most of it is too swampy for economical cultivation. In this area will be noted many cypress trees, water hyacinths, and other plants typical of the swamps and lowlands of the South. In wet places there are scattered palmettoes with their clusters of fan-shaped leaves. Most of the larger trees are festooned with the parasitic Spanish moss, A typical view in this region is given in Plate 4, To the small local settlement at Boutte the railroad proceeds along the natural embankment of the river and then follows a low ridge through the woodlands to Des Allemands, where Des Allemands. Bayou des Allemands is crossed. This name is de- Seren rived from a small settlement of Germans founded in New Orleans 33 miles. COlonial days, but the population now consists mostly of people of French origin living in primitive dwellings along the water’s edge. For many years there was a sawmill here which cut cypress lumber from the adjoining swamp lands; now the supply of this material is practically exhausted, and the main re- sources are fishing, crabbing, and the trapping of muskrat and other fur-bearing animals. In midsummer the water bodies in this region are spangled with a beautiful growth of the purple flowers of the water hyacinth. Bayou des Allemands empties into Barataria Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, which was at one time the headquarters of the pirate Jean Lafitte! Formerly some of the district about Des Allemands was reclaimed for agriculture by ditching and pumping. Now the first signs of extensive cultivation begin near Raceland Junction, where there are fields of cane supplying the large sugar refinery at Raceland, a short distance south. This refinery, which presses about 150,000 Avondale. Elevation 8 feet. New Orleans 13 miles. 1 This notorious person, about whom center hundreds of colorful legends of this region, ran a blacksmith shop in New Orleans in the early days of the nineteenth century (at 810 Chartres Street, just off Canal Street). At this time privateersmen in the Caribbean countries that hired them, and Lafitte became the agent through whom they disposed of the captured cargoes. In time he became the leader of a fleet es ange privateersmen and estab- rtified post on Bay. He trafficked extensively in slaves, at one time selling 450 negroes at public auction. The proceeds of these sales and his piratical booty bur- ied for safe-keeping are still the object of treasure hunts in the bayou country. For his loyalty to the American forces in the War of 1812, his neces outlawry wasoverlooked. He resumed his piracy 1817 and moved his headquarters from Barataria Bay to Galveston Bay, where his fortifications continued until he was driven out in 1821. Apparently he was finally lost at sea. 14 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES tons of cane a season, draws part of its supply from more distant sources, some of it brought down the near-by Bayou Lafourche in barges. An interesting industrial development in the sugar industry in Louisiana is the utilization of the cane residue (bagasse) after the sugar-bearing juice has been pressed out. This material compressed into bales is shipped from many refineries to a large factory at Gretna, across the river from New Orleans, where it is pressed into sheets of building board known as celotex. In some of the cane fields at Race- land experiments are in progress to ascertain the results of using Chilean nitrates as fertilizer. Bowie siding is in the midst of cane fields, and there is a sugar refinery not far south of it. The abrupt change in agricultural conditions at Raceland is due to the presence of a ridge of alluvium built up by sediments spread by the overflow of Bayou Lafourche. Alluvial uplands of this character are of great economic importance in many parts of the great valley of the Mississippi, for although not wide they have rich soils and are sufficiently high to afford good drainage, roadways, and places for settlement. On them are the principal farm lands in this part of Louisiana. ‘The mound of Bayou Lafourche extends from the Missis- sippi River at Donaldsonville nearly to the Gulf of Mexico, a length of more than 100 miles. Its height for most of the distance is only about 15 feet, and its width is from 3 to 4 miles. Bayou Lafourche is the narrow stream crossed by the railroad just beyond Lafourche station. Originally this bayou was an outlet for part of the flow of the Mississippi River and was ex- Lafourche. tensively utilized by freight boats, but to avoid the rer ey floods that occasionally came down the bayou, the Orleans 53 miles. Connection at Donaldsonville was dammed off in 1903, and the navigability of Bayou Lafourche was greatly reduced. However, it is still used for traffic into the Mississippi River, with which it is connected by locks, and part of its lower course will be followed by the Intracoastal Waterway now projected a the lowlands, some distance south of the Southern Pacific es. Three miles northwest of Lafourche Crossing, but not visible from the railroad, is the town of Thibodaux (population 4,400), an old village of French origin, with important agricultural and commercial interests. An alluvial ridge extends southward along Bayou Terrebonne through Schriever, and another, extending along Black Bayou, is followed by a branch railroad to Houma. At this ee old town there is a large sugar refinery and an exten- rv} va ba Ad . PaRLSEC eeerenierag sive business in oysters and other gulf products. New Orleans 56 miles. Much sugarcane is raised in this part of Louisiana, and formerly there were many small sugar refineries, some of which are still visible. Potatoes have lately become an impor- BULLETIN 845 SHEET 1 U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY : 90°30" ° Louisiana ! ioe ca a mere ST JOHN [7 E BAPTIS n tAi eserve lace amer ppd CAS 5 £ (ny) MISSISSip,. +1) Z » Ly at oS A) L AN. arahan a3 ot “SiPete ck Tee R L ELAS agan ; StRose Rie io i “oO V Salix Algi ! Luling*—s 2 Kenly 2 Berea. ! H ? A one ia 4% y EL8. ne = fe Boutte pita ts \ 4 aie, " ~ Eas - pear dis Belle Chass : ~ i “ DesAllemands ee 3 ) 2 ) 3 4 E ) 4 atere ~ | FANS wn 3 ft yp? ibodaux Cp ile ies “a 1 2 Y 6 cn fo on E Robix ne a 6.8 ertrandville - . fa - WE: S ee Bowie 3 ‘ a hriever se irateland : 60 De sex Mathews rataria ea Y SY — f ~ Ellendale : ~< \ Lockpo Blacg S D ° um < > RES Les 0) * a 4 v ra) 0 ) (r yl % ° Ee (C ( 29, Scale 500,000 linch-8 miles (approximately) ° 5 10 bd 45 20 MILES & ° 5 15 _20 KILOMETERS ee The distances from New Orleans, La., are > shone every the 10 miles, and the crossties are drawn t tle apa in Each quadrangle shown on the map with an lower left corner is — in detail on the U. ame in parentheses . B.. Be to, ypographic map of that n 30° SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 15 tant product, and considerable corn is raised. Between the alluvial ridges the land is low and swampy, but in places it can be drained by pumping; one notable reclaimed area of this kind southwest of Race- land is yielding large crops of corn. In the swamps cypress, tupelo gum, and other trees flourish. Lumbering has long been an active industry, but many years of vigorous lumbering has greatly reduced the amount of timber available. There was formerly a sawmill at Chacahoula, and at Donner a large mill is in operation on logs brought by rail and in ‘‘booms” rafted through the great system of waterways traversing the lowlands to the north. (Turn to sheet 2.) Donner is in the large lowland area that was covered by the great flood of the Mississippi River in 1927, when in the lower places the water was from 6 to 10 feet deep for several months. Donner. The flooded district extended far to the north and Popa: oe: northwest over the lake region and the country tra- Oriana ayaa versed by the Grand and Atchafalaya Rivers. The bayou ridges described above (p. 14) were not covered, but the water extended far up their slopes. During the flood Gnas sands of residents on the lower lands were driven out by the water, and there was considerable loss of crops and effects. The railroad embankment near Donner was slightly submerged, and parts of it had to be protected from the flood waters. In this region the roads are surfaced with oyster shells, which make an admirable road metal for light traffic. Shells are also burned as a source of lime. Gibson is a small village on Black Bayou, a waterway of some im- portance. A quaint old church is about the only feature of special interest. Gibson was formerly an extensive lumber- Gibson. milling community, drawing on the rich supplies, now Elevation 11 feet. mostly depleted, of cypress and other trees in the Population 60.* New Orleans 67 miles. great Swamp country to the north. This swamp veg- etation is still a picturesque feature along the railroad in places, especially the drapery of Spanish moss on many of the 12 The small old settlement of Boeuf is on the bank of an outlet of Lake Palourde, one of the water bodies of the widespread swamp region to the north. From Boeuf to Morgan City the railroad Boeuf. follows the north bank of Bayou Boeuf on a ridge of elena: ne alluvium built up by overflows. In this general region St Orleans 74 miles. the deposition of this material has also developed a series of islands of sufficient elevation for farming. They are not high, and in places the fields have to be protected from 2 Spanish moss is extensively utilized | airing to decompose the living portion, for making mattresses and other cush- | then dried, carefully worked to remove ions at moss “gins” at many places. | dirt, sticks, and other undesirable ma- The moss is cured by moistening and | terials, and thoroughly washed, 16 overflow by dikes. The soil is rich and mostly under cultivation in cane and other crops. Many scattered cypress trees remain in the swampy areas. The extensive swamp lands in the Mississippi Valley in Louisiana are mostly useless for settlement without expensive diking, but they are valuable for growing cypress and other lumber. Some areas in the midst of the swamps that are high enough for cultivation are uti- lized for small farms, but even these are subject to overflow at times of high water. Morgan City, on the right bank of a baylike expansion of the Atchafalaya River, i is a commercial and lumber center of considerable importance, as it has waterways of moderate depth GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Morgan City. into many parts of the cypress swamps as well as into tion 18 feet. the sugarcane country. The wide river here is the out- Population 5,985. cw Orleans 8036 mileslet of a series of large shallow lakes and numerous bayous occupying the area known as the Atchafalaya Basin. It receives the water of the Red River ® mixed with some overflow water from the Mississippi River, which joins the Red River by way of the Old River near latitude 31°, 50 miles above Baton Rouge (130 miles above New Orleans). In the great flood of 1927 a large part of Morgan City was under water for two months. Morgan City (originally Brashear, later renamed for Charles Mor- gan ') is near the head of tidewater and from 1850 to 1869 was the terminus of the railroad from New Orleans. At that time there were extensive boat connections in all directions by the rivers and bayous, and by way of the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston. The United States Government took possession of these communications d the Civil War. Charles Morgan, who had controlled most of the boat oe purchased the railroad in 1869; it was extended west to Lafayette 0. Formerly the city’s luraber business was extensive, but 18 When the Mississippi River is low and the Red River is high the slope in the Old River is reversed and some of the Red River water flows through it into the Mississippi. No doubt the of a natural levee on the west bank of the big river forced the Red River to find an independent course to the Gulf down the channel now called the Atcha- mostly by way of Plaquemine Bayou and locks to the Mississippi. 4 Charles Morgan is regarded as one of the most important influences in the development of southern Louisiana. He was born in Connecticut in 1795 and died in New York City in 1878. He inaugurated various early coastwise steamship lines, mainly to places on the Gulf of Mexico, developed the railroad from New Orleans to Cuero, Tex., and a steamboat channel through Atchafalaya Bay. In 1836 he founded a great iron works in New York, and in he same year he sent the first vessel from New Orleans to Texas, stopping at Galveston when that place consisted of one house. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 17 now the principal occupations are agriculture, shipping crabs, and reparing shells for chicken feed and other uses. The shells are brought from the large reef of Pointe au Fer in Atchafalaya Bay, 30 miles southwest of Morgan City. One of the water routes of com- merce in the region now is by the Grand River and a 7-foot canal through Plaquemine Lock, which enters the Mississippi River 20 miles below Baton Rouge. The projected Intracoastal Waterway is to follow Bayou Boeuf into the Atchafalaya River at Morgan City and thence go westward through Wax Bayou.” After crossing the Atchafalaya River over a long bridge the train reaches Berwick, a companion town to Morgan City and sharing with it the river trade and crab industry. In the region west of Berwick much of the land is under cultivation in sugarcane, but some woodland remains. An abandoned sugar mill (Glenwild) is conspicuous north of the railroad 3 miles west of Berwick. A typical small sugar plantation may be seen just north of the tracks 2 miles beyond Patterson (near Calumet siding), with groups of whitewashed houses for laborers and many very large, handsome moss-hung live oaks. The principal outlet of Grand and Sixmile Lakes, at a point about 4 miles north of Patterson, is regarded as the beginning of the lower Atchafaiayia River, and into it empties the famous Bayou Teche (Indian for Snake Bayou) at a point about 2 miles north of the town. This bayou origi- nates far to the northwest. Running along the west side of the great alluvial valley of the Mississippi, it has built up a typical bayou ridge, 10 to 20 feet high, that is exten- sively settled and cultivated. The railroad is built upon this ridge from Patterson through Franklin, Baldwin, Jeanerette, and New Iberia, and in places the water of the bayou is visible from the train. With its many plantations, fine houses, luxuriant gardens, and hand- some live oaks and pecan trees, it is one of the most interesting fea- tures in southern Louisiana. The bayou is a useful waterway, although at present the traffic is light. In early days the bayous and rivers were highways of travel to “re Acadians and other settlers, who built their houses overlooking th Berwick. Elevation 14 feet. Population 1,679. New Orleans 82 miles. Patterson. — 8 feet. Population 2,206. New Grleans 88 miles. 45 This waterway is being built by the Government to provide an inside chan- nel along the coast from New Orleans to Corpus Christi (at a cost of $16,- 000,000) and, eventually, to the Rio Grande at Point Isabel. The bill passed by Congress in 1927 provides for a canal 100 feet wide to carry 9 feet y are to be utilized, some of them, how- ever, requiring deepening and straight- ening. For much of its course it is from 10 to 20 miles south of the Southern Pacific lines. 18 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The settlers used pirogues, or dugout canoes, and flatboats for trans- porting themselves and their produce from place to place, traveling by day only and camping on shore at night. Later on, in the French and Spanish régimes, every grantee of land was required to build a levee along the bayous and on top of it a road. Such was the origin of the Spanish trail from New Orleans to San Antonio that goes through Lafayette and of many other roads still existing in southern Louisiana, There is a much used airport in the midst of the cane fields about 3 miles west of Patterson. Cane fields extend far westward up the “Teche country,” with sugar mills at several places, including Shadyside and Bayou Sale. At Garden City a sawmill is in opera- tion, using logs floated up Bayou Teche from the Grand Lake region. Franklin, on the south bank of Bayou Teche, is an old commercial and sugar center, with large lumber and planing mills. Recently the operation of these mills has had to be discon- Franklin. tinued, as the supply of cypress became exhausted Elevation 10 feet. or too remote. Population 3,271. ew Orleans 102 miles, WOUisiana is not usually regarded as an earthquake region, but it has experienced occasional quakes. The last notable event of the kind was the earthquake of October 19, 1930, the epicenter of which was in the Atchafalaya Valley between Franklin and Donaldsonville. Baldwin is a local center of the sugar business and of a district in which various crops are raised on the Bayou Teche ridge and the Baldwin. slopes extending south. A branch railroad and a eee highway lead southwestward to the Cypremort sugar Population 2. ‘refinery and the great salt mine at Weeks Island (or 822. Raw Ortenne 00 miles. Grande Cote), (See p. 21.) In traveling across central-southern Louisiana the only visible features of geologic interest are the delta and bayou deposits, espe- cially the mounds built by bayou and river overflow which have been referred to on previous pages. Farther west are the wide terrace plains of low altitude, floored by alluvial deposits of Recent age. It would scarcely be suspected that under this smooth cover there are formations which represent a long and complex geologic history. Many deep borings have revealed this subsurface geology to a depth of 8,000 feet or more. Below the Eocene beds is a great thickness of earlier Tertiary, Cretaceous, and older strata down to the crystalline rocks which underlie them. The principal formations so far recog- nized are listed in the following table: SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 19 Formations of Quaternary and Tertiary age underlying southern Louisiana Age Formation Character Boon or Beaumont clay. Clay and sand. Pleistocene. 1,500+- Lissie gravel Sand and gravel. U on fi rmity- Pliocene. Citronelle formation. oi ~ieess yellow and red sand and 50-400-+- U neonform mity- Paseagonla clay. a neon: blue-green and gray | 959 1 400(7) nf — Miocene. Hattiesburg clay. Ni or nt a eray clay, thin 300-350 Nonmarine; gray sand, sandstone, fine 600-800 Catahoula sandstone. conglomerate, clay Jackson formation. — gray sand and dark calcareous 100-600 Eocene, Palustrine; gypsiferous sand and clay Cockfield formation. with lignite. 400-800 Some recent estimates suggest that in the southern part of the area the Pliocene and later beds are 4,000 feet thick, the Miocene 4,000 feet, the underlying Tertiary more than 10,000 feet, and the Creta- ceous possibly as much as 8,000 feet. This great succession of sedi- ments indicates that the region was under water for a long time, during which a vast amount of material derived from the land was deposited. During this deposition the basin kept sinking much of the time, and doubtless the total amount of subsidence was fully 5 miles. There were also intervals of uplift when the land was above the water, a fact indicated by unconformities between most of the formations above listed. There is evidence that the region is still subsiding, for a few centuries ago cypress swamps were much more extensive than at present, as shown by the dead cypress on Cypremort Point and by the stumps of cypress in Weeks Bay, exposed at very low tide Southern Louisiana has had a somewhat complex fluviatile history, some of it decipherable from the resulting configuration or the distribu- tion of deposits. Near New Iberia there are small areas of character- istic Red River deposits, which indicate that at no distant date the Red River drained south for a short time through Bayou “Teche. Deposits of the latter stream overlying the low terrace plain southeast of New Iberia indicate that for a while this bayou overflowed its banks in the wide gap east of New Iberia and reached the Gulf between Avery Island and Weeks Island. (Howe.) 20 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Jeanerette is an old and picturesque village named for an early French settler, Jean Erette, who operated a small corn mill, For many years the principal industry of Jeanerette was Jeanerette. sawing cypress and other lumber brought from the Elevation 19 feet. swamps far to the northeast, but this activity has Population 2,228. New Orleans 115 miles. Ceased because the sources of supply have become too remote. There is, however, considerable farming and dairying, and rice and cotton are produced. Formerly there were many small sugar mills in the vicinity, but only a few remain; on about 2 miles west of the town, on the bank of Bayou Teche, is conspicuous from the railroad. From Jeanerette northwestward the railroad follows the high south bank of Bayou Teche through cane fields and small woodlands. Throughout this district fine live oaks festooned with Spanish moss are conspicuous, many of them surrounding stately old homes. Am these are the Delgado-Albania plantation, on the bank of Bayou Teche, now owned by the city of New Orleans, and several other notable old estates, such as Bayside, Westover, Loisel, and Beau Pré, all surrounded by fine trees. About 5 miles west of Jeanerette, on the north bank of the bayou, is the livestock experiment station, 1,000 acres in extent, sustained by the cooperation of the United States Department of Agriculture and the State of Louisiana. New Iberia, one of the oldest settlements in southwestern Louisiana, is a commercial and sugar center at the junction of several local railroads. Situated on the bank of the Bayou Teche, New Iberia. it has water communication with many places. It pant wean was incorporated as a town in 1839, and it is said that New Orleans 127 miles. fully 80 per cent of the people are descendants of the Acadians. These people originally were French settlers in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia (French Acadie), where they had lived for a century and a half before the English conquest in 1755. Then, when they refused to transfer their allegiance to England, their property, so industriously accumulated, was confiscated and they were deported. During the following decade many of them sought refuge in the French colony of southern Louisiana, where, however, they found conditions not entirely congenial, for Spain had just acquired control of that terri- tory. But they were cordially welcomed, and many established themselves in the moist, fertile lands along the bayous, an environ- ment far more agreeable than the rugged north country to which they had been accustomed. The effect of this propitious climate upon their character was diverse: some were content with a bare subsist- ence; others developed into landowners and men of affairs whose hospitality and graciousness were famous. Many descendants of the old Acadians remain, together with a large percentage of persons of French descent from the original New Orleans colonies. The local SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 21 name for these people represents the defective pronunciation ‘‘Cajun.”’ One group of Acadians that left the Mississippi at Plaquemine and came southwest through the swamps in 1757 found a small settlement at the present St. Martinsville, 9 miles north of New Iberia, where the newcomers were given tracts ofland. Trappers, traders, and ranchers were scattered sparsely through the Teche country, and under the Spanish régime the settlement became a headquarters and finally a military post called the Poste des Attakapas (a-tak’a-pa). Four different flags have floated above it. Now, under the name St. Martinsville, it still has an Acadian population, dialect, and atmos- phere, and these, together with its ancient structures, render it a most interesting place to visit. The region is perhaps most popularly known from Longfellow’s narrative poem of the fair Acadian “‘ Evange- line,”’ the scene of which is laid principally on the Bayou Teche. At St. Martinsville is the heroine’s grave, under the ‘‘ Evangeline oak” in the yard of the church constructed in 1765, and various souvenirs of her life are on exhibition. In this headquarters of the old Acadian colony a monument in memory of Evangeline was erected in 1931, for she had become to the ‘‘Cajuns”’ the symbol of their early suffer- ings, their romance, and their faith.” Eight miles south of New Iberia the hill known as Petite Anse, or Avery Island, rises prominently above the lowlands and marsh. Its height is 152 feet, and it is dimly visible from the railroad. It con- sists of a thumb-shaped mass of salt thrust up several thousand feet through the Coastal Plain deposits. The salt has been extensively mined for many years from a shaft about 200 feet deep, and great galleries, such as are shown in Plate 4, B, extend far underground in white salt. Borings 2,263 feet deep have not reached the base of the deposit. A feature of this kind is known as a salt dome, and its general relations are shown in Figure 1. Similar bodies of salt occur at the mounds constituting Jefferson Island, 8 miles west of New Iberia, and Weeks Island, 15 miles south of New Iberia, where also it is extensively mined for domestic use and for the manufacture of sodium chemicals. The production of salt at these localities has exceeded 7,000,000 tons, valued at more than $27,000,000," and the supply is practically inexhaustible. The three “islands” above mentioned and two smaller ones to the southeast occur along a line bearing N. 49° W., which probably marks 16 It is locally stated that Longfellow based his poem on the narrative of an old Acadian in St. Martinsville but modified it to have a different ending. The young woman referred to was Emmeline Labiche, and “‘ Gabriel” was Louis Arceneaux, who told Emmeline that after waiting a long time for her to come he had given his pro another. Demented by the on we wandered through the Teche region and finally died and was buried in the churchyard at St. Martinsville. 7 Mineral Resources of the United States 22 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES a narrow deep-seated zone of uplift or faulting that extends across the country for many miles. The movements along this line, especially at the domes, have continued into recent times. Owing to the uplift of the strata the domes reveal formations which in the adjoining region are concealed by alluvial deposits. At the surface there is more or less loam resembling loess, 10 feet or more thick, and in many places where this has been removed by erosion older gravel (Citronelle, p. 19) is exposed. On Avery Island there are small exposures of sandstone, clay, and lignite which may be of Pliocene or Miocene age. Sa Ae oe Recent Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene an Oligocene (?) Jackson (Eocene) Claiborne (Eocene) ; Wilcox (Eocene) Midway (Eocene) Upper Cretaceous (Lower Cretaceous) alt,age? FIGURE 1.—Hypothetical section of salt dome at Avery Island, La. By ’. Howe In places here the beds dip 44°. The lignite, which is 18 feet thick, may have economic value. At Jefferson Island there is a small mound only 75 feet high, but it has been found by recent boring that the area of doming is consider- ably larger, the salt core extending under Lake Peigneur; the depres- sion in which the lake lies may be due to subsidence caused by the removal of salt by underground solution. There have been several theories as to the origin of the numerous salt domes in the Coastal Plain of Louisiana and Texas, but most geologists regard them as due to the flow of the relatively plastic salt from a deep-seated stratum, to relieve stress in the earth’s crust. The salt body has forced its way through the overlying sand and clay SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 23 and to some extent domed and faulted the strata. The top of the salt core has risen to various heights in the different domes, but in one dome it is 6,400 feet below the surface. The domes near New Iberia above mentioned give rise to surface mounds of greater or less height, and the salt is near the surface, but in many salt domes the salt body lies deep and there is no topographic indication of its presence. Not long ago the only domes recognized were those which had surface manifestations, but exploration with the torsion balance and seismo- graph, instruments which detect the disturbances to gravity and to rock conductivity resulting from the uplift, has indicated the presence of many more, and drilling has verified their existence.'8 In some of the domes the disturbed strata surrounding and overlying the salt core serve as a reservoir for oil. The association of petroleum with many of the domes is believed to be due to a condition favorable for its migration and accumulation. About 80 domes are now known in the Louisiana-Texas Coastal Plain. More than two-thirds of them produce petroleum, with an aggregate of nearly 70,000,000 barrels in 1930, according to the United States Bureau of Mines. The sulphur and anhydrite occurring as cap rocks on most of the domes have resulted from secondary chemical reactions. The structure of a typi- cal dome is shown in Figure 2, but there is considerable variety in character, form, and relations and in the depth to the top of the salt mass, The easternmost is the Chacahoula dome, 3 miles north of Donner, discovered by seismograph exploration. Here the salt was pene- trated in a test boring at a depth of 3,485 to 5,150 feet, where boring was stopped. No boring in these domes has passed entirely through the salt, although some holes have been drilled 4,000 feet in it. The sandy loam exposed on Avery Island has yielded fossil shells of no very great geologic antiquity, and bones of the mammoth, elephant, buffalo, horse (Equus complicatus), Mylodon, and Megalonyz, all of which have been extinct for a long time (Howe). These deposits have been correlated with the Sangamon or third interglacial stage, indicat- The field attained a production of 18 A deeply buried salt mass has been 16,800 barrels in 1927. The salt core discovered on the western margin of Lake Fausse Pointe, about 11 miles east-northeast of New Iberia. The only surface manifestations of the up- paraffin in the soil, but a seismograph survey in 1926 showed the presence of a dome, and a boring found salt at 1,392 feet. Several borings found petroleum, the first one yielding 125 barrels a day from sands probably of lower Pliocene age lying at a depth of 1,062 to 1,143 feet, 100 to 200 feet above the salt core. is more than 2 miles in diameter and at one point comes within 823 feet of the surface. Another salt dome that un- derlies a small area about 6 miles east of New Iberia afforded a small produc- tion of petroleum in 1916-1920. Sev- eral borings in this dome that reached a depth of more than 3,000 feet are thought to have entered beds of Mio- cene age. The apex of this salt core comes within 805 feet of the surface. (Howe.) 24 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES ing that Avery Island has stood above sea level since that time. Remains of man have been found associated with the bones, but paleontologists have not been fully convinced that they were contemporaneous. The fact that the salt marshes stand above sea level indicates that Avery and the other islands can not be very old, for in such a moist climate reduction of the salt by solution would progress rapidly, although possibly the salt is rising at a rate to keep pace with solution. Although Avery Island and the other mounds rise but slightly above the general low plain and marsh, they have some notable characteris- tics of flora, due mainly to soil differences, and also some peculiarities of animal and insect life. A sanctuary for herons and other birds, established on Avery Island in 1894, is locally estimated to give refuge to over 100,000 herons, the same birds returning year after year. Some of the birds are labeled, and a record is kept of their zones of migration. Many wild fowl winter in Louisiana, but the draining of wet lands has diminished their former plentiful food supply, so that now large numbers of birds move on to Central America and Mexico. Myriads of blue geese come from their breeding grounds in Baffin Land to spend the winters in this region. As the number of birds has decreased, the sale of wild birds has been made illegal, and the hunting season and the bag limit are much reduced. On Avery Island also is a large arboretum in which a great variety of semitropical plants have been assembled. On this island is manufactured the famous tabasco sauce, a fiery but savory essence of a special pepper imported from Mexico, which thrives in the warm climate of this region; many of these peppers are also dried and ground for flavoring. The cultivation of this pepper and the bottling and shipping of the sauce give occupation to many persons living near New Iberia. Another special industry here is a paper mill in the east edge of the town that utilizes rice straw, a mate- rial which is largely wasted under ordinary conditions of harvesting. Considerable sugarcane is raised near New Iberia, and corn and vegetables are grown. One of the most noticeable topographic features in the vicinity of New Iberia is the northward-facing margin of the Hammond terrace, 10 to 15 feet high, which extends northwestward from that place. It is ascended by the railroad a short distance west of New Iberia. Beyond Segura it forms the south bank of Spanish Lake, on some maps called Tasse Lake, which lies between it and the natural levee that Bayou Teche has built up. To the west it merges into the general upland which lies west of the lowlands of the Mississippi Valley. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 3 BULLETIN 845 SHEET 2 91:30 i Louisiana bg ANE M L i ie 00,00) 2 | inch=8 miles (approximately) 1@) 5 10 5 20 MILES > 10 20 KILOMETERS > The distances from New Ori , La., are shown every =M A R x i | N — 10 miles, and the seem og are seep 1 mile apa — } = quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parentheses th the lower left corner is — in detas on the U. S. G. 8. 3 = Siccrusts map of that & z a = - Q | Spdgésh és > a ; 3 ue e fi Loreauville “ SSK fe 3 w eg . EL 29 ‘ w lberi F EL 2/ Ne eria { a = ‘ited | e Oliviete Platteny lle avids 20 uboin . <8, “ae UM © N ~ \ Lydia Se apoleonville EL 9, eanerette EL 2) e c Avoca es Adeline Ne. LIG + De Ashton ELIF ks , a . S Glencoe ‘ x = i Efi li 3 Louisa > apnin a ® y / Char ehouls altdome 4) 2 Bay 4 j le : EL | ae ee Et 9/2 Yn. BPG “ sipse onn Calumet o6 = @ ae LM Patterson é£L ry Y oe rsa : e \ = ooster ated pe y J Fo, ‘\ ps . ~ MARSH : e a ISLAND of A S G er : Kant ; od aes WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WasH. D.C. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 25 Just east of Lafayette the terrace step is only about 12 feet high, but at Opelousas, 25 miles northwest, its steep eastern face is a bluff nearly 40 feet high. Its elevation is 35 feet near Rayne and for some distance beyond. The land is better drained than the lowlands of the valley of the Mississippi or the low prairies to the south, and it contrasts also in having a slightly rolling configuration and sandy soil. Refugees of the flood of 1927 went to this upland near Segura as the nearest highland that was available. At the crest of this flood the swamp lands to the north were under 5 to 10 feet of water, and even New Iberia was inundated for several days. This flood was the first in a century that overflowed any of the country south of Bayou Teche. Southeast of New Iberia there is a terrace or upland somewhat similar to the Hammond terrace, lying south of the Bayou Teche mound and extending to and beyond Jeanerette. South of this ter- race is a lowland flat that extends as far to the west as Vermilion and Mermentau Prairies, which are mostly less than 20 feet above sea level. (Turn to sheet 3.) An important resource of southwestern Louisiana is underground water, which yields flowing wells at moderate depth in the lower lands and water available for pumping in the higher areas. The wells are mostly from 200 to 300 feet deep and obtain their supplies from gravel and sand in the younger formations. At Cade is the junction with a branch railroad which goes to Port Barre, a small town on Bayou Cortableau about 40 miles north. The first station north of Cade on this branch line is St. Martinsville, above referred to in connection with the legend of Evangeline. Cade is surrounded by cane fields, and considerable quantities of cane and other farm products are shipped here and at Burke and Duchamp sidings. At Billeaud, a mile east of Broussard, a large sugar refinery just north of the railroad utilizes cane from the adjoining region. Brous- sard is an old town sustained in ayet part by the sugar industry and surrounding farms. It was named for a French captain by one of his descendants New jauie% 140 miles, When the town was established after the Civil War. The rolling country is covered with cane fields that extend at intervals to Lafayette, where they give place to rice. Much pepper also is raised. 152109°—33-——3 Cade. Elevation 32 fe New Orleans en rifles. Broussard. a ly + 26 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The region hereabouts is called the Attakapa country, from the Indians who originally occupied it, of whom now a very few known descendants remain near Grand Lake. They were nearly annihilated by neighboring tribes, notably the Choctaws, at a battle on a hill about 3 miles east of Billeaud, just before the white settlers came into the country. Many of their burial mounds occur along the banks of Bayou Teche, and their weapons and utensils are found occasionally. Three miles northwest of Broussard the railroad crosses the Ver- milion River near the place where the first settlement was made in this region. It was located at the head of navigation Lafayette. and was of considerable importance as a trading post piaern age under the successive names of Little ee, New Orleans 146 miles, Pinhook, Vermilionville, and Lafayette. Here als in 1863 occurred an important battle of the Civil War when the Union troops moved through the Teche country and ~ established a camp at Lafayette. Lafayette, in the heart of the Attakapa country, has nearly doubled its population in a decade, owing to its advantages as a railroad and general commercial center. A branch railroad runs to Alexandria, on the Red River. The mean annual temperature here is 65°; the average for July is 81° and for January 52°. Lafayette is the westernmost of the old French towns, and many descendants of French settlers are included in its ner tion. In the southern edge of the town is the Southwestern Louisiana Institute. On exhibition at the railroad station is the first locomotive used on the Morgan Line, the predecessor of the Southern Pacific in this section. It contrasts strongly with modern locomotives. According to the United States census, in 1929 Lafayette Parish produced 18,394 bales of cotton, 135,524 bushels of rice, 146,246 tons of sugarcane, 45,027 pounds of figs, 166,045 bushels of sweetpotatoes, 14,144 bushels of Irish potatoes, 14,262 bushels of soybeans, and 505,445 bushels of corn. Oranges and pecans are also produced. There is a salt dome at Anse La Butte, 5 miles northeast of Lafay- ette, but holes drilled in it to a depth of 3,400 feet found only a small amount of petroleum. From Lafayette the railroad goes due west for 16 miles to and beyond Rayne over wide prairies with an average elevation near 35 feet. Three miles west of Scott siding the Bayou Queue de Tortue (French, tail of a tortoise) is crossed. Rice fields soon begin to be conspicuous, especially near Duson, a siding named in honor of a Canadian refugee settler of early days. as SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 27 The village of Rayne i is in an important agricultural community, with its chief interest in rice, which is raised over a wide area in the Baris: vicinity. The fields are irrigated by water pumped Flevation 36 feet, f£0m bayous and wells. The Southern Pacific Rail- Population 3,710. road here crosses a branch of the Texas & Pacific Yew Orleans 160 miles. “Railway which connects Opelousas and Crowley. Crowley, the parish seat of Acadia Parish, is now the center of the great rice industry of southwestern Louisiana. About three-fourths of the area of the parish is in rice, which is irrigated Crowley. by 300 miles of canals and water from 125 wells. Sei i The principal supply of underground water here is Naw Be desu: found about 300 feet below the surface, and consid- erable water is also obtained at depths of 17 to 60 feet. One of the large canals is crossed between Rayne and Crowley. It is claimed by local authorities that one-third of the rice produced in the United States is raised within 30 miles of Crowley. Acadia Parish alone produced 16,317,463 bushels of rough rice in 1929 (Fifteenth Census). There are many rice mills where the rice is cleaned and polished, with an annual production averaging 1,500,000 barrels of 162 pounds, according to the Crowley Chamber of Qe merce. Rice is milled to cull out broken and small material and remove the hull and the several thin layers that surround the grain, a process which robs it of valuable food elements. Most of the rice to be exported has to be coated with a very thin film of tale in glu- cose. A large part of it is shipped to Puerto Rico. Rice requires a generous supply of water, not only for the growth of the rice plant but to kill weeds that would otherwise choke it. This water is . pumped from wells and bayous and in large amount from the Sabine River. Many of the canals and ditches that bring the water, some of them from long distances, are crossed by the railroad. Fortu- nately, in most seasons there is an abundant water supply, but it is found that in some bayous strong pumping causes the backing up of brackish water, which is deleterious. The pumping is done by steam and electricity, with oil for fuel, and most of the water is supplied by companies that irrigate their own fields and sell water to others. Some of the batteries of pumps require from 400 to 800 horsepower. The fields are crossed by a network of small ditches like furrows, with low banks to retain the water. Ordinarily the irrigation of rice costs about one-fifth of the value of the yield, which is 40 to 50 bushels to an acre. Rice sprouts in 28 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES two or three weeks after planting and soon grows to 8 to 12 inches, when it is flooded until practically mature. The extensive cultivation of rice in this region is relatively modern, dating back to 1894 and 1895, when the first large pumps were intro- duced near Crowley. The early Acadians planted small areas of rice along the lowlands and in various dammed areas, but the drainage of all these tracts was difficult in wet weather, and the crops failed in dry years. From Crowley a railroad runs north, serving the rice country as far as Alexandria. Just west of Estherwood a wide ditch is crossed which carries aici water for the irrigation of the extensive rice fields Elevation 19% feet, 22 the neighborhood. Most of the prairie land is Population 40.* utilized for this crop, but narrow wooded strips New Orleans 173miles- romain along the streams. At Midland are branch railroads, one going north to Eunice and Mamou and the other south to Gueydan and Abbeville. The old village of Mermentau, with a quaint ancient grave- Midland. yard on its main street, is built on the east bank of Elevation 18 feet. § the Mermentau River. This stream, resulting from Population 80.* New Orleans 176 miles, the confluence of Bayou des Cannes and Bayou Nezpique, is bordered by swamps in which many cypress trees remain with their festoons of Spanish moss. It empties into Lake Arthur, 15 miles south, a famous resort for hunting ducks Siete and geese and for fishing. There is a local tradition eecke ek that the vessels of the pirate Lafitte (see p. 13) Population 394. made a practice of ascending this river to sell stolen © New Orleans 181 miles. slaves. Jennings, the parish seat of Jefferson Davis Parish, is a local headquarters for rice and other agricultural products. Therice crop in this parish was 4,717,628 bushels in 1929, according to Jennings. the census returns, which showed also 182,439 bushels viene soam of corn and 4,185 bales of cotton. A very special te ton allen. industry is the extensive cultivation of Bermuda or Easter lilies, which are shipped from this place all over the United States. The pretty town is built on a low, flat ridge between the valleys of the Mermentau River and Bayou Chene, in a region of wide prairies with many rice fields. Five miles northeast of Jennings is the productive Jennings oil field, which obtains petroleum from a sharp local doming of the strata. The derricks are not visible from trains owing to timber along Bayou Nezpique. They are shown in Plate 5, A. This field has been described by Barton and Goodrich. It was one of the earliest oil developments on the Gulf coast, having given its first _ Manifestation of oil eight months after the strike at.Spindletop in _ 1901. In 1906 the field had a production of more than 9,000,000 U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 3 se 92°30 92° Louisiana Opelousas SI ? Pe a “ . Sante ~_fEunice ‘ BN Elton é | 2 * y é 9 ce i 3 x t r\ Sen & RS) Mowata -— Church 4A Point ® v : 0 y § 9) . & vt Maxie J x) 0" : "6 II ; astille - 2 A Bavrou FL IE _ - 160 o a ‘ sae $ eee > ff Crowley ® ” Esth erwood of + 4 EB 3e : Morse 7 Milton Duchamp) ( 42 36 v He e & QY LeleGx Sa, t xs ~ (Lakeside Gueydan Wright. } ~~. Ce ee OE aa } 30 a Jefferson Is! A | @ salt dome Me | , Scale 500,000 linch=6 miles (approximately) 2] 5 ie} 15 20 MILES ee 1S _20 KILOMETERS a jinn ah om New ’ Orle leans, La., are gS every 0 miles, and the crossties are drawn 1 mile apart V om ‘ R M @ Sait domes WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WASH.0.C- SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 29 barrels, but finally the amount diminished, and the yield in 1930 was only 527,834 barrels. It is estimated that in all about 40,600,300 barrels has been produced from an area of about 300 acres, which is a larger production than that of any other field in Louisiana. Some of the borings found considerable gas. Salt was reached at a depth of 3,716 feet, but most of the oil was obtained at 1,700 to 2,000 For several years the oil from this field sustained a refinery at Jennings. Southwest of Jennings, between the railroad and the Gulf of Mexico, are noted hunting and fishing grounds with a great variety of fish and wild fowl. A short distance beyond Jennings, just before crossing Bayou Chene, the railroad turns due west, a course which is continued 50 miles to Edgerly, over prairies with an average eleva- tion of 20 feet. While many parts of the region are under cultivation for rice, other crops are raised, in- There are many cattle Welsh. Elevation 23 feet. SN appatligs 197 miles. cluding considerable cotton. in the numerous pastures. Three miles west of Welsh there is another low local dome, known as the Welsh oil field, the derricks of which are mostly about a mile north of the railroad. About 90 wells have been drilled here, and some of them yielded a small production for a few years. Much of the oil was used for lubrication on the locomotives of the Southern Pacific lines. (Turn to sheet 4.) Just beyond Welsh the railroad crosses the east branch of Bayou Lacassine, the water of which is used to some extent for rice irriga- tion; the west branch of this stream is crossed just east of Lacassine siding. A short distance west of that siding there is a small clump of pines south of the railroad, a sporadic outlier of the great pine forest that covers a large part of western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Not far beyond this place the Missouri Pacific Railroad is crossed. In this region ‘‘pimple mounds” appear in the prairies, and they become more numerous toward Lake Charles and beyond, though somewhat scattered. Most of them are less than 3 feet high and approximately circular. A few of the larger well-formed mounds are very conspicuous and reach 75 to 100 feet in diameter. Many of them have been more or less obliterated by cultivation, and some have been cut by drainage ditches and road grading. They occur 19 The subsurface geology (see table, p. 19) showed clay (Beaumont) to 90 feet; sand (Lissie and Citronelle), 90 to 1,100 feet; clay, mainly Pascagoula an 1,100 to 2,800 to an unknown depth. Probably Jack- son strata were penetrated in the deeper holes, several of which were from 7,294 to 7,447 feet deep. One dry hole 8,903 feet deep was aban- doned in hard blue shale regarded by some geologists as Oligocene. 30 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES at intervals far into eastern Texas and over a wide area in the region north. Their origin is unknown, although many theories have been advanced to account for them. The city of Lake Charles is attractively located on the wooded shores of Lake Charles, a broad expansion of the Calcasieu River, one of the principal streams of southwestern Louisi- ana (formerly called the Rio Hondo). The name Calcasieu is derived from that of an Indian tribe _which once occupied the region and is now repre- sented by a few descendants living in the northern part of Calcasieu Parish. This river, which is crossed west of the town, was the resort of slavers in the early days when the region west to the Sabine River was neutral territory between Mexico and the United States. The name of the city is taken from the lake, which was named for Joseph Charles, an old settler. This city is the farthest inland of the Gulf ports, being 75 miles from the coast, with which it is connected by a 30-foot channel dredged through the river, Calcasieu Lake, and Calcasieu Pass, at the joint expense of the parish and the United States. This channel has no tide and no locks. The harbor basin has accommodations for all classes of ocean vessels, by which it ships more rice than any other port in this country. One of the three large mills in the city manufactures cellulose from rice hulls and is said to be the only plant of its kind in the world. Considerable cotton is raised near by, and lumbering is an important industry. In the marshlands of Cameron Parish, south of Lake Charles, are two isolated domes, the Hackberry and the East Hackberry, which produce a large amount of petroleum. The latter was discovered in 1926 by means of seismograph survey in a region where there are no surface indications of geologic structure. The oil is derived largely from sand of Miocene age * at a depth of 3,900 feet, but oil is also produced from sand over the “cap rock,”’ which lies about 2,955 feet below the surface. One 6,995-foot hole is in shale of supposed Jack- son (Eocene) age. From 1927 to the end of 1930 a little more than 4,000,000 barrels of oil was produced from 50 wells in this district, according to the United States Bureau of Mines. Lake Charles is about at the eastern margin of the great pine belt which extends westward to and beyond Beaumont, Tex., and far to the Lake Charles. Elevation 16 feet. Population 15, 791. 220 miles mostly fine grained, representing the Pliocene and Miocene, 5,000 feet or more; older Tertiary gray silty sand, %” The subsurface geology of this part of Louisiana as revealed by borings is as follows: Recent marsh deposits of much sand and clay, about 50 feet; sand and gravel of the Beaumont formation (350 feet) and Lissie formation (650 feet); a thick succession of blue sandy silt, blue and gray sl _— clay, blue- green shale, and clean sand, lain by heavy shale believed to be of Jackson age. (Bauernschmidt.) (See also table, p. 19.) SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 31 north; for much of the distance between these two places the railroad skirts its southern border. Originally there were large forests of fine timber in this region, but much of the pine has been cut. In the great marshes between Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes, south- west of Lake Charles, is a muskrat ‘“‘ranch,’’ 29 miles long by 14 miles wide, comprising 170,000 acres and having 70 miles of canals. Here a large number of pelts of this animal are obtained every year. The region is also famous for hunting and fishing. Water hyacinths grow in picturesque abundance in its many ponds and bayous. NW. SE. Sea Marsh Mound Marsh ee —~ — | (SS SS eae ee ees. ee jae press ae See ae ed ea (a ia AO WY AN Y) A Sulphur MN inp wh bliin Dp K\\ WZ GE Yi ih ioe y A Ny ZS LM DS Wi} aN | ANY . ' SY = SS | 25 SS Anhydrite —) vy NN > \ GZ an NN at , : on pe So eee MAR po eR ae OG: Ci . . / » _ oe % u “a = PI \ t+ \ ee ap . + > a Salt ¢ # 4 : ee 3 ~ + : ; + : , + : * . si Ba + 5 ' ~ ee ‘ eerie < 5 *< ree >, FIGURE 2.—Section across dome near Sulphur, La. After Kelly To most persons it may be surprising to learn that our largest sup- plies of sulphur have been found under the smooth, low prairies of southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas. One Sulphur. mine that was a very large producer for many years Fd i pr was 2% miles northwest of Sulphur and only a short New Orleans 230 miles. distance north of the Southern Pacific tracks. The total production here exceeded 10,000,000 tons and had a gross value of more than $150,000,000 (Kelly). The sulphur is now exhausted. The mineral occurred in the anhydrite cap of a circular, flat-topped salt dome of small extent, 75 acres in all, where it had accumulated through chemical reaction for a very long period. The relations are shown in Figure 2.7" The sulphur was discovered in 21 The overlying material consists of | from the reduction of the calcium about 250 feet of yellow and red clay | sulphate of the anhydrite, an alternating with sandy clay and sand | indicated by the fact that the volume of (Beaumont clay) and gravel (Citronelle | sulphur and limestone (calcium formation) to the cap rock. The sul- | ate) was found to inerease in proportion phur is thought to have been derived | to the decrease in calcium sulphate. 32 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES a 1,230-foot boring for petroleum, of which a small surface seep had long been known, the black ooze being used by early settlers for axle grease. The first attempts at mining were made by a French com- pany, which planned to use a huge iron caisson shipped in sections from France, but the enterprise failed after the expenditure of nearly a million dollars. One of the rings of this caisson still lies on the bank of the Calcasieu River, with a pine tree 2 feet in diameter growing through it. After several other vain attempts to mine the sulphur, the Frasch process ” was developed in 1903; by this process the sulphur was melted in place by steam, pumped to the surface in liquid form, and stored in great vats until needed. (See pl.6, 8B.) In this way the sulphur accumulated in solid blocks 1,000 feet long, 500 feet wide, and 50 feet high, from which it was easily broken for shipment. Since 1919 the great deposits of sulphur at Gulf, New Gulf, and other places in Texas have become the chief source of our commercial supply, with reserves of many millions of tons. dome has developed an oil field which in 1930 had a production of 1,351,195 barrels from 33 wells.” There are extensive rice fields interspersed with swamps and forests about Sulphur and in the region west, notably about Edgerly and Vinton. Just south of Edgerly conspicuous oil derricks mark the occurrence of petroleum in another structural dome under the level lands of the region. Strong surface indications of gas and oil at this place were noted at an early time, but drilling did : $04 not begin until 1907. The first holes were not success- Now Orleans a8miles. ful, but after repeated attempts considerable oil was obtained at depths of 2,300 to 3,100 feet from beds of Pliocene age. Salt found at a depth of 4,000 feet shows that a sae ion is present far underground. The oil is heavy (19° to 22%° Baumé) and when refined makes a fine lubricating oil (Minor). The field reached its peak production of 1,688,862 barrels in 1915; there has been a great decrease in recent years, the production in 1930 being only 142,380 barrels. Recent drilling on the Sulphur - 2 This ingenious method of obtaining ~ ee, £. - EY 2 ho proveny ita was perfected by Hermann Frasch in deposit, which is mostly a mass of honeycombed limestone filled with sulphur. Into the hole three concen- tric pipes are placed with perforations at their ends; through the outside pipe ted steam (300°) is supplied, The central superhea' which melts the sulphur. and somewhat longer pipe conveys hot compressed air, which so lightens the liquefied sulphur that it is forced to the surface by the combined air and steam and water pressure. The heat of the steam and water in the outer column and in jacketed pipes on the surface keeps the sulphur melted while it is conveyed to vats built up with wooden walls to the requisite height. % South Louisiana Oil Scouts Assoc. Bull. 1, 1930, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 5 A. OIL FIELD NEAR JENNINGS, LA., IN 1928 Total production more than 40,000,000 barrels from 504 wells. B. PART OF GALVESTON, TEX. General view from an airplane. Shows the sea wall. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 6 A. COTTON READY FOR SHIPMENT, GALVESTON, TEX. 19,000 bales. B. BLOCK OF SULPHUR AT NEW GULF, TEX. Ready to be broken up for shipment. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 33 About 3% miles southwest of Vinton is a typical Gulf coast salt dome yielding petroleum, the first dome discovered with oil on its flanks. The dome makes a low mound at the surface Vinton. with a lake in the center and has a salt core about a Elevation 16 feet. mile in diameter. It was looked upon as a likely nti lation 1,989. New Orleans 243 miles. Source of petroleum, especially as it had oil and gas seepages on its summit, and some oil had been obtained in shallow wells near by. Paailline began in 1901, resulting in finding traces of oil, but it was not until 1910 that a Ini produc- tion was developed; in the next few months more than 2,000,000 barrels of oil were produced. Production declined later, and now it is confined to some old wells, which are pumped. The total produc- tion to the end of 1930 was 34,317,000 barrels from an area of 150 acres, mostly from a depth of 2,200 to 2,300 feet.2* The salt lies at a depth of 925 feet, with a 500-foot cover of “‘cap rock’’ limestone. The deeper borings penetrate the Jackson (Eocene), with the Oligocene pinched out by the salt on the west and southwest sides of the dome. The oil ranges in gravity from 19° to 37° Baumé, the latter coming from a sand at 3,385 feet. The producing sands are regarded as Miocene and possibly Oligocene. (Thompson and Eichelberger.) From Vinton the railroad follows the crest of a long low ridge south- westward to Toomey, where it curves to the west to cross the Sabine River. For nearly 200 miles this river is the boundary line between Louisiana and Texas; it empties into Sabine Lake 8 miles below Orange. North of the railroad crossing the river is navigated only by small craft, but many logs are floated down it, and the water volume is large in times of freshet. No precise survey has yet been made of its tortuous course, most parts of which are bordered by swamps. Much of its water is pumped for the irrigation of rice fields. After crossing the Sabine River into Texas the railroad makes a great curve to the south. The State of Texas is the largest of the United States, measuring 772 miles from east to west and 723 miles from north to south. It has an area of 265,896 square miles, or 7.2 per cent of Texas. the United States. It is larger than France and than the States of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and all of New England combined. A diagonal across the State from Texline to Brownsville is 1,107 miles long, and the length along the Southern Pacific Railroad across the State is 940 miles. The Rio Grande is its southwestern boundary for nearly 800 miles, and there is 400 miles of shore line along the Gulf of Mexico. The population in 1930 was 5,824,715, or nearly as much as that of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined, an increase of about 25 per cent in 10 years. In 1836 the Anglo-American population of % South Louisiana Oil Scouts Assoc, Bull, 1, 1930, 34 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Texas was probably less than 30,000. Ten years later it was 100,000, with 35,000 slaves. The density of population is now 22.2 to the square mile. The largest city is Houston, with a population of 292,352, and the other large cities in order of size are Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and El Paso. The population includes about 20 per cent of persons regarded as ‘‘Mexican,”’ most of whom live in the southern part of the State, and every season many laborers come from Mexico to assist in harvesting cotton and other crops. Texas has vast agricultural interests, for, according to the census reports for 1930, nearly 75 per cent of its land area is in farms or ranches, which, with buildings and machinery, are valued at $3,779,593,795. Among the principal items of production in 1929 were rice, 5,158,544 bushels (from 105,616 acres); hay, 650,992 tons; and cotton, 3,793,392 bales (500 pounds each), or 40 per cent of the cotton produced in the United States. In 1926, a record year, the cotton crop was 5,620,831 bales. In 1929 vegetables valued at $14,125,151 were produced, and grains other than rice 217,000,000 bushels. The aggregate value of agricultural products in 1929 was more than $1,000,000,000. The production of grapefruit in 1929 was 997,551 boxes, but as yet only one-third of the trees are productive. Although most of the great ranches of former days have been sub- divided, the number of cattle in the State in 1930 was 6,602,702 head, and of sheep and goats, 10,163,655 head.” In 1929 the wool and mo- hair clip was 50,302,601 pounds, valued at $16,636,096; 4,726,363 pounds of honey was produced; the fig crop was 8,425,468 pounds; peanuts, 2,290,000 bushels; and pecans, many of them from cultivated trees, 9,588,376 pounds. Pecan trees, some of them 3 feet in diameter, grow wild in most parts of central and eastern Texas. According to the Texas Almanac, Texas ranks seventh among the States in lumber production, with a cut of 42,000,000,000 board feet in 1910-1930, not counting poles, posts, ties, and unrecorded wood for local use. Texas leads in sulphur production, having shipped in 1930, accord- ing to the United States Bureau of Mines, 3,372,338 tons, valued at $30,841,065, or between 80 and 90 per cent of the world output and 97 per cent of the output of the United States. This mineral comes from the Gulf coast region not far west and southwest of Houston. The petroleum output was 296,876,000 barrels in 1929 and 290,457,000 barrels in 1930, and a large amount of natural gas was utilized. Much of the petroleum is produced in the portion of the Gulf coast region traversed by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Extensive deposits of lignite occur, also some bituminous coal, of which in all about 1,000,000 tons is mined annually. The cannel coal of Santo Tomas, in Webb Many of the Boats are Angoras, | The first ones were introduced in 1849, J p of 3 to 8 pound h, | a gift from the Sultan of Turkey. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 35 County, is, according to Ashley,?> the largest body of cannel coal of bituminous rank in the United States. ® va ze H hi fiankom r neo: ES ! Anahuac | mM 6 = Rs a WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO, WASH, OC SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 43 Liberty, founded in 1831, is in the wide valley of the Trinity River, one of the great rivers of Texas, which rises west of Liberty. Fort Worth and flows into Galveston Bay 20 miles epee fo below Liberty. This valley extends nearly to Dayton, opnilation 2,187. J ; Pe ah New Orleans 321 miles. Where there is a steep rise to the ordinary prairie level. The swamp occupying part of the valley shows some cypress and gum trees with Spanish moss. Three miles below Liberty on the Trinity River is the South Liberty salt dome and oil field. The salt here comes within 500 feet of the surface and has a thick capping of gypsum and anhydrite, topped by a thin body of limestone. Its area is more than 2 square miles, and the volume of salt is very great, for it has been penetrated 2,100 feet. The field, discovered in 1905, was not productive at first, but several holes finally obtained satisfactory supplies of oil. The production in 1930 was 1,503,000 barrels, and the total yield is estimated at 12,651,800 barrels. Some of the deeper wells penetrated to the Oligo- cene(?) beds, which are believed to underlie the Coastal Plain at a depth of about 2,900 feet. Near Liberty was the ‘Champ d’Asile,”’ where 120 French colo- nists who had moved from an unsatisfactory settlement in Alabama established themselves on Spanish soil in 1818, They were soon ousted by the authorities anu retired to Galveston. (Turn to sheet 6.) From Dayton the railroad goes nearly due southwest to Houston. That the Coastal Plain is gradually rising in elevation is shown by the increasing depth of the trenches cut by rivers and Dayton. creeks. On the broad prairie uplands considerable perder oni dagaets pine timber remains, and there are numerous farms, ~ eae mostly of small size. About 7 miles northwest of Dayton is the small North Dayton oil field, discovered in 1905 and yielding 406,000 barrels of petroleum in 1930 and 1,605,100 barrels in all. The field occupies an area of about 300 acres and has salt at depths below 300 feet. The derricks of this field are visible north of Stilson siding. About 6 miles southwest of Dayton is the Esperton (or Sheeks) dome, discovered by a torsion-balance survey made late in 1928. This dome lies deep under the sands and clays of the Coastal Plain, and the oil was found at a depth of about 3,300 feet. Wells nearly 6,000 feet deep penetrated the Jackson (Eocene) beds. (Bowman.) test hole 7,836 feet deep did not reach salt. According to the Texas Gulf Oil Scouts Association, the production in 1930 was 846,486 barrels from 27 wells. 44 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES About 2 miles west of Crosby the San Jacinto River is crossed, flowing in a wide, deep trench in the smooth Coastal Plain. About 10 miles below this crossing the river is joined by Crosby. Buffalo Bayou, which has been deepened into the Elevation 49 feet. Houston Ship Canal. It was on a rounded ridge just Population 417. Ps Z New Orleans 341 miles, SoOUth of the junction of these two streams that the Battle of San Jacinto, which gave Texas her inde- pendence from Mexico, was fought April 21, 1836. This battlefield has been laid out as a handsome park reached by a highway from Houston, 20 miles west. In this battle the Texas army of 783 men under Gen. Sam Houston routed the Mexican army of about 1,550 men under Gen. Antonio de Santa Ana six weeks after the fall of the Alamo (ah’la-mo) in San Antonio. Houston’s men were inspired by the battle cry, “Remember the Alamo.” There was one swift charge of 15 minutes in which the stampeding Mexicans lost 630 killed, 208 wounded, and 522 prisoners, while the Texans, raw farmers with poor equipment and only 50 horses, lost only 6 killed and 23 wounded. Santa Ana was captured the next day, and after an imprisonment of eight months was sent back to Mexico, where, from 1832 to his death in 1876, he continued to be alternately revolutionist, President of Mexico, and exile. From the west bank of the San Jacinto River near Sheldon siding the railroad follows a straight course southwestward over the level plain of Beaumont clay to Houston. In the interval there are several bayous or creeks which cut steep-sided trenches; pine woods are on all sides, and in places a few palmettos are growing. South of the railroad near Houston is a large creosoting plant for the treatment of ties and other timber for railroad use. Houston, the largest city in Texas, is built on the wide, level plains adjoining Buffalo Bayou. Its population increased slightly more than 111 per cent from 1920 to 1930. It is named for Sam Houston. Houston, renowned soldier, governor, and Member of aon Congress, who was elected the first constitutional New Orleans 63 miles. President of Texas after it achieved independence through his victory over the Mexicans a San Jacinto. _ Once the capital of the Republic, long an important railroad center, Houston has added greatly to its commerce by a ship channel opened in 1920 from Galveston Bay to a great basin excavated on the eastern edge of the city, which has berths for 50 ocean liners. This waterway cost $20,000,000. According to the Houston Chamber of Commerce, nearly 15,000,000 tons of freight was handled on this waterway in 1930, including nearly 2,000,000 bales of cotton and a large amount of rice and lumber. It is visited by vessels from all parts of the world. Houston claims to be the greatest spot-cotton market in the world and to rank second in cotton export, It exports grain from Iowa, Kansas, SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 45 and Nebraska and receives oil by pipe lines from all parts of the south- central United States. The city has many fine avenues, handsome residences, large modern office buildings, and numerous shade trees, parks, and gardens. Rice Institute, with an endowment of $10,000,000 and assets of $14,000,000, is a great educational establishment. Railroad lines connect Houston with the city and port of Galveston (population 52,938), on the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles to the southeast. (See pls. 5, B, and 6, A.) Houston experienced its first railroad activity as early as 1853 and was connected with neighboring towns long before 1881, when the first train arrived from New Orleans. The first settlement at Houston was made early in 1836, when it was the head of navigation for small boats on Buffalo Bayou. It was the capital of the Republic until 1840, when a new capital was ordered established at Austin. On the southern outskirts of Houston, at Pierce Junction, there is a salt dome that produces a large amount of petroleum. Originally the place was marked by a slight mound on which gas was found in shal- low borings. Considerable drilling was required to develop the field, the first 54 holes being unsuccessful. From 1901 to 1930 a total of 19,637,240 barrels was produced from 86 wells, and the production in 1930, at about 10,000 barrels a day, amounted to 3,847,000 barrels. The oil comes in greater part from depths of 3,500 to 4,600 feet, from strata of lower Miocene, Oligocene(?), and Eocene age on the flanks of the uplift, where the beds are tilted up against the salt core. The top of the salt here is about 630 feet below the surface. One later hole 5,260 feet deep is a producer. From 1,300 feet to about 4,000 feet are pink and other colored clays interbedded with sand and gravel. Gray and blue clays below 4,000 feet are regarded as probably Oligo- cene. The basal Miocene appears to lie 3,500 to 3,600 feet below the surface near the dome and 3,800 to 3,900 feet below farther away from the uplift. (Bowman.) From the Sabine River westward nearly to Columbus, eastern Texas presents a plain with wide areas of level lands and low terraces trenched slightly by valleys of the larger drainageways. The eleva- tion of this plain, which is near 15 feet at the east, rises to 50 feet near Houston, to 100 feet beyond Richmond, and to 225 feet on the divide between the San Bernard and Colorado Rivers. To the north it extends to the Hockley scarp, at which there is a distinct rise. The lower part of the plain is mantled by a deposit of clay and silt known as the Beaumont clay, and the upper terraces to the north and west are covered by a sheet of sand and gravel known as the Lissie formation, both regarded as of Pleistocene age. The boundary between these two formations has not been mapped exactly, and only the general outline of their history is known. Underneath is the eastward- 46 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES dipping succession of Coastal Plain formations, including a great thickness of strata of Tertiary age which have been penetrated by many deep borings. They are listed on page 50. Some of them yield artesian waters which supply flowing wells. The Lissie sand contains bones of animals of Pleistocene age, including the mastodon and mammoth, which have been found in gravel pits near Columbus. It is interesting to picture the assemblage of animals which ranged over this country a short time ago, in a geologic sense, and which are now entirely extinct. Many of them were very different from the animals of to-day, but were similar to animals found on other conti- nents. Notable among these were the large elephantlike mastodons and mammoths. The former (Mammut americanus), which was covered with long, coarse hair, ranged over a wide area, especially in the forested tracts. There were also mammoths of several species, notably Elephas columbi, which attained an average height of about 11 feet, and Elephas imperator, which was considerably larger. They had huge curved tusks and teeth like those of modern elephants, with large grinding surfaces; apparently they lived on the open plains. Horses of several kinds and sizes were abundant, apparently ranging in immense herds over the wide interior plains, but after having persisted from a very remote period geologically they became entirely extinct here long before the coming of the Europeans with the modern horse. Tapirs were abundant in the south-central areas, and camels, wild hogs, and llamas were widely distributed. Deer and bison (buffalo) were plentiful, and some species of these have continued into the present era. The carnivores were varied and numerous, including the saber-toothed tiger, and some of these may have been contempora- neous with primitive man. Among the more curious-looking animals were the ground sloths, large unwieldy creatures covered with long hair and moving slowly, walking on the outer edge of their feet. Their enormous claws may have served for defense, but were very useful in dragging down branches of trees and digging roots and tubers. The Megalonyx, one variety of the sloth, was discovered and named by Thomas Jefferson, who was greatly interested in natural history. Another genus was Megatherium, which had a body as large as that of an elephant and much shorter legs. The genus Mylodon, smaller and lighter than the other genera, was common in part of the plains region. Giant armadillos existed in some parts of the region, and there was a great variety of rodents, reptiles, birds, and other animals, which have _ been replaced in large part by different genera and species. The modern armadillo, which abounds in part of central Texas, is shown in Plate 9, A. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 47 Three miles south of Missouri City is the Blue Ridge salt dome and oil field, with numerous derricks on and near two hills that rise a few i rie feet above the general plain. There is also a shaft Missouri City. nk for the salt:that constitutes the core of the Hee eiee e ee ies, Uplift below a depth of 450 feet and is at least 850 feet thick. It is estimated that 250,000,000 tons of salt is available. Development of the petroleum began in 1903, but there was little production prior to 1919, when several good strikes were made that gave a production of 326,000 barrels in 1921 and a peak production of 2,205,000 barrels in 1928. In 1930 the produc- tion was 644,000 barrels. In structure this mound is very similar to the one at Pierce Junction and other places—a stocklike core of salt with anhydrite cap, with the older strata considerably uplifted on its flanks. The dips on the east side are reported as 35° to 45°, and those on the west side seem to be greater. An oil sand at 3,900 feet is prob- ably in the top of the Oligocene, and this apparently is the source of the oil in most of the successful wells. In one well the base of this division is placed at 3,410 feet, and a sample at 3,662 feet yielded fossils classed as “low in the Jackson” (upper Eocene). (Hager and The smooth plain of the Houston region extends widely with its thick cover of clay and loam. Much land is under cultivation with ek fields of cotton and other crops. Many figs are Stafford. ised, an industry which is growing rapidly. A few Faced ig sed oaks are noticeable, and Spanish moss is New Orleans 383 miles. present on trees in some of the ill-drained areas. A short distance west of Stafford, north of the tracks, is the radio broadcasting station KPRC. Sugar Land lies in the bottom lands of the Brazos River in the midst of a 17,500-acre plantation on which large amounts of cotton and . garden truck are raised. Here the dark soil of the Sugar Land. Lake Charles type gives place to chocolate-brown ee soils deposited by the overflow of the Brazos River. Now Simian ak Sugar Land is a center of various industries. Its most conspicuous feature is a refinery which handles raw sugar imported through Galveston and has a capacity of 1,500,000 pounds a day. In this section artesian wells afford oxcelléat water from the deposits that underlie the Coastal Plain. Four miles southwest of Sugar Land is the De Walt oil field, in a salt dome of small extent discovered by geophysical methods and 48 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES proving to be rich and productive. It is controlled by one oil com- pany and had a production of 4,274,000 barrels in 1930. The derricks are plainly visible from the train. The oil comes from sands overlying the salt, which is at a depth of about 4,300 feet. West of Sugar Land are the extensive cotton and corn fields of the State farm “‘Sartartia,’”’ and half a mile to the north is a canning factory in which the State preserves vegetables of many kinds for use in State institutions. On approaching Richmond the railroad crosses the Brazos River, one of the largest streams in eastern Texas. It is more than 900 miles long and drains a wide area in the central part of the Richmond. State. Its headwaters are the Salt and Double reales roam Ray Mountain Forks, which rise in the Llano Estacado. New Orleans 387 miles. Its deposits are of pronounced reddish tint, owing to material derived from red beds far to the northwest, a feature which causes the marked change of soil that is observed just east of Sugar Land. The banks of this river are from 20 to 30 feet high at Richmond, revealing the sand and clay that underlie the adjoining plains. West of Richmond the river water is pumped to the top of the bank into a canal to supply water for irrigating rice fields lying to the southeast. In Richmond, where he died in 1837, is a statue erected by the State to the memory of Erastus (Deaf) Smith, one of the patriots active in the campaign that culminated in the Battle of San Jacinto. From this place a railroad to Corpus Christi passes through Goliad, about 120 miles to the southwest, near which is the ancient presidio of La Bahia (bah-ce’ah), located here in 1749. At Goliad on March 27, 1836, three weeks after the fall of the Alamo, the entire garrison of 400, mainly Anglo-American volunteers, were slaughtered by order of the Mexican General Santa Ana. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 6 95 30° Texas b- SN \ \ Le / ry / \ \. co i Noi ny Ss Ny / ‘ @ —T\ D On ea K A * 0 ‘ wins oll ii. i Scale 506,000 linch-8 miles (approximately) 5 1O 15 The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 10 miles, and the ti drawn 1 mile apart ig / 4 a Pierde 0 ad . B — 50 ~ Sugar | $ Land, oe zre*MissQuri & i oe Pg Almeda x anan +1 \ iis a ‘| Richn SS Fok nd Cag f = £L87 — wal Pearland FZ eWa F os \ Bo Fresno : ne \ / ser . ey Se Vm Duke Arcola = Big Creek Thompsons a E REO, og { % 20 MILES TTT | nate —— reel __20 KILOMETERS Contour interval 25 feet t. he f ® Salt dome 95 30 foe oy 36} y \ ae) \ PS wh 3 io) a . sto, Pasadena rk Place Strang outh H ton <8 Porte Genoa r Me A AS Ey Algoa —~" Hitchcock . | LaMarq aa we abrook : , nee Cs anLleo Vice a ea N Texas Cit ue 95 S\Goose Creek oN ic réa A, Poins GALVESTON ee sensed i eee WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WASH. D.C. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 49 Rosenberg is a commercial center for a large farming and dairy district and the junction of several branch railroads. Twenty miles south-southwest of Rosenberg is the Boling salt dome, Rosenberg. a large uplift which has yielded some oil and contains Mesa tt an enormous body of sulphur.*? The town of New New Orleans 400 miles. Gulf (population 1,700*) has been established here, and the sulphur is bap melted by steam and pinniped up to the surface by the Frasch process. (See p. 32.) The deposit lies at depths of 450 to 1,200 feet and is believed to contain from 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 tons of sulphur. Two huge sulphur blocks have been made, each 600 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 40 feet high, as shown in Plate 6, B, and a still larger one is in progress. The material is about 99 per cent pure. The investment at this place is said to be $14,000,000. The production in 1930, according to the United States Bureau of Mines, was about 750,000 long tons, shipped largely to Galveston for water transportation. Damon Mound, 20 miles south of Rosenberg, is a prominent feature in the flat lowlands, above which it rises 83 feet to an eleva- tion of 140 feet. It is due to a typical salt dome in which a steep- sided plug of almost pure rock salt is capped by gypsum, anhydrite, and limestone. The salt mass penetrates and uplifts Tertiary for- mations, which dip away on all sides at steep angles. As in many other salt domes, the uplifted strata contained petroleum, most of it here being in sandstone and limestone of Oligocene(?) age. Up to 1924 the production was more than 5,000,000 barrels from 85 wells, and in 1930 the yield was 224,000 Lienoks About the mound and penetrated by shallow wells are red, blue, brown, and yellow clays of the Beaumont formation, apparently deposited around the uplift. The salt core, which is of great but unknown thickness, comes within about 500 feet of the surface under the heavy cap rock, which is present in all domes. It is estimated to contain more than 1,000,000,000 tons of salt (Bevier). Damon Mound was an impor- tant headquarters for the Karankawan Indians, as shown by the presence of many fragments of pottery, burial aber stone imple- ments, and arrowheads. The Indians regarded the “sour earth” of the mound as good medicine, and it had a favorable reputation over a wide area. This sour earth is due to the seepage of mineral solu- tions, which are usually present about a salt mound. ® About 58 miles to the south there | the amount having been gradu is another large sulphur mine at Big | diminishing since 1926. The first pes ill (Gulf), which has been producing | phur mined in Texas was obtained at since 1919, and other deposits occur at | Bryan Mound in 1913; now Texas Hoskin Mound, Bryan Heights, and | produces 97 per cent of the output of Longpoint. The Boling oil field pro- | the United States and 85 per cent or duced 378,000 barrels a day in 1930, | more of the world’s output. 50 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The geology of eastern Texas is not very impressive to the observer traveling by train until the Colorado River is crossed and the regular succession of Tertiary and Cretaceous strata comes to the surface. oemer, the pioneer geologist of Texas, writing in 1846, when San ntonio was the frontier, said, ‘‘It is only where civilization ceases and the wilderness commences that the ooknd relations of the country begin to be interesting.’’ Of the region around Columbus, Gonzales and Seguin, he remarked, ‘‘ You see no solid rock in place excepting irregular layers of a coarse calcareous ence: . on the steep banks of some of the river; * * the sur- face is covered with loose materials.”’ Hage, a studies have brought to light in this region the following very interesting succession : Formations of east-central Tevas BRI near the Southern Pacific lines fikret af th rg ree S 7 PP ¥ duilea Craraner) Age Group Formation Principal materials Quaternary. Alluvium and terrace deposits. | Gravel, sand, and loam. Nonmarine. she paisa a Lissie and Reynosa formations. | Gravel, sand, and clay. Nonmarine. sagem ant tain gray, and dg clays stained purple and red toward the to Pliocene. Lagarto clay. with abundant calcareous nodules and a few thin sandstones. Nonmarine. Massive, in part cross-bedded yellowish Oakville sandstone. or coavih indurated sandstones and brown calcareous clays. Nonmarine. Light-colored sands and loosely indurated Catahoula sandstone. sandstones and clays, many of them ashy. Mostly nonmarine. [eneiniagn . wil Weemaeestibed | deol ne wit Tai - Juin: | Payette selene. bearing clays and thin beds of olecanic ash. Mostly nonmarine. Miocene. Dark-brownish, gray, and greenish- Yegua (“‘Cockfield”) formation.| clays and clayey sands, many of the carbonaceous. Mostly nonmarine. ———— ee te sands es Fs clays. The Cook Mountain formation. basal member (Sparta sand) a loose or loosely indurated nonmarine sand. _ | Glauconitie and oolitie sandstones in- shown atta = — an iron cutneint; glau- conitic clays; marine and sparse! Claiborne. ber. fossiliferous. eons a Mount Selman . Rather fine light-gray or iron-stained Eocene. formation. — City | "sands w Riry thin interst interstratified light- ‘ gray ©. clays, in Sooo ap sew ne and in- Reklaw mem- Glauconiti ic sands and ber. durated with iron oxide. Very coarse and pure quartz sand, loose Carrizo sand. or oe with little or no cementing : terial. Nonmarine, Bedded yellowish-brown and red sands dstones ane eobvatog a few marine fossils. Midway formation. a rarely a thin festierous sandstone near the top. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 51 The formations below the Lissie occur in widely extended sheets which dip at a low angle to the southeast. As the rate of dip is greater than the rise of the land, their outcropping edges come to the surface in regular succession to the west. This relation is shown in the cross section on sheet 8. They are conformable in attitude, but some of them are separated by unconformities. Near Tavener a group of derricks off to the north marks the Orchard oil field, which has had a small production from a salt dome that was discovered by geophysical tests on the surface. Just east of East Bernard the San Bernard River * is crossed in a valley about 30 feet deep, containing cypress, oak, and other trees of the lowland flora. Not far beyond the bridge the railroad deflects to the northwest across a broad plain that extends beyond Eagle Lake and is in large part occupied by rice fields. Eagle Lake is a shallow body of water lying in a depression due to an old bend of the former course of the Colorado River. It contains considerable water, especially after rains, and is used East Bernard. Elevation 125 fee New Orleans 416 ta Eagle Lake. as a reservoir for water pumped from the river and rat he oe then into a canal for irrigating rice fields to the east. New Orleans 432 miles, On the east slope of the depression, a mile or more south of Eagle Lake town, are banks 10 to 20 feet high showing gravelly cross-bedded compact sand, regarded as Lissie. There are also cuts in this material near the railroad just west of the town. At Eagle Lake the railroad deflects to a course nearly northwest and, passing over a low ridge at Ramsey siding (elevation 222 feet), descends into the broad terraced valley of the Colorado River. The formation covering this region in a widespread mantle is the Lissie gravel; distinctive outcrops are rare, and few are visible from the train. Three miles southwest of Eagle Lake is an artesian well 1,506 feet deep, which has an excellent flow of tepid sulphur water. Four miles northwest of Eagle Lake the Lissie gravel is exposed lying on clay and sand with gravel (mostly chert) which may represent a separate formation. In the banks of the Colorado River 5 miles southwest of Ramsey siding and again on the slope 4 miles northwest of that place the formation known as the Lagarto clay is revealed. It consists of sandstone, in part conglomeratic, with interbedded clay, and is part of the great eastward-dipping succession of formations of Tertiary and Cretaceous age which come to the surface in 1¢egular order as given in the table on page 50 and as shown in section on sheet 8. 33 The banks on the east side of this | underlain by Lissie sand and gravel valley expose gray sandy clays, re- | (not exposed here). At the top is red- garded (by Deussen) as the basal mem- | dish sandy clay, probably alluvium. ber of the Beaumont clay, which are i 52 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES In the region west of Eagle Lake much of the land is prairie with scattered clumps of timber, especially along the streams. Post oaks (Quercus stellata) are the most abundant trees and some of them reach a diameter of 2 feet and a height of 30 feet. Small hickories and live oaks (Quercus virginiana) are fairly common, and the yaupon or scrubby southern holly (lex vomitoria), hawthorn, buckthorn, and other small trees are widespread. Spanish moss festoons many of the trees in the lower lands, where also there are afew palmettos. Large ‘‘syca- mores,” or buttonwoods (Platanus occidentalis), live oaks, white oaks, pecans, black walnuts, cedars, and soapberry trees are widely scat- tered. A few shortleaf pines occur, notably in a small clump 3% miles north of Alleyton. In the vicinity of Alleyton and Columbus cottonwood trees (Populus Meee appest along the larger water- courses, a feature which is characteristic in central and western Texas. There are also many ilies in the lowlands, but cypress disappears. Yuccas begin, but they are not abundant. Near Alleyton there are deep gravel pits from which a large amount of material has been excavated for railroad ballast and road metal rom an alluvial deposit of a terrace built by the Colo- Alleyton. rado River at a time geologically not very remote. — feet. The gravel pits are marked by great mounds of New Orleans 445 miles. refuse stripping. About 3 miles west of Alleyton the Colorado River is crossed; Columbus lies on its west bank. Nearby at Beason’s ford the Texans under General Houston camped for a while prior to their victorious battle at San Jacinto. The Colorado River rises in the central part of the State and empties into Matagorda Bay with a total length of about 715 miles: The name Colorado (Spanish, red) is appropriate, for when the river is in freshet the red beds which are traversed by its upper waters give it a large amount of red mud. About 75 miles above Columbus on this stream is Austin, the capital of Texas, founded in 1839 on 7,735 acres of land bought for this purpose by the Republic at a cost of $21,000. Columbus is a local business center for diversified farming interests, rice here giving place to a variety of crops and more extensive cattle igs raising and dairying. On the edge of the town is a Columbus. flowing well of excellent water in small volume said onset aaeep a feet. to come from a depth of 1,400 feet. In the west bank New eae, miles. Of the river half a mile below the railroad bridge are conspicuous ledges of moderately compact gray sand- stone overlain by softer gray sandstone, all of the Lagarto formation, * The Lagarto formation is largely | fied, plastic, and usually jointed, and @ calcareous clay with a few soft, thin, | their cleav vage with irregularly bedded light-colored sand- | They are common- stones loosely held together by a ealea- -ly mottled in pastel tints of green, gray, cc. Teous cement. The clays are unstrati- | and brown and near the top, where SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 53 capped by a sheet of alluvium which constitutes the terrace on which Columbus is built. This terrace extends west a short distance and abuts against or gives place to an upland of eastward-dipping reddish beds that contain much gravel and are regarded as the Lissie forma- tion. These beds are well exposed in the railroad cut through the divide 2 miles west of Glidden. The Lagarto-Lissie contact makes a strong reentrant down the Colorado River Valley, and the railroad skirts this contact to a point about 4 miles west of Glidden before finally entering the Lagarto, which it crosses at an angle of about 120° to the strike. (See fig. 4.) From Glidden a branch railroad extends to Lagrange, on the Colorado River. WwW 5 ¢ Ee. 2 = 2 - Sa % q S °: ik ere and een oS 3 - t “2.0% Terrace St Ri ous sandstone (Lagarto) sesncn ae >" {deposits Horizontal scale i ° ' 2 Miles t : i i 1 Vertical scale 300 600 Feet a ok Freure 4.—Section along the Southern Pacific Railroad through Columbus and Glidden, Tex. The clays and soft sandstone of the Lagarto formation extend west to and beyond Schulenburg. The outcrop zone of the Lagarto strata is mostly a rolling, treeless prairie of black calcareous clay, very heavy when wet, or, in the area of outcrop of the less argillaceous beds, a sandy loamy soil. Near the eastern contact post oaks and live oaks indicate that the higher elevations are capped with Lissie gravel. (Turn to sheet 8.) In the vicinity of Weimar, about 2 miles east of the Fayette County line, the railroad attains the summit of one of the higher ridges in Colorado County constituting the divide between the Colorado and Navidad Rivers. Southeastern Fayette County, however, has been eroded by the two forks of the Navidad to an area of low relief. are possibly stained by the iron the: sils, locally abundant, have been found oxide lesiched from the Lissie, in pastel i glomerate and limestone. near the top may represent the overlying Reynosa formation. A few vertebrate remains, mostly of horses, and chara stems, to- gether with reworked Cretaceous fos- mi fauna indicating a shore line slightly inland from the present coast. The formation is about 1,200 feet thick, and it dips to the southeast about | feet to the mile. 54 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Through Weimar and Schulenburg and halfway to Engle siding the rolling surface of the Lagarto clay is traversed, but about Weimar there is an extensive flat or terrace. Good outcrops are rare, especially near the railroad, but there are shallow cuts in the western part of Weimar and there are exposures at intervals along the streams, espe- cially in some of the bends of the Colorado River. A large part of the area is covered by soil and part is woodland. Remains of the 3-toed horse, Protohippus perditus, and other bones were found in the Lagarto formation at Dripping Springs, 114 miles north- east of Borden siding. Shells derived from underlying Cretaceous formations and minute Foraminifera have been noted. At Shatto siding the railroad crosses the east branch of the Navidad River, which heads in the low ridges north of Schulenburg but de- velops into a drainageway of considerable size in the region farther south. Schulenburg is a rural center for a prosperous agricultural district. airying is a thriving industry, and some of its products are utilized at a large plant making evaporated milk, on the west- Weimar. Elevation 410 feet. Population 1,256. ew Orleans 463 miles. Schulenburg. = ern edge of the town. Near by is a mill which pro- Elevation 345 feet. duces a nonstarchy flour from cottonseed. Just west Population 1, = Sia @ricans ne mils. Of Schulenburg are cuts in light-colored sandstone, and near by are ledges of this rock. These beds dip east and are in the lower part of the Lagarto clay. The general dip of the strata in this region is considerably less than 1°, which is near! y 90 feet to the mile. Two miles west of Schulenburg the west branch of the Navidad River is crossed, and thence there is a long gentle upgrade that extends nearly to Flatonia. In this interval the Oakville and Catahoula sandstones appear, rising on a dip which is low in angle but steeper than the rise of the land. Both of these sandstones present low ridges and knobs, so that the country has a diversified topography, and as the soil is not very fertile much of the land remains wooded. The contact between the Lagarto clay and the Oakville sandstone *® _ is passed just beyond the west branch of the N avidad, whence the railroad follows the low divide between Rock Creek and Mulberry Creek. % The Oakville sandstone is charac- teristically a massive light-gray or yellow rock, in ross-bedded, in all about 300 feet thick and dipping to the southeast at the rate of about 40 feet to the mile. It is held together loosely by a caleareous cement, com- monly crystalline, or, more rarely, it er angular. Light-colored greenish or yellowish limy clays make up an appreciable part of the upper Oakville section, closely resembling in appear- ance some of the Lagarto clays. For this reason, the Oakville-Lagarto con- tact is less obvious than might be from the characteristic ma- expected | terials of the two formations. How- ever, volcanic ash, both in its original U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 7 6 ' Scale 500,000 tinch-8 miles (approximately) 5 10 15 20 20 KILOMETERS eigen at Seniesa Contour interval 50 feet The distances from New Orlea are shown every 10 miles, and the even re . ae 7 mile apart pipvisg UPS > 0 C. Hungerford MILES 96 Texas Co a \ oy _ /[Fayettevilla /, \ £ mA ' \ iy S try A 4 i ee ) ct ~~ Cat Spring eEllinger ) (\ 4 C a Like . \ ie e ~j ealy Brookshire Katy KG Lorine“ “) 250 = + . o pres 2? A San Felip — 6 bal 15° > ~ 150 h% p ee S a ° ELS ,: € = = Ishear a a / . H npeshoe 4 SN. rang Nin AL o aa ae si ash = [440 % eo 5 monton ~ 2 ° SaRamsey G gS 3 25 56 L 222 - io —4 sh Bg, Oo O rs} \ Oc Ss oster ‘ * ite) Cc O S \ hesterville sigue Sechard 2, $ Y A F ro ie: e ao & a ’ agle Lake & rey % 5 il 43. / Q me — X! 7 ~ ie A SL eLi5 =z ~ Nottawa g A ock Isla ee ot - ] 2 + $s C Mathews Ss. > J ais ham \/ / sass Cone, Garwood Topography mostly from U.S.Army maps WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO., WASH. DC. 55 The landscape of the Oakville outcrop zone along the Southern Pacific Railroad is more subdued than it is from Lagrange north- ward or to the south. There are several excellent outcrops of this sandstone along the road leading north from Engle to Lagrange. Wild flowers, such as the bluebonnets (Texas State flower) and the mallows, which are the glory of the spring in Texas, are particularly luxuriant upon the sands derived from the Oakville ledges. The Catahoula-Oakville contact is about 3 miles east of Flatonia but is SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES not visible in the lowland of the badly drained area at the h waters of Mulberry Creek. head- Two miles west of Engle siding a summit is attained, beyond which is a long, rolling slope to Flatonia, a thriving tow munity part German and part Bohemian, situated on the outcrop of the lower beds of the Catahoula Flatonia was named from who kept a store at the original site of the town, 2 miles south of the present one. Flatonia. Elevation 457 feet. Population 966 ; sandstone.*® New Orleans 484 miles. 1 in a com- J. Flato, It has an interesting position form and altered to bentonite, is ap- parently restricted to the Oakville sandstone, and the dendrites (plant Oakville clays. Reworked Cretaceous fossils occur as pebbles in both forma- tions. The Oakville contains few marine fossils many remains of have been found in it, including primitive horses of several kinds, rhinoceroses, croco- diles, and tortoises, and it is classed as rap middle, and early upper Mio- in age. It is underlain uncon- Piety y the Catahoula sandstone, although the rate of dip of both forma- tions is about the same. % The Catahoula consists of soft bluish massive sandstone and inter- us matrix, but elsewhere a bide opalescent | quartzite matrix is not uncommon. The clays are greenish gray or yellow, are mostly sandy, and carry limy clay balls an inch or more in diameter similar to those now forming at the salt-water mouths of some large streams. The sands are relatively the Sabine River, where on the out- crop area there are long stretches of pine woods. Opalized wood and clear impressions of tropical palms are locally abundant. According to E. W. Berry (U.S. Geological Survey Prof. Paper 98, p. 229, 1917), this flora contains no upland or i types and may be regarded as a strictly coastal assemblage made up of groups deposition was not, however, restricted to southwest Texas, for most of the Jatahoula. ne. ys m black soil and are very heavy when wet. — 56 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES topographically, for it is on the notably flat divide between the Colorado River, which heads far west in the outcrop area of the Permian ‘‘Red Beds,” and the Guadalupe River, which heads on the Edwards Plateau. The town site is just beyond the heads of the fingering tributaries of the intermediate coastal streams, such as the Navidad River. Obar Hill, less than a mile south of Flatents and rising more than 100 feet. aleve the village, is capped by heavy beds of white sandstone, probably an Oakville inlier. The well at Flatonia, 3,000 feet deep, is supposed to obtain its excellent water supply from the Carrizo sand. The Fayette-Catahoula contact is about 1 mile west of the crossing of the old San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway (now Texas & New Orleans) in Flatonia, where the fine-bedded sands of the upper Fayette lie below the greenish-gray compact clays of the basal Catahoula.*’ The varied lithology of the Fayette sandstone is expressed in the diver- sity of the landscape and the vegetation. The soil is more highly colored, as a rule, than that of the Catahoula, and the contrast between the black clay roads and post oak of the lower Catahoula and the red sandy roads and junipers of the upper Fayette is very striking. The configuration of the Fayette outcrop is noticeably different from that of the outcrop of the underlying Yegua formation, though it is not so rugged as that of the Catahoula and Oakville sandstones. A little more than a mile beyond Janice siding the railroad passes from the dominantly sandy Fayette strata to the Yegua beds, which are gray, green, and brown lignitic clays and sandy clays with thin sand deposits. They are highly gypsiferous and, for the most age nonmarine. They are about 500 feet thick, and all the beds dip to the east at a low rate. The outcrop zone is a region of low hills withgentleslopes. Generally the soil is dark and loamy with scattered mesquite (Prosopis julifiora) and prickly pear (mostly Opuntia engel- manni); more rarely itis a fine sandy loam with a few post oaks. The mesquites growing on Yegua soil in this region are larger than those in the region to the south, probably because of a greater supply of moisture. However, this plant withstands dry weather by sending its taproot as deep as 50 feet to obtain moisture. The mesquite, which begins to be conspicuous in this general region, is a dominant 37 There are fine exposures of the for- mations in road and stream cuts both north of the railroad, toward Muldoon, and to the south, especially in the vicinity of Nickel, where 75 feet or more of kaolinitie shales and econcre- _ tionary sands and mes at the _ top of the Fayette are vada by the _ sandy clays filled with clay balls that characterize the | Catahoula, The Fayette formation consists of light-gray i ed sands, dark-gray and choc- olate-brown clays and lignites, and, in its upper part, thin beds of volcanic . The thickness is about 65 feet. The basal Fayette in this general section commonly carries cylindrieal concre- tions of iron oxide an inch or so in diam- eter oriented at a high angle to the bedding planes, e SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 57 plant in many parts of the region to the west across Texas, New Mex- ico, Arizona, and southern California. Its beans are an important source of food for grazing animals and they are used for flour by the Indians and Mexicans. The wood is a most useful fuel, and the plant yields a valuable gum; a decoction of the bark is esteemed by the Mexicans as a laxative. The high percentage of gypsum in the Yegua strata makes the soil unfavorable for many crops and the water unsuitable for stock, so that the outcrop area of the formation is rather thinly settled. About 2} miles east of Waelder the railroad deflects to the north and follows the divide between Sandy and Copperas Creeks, crossing the rather ill-defined contact between Yegua and Cook Mountain strata about 1 mile east of Waelder. Sandstone of the Cook Mountain formation makes a ridge of moder- ate prominence that extends far to the north and south of the railroad. he formation includes sands and glauconitic marls Waelder, and clays,** some of them lignitic but for the most xe. Bae feel part of marine origin. The higher beds are locally opulation 1,048. fe . ew Orleans 495miles. fossiliferous, and many of the species were early correlated with those of the sands of the Claiborne of Alabama. The glauconitic beds of the Cook Mountain formation are highly colored by the oxidation of the iron, and in many places the formation carries an appreciable content of phosphate, which serves as a fertilizer. The Cook Mountain greensand soil is highly produc- tive, and cotton, corn, and garden truck are successfully grown along its outcrop. The basal member of the Cook Mountain is the Sparta sand, probably nonmarine, carrying less iron than the higher beds. Its outcrop zone, from 1 to 2 miles wide, is crossed by the railroad on the down grade to the valley of Bee Branch, 4 miles west of Waelder. The vegetation varies with the formation; the mesquite here is not so large nor so numerous as in the Yegua area, but the oaks are very much more in evidence, especially on the lower, more sandy beds. On leaving the outcrop zone of the Sparta sand member of the Cook Mountain formation the railroad bends considerably to the south, and for the next 5 miles, or nearly to Harwood, it crosses the Mount Selman outcrop diagonally. The strata dip to the west- northwest at a low angle. In a general way the Mount Selman beds resemble the Cook Mountain formation, consisting of glauconitic sands, marls, and clays, but they contain a greater number of indu- rated, irony beds, so that the hills and ridges are higher and the soil amore intensered. The soil is productive and well adapted to truck farming, and a large part of the 25,000 acres planted in tomatoes in %8 The mineral glauconite, also called | alumina deposited in the sea through d, is a silicate of iron sil Goguane vee cuamaus wpkama: : 152109°—33——5 ~ 58 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Texas in 1930 was upon an outcrop of the upper member of the Mount Selman. The medial sand member, known as the Queen City sand in northeastern Texas, contains clay deposits, some of which carry fossil leaves, and the series is, for the most part, nonmarine. This sand member is uniform in character, and in the Winter Garden region in southern Texas it is sufficiently thick and pure to carry water of a quantity and quality second only to that in the Carrizo sand. Post oak and blackjack oak are the characteristic trees growing on the heavier sands, but where a little clay is mixed with the sand the forest growth is varied, and in well-watered areas the underbrush is heavy. The lowest member of the Mount Selman formation along the Southern Pacific Railroad has been separated as the Reklaw. It con- sists of ferruginous sands and brownish and grayish Harwood. glauconitic micaceous clays of marine origin, possibly Elevation ges less than 100 feet thick. The railroad crosses the out- ew Orleans 08 miles, CTOp zone, about 1 mile wide, at the small village of Harwood. The soil and landscape sharply reflect the lithology of this member, the clay outcrop forming a low flat belt and a heavy soil which in wet weather makes very difficult roads, whereas the ferruginous, concretionary beds at the base give much more relief and better-drained though muchrougherroads. Thehilly character of this region is due to the capping of these resistant basal beds of the Reklaw upon the soft, readily eroded Carrizo sand. Both the basal ferruginous layers and the clays above carry fossils. The ferruginous beds contain impressions of Venericardia and Corbula, which in places are fairly common; the glauconitic clays carry locally, notably on the Colorado River near Bastrop, a well-preserved and varied coral and molluscan fauna. On the western edge of Harwood the shale at the base of the Mount Selman formation gives place abruptly to the Carrizo sand, one of the most characteristic of the Texas Tertiary formations. The airplane maps show this formation as a solid pale-gray ribbon picoted along the margins by the darker pattern of the Reklaw above and the Indio beneath. The sand is coarse and almost pure white, and consists of nearly pure quartz grains, loosely packed and readily weathered, blow- ing about the fields and resisting cultivation. The bright-colored indurated layers occurring at intervals in the sand and the local capping of the Reklaw ferruginous strata along the eastern edge of the outcrop break down into rugged, castellated shapes, contrasting _ sharply in color and relief with the soft, dazzling white sand. Rather scrubby oaks are the most conspicuous trees, and the few and difficult roads wind through long uninhabited stretches broken only here and there by a lumber or goat camp. In certain Carrizo areas where the SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 59 sand is coarser and less pure it is adapted to the growth of some kinds of garden truck. The Carrizo sand is the underground reservoir that furnishes the water to irrigate many fields and gardens, notably in the Winter Garden area of western Dimmit and Zavala Counties and in the extensive trucking district south of San Antonio, particularly the strawberry farms near Poteet, in northern Atascosa County. In the Winter Garden area, where the annual rainfall is less than 25 inches and the native vegetation was mostly mesquite and nopal, irrigation by water from the Carrizo sand has made a garden spot that abundantly justifies the name. Along the Southern Pacific Railroad the Carrizo outcrop is a rather monotonous belt of sand and scrubby oak extending from a point just west of Harwood to and beyond Ivy siding. Iron Moun- tain, one of the higher hills, consisting largely of hard brown sand- stone, causes a deflection of the railroad to the north for some distance east of Ivy siding, beyond which it passes onto the outcrop zone of the Indio lecsinaction! There are fine exposures of the basal sandstone of the Carrizo in the cut through the divide a mile west of Ivy, which reveals about 30 feet of coarse, mostly soft massive sandstone con- taining considerable ironstone and notably cross-bedded. These beds are underlain by a thick body of softer sandstones and clays of the Indio formation. This constitutes the surface of a wide area about Luling, where, however, the strata are Luling. mostly covered by alluvium, especially in the flat oe that extends west to the San Marcos River. New Orleans 517 miles. ‘The outcrop of the Indio formation is wider along the Southern Pacific Railroad than that of any other of the Tertiary formations, largely because the railroad crosses it diagonally in the northerly bend near Luling and also in the south- ward deflection of the tracks west of that place. Most of this out- crop zone is gently rolling and rather featureless, though it presents the threefold division of a lower and an upper clay and shale series, locally of marine origin and fossiliferous, separated by nonmarine sands and sandy shales. ths soils of the Patio formation vary with the lithology. Some of the Imost as sandy, th as the Carrizo sand; bars are almost as. heavy and black as the Midway soils; but most of them respond to cultivation. Blackjack oak and post oak are the common trees on the more sandy soils, and mesquite predominates on the clay soils. The large “tank farm” of the Magnolia Petroleum Co., a mile east of Luling, indicates the proximity of the Luling oil fields. Before the discovery of petroleum here in August, 1922, Luling was a small, easy- going German community, concerned chiefly with the price of cotton, on which the material welfare of the inhabitants depended. The 60 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES discovery of oil at a horizon lower than that of any other source then producing in the Texas fields not only changed over night the re- sources and status of the community and of its individual members, _ but opened new possibilities of finding deep productive sands through- out the State. The Luling field was discovered by Edgar B. Davis, a shoe manufacturer of Brockton, Mass., who drilled to the Edwards limestone, against the counsel of other oil operators, at a cost of $200,000. The large fortune which he gained from his success was shared with the rapidly growing community; streets were paved, clubs and orphan homes were developed, and the Foundation farm of 1,200 acres was established near by with a trust fund of $1,000,000 for experimental farming for the benefit of the people of the region. a |260'] 4,000° |G Jase Ficure 5.—Section across Salt Flat oil field, Caldwell County, Tex. Tertiary: Ti, Indio formation; Tm, Midway formation. Cretaceous: Knt, Navarro and Taylor clays; Ka, Austin chalk; Kw, Georgetown limestone overlain by Del Rio clay and Buda limestone; Ke, Edwards limestone There are three productive oil fields near Luling—the Salt Flat field, to the northeast of the town; the Darst Creek field, to the southwest; and the Luling field, to the northwest. There are also some smaller pools. All have the same geologic relations. The many derricks of the Salt Flat oil field are conspicuous north of the tracks a few miles east of Luling. In 1930 this field produced from 15,000 to 27,200 barrels a day, with a total of 7,305,000 barrels for the year, from about 330 borings. Their average depth is 2,700 feet, and most of the oil comes from the Edwards limestone, which has been lifted by a fault with upthrow of about 375 feet. The field was discovered in 1928 and up to the end of 1930 had produced 21,116,554 barrels of oil.*® The field is about 2 ,000 feet wide at most ot 6 miles long, extending along the main finde: which trends north- east. The surface beds are sands and shale of the Indio formation, _ ® Southwest Texas Oil Seouts Assoc.,Bull. 1, 1930. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 61 which is 700 feet thick in this vicinity. The relations are shown in Figure 5. A few miles southwest of Luling is the Darst Creek oil field, dis- covered in 1929 and also drawing from the Edwards lintiekouc. the depth of which in the first well was 2,605 feet. The oil here, as in the other fields near by, is believed to have migrated up the dip and become trapped in the upper porous member of the Edwards lime- stone, here sealed off by a fault that has brought it up against imper- vious strata. This fault is estimated to have a displacement of about 525 feet. It trends northeast, parallel to the Luling and other faults. (Brucks.) The production in 1930 ranged from about 15,000 to 36,452 barrels a day and amounted to 11,424,000 barrels for the year from about 253 wells. The productive area is about 4% miles long and in places 3,500 feet wide, covering about 1,500 acres. In the Luling field, which is Honaky 8 miles long aba half a mile wide, the oil occurs in the upper part of the Edwards limestone, at an aver- age depth of about 2,100 feet. This field reached a Beak production of about 11,134,000 barrels4 in 1924, with 567 wells, but in 1928 it had diminished to half that amount, aiid in 1930 it yielded 3,692,000 barrels, or about 10,000 barrels a day. The total production to the end of 1930 was about 50,000,000 barrels. The oil has a gravity of 26° to 29° Baumé.*! Some interesting data have been obtained from borings in the Luling field as to underground temperatures. In general the temper- © Below the Indio are 280 feet or more of tough clays and glauconitic sands of the Midway group (basal Tertiary), which lie unconformably on Navarro clay, here about 500 feet thick and containing some thin beds of sandstone. Next below are about 500 feet of Taylor clays and chalky clays, which extend to the Austin chalk, 228 feet thick, underlain by the Eagle Ford shale, 30 feet; B i limestone, 60 to 110 feet, lying on the Edwards limestone. (MeCullum and Cunningham.) See also table, p. 65. *' According to Brucks the structure, which is similar to that in the Salt Flat and Darst Creek fields, shows a faulted monoclinal block with northeast trend. The upthrow is about 450 feet on the southeast side, and at the surface the basal clays of the Indio formation are brought up into contact with a medial sandy member. The fault is well exposed where it crosses the San Marcos River about 6 miles northwest of Luling. In this field the Eagle Ford shale is 35 feet thick; the Buda limestone, 40 feet; and the Georgetown, a com limestone, 50 feet. The normal dip of the strata in this region is only 1°-2° that the Edwards limestone, of which the upper part is porous, is about 730 feet thick. It is underlain by 1,450 feet of Glen Rose limestones and clays (Brucks) and Trinity sands, the Trinity lying on pre-Cambrian depth of about 4,790 feet. p. 65.) Into this schist continued nearly to 8,000 feet without the slightest prospect of reaching its base or of finding petroleum, 62 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES ature in mines and borings is found to increase with depth at an aver- age rate of about 1° for every 60 feet, below the first few feet. In two 2,250-foot holes near Luling the temperature was found to be 120°, which indicates a rate of increase of 1° in slightly less than 45 feet. At Pierce Junction, near Houston, the temperature in a 3,300- foot hole was 130° and in a 4,303-foot ai 146°.? The San Marcos River, which is crossed 3 miles west of Luling, has its principal source in the great springs at San Marcos, 30 miles northwest, at the foot of the Edwards Plateau. (Turn to honed 9.) West of the San Marcos River the railroad passes over a wide lowland of the Indio formation to a point beyond Sullivan siding, where it ascends about 100 feet onto a high terrace. Kingsbury. This terrace is underlain by the Indio formation but Popaietear wer? covered and preserved by a compact deposit of gravel New Orleans 528 miles. aNd sand carrying much chert evidently derived from the Edwards Plateau. This deposit extends north of the railroad for some distance as a cap on the Mill Creek Hills and undoubtedly was originally deposited by an earlier San Marcos River in late Tertiary time.“ In the descent off this terrace west of Kings- bury there are exposures of the Indio formation, mostly soft sandstone and a few hard layers. Beyond this down grade is a wide lowland extending to Seguin (say-gheen’). Seguin is on the alluvial plain of the Guadalupe River, here under- lain by lower shaly beds of the Indio formation. It is a prosperous town, with cotton mill, sugar refinery, and various other industries. Water power is generated from the Guadalupe River a short distance north of the town. Wee Ovlaus tie sees Seguin was founded while Texas was a republic and was named from two Spanish settlers who lived in the vicinity during the stirring days of the Texas revolution. One was Don Erasmo Seguin, of San Antonio de Bexar (bay’har), who had a share in creating the constitution of Texas, and the other Juan Seguin, who commanded a small body of Mexicans who fought effectively under General Houston in the battle of San Jacinto. A gravel pit about 2 miles west of Seguin, south of the railroad, shows about 10 feet of gravel grading up into sand, the upper part of Seguin. Elevation st feet. ® Hawtof, E. M., Am. Petroleum Inst. Bull. 205, Pr. 62-108, 1930 ® Most of aetna hey divides on the = Thetis portion of the Coastal Plain are capped by gravel deposits of this character. are remnants of an old surface, called the Uvalde plain because it is very extensive i in the Uvalde region. has been Mrgety soeored bY streams, which in deep, many il them along courses differing materially from the drainage ways that crossed the old Uvalde sur- face. Notable remnants of this plain remain Antonio and south poe tere New Braunfels, San Marcos, and A Banquajnyss Japjse Vertical exaggeration about |Otol SECTION FROM WEIMAR THROUGH LULING U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 8 Sheet 7 97 30 97 Texas ‘Austin EXPLANATION z = Sand, gravel, _ cop pers mes 0-50’ a (only the larger are. wn) & U stele 2a me (Older terrace deposits, Reynosa, ete., not shown) = Unconformity B Clay, pink and green mottled Lagarto 400-600’ 2 U nformity = C Sandstone Oakville 300-600’ j& Unconformity 8 Sandsto Catahoula 300’+ | § (undera by val clay to south) = mitre = E eee Fayette 500-800’ = F Clay with few sandy beds ‘Yaeue 400-500’ = G Sandstones and clays, : Cook Mountain 400-700’ es meh ‘el ile Hache cog B H Sandstone and shale (iron ore) Maat Selman* 400-600’ |_ 2° 2 30 I Trony sands va dark clay 80’ g Unconform yg J Sand and dak Carrizo 250’ K Sandstone, shale, and sandy Indio 1,200’ limestone L Shale; some sandstone Midway 300’ nge =< Fault * ¢ City P i . * is Fp ockhart Queen City sand member in middle Gaolcamy by duller Gactier oes S30, L / / 00 360 4 ‘ Ne fe] FS y 5° ' ce M hex O° 0 2) g o> oe 3 & 8 Sin \ D 0° 350 X eS 2 aos ‘ "= y 3 s » 8) e > rs (A) 9 vi) 400 ° 50 °s y 0 | 0° E es ‘ ay * ¢ Pe yi d ° Da . \4 SS . 78 si 2s a ° 0 . 9 / ro > 45 os a : . Q 5 r/ errai I RY * if ro g v 0 ‘ Y iy oI pai pos ~ ; 0 350 sso 2 8 00 * ni a O | 5 40 4 wo 2 A ’ i (a) le lv { . p ir on e. o Ae Ty ty 9 f) L Ng L a — Aarons, "Oe ~ 9 f F aK: % ( . 4 Q oN @) a F E 0, \ jot 2 < \ f ° Oak! BRO = 2 is \ Fee, °. o % ° : ax oa Nass, “ Alig i ( . Wij I 1 \ a we ~) a } ‘ P90 3 Cr? 2 2 SSS a) t 8 55 re) [ , 3 SS a = ob 3 0? ) WJ 50 > UL Ma Ne (5% ‘y 4 A é fom fo ie) > fa. , Gonzales Scale 500, linch-8 miles (approximately) ons distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 0 5 10 15 20 MILES miles, and the sesitiaa w are spre 1 mile apart ILOMETERS Each ee shown on the ma, h a name in parentheses g :. 2 ee in the — so corner is mapped in ane on the U. 8. G. 8. ntour interval 50 feet that n Beton smear see love! $ me of “ WILLIAMS & HEINT2 CO. WASH Be SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 63 which consists of caliche. This material occurs in most parts of the West and is frequently mistaken for stratified limestone. Much of it is hard and white or nearly white, and it consists largely of calcium carbonate with a greater or less admixture of sand. It owes its origin to water rising through the porous materials by capillary attraction and depositing calcium carbonate on evaporation at and near the surface. Doubtless the rate of accumulation is very slow, and ordi- narily the caliche or at least the thicker bodies of it are found only on old plains or terraces in regions of low precipitation. The thickness ranges from a few inches to 10 feet or more. The pit west of Seguin gives a fine exhibit of this material and its relations to the gravel and sand Just west of Seguin the Midway group,“ or base of the Tertiary system, is brought to the surface from under the Indio formation by the regular rise of the strata to the west. It consists of shale with thin layers of sandstone and clay and is sufficiently hard to constitute ridges in places along its outcrop zone. Such ridges attain consider- able prominence in the Mill Creek Hills, west of Seguin, which, how- ever, are gravel-capped, and in the hills that extend southwestward to San Anto The contact between the Indio and Midway formations on the northwestern margin of Seguin and that between the Midway forma- tion and the Grolaseee strata, 3 to 4 miles to the west, are covered by alluvium in the lowlands along the Guadalupe River. There is, however, a good outcrop of a fossiliferous and ferruginous sandstone of a horizon high in the Midway near the old ferry 214 miles above the Seguin power house. The Guadalupe River, which is crossed just east of Hilda station (McQueeney village), is a large and beautiful stream that drains a broad area of the Edwards Plateau (p. 74) and south-central Texas and “* The Midway consists, for the most part, of dark-gray joint clays with asso- urtle-back, or Midway clays of this area. ness is between 250 and 300 feet. In Guadalupe County the lower Midway strata crop out characteristically only along a slender faulted tongue south- west of Staples, on the San Marcos River. Most of the Midway surface material is a very heavy dark-gray clay which weathers into a soil indistin- guishable from the river silts, and the usual vegetation is stunted mesquite. ar Counties must have formed a synclinal basin during the early Eocene, for marine conditions Ppp tently, waters were for the most part shallow, for Ostrea and Cerithium are the most common species at the lower Indio out- crops. ven these, however, record the continuance of the general marine conditions of Midway time and indi- cate that there was a near-by retreat for the very considerable number of Midway species that persisted into Wilcox time. 64 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES empties into the Gulf of Mexico at the head of San Antonio Bay. Although there is a wide alluvial plain adjoining the river, formations of Upper Cretaceous age are extensively exposed at intervals in its banks and adjoining slopes. The uppermost of these is the Navarro, which consists almost entirely of dark clay from 400 to 500 feet thick, with some beds of sand and layers of calcareous concretionary sand- stone and impure limestone. In this general region the Navarro formation dips somewhat less than 1° E. The clay is quarried exten- sively in pits near the river bank about a mile south of the bridge across the Guadalupe River at the village of McQueeney and is made into brick and tile used in San Antonio and other places. Ordinarily in the manufacture of such products a pure clay, which melts at a moderate temperature, has to be tempered by mixing with sand, but at this place there is sufficient sand or sand admixture to afford suit- able composition to withstand the requisite heating in the The exposure comprises a bank about 100 feet high and a pit 50 feot deep. Fossils “ are abundant in the lower part of the pit. From the Guadalupe River to San Antonio the railroad traverses a region of slightly rolling plains of low relief developed in the soft clays of the Navarro and Taylor formations, here Marion. about 1,300 feet thick and dipping gently to the south- Population 0 east. Outcrops are few and small, for soil and super- ew Orleans 548 miles. ficial materials cover most of the surface, and much of the land is under cultivation. The mesquite is very prominent in the untilled fields. Southeast of Schertz a large gravel pit in the alluvial deposits on the Cibolo River is visible from the railroad. To the west is a hilly country of Austin chalk, and beyond is the highland known as the Balcones scarp (bal-co’nace), formed of the hard limestones of the Lower Cretaceous (Comanche series), which there rise to the surface on the general southeast dip of all the strata of the Coastal Plain region, the uplift increased in places by faulting. The Upper Cretaceous strata (Gulf series) crop out in a wide zone along the inner margin of the Coastal Plain, which extends through Fort Worth, Dallas, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio. They are underlain by the formations of the Comanche series, which constitute the high uplands to the west and north. The table on page 65 shows the general succession and principal features. * A few of the better-known fossils | Pulvinites argentea, Crenella_ serica, that occur in the Navarro formation in | Liopistha protexta, Veniella conradi, this area are Leda longifrons, Gryphaea | Cyprimeria alta, Legumen ellipticum, mutabilis, Exogyra costata (variety with | Gyrodes petrosus, and Sphenodiscus (two narrow costae), Gryphaeostrea vomer, | or more species). (L. W. Stephenson.) SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES Cretaceous formations of the Coastal Plain in central Texas 65 Age Group Formation Character aa Navairo...cec Shale and marl; some sandy layers_-_| 400-500 a Eig Tayier Se Sihlecs ot es ee 475+ ( Anstin | jG oeons! Chalk and chalky limestone__.__.__- 300 Eagle Ford_._-..- Shale and slabby limestone_____-___- 25 Unconformity BUGS... sata seen Limestone, massive Washita. Del Hiss cscocccd ped buff_ 50-70 Cectgutiad se one estone, massive 75+ vo Pope rece Recek aoe Limestone, massive; some chert_____ 400-500 ( “ © | Fredericksburg. Comanch Peak__| Limestone, slabby 50+ a SCN SWealnut...._....- Clay and shaly limestone_____--___- 50-70 +t Glen Rose__...-.- ears vin and shale 700+ Trinity. Travis Peak_____- Sandston The Cibolo River (Spanish, buffalo), a small stream crossed at Schertz, drains a portion of the Edwards Plateau west of San Antonio. On the plain to the west, south of the railroad, is the great aviation establishment of the United States Cibolo. , a 8 ea Army, known as Randolph Field. It was completed opulation 262. ne ot 1931, with an area of 2,320 acres. Its capacity is New, Deane §4 lets. 4-000 manh-* "Phe high tower of its central administra- Heberts. tion building is conspicuous from afar, as are also the great with checkerboard roofs. This estab- Population 315. lishment cost $25,000,000; the site was presented to New Orleans 557 miles. the Federal Government by the city of San Antonio. The smooth, broad plain at this place has been de- veloped on the soft clay of the Taylor formation. Not far beyond the small village of Converse some of the high buildings of San Antonio are visible in the distance, and beyond Kirby siding part of Fort Sam Houston is in sight on a high terrace north of the railroad. Antonio is a metropolitan center for a wide area in south- central Texas and until a few years ago was the largest city in the State. Its growth in population from 1920 to 1930 San Antonio. = was 43.5 per cent. It has numerous manufactures, Pcaiciun Moe large educational institutions, and a variety of busi- 573 miles. NESS interests. It is an old settlement dating back to anish mission days and, as San Antonio de Bexar, was long the capital of Tejas in New Spain under Spanish and Mexican rule, with a tutory marked by many sanguinary episodes. 66 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES It is a city of much charm, combining the old with the new in a setting of natural beauty. The San Antonio River “ winds through the city with many curves and is crossed by bridges that afford pleasing glimpses of its greenswarded banks, even in the heart of the business district. There are many large edifices of architectural merit, and a fine municipal auditorium that seats 6,500 and cost $1,500,000. The mild winter climate is an attractive feature. Excel- lent water for domestic use and for many manufacturing establish- ments is supplied by artesian wells 900 to 1,200 feet deep from strata in the Coastal Plain sediments. According’to the local chamber of commerce, the output of its 1,175 factories had a value of $85,000,000 in 1930. They have the advantage of cheap natural gas, oil, and lignite for fuel. San Antonio has many churches and clubs, several libraries and theaters, and many educational institutions. A women’s college, Our Lady of the Lake, on the western edge of the city, is visible from the railroad a few minutes after leaving the depot. On the outskirts of the city to the north is Fort Sam Houston, an Army post of 4,378 men and 211 officers, and to the south are extensive Army flying fields and schools. In Brackenridge Park, in the valley of the San Antonio River, are numerous features of interest, including a large zoological collection. Although San Antonio has a large proportion of sunshiny days, its precipitation averages about 27 inches a year, or about the same as in much of the west-central United States. This is usually sufficient to produce fair crops and excellent forage, but there is considerable irri- gation from ditches and from artesian and pumped wells. From 45 years of observation by the United States Weather Bureau it has been found that the mean annual temperature is 69°, the winters averaging about 60° and the summers 80°, and the average humidit is 68 per cent. The springs and autumns are long, but the summer heat at most times is tempered by breezes and low humidity. San Antonio probably owes its origin to two great springs, with a total average volume of about 58,000,000 gallons a day,” that supply the flow in the San Antonio and San Pedro Rivers. It is believed that the water is derived from the Edwards limestone along a fault. Probably the first Spanish visitor was Cabeza de Vaca, who crossed central Texas about 1535. In 1718 a garrison was stationed here, and This river, the outlet for the drain- | large amount of rain falls in a very short age of an extensive hilly area northwest | time. There is a record of a succession of the city, sometimes has freshets | of these at Taylor, ig on Sept. 9-10, which on some occasions have done | 1921, in which 23.11 inches of rain fell. considerable To prevent al ‘iis Meinzer, E., Large springs these floods the great Olmos Dam has the U S$ : U. 8. Geol. Sur- _ been built across the valley. Occasion- | vey Water-Supply Pancé 557, pp. 37-38, ion | 1927. and other parts of the West in which a SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 67 a mission was moved from the Rio Grande and renamed San Antonio de Valero in honor of the Viceroy of New Spain. In 1730 a presidio was erected here, and early in 1731 a colony of 16 Spanish families from the Canary Islands sent out by the King of Spain came through Mexico and established themselves with a few local people at the springs of the San Antonio River under the name San Fernando. This was finally merged into the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar and for many years called simply Bexar. Three years later this settle- ment was made the seat of government for the general region. In 1821 it passed into the possession of Mexico when she became an independent nation. In 1835-36, in the revolt against Mexico, San Antonio was a center of strife, culminating in the siege of the Alamo in February of that year. Many of the old-time buildings remain, includ- ing the Alamo, the 200-year-old palace of the Spanish governor on the west side of Military Plaza (pl. 7, B), San Fernando Cathedral, and several old missions. There is a large Mexican population, part of it in an extensive Mexican quarter south and west of the old plaza. San Antonio was an important station on the old Camino Real from Monclova, Mexico, which crossed the Rio Grande below Eagle Pass. The mission San Francisco de la Espada, just south of the town, was built on this road. From San Antonio it led north and east to the vicinity of Natchitoches and thence to New Orleans. The most notable feature in San Antonio is the famous Alamo (pl. 7, A), where 182 heroes, nearly all of them volunteers from differ- ent parts of the United States, chose to die rather than to surrender to twenty times their number of Mexican soldiers under General Santa Ana. At that time San Antonio was on the southeastern bank of the San Antonio River and consisted of well-fortified houses in a rectangle; on the opposite bank was the walled inclosure of the Alamo. The assaults lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836, when the Mexicans overwhelmed the defenders, all of whom were killed. Now the Alamo is a museum exhibiting many relics of the glorious past of Texas and bearing this stirring inscription: ‘Thermopylae had its messenger of defeat—the Alamo had none.” It was the war ery ‘‘Remember the Alamo” that spurred the Texans to victory at San Jacinto afew weeks later. (See p. 44.) Tablets near by mark the sites of the funeral pyres of the Alamo heroes. Though later used as a military post, the Alamo* was apparently first a chapel (established on a new site in 1744) of the mission of San Antonio de Valero (17 18), the first of sev- eral missions established by Franciscan friars in the general vicinity. Mission San José de Aguayo, founded in 1720 by Padre Antonio Margil and named in honor of the Marquis Miguel de Aguayo, 6 The word dlamo is Spanish for cot- | after its occupation by a company of tonwood tree, but it is considered likely | Mexican troops known as the ‘Alamo that the name was applied to the chapel | de Parras,”’ : 68 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES governor of Tejas, is 6 miles south of the center of San Antonio. Its south window, a fine example of stone carving, was exhibited at the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904. Its beautiful old altar, ornamented by a noted Spanish sculptor, is now in the Cathedral of San Fernando, on the east side of the Military Plaza. This cathedral was begun in 1734, completed by a grant from King Ferdinand of Spain in 1744, and reconstructed in 1868. The mission La Purisima Concepcién de Acufia, 2 miles south of the center of the city, originally established in eastern Texas, was moved to San Antonio in 1731 and is still in use. Near it in 1835 James Bowie and a party of 92 Texans won a fight against five times their number of Mexicans. Bowie died in 1836 in the defense of the Alamo. The mission San Juan de Capistrano, which was established in 1731 near the San Juan ford of the San Antonio River, was also formerly near Nacogdoches. The mission San Francisco de la Espada was originally in eastern Texas, having been the first mission established there. Founded in 1690 under the name San Francisco de los Tejas, it was abandoned three years later, reestablished in 1716 under the name San Francisco de los Neches, and transferred in 1731 to the west bank of the San Antonio River, 9 miles south of the center of the city. Aqueducts built by monks and Indians two centuries ago still irrigate the gardens at this place. The older part of San Antonio is built on a plain of alluvial depos- its, but the northern, western, and eastern parts extend onto rolling hills of Upper Cretaceous rocks. A fault with downthrow on the east side passes through the northwestern part of the city. On its west side are hills of Austin chalk, consisting largely of a soft chalky limestone * which has been quarried extensively for use in building, especially for houses in the older part of the city. Exposures of this material extend through part of Brackenridge Park, notably near the Sunken Gardens and Monkey Island, and in the rolling hills to the northwest, but much of the rock weathers into soil on the sloping sur- faces. To the west this formation dips beneath the clays of the Taylor formation,” on which the western part of the city is built. In the slopes of the gravel-capped ridges extending south from Fort Sam Houston there are exposures of clay of the Navarro formation, which extends southward to an overlap of clay and sand of the Mid- way formation of Tertiary age. * This chalky material contains many shells of Foraminifera, minute organ- isms that lived in the sea water that covered this area during most of Cre- aucella, texanum, Inoceramus undula- leglieats, (upper beds), and other marine species, A 1-foot layer composed of the shells of Gryphaea along the Park. (See pl. 8, A.) °° This formation, which is about 475 feet thick, contains many fossils includ- ine: various oysters such as Ezxogyra 1, E. laeviuscula, and Ostrea aff. na. U. 8S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 9 96.30! os Texas EXPLANATION A Sand, gravel, and clay (alluvi dt deposits) 0-210’ Quaternary (only the larger areas shown) : ell B_ Sandstone Carrizo 80-400’ as roel C Sandstone, shale, some sandy is. Indio 600-800’ f (Pocens) LES D Shale, with thin sandstone Midway 0- 300’ J (/ E Shale, mostly dar' Navarro + ea F Shale, mostly dark Taylor 400-500’ | Upper Cretaceous O G Chalk Austin 300-400’ | (Gulf series) @ H_ Limestone Eagle Ford 10-30’ a | { Hiner, hard, massive Buda 55-65’ | (| Clay, yellow Del Rio Washita group 50-70 \. \\ J Limestone, massive Georgetown +: | Lower Cretaceous va a < meen monty elie: Camanche ra Predeickburg, 400-600" [ (Comanche serie Cla Walnut group L. Limestone, impure, yellowish Glen Rose} Trinity group 800'* | ~ Fault Geology by L. W. Stephenson, Julia Gardner, E. H. Sellards, Consaled tasks R. L. Cannon, N. H. Darton, and others > Y)(ODs WO,)) £¢ ae SL aeu ve Les a, | ee % \I a ee ss —(e] fe) tae LS 7 KS Son C0 ed 4) YG Ke ee AV CaP VES | oe y £ ° ‘\ Ye PRON - n Ft NEM gyre Sot: ( 4 ‘Earle ! Se ‘00, linch=8 miles (approximately) 5 10 15 20 MILES 0 5 i?) iS 20 KILOMETERS SSS _ Yacon romaine Contour interval 50 feet The-distances from New Orieans, la, are shown every 10 miles, and the crossties are drawn 1 mile apart ‘ t in the lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U.S. @. 8. topographic map of that name 30° oe Topogr ‘aphy in part from maps by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers | _ WILLIAMS & MEINTZ CO., WASH. D.C and by U. S. Geological Survey, and in part by N. H. Darton SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 69 The most notable physiographic features in the San Antonio region are the wide plains and terraces which have been developed by ero- sion and deposition by streams on the surface of the soft clays of the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations. The largest plain, which lies a short distance above the narrow alluvial strips bordering the streams, extends from the San Antonio River to Leon Creek and is occupied by Kelly Field and other aviation stations. It is covered in greater part by a sheet of gravel and loam, mostly from 10 to 20 feet thick, and has an elevation of 600 to 700 feet, with gentle slope to the south. A smaller but similar plain lies between Salado (sa-lah’do) and Rosillo (ro-see’yo) Creeks, east of the city. The highest plain, which occupies the ridge between the valleys of Salado Creek and the San Antonio River and is about 100 feet higher than the adjoining area, represents the Uvalde Plain referred to on page 62 (footnote). It is capped by a sheet of gravel and loam which is well exposed in the long cut of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in the southeast- ern part of the city, as shown in Plate 8, B, and Fort Sam Houston is also built on its smooth surface. There are many outliers of this plain farther north and west. Not far north of San Antonio there are excellent exposures of slabby Eagle Ford limestone, Buda limestone, and Del Rio yellow clays with abundant Exogyra arietina, and in the hills of the Edwards Plateau, of Georgetown, Edwards, and Glen Rose limestones, which carry many distinctive fossils. Westward from San Antonio the railroad goes south for 1% miles and then, turning abruptly west, crosses the San Antonio River and the wide alluvial plain and skirts the east side of Kelly Field. This plain is wide and level because it is developed on the soft clays of the Upper Cretaceous. It is capped by a sheet of alluvial loam de- posited by Leon Creek and other streams in relatively recent geologic time. Leon Creek is crossed just beyond Leon siding, and the low rolling hills of the Midway formation capped by gravel of the higher terrace level are traversed between Leon Creek and Medio Creek. A mile west of Leon Creek the railroad bends around the south end of a ridge, showing ledges of buff sandstone of the Midway for- mation, which with low dip to the west passes under Macdona. the Indio formation at Medio Creek. All the lower ae ape lands from this point westward past Macdona and New Orleans 590 miles. Lacoste (turn to sheet 10) are underlain by alluvial sand and gravel deposited by the Medina River, which is crossed a mile east of Macdona. This stream rises in the 51 In the bank of Leon Creek about | clay or Escondido (p. 71), a relation a mile north of the railroad is an excel- | which is revealed at intervals up the lent exposure of the unconformable con- | creek to the fault that crosses the tact of the Midway on Navarro sandy | st 4 miles above the railroad 70 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Edwards Plateau, and at the head of a deep canyon about 25 miles west-northwest of San Antonio it is dammed to make Lake Medina, a large storage reservoir and an attrac- Sabie sae alge tive resort. The dam is 164 feet high and 1,580 feet New Orleans 597 miles. long. The water diverted into a canal some distance below the dam is carried along the ridge west of Cas- troville to be used for irrigation in the region south. This canal is crossed by the railroad at Pearson siding, 4 miles west of Lacoste. The Medina River along the railroad carries but little water because of the dam 15 miles above that diverts most of the flow into the irriga- tion canal. In an exposure of the Escondido formation in a cut about 5 miles west of Macdona there is yellow limestone at the top, 2 feet, with a thin fossiliferous layer; yellow shale, 5 feet; yellow im- pure sandstone, 4 inches; and yellow-brown shale, 3 feet to the base. The beds dip about 1° SW. The railroad is deflected to the south to carry it around the south end of a high ridge of Escondido shale which extends along the west side of the Medina River Valley in the Castroville region,® north of the railroad. The higher part of this ridge is capped by gravel of a high-level terrace, the Uvalde Plain, of which there are many remnants in the region west of San Antonio. From Pearson siding northwestward for 10 miles the railroad is mostly in a valley in clays with limy layers, of the basal group (Mid- way) of Tertiary age. The continuity of the strata is broken by several faults, mostly trending east-northeast, which bring up the underlying Escondido formation obscurely exposed at intervals. Just beyond Dunlay the railroad crosses a low ridge consisting of shales with hard sandstone layers of the Escondido formation. On both sides of the pass through which the railroad goes Dunlay. are plateau remnants of moderate height in which the ioe Escondido beds are overlain by the Midway group, New Orleans 611 miles. Which is capped by old terrace gravel deposited when the drainage system of the region was about 200 feet less deep than it is at present, a feature referred to on previous pages. Lacoste. Elevation 718 feet. ® Castroville was founded by and ‘named for Count Henri de Castro, who in 1844 brought there a colony of French and Alsatians. The architecture is largely of French rural type, with slop- ing roofs, small windo blinds. 83 In the region between San and Del Rio, baer aeson Upper Cretaceous formations continue most notable features is the devel- opment of the Anacacho limestone, 300 feet or more thick, replacing the Taylor shale, and merging westward into the Upson clay and the San Miguel forma- tion. The Navarro shale also merges laterally to the west into the Escondido formation, which may be 700 feet thick in the Uvalde region. are represented diagrammatically in Figure 6, which, however, necessarily has a greatly exaggerated vertical scale. The Midway, the lowest formation of the Tertiary system in this region, lies SPSUDIGBARNY. on the Escondido for- mation ( extension of the Na- varro shale) with but little discordance of dip. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 71 The gravel and sand cap of the plateau, in large part filled with caliche, is well exposed on State high- way 3 a short distance south of the Hee! railway. West of the divide the rail- Hiss cin i mestone of which rise several low ridges of Escondido clay and sandstone. There ' a road descends into a wide alluvial plain al iH ! Has LH E comprising the valleys of Quihi, Hon- i ah ae (3 = do, Seco, and other creeks and mostly ral | hl i. 4 3 = floored with gravel and sand which Bu it x of oh ie hide the underlying clay of the Escon- sl zl Hele ch $ a dido formation. This formation, how- eye ll Wats E ever, appears in a few hills that rise Sh ie ie esl 8 out of the plain and extend along part a HA \° ; el S| Sa S of its southern margin. A few miles s ls niet : g north of the railroad the underlying od lea i N 3 formations appear in succession, for ey Healt N Pi there is a general rise of the strata to 7 iL Stahl i SS) 3 the north and considerable faulting, in iif inl } : part with uplift on the north side. In i ls i . SH i, 2 about 15 miles the Georgetown and Mi Shit : \} ee Edwards limestones come to the sur- l ly lia iy it R st 5 i face, constituting the Edwards Plateau, att vil SE which is in view far to the north as Fe ie HH : N || > 8 the railroad crosses the divide north- ill Ee N 1} 8 Mi west of Dunlay. A cross section of this | | ist Nii | 8 region is shown on sheet 10, opposite | El :| a AW] s 2 page 69. iH if Wh s | 3 3 At Hondo (own’do; Spanish, deep) H| | TEE S| 3 the railroad is on an alluvial plain out te [pits = Sih | 7 : = ‘ =e alm IT ——— SS LE Hondo. WL eg ALL : Elevation 889 feet. formations in the shal- ; | c | : N tion 2500.* A S| | out New Orleans 622 miles. low valleys of Hondo S| | ‘ip k N Fen and Verde Creeks. f ile)! Le BN ; old Comanche Indian village was}! ise i! ii: it N ¢ situated near Hondo, and the flint for _[.' | = Sean arrowheads was obtained from pebbles, [3 5 1 [eter i NS | ae which are abundant in the neighbor- 2:1) .2 H ‘| SHE i NS fg hood, brought by streams from the _ |l/)'|!../ | Was NN F lateau of Edwards limestone to the [f,/'[):: | Jed: fiill NSE: plateau one to =| | ee SSE : north. | IHNEN a In the Hondo region and westward | iyi he Elie bie NSIS & to Uvalde most of the land is under 5 On Verde Creek, 4 miles northeast | base of the Tertiary are exposed, with of Hondo, ledges of limestone at the | characteristic fossils, on a block dropped 72 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES cultivation with varied crops, including considerable corn and cotton, and there are many cattle, sheep, and goats. Poultry raising and are important industries. D’Hanis (named after an old French settler but settled by south Germans) is on the alluvial plain, but hills of the older formations rise to the south and north. To the west and south D’Hanis. are high banks of clay of the Escondido formation, Population 2 ong which is worked for brick and tile. Two principal New Orleans 630 miles, terrace levels will be noted in this region, a lower one of alluvium and an upper one capped by sand and gravel (late Tertiary?). Old D’Hanis, a mile east of the station, south of the tracks, was on the early stage route from San Antonio to El Paso. Near by is a large gravel pit showing the thickness of the alluvial filling. To the south is a high hill with a cross on top, which was placed there originally as a landmark and is at present a shrine for the Mexican people of the region. A mile west of D’Hanis the railroad crosses Seco Creek (say’co) which drains a part of the Edwards Plateau. On its banks 2 miles to the north are the ruins of Fort Lincoln, 1849-1852, once garrisoned with 141 men to keep the Comanche Indians and outlaws in check. Beyond Seco Creek there is a long ascent on a slope of clay (Escon- dido) to the summit of the wide, high plateau which separates the valleys of Seco Creek and the Sabinal River (sah-bee-nahl’). This plateau, nearly 200 feet high, is heavily capped by sand with coarse gravel and boulders, in large part cemented by caliche. There are many small exposures of this capping, notably one in a gravel pit ath of the tracks just east of Seco siding. It extends north to the foot of the rise to the Edwards Plateau, about 5 miles north, and to the west it slopes down somewhat and terminates at the edge of a steep down slope 111; miles west of D’Hanis. by @ fault that crosses the region northeast to southwest a short Austin chalk, Eagle Ford limestone, and Del Rio clay crop out. The Del 1 Rio in : 8, a E 3 @ (See table on p. 75.) Another outcrop of Midway limestone, similarly down-faulted, i limestone and overlying shale, as shown in Plate 11, A, and farther up the ereek es and _ Ford beds is shown in Plate 9, B co Creek, nied 3 miles north of pia has moderately high banks of Anacacho limestone, and a short dis- tance farther north the Austin chalk is well The beds are consider- ably fentind Farther north are foot- hills of Austin chalk, a zone of Buda and Del Rio outcrop, and long slopes of Georgetown limestone. Thy “3 bee U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 7 THE ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO, TEX Here in 1836 a band of 182 Texans were besieged by the Mexican Army. B. PALACE OF SPANISH GOVERNOR, MILITARY PLAZA, SAN ANTONIO, TEX. Recently restored. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 8 A. AUSTIN CHALK IN SAN PEDRO PARK, SAN ANTONIO, TEX The thick hard layer in the — consists largely of Gry phaea aucella, an oyster reef of Comanche time (Lower Cretaceous). (Stephenson.) ERN PART ¢ OF S SAN pei tate White caliche, 10 feet 1, 10 feet, and Midway shaly clay, rs ‘og "(Stephenson.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 9 B. FAULT IN BUDA LIMESTONE ON HONDO CREEK, 7 MILES NORTH-NORTH- WEST OF HONDO, TEX. Eagle Ford beds which abutted against the fault are soft and therefore have been removed by erosion. (Stephenson.) ; NIE (Stephenson.) C. COLUMNAR STRUCTURE IN BASALT IN CHATFIELD HILL, WEST OF KNIPPA, TEX. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 10 A, QUARRY IN POROUS se ACACHO LIMESTONE mpc ac ATED WITH ASPHALT, OUTHEAST OF CLINE, . EAGLE FORD SLABBY LIMESTONE LYING UNCON- FORMABLY ON MASSIVE BUDA LIMESTONE ON BANK OF NUECES RIVER, 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF HACIENDA SIDING, TEX. (Stephenson.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE il A. ANACACHO LIMESTONE AT ee. WATER HOLE, 3 MILES NORTH OF HONDO, TEX. Capped by 10 feet of gravel. (Stephenson.) B. DEL RIO CLAY CAPPED cay BUDA LIMESTONE (b) IN RAILROAD CUT HALF A MILE WEST OF COMSTOCK, TEX Looking north. aie C RECESSES AND pp btibieiginr: IN GEORGETOWN N LIMESTONE, CASTLE CANYON, VILS RIVER WEST OF DEL RIO, TEX. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 12 A. RAILROAD BRIDGE OVER C in N OF PECOS RIVER, 12 MILES WEST OF “OMSTOCK, TEX. The walls are Georgetown limestone lying nearly horizontal B. BRAHMA CATTLE Bred and crossbred extensively in southern Tex s because of their ability to withstand scarcity of water at pasture SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 73 Sabinal (sah-bee-nahl’) is on a sand and gravel plain that borders and extends west from the Sabinal River, which is crossed by the rail- road a mile west of the station. On this stream there Sabinal. is an almost continuous succession of exposures of the Reutie ole whup strata of Upper Cretaceous age, beginning with low New Orleans 643 miles. Cliffs of Anacacho limestone south of the railroad.® The name of the place is derived from the word “sabina (sa-bee’na),” the Spanish name for juniper, misapplied by the Mexicans to the cypress tree, of which there is a small group on the Sabinal River a mile west of the station. The Blanco River, which is crossed 4 miles beyond the Sabinal River, carries but little water except in times of freshet. Just west of it are exposures of alluvial sand and gravel containing much caliche, and the ridge near Yucca is one of the numerous remnants of an old gravel-capped high terrace in this general region. A mile southwest of Knippa is a prominent knoll known as Chat- field Hill, caused by a mass of hard diabase which has been intruded in the Cretaceous strata. It is similar to many other Knippa. igneous masses that are more or less prominent topo- ee graphic features in the surrounding region and for a New Orleans 654 miles. long distance west. These igneous rocks have come in a molten condition through cracks from a deep- seated source and either formed irregular conical masses or spread out in “sills” or layers between the sedimentary strata. They lift the overlying beds and in many places flex or break them irregularly. The mass near Knippa is extensively quarried for road metal just south of the railroad. A notable feature seen especially in the upper part of the quarries is the columnar structure of the rock, such as is developed in many intruded igneous masses (notably in the Palisades of the Hudson opposite New York City). This structure is developed y shrinkage in cooling, both in intrusive masses and in many lava flows. _— —— Y) or 1 500,000 (approximately) lo 15 The distances from New Orleans. 20 KILOMETERS terval 100 feet a., are shown every 10 miles, and the crossties are drawn 1 mile apart The quadrangle shown on the map wit in the lower left corner is m topographic map of that nam a name in parentheses ‘pped in detail on the U. 8. G. 8. e€ ae ae 20 MILES sg ee & Sheet 9 Gravel and sand (alluvium and terrace deposits) Sandstone Bandas } q Tertiary cae , 2 (Eocene) Limestone and shale 3 ;° Shale and sandstone into Navarro to east) ¥ Limestone; some marl and clay into Taylor to east) | Upper Cretaceous be (Gulf series) fan] Chalk Limestone, slabby I Limestone, compact de . Washita group Lower Cretaceous Limestone . (Comanche series) Limestone, massive } Fredericksburg group Igneous rocks, intruded in various Post-Cretaceous : - ’ Geology: West ide 99° 30° from Uvalde ~~ Fault folio by T. W. Vaughan; Medina regen data by ; Consiaied thiah L. W. Stephenson, R. A. Liddell, A. N. Sayre, ene R. L. Cannon, Julia Gardner, and N. H. ‘on WILLIAMS @ HEINTZ CO. WASH. DC SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 75 Formations of central Texas [Vaughan and others] ‘ * a Thick- Formation Character and notable fossils ness (fect) Pliocene and | Alluvium.__-____- Sand and gravel; terraces along streams 0-70 Pleistocene. ‘High tern eke Gravel with much chert; caps hills and old terraces________ 0-80 —_— Unconformity |_——_-——~ ndio. edded and cross-bedded sands and sandstones and dark- |800-850 genet clays, for the mos 908 mab nonmarine and in places ma ; Ostrea Of Wilcox age. Eocene (early | Midway Concretionary gray fastens and sandy clay with no observed | 10-120 Tertiary). fossils, in ag wae 10 to 20 feet, followed below by glauco- nitie sands, in places loosely indurated, with a calcareous eat ste tis yellow calcareous pack sand containing Cucullaea, Venericardia, Turritella, and Enclimatoceras. ————|-Unconformity. Escondido--__--_-__. Shale and calcareous sandstones, coarse and fine; Ostrea 700 cortex, Sphenodiscus pleurisepta, Guifaertes Anacacho_.--.-.__ Impure limestone and marl; Echinocorys terana, Exogyra | 0-350 (Upper Cre- pon etaebntey Eyed-eoncpi shalt Baculites asper, Scaphites hip- 5 pocrepis, ces, taceous). | austin ._____. Chalk, white and yellow; Gryphaea aucella, Inoceramus |350-400 undulato-plicatus, lietentaes teranum Eagle Ford_..:.... ares and flaggy limestone, mostly impure, Inoceramus 150(?) atus. Mv aua oreng IU INES 2 CSS ee Pimpstonet 25 ii tec -| 60-75 Del Rio ie eee ane Yellow ra ; Exogyra arietina 30 Comanche se-| Georgetown_-_-____ Lim imastotion Ki Wgene ACOs oe ae a 50-150 ries (Lower | Edwards__-_....__ Limestone, mostly hard, massive, cavernous; much flint in 500+- Cretaceous). copy: Comanche Peak...| L estone, yellow, impure; many Erogyra terana..__._.... 60 There is considerable agriculture about Uvalde, but the climate approaches the semiarid, with an annual rainfall of approximately inches. Although Sogn i is usually a short rainy season in the spring or ants summer and another in the autumn, most of the streams are dry for the greater part of the year. Watacve pastures sustain many cattle, sheep, and goats. In places there is an extensive growth of ‘‘prickly pear,” or me (no-pahl’), which is used rather extensively for forage after the thorns are singed off. A large amount of honey is produced in this region, aided greatly by the presence of various plants such as mesquite and huajillo (wah-hee’yo), which yield much nectar for the bees. There is a notable spring on the Leona River a mile below Uvalde, which is locally estimated to furnish about 7,000,000 gallons a day, but the volume varies somewhat with the seasons. The water is used for irrigation. In the region between Uvalde and Del Rio portions of the Rio Grande Plain, which is a western extension of the Gulf Coastal Plain, reach the Southern Pacific line in places notably about Spofford and westward. The lower lands are mostly level and the valleys are shallow. Smooth surfaces prevail about Spofford and westward to Del Rio. The Edwards Plateau lies some distance north, beyond limestones, and many buttes or knobs of hard, igneous rocks peeves prominently above the general surface. 76 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES From Uvalde Station past Hacienda siding (ah-see-ane’da) , nearly to 2) Anacacho Mtn. id te Alluvium “8 Fiaure 7.—Sketch section —e Mountain south through Anacacho Mountain, Tex. the Nueces River, the railroad is on asmooth plain of alluvium. There i is a notable exposure of the uncon- formable contact of the Eagle Ford slabby limestone on the massive Buda limestone on the bank of the Nueces River 4 miles northwest of Hacienda siding, as shown in Plate 10, B. The Nueces River is in a shallow valley also floored by alluvium, with rocky banks at intervals. In dry weather it carries little water, but farther south it is a large watercourse, entering the Gulf of Mexico at Corpus Christi. In the days when Texas was a part of the Republic of Mexico, as a department of Coahuila, the Nueces River was its southern boundary, between it and Tamaulipas and Coahuila, both of which straddled . the Rio Grande; on the west Texas adjoined the States of Chihuahua (che-wah’wa) and Nuevo Méjico as far as the Red River. The available geographic data of those times were so few, however, that the contemporary maps were greatly distorted as to locations and distances. Under the Republic the wide area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, long in dispute between Texas and Mexico, was a no man’s land, roamed over by Comanche and other Indians and by many outlaws. West of the Nueces River the railroad ascends into a region of low buttes and ridges of Austin chalk with scattered small outcrops. Trees are rare. : Lewis Hill to the north and Obi Cline. Hill to the south are igneous, intru- cso gad feet. _ sive masses (basalt), and larger bod- pvt ee ies of these rocks constitute buttes farther south. The chalk is covered by loam and sand (alluvium) near Cline and for some distance west, but it is visible in adjacent slopes. Eight miles southeast of Cline are exten- sive quarries in the Anacacho limestone, which there carries a ere ees of asphalt. (See pl. 10, EY odie south, as shown in Figure 7 cae its iecteen part here, as in the region farther east, the pee 2 SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES = of § limestone lies on Austin chalk, but in its western part a sheet of Upson clay intervenes between them. North of the mountain are long slopes of Austin chalk succeeded by slabby buff Eagle Ford limestone, which thickens considerably to the west. About 12 miles north of Odlaw siding is Turkey Mountain, a plug of intrusive igneous rock in part capping a mound of Eagle Ford, Buda, and Del Rio beds. The railroad is on Austin chalk from Odlaw west for sey- eral miles. At Chacon Creek (cha-cone’), southwest of Anacacho siding, Anacacho Mountain ends through a rapid thinning of the lime- stone or through change of its upper member into softer rocks of the San Miguel formation and also of its lower member into Upson clay. From Spofford a branch of the Southern Pacific runs to Eagle Pass (old Fort Duncan), an important town on the Rio Grande, 34 miles south. The railroad here is on the broad Rio Spofford. Grande Plain, developed on the upper part of the Elevation 1,009 feet. Austin chalk, overlain by a thick deposit of sand and aerating miles, gravel with much caliche, a covering that extends to and beyond Amanda siding. The chalk is revealed on Pinto Creek near Pinto siding, in a quarry 3 miles beyond Pinto, and also in the arroyos to the south, which cut deeply to reach the Rio Grande. Ten miles north of Spofford, just south of Brackett- ville, on State highway 3, is Fort Clark, which was established in 1852 to protect travelers on the old trail. The fort was named from Maj. John B. Clark, United States Army. In it have been stationed General Gorgas when he was a second lieutenant, General Bulks, General Shafter, and General Pershing. In 1931 there were 386 soldiers and 44 officers there. The fort is near the Las Moras Springs (Spanish, moras, blackberries), which ordinarily have an average flow of about 22,000,000 gallons a day. (Meinzer.) Still farther north is Las Moras Mountain, due to an intrusion of igneous rock which has been forced up in molten condition through the Cretaceous strata. Other conspicuous igneous masses near by are Elm Moun- tain, 10 miles northwest of Pavo siding, and Pinto Mountain, 10 miles northwest of Brackettville. In the region between Spofford and Del Ric the formations trav- ersed are as follows: s Thick Formation Character ness (feet) Aust Chalk and soft massive limestone Bal Ford Shale and slab lim limestone, buff ye 60 Del Rio Bat, fin hard la: Georgetown Massive finest ayers, with many Ezogyra arietina__._....-_--.- 60 Although the general regional dip of the strata is to the east and southeast, they are flexed by an anticline with about 150 feet of uplift 78 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES the axis of which trends west by north. It extends from Sycamore Creek, 2 miles south of Amanda siding, to the San Felipe Valley, a few miles north of Del Rio, the axis passing about half a mile south of Johnstone siding.® Mud Creek, crossed between Standart and Amanda sidings, is mentioned in many narratives of travel on the old trail from San Antonio west, which was near the present railroad line in this vicinity. A mile west of Amanda, on the descent to Sycamore Creek, there is a 10-foot cut in gravel and sand, which reveals the character of the deposit that covers the wide plains extending to Spofford and far to the north and south. The underlying Eagle Ford beds are exposed in a small cut 14 miles west of Amanda. As indicated by the extensive bridge by which it is spanned, Sycamore Creek is a mighty stream in time of freshet. (Turn to sheet 12.) The cap of sand, gravel, and caliche begins again west of this creek and covers the plateau to a point within 3 miles of Del Rio. It lies on Buda limestone, which is exposed in several shallow valleys. On its western edge, a few miles east of Del Rio, is a large “tank farm” of the Mid-Kansas Oil Co., with a capacity of 80,000 barrels supplied from oil fields far to the north by pipe line. Just beyond this place there is a steep down grade on buff clays of the Del Rio formation capped by the Buda limestone. These strata constitute bluffs 50 to 100 feet high extending far to the north and south from the railroad grade and forming the east slope of the Rio Grande Valley; it is from the exposures in these bluffs that the Del Rio clay was named. In the bottom lands not far west of the Buda-Del Rio bluff is San Felipe Creek, which has cut a shallow trench in the underlying massive limestone (uppermost Georgetown). ‘This limestone is overlain widely by gravel, sand, and caliche of the alluvial plain on which Del Rio is built, which extends to the Rio Grande 2 to 3 miles distant. Del Rio is on the frontier, for there are no other large towns to the west until El Paso is reached. It is a commercial center for a wide i district of stock, sheep, and goat raising, wool, mohair, Del Rio. and agricultural interests, and a port of entry from ee *~ sig Mexico by way of Villa Acufia (vee’ya a-coon’ya) on dt ae 742 miles. the Coahuila side of the Rio Grande, with which it is connected by a long bridge. On the alluvial "plain about Del Rio there is considerable agriculture sustained b y irrigation, * A 2,800-foot boring 3 miles east of | Pennsylvanian age below 2,175 feet. Amanda idi is thought to have | This indicat thick f about 2,235 reached the base of the Edwards lime- | feet for the Comanche series, which _ Stone at a depth of about 2,000 feet. | thickens to the west from the Uvalde- A boring 6 miles north of Del Rio | Brackettville regi Ww bearin _ A boring nies worth. of Del Rio | ion. ater- = a started in Del Rio clay and penetrated | beds were found in both holes (Stephen- ee {| | l | a. Hh ards |; Austin chal ~ — QO a Ba k-- Glen Rose fs. 5 Miles AGROSS UVALDE COUNTY ABOUT S MLLES WEST OF UVALDE (SAYRE) N DIAGRAMMATIC SECTIO Quaternary gravels and sands not shown . S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 11 Ss , 100 30 100 Texas EXPLANATION A Gravel and sand (alluvium and high terrace deposits) 90’+ Quaternary Sandstone; lay, Indio 140’+ Eien coal, and limestone (underlain to SE. by Midway in places) C Sandstone and clay Escondido. 100-200’ Upper part grading into Limestone aseugie: ee Miguel to SW. D 00-400’ | Upper Cretaceous Shale (west of longitude 100° 15’) = Upson (Gulf series) r\3/ E Chalk ustin 350-400’ ie : 0? nume ik 2 F Limestone, slabby Eagle Ford 75-140’ 5 ad \ { | 7 },0 fai Unconformity j. L 1] Batt {Limestone Buda 60-75’ ° : : ~~ "4 ae ep ’ = te H esi 3 vad awe G {Clay Del Rio Washita group 50-60 tie Cretaceous 29 F ! BS H_ Limestone, massive, blue Georgetown 150’+ { (Comanche series) 30° y | x > PES 1 Limestone, massive, partly cherty Edwards Fredericksburg group 500’+ j o G J Igneous rocks (intrusive) i ! : & : (mostly diabase) Geology: East of longitude 100° 30° by T. W. Vaughan, 1896-1899 recesempsemicn) ST) Z Oo + j20 = | 7. ‘Ss. | 9 } iP} pet G ga) 4A H Eee 3 fl \\ PAZ 4 ) eV aos ey PES \ Vl SM n a’ CAI al ar 4 i Ge Ly UG Ae % G eA A AG nx 41 a; gy 4 Wy, Wes a ee EG NY: if Gis en wi Ng fas 2 IS ames ° BLU. UM VF a gape Ze ~ Po Sy AAD EL 955 ff Z = e Ay Lp y nG EXPLANATION O A Gravel and sand (alluvium and high terrace deposits) Quaternary B Limestone, chalky Austin chalk Upper Cretaceous Limestone, impure, slabby Eagle Ford (Gulf series) Limestone, massive Buda t \* ¢ Clay, yellow (absent west Del Rio ‘ s ay (74 of longitude 101° 22’) Washita group |; ower Cretaceous Vite heake 1 eA . p ‘ (Comanche series) ) WARE D Limestone, massive Georgetown : ; i ¥ E Limestone Fredericksburg group j N Geology by N. H. Darton y) A WILLIAMS @ HEINTZ CO. WASH. 9. C. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 83 law courts existed in the region. A Kentuckian and a member of the Doniphan expedition of 1846 into Mexico, “Judge” Bean dis- pensed liquor and supplies and acted as the embodiment of “the law west of the Pecos” for many years in a shack which was falling to ruins in 1932. He changed the name from Vinegarone to Langtry in honor of the English actress Lily Langtry and had high expectations that she would visit the place. Some years later, on her way east, she stopped over a few hours to inspect her namesake, but meanwhile the autocratic old judge had died. The town saw considerable activ- ity a few years ago when it was headquarters for the rebuilding of the railroad for several miles west and east to eliminate some curves and heavy grades. These changes shortened the line considerably, and the next milepost beyond 451 is 456 (from Harrisburg, Tex., an official terminus of one of the Texas railroad corporations now included in the Southern Pacific system). The resulting cuts, especially those west of Langtry, some of which are 40 feet deep, give very fine eo sures of the Eagle Ford buff slabby limestone at frequent intervals nearly to Pumpville. Near that place the route traverses higher beds of chalky lime- Fievre 8.—Section at Langtry, Tex. Kef, Eagle Ford limestone; stone (basal Austin) con- © Buds limestone; Ke,G 2 sis fuses awa stituting a rolling plain of considerable extent. (Turn to sheet 13.) Pumpville siding, a section house and pump station, is on the sum- mit of the divide east of Lozier Creek. Wells here supply excellent water for locomotives; this water is also used for = Pumpville. irrigation about the station with conspicuous results. Population 0 The rapid descent west from Pumpville reveals w Orleans §22 miles. Kagle Ford buff slabby limestones and ao the Buda limestone, all lying nearly horizontal. Lozier Canyon, reached just beyond Lecier siding, is a large arroyo, usually dry but in times of freshet carrying a large stream. In the canyon slopes near Lozier and past Malvado siding are many fine exposures of the Eagle Ford-Buda contact, showing conformity of attitude, with low dips to the south and east. Below the Buda, which is conspicuous as a light-colored massive limestone, are low cliffs of the massive dark-gray top member of the Georgetown limestone. The Buda limestone is in two members of slightly different aspect and texture, and the yellow Del Rio clay that underlies it to the east is entirely absent, although near the large iron bridge over Meyers Canyon 2 feet of the basal limestone of the Buda carries Exogyra arietina, a fossil characteristic of the Del Rio clay. The Georgetown limestone is exposed in the bed of the wash from Meyers Canyon to a point below Lozier. As the railroad ascends the valley of Lozier Creek past Malvado, Watkins, 84 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES and Thurston sidings the chalky-white massive lower member of the Buda limestone is conspicuous in places overlain by Eagle Ford beds, On the low plateau to the north is a mantle of gravel and sand which was deposited by an earlier Lozier Creek at a higher level, a stream which had its source in the highlands far to the west. Remnants of this deposit occur south of Dryden, about Mofeta, and in the region south of Maxon Creek, 20 miles southwest of Sanderson. It con- tains chert, sandstone with Pennsylvanian fossils, and novaculite, from the Marathon uplift, and lavas from the Davis Mounteins. About 5 miles west of Thurston siding an increase in dip brings up the basal member of the Buda limestone and reveals the underlying Del Rio rusty buff clay, which has come in again underground and extends to and beyond Dryden. At Dryden State Highway 3, which crosses the highlands to the south, comes to the railroad and continues westward for some distance along its south side. Dryden is in a broad, shallow Dryden. valley bordered by low ridges of Buda limestone Elevation 2,108 feet. underlain by Del Rio clay of rusty buff color. The tion 60.* A ° . New Orleans 854 miles. Buda consists of two massive limestone members sep- arated by softer yellowish marly beds which contain distinctive fossils. A mile or so west of Dryden these strata are covered by the old river deposit above referred to, which constitutes a wide, level plain. On the west side of this plain, about 2 miles west of Mofeta siding, the Georgetown limestone comes to the surface. To the south are high mountains in Mexico, which appear to be not very distant. A short distance beyond Mofeta the railroad descends into the canyon of Sanderson Creek, which it then ascends to its head, 40 miles to the west. The picturesque canyon walls are about 200 feet high and consist of Edwards and Comanche Peak limestones at the base and Georgetown beds above, the latter mostly massive lime- stone but in places including some thin members of a more marly nature in which Washita fossils are found. In this area the beds rise to the west on the beginning of a large dome-shaped uplift which cul- minates in the Marathon Basin and Glass Mountains. Some years ago a deep boring for oil was made on the east slope of this dome at a point about 12 miles southeast of Sanderson. It penetrated all the Lower Cretaceous strata, 840 feet thick, and more than 1,000 feet of the un- derlying black shales of Pennsylvanian age, but obtained no petroleum. Another deep hole near Emerson, 10 miles west, had a similar result. is the first town of any size west of Del Rio and is a local center of trade and a shipping point for stock. It lies on the : massi Population 1,24. Edwards limestone lying on slabby beds of Comanche Serene Peak limestone and overlain by a succession of massive _ and softer beds representing the Georgetown limestone, about 200 SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 85 feet in all. West of Sanderson the canyon is ascended on a moder- ate grade, and as the slope of the valley and the easterly dip of the beds are about the same in rate and direction the succession of strata is uniform for several miles past Gavilan and Emerson sid- ings. The adjoining highlands, capped by Georgetown limestone, are so deeply incised by side draws and canyons that but little of the original plateau surface remains. The rocky slopes support a scanty growth of desert plants, and there is more or less mesquite growing in the gravelly soil of the valley floor. Just west of Emerson siding is the deep boring referred to on page 84. In places west of Emerson a diminution of dip causes some of the lower beds of the limestone suc- cession to pass beneath the bottom of the valley, and the limestone walls become less high and precipitous. In the region southwest of Sanderson and south of Alpine the Rio Grande makes a great deflection to the south, and the country here embraced by the river is known as the Big Bend. It is a very thinly populated region of high mountains and many deep canyons, salable those which the river has cut through some of the plateaus and ridges. One of the most notable of these is the Santa Helena Canyon, near Terlingua, which has very high, precipitous walls of limestone of the Comanche series. In the earlier days the Big Bend country harbored many outlaws, and large numbers of cattle were smuggled across the Rio Grande at fords and other crossings. It was also a favorite region for the Indians, mainly the Apache Lipans. These people utilized the abundant maguey and sotol plants, baking the buds of the flower stalk in ovens of heated rocks and fermenting the juice into an alcoholic beverage of considerable potency. Long prior to these Indians there was an earlier race which left traces of their homes and numerous pictures on cliffs. There are many remarkable plants in the Big Bend country and other parts of western Texas. Resurrection plants, or “flor de pefia” (Selaginella lepidophylla), occur in large numbers on some of the rocky surfaces; many of them are sold as curiosities. When dry they roll into a nestlike ball, but when wet they unfold into a mass of fernlike fronds of a rich green color. The Mexicans use a decoction of this plant as a cure for colic and indigestion. One of the common weeds of the region, called trompillo (trome-pee’yo; Solanum elaeagnifolium), with violet flowers and a berry like a small black marble, is much used by the Mexicans for curdling milk in making cheese. Another rather notable plant is a small, low cactus, Lophophora williamsi, of radish shape, called peyote by the Mexicans and Indians. It bears 2 pale-pink flower in the early summer which develops into a greénish berry i in a woolly sack, formerly much chewed by Indians, especially in ceremonial prayers for the sick; some alkaloid content has a mildly intoxicating effect, so that it has been called “white whisky.” Many * 86 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES rocky slopes are dotted with a cactus resembling a huge pincushion (Echinocereus stramineus), which bears a delicious fruit, locally called pitahaya. The plateau region extending west from Dryden to Longfellow and beyond appears rocky and barren, but it affords fairly good pasturage and sustains many cattle; sheep and goats are also raised with a large yield of wool and mohair. The old Texas longhorn cattle have been displaced, mostly by white-faced Herefords, which make more beef, are hardier, and withstand the arid climate. There are also many Brahmas, characterized by a hump and short straight horns; this stock was introduced from India and has proved to be well adapted to the dry climate. (See pl. roo’ 12, B.) The great ‘open range,” however, is mostly 's0° afeature of the past, and ; now, although there are Rocks =i b100% some very large pastures, <3 all are inclosed by barbed- a _ wire fences. The old Ps oi os a ah aT -_ a round-up” is no longer — ee the great event in ranch rr life, and most of the brand- ing is done at the home FIGURE 9.—Section near Maxon, Tex. Crpscrans: Kg, corral. (Turn to sheet 14.) fasten tedcoaine ean caudate: wastidia: A few miles beyond Be en heme Semation. . Peaneviyanien: Of, Tens Longfellow the tracks de- flect to the south. High- way 3 continues west up the Dry Creek Valley to a divide some- what higher than the one utilized by the railroad. Longfellow. The railroad follows a wide valley, which is drained toemeaee in part by Sanderson Creek and beyond Rosenfeld New Orleans 891 miles. Siding by Maxon Creek. The walls of the valley consist of the Edwards and Georgetown limestones, which crop out in massive gray ledges. Near Maxon siding a prominent ledge of brown sandstone 100 feet thick appears beneath the Edwards limestone in the canyon walls and is in turn underlain by impure limestones and shales of the Glen Rose formation of the Trinity group, which crop out in a succession’ of benches and slopes, as shown in Figure 9. The walls are 300 to 500 feet high near Maxon, but they are mostly broken into ridges and buttes. Maxon is near Maxon Springs, named for Lieutenant Maxon, of the United States Army, who first described it. _ Three miles beyond Maxon the railroad swings to the west and, : leaving the limestone canyon, enters a broad plain out of which rise many ridges of moderate height. This is the eastern edge of the Basin. A short distance east of Tesnus siding the railroad U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 13 Lip ODE zy } SF LAM WP EE IG. SS a ae —~ ¢: : N\ MBOOL PAYS is yeh cteng gy 5 AF S Ac SY ¢ RSS RS,” IWS S es EL Bess = bd th SASS , Se a a Sey ae Pate ‘SS Oe man ge S&S EXPLANATION us (hee nasa I QD A p PS S SINS yee » OIL Gg OLD: er SONF0, 0 5 GFA eo cS aS aah. \ Z| Mofeta > Fs 2 ae ———| = eet 27 ‘OS 5 a. 102°30° 102° Texas I le 500,000 linch=8 miles (approximately) 5 10 15 ___20 MILES : slp fe} 5 10 15 20 KILOMETERS ey, lath tte, PeLLIOLK Os fein ‘ ELLL DY 4 Contour interval 200 feet eg aN Oriea OZ4 J ; p ur | Ny w4ne The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every BAS “fe 10 miles, and the ti drawn 1 mile apart Q72I Sheet 12 A Sand and gravel 0-80’ nary B Limestone and clay Eagle Ford > Upper Cretaceous (overlain by Austin chalk) (Gulf series) Limestone uda Cc 4Clay, yellow Del Rio Washita group 200’ | Lower Cretaceous Limestone Georgetown (Comanche series) D Limestone Fredericksburg group 700’ Geology by N. H. Darton, 1927 102.30° 102° "Topography in part from maps by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and by U. S. Geological Survey, and in part by N. H. Darton WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WASH..D.C SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 87 passes onto strata of Paleozoic age, which underlie the limestones and shales of the Trinity group. The Paleozoic rocks exposed near eae siding are sandstones and shales of the Tesnus fottiatSon) of nnsylvanian age, of which this is the type locality. It gives rise a rounded hills, on which are many russet-brown outcrops of the sandstones. The Marathon Basin, which is entered near Tesnus, is an area of plains and low ridges about 40 miles wide, in which rocks of Paleozoic age are extensively exposed.” It is surrounded on all Tena sides by escarpments of the limestones of Cretaceous ve age which formerly extended entirely across the region ut have been removed by erosion from the area of the Marathon Basin. The basin occupies the truncated crest of the ® The following table and description of the Paleozoic formations exposed in the Marathon Basin are furnished by P. B. King: Age Formation bert Character 4 cae Limestone, panterbedded with Le fees gei ga aptank formation. . Marathon 9 on n Side 0 Marathon Basin, w! a overlain by the Thin-bedded sandstone and shale, with thick beds Haymond formation. 2, 500 a boulder —— upper part Pennsylvanian Haymond siding. series. Dimple limestone. 400-1, 000 oer pacar gear shale, cropping out in Thick-bedded brown sandstone, with some inter- Tesnus formation. 7, 500 bedded shale, with a rg of ge shale at the base several thousand feet 200-600 N dg and chert, which crop out in prominent Devonian (?) system. Caballos novaculite. Maravillas chert. 100-400 | Black chert and limestone. Drab shale, with ee flaggy brown sand- Woods Hollow shale. 500 stone and limestone eres Massive limestone, bedded reddish chert, and some Ordovician sys- | Fort Pefia formation. 150 conglomerate. Alsate shale. 50 | Shale and thin limestone beds. gray limestone, with a thin medial member Marathon limestone. 500-800 woh chery Raccuciee, much shale and some con- Cambrian sys- ; Shale with thin brown limestone and sandst tem. Dagger Flat sandstone. 300+| “beds, passing down into massive Pare at The Cambrian and Ordovician rocks | fossils are also different. The Ordo- differ considerably from those in the | vician rocks at Marathon contain region of Van Horn and El Paso, only a | chiefly graptolites and linguloid brachi- few hundred miles away, where the | opods, animals which lived in an en- rian cephalo , gastro is much sandstone, shale, and conglom- | sponges, which lived in a clear sea erate in addition to limestone. The | where limy sediments were being 88 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Marathon uplift, a great dome in the earth’s crust, by which all the strata have been uplifted 4,500 feet or more in an area about 100 miles in diameter. The east side of this dome is crossed between Longfellow and Tesnus, where the canyon walls expose successively lower parts of the Comanche series and finally the underlying rocks of Paleozoic age. This is caused by the westward rise of the strata toward the crest of the Marathon dome. Near Tesnus the strata of the Comanche series are cut off by erosion and present high, westward-facing escarpments which rise far above and afford fine views of the Marathon Basin lying below” them to the west. In places, also, they constitute more or less isolated outlying buttes and mesas, west of the main escarpment. The most prominent part of the escarpment near the railroad is House Mountain, which lies north of the tracks a few miles west of Tesnus. This broad cuesta (elevation 5,460 feet) has a steep face on the west and rises 1,500 feet above the plains at its base. ® deposited. These differences are due to differences in local conditions, and it is probable that the sediments in the Marathon region were deposited closer to an old shore line than those in the El Paso and Van Horn regions The Pennsylvanian rocks also give evidence of a shore line near the Mara- thon region in Paleozoic time. They thick and consist almost the highest formation, and the lower formations are characterized chiefly by the remains of land plants. It is probable that the sand and clay of the Pennsylvanian were washed down from high lands to the southeast and were deposited in a series of deltas along the shore line. e three older Pennsyl- vanian formations are regarded as of Pottsville age, and the fossil shells in the upper formation are like those of the well-known upper Pennsylvanian (post-Pottsville) strata of Kansas and central Texas. ® The upper part of House Mountain consists of Comanche limestone dipping gently to the east, and the lower slopes consist of russet-brown sandstone and shale of the Tesnus formation eee syivanien), which. h dips about ° SE a great angular unconformity, which is clearly revealed on the escarpment as shown in Plate 13, A. Some of the relations here and farther west are shown in Figure 10. The mass of older ~~ rocks is beveled to a nearly perfect plain on which the Comanche strata lie. The Paleozoic rocks in the vicinity of House Mountain acquired their steep inclination as a result of folding ~ during the later part of the Paleozoit era, which involved the entire area of Paleozoic rocks in the Marathon Basin and probably far beyond. The folds have a northeastward trend. At the time of the folding there was faulting Some of the faults dip at low angles to the southeast and are planes along which blocks of the Paleozoic these Paleozoic rocks are like those in the Ouachita and Appalachian Moun- tains and were formed at about the same time. After Paleozoic time the folded rocks of the Marathon Basin and in later Mesozoic time the Lower Cretaceous sediments were deposited on their upturned saaes. The tion of the us codtemutis and the development of the Marathon up- U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 13 ms sacra OF OVERLAP OF COMANCHE LIMESTONE ON TIL TED STRATA ' PENNSYLVANIAN AGE NORTHWEST OF TESNUS, TEX. (P. B. King.) B. SINUOUS RIDGES OF HARD BEDS IN MARATHON BASIN (P. B. King.) C. MITRE PEAK, 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF AL penis TEX. A mass of igneous rock, probably an outlet for lavas in th g U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 14 e a a pe ee 4. LAVA AND TUFF OF DAVIS MOUNTAINS, WEST OF ALPINE, TEX. Typical herd of Hereford cattle in foreground. B. APPROACHING PAISANO PASS THROUGH DAVIS MOUNTAINS, BETWEEN ALPINE AND MARFA, TEX, Looking east. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 89 Another outstanding promontory lies south of Tesnus and comes into view a short distance beyond Maxon. Merging into the plateau near Maxon at an elevation of 3,700 feet, in 6 miles it rises considerably higher to its western termination, where it breaks into three peaks known as Tres Hermanas, each capped by a small mass of Edwards limestone. The ridge stands 1,300 feet above the plains to the north, but its steep southern front rises 2,000 feet above the valley of San Francisco Creek. The sharp ridges of the basin, underlain by hard rocks, extend across it in a northeastward direction. Some of them run nearly straight for many miles; others have a winding course, as shown in Plate 13, B, expressing the complex deformation of the strata. On many of the ridges are ledges of white siliceous rock called novaculite. Between the ridges are wide valleys covered by soil and gravel, but along the larger drainage ways the land is cut by many arroyos into a maze of terraces and shallow, steep-walled valleys. Much of the Basal shale member of Tesnus ue Om SEnYs(ssr:7 Dp Devonian (?) nevaculite 4 Miles FIGURE 10.—Section through House Mountain, about 1 mile north of the railroad northwest of ‘Tesnus, Tex. terrace gravel consists of white novaculite and has the appearance of drifted snow. West of Tesnus Horse Mountain is prominently in view 10 miles to the southwest. This is the highest peak in the Marathon Basin (elevation 5,010 feet) and is a dome-shaped mass of novaculite of anticlinal structure. The railroad crosses a level plain for several miles west of Tesnus and then descends into a region of hills and valleys, drained by San Francisco Creek.* Within the Marathon Basi the| ‘A few miles beyond Tesnus the Paleozoic rocks constitute low, sharp | railroad crosses a fault, not visible from ridges far inferior in magnitude to the | the tracks but well exposed some miles mountains that must have existed when | to the north and south, which brings the folding of later Paleozoic time took | the Tesnus strata the place. The et low ridges were part of the Haymond formation occu- produced by beige n post-Cretaceous | pying a syncline. The highest exposed time, after o Mantle dome was | member of this Pink e. also con- uplifted and ae Cretaceous rocks wi cealed by gravel near the railroad but eroded from the area of the iMawicg well exposed in slopes not far away, is Basin. a remarkable conglomerate con ntaining 152109°—33——7 90 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Beyond the edge of the gravel plain 5 miles west of Tesnus thin- bedded sandstone and shale of the Haymond formation are exposed in some of the railroad cuts, and the massive arkose, which directly underlies the boulder bed, crops out in conspicuous ledges along the edge of the valley not far to the south. After crossing the Haymond beds the railroad follows the gap cut by San Francisco Creek across the sharp, narrow ridge of steeply tilted Dimple limestone, a ridge typical of the outcrops of this formation throughout the Marathon Basin, and continues down the valley past Haymond, which is on an anticlinal area of Tesnus sandstone, some ledges of which are well exposed along the railroad and creek. Haymond siding, which lies in the valley of San Francisco Creek, is now a very small place but was at one time a town of considerable size. It was the railroad station for Fort Stockton, epee rs: 60 miles to the north, when that was an important een oe oi: Sreuaer fort The rocky hills near Haymond are underlain by various formations of Pennsylvanian age. To the east and west of it are low ridges of the Dimple limestone, between which are lower lands underlain by sandstones and shales of the Tesnus and Haymond formations. These rocks are folded into several sharp anticlines and synclines. Northwest of the ridges of Dimple limestone the railroad again enters a much gullied plain of terrace gravel, underlain by sandstones and shales of the Tesnus formation. The Caballos novaculite (Devo- nian?), which lies beneath the Tesnus, crops out to the northwest, about 3 miles beyond Haymond, in low ledges and ridges. This novaculite is a white siliceous rock, probably a variety of chert, in more or less massive-bedded layers. The name was applied to closely similar “‘whetstone rock” in Arkansas by Schoolcraft in 1819. Novac- ulite is of rare occurrence in this count sedimentary rocks as sandstone, shale, and limestone. ,in comparison to such other The novacu- rounded and angular masses of rocks of many kinds, most of which do not crop out in the Marathon area. The- fragments are rather widely set in a a of arkosic mud and consist of Camhri , gran ite, schist, aplite, and pegmatite. , an ceous breccia, probably a fault breccia. Blocks 5 to 15 feet across are common, and one block of Dimple limestone south of the railroad is over 100 feet long. The large masses, however, are most abundant a mile or more north of the railroad. The various pre-Cambrian to Car- boniferous ingredients in this conglom- erate indicate that there was a near-by area of upturned older strata in upper Haymond time. Probably it was situ- ated south of the present uplift and is now deeply buried beneath younger strata. It is difficult to understand how the coarse materials were trans- ported to their present position, for the larger masses could not have been car- ried by streams; they may have been overthrust—a condition that might account for the presence of the blocks of fault breccia. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 9] lite that crops out in ridges northwest of Haymond, here about 300 feet thick, lies on the northeast end of a great anticlinorium (an anti- clinal arch with subordinate flexures) which brings pre-Pennsylvanian rocks to the surface over a wide area in the central part of the Mara- thon Basin. The strata of the anticlinorium are folded into several sharp anticlines and synclines and are broken by overthrust faults. Owing to its great hardness the novaculite is a ridge maker, and its white outcrops are very conspicuous. Between the north end of these novaculite hills and Marathon the ilroad crosses a flat gravel-covered plain. To the south are low hills of the novaculite, and to the north less conspicuous hills of Dimple limestone. Marathon is a village of considerable importance, named for a general of the United States Army who established a road from Fort Stockton to Presidio in 1854. It is a local center for Marathon, large cattle interests and is the shipping point for the eget feet. quicksilver produced at the mines of Terlingua, 70 New Orleans 9851miles. Miles to the southwest. These mines have been an important source of mercury since 1894 and produce 2,500 to 3,000 flasks (of 76 pounds) a year (Bureau of Mines). At one time a rubber factory was operated successfully at Marathon, making use of the guayule plant (Parthenium argentatum) as long as the local supply was available. Resin from the candillia plant has also been shipped from Marathon for use in making phonograph disks. The village of Marathon is built on ledges of flaggy limestone and massive conglomerate of the Marathon limestone (Ordovician). This is the.only pre-Devonian formation well exposed near the rail- road, but in low hills not far south of Marathon there are extensive outcrops of strata from Cambrian to Devonian in age. West of Marathon low rugged ridges of Caballos novaculite may be seen to the south and behind them a high conical mountain of intrusive syenite, Santiago Peak, 25 miles distant (elevation 6,521 feet). To the west are the eastward-facing escarpments of the Del Norte Mountains, made up of limestones of the Comanche series, which form the western rim of the Marathon Basin. Near Marathon and to the west the Glass Mountains are conspic- uous to the north. The name is a translation of the Spanish Sierra del Vidrio, said to have been given because of the glassy appearance of the limestone cliffs when seen from a distance. According to Hill,” however, the name Glass Mountains was first used for the novaculite ridges of the Marathon Basin and was later transferred ® R. T. Hill, a pioneer in the geologic | ography of Texas gave the first clear exploration of Texas, established the conception of the relations of the classification of the Cretaceous rocks | Edwards Plateau and of many other in that State and mapped them over a | important topographic features of the wide area. His work on the physi- | State. 92 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES through error to the mountains to the north, which had before been known as the Sierra Comanche. The Glass Mountains form the northern and northwestern rim of the Marathon Basin and have the form of a cuesta or sloping mesa which trends northeast. The southward-facing escarpments of these mountains rise 1,000 to 2,500 feet above the general level of the Marathon Basin and in the western part present a high broken crest of bold cliffs of dolomite, which attain an elevation of 6,500 feet. The Glass Mountains are carved from Permian dolomites, lime- stones, and shales, tilted northwest. These beds are overlain uncon- formably by the Lower Cretaneous strata and lie unconformably on the Pennsylvanian strata. Six miles southwest of Marathon is old Fort Pefia Colorada, which was located near a gap in a novaculite ridge, where there is a spring and one of the few streams of running water in the region. This was a station on both the military road east and west and the Comanche trail that led southward from Fort Stockton to the Rio Grande. At one time it was garrisoned with soldiers to protect travelers from Indians and outlaws. 8 The ect table, by P. B. King, shows the Permian formations of the Glass Mountain Thick- Formation ness Character (feet) B praca bh. 700 fos momen of limestone fragments, with some red beds and lime- és >. . Rave Sa Ze eh ry =. 8 ~ weaSnen sear < a = bomaf 4 Teg Qbd eo Xe, a ¥a%, Ma; rary “ © Fe REA aHocttowte! scale : 2 Miles 4 | ‘Ve ti 7 | alee en aaa Feet ROLE FIGURE 33.—Sections across Cooks Range, N. Mex. Upper section, through Cooks Peak; lower, about 3 miles south of Cooks Peak. Base of sections, yry; Tag, agglomerate; Qbd, valley Gym limestone and Magdalena formation; Clv, Lake Valley limestone; Dp, Fusselman and El Paso limestone Valley limestone and adjoining strata. Several other large porphyry intrusions occur southwest and south of the high central area. On the west slope of the range northwest of Cooks Peak and in the slopes south of that peak the Sarten sandstone is exposed, overlain by shale of Colorado age (Upper Cretaceous). It contains fossils of Comanche age (Lower Cretaceous). This sandstone constitutes the prominent dip slope 2 miles south of Cooks Peak, which becomes Sarten Ridge to the south, where the Sarten sendaenad is underlain by the Lobo formation, the Gym and Lake Valley limestones,’ and a small amount of Perchs shale. * The Lake Valley limestone (e: early | formation of New Mexico. In this sedaseeaee which crops out in | region it is overlain by the Lobo forma- ces in t i isti = formation, and this in turn by also exposed on Goat Ridge and in the ym only 20 to 30/ deep hollow near the th end of feot thick, which is believed to be a Sarten Ridge, Rae SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 143 From Deming the railroad line goes slightly south of west on a tangent 37 miles long over a great desert plain, with a rise of only 250 feet in 33 miles to the Continental Divide. At Tunis siding Black Mountain seems near on the north, showing in cross section its eastward-dipping cap of black basalt about 250 feet thick, lying on volcanic ash and sand of which 500 feet is exposed, cut by rhyolite. Still nearer, to the south, is the craggy butte known as Red Mountain, so named from the pinkish tint which it shows in some lights. It consists of nearly white felsitic rhyolite, apparently lying on agglomerate. Probably this igneous mass was extruded in a highly viscous condition, so that it piled up thickly without extend- ing far beyond its present area. It is regarded as of Tertiary age. The Snake Hills, a group of low mounds in the plain 3 miles south of Red Mountain, consist of the upper member of the El Paso lime- stone and the lower member of the Montoya limestone. North of Gage are some conspicuous rounded and pointed buttes known as the Grandmother Mountains, composed of felsitic rhyolite similar to the rock of Red Mountain and doubtless G ‘ j oe extruded at the same time. Other buttes farther Elevation 4,590 feet. 3 . ‘< Population 20.* north include Cow Cone, which also is part of a large pipe Be coreg 129% mass of felsitic rhyolite. In the distance to the north ! are the mountains in which lies Silver City. South of Gage are the Victorio Mountains, which present many features of geologic interest. The main ridge consists of a sheet of hornblende andesite about 200 feet thick underlain in part by a thin sheet of rhyolite. It dips 20°-25° NNE. In the hills just south of this ridge there are, in succession, the El Paso, Montoya, Fusselman, and Gym limestones. Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian time apparently is not represented. Figure 34 shows the principal features in both parts of the uplift. ®° The Gym limestone, about 300 feet stone. There are various unconformi- a crops out in a zone about 2,000 ide marked by knobs on the pe side of the range. It appears to The Gym is overlain unconformably by 700 feet of shale and sandstone, mostly dish, which resembles the Lobo for- mation (Triassic?) but may be much conglomerate are included which con- tain boulders of seremee and near the top some greenish quartzite carrying pebbles of fossiliferous Paleozoic lime- ties in the succession, but all the strata have practically the same attitude. are several faults and some obvious overlaps. The F estone carries an interesting fauna of Niagaran corals and lies on cherty beds of Montoya limestone with Rich- mond fossils. The Montoya includes a prominent eae member. There several intruded dikes, mostly of es v.08 alt amount of mineral- ization has occurred along the fault in the west side of Mine Hill, but the mining operations on this zone ap- parently did not yield a return suffi- ciently satisfactory to warrant ex- tensive development, 144 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES About halfway between Wilna and Ladim sidings the railroad crosses the Continental Divide at an elevation of 4,587 feet. ” os cs see esa weesoon® ) “8 sone map of that on Ss 0 ee fum mings/ \ } Florida A FL F337 _ Topography: U. S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps WILLIAMS @ HEINTZ CO. WASH.._D.C SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 145 which has been abundant for many miles along the tracks, continues to be the most noticeable element in the sparse vegetation. It blooms in June and early July. Lordsburg is a busy town with local stock and mining interests, and a Government airport, which is extensively utilized throughout _ the year. A branch line leads to the mining com- ae munity of Clifton, Ariz., and another branch goes Population 2,069. southeast to Hachita, on the south line of the railroad. New Orleans 1,336 Lordsburg lies just north of the north end of the miles. . irregular group of ridges, buttes, and peaks of the Pyramid Mountains, in which there are several active mines. One of these, known as ‘‘the 85,” is in sight as the train approaches Lords- burg. It lies in a cove at the foot of the mountains and ever since its start, in 1885, has been productive of gold, silver, and copper. The mineral veins cut volcanic rocks, and some of them crop out as dark “reefs,’’ which are conspicuous in the hill slopes. There are other mines farther south, and Gold Hill, 14 miles northeast of Lordsburg, has long been a producer of gold from quartz veins in the old crys- talline rocks. The Pyramid Mountains consist of an extensive suc- cession of igneous flows and intrusions, apparently of Tertiary age. The greater part of the range is andesite of porphyritic texture, but there are masses of diorite porphyry in the western part of the mining district, near Lordsburg. Considerable brecciation has occurred in parts of the area, and there are many mineralized veins, some of which have yielded a large amount of ore containing silver, lead, copper, and gold. The Lordsburg district furnishes 60 per cent of the New Mexico production of gold, also considerable copper, mostly from the deeper workings. The total metal production from the district is estimated at $18,000,000. All the ore is shipped to smelters at El Paso, Tex., and Douglas, Ariz. The deepest shaft is 1,700 feet deep. Passing around the end of the foothills of the Pyramid Mountains west of Lordsburg and between a group of outlying hills of lava, the railroad deflects southwestward to reach Steins Pass. It crosses the bare wide level-floored basin of the Playa de los Pinos, which contains two large ‘‘alkali’’ flats north of the railroad. Sometimes these flats are covered by water, but usually they present a glistening sur- face of crystalline salts, often giving rise to striking mirages. This basin is a northern extension of the Animas Valley (see p. 168), so deeply filled with detritus that the rise to the divide at Steins is only about 200 feet. Lordsburg. + 10 One of these hills a mile west of | Pyra siding are due to a sheet of lava Lordsburg, south of the railroad, con- | capping volcanic tuff (Tertiary). This ists of quartzite faulted against igneous | rock is a latite carrying phenocrysts of rocks and probably of Lower Creta- | plagioclase and hornblende in a fine- ceous age. The hills just northwest of | grained groundmass rich in orthoclase. 146 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The highway to Douglas and the Southwest leaves the railroad a short distance east of Steins (locally pronounced steens) and reaches the south line of the railroad at Rodeo. There has poles oe been considerable mining at several places north and Population 40.* south of Steins. The Carbonate mine, about 3 miles saa! oormen 1355 south, is on the eastern slope of the Peloncillo Moun- tains. These mountains, made up of lavas, form a long, narrow ridge which extends far to the north and south along the western margin of New Mexico. The jagged crest line presents many conical peaks, each resembling a pel6n (Spanish for a cone of raw sugar). Peloncillo (pay-lone-see’yo) is the diminutive form of pelén. The gap through which the railroad crosses this range is known as Steins Pass, but the divide is at Steins station, a short distance east of the rocky gateway. The pass has high walls on the north side and rocky slopes to the south, all consisting of lavas that were erupted in early Tertiary time, part of a succession of flows 1,200 feet or more in thickness which have been tilted gently to the north and northeast; on the east are two old volcanic cones from which doubtless some of the lava flows originated. In the large stone quarry in the north wall of the pass a contact of two flows of the lava (andesite on rhyolite tuff) is strongly marked by difference in color. Here both rocks have been quarried for ballast for the railroad and for other uses. In the quarry a dike cutting the lava is well exposed. Vertical jointing is a very conspicuous feature, especially on the west slope of the mountain. From Steins Pass there is a magnificent view to the west across the wide San Simon Valley (see-moan’ ) to the Chiricahua (an Indian name pronounced nearly like cheery cow) and Dos Cabezas Mountains, which are separated from each other by Apache Pass. In the high crest of the Chiricahua Mountains is a profile of a huge face directed skyward, known as Cochise Head, from the famous Apache chief Cochise (co-chee’say). The prominent straight nose is easily recog- nized; the chin is to the north. Steins Pass has long been an avenue of access into eastern Arizona by way of the San Simon Valley and thence west by Apache Pass or by Railroad Pass at the north end of the Dos Cabezas Mountains. This region with its wide adjacent valleys was the scene of many Apache depredations in the early days of travel and settlement. Much blood was shed during Cochise’s outbreak, especially when the frontier troops were called east for the Civil War. The stages then ceased to run, and a large proportion of the white settlers left the country. Many ant vee killed. The Apache Indians raided ranches, mines, travelers, sallying forth from hiding places inac- cessible to riders less skilled than themselves, where a oe di could resist many times their number. They were difficult to fight, Steins. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 147 for they avoided open engagements and could travel fast and far on their ponies. It is stated that Cochise’s enmity was aroused by an act of treachery of an inexperienced young Army officer who, when Cochise, under a flag of truce, came to deny that his tribe had ab- ducted a white child, seized him and a group of his chiefs. Cochise escaped, but his chiefs were hanged. This was in 1860. It was Gen. O. O. Howard who 12 years later finally arranged a peace pact with Cochise, a treaty which the chief required his band to observe until his death in 1874. In the Chiricahua Mountains is a great cavern where the remnants of Cochise’s band had the custom of gathering after his death to honor him with weird ceremonies. These mountains were also the headquarters of Arizona Kid, one of the last of the bad Apaches. The Chiricahua Apaches were repeatedly placed on reservations, but they were subject to a vacillating Federal policy, with the result that they went on the warpath at frequent intervals. Chato, Ge- rénimo, Nachi, Loco, and Victorio were notorious chiefs. On his last escape Fnsite the reservation in the White Mountains, Gerénimo and his band, slaughtering people as he went, traveled south along the New Mexico-Arizona line as far as Scie Pass. Here he turned west to a hiding place in the Chiricahua Mountains. After 10 years of this warfare the Apaches were subjugated in 1886 by Gen. Nelson A. Miles, and their leaders removed from the territory.!! At Cavot siding, 4 miles west of Steins station, the State of Arizona is entered. The State line is on the thirty-second meridian west of Washington (very nearly 3 miles west of longitude Arizona. 109° west of Greenwich) and was so defined ~ ws when the Federal Government was attempt establish an initial meridian passing through the National Pe Most of its western boundary is formed by the Colorado River, and its average width isabout315 miles. With an area of 113,956 square miles, it is the fifth State in size in the Union, being nearly as large as 4 Victorio, after various raids and | Carlos, Ariz., but he was recaptured. atrocities in Mexico, Texas, and Ari- | In 1882 he left San Carlos on a raid into of his band he was attacked by Mexican | Crook in the Sierra Madre and settled is said that his scalp was exhibited in | 1884-85 he made a bloody raid through Mexico City. Nachi was Cochise’sson. | southern Arizona and New Mexico into Gerénimo (Spanish for Jerome), who | Mexico, where in August, 1886, he and was particularly notorious, was born | Nachi (his chief, son of Cochise) and New Mexico, and died in captivity | finally to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. He February 17, 1909. His real name was | died there Feb. 17, 1909 (Hodge, Goyathlay (‘‘one who yawns”). In| F. W., Handbook of American Indians: 1876 he and other Apaches fied to | Bur. 5 ean Ethnology Bull. 30, p. 491, Mexico to avoid being moved to San | 1912), 148 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES New York and New England combined. Arizona is a region of vast plateaus, in larger part from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, numer- ous ridges and mountains, some of them reaching more than 12,000 feet, and many wide desert valleys. The highest point is San Francisco Peak, north of Flagstaff, elevation 12,611 feet; the lowest point is on the Colorado River below Yuma, about 70 feet. On account of its great width from north to south and its range in elevation the State presents wide diversity of climate, with extremes in the low hot regions near Yuma and the cold forested mountains in the north. Although the agricultural resources of Arizona are not developed to their full possibility, even where water is available for irrigation, the farm products for 1929 were valued at $50,544,000 and for 1930 at $37,000,000. The area cultivated, most of it irrigated, was about 650,000 acres,” or less than 1 per cent of the area of the State. The number of farms in 1929 was 8,523. Of the total area, 10,526,627 acres, or 14% per cent, is in farms or ranches, and their value in 1930, including buildings and machinery, was $194,644,470. Nearly 22,000 acres is in fruit trees. In 1929 the cultivated hay crop had a value of $5,745,444, and wheat and other grains $2,061,808. In 1930 cattle numbered 695,118, with large yield of dairy products, and sheep and goats numbered 1,630,853 and yielded nearly 6,200,000 pounds of wool and mohair, ‘ecbiels sold for more than $1,600,000. Fruits of citrus and deciduous trees, a comparatively new source of income in Arizona, reached a value of nearly $2,000,000 in 1928. Cotton and corn are being more and more cultivated as new lands are brought under irrigation. In 1929 211,178 acres was in cotton, yielding 149,488 bales, valued at about $15,000,000. Some of the cotton is of the long-staple variety, averaging 1% inches long, which is in great demand for automobile tires. This variety was developed from the Mitafifi stock brought from Egypt by the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture about 1900. Arizona is second to California in the production of lettuce, es- pecially the “‘Iceberg”’ variety, which yields two crops a year. Tim- ber has been an important industry for 40 years, with a cut of 160,000,000 board feet in 1929, valued at nearly $5,000,000. The remaining timber, of which there is a vast area with a growthi esti- mated by the United States Forest Service at over 14,000,000,000 board feet, is mostly in national forests, where it is cut under super- apg and brings a good revenue to the United States. _ Mining has always been the chief industry of the State, and it is estimated that 25 per cent of the adult population is connected with thisindustry. The total output up to 1929 had a value of about ‘= These figures and the following | the imueres: Census of the United statistics as to farming, livestock, and | Sta aes are taken from the reports of | SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 149 $2,500,000,000, and $37,000,000 has been paid in dividends by cer- tain large mines (Yearbook of Arizona, 1930). Copper is the chief product, coming mostly from mines at Bisbee, Jerome, Globe, Miami, and Ray. According to the United States Bureau of Mines, the total output of the State to the end of 1929 was 13,914,970,235 pounds, making it the largest copper-producing region of the world. Arizona now supplies 46 per cent of the United States output of copper and 22 per cent of the world’s product, or slightly less than South America. Most other common metals are also produced. Many old mines have been abandoned, but new developments are constantly in progress. The Bureau of Mines states that the value of the principal metals produced by mines in Arizona in 1929 was about $158,433,300. Owing mainly to greatly reduced production, but partly to the lower price of most of the products, the value dropped to half of this amount in 1930 and to less than a quarter in 1931. In 1929 gold was mined to a value of about $4,217,000,” silver $3,875,000, copper (833,525,000 pounds) $149,200,000, lead $984,250, and zine $156,800. The year 1929 was the most prosperous since 1918, and the sum paid in divi- dends that year was the largest on record, but in 1931 the gold output decreased to about $2,554,000, silver to about $915,500, and copper to about $33,000,000 (Bureau of Mines). Altogether the mines of Arizona have yielded profits in excess of $500,000,000 (Yearbook of Arizona, 1930). A large amount has been spent in prospecting and unprofitable mining. According to the Yearbook of Arizona for 1930, the assessed valua- tion of property in Arizona in that year was $714,945,809. There are more than 2,500 miles of railroad lines in the State. With a population of 435,573, according to the census of 1930, or 3.8 persons to the square mile, Arizona is one of the most thinly populated of our Western States. The increase in population from 1920 to 1930 was 30.3 per cent, or much greater than in most other States. According to the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for 1930-31, of its 72,838,400 acres there remains 14,366,400 acres of public land, but a very large part of this area is not suitable for agriculture. About half of this public land is not yet surveyed. Nearly 2,000 square miles is included in Indian reser- vations and national forests. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in his report for 1932, gives the Indian population as 48,162, or about 14 per cent of the total number of Indians in the United States. Of these nearly 25,000 are Navajos, nearly 6,000 Apaches, about 5,000 Pimas, and about 5,000 Papagos. There are many indications of the presence of prehistoric skeridiies in Arizona, for on plains, on mesas, and in the cliffs there are ruins of 13 Gold has a fixed value of $20,671835 an ounce for “‘fine” or pure gold. ] 150 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES their habitations, some of them very old. However, it is believed that the number of people living in the region at any time may never have been great, for they moved from place to place, abandoning their communal or village dwellings. The early expeditions of the Spanish explorers found many pueblos, but they were widely scattered. It is probable that the first Spaniards to enter Arizona were the Fran- ciscan friars, Juan de la Asuncién, Juan de Olmeda, and Pedro Nadal, who made an exploration in 1538 from Mexico City ‘1,700 miles northwest to a broad, deep river’? which they could not cross— perhaps the Colorado. In 1539 Marcos de Niza, another Franciscan friar, crossed southeastern Arizona from Sonora on the way to Zuii. A year later De Niza led Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to Zuiil. Coronado had an advance escort of 50 horsemen, some natives and a group of friars, followed by his main army of 250 adventurers, includ- ing many Spaniards of high rank, and some 800 Indian allies. Two small parties from Coronado’s expedition visited the Hopi pueblos, and they were also reached by Antonio de Espejo in 1583. Hernando de Alarcén explored the Gulf of California and lower Colorado River in 1540, and Juan de Ofate visited part of the same region in 1604-5. It was Ofiate who in 1598 took possession of ‘‘all of the country north of New Spain” and called it Nuevo Méjico. In 1691 Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit priest, began his missionary work in Arizona, visiting settle- ments in the Santa Cruz, San Pedro, and Gila Valleys and supplying the Indians with livestock. He laid the foundation of the mission church of San Xavier at Bac, 9 miles south of Tucson (too-sown’), in 1700 and of San Gabriel at Guevavi, near Nogales, in 1701. He made numerous expeditions, reaching the Colorado River near Yuma in 1699 and again in 1700. He crossed the river below that place in November, 1701, and reached its mouth in March, 1702. The expe- dition of Father Jacobo Sedelmair in 1744 followed the Gila River (he’la) below Casa Grande and traversed the region west and south to Yuma, discovering the warm springs at Agua Caliente. Father Francisco Garcés, a Franciscan who labored for 12 years as a mis- sionary to the Indians, made notable expeditions from San Xavier in 1768 to 1775 into southwestern Arizona and southern California. | He was killed at Yuma in the Indian revolt of 1781. (See p. 237.) After Mexico won her independence from Spain in 1822 the region made but little progress, and when in 1827 the order of expulsion against the Spanish caused most of the friars to leave, many of the little settlements were abandoned. The country north of the Gila River was ceded to the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Prior to that there were no American inhabitants _ the territory. Most of the early visitors were prospectors, thou- Sands crossing during the gold rush to California in 1849. After the Gadsden Purchase (see fig. 35), by which over 45,000 square miles SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 151 south of the Gila River was acquired through an expenditure of $10,000,000 in 1854, several Governmental surveys were made across the region, mainly to find routes for railways. For a long time the principal access to Arizona was by water, ships from many ports coming into the Colorado River. Mail and passenger stages from the East (see pp. 97, 125) ran from 1857 to 1861 and again from 1867 till superseded by the railroads. The Southern Pacific line was constructed in 1879-80 from Yuma eastward to the Arizona State line, whence it was completed eastward to El Paso by the following year. (See p. 293.) From 1847 to 1860 many mines were opened and placers operated, more or less under protection of the Government. In 1860 the white population was less than 5,000. The outbreak of the Civil War and the withdrawal of troops gave the Apaches and white outlaws increased opportunity for depredations. Many settlers 17° 5° 13° me 109° 107° 105° e i a SF, COTE = \ ae] NEVADA /; x Ss a r= x Grande? “& ANTALFE | 55 S : —— UR. ES Gallup fy ~ \ Cas vee 35 x sua Albuquer@ue. 3 \ = rs = 35 A | t x I O z 3 | orro Ta NSA EW MEX*!1C PHOENIX galt ata y = — hp 2 'S 0 Cc . OMT > 3 ed ty Silver! . ‘Lordsbury 4 == LED Y ~ 4 “, Gy, 4 “LU YY essen p ¥ serine~|\___| e WA MIN ML | MyM i EL, YY + Eo AS ye Meet EA \ < ‘Le c ay i be og EERE 107° 1065" LL n FiGURE 35.—Map showing the Gadsden Purchase (shaded area) acquired from Mexico in 1854 for $10,000,000 were killed at this time, most of the mining was discontinued, and nearly all who could do so left the country. A small band of people fortified themselves in Tucson, which was taken by the Confederates in 1862 and held until Union troops, known as the California Column, came from California. After the war also there was much bloodshed by Indians, who killed about 400 settlers and 150 soldiers in the interval from 1866 to 1886, when the Apaches were finally subjugated. The difficulties with these Indians greatly retarded the development of Arizona, for they kept out prospectors and settlers, interrupted travel, and frightened investors. | 3 H_ Porphyry, ete. (intrusive) 5X2: i Scale 500,000 | inch=8 miles (approximately) 5 10 15 A Sand and gravel re Quaternary B Lava (basalt) 30’ c_ Lavas and other rocks 800’ Tertiary of voleanie origin 3,000’ Lower C —- es Sheet 19 series) (Comane 600’ Cambrian Pre-Cambrian Post-Cretaceous Geology by N. H. Darton and C. J. Sarie A 20 MILES 10) ° 5 10 15 20 KILOMETERS Contour interval 200 feet The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 10 miles, and the crossti d. T mile a, Fach auad L topographic map of that name = owe in the lower left corner is mapped in detail on the HB. C8. 108 30 Topography: U. S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps WILLIAMS @ HEINTZ CO. WASH. D C. oI EE iA TOE OO 400’ = Devonian SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 155 Bowie, a village in the San Simon Valley, is the junction point of the branch railroad that goes north down the valley to its mouth and Bowie: thence down the valley of the Gila River, past the Flevation 3,762 feet, COOlidge Reservoir, and over a low divide to Globe Population 400.* (124 miles). This is the route of the Apache Trail Ne 1° trip to Phoenix described on page 207. The latest historical authorities appear satisfied that it was down this valley, as far as Solomonsville, that Fray Marcos de Niza and Coronado made their spectacular trips to Zufi in 1539 and 1540. Bowie was named after Col. George W. Bowie, of the ‘California Column,” who established Fort Bowie in Apache Pass. High on the south side of the Dos Cabezas Mountains is the mining settlement of Mascot (formerly reached by a branch railroad from Willcox), where considerable ore was mined some years ago. On the north slope of the range, southwest of Luzena siding (lu-say’na), there are many small placer workings from which for many years gold has been obtained, but the deposits are so irregular in location and variable in value that no attempt has been made to work them =) 3 S oe a oretecee €a eb peipoue Spr. me aS Le Ae = ee tO ee OID RAISH WIEN AS y ° 1 2 Miles j FIGURE 36.—Section of Dos Cabezas Mountains, Ariz. Ce, Escabrosa limestone; Dm, Martin lime- stone; €a, Abrigo limestone; €b, Bolsa sandstone; Gr, Granite on a large scale. The gold is probably derived from quartz veins in the schist and has been set free by disintegration and washing on the mountain slopes. Northwest of Bowie and north of Luzena are the high Pinalefio Mountains, of which the culminating summit is Mount Graham, 10,720 feet above sea level (U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey), about 30 miles distant. Mount Graham was named either for Maj. L. P. Graham, who led an expedition from Chihuahua to California in 1848, or for Lieut. Col. J. D. Graham, who acted on the United States and Mexico Boundary Survey Commission. The Pinalefio Mountains consist mainly of massive gray granite, but in their south end is a flanking mass of volcanic rocks similar to those in the Peloncillo and Chiricahua Mountains and in many other ridges in New Mexico and Arizona. Outlying exposures of these rocks also appear not far north of the railroad near Luzena siding and at intervals west. As there is considerable pine timber in the Pinaleio Mountains, they are included in the Coronado National Forest West from Luzena siding the railroad continues upgrade on the valley-fill deposits, which extend to and through a low, wide divide at the north end of the Dos Cabezas Mountains. This divide, known as 156 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Railroad Pass, is at Raso siding, where an elevation of 4,376 feet is attamed. A short distance south of this siding are mountain slopes of schist and granite, and at the divide there is a cut in gravel. The foot of the Pinalefio Mountains lies a few miles north, and Mount Graham is discernible in the distance. To the west is a short descent to Willcox, in Sulphur Spring Valley, across which the Winchester Willcox ountains are visible. Sulphur Spring Valley was : named from a sulphur spring at the foot of a small Pavan butte 20 miles south of Willcox. Established in New Orleans 1,410 1880, Willcox was named for Gen. O. B. Willcox, at ae that time commander of the military department of Arizona and southern California (1878-82). : Sulphur Spring Valley is a wide, nearly level-floored basin 130 miles long, with no outlet stream, which receives the drainage of a large area of surrounding slopes and mountains. In it there has been deposited a thick accumulation of sand, gravel, and loam. Much water passes underground in this material, and about Willcox and for some distance north there are scores of wells which obtain from this source an abundance of pure, soft water for irrigation and domestic use. The land is fertile and the irrigated areas yield various farm products, notably pink beans, and fruits. Willcox is one of the largest cattle-shipping points in Arizona and the outlet for many sheep and much wool and mohair. In the center of the basin is a large, shallow flat of about 40 square miles, of irregular shape, known as Willcox _ Playa. In times of rainfall this playa becomes a shallow lake, but _ in dry weather, which usually prevails, it presents a wide expanse of glistening salt, covered in places by ponds of saline water. Although there is little mineral matter in the run-off water from the mountains, it is all concentrated by evaporation in the central basin, of which the playa occupies the lowest part, and as this process has eon Biied for many centuries considerable saline matter has accumulated. Sedi- ments have been deposited at the same time, so that the basin now contains a thick succession of clay and silt and saline admixture. For a time this basin was occupied by a lake, which has been called Lake Cochise. It varied considerably in depth, but a zone of beach sands and sand dunes marks a shore line that persisted for a long period of inundation. Sand dunes of this old beach are conspicuous near Hado siding (ah’doe). Beyond this place is a broad flat of saline = deposits on which, at times, considerable water is visible on each side of the embankment on which the railroad passes. The playa is only __ about 3 miles wide near the railroad but widens greatly to the east and _ south. Frequently there are striking mirages on this playa in which _the great flat in the distance appears to be a huge lake with the buttes a the south rising as islands. dug in the So floor near Willcox and Cochise have revealed ts, camels, and bisons of oy Pleistocene = e SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 157 These animals were probably mired in the soft mud at the edge of the prehistoric lake. The desert valleys of San Simon and Sulphur Spring were inhabited by Indians of the agricultural class long before the advent of the Apaches. They had small settlements on the slopes near the foot of the mountains, mostly at places where the ground was occasionally flooded by summer downpours. Most homesteaders who have tried to live in such places have failed, but the Indians had the advantage of special drought-resisting varieties of corn, beans, and squash, which matured quickly when they had a little water, and their ability to piece out the ration with mesquite beans, sacaton seed, and animal food. Possibly there were many other plants that yielded food for them. Water supply was a serious problem, for in many places the water had to be brought from a great distance. Many potsherds indi- cate that they had plenty of vessels for the storage of food and water. Cochise is a small village sustained mainly by ranches in the adjoin- ing valley, and it is the junction point of the Arizona Eastern Railroad, : which goes south through Sulphur Spring Valley to Coctier. the mining settlements of Pearce (15 miles), Court- Populations land, and Gleeson and the city of Douglas. (See New Orleans1,420 p, 173.) At Pearceis the Commonwealth mine, which —— has been producing gold and other ore for the last 35 years. The production to 1922 is stated by the present owners to have been $20,000,000. Northwest of Cochise is a prominent butte consisting mainly of limestone of Carboniferous age, on the southern extension of the axis of the Winchester Mountains. The old Butterfield Overland Mail, having come through Apache Pass and crossed Sulphur Spring Valley some distance south of Will- cox, passed near Cochise and through Dragoon Pass to the old stage station at Croton Spring, in the San Pedro Valley. Near Cochise the railroad has a moderate upgrade to reach Dragoon Pass, the gap between the Dragoon and Little Dragoon Mountains. In the Dra- goon Mountains, which lie south of the railroad, is the celebrated can- yon known as Cochise’s Stronghold, where the wily Apache band under the leadership of Cochise took refuge when pursued. handsome canyon, eroded out of red granite, has so narrow a mouth that it was easily defended and never taken. Gen. O. O. Howard was secretly conducted here by agents of Cochise for the conference which led to a treaty in 1872. (See p. 147.) The remains of Cochise are buried near the mouth of the canyon, but no white man has ever known the precise location. The stronghold, now often used as a picnic ground, can be easily reached by road from Cochise. A short distance south of Manzoro siding i is the old Golden Rule mine, formerly a producer of silver ore in moderate amount, from 158 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES veins at or near the contact of an igneous intrusive mass (monzonite) with limestone of Abrigo to Martin age at the north end of the Dragoon Mountains. These mountains extend south from Dragoon Pass to and beyond the mining settlements of Courtland and Glee- son and contain many small mines and prospects. Thegeneral struc- ae PB Vi alscl bh Horrzentet scale ; ° 2 Miles j Vertical scale 4000 Feet ORE he Figure 37.—Sections across the Dragoon Mountains, Ariz. Upper section, 3 to 6 miles southwest of the railroad; lower, 12 miles southwest of the railroad ture of the northern and medial portions of this range is shown in Figure 37. Some of the limestone on the west slope of the central ridge has been altered to marble by igneous intrusions, and this rock has been quar- ried in small amount in the slopes 3 miles southeast of Siewons Dragoon. In the higher part of the limestone suc- Panda: cession in the north end of the Dragoon Mountains bests ay 1,430 is a member of red sandstone and much coarse lime- stone conglomerate containing boulders of limestone and sandstone. _ North of Dragoon are the high hills and ridges of the Little Dragoon Mountains, in which is situated the small mining settlement of Johnson, a copper producer for 45 years. The southern part of this range has a rough surface of knobs of granite, mostly of very coarse 16 The Dragoon Mountains consist | many large detached —— of — largely of granite, | limestone are included in which euts across the Pinal schist (Archean), Bolsa quartzite (Cambrian), Abrigo limestone (Cambrian), Martin Tmestone step limestone of sandstone and shale of eum eee i age. Small The eastward-dipping thst suc- cession in the north end of the range, with a thickness in excess of 2,000 feet, is mainly Naco limestone (Permian and Pennsylvanian). Abrigo limestone and the underlying Bolsa quartzite on Pinal schist are in sl mil southeast of Dragoon station, with the relations shown in the upper section in Figure 37. and SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 159 grain, possibly of pre-Cambrian age, although it resembles the younger intrusive granite of the Dragoon Mountains. This pictur- esque granite area is traversed by the highway northwest of Dragoon, where it presents an extraordinary variety of remarkable erosion forms, notably rounded masses. The rock contains large crystals of feldspar, which weather out conspicuously, and also veins of tungsten ore (wolframite and scheelite), which were mined during the World War.” Pre-Cambrian schist is also exposed, in places overlain by Bolsa quartzite, Abrigo and Martin formations, and limestones of Carboniferous age that constitute the crest of the high ridge just west of the mining camp and also a ridge on the east side of the valley, east of Johnson. The general features in this vicinity are shown in Figure 38. The Abrigo limestone consists mostly of slabby beds and includes considerable sandy shale. At the top is a sandy member, as t 1 1 J a eee 3 J rs Qkatah As h Te 1, 1 oe 33. FIGURE 38. through t in the Bisbee region. An outlier of this formation alae rg ridge which is skirted by the railroad 4 miles southwest of Drag From Dragoon west there is a steep down grade into ns dies valley of the San Pedro River (pay’dro). This depression is very different in character from the broad, high basin of Sulphur Spring Valley—a difference due to the presence of a vigorous stream which has cut a deep, wide trench into the thick body of old stream deposits that originally occupied the valley. The San Pedro River rises in Mexico and has many affluents from the Mule, Huachuca (wa-choo’ ca), Whetstone, and other mountains. Ordinarily its flow is not large, but in times of heavy rainfall there are freshets which erode the soft valley deposits and carry a large volume of detritus to the Gila River. The railroad in its descent to Benson requires many long loops to diminish the grade, and there are numerous deep cuts through the materials of the valley fill. On this grade near and beyond Ochoa siding there are fine views of the Rincon Mountains (rin-cone’) to the northwest and the Whetstone Mountains to the west. The Huachuca Mountains lie far to the south; to the southeast, in the Dragoon Mountains, the impregnable western wall of Cochise’s Stronghold can 17 Tungsten is used mostly for the | one-seventh from the United States. filament in electric lights and for hard- | Tungsten ore also occurs in veins in ening steel, especially tool steel. A | granite on the east slope of the Whet- large proportion of the ore now used | stone Mountains southwest of Benson. comes from China and Burma and only pli 160 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES be seen. The granite cliffs of Cochise’s Stronghold border a deep valley extending far into the Dragoon Mountains. Here the Apache Indians had a most useful hiding place, easily defended against every approach. Gerénimo fled here after his depredations and murders in Sulphur Spring Valley. The valley-fill materials revealed in cuts, badlands, and deeply gullied slopes are mostly fine pale reddish-brown sand and loam with a few beds of coarser materials. The brownish loam predominates, with nodular layers and beds of harder sandstone projecting from it. The lower beds well exposed east of Benson are reddish clay. This succession is about 900 feet thick in the valley slopes, and several hundred feet additional is known to underlie the valley floor at Benson, although above and below that place some of the underlying granite and schist are bared near the river. The sands and clays are deposits of former streams and lakes, which occupied the valley for a long time. They lie nearly horizontal near the center of thevalley and grade laterally into coarse deposits (Gila conglomerate) consisting of detritus from the adjoining mountain slopes and for the most part considerably tilted. In the clays have been found numerous remains of animals such as horses, elephants, mastodons, camels, deer, llamas, carnivores, various rodents, several reptiles, the tortoise G/ etches um, and several species of birds which have been described by J W. Gidley. Many are new species, and some are South American types. They are regarded as of late Pliocene age and indicate a warm, moist climate, probably subtropical. This faunal assemblage is very different from the present one and has been extinct for many thousands of years. In the fine-grained deposits in the southern part of the valley are deposits of gypsum and thick bodies of diatomaceous earth consisting largely of diatoms, minute siliceous skeletons, mixed with volcanic ash. The San Pedro River, which is crossed a short distance east of Benson, flows into the Gila River near Winkleman, nearly 100 miles to the northwest. It is a small stream when not in freshet but furnishes water for irrigation at several places, notably the old Mor- mon settlement of St. David, a few miles above Benson, established in 1878. Here also was the first artesian district in Arizona; the water is obtained from wells of moderate depth in the valley fill. Benson is a small commercial center and junction point for a branch railroad up the valley to connect at Fairbank with branches to B Tombstone and Patagonia. The Southern Pacific doe ae. south line (by way of Douglas) is on the bench 3 Pern a miles west of Benson. In the San Pedro Valley are Ss mpd ruins of dwellings and pottery and implements ‘Spanish explorers from Mexico. According to Sauer and Brand ® rome of the settlements were of considerable extent. oo Sa Pubs. in Aoupohi' vol. 3, No. 7, 1980. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY °o BULLETIN 845 SHEET 21 ° I Scale 500,000 linch=8 miles (approximately) 5 10 iE} The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 10 miles, and the crossties are drawn 1 mile apart Each quadrangle shown on tne map with in the lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. 8. G. me 8. topographic map of that na Rincon Mts @ a name in parentheses 20 MILES 1@) 12} S 10 iss 20 KILOMETERS Contour interval 200 feet ¢s mean sea leve/ SISA Ni ee 4 ~~ s Nts 109 30 Arizona a2] C S > FS : } oe ERE RE Gircle Hills 45 4 Y iY 4 fj ‘Rasg Ws ; Hado EL B/S \Y wy ~ 2 142 &y EXPLANATION 0-600’ Quaternary 0-1,000’ Tertiary A’ Sand, loam and gravel We ie B Lavas and other voleanic rocks (@| C Sandstone, limestone, shale, 4,000’ Lower Cretaceo Cx and conglomerate Naco a4 ‘yD Limestones Escabrosa 700’ Lorheneanna ; Martin 3 Ee Limestone Abrigo 750’ Cambrian Sandstone Isa 450’ p> F Sehist Pre-Cambrian G Granite Pre-Cambrian in part H Porphyry and granite Post-Carboniferous and post-Cretaceous - Topography: U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WASH. 0. C. 161 The San Pedro River was the Rio Nexpa of the era when De Niza and Coronado made their expedition from Mexico to the Indian pueblo of Zufii in quest of the somewhat legendary ‘Seven Cities of Cibola.” It seems probable that their route led from Mexico down the San Pedro Valley as far as the site of Benson, thence eastward over Dragoon Pass and Railroad Pass to the San Simon Valley, which it followed northward to its junction with the Gila River. A hun dred and fifty years later Padre Kino made an exploration wih Lieutenant Mange and Captain Bernal along the San Pedro from Quibure northward along the base of the Rincon Mountains to its junction with the Gila and thence to Casa Grande and beyond. The valley was fertile and irrigated, and the Indians were industrious, raising maize, frijoles, calabashes, and cotton. There were 14 villages and 2,000 Indians, all very friendly to the friar. This line of travel from Benson north was followed by the road from El Paso to Yuma for which Congress appropriated $200,000 in 1857; Bancroft gives it as the route of the Butterfield stages, but Hafen includes Tucson in their itinerary. The road previously opened by Colonel Cooke and the Mormon Battalion left the San Pedro Valley at Benson, turning west to Tucson, the course now followed by the railroad. It leads through the broad divide between the Whetstone ® and Rincon Mountains at Mescal. On this rather steep climb there are many cuts through the valley fill and extensive badland slopes, and as the top of the grade is approached there are excellent views of the Rincon Mountains to the north and the Whetstone Mountains to the south- west. The Rincon Mountains consist of pre-Cambrian schist with SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 19 The Whetstone Mountains consist 3 wa cgansic block of pre-Cambrian y Paleozoic limestones ibid Cretaceous ee but as in most mountains of this character rising out of alluvial valleys, the structural rela- tions at the sides and ends are no et Granite constitutes the foot- hills and peaks on northeast end of the range except a irting ski ridge of Lower Cretaceous (Comanche) sandstone and shale lying about 5 miles south of the railroad. A small area of Pinal schist appears on the east slope, faulted against Carboniferous lime- stone, and a thick mass of Cretaceous strata constitutes the southern third of the range, sa is not visible from the railroad. e 39 shows the prin- cipal tana § in me northwestern part of the range. The succession, which is typical for southern Arizona, has basal quartzite (Bolsa) of Upper Cambrian age, overlain by Abrigo slabby lime- stone (Cambrian) which closely re- sembles the El Paso and Longfellow limestones. The Abrigo weathers to a light gray-blue color with brown retic- so layers of sandstone and sandy shale. The Martin limestone, next above, contains numerous fossils of Devonian age, some of them finely preserved, and the overlying limestones, which are 1,000 feet or more thick in the center of the mountain, include representa- tives of the E. The high southern summit, known as Granite Peak, appears to be a mass of | intrusive porphyry cutting Cretaceous strata. 162 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES massive platy structure that gives it the appearance of limestone in some lights. Rincon Peak, a high summit in the southern part of the range, is 8,465 feet above sea level. The Whetstone Mountains are in full view to the south from points near Mescal. The higher parts of the Rincon, Whetstone, and other mountains to the north and south are included in the Coronado National Forest so that their pine timber may be conserved. N. Carboniferous > Lower Se — La oa f =——r 7 CN “Geenite rent PEND A bal iad Horizontal, ou : 2 Miles ciitsnadbiiiabialnitiatn Vertical scale ‘1,000 Feet Figure 39.—Sketch secti th rth t end of the Whetstone Mountains, Ariz. SOUTH LINE FROM EL PASO, TEX., TO MESCAL, ARIZ. Several trains go to Tucson (see sheet 18, opposite p. 136) over the former El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, which has a more southerly route than the original Southern Pacific line by way of Deming and Lordsburg and joins the north line at Mescal, 40 miles east of Tucson. It parallels the north line for the first few miles out of El Paso, crossing the Rio Grande in the western part of the city, into the southern part of New Mexico, skirting the north side of the Cerro de Muleros (moo-lay’ros); it diverges from the north line beyond Anapra siding. (See p. 132.) Just west of the Rio Grande it passes through an area of Cretaceous strata adjoining the intrusive mass of the Cerro de Mule- ros, which makes the south or Mexican side of the ‘‘pass” from which El Paso isnamed. The strata exposed are mostly dark shale of upper Washita age in which there are long cuts, beginning a few rods beyond Praha the west end of the bridge and extending west to and Elevation 3.845 ft. beyond Bowen, a siding at the west end of a tunnel Population 20 through the shale. Below the shale are limestones of ~ New Orleans 1,193 miles. Washita and Fredericksburg age (Comanche series), the latter extensively exposed in the cement quarries @ short distance north of the river bridge. (See also p- 131.) (See fig. 40.) In the upper part of the dark shale are sandy beds containing ‘Nodosaria”’ and other forms indicating Del Rio age. Itisoverlain by _ ahard sandstone probably basal Upper Cretaceous (Eagle Ford), which is conspicuous on the ridge just west of the railroad near the tunnel __ and crosses the railroad half a mile beyond Bowen. This sandstone SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 163 is overlain by white massive limestone with many large Exogyras of Upper Cretaceous age. Not far beyond this place the tracks approach those of the north line, which they closely parallel to Anapra siding. Here begins the long climb to the top of the high terrace plain that borders the Rio Grande Valley and extends far westward across southwestern New Mexico. (See p. 133.) On the ascent there are fine views to the north up the Rio Grande Valley, to the east to the long west slope of the Franklin Mountains with its succession of westward-dipping strata, and to the south to high ridges in Mexico. On this upgrade there are many cuts which afford excellent exposures of the sand and gravel making up the desert plain, the top of which is reached near Mastodon siding, so named because the remains of a mastodon were excavated in the slope on the northeast. This great elephant was formerly abun- dant over a large part of the present United States, and his remains, NW. Cerro de Muleros % WSS PRESS aE so Da ,, Vertical scale ! Mile ° so0Feet i i i. FIGURE 40.—Section through Bowen siding, New Mexico sa as also those of the mammoth, a somewhat similar animal, are found at many places. From Mastodon west for 17 miles there is a tangent to the foot of the Potrillo (po-tree’yo) grade where there is a rise to a slightly higher bench on the general plateau. To the north are the steep-sided East Potrillo Mountains, which consist of limestone of Comanche (Lower Cretaceous) age.” From Potrillo siding west there is a down grade to Mount Riley siding, which lies south of Mount Riley. This very prominent vol- canic mass, just west of the north end of the East Potrillo Mountains, was apparently a vent from which 40." lavas were ejected in Tertiary time. To the west are New Orleans broad recent lava fields of the West Potrillo Moun- miles. ; : tains, with many craters and cinder cones, some of large size. Lava flows from these vents extend in various directions, some of them being traversed by the railroad from a point 2 miles west of Mount Riley siding to their western margin, about 15 miles 70 This limestone contains Caprina | nella dolium, a Fredericksburg fauna _ occidentalis, Trigonia sp., and Actaeo- | determined by T. W. Stanton. 164 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES west of that place. Several large fresh-looking cinder cones are plainly visible not far north of the railroad. West of the lava fields there are knobs of igneous rocks on both sides of the track, but they are mostly of the older period of eruption. At intervals during Tertiary and Quaternary time there was great volcanic activity in many parts of the West, and in southwestern New Mexico large areas were covered by lavasin both periods. At numer- ous vents the outflow of lava was followed by an outburst of cinders and ash, which were thrown into the air and, settling back about the vent, formed a cone, generally having a central crater. The building of these cinder cones therefore usually marked the last stage of ac- tivity of the voleano, but in some places a later gush of lava issued from the side or base of the cone. The lava contained a vast volume of steam, for much of it is highly porous, or vesicular, owing to the expansion of the steam in the lava as it spread over the surface. The cinder consists of lava filled with small steam holes, so that most of it is completely porous or ‘‘pumiceous.” In the cinder of the cones are usually embedded masses of compact lava, probably thrown out as bombs. These vary in form from balls to elongated and irregular shapes, mostly with smooth surfaces, such as might be expected in molten material ejected from a vent. In places there are flattened masses of lava several yards in extent, in part twisted around some of the cinders in which they are inclosed. On approaching Arena siding (turn to sheet 19) the railroad descends nearly 200 feet into a wide, smooth-surfaced basin, or desert, which extends to Columbus and beyond. It slopes southward into Mexico and is occupied by Palomas Arroyo, a dry wash which is crossed 2 miles east of Columbus. This arroyo leads south into Palomas Lake, in Mexico, a water body due to springs known as Ojo de las Adjuntas (o’ho day las ad-hoon’tas), which come up in the valley bottom about 2 miles south of the international boundary. : umbus is a commercial center for agricultural and stock interests in the southern part of Luna County. 4 oe ea * <7 WN es / : Pri eee UY i Beate ‘ i 4 As ; 7\Faul = 27 foe Ace oe FL ow, <<, TW ge 2 ay os ha cate a Met es, ae Abri Quartzite, Granite Diabase sills Faults Strikeanddip limestone etc. (pre-Combrian) n sandstone xX Much silica in limestone % y ihlhisy | Gila cgl. Limestone Abrigo and Ter- (Carb-Dey) : ° reo = Pe me Soe ae ° Ya Mile | _ Figure 47.—Geologic map and crosssections in the vicinity of Colossal Cave, 3 miles east of Vail, Ariz. _ Strongly marked bedded structure of the schists dipping to the west = tly cut off on those sides, The upper part of the range U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 21 THE OLD MISSION OF SAN XAVIER DE BAC Ten miles south of Tucson, Ariz. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 22 A. MAGUEY (AGAVE PARRY] Abundant on r y limestone hills in the Southwest. About 7 years is required for as velceiens nt, after which it dies. Allied species are the source of the Mexican drinks mescal and pulque. im ie a NE te ae ~ Pee = en ee = B. PICACHO, A NOTABLE LANDMARK NEAR W YMOLA, ARIZ. A mass of yolcanic rock of Tertiary age, Looking southeast. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 185 appears to be the remains of an old erosion surface, now deeply dis- sected, on which the Mount Lemmon highland rises as a rounded swell, probably a residual mound. The northwest corner shows evidence of later upbending of 1,000 feet or more. (W. M. Davis.) Rising to the south foot of the mountains is a steep slope of sand and gravel underlain by sandstones and conglomerates of supposed late Tertiary age revealed in the deeper canyons. The beds dip steeply away from the mountain front and in places are considerably faulted. The high Tanque Verde and Rincon Mountains, east of Tucson, also consist of gneiss. All these mountains are included in a national forest, for their higher parts sustain a growth of valuable timber : many live oaks and junipers occur from 4,500 to 6,000 feet, the yellow pine thrives between 6,000 and 8,000 feet, and there are small areas of fir and spruce above 8,000 feet. On the lower slopes sahuaros are numerous, notably on the west slope of the Tanque Verde Moun- tains, 15 miles east of Tucson, where the State University has reserved an area in which these interesting plants are especially abundant and large. TUCSON TO PICACHO, ARIZ. Tucson, the second city in size in Arizona, is the oldest settlement in the State and can boast of a colorful history. For many years it was a small, rough frontier town, preponderantly Tucson. % : " : Were: Mexican in population and appearance. Now it Population 32,508. is a well-ordered city containing the State University, New rns 14 with an enrollment of more than 3,000 students, es. many high-class hotels, clubs, and a large residential district of particular beauty and charm. These features, in addition to the mild, healthful climate, attract many new residents, as well as tourists. The State University, which is now accredited by the American Association of Universities, was built on ground donated by three leading gamblers of the city, and the first building was constructed before there was a high school in the Territory; during its first years students had to be taught the prerequisites to its freshman course. The university includes the Arizona Bureau of Mines, which is making investigations of the mineral resources of the State, and the Stewart Observatory for astronomical research. An important investigation conducted by Prof. A. E. Douglas has established a chronology of tree rings, which gives a key to the age of logs used in aboriginal houses and even to some that occur in petrified condition. There are at Tucson also the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution and a seismologic observatory of the United States Coast and Geo- detic Survey. 152109°—33——13 186 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES According to long observations by the United States Weather Bureau the average annual precipitation at Tucson is 11.8 inches, usually with the maximum rainfall in July. The precipitation shows wide variation, however, sometimes falling considerably below 10 inches (5.26 inches in 1885) and occasionally exceeding 15 inches (24 inches in 1905). The mean annual temperature is 67.3, and the humidity is generally considerably under 50 per cent. The daily range in temperature ordinarily varies from 32° to 57°. The average number of sunshiny days in the year is 309. Snow is rare in the valley but often falls heavily on the surrounding high mountains. Tucson is built on the nearly level desert on the east bank of the Santa Cruz River, a wide watercourse which is dry most of the time. In every direction are fine views of the splendid mountains that encompass the far-reaching desert flat. To the north is the high Santa Catalina Range, which rises more than a mile above the slopes at its base; its highest summit, Mount Lemmon (elevation 9,150 feet), is in plain sight. This range is continued far to the east in the Tanque Verde and Rincon Mountains. To the south are the Santa Rita Mountains and the Sierrita Range, separated by the valley of the Santa Cruz River, and to the west and northwest are the pinnacled Tucson Mountains, not high but very rugged. Beyond the Sierrita Mountains is a distant view of the prominent Babo- quivari Peak (bah-bo-kee-vah’ree). _ There was considerable mining in the general region about Tucson by Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans down to 1861, when all industry ceased. It was revived in 1878 with the discovery of rich ores at Tombstone. Several productive mines are now in operation in the Empire, Santa Rita, and Sierrita Mountains. In the Twin Buttes, on the east side of the Sierrita Mountains, there are mines producing ores of silver, copper, and lead. The Santa Cruz River rises in Mexico south of Nogales, and on the rare occasions when it carries a large flood it empties into the Gila River southwest of Phoenix; its total length is thus about 200 miles. With the advent of the missionary-explorers, in the early days, its valley became an important artery of travel from the western part of Mexico to Arizona and the north and west. The first of these explorers of whom there is authentic record was the heroic German Jesuit Eusebio Francisco Kino, who spent 20 years in constant jour- neying, often entirely alone, throughout the Indian region as far west 8 the Colorado River. He left Mexico City in 1687 and, after found- ing several missions in northern Mexico, reached the Indian rancherfas of Guevavi and Bac, on the Santa Cruz River, in 1691. In the next few years he reached the coast of the Gulf of California and also discovered Casa Grande, on the Gila River. He visited Mexico City in 1695. In 1696 he reached Quiburi (kee-boo’ree), the Indian settle- ‘ment on the San Pedro River. He visited this place again in 1697 and SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 187 followed the San Pedro and the Gila to and beyond Casa Grande. He returned by Bac,*” 9 miles south of Tucson, where he laid the founda- tion of the church of San Xavier in 1700. At that time Bac had a population of 830, with 176 houses, extensive wheat fields, and much well-tended livestock; it was the largest rancheria in the Pima country. In 1700 also Kino descended the Gila River to its mouth, and in 1701 he returned to the vicinity of Yuma and crossed the Colorado River on a raft. The observations made on these explorations con- vinced him that California was not an island. In 1702 he made another journey to the mouth of the Colorado and other places. He continued his travels for a few years more, taking his last view of the Gulf of California in 1706. He died at Misién Dolores in Mexico in 1710 or 1711, at the age of about 70 years. - In some of these great journeys he was alone; in others he was accompanied by Father Juan Maria Salvatierra and Capt. Juan Mateo Mange. At that time there were no other Spaniards in the Southwest, so that these journeys were lonesome and hazardous, but Kino found the Indians perfectly friendly and eager to learn, and they gave him guidance and supplies. His persistence and endurance were phenomenal. A mission was conducted at Bac by the Jesuits from 1701 to 1767, when that order was expelled by the Spanish Government and the Franciscans placed in charge of all missions. One of the Franciscan missionaries located in San Xavier was Padre Francisco Garcés, the great explorer whose journeys down the Santa Cruz Valley and over a wide region as far as Utah and California during a period of 13 years constitute one of the most brilliant chapters of American history. Born in Spain in 1738, he was 30 when he entered upon his heroic career as missionary to the Indians of Pimeria Alta. His first “entrada,” in 1768,°5 was from Bac to the Gila River, and later he proceeded down that stream to its mouth and crossed the Colorado, finally reaching the Mission San Gabriel in California. In 1775 he accompanied Captain Juan Bautista de Anza’s expedition to found San Francisco as far as the Colorado River and then made a great trip alone, cireling to the north and returning to Bac by a route that gave him a glimpse of the Grand Canyon, being thus the first white man to approach that great spectacle from the west. He gave it the name Puerto de Bucareli. In 1779 he established his ill-fated colony in the Yuma region and was massacred with it on July 19,1781. He is now buried in San Pedro de Tubutama, in Sonora. A coworker, Padre Pedro Font, has written of him: “‘He is so fit to get along with the Indians and go about among them that he seems just like an 37 Bac, a Pima word frequently en- 38 Garcés’ travels have been described countered, means house, adobe house, | in detail by Coues (Diary and Itinerary or a ruined house, of Franciseo Garcés, 1775-1776, 2 vols., Harper, 1900). 188 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Indian himself. In fine, God has created him, I am sure, totally on purpose to hunt up these unhappy, ignorant, and boorish people.”’ The present beautiful and interesting church of San Xavier at Bac, shown in Plate 21, was rebuilt very near the site of the first church, which was destroyed in the Indian outbreak of 1751. It was begun probably in 1783 and finished in 1797 (the date carved on the sanctuary door), during the period of comparative peace and prosperity that extended from 1786 to the end of the Spanish rule in 1822. Thechurch is still in use, together with a school for the Indian children of the neighborhood. In the immediate vicinity of the present Tucson there were several early Indian villages which doubtless were passed by Father Kino in his journey to Casa Grande in November, 1694. The first Spanish settlement in the immediate neighborhood appears to have been San Agustin de Tucson, located on a low ridge 3 miles northwest of the present city hall, some time prior to 1763. It led a precarious and intermittent existence owing to Apache depredations, as did also the small Indian village of ‘‘San Cosme de Tucson,” ** which sprawled at the foot of Pinnacle Peak, now familiarly known as ‘‘A’’ Mountain, from the great white initial annually inscribed upon it by university students. Here under the guidance of Padre Garcés an hacienda and small settlement were established in 1776; this was known as El Rancho de Tucson and later as El Rancho del Padre. Half a mile northwest a mission was built under the name San Jose de Tucson. About this time the Spanish garrison was transferred from Tubac, 44 miles away, to San Agustin de Tucson and later to the present site of Tucson. Around the presidio at Tucson was built an adobe wall 12 feet high with low towers and parapets, one corner of which is marked by a bronze tablet. This diminutive walled city became the metropolis of the Southwest and for a long time marked our extreme western frontier. The valley was richly productive, minin successful, and the hills were covered with herds of wild cattle. On the withdrawal of soldiers and missionaries from southern Arizona before and after the war of Mexican independence, the Apaches re- sumed their depredations, killing many persons and destroying 100 houses and several settlements. At this time from 3,000 to 4,000 settlers left the country, only a few remaining at Tucson. It is stated by Lockwood that in 1848 the population of Tucson was 760 and Tubac 249 and that Tubac was abandoned at the end of that year. Even under American rule it was not until after the Civil War that Apache and other warring Indians were finally conquered and ban- ished to reservations. Fort Lowell, the old United States Army post, of which the ruins still stand 7 niles northeast of Tucson, was estab- % The name Tucson means “the foot | son, m a of eaning foot of, or “the place ofa black hill,” from rom the —— In- | dark springs,” from the Sobaipuri SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 189 ren in 1862, abandoned in 1864, reoccupied in 1865, and moved in 1873. It was named for Gen. C. R. Lowell, of the United States Cavalry. After the Gadsden Purchase Anprtauns began to arrive, not a few being encouraged to journey thither by sheriffs and vigilance committees of neighboring States. With these came stur- dier citizens with true pioneer spirit, but no white woman resided permanently in Tucson until 1870. On the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 Tucson was seized by Confederate troops from Texas, who in turn withdrew on the approach of the Union volunteers from California (the ‘California Column’’) under Colonel Tarleton. (See p. 154.) The stage from San Antonio to San Diego began making two trips a month late in 1857. For a while it passed through Tucson, but later it followed a more northern route in the Gila Valley. Tucson was on the oldest highway from the Rio Grande to Yuma and the Pacific coast, and traders and Government wagons with supplies for the various army posts in the Apache country were constantly on the move. The railroad arrived in 1880, and this fact was heralded to the world by telegrams from the eet citizens to the President at Washington and the Pope at Rome. Near Tucson there is a small settlement of Papago (pah’-pa-go) Indians (527 in 1932) at the mission of San Xavier at Bac, and there are also two small settlements of Yaqui Indians from Mexico on the western and southern margins of the city. The Indians now known as Papagos live mostly in a large reserva- tion in the desert southwest of Tucson (4,914); on the Gila Bend Reservation, west of Phoenix (224); and in the Chiu-Chiuschu Reser- vation, south of Casa Grande (349). The Indians of this region claim descent from the builders of Casa Grande (see p. 197 ), and they are a branch of the Piman family. The ‘‘Pimas” lived in the Gila and Salt River Valleys, the Papagos in the Santa Cruz Valley and west into Sonora, Mexico. Another Piman tribe, the Sobaipuri, now extinct, occupied the San Pedro and Santa Cruz Valleys during Kino’s time, when it was estimated that the total Pima population was about 12,000. The Papagos (‘‘bean people”’) are a large-framed, well-formed people of dark skin and rather bold, heavy features. The women are of more delicate mold than the men, and some of them are decidedly handsome. The bravery of the Papagws has been proved in many conflicts with the Apache and other predatory Indians, and they have been uniformly friendly to the whites. Many of them are industrious and good workmen. Their life is closely adjusted to the arid region in which they live, especially in the matter of water supply for themselves, the use of flood waters for irrigation, and the utiliza- tion of the scanty natural food resources. They often have had to move to places favorable to their interests, and at times starvation has taken many lives. Mesquite beans and the fruit of the sahuaro, 190 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES pitahaya, and agave, besides acorns and camote, an edible root, are important food resources, especially in poor seasons; formerly there was considerable game. One of their principal trading commodities is salt, which they gather from lagoons on the shore of the Gulf of California. The Papagos are divided into clans, two of which are included in the “‘red velvet ants,’ who are regarded as the original owners of the country, and the others in the ‘‘white velvet ants,” who have come later. Descent in these clans is by the male line, which is contrary to the custom of the Pueblo Indians, The Papagos of San Xavier apparently absorbed the Sobaipuris, the last of whom, Encarnacién Mamaxe, died at San Xavier Mission early in 1932, at the age of 106 years. The Papagos regarded the sun as the “ Father,” and their principal deities were the ‘‘Elder Brother” and the “ Rarth Magician,” but most of them are now Catholics. The Desert Laboratory occupies 860 acres on the Tumamoc Hills in the western part of Tucson. It was established in 1903 with the belief that this location offered the greatest opportunities for studying desert vegetation and the problems of its growth, its enemies, and soil relations. In 1905 it was made the headquarters of the department of botanical research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. It has obtained a large amount of most valuable information regarding plant growth, soils, and water conditions in the desert. The State Agricultural Experiment Station at the university has branches in various parts of Arizona, studying many problems of crop, fruit, cotton, and nut production. Tucson obtains its water supply from wells that draw from the underflow of the Santa Cruz Valley south of the city. In the Rillito Valley (ree-yee’toe), just north of Tucson, underground water is pumped for irrigation. When old Fort Lowell was located in this valley, at the mouth of Pantano Wash, the cavalry horses were fed with hay cut from the flood plain, which is now dry and deeply trenched. From Tucson a branch line of the Southern Pacific system ascends the Santa Cruz Valley to Nogales, on the international boundary, and thence goes to Guaymas (10 hours), Guadalajara (48 hours), and Mexico City (65 hours). At 44 miles south of Tucson it passes the ruins of the old Spanish presidio of Tubac, which dates prior to 1752 and was erected to protect the neighboring missions. At this place in 1858 to 1860 a small group of Americans and Mexicans partly restored the ruins and published the “Weekly Arizonian,” the first newspaper in the Territory. A short distance beyond Tubac is the old Tumacacori Mission (too-ma-ca’co-ree), established by Father _ Kino in 1702, now a most interesting national monument under Gov- ernment protection, | SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 191 Westward from Tucson the railroad crosses the southwestern por- tion of Arizona, a region presenting geologic and topographic features such as characterize the Basin and Range province of the Southwest. While the geology has not been mapped in detail, the principal fea- tures have been ascertained by reconnaissances by Bryan, Ross, Wilson, Lausen, Darton, and others. Many of the ridges consist of the pre-Cambrian granites and schists of a ‘‘basal complex.” In places these are overlain by sandstone of Cambrian age, limestones of Devonian and Carboniferous age, sandstone and shale of Creta- ceous age, conglomerate, lavas, and sands of Tertiary age, and thick beds of Quaternary sand and gravel. Igneous rocks of various ages cut the schists and sedimentary rocks, and some of the younger granitic rocks are not very different from the pre-Cambrian granites. The sea covered much of the area for at least a part of Carboniferous time, for there are remnants of limestones of this age at many places. Outliers of Apache rocks indicate that there was deposition of sedi- ments in the region during part of Algonkian time, the products of which may have been much more widespread than is indicated by the small remnants that are exposed. The features most striking to the traveler are mountains or knobs of schist or granite and ridges and mesas made up of a thick succession of lavas and other volcanic rocks. Many of the knobs rising above the valley floor are the summits of ranges which are now nearly buried under the thick valley fill of sand and gravel washed from the mountain slopes for a million years or more. Before the extrusion of the Tertiary volcanic matter the region presented an irregularly eroded surface, doubtless a desert, some areas of which were occupied by sands and boulder deposits of earlier Tertiary age. These deposits consisted largely of detritus from ridges and were mostly laid down by torrential streams under condi- tions similar to those of the present time. The lavas came to the surface through craters and cracks at various 1 widely, probably filling broad valleys and desert flats. Peebles some of the earlier ridges were not entirely buried. At intervals a great amount of ash, tuff, and other fragmental material was blown out of some of the vents. The succession of sheets of lavas and fragmental material is 2,000 feet or more thick in some areas, but it varies con- siderably from place to place in thickness and in the character and order of its rocks. The lavas were later uplifted, tilted, flexed and faulted, and widely removed by erosion, so that their original extent is not evident. Much of their detritus, together with that of older formations, makes up the thick alluvial fill of the present valleys. The great deserts of the Southwest at first sight seem nearly desti- tute of animal life, but actually they are the habitat of many animals in considerable variety, most of them, however, small and not often in sight. Most numerous perhaps are the kangaroo rats, which live 192 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES in large colonies in the sandy areas, but they are nocturnal, and most of their associates have the same habit. Coyotes, foxes, and bobcats frequent many localities. Various lizards and the bold little horn toad (Phrynosoma platyrhinos) are abundant, and in places there are rattlesnakes (see pl. 23, A), including the variety known as the “‘side- winder’’ (Crotalus cerastes), a name referring to his sidelong motion both in locomotion.and attack. The rare tiger rattler lives in the rocks in out-of-the-way places, and the Sonoran coral snake (Hlaps euryranthus) is occasionally found. The Gila monster (Heloderma sus- pectum) (see pl. 23, B), a clumsy black and pink lizard a foot or more in length, is of frequent occurrence in southwestern Arizona from the San Pedro River to the Colorado. He carries poison about the teeth in his lower jaw, and his bite is fatal to small animals. The larger lizard known as chuckwalla(S lus ater) near the Colorado River, and the Indians find him as palatable as chicken. Jack rabbits and w. E. cottontailrabbits are plentiful, especially in the vicinity of the arroyos, and there c= remain a few of the Hori tal: | ; “ ee Mg epg rare antelope jack Jt L Vertical scale ° asses eee ES oot a ee rabbits, a taller,more Figure 48.—Section at Picacho de la Calera, 16 miles northwest of Tuc- slender specks than son, Ariz. €a, Cambrian quartzite; €a, Abrigo limestone; Dm, Mar- the commonone. A tin limestone; Ce, Carboniferous limestone; d, dike few antelopes, deer, wild sheep, and lions remain in the mountains; formerly these animals were abundant, especially the antelope, but vigorous hunting has greatly reduced their number. The tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) roams over some of the desert areas, and his empty shell is a common sight. The average size is 8 to 10 inches. These tortoises are usually found far from water holes and evidently are not dependent on water. This is true also of the other desert animals, which obtain from plants the small amount of water that they need. Experiments made with desert mice appeared to prove that they will not drink water at all. Quail are abundant in most seasons, and doves thrive in the irrigated areas and near water holes. Cranes and similar birds are found along the rivers, and crows and buzzards congregate rapidly when food is in sight. The road runner (Eolaptes chrysoides mearnsi) is frequently seen. Tt eats rats, birds’ eggs, and snakes. It runs very fast and» stops quickly, using the long tail as a brake. Tarantulas (large hairy spiders), centipedes, and scorpions occur in many places; though their bites or stings are painful and probably somewhat poisonous, they appear not to be fatal. oS The Tucson Mountains, west of Tucson, are the Frente Negra, oT _ Black Face Mountains, of Garcés. The range is of moderate height U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 23 Sunt aet? er et ade A, RATTLESNAKE Common throughout western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. B. GILA MONSTERS Found in many places in southwestern Arizona. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 24 4. CASA GRANDE, ARIZ. The ruins of a communal house of the aborigines, now under a protecting shed. a B, TYPICAL HOME OF PIMA IN DIANS ON RESERVATION SOUTH OF PHOENIX, ARIZ, SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 193 and consists mostly of volcanic rocks in widely extended sheets and several stocks, erupted from craters or possibly from some cracklike vents in early Tertiary time. On the east slope of the mountains is an old quarry in light-colored volcanic tuff which has been used for building one of the university buildings and many houses in Tucson. The Tumamoc Hills, an outlying knoll of the Tucson Mountains just west of the city, consist of a succession of lava flows (andesite, rhyolite, tuff, and basalt) and several intrusive masses that are pro ably of Pleistocene age. From Tucson the railroad follows the wide flat adjoining the Santa Cruz River, which has a sandy bed of many braided channels, usually dry. At times of rain the Santa Cruz carries considerable water. According to records of the United States Geological Survey the flow at Tucson woe 1,511 ageregated 57,200 acre-feet in 1914 and 24,700 acre- feet in 1915. The Santa Cruz is an affluent of the Cortaro. Elevation 2,156 feet. ation 80.* Gila, which its channel reaches in the neighborhood of Phoenix, but even in Garcés’ time it sank into the sands near Picacho Peak, andl at present it rarely ‘ai i flows even that far. However, there is considerable under- flow in the sand and gravel of the valley fill, especially below the mouths of Rillito FicGure 49.—Secti fth t side of the T M ins, Ariz., about Creek and Cafiada 3 miles south of the Ajon 2milessouth of Amole Peak. a, Agglom- . erate; rs, red sandy shale del Oro, and this water is pumped for irrigation. The irrigated area is entered near Jaynes, a short distance out of Tucson, where there is a State experi- mental farm; it continues with some interruptions nearly to Naviska. * Rhyolites and andesites, in part porphyritic, are the principal rocks, with some tuff and basalt. Amole Peak (ah-mo’lay), the highest summit, and some other knobs consist of in- usive, occur on e west side of the north end of the range. Picacho de la Calera, an out- lying butte to the northwest, consists of limestones of Carboniferous and Devonian age (Escabrosa and Martin) with abundant fossils. These lime- stones are underlain by 300 feet of typical Abrigo limestone with trilobites and other fossils of Upper Cambrian age, and at the base, lying on pre- | shows the relations | Cambrian schist, is 200 feet of Bolsa quartzite. e section in Figure 48 at this place. Along the foot of the southwest side of the Tucson Mountains are extensive exposures of sandstone and sour foot lieved to be of Lower They lie nearly level and « are overan by the Tertiary volcanic the east and by a sheet of rhyolite * the west. Farther north the Figure 49 shows the relations in this part of the area, 194 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The area under cultivation is about 7,000 acres. The water is supplied by many shallow wells operated by electric power from Tucson, and there are some flowing wells. The water is carried by canals, mostly cement lined. Much cotton and alfalfa are raised, together with various other crops. Cotton is a native plant (Cabeza de Vaca was presented with cotton garments by the natives in 1535), but the wild variety gives only a small yield of the fiber. The cultivated cotton yields about a bale to the acre. The average crop in the valley requires from 20 to 24 inches of water, but alfalfa, which is cut five or six times a year, requires 36 inches. There is considerable dairying to supply milk for Tucson and other places. Northeast of Rillito is a conspicuous range of buttes and ridges known as the Tortolita Mountains (tore-toe-lee’ta). They consist of Rifiieg. pre-Cambrian granite and schist and rise abruptly ee eee: from long slopes of gravel, sand, and other detritus. Population 32.* On the south edge of the range are volcanic rocks. fat! Orleans 1,516 To the south and southwest from the railroad near Naviska siding there are fine views of the rugged ridges of the Roskruge, Coyote, Quinlan, and Baboquivari Mountains, the last culminating in the square tower of Baboquivari Peak (ele- vation 7,740 feet), 50 miles away. To the west are the Silver Bell Mountains. These are all on the west side of the wide desert of Avra Valley, which joins the Santa Cruz Valley a short distance southwest of Red Rock. These valleys are deeply filled with gravel and sand. From Tucson to Picacho the railroad follows the route pursued by Padre Garcés and the expedition of Captain Anza in 1775 on their long overland journey to establish a colony at San Francisco. They traveled, however, on the left bank of the stream as far as Red Rock. According to Padres Gareés and Font, the Anza expedition consisted of 30 soldiers and 136 other persons, including women and children. It followed the Santa Cruz River through Bac and Tucson. Rillito lies at the place they called Llano del Azotado (meadow of the flogged man), because a deserting muleteer taken into custody was here given 12 lashes. Passing near the present Red Rock station to a point beyond Picacho Peak, it turned to a more northerly course, approaching the Gila River about 2 miles west of Casa Grande, which the friars visited and minutely described. Several camps were made on the Gila River in this very populous Indian country, where wheat, Indian corn, and cotton were being raised. The course then swung southwestward around the south end of the Sierra Estrella across the “‘Dry Wash” (apparently Waterman’s Wash) and through the pass in Maricopa Mountains now followed by the railroad t modern Gila Bend, a route which later became the emigrant trail. __ Near Gila Bend they found an Indian village, called by Padre Garcés _the Pueblo de los Santos Apéstoles San Simén y Judas, sist ss SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 195 Rillito and Marana are small settlements sustained by irrigation with water pumped from the underflow of the Santa Cruz River. West from Naviska siding the region is a wide desert. cuss Occasional sahuaros are in sight from Avra siding and aactiasistie ata westward nearly to Picacho. The village of Red New Orleans 1,520 Rock is on this wide desert plain, which — north me: to and beyond Phoenix and far to the west. Thi Wad Rock plain 4 is floored with sand and gravel, in Y EXPLANATION Sand, gravel (valley fill) Lava, tuffs, and other voleanie products Sandstone and shale Limestone = Limestone and shale ZZ (underlain in ie a8 — brisket Quartzite. nite Porphyry, granite, and other i intrusive rocks Geology by N. H. Darton, F. C. Schrader, and C. F. Tolman Tornado Martin Abrigo Apache 800’ Quaternary 900’ Tertiary 1,700’ Lower Cretaceous ) : ; , jCarbonifeous f 1,300 —— 450’ Cambrian 700’ Algonkian Pre-Cambrian Pre-Cambrian and later Post-Cretaceous (in greater part) Rillite a aS Ree 2069 | | / x a Res 2156 / 4 : / \8) Sie: f ) = f 3 A C ‘ \ \ aedert or Contour interval 200 feet et distances from New Orleans, La., are snown ee 0 miles, and the crossties are drawn 1 mile apart — eusdrange shown on the map with a ame in ES in the lower left corner is s mad in deta on the U. S. G. 8. ra ae map of that 321 Scale 500,000 linch=8 miles (approximately) ie] S ie} 15 20 MILES 2) 15 20 KILOMETERS oo Topography: U. S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO., WASH. D.C SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 197 sands containing some moisture, and also a system of wide-spreading lateral roots that quickly absorb water near the surface when there is rainfall. Creosote bush, iron wood, paloverde, ocotillo, grasses, and scattered cacti of several kinds are the more noticeable plants in the valleys and along the dry mountain slopes. The topography is of the Basin and Range type, with high, bare rocky ridges, mostly narrow, separated by wide, flat valleys. The larger features trend north and south, although there are many local exceptions to this trend. The valleys range from about 3,000 feet above sea level in the northeast to 250 feet in the Yuma Desert. The mountains are bare and desolate, and the broad desert valleys with terrifying scarcity of water seem formidable to travelers. For many persons, however, the region possesses an intense interest and charm— often referred to as the lure of the desert. MAIN LINE, PICACHO TO PHOENIX AND WELLTON, ARIZ. The line from Picacho to Wellton by way of Phoenix (turn to sheet 23) was built in 1925 and 1926 at a cost of $15,600,000, in order to pass through the great irrigation district of the Gila Picacho. (he’la) and Salt Rivers. It is 42 miles longer than the Elevation 1621 feet. old line but has the advantages of better grades, fewer miles. "~~ eurves, and long tangents, which almost compensate for the detour. The Gila River is crossed twice, one ' bridge being 5,000 feet long and the other 3,800 feet. This route leaves the old main line at a switch tower a mile west of Picacho siding and goes north across the wide alluvial plain to the Coolidge. Gila River, 20 miles distant. It passes through the cietuigt tu sidings of Peak. Topaz, and Randolph and the town Population 1,100. Of Coolidge in this interval and also crosses the great sae ac 1,564 ditch that carries water from the Gila River to Casa Grande and other irrigation settlements to the west- ward. This water conserved by the Coolidge Dam, on the Gila River in the mountains 50 miles above Florence, is let out into the river as required and deflected into the main canal near Florence. (See p. 210.) About 40,000 acres of the land to be irrigated is in the Gila River Indian Reservation, and the remainder of the water is available for settlers outside, who have taken up much of the land and are cotton, lettuce, and other crops with satisfactory results. Two miles beyond Coolidge the ruins of Casa Grande are in sight, not far west of the railroad. For many years they had no protection against the weather, but finally after some restorations a roof was erected to protect the ruins from rain and in some measure from wind- blown sand, a powerful erosive agent in regions of dry climate. (See pl. 24, A.) 198 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Casa Grande,” as the name indicates, is the ‘large house’? men- tioned by the early explorers; it was the work of aborigines of 700 to 1,000 years ago. It was discovered by the Jesuit Padre Kino in 1694; he reached it again by way of the San Pedro in November, 1697, and said mass within its walls. It stood 1% miles south of the Gila River, with which it was at that time connected by a wide ditch. It was visited by Padres Garcsé and Font in 1775 and minutely de- scribed by Font. It has always been one of the best preserved of the prehistoric ruins and has been restored to a considerable extent by the United States National Park Service, which took possession of it in 1892. There were three buildings within a space of 150 yards, two of which were practically ruined. The walls of the main building, which was three and in the central part four stories high, were massive and 4 or 5 feet thick at the base. The inner sides of the walls were vertical, but the outer sides sloped inward in a slightly curved line. The house contained 11 rooms and had a watchtower estimated to have been 39 feet high. The material used was the local mud and gravel packed into rectangular blocks until hardened. ‘There is some ornamentation in red on the inner polished walls, but no inscriptions. There are doors east and west, but no windows except circular open- ings in the upper part of the chambers. The framework of the build- ing evidently was burned, presumably by hostile Apaches. Near by are ruins of other buildings and of an elliptical amphitheater more than 100 feet long, probably all used for religious or communal cere- - monies. Excavations in 1930 a mile east of the Casa Grande ruins revealed several large houses, several crematory pits, and much pottery, carved bone, and stone and shell artifacts. Fragments of mirrors whose reflecting surface was a close mosaic of iron pyrite crystals were also found, showing that the people took considerable interest in their personal appearance. In the river flat just north of the ruins are remains of old irrigation ditches which conveyed river water to fields. The people of this early settlement were evidently experienced in agriculture, and the irrigation ditches, some of them large, show considerable engineering skill. (Seep. 201.) Itseems clear from the broken pottery and ruins that the Gila Valley and the valley of the Salt River supported a good-sized agricultural population in the early days. The Pima Indians called these people ‘‘Hohékam.’”’ They lived in small huts not unlike the Pima “‘jacales,” made of rude masonry. It is supposed that they came from the south. It is an Indian tradition that a hos- tile faction from the east drove these agriculturists from their settle- 2 T+ +t h oe i > ee a east on his way to the Seven Cities of Cibola (Zufii) in 1540, but many author- ities believe that his route was farther | east, (See p. 161.) be the ruined house called gested a (red house), where Coronado SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 199 ments in the Gila Valley, but some who remained in the general region were the ancestors of the Pima, Papago, Yuma, Chemehuevi, Mohave, and Maricopa tribes of the present day. In the times of the Conquistadores and the missionaries most of the sedentary Indians of Papagueria lived on adjacent ranches and in villages palisaded for protection against roving Apaches or other enemies. It is stated that there were about 6,000 of these Indians and 100 rancherias in the lower Gila region in 1742. There was constant warfare among the tribes or among allied tribes. For the white man there seems to have been a hearty welcome until ill treat- ment roused hatred that prevailed for a long time. The Pima In- dians, however, have always been friendly to the white settler and helped to fight the Apaches, who were hereditary enemies of the sedentary tribes, stealing their crops and wives. Now Papago, Maricopa, and Pima Indians live in harmony on the reservations south of Phoenix. The Pimas and Maricopas have the first rights on the irrigation waters of the Gila River, which they use extensively for the more common field crops. The lower Gila region was never the scene of such extensive and bloody Indian warfare as other parts of Arizona, because of the more peaceful character of its aboriginal inhabitants and partly because of the scarcity and poverty of the white settlers in the early days. Two miles north of the Casa Grande ruins the broad bed of the Gila River is crossed on a long bridge. In the main channel there is usually considerable water, which is allowed to flow from the Coolidge Reservoir to sustain irrigation, together with some ground water and seepage of local origin. The Gila River is one of the major streams of the Southwest, for it drains an area of about 7,200 square miles and is about 500 miles long. It rises in western New Mexico and crosses all of Arizona to join the Colorado River just above Yuma, receiving many large affluents, including the San Simon, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz Rivers, which are crossed by the railroad in eastern and central Arizona. Up to 1853 (the time of the Gadsden Purchase) the Gila River was the boundary between the United States and Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase brought into the United States the portion of Arizona south of the Gila River, an area of 40,000 square miles (see map, p. 151), at a cost of $10,000,000. The international boundary was surveyed in 1855, and the United States took possession in 1856 by sending troops to Tucson. The river was called Rio del Nombre de Jestis by Ofiate in 1604. The heroic Father Kino in 1694 applied the name Rio Grande de Gila to the river, but generally called it Rio Grande. The Indians on its headwaters were called Xila or Gila, and this name was applied by the Spaniards to a savory but bony fish called matalote by the Indians. It is stated also that there is a Yuman word Hila, meaning salty stream. Later, Kino’s name was given to the entire stream. 200 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES After crossing the Gila River to Poston siding, near which a branch line leads to Florence, 6 miles east, and thence to the mining town of Christmas, in eastern Pinal County, the railroad deflects northwest- ward and follows near the north bank of the river through Blackwater and Olberg sidings. To the east and north of the railroad are many buttes of granite, the highest of which, Walker Butte, is capped by lava. At Olberg is a quarry in lava and scoria, which are used extensively for road making. North of Olberg is Malpais Mountain (mal-pah-ees’), which con- sists of lavas and tuff * capping granite which appears also in ridges and detached buttes to the east; it also constitutes Santan and Gold- mine Mountains, farther north. Yellow Peak and Rock Peak, a few miles north of Olberg, are capped by conglomerate of Tertiary age. South of Olberg are the prominent granite ridges of the Sacaton Mountains, with various outlying buttes. These are all typical desert mountain ridges, with steep rocky surfaces rising abruptly from the long, gentle slopes of wash and valley fill, which is very thick in the adjoining valleys. At most places large parts of the flanks of these mountains are buried by detritus and only the tops protrude, and doubtless there are many others that are entirely buried. If this valley fill were removed the Salt River-Gila plain would present a very rugged topography, with ridges and buttes 1,000 to 2,000 feet high. The filling has progressed for centuries, is still actively going on, and will continue until the present ridges and buttes are worn very low and the smaller ones buried entirely. A view of a typical desert valley in this region is given in Plate 25, A. Just south of Olberg is a dam that diverts water from the Gila River into canals to supply the lower portion of the Gila River Indian Reser- vation. This reservation occupies a wide area in the Gila Valley and according to the report of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1932 contains about 4,000 Pima Indians, 500 Maricopa Indians, and a few others. Many of these Indians irrigate farms, using the water provided for them by the Government and raising alfalfa and other crops which under irrigation flourish in the rich soil of the valley lowlands. In Padre Garcés’ time (1775) the largest Pima settlement was located in this immediate neighborhood, with a population of about 5,000. He called it Sutaquison, but Padre Kino 80 years earlier had named it Encarnaci6n. *$ These volcanic rocks cover an area of about 9 square miles and consist of several flows, in all several hundred feet thick, dipping gently south-southwest. At one locality a sheet of olivine basalt is exposed lying on a 200-foot sheet of latite, in part tuffaceous, which in turn lies on the old granite. Under the microscope the latite is seen to consist mostly of volcanic glass crowded with microliths; it contains some orthoclase, albite, biotite, and olivine. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 25 A. TYPICAL DESERT PLAIN WITH RIDGES, WESTERN ARIZONA Sahuaros in foreground. B. INDIAN PICTOGRAPHS NEAR SACATON, ARIZ. Crude figures of animals, snakes, birds, etc., depicting records or messages. Probably very old. i U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 26 A. DATES IN SALT RIVER VALLEY NEAR MESA, ARIZ. B. COTTON RAISED BY IRRIGATION IN SALT RIVER VALLEY NEAR PHOENIX, ARIZ. Camelsback Mountain in background. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 201 Leaving the bank of the Gila River near Olberg the railroad skirts the rocky slopes of Malpais Mountain and passes through Dock and Santan sidings. There are many sahuaros, or giant cacti, and cholla (mostly Opuntia bigelovii) on these slopes. Indian houses are in sight at many places (see pl. 24, B), and the Pima Indian village of Santan, with a large school, is a mile east of Dock siding. Three miles south of Dock is the larger settlement of Sacaton, with the Indian agency that administers the Gila River Reservation.* The reservation consists of 371,422 acres of which a small part is under irrigation. Now that water of the Gila River is conserved by the Coolidge Dam a much larger area can be cultivated than formerly. Near Sacaton is a field station of the United States Department of Agriculture in- vestigating the crop conditions of the region. East of Santan is a group of rugged ridges and hills culminating in a peak 3,093 feet high known as Santan Mountain, which is a con- spicuous feature from the wide desert plain to the north. This mountain and the surrounding — consist of pre-Cambrian granite and schist cut by younger grani Near the Maricopa-Pinal county line ne railroad bends due north and goes through Chandler to Mesa. Near Serape siding the Salt River Valley is entered, consisting of almost continuous irrigated fields in a high state of cultivation, utiliz- ing water from the Salt River conserved by the Roosevelt Reservoir. (See p. 214.) The contrast between desert conditions and vigorous plant growth is strikingly shown on the margins of the irrigated areas, especially at the foot of slopes of the rocky ranges rising out of the plain. The use of Salt River water for irrigation dates back to an early time, for the aborigines had many ditches, some of them of con- siderable size and length. These and the later ditches of the white man were washed out or damaged every few years by floods, which are especially prevalent in the arid region. In 1877 many settlers be- gan coming into the valley, and since that time its development has been rapid as irrigation has been improved and extended. Chandler, in the southeastern part of the great Salt River irri tion district, is an attractive rural settlement founded in 1912 by Chandler Dr. A. J. Chandler. It is also a noted pleasure and : health resort with an artistic winter hotel. From Population tee ~©6Chandler and northward there are fine views of New Orleans 1,507 Four Peaks, the high summit of the Mazatzal Range, fae and of the bold west front of Superstition Mountain. 44 The Pima agency also administers | on ranches in the adjoining regions. the Gila Bend and Chiu-Chiuschu Res- | About one-quarter of them speak ervations, occupied by small groups of | English, and many speak or understand Papagos. are Spanish. 152100°—33-——_14 202 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Mesa was started in 1878 by a colony of 77 Mormons who followed the original Mormon colony from Utah, established the preceding year at Jonesville (now Lehi) by Brigham Young. The new colony at once commenced the construction Wega a of a ditch costing $43,000, to irrigate about 5,000 New Orleans 1,604 acres. At present there is a very large area under see irrigation and many crops are produced, including dates (pl. 26, A) and citrus fruits. From a small village in 1883 Mesa has grown to an area of 1 square mile, parts of which are closely built. The near-by population is about 11,000. The Mormons have a large temple, several churches, and an auditorium. Two miles west of Mesa is a 160-acre farm of the State Agricultural Experiment Station, where practical tests of many kinds are made on a tract of heavy silt-loam soil, which is typical of much of the Salt River Valley. Here cotton, alfalfa, lettuce, melons, and other plants are grown under various conditions of irrigation, fertilization, crop rotation, and cross breeding. Experiments are also made with cattle and sheep pasturing. In this vicinity are fine views of the west front of Superstition Mountain, 20 miles east of Mesa. (See pl. 31, B.) It consists of flows of lava (rhyolite) and beds of white volcanic tuff, in all more than 3,000 feet thick, yet greatly eroded from its original size and extent. On its slopes are many sahuaros and other desert plants, and in early summer the showy scarlet flowers of Beloperone californica, which also grows on the Picacho Mountains, and is very attractive to humming birds. From Mesa the railroad turns sharply west, and near Tempe (tem’pay) it deflects north on joining the branch line from Maricopa. hsiigk: At ‘Tempe is the State experimental date farm, the ae os United States Entomological Laboratory, a large Population 2,495. normal school, and a condensed-milk factory which es Ctenee 1,611 utilizes much of the product of dairying, now a great industry in the Salt River Valley. Tempe, established in 1870, is the second oldest town in the valley. It was first called Haydens Ferry and later renamed for the classic Vale of Tempe. At Tempe a great bridge carries the railroad over the Salt River. This large stream rises in the mountains of eastern Arizona and flows into the Gila River about 15 miles southwest of Phoenix. Formerly it experienced many freshets, with disastrous results to irrigation ditches and near-by fields, but these no longer occur since its waters have been impounded by the Roosevelt and cther dams. Nowits flow is regulated to meet the needs of the farms and orchards it irrigates, and its utilization has resulted in an agricultural development which has made the Salt River Valley a celebrated garden spot. Kino _ called the river Rio Azul, and Gareés Rio de la Asuncion. Mesa. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 203 Just east of the bridge over the Salt River is Tempe Butte (see fig. 50), a prominent landmark due to a heavy mass of lava (andesite) lying on shale and sandstone, which with the lava is tilted to the southeast at an angle of 45° or more. The base is a massive sand- stone quarried to some extent for building. The strata are more and more mixed with clay toward the top, where most of the material under the lava is red shale. More red sandstone in massive beds is exposed north of the river opposite Tempe; it grades down into a coarse granitic arkose or breccia lying on an irregular surface of old granite. It dips 65° NW., nearly at right angles to the dip of the exposure in Tempe Butte. This sandstone was found in a well 1% miles northeast of Tempe, but a well 2% miles northwest of the town was entirely in granite. Similar arkose and conglomerate lie on granite in Camelback Mountain, near Phoenix. Probably the age of the formation is late Tertiary. (Lee.) Other buttes, including Bell Butte,* rise out of the valley a short distance southwest of Tempe. N. oe Butte s. Horizontal stalk re) 1,000 Feet j | are i i. ‘Vertical scale 000 Feet ee i i Figure 50.—Section through Tempe Butte and Tempe Well, Ariz. After Lee Just north of the river north of Tempe sedimentary rocks of Ter- tiary age form a small group of picturesque hills included in the Saiuaro National Monument. Here the material is an arkosic con- glomerate in massive beds lying in part on granite gneiss and in part on a porphyritic felsite. The conglomerate contains much granite and some schist and felsite with many fragments from 6 inches to 6 feet in diameter. In places there is but little matrix, but in general the coarse material is embedded in sand composed of grains of quartz and feldspar. It has been suggested that these rocks are of Triassic age, but here, as in Tempe Butte, they include a thin basalt flow and are capped by basalt, a succession closely resembling that which is found in the Tertiary of the surrounding region. The tilting of the Tertiary beds here and elsewhere in the Phoenix region shows that there have been earth movements in this region in post-Tertiary time, and the similar tilting and faulting of the volcanic succession in 46 The rock of Bell Butte under the | of hernttende and feldspar of the soda- microscope proves to be a hornblende- | lime group. The is glassy, pyroxene andesite showing phenocrysts | in part microlithic. (Lee.) 204 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES adjoining regions indicate that deformation was widespread in south- western Arizona. In the Sahuaro National Monument are many fine sahuaros and other plants of the desert flora which will be preserved under Gov- ernment supervision. The rocks are eroded in many fantastic forms, one of which is the natural window called ‘‘Hole in the Rock.” The gravel-covered plains surrounding the hills are typical of the wide desert valleys of the Southwest. Phoenix, the metropolis of western Arizona and capital of the State, occupies an area of about 10 square miles on the plain extending north from the bank of the Salt River. Although in the midst of a desert, the city has developed great | clbee salam ogy landscape beauty and many cultural and educational 620 resources. Itwasestablished by Jack Swilling in 1867 as a colony for irrigation, a fact commemorated by the Swilling memorial fountain in the courthouse grounds. Phoenix was incorporated in 1881. It was reached by a branch line from Maricopa, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, in 1887 and by a branch from the Santa Fe lines (Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad) from Ash Fork in 1886. Prescott was the State capital from 1864 to 1867 and 1878 to 1911, and Tucson from 1868 to 1877, The Phoenix region was first visited by Padre Kino in 1694. The growth of Phoenix has been rapid, especially since 1910, when it population was only 11,134; the growth was 70 per cent from 1920 to 1930, and this increase was closely paralleled by the growth of the populous surrounding ranch territory. The name Phoenix (given by Darrel Duffa) refers to the fact that the settlement has “risen from the ashes of the vanished civilization of the aborigines of long ago.” In the valley there are many miles of ditches of great antiquity, capable of watering many acres. There are also ruins of numerous settlements and many remnants of utensils and implements. Large collections of archeologic material are on exhibition in the Arizona Museum in Phoenix and also in the Heard Museum. At the latter are collections from the ruins of ‘‘La Ciudad ” or the ‘Indian mounds” near the city. At Phoenix there is a large Indian school sustained by the United States Government. Irrigation has gradually been extended over level lands of the Salt River Valley until now a large area is occupied by farms and ranches in a state of high cultivation, connected by fine roads in greater part lined with cottonwoods and other trees. The valley population is about 150,000. Many crops are raised, including a large production of grapefruit and alfalfa, and for a wide area the region is a veritable : garden, im great contrast to adjoining unirrigated lands that remain in their original desert condition, as shown in Plate 27, A. (See also _ Pls. 26, B, and 27, B.) In 1929, according to the United States Phoenix. miles. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 205 Bureau of Reclamation, the agricultural products were valued at $38,000,000 from an irrigated area of 404,315 acres. Production and irrigated area have about doubled since 1920. The development of irrigation was slow and irregular under private management, and there were many complaints of inadequacy of water supply and much conflict in respect to claims for water and canal rights. Finally the United States Bureau of Reclamation “ reorgan- ized the project and built the Roosevelt Dam to hold the water of the Salt River and its tributary Tonto Creek in a huge reservoir in the mountains 80 miles east of Phoenix. (See p. 213.) In the Salt River Valley, as in most other irrigated lands in the Southwest, alfalfa is the most extensive crop, yielding from 5 to 8 tons to the acre; other forage plants are also raised, most of them giving two crops a year. The value of the cotton crop in 1929 is estimated at $12,435,000 by the State College of Agriculture, including much of the itehanlh variety introduced from Egypt, for which the region is well suited. Cotton was a minor product prior to 1912, when its area was only 400 acres. The cost of producing cotton in the Salt River Valley in 1928-29, according to careful investigations by the State College of Agriculture, ranged from 8.72 to 20.46 cents (average 13.4 cents) a pound for ordinary cotton and from 17.2 to 38.8 cents (average 23.8 cents) for long-staple cotton. This included picking, which cost 1.5 and 2.5 cents respectively, and ginning, 45 cents per 100 pounds of seed cotton. The ginning is more than paid for by the value of the seed. Cattle feeding and dairy farming have the advantage of having open pastures the year round, but a staggered system of pasturing is used to provide for regrowth of the grass. About 25,000 dairy cattle were reported in 1929. Many sheep are wintered in the Salt River Valley to be fattened on alfalfa. The sugar mills are busy for much of the year, the cane crop coming in as the beet crop ends. Citrus fruits are extensively produced, to the number of 453,330 boxes in 1929 (Census report). The very young grapefruit trees can not be left out in winter, so they are taken up in December and placed under cover until spring. This process is called ‘‘balling,”’ because a ball of earth is taken up with the roots. It was in the suburb of Ingleside, at the foot of Camelback Mountain, Up to June 30, 1929, the Government L 3: 4 -j kL. + @19Eec ANN Ann: 46 This bureau of the Government was an outgrowth of plans of Maj. J. W. ree- Powell for the reclamation of the arid lands of the West, and it was brought into existence by the irrigation act of 1902, fostered by President Theodore Roosevelt, with the late F. H. Newell as the first director. The Roosevelt Dam was the first large project completed. lamation projects in the United States (not counting interest), and the total repayments have been $36,350,000. The repayments in the fiscal year of 1929 amounted to $6,308,000 (U. 8S. Bur. Reclamation). 206 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES that the first orange orchard and the first olive grove in the Salt River Valley were planted. Of cantaloupes and melons the annual output is nearly 6,000 carloads, and of lettuce about 10,000 carloads. Figs and dates are important products, and other small fruits are raised in great variety and large amount. Much water for irrigation, city water systems, and individval ranches is pumped from shallow wells in the gravel and sand that underlie the Salt River Valley. These deposits contain a large volume of water, mostly the general underflow from the Salt and Gila Rivers to which is added some of the local flood water entering the valley. It is believed that although most of the rainfall is lost by evaporation or run-off, a part of it as well as considerable water that has been used for irrigation sinks into the porous material of the valley floor and in a measure replenishes the underground supply.7 The amount of underground water available varies from place to place with the thick- ness and character of the permeable beds, and in some localities heavy pumping has depleted the supply. It is estimated that 525 square miles in the Salt River Valley is underlain by water-bearing beds from which the water can be profitably utilized by pumping.® About Mesa the area of water-bearing beds is 15 miles wide and some of them extend to a depth of 200 feet. In the Salt River Valley as in other similar districts there are two principal kinds of alluvium—the coarse river deposits of many sorts, laid down at various stages of the rivers, in old and new channels, and under different conditions of velocity; and the finer sheet wash rate of 2 to 3 miles a year has been alley fill and other permeable material | estimated. (Meinzer.) i * A detailed study of these under- ud of the ground water resources was made by of a mile a year, or one-eighth of an | the U. §. Geological Survey in 1900— _ inch 4 minute, is a fair average; in the | 1903. (See Water-Supply Paper 136, : sands of the rivers and wash deposits a | by W. T. Lee.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ESF PHOENYP = «Maric “Unetya Gillage) LL tt. ee eee Hansen | Pozo! Olay) (2 re 29 Buchan <4 EL/#IB hagas. | HZ Snaketown” a f Rivera =< ‘es. HIGHWAY j ; a D \~ ~1BTO MEL 3977 eS ~ 4 nthe and other Acongge products et Tertiery ry ( ~ C Sek 1 os A Ls Schist, mostly 6 Oo. / CC ‘ * 5 D_ Granite, mostly Tee Cesuees Wooatier Pks' / Geology by N. H. Darton and others Bipa p \a é ° |RESERV ; Scale 500,000 ! linch=8 miles ia 18} S 10 20 MILES ee 15 =e KILOMETERS “Contour iekancad 200 feet 32 feve/ ach le ted show th The distances from New Or. lean , La., are shown every in the lower left psi ris mane in detail on the U.S. G 10 miles, and the crossties are PURE 1 mile apart tect map of that ni Casa Grande i EL/IZ98 , £4 14S + i. Ne ew =e a ee 9) ‘ { -Chiuschu iPepato village) am Topography: U. S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 207 beds of boulders underground, and at a later stage the river shifted to its present course north of these mountains. At this time it deposited the boulder beds that yield the underflow about Phoenix. These later gravel deposits lie in an old channel roughly parallel to the present one and excavated in the finer beds which were spread widely by overflows during the earlier period of accumulation. Care has to be taken in irrigation not to let the mineral contents of the water accumulate in the soil, especially some of the well waters, which are more highly mineralized than the river water. In some parts of the valley the soil has been poisoned in this way, but this can be avoided by suitable underdrainage to carry off water that otherwise would evaporate and leave its dissolved mineral matter. The Salt River Mountains, which rise abruptly from the desert plain a few miles south of Phoenix, consist of chloritic schist and fine-grained biotite granite. The granite is quarried to some extent as an ornamental stone. The Sacaton Mountains and many of the peaks and ridges on the east and south sides of the Salt River Valley are made up of granite, some of which is very coarse grained, with many of the feldspar crystals as much as 2 inches in length. A few miles north of Phoenix are the Phoenix Mountains, which consist largely of quartzite and other metamorphic rocks in massive beds, several thousand feet thick in all, tilted at high angles. Some of the mountains in the Salt River region are upthrust blocks; others are remnants of older ridges nearly buried by valley deposits. The climate of Phoenix is similar to that of most of the deserts of southwestern Arizona at elevations from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. Accord- ing to the records of the United States Weather Bureau, the mean annual precipitation is about 8 inches, most of which falls in mid- summer showers. The amount varies greatly from year to year, however, in some years being less than 5 inches and in others as much as 14.41 inches (1911). The mean annual temperature is 70°, and the summers are long and warm, but the summer heat is much less oppressive than in regions with more moisture in the atmosphere. The amount of sunshine, as compared with the greatest amount pos- sible, is 84 per cent. The mean temperature during the winter is about 40°, owing to cold nights, but most of the winter days are mild. Parts of the valley are free from killing frosts. (Continued on p- 218.) DETOUR BY THE APACHE TRAIL A most picturesque chapter is added to the transcontinental trip by the detour over the Apache Trail. (See fig. 51.) The distance is 120 miles in all and requires about one day in time and certain extra expenses for bus fare and hotel stop. This additional time and ex- pense are well justified, however, by the superb scenery and the thrill- ing character of the trip. 208 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Westbound passengers diverge from the main line at Bowie, pro- ceeding by a branch railroad (through sleeper) to Globe and thence by auto bus to Phoenix, where the main line is rejoined. This detour is equally easy in the reverse order for eastbound passengers, who leave the main line at Phoenix and rejoin it at Bowie. The best features of this trip may also be seen by a circuit in private conveyance from Tucson over excellent highways across the highly picturesque Santa Catalina, Mescal, and Pinal Mountains, up the canyon of the Gila River to Globe and thence over the Apache Trail to Phoenix (or the reverse order). The geologic features on this line of travel are espe- cially interesting. A comprehensive 1-day trip can be made from Phoenix to the Roosevelt Dam or even to Globe, and return, and in this trip duplication can be avoided by making the return journey to Phoenix over a perfect highway crossing the mountains from Miami to Superior and thence to Phoenix. All these trips eliminate the less interesting part of the journey, between Bowie and Globe. From Globe to Phoenix the route is a fine highway following the old Apache Indian trail across Pinal Mountain, past the Roosevelt Reser- voir, down the Salt River Canyon, through a very rugged region south of that river, past Superstition Mountain and across the ‘Salt River Valley irrigation district. The scenery is most impressive and the geology is of great interest. Safford. wide areas of verdant fields of alfalfa, corn, and other crops, Elevation 2,923 feet. . « Population 1,706, Water is also derived from wells and from Merijilda miles. Mormon colonists, who had a hard struggle with Indians, floods, and other difficulties. A large proportion of the present population of the region, which is about 10,000, consists of descendants of these original " Named for A. P. K. Safford, governor of the Territory from 1869 to 1877. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 27 A. THE DESERT FROM WHICH THE SALT RIVER VALLEY IRRIGATION DISTRICT HAS BEEN RECLAIMED It is covered by cacti —_ oe desert plants and margined by bare rocky mountain slopes. Note sahuaros in fruit, also cholla at right. B. IRRIGATING IN SALT RIVER VALLEY The water is derived from the Salt River and from wells. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 28 A. CLIFF DWELLINGS, TONTO NATIONAL MON UMENT, 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ROOSEVELT, ARIZ. ROOSEVELT DAM AN D RESERVOIR, ARIZ. ht; Sierra Ancha in distance; ledges of Mescal li at left. Apache Trail at rig mestone and overlying strata SHNIT OLI0OVd NYAHLAOS 113" ae ‘ @ } as wan eat we ree Station |. . “x GLoBe 43] 7 Miami, oe ’ Superior f San Carlos « 3 Geroninie™ *«: Fhanias ano Band Winkelman ee la Bend \ 3 ee ii Thatcher Safford : Tanque Escala nie . . 2" Tucson Y Bowie Vail a Willcox 14 C., . = Cochise San Simon ne ne am . Ficure 51.—Map showing route of Apache Trail, Ariz. 60G 210 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES From Safford northwest the railroad follows the southwest side of the Gila River, passing through an extensive irrigation district about the towns of Thatcher, Central, Pima, and Fort Thomas. In this region are many remains of dwellings and pottery of aborigines who used the water of the Gila River for irrigation many centuries before the coming of the white man. To the north is the high ridge of the Gila Mountains, made up of great flows of lava and deposits of vol- canic tuff, agglomerate, and ash extending north to the White Moun- tains, which were the center of eruption of a vast amount of volcanic matter in Tertiary time. To the west are many high mountains con- sisting mostly of granite of pre-Cambrian age. About 11 miles north of Pima are hot springs, probably rising along a fault at the foot of the Gila Mountains. At Fort Thomas was an old frontier fort. At Geronimo the route enters the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 55 miles wide and occupied by 2,715 Apache Indians, a district of valley and mountains with considerable good land along the wide alluvial flats adjoining the Gila River. The lower part of the valley in the center of the reservation, however, is flooded by the great San Carlos Reservoir created by the Coolidge Dam, which is built in a narrow canyon in the Mescal Mountains. The dam, completed in 1927 at a cost of $5,500,000, was constructed by the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs to control water for the irrigation of the Gila River Indian Reservation and the adjoining region west of Florence and about Coolidge, Casa Grande, and Sacaton. According to the records in the office of the Commissioner the dam, which is of novel construc- tion, consists of three domes supported by two buttresses, is 250 feet high and 920 feet long, and has a spillway capacity of 120,000 second- feet. The reservoir is about 25 miles long and in places 4 miles wide and has a capacity of about 1,200,000 acre-feet of water. Thisamount is sufficient to cover 100,000 acres to a depth of 12 feet, which is four times the volume required for one year’s irrigation in the Casa Grande- Gila Reservation region. Below the dam is a power plant using two 7,500-horsepower turbines. This dam is barely visible from the rail- road, which now skirts the north and east margins of the reservoir, but it is crossed by the highway from Bowie to Globe. At its abut- ments are fine exposures of eastward-dipping limestones of Carbonif- erous age. San Carlos, long known as Rice, is at the confluence of the San Carlos River and Aliso Creek, two streams which also supply water Sins Cabten, to the San Carlos Reservoir. On both sides of the Elevation 2,623 feet, Valley here are lava-capped mesas, and a short dis- Population 43, tance east is the old volcanic vent known as the -< Oreans 1449 Triplets. From San Carlos the valley of Aliso Creek poe is ascended. To the south are the high granite _ Tidges of Hayes Mountain, capped in part by an extensive succession a SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 211 Some of the Apache and overlying limestones are exposed in cuts of the railroad 6 miles west of San Carlos. To the southwest are the Pinal Mountains (pee-nahl’), consisting of granite and schist and culminating in Pinal Peak (elevation 7,850 feet). Passing out of the Indian reservation about 12 miles west of San Carlos, the railroad crosses the gravel-filled divide between the Gila and Salt River drainage basins and descends a short ._..._ distance to Globe. Population 7,187. The old mining town of Globe owes its existence New Orleans 1,510 and sustenance mainly to the Old Dominion copper mine, the workings of which extend far under the hills on the north side of the valley, in the northern part of the town. This mine has been in operation since 1877, producing a large amount of copper, much of it from rich ore that has been smelted, as is indi- cated by the great terrace of black slag near the mine. The ore is Globe. wsw. ENE. ce bine eb ee ot or 4 A S- Oi ef gc? \e 3% “3 genet. iin OS ON cee at =") Late oleae . Bo Fe sett ecake «Vertical “zcale 2 Miles 1,000 Feet t FIGURE 52.—Secti th ter of Hayes Mountain, southwest of San Carlos, Ariz. in rocks of the Apache group, especially the Mescal limestone, which are invaded by large dikes and sills of diabase intruded in molten condition in pre-Cambrian time. Lying unconformably above the Apache rocks are sandstone of Cambrian age, limestone of Devonian and Carboniferous age, and a capping of dacite, a light-gray massive volcanic rock of Tertiary age that is conspicuous on the slopes near the mine. The area is traversed by many faults. The mine is very wet; in 1928 it was necessary to pump 5,000,000 gallons a day. Part of this water is sold for use at Miami and elsewhere. There are smaller mines north of Globe which have yielded considerable copper. Globe was established in 1876 and named from a nearby mining claim. (See figs. 53, 54.) Globe is in a region of great archeologic interest, for many remains of prehistoric structures and implements have been found here, and on the Healy terrace, on the edge of the city, an old dwelling has been uncovered. 50 According to the U. S. Bureau of | and silver. Most of the ore is now Mines the production of ore at this | mined from 2,400 to 2,600 feet below mine to 1929 was 415,890 tons, aver- | the surface. According to the Mines aging 2.65 per cent of copper and | Handbook for 1931 this mine paid yielding about 18,943,000 pounds of | dividends of $14,405,260 from 1905 to copper, together with considerable gold | 1918 and $2,477,750 from 1919 to 1929. 212 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES From Globe busses convey passengers over the Phoenix highway, generally known as the Apache Trail. The first conspicuous feature is a ridge of gravel (old valley fill), which is crossed just south of the Old Dominion mine. The road passes about 2 miles east of the great Sw. NE. Apache Mtn. FIGURE 53.—Section of region near Globe, Ariz. By Ransome and Darton copper camp of Miami, where copper is extracted by acid leaching from altered schists and other rocks that carry the metal in small percentage. Great piles of tailings of pulverized rock are a con- spicuous feature. According.to the United States Bureau of Mines, T- 4 Bie 4 ba - i me PACE By Ae 1, y .. ‘f J ba a 5 a mah (2 tof As The cae . 7) ~ te Rogie tee SSS "EARS ae ~ lente. ts eestniaceee See hoon eck Ss SE e EC as Gila conglomerate “Dacite : | conglomerate Grasats a ry AND Devenieees AL PCNCAN ARCHEAN "§ Ly Se yy ye . of Mote ww -=- Tornado and Martin Apache group Granite Pinal schist Faults peaetones ° 1 5Miles FIGURE 54.—Outline geologic map of Globe-Miami mining region, Ariz. By F. L. Ransome in 1929 this camp produced 166,357,360 pounds of copper from ae ,067 tons of ore in which the copper content ranged from 0.83 ee ee sca The ore here is predominantly chalcocite; that at the Old De tinion mine in Globe contains also chalcopyrite, bornite, SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 213 and pyrite. The road descends the valley of Pinal Creek for some distance past outcrops of dacite lava and rocks of the Apache group broken by many faults. (See fig. 55.) Beyond the small irrigation settlement of Wheatfield the north end of the Pinal Mountains is crossed. This ridge here consists mainly of coarse granite (probably pre-Cambrian), which to the north is capped by heavy lava flows of Tertiary age. From the summit, which is in a high saddle (elevation 3,980 feet), there is a fine view of the valleys of the Salt River and Tonto Creek (tone’ toe), now flooded for many miles by the Roosevelt Reservoir. The broad old valley of the Salt River is floored and in part mar- gined with valley fill consisting mostly of gravel and sand, part of it bedded, and some fine sediments probably deposited in alake. The lake deposits are well exposed in badlands north of Roosevelt. As the road approaches Roosevelt there is a good view of the extensive Tonto cliff dwellings of aborigines in a deep alcove high in the cliffs about Barnes Peak i Mescal limesto : a Ke Spring quartzite sw So Lower division) si Ean: Dripping Spring quartzite om oat ae aa —Sill = ’ _ — 7 oy ii r a ef ee ae - see fares - “A; pet” ee ys Opso7 = ti Dit orerit ne ee ore f af PC TNS Se BS a hl Bs S ss / te’ yao AIA Bo 500 1 arene Feet L i FIGURE 55.—Section showing relations of Apache ee 7 miles northwest of Miami, Ariz. By F.L. Rans' 2 miles southwest of the road. (See pl. 28, A.) One of them is a three-storied building, and there are also niaiiae structures, all of which have been abandoned for many centuries. There are also ruins of cliff dwellings in the Sierra Ancha, on the north side of the Salt River Valley. This high range of vides and plateaus consists of a thick succession of strata of the Apache group invaded by intrusive sills of diabase, as shown in Figure 56. Certain layers of the Mescal limestone have been altered to the chrysotile variety of asbestos, . which has been mined extensively for commercial use. Some of the refuse heaps at the workings are plainly visible from the road, as great white streaks high on the mountain slope. The value of this mineral varies greatly with quality. According to the Bureau of Mines the prices in 1931 ranged from $10 to $400 a ton. A short distance beyond the small village of Roosevelt the Roosevelt Dam (pl. 28, B) is reached. It is built across the entrance of the long, deep canyon cut through the mountains by the Salt River just below the confluence of Tonto Creek. The Salt River rises in the mountains 214 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES of eastern Arizona, where there is a moderately large rainfall and much snow. Its volume varies considerably from year to year; in 1914 the flow into the reservoir was 629,500 acre-feet, and in 1915 it was 1,440,100 acre-feet (U.S. Bur. Reclamation). Tonto Creek drains an extensive district north of the reservoir but has a much smaller flow than the Salt River. The reservoir when full is 15 miles long and from 2 to 4 miles wide and provides water for the irrigation of the Mesa-Phoenix region, 70 to 80 miles west of the dam. This project was one of the early ones of the United States Bureau of Reclamation. At the time the work was begun in 1903 the region was inaccessible, so that roads had to be built, a cement mill erected, and a plant constructed for development of power from a canal taken out of the Salt River 19 miles above the dam site. Much of the work _ was done by Apache Indians. (See pl. 29, A.) The dam was com- pleted in 1911 and dedicated by ex-President Theodore Roosevelt on oy 7? Ye “ i Horizontal scale o ' L lL Vertical scale 500 1000 Feet FicuRE 56.—Section through Sierra Ancha, 15 miles northeast of Roosevelt, Ariz; d, Dripping Spring quartzite; b, Barnes conglomerate; p, Pioneer shale; s, Scanlan conglomerate March 18 of that year. According to the United States Bureau of Reclamation it is 1,125 feet long and 280 feet high (to the roadway), with great spillways, in all requiring about 340,000 cubic yards of masonry. The power plant develops as much as 10,000 kilowatts, which is transmitted to the Phoenix region on three wires carrying 20 per cent to this capacity and treble the electric power. These features completely control the Salt River, which formerly wasted flood waters that caused devastation in the lower country. From ° dams water is let out as needed, and the supply is sufficient for about $10,000,000. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 215 At the dam are great rock walls exhibiting one of the finest known sections of the Apache group, which lies on pre-Cambrian granite and is overlain unconformably by sandstones and limestones of Cambrian, Devonian, and Carboniferous age. (See fig. 57.) The strata dip eastward, and the hard quartzites form the crest and east slope of a high mountain range, the northern part of which is known as the Mazatzal Mountains (mah-zat-zahl’, Indian word for red rocks). The river has excavated a canyon nearly half a mile deep across this range, which has been uplifted since the stream has flowed in its resent course." The range is a long up-tilted block of the earth’s crust, west of which the pre-Cambrian rocks occupy a wide area, in part overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks. Below the Roosevelt Dam the road descends the Salt River Canyon along its south side, crossing a wide area of the old granite that under- 69y , SW. = Sonn oy NE: J Rh . esther at?) a Tine (iE FIGURE 57.—Section at Roosevelt Dam, Ariz. lies the Apache group near the dam. In places, especially at points a few miles west of the dam, this granite is invaded by thick dikes of 5t The section begins a short distance | feet. Much of this limestone is below the dam and extends to the | but some beds contain considerable quarries southeast of the dam. The | interbedded chert in thin layers, pos- and the Scanlan conglomerate, the | lies a sheet of lava (basalt), vesicular basal formation of the Apache group, | in large part, especially at the top and is clearly exposed on the road as well le. as in the north wall of the canyon, a | This was a surface lava flow in late short distance below the dam. The | Apache time. The overlying sand- Dripping Spring formation, next above, | stone (Cambrian), about 200 feet is a reddish quartzite, in part slabby, | thick, contains at the base pebbles of but so hard and compact that it makes | the lava and other rocks, and though the mountain crests to the north and | conformable in attitude it is separated the Mescal limestone, which here | which are well exposed in ledges and attains its maximum thickness of 350 | quarries above the dam, 216 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES diabase that doubtless were feeders of sills in the Apache group, which probably formerly overlay the granite in this area also. The sahuaro, or giant cactus, is conspicuous here and in the country to the west. (See p.179.) The narrow depths of the canyon in this vicinity are occupied by Apache Lake, a long picturesque reservoir held by the Horse Mesa Dam, built in 1926 in a tight canyon cut by the Salt River through the rhyolite at the west end of Horse Mesa, 17 miles below the Roosevelt Dam. According to the Bureau of Reclamation the Horse Mesa Dam is 305 feet high (bedrock to top of coping) and 540 feet long. The head of 264 feet gives about 43,000 horsepower. The lake has a storage capacity of 245,000 acre-feet. The highway skirts the lake but does not reach the dam. Six miles below the Roosevelt Dam, where the road climbs onto a high spur, and at various other points in the next few miles there are fine views of Apache Lake and its high encompassing cliffs of volcanic rocks. These rocks belong to the succession that lies in a syncline constituting the southwest flank of the Mazatzal Mountains, Horse Mesa, and the highlands south of Apache Lake. (See fig. 58.) In this region there are many fine views of Four Peaks (elevation 7,645 feet), in the Mazatzal Mountains to the north, and of the yy =~ et > Pp EER EES SU SERALTE TSUN a a PAE en Ie Cer Oe Cr Poor okie sec SMe at oe a Seat \ tal scale : ; Vertical scale 4 Miles ° 500 4500 Feet wide, FicURE 58.—Section showing relations of Tertiary voleanic succession 15 miles southwest of Roosevelt Dam, Ariz. Tr, Rhyolite tuff; Ta, andesite; Agr, granite ridges capped by Apache or voleanic rocks to the south. The Four Peaks are also visible from many points westward to Phoenix. The Mazatzal Mountains contain deposits of quicksilver ore of low quality but of considerable extent which may prove to be of economic impor- tance. They are in schists of pre-Cambrian age.” About 14 miles below the Roosevelt Dam the highway crosses & low divide, leaving the Salt River Valley, and passes into the valley of a branch of Fish Creek. Here in a short distance the granite is hidden by the volcanic succession just mentioned, of which the lower _ members (andesite or latite) are dark gray to bright red. These are _ overlain by a 2,000-foot succession of light-colored tuffs, agglomerates, and lava flows (largely rhyolite), most of which are so hard and mas- sive that they present huge cliffs. These are especially prominent on h Creek, as shown in Plate 30, and in the canyon of the Salt River, , F.L., U. 8. Geol. Survey Bull. 620, pp. 111-128, 1916. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 24 A. ENCAMPMENT OF APACHE INDIANS ON BANK OF ROOSEVELT RESERVOIR These Indians did much of the construction work on the d am and the Apache Trail. Sierra Ancha in distances B. VIEW ACROSS CANYON LAKE pithy CANYON OF SALT RIVER, 35 MILES EAST OF PHOENIX, ARIZ. Apache Trail in foreground; Four Peaks (Mazatzal Mountains) in distance. The cliffs are vol- j sate i canic tuff, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 30 VIEW UP CANYON OF FISH CREEK AT CROSSING OF APACHE TRAIL, 40 MILES EAST OF PHOENIX, ARIZ. Cliffs of volcanic tuff, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 31 A. BLOSSOMS OF PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS (NOPAL), SALT RIVER VALLEY NEAR PHOENIX, ARIZ ea B. SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, ARIZ. From point near Apache Trail, 28 miles eas ,0enix, lookir Ocotillo on right; giant cactus tn in center, oan ri lt Se and wine aie a ‘aa ssert plants U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 82 - MONTEZUMA FACE, NORTHEAST OF HYDER SIDING, ARIZ. A remarkable profile on th B. NORTHERN PART OF MOHAWK MOUNTAINS, ARIZ. Consisting of sandstone, shale, and conglomerate of kaa age, steeply tilted, Looking south-southeast. (E. D, Wilson.) SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES AAT both of which have cut deeply into them. There are fine exposures of these rocks on the ascent on the west side of Fish Creek, where the road climbs nearly 800 feet to gain the summit of the principal massive member, and also on the wide upland westward, which the road trav- erses on the divide between Fish Creek and Tortilla Creek. In a cavern called Hip Pocket, on the slopes near Fish Creek, American troops under General Crook cornered a band of outlaw Apaches and destroyed them all, in part by rolling stones onto them from the cliffs under which they were hiding. As shown in Figure 58, the principal structural] feature in this vicinity is a shallow syncline, which is plainly visible along the road for a long distance west. Tortilla Creek exposes the dark basal mem- ber of the succession. Mormon Flat, the lower part of the valley of this creek, at its junction with the Salt River, is flooded by the reservoir known as Canyon Lake (pl. 29, B), which is held by a dam built in 1923-1925 in a bend of the Salt River just below Tortilla Creek. The river enters the reservoir through a gap near the lower end of the wide portion of the lake. The dam is 350 feet long and 229 feet high above bedrock, which lies about 70 feet below the bed of the river. It cost about $1,257,000, and the power plant, which develops 10,000 horsepower, an additional $500,000 The Stewart Mountain Dam, holding the Sahuaro Reservoir, is 10 miles below the Mormon Flat Dam and 7 miles north of the Apache Trail, in a narrow part of the Salt River Canyon where the river passes through walls of granite. It is 210 feet high above bedrock and cost $2,300,000 for the dam and a power system of 17,500 horsepower. The storage capacity is about 70,000 acre-feet. From Canyon Lake the road climbs rapidly to a divide consisting of the rhyolite tuffs and lavas of the volcanic succession, dipping north at moderate angles and showing many details of the relations of various lava flows and tuff accumulations. At many places the old Apache Indian trail is visible near the road. Not far beyond the summit in Apache Gap, Superstition Mountain comes into view, a huge pile of the same volcanic succession just crossed by the road but lying nearly horizontal and on a base of granite, which is revealed at a few points, (See pl. 31, B.) The precipitous west front of this mountain is skirted by heer highway to and beyond the old Goldfield camp, which has produced considerable ore. Superstition Mountain is a famous subject for photographers and painters and probably appears in more pictures than any other mountain in the West. In the foreground are usually shown the sahuaro, cholla, and some other cacti and desert plants which are conspicuous in this region. A short distance north of Superstition Mountain and visible from points near Goldfield is Weavers Needle, a sharp peak of voleanic rock. In this vicinity was the Lost Dutchman mine, reported to have had wonderful richness. Many futile attempts have been made to find it. 152109°—33——15 218 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Five miles from Goldfield is Apache Junction, where the highway from Florence and Tucson joins the Apache Trail, and from this point a nearly due west course is taken to Phoenix. On the way are passed several hills and ridges, consisting of granite or schist, rising abruptly out of the desert, which here is a wide plain of alluvium irrigated by water from the Salt River. MAIN LINE, PHOENIX TO WELLTON, ARIZ. West from Phoenix the railroad follows the wide Salt River, with its highly cultivated district of irrigated fields, through Fowler, Cowden, and Cashion sidings and the town of Tolle- son. At Cashion is a large power plant made ou ae feet conspicuous by its high stacks. In this district ew Orleans 1,631 alfalfa, cantaloupes, head lettuce, and cotton are pst the principal products, and many cattle are pastured. Near Litchfield the route crosses the Agua Fria River (ah’gwa free’ah, Spanish for cold water), a stream that drains a mountain Litchfield region of volcanic rocks, schists, etc., to the north : in which considerable mining is dons: Southeast of eck ne Litchfield is the junction of the Salt and Gila Rivers New Orleans 1,636 near the north end of the Sierra Estrella (es-tray’ya), eas a high and exceptionally rugged range of schist that extends far southward. A short distance farther east, the Santa Cruz River, when flowing, empties into the Gila River. Litchfield, Norton, and Liberty are small settlements where a considerable area of desert land has been reclaimed by irrigation. (Turn to sheet 24.) West of Liberty, however, there is a zone about 4 miles wide in which the soil appears to be too much mineralized for agriculture. At Buckeye, on the north side of the Gila River, wide fields of alfalfa, cotton, grains, and other crops are irrigated by a canal from thaaice the Gila near the mouth of the Agua Fria. Alfalfa ye. : : : , seed is an important product. The canal is 20 miles Population 1077, long and provides water for nearly 20,000 acres. pacts Orleans 1,651 Considerable water also is pumped from the under- flow from the Gila River, some of the wells yielding 200 gallons a minute. An irrigation district on the south side of the valley uses water pumped from the Gila River. North of Buckeye are the rocky slopes of the White Tank Mountains, which consist of light-colored massive schists and granite cut by small dikes of pegma- bie , diabase, and other igneous rocks. A few remnants of lava have * Tolleson. in this range. The Buckeye Hills, south of Buckeye, are irregular buttes and hills = of granite and schist, part of a wide area of pre-Cambrian rocks oe an extensive land surface that probably persisted 1 in 1929; named for Na Gitolerm ene of the original settlers. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 219 through most of Paleozoic and later time. Granite appears near the river bank southeast of Liberty and Buckeye. West of Buckeye the railroad continues along the north side of the Gila Valley, passing through several sidings used to some extent as shipping points for the many ranches in the district, most of them sustained by irriga- tion. Just beyond Hassayampa siding the creek of that name is crossed. It drains an area of moderate extent in the northern part of Maricopa County. There is a legend widely quoted in Arizona that the veracity of persons who have quenched their thiest with the water of Hassayampa Creek can never be relied on. Thirty miles to the north is the Vulture mine, on the south slope of the Vulture Mountains, which for a time was a notable producer of silver. The famous Vulture lode, discovered in 1863, yielded ore containing more than $4,000,000 in gold (Yearbook of Arizona, 1930). Not far beyond Hassayampa, near Dixie siding, there are small areas of recent lava, and Robbins Butte and Powers Butte, on the south bank of the Gila River, are conspicuous remnants of lava. In Powers Butte the lava caps sandstone, probably of Tertiary age. Here the Gila River bends sharply southward around the west end of the Buckeye Hills, but the railroad takes a southwesterly course. Near Arli n there is a small irrigation district using river water. Alfalfa is the principal crop, and most of it is used to feed cattle. Five miles south of Powers Butte, at a point where the valley is greatly narrowed by a lava flow,® the Gillespie Dam impounds the river water. This dam, built by F. A. Gillespie in 1921, is a concrete structure 1,800 feet long which conserves water for the irrigation of about 100,000 acres below Gila Bend, including the Indian reserva- tion that occupies a long strip of bottom lands northwest of the town. The geologic relations at this dam are shown in F igure 59, From Arlington the railroad descends into the broad valley of Centennial Draw, so named because it is about 100 miles in length from the most remote portion of the basin which it drains. The * The Vulture Mountains consist of volcanic rocks of Tertiary age lying on pre-Cambrian schists cut by granites and other igneous rocks. 55 The lava that occupies the plain west of the Gillespie Dam is relatively recent and no doubt blocked the valley for a while and caused a temporary lake. Indistinet terraces in the Arling- ton Valley, especially on the edge of the basalt hills north of Arlington village, seem to indicate that the lake extended to that place. Probably at that time most of the water of the Gila River escaped westward through the pass in the Gila Bend Mountains. Terraces leading into the pass were doubtless formed then, for they could not have been developed by stream now heading in the pass. Gila River was probably also dammed by the lava flow north of Sentinel, for the present channel is in a gap cut through the lava. The west end of the Tint We: of andesitie lava interbedded in sandy shales and conglomerate of Tertiary age. The conglomerate carries angu- lar pebbles as much as 6 inches in length. 220 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES lower part of its course is through a thicket of mesquite. The route continues southwestward on an upgrade of about 200 feet to a pass through the Gila Bend Mountains, thus avoiding the big bend of the Gila River. On this grade there are fine views to the northwest showing very prominent buttes, peaks, and ridges of volcanic rocks rising steeply from wide desert valleys. The most conspicuous of these is Saddle Mountain, more than 2,000 feet high, which takes its name from a deep saddle-shaped depression in its top. These features mark a center of great volcanic activity in Tertiary time, with the outpouring of thick sheets of lava and a large amount of ash and tuff. The sheets of these materials have been gently tilted and flexed and considerably faulted, and erosion has cut wide valleys that isolate the ridges. In Saddle Mountain the beds are broken by many faults. sw. NE. Gila Bend Mts. Buckeye i NI "F Ad by er, ° es ype Ficure 59.—Section across the valley of the Gila River at Gillespie Dam, Ariz. After C. P. Ross. Ql, Quaternary lava; Tl, Tertiary lava; Ts, Tertiary sandstone; Agr, granite The rocks underlying this region are granite and schist of pre-Cam- brian age which present a rolling surface under the volcanic deposits. West of Crag the railroad reaches outcrops of lavas and other volcanic rocks which are extensively displayed in the pass at the divide near Harqua and in many surrounding ridges. In this desolate region the desert flora is well represented by various cacti, including scattered sahuaros, many covilleas, and much palo- verde and mesquite, the last named being most conspicuous along the dry washes. The volcanic succession has great thickness in the prom- inent flat-topped Woolsey Peak,” which is conspicuous to the south at intervals from Crag to Gillespie. Cimmerian Peak is the highest point 58 According to C. P. Ross the rocks | which lie just east of Saddle Mountain, in Saddle Mountain consist of fine- | consist mostly of the younger basalt, of fragmental rocks, mostly volcanic | pioneer settler on the Gila River who agglomerates and breccias. Some of | engineered the ‘Pinole treaty,” in the rounded forms and hollows appear | which many Indians, invited to come to be due to a disposition to curved | unarmed to a feast and council, were _ exfoliation and not the result of solu- | treacherously set upon and slaughtered _ tion or erosion. The Palo Verde Hills, | by their host and his friends. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 221 on a prominent serrated ridge which extends to July 4 Butte and probably marks a great igneous dike. The old mail road from Phoenix to Yuma crossed these mountains in a pass between Cimmerian and Woolsey Peaks and, descending Woolsey Arroyo, reached the bank of the Gila River at Agua Caliente (ca-liane’ tay). It passed Woolsey Well, formerly a favorite camping place, about 3 miles west of Woolsey eak, where some interesting geologic features are exposed. The basement lavas are overlain by conglomerate and sandstone of Ter- tiary age, tilted gently to the west. These rocks are capped by a sheet of basalt and intersected by several dikes and sills of basalt. Some of the boulders in the conglomerate are from 1 to 3 feet in diameter. About 2 miles northwest of Gillespie is the Old Dixie mine, where shale and andesitic agglomerate are cut by quartz monzonite por- phyry that was probably intruded in Tertiary time. ix~ =~ eae RS are ota 1 =s tr FP FueX, ete fe Se ie =~ Fagg oy iy) ‘Cagev!s AS ANSINITE ER Pe ee if FI eS a ae ‘ ges SIN eS TCO FIGURE 60.—Section in Yellow Medicine Butte and adjoining mountai Arizona. Tb, basalt; Te, conglomerate; Tt, light tuff; Ta, andesite, etc.; Agr, granite On approaching Harqua siding the railroad passes through cuts of granite in a small exposure in the midst of the volcanic succession. From the divide at Harqua siding there is a rapid Harqua. descent into the wide alluvial flat of Quail Spring Po gana ag ~~ Wash. To the north from a point near Saddle siding miles. "there is an excellent view of Yellow Medicine Butte, which consists of a high southward-sloping cuesta of basalt capping a thick mass of tuffs. A fault traverses this cuesta, breaking it into two portions. This succession and the basement of granite on which it lies is general throughout the region, notably in the Montezuma Cuesta and its companion to the south; in Columbus Peak, where the dip is 20°; and in the Agua Caliente Mountains. The relations are shown in Figure 60. Beyond Papago siding a gap leads between basalt-capped mesas. Passing Montezuma and Camel sidings the lowlands on the north side of the Gila River are entered. To the north is a fine view of a feature known as Montezuma Face, which, as shown in Plate 32, A, presents a remarkably natural face profile looking upward, 222 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES At Hyder the railroad passes north of the basalt-capped mesas known as the Agua Caliente Mountains, the slopes of which are fyaer: covered with talus. A big dike in the hill just north : of the railroad extends southward under the northern- Elevation 536 feet. Population 20.* most of these mesas. At the south end of these mesas sate! *ieae 1,704 are the warm springs at Agua Caliente (Spanish for : hot water), where a health resort has been established to utilize the water. The priest-explorer Sedelmaier visited them in 1748, and Garcés and Font mention them in their diaries of the Anza expedition of 1775. For a long time Agua Caliente was a station on the old stage road that crossed the mountains near Woolsey Well. Sahuaros occur on the plains and hillsides aes to Athel siding, together with widely spaced bushes, mainly Covil At Athel siding the sharp peaks of Pass ae a group of volcanic buttes 8 miles to the north, are seen, and northwest of Athel and north from Horn to Kofa (turn to sheet 25) the Palomas Mountains are conspicuous. These mountains consist of a cap of basalt on a thick deposit of volcanic tuff and ash, which lies on and against gran- ite that constitutes the western range of the mountains. From Horn to Growler siding and beyond the desert plain is cov- ered with low sand dunes. In this vicinity the railroad approaches the north bank of the Gila River in the midst of a H : Ses ; : — wide desert plain into which the river has cut a broad Elevation 468 feet. a Populat inner trench about 50 feet deep. The stream me- oe Orleans 1,714 anders widely in this alluvial flat, and for many miles the south bank of the trench presents a long line of northward-facing cliffs of sand, loam, and gravel. The region is arid, with an annual rainfall of less than 5 inches in the lowlands, and consequently vegetation is very sparse. Yet there are scattered cattle ranches and goat or sheep outfits, and in seasons of average rain- fall and where drinking water is nfovided the stock business has prospered. The river is one good source of supply, and in the ad- joining region water is obtained from widely scattered wells, mostly of considerable depth and yielding only a moderate volume. In the mountains of the general region there has been a small amount of mining or prospecting, but the results do not appear to have been _ satisfactory. At Burger siding Texas Hill is visible to the south, evidently a feeder for a small flow of basalt. The Anza-Garcés expedition, which followed the north bank of the river for a few miles, camped at the foot of this hill on the night of November 16, 1775. Signal Butte, northwest of Growler, is of similar eae In this vicinity the Mohawk Mountains (p. 232) are a prominent feature to the south. 2) About 30 miles to the north the steep western front of the Kofa : Mountains i is is paca At its foot were the King of Arizona, U. 8S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 24 ag 13 301 EXPLANATION A Sand, gravel,and clay (valley fill) Quaternary B Lava and other rocks of volcanic origin Tertiary to Recent C Schist (not everywhere separated) ] piCiabhin D Granite f al ey Geology by N. H. Darton C. Lausen, E. D. Wilson, and C. P. Ross B Columbus Pko) Ly ((C Aug) Son __ (G7 Pass Mtn Ces Montezuma Ox EL E03 NE ap, SE a VY 70 a4 pe ees amel J i620? EL 549 ke: ie 1 ies deres3e Pua Caliente EL SO. SS : “719 MAthel Fis : / N +s Vee ad) 3} ATFs Dl Paid a ” vj alamas —-<2r7- - erase “Oe eed f fi Xe © ee GILLESPIE DAM i Py SSS. ae { Scale 500,000 linch=8 miles (approximately) os 19 15 _____20 MILES Each quadrangle sh on the map with a name in parentheses in the lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. 8. G. 8. topographic map of that name Oo bod 10 15 20 KILOMETERS Contour interval 200 feet in 1s mean sea level The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 10 miles, and the ti drawn 1 mile a 3 L 12°30" Topography by N. H. Darton, C. Lausen, and E. D. Wilson arn errant ne ine vasa WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO. WASH. D.C SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 223 North Star, and other gold mines, which at one time, it is claimed, yielded nearly $5,000,000 in gold and silver, much of it from very high grade ore, some of which assayed as high as $20,000 a ton (Year- book of Arizona, 1930). The ore bodies were in veins in voleanic rocks (andesites) of Tertiary age. ; North from Tyson siding the peaks of the south end of the Castle Dome Mountains are conspicuous. They consist of a central core of schist, heavily flanked by lavas of Tertiary age. Far to the north may be seen the culminating summit, Castle Dome Peak, which is a prominent landmark in a region of wide extent, This peak was called Bauquiburi by the Indians and was often referred to in the narratives of early travel as the Cabeza del Gigante (ca-bay’sa del he-gahn’tay, Spanish for head of the giant). There are mines near its base on the west slope of the range. South of Roll the prominent, sharp Baker Peaks are in view south of the Gila River, and beyond them the rugged crest of the Copper Roll. Mountains. Roll is a small settlement sustained by Elevation 265 feet, UTigation, using water pumped from sand and gravel Population 40.* holding underflow from the river. To the west are eans 745 the prominent Muggins Mountains, and to the north the west side of the Castle Dome Mountains is con- spicuous. The wide river terraces to the west are deeply trenched by ar;royos. Just west of Roll the railroad line bends southwestward toward the Gila River, which is crossed at the north end of Antelope Hill, as shown in Plate 33, B. This hill is composed of light-colored arkose and arkosic sandstone supposed to be of Tertiary age, of which about 500 feet is exposed, dipping to the south at a low angle. Other ex- posures of the same rock constitute the north end of the Mohawk Mountains, as shown in Plate 32, B, the two knobs a mile southwest _of Ming siding, and the Baker Peaks, southeast of Ming. The rock is quarried extensively at two places near the river. After crossing the Gila River the railroad turns to the south- southwest and, rising onto the wide upland terrace, here 50 feet above the river flat, joins the old main line at Wellton. Wellton is a local trading settlement for the cattle and irrigation industry and a headquarters for mining interests of the surrounding ‘elie. country. There is considerable irrigation near by and Elevation 258 fer, 10F & few miles west from wells and from ditches taken Population 80.* out of the Gila River. The village is situated on a New Orleans 1,755 wide desert plain 2 or 3 miles south of the river. ot igh mountains are visible on all sides. To the north are the Muggins Mountains, an irregular series of high ridges of Tertiary volcanic rocks heavily flanked to the east and south by conglomerates and other strata of later Tertiary age. Farther north 224 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES are the high pinnacles and ridges of the Castle Dome Mountains. To the west are the lofty Gila Mountains, consisting of granite and schist; to the south are many low ridges of schist, making the Wellton Hills; and to the southeast the Baker Peaks and the Copper Moun- tains, referred to above. To the north is an irrigated district of considerable size which is closely approached by the railroad near Adonde siding. OLD MAIN LINE, PICACHO TO WELLTON, ARIZ. Until 1928 the trains of the Southern Pacific lines continued north- westward from Picacho to Wellton via Maricopa, where there is a branch to Phoenix. Now most passenger trains pass over a new line northward from Picacho to Phoenix and thence down the north side of the Gila Valley to join the old line at Wellton, as just described. The old line from Picacho to Wellton is described below Near Eloy siding (see sheet 23, p. 206) an irrigation dutviak which extends to Casa Grande is baterad. Cotton and alfalfa are the Eloy principal crops, together with melons, figs, and a fine variety of head lettuce for which the soil and climate Elevation 1,566 feet. & ¢ ° Population 13. seem particularly suitable. The lettuce is ready for New Orleans 1,49 shipment in November, before it is available from miles. . . e ° ‘ competing districts. The water is brought by ditches from the Gila River near Florence, and considerable water is also pumped from wells in the valley fill using electricity as an eco- nomical source of power About midway between Toltec siding and Casa Grande the railroad passes north of the Casa Grande Mountains, a group of rugged peaks hele of pre-Cambrian schist. Three miles to the northeast are the Three Peaks, which consist of granite. About Elevati ac 15 miles southwest of Toltee are the conspicuous ea Orleans 1,55 Sawtooth Mountains, which consist of lavas of Tertiary age. : Casa Grande is on a broad, smooth plain of sand and loam (valley fill), in which the slope of the land is scarcely perceptible. The Casa Grande. |™ean annual rainfall is about 6% inches. About 18 ES miles northeast of Casa Grande station are the ruins Population 1,351. Of the prehistoric houses of Casa Grande, which are ee | near the railroad on the main line from Picacho to Phoenix. (See p. 197.) Nine miles south of Casa Grande is the Papago Indian village of Chiu-Chiuschu (population 349), where there is a school and a pumping plant to obtain water for irrigation. Many detached mountains and packy buttes are yeible.) in all directions from Casa Grande and vicinity.® . _ About 15 miles a south are the | interesting succession of Paleozoic rocks comprising Bolsa quartzite and Abrigo limestone (Combrian) and Martin SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 225 The low range of buttes rising abruptly from the plain a few miles north of Casa Grande and extending thence westward are the Sacaton Mountains, which consist of massive light-colored granite (mica diorite). There is a small knob of this material 3 miles northeast of Nufiez siding, and it appears in many of the ranges to the north and west. It is an intrusive rock which has been forced up in molten condition through the old schist in pre-Cambrian time. At the small station of Maricopa is the branch’ line to which formerly passengers for Phoenix were transferred. Now, however, as explained on page 224, most of the trains go directly to Phoenix from Picacho. Maricopa is situated on a broad desert plain not far from the Santa Rosa Wash — Orleans 85 and the Santa Cruz River, both of which are generally dry. In this vicinity clierd is a small amount of irrigation by water pumped from wells. Many mountains rise abruptly from this plain, the Sierra Estrella to the north and the Palo Verde Mountains to the west, which are continued southward by various ridges of schist and granite to the high Table Top Moun- tains, 25 miles south of Maricopa. This range, which does not appear distant, culminates in a flat-topped peak that has an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet and consists of a cap of basalt presenting steep cliffs on all sides. Some distance northwest is the steep conical summit known as Antelope Peak, composed of a sheet of lava dipping at a steep angle. Below these lavas are granites and schists rising to an irregular plane which in Tertiary time was a general surface on which the lavas were poured out. Subsequent uplift, tilting, and erosion have left the remnants of the lava flows perched high above the general desert level, a feature which is general in a large part of southwestern Arizona. West of Maricopa the railroad ascends slightly to reach at Enid siding the wide pass between the Sierra Estrella on the north and the Palo Verde Mountains on the south. The Sierra Estrella is a very prominent range which extends 25 miles north to the mouth of the Salt River, with an average width of 3 miles and a maximum height of about 3,000 feet above the plain. Montezumas Head, at the south end, has an elevation of 2,406 feet. The siorthéastery front of the range is very steep and rugged up to about 2,000 feet, where some of the canyons open into valleys. The range consists mainly of schist, but this rock is invaded by large intrusive masses of granite, one of which at the south end extends nearly to the railroad. A Maricopa. ee 1,175 feet. mn 30.* (Devonian) and Carboniferous lime- | brian . The overlying limestones stones. The Abrigo beds at this place | (Martin) carry abundant Upper Devo- consist of slabby brown sandstones, in | nian fossils that indicate an extension part glauconitic (greensand), with | of the sea waters of Paleozoic time over brown and gray shales. They contain | much of western Arizona. worm markings and lingulas of Cam- * 226 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES granite aplite intrusion occupies an area of 5 or 6 square miles between North Peak and the Webb mine. Dikes of coarse granite and diabase also occur. The Palo Verde Mountains, south of the gap at Enid, consist of schist and are part of a line of ranges extending south through the Vekol® and Cimarron Mountains. They are about 800 feet high, deeply canyoned, and possibly bounded by a fault at their steep northeast end. - In the pass between the Palo Verde and Table Top Mountains, the range next south, there are ledges of Tertiary arkosic conglomerate interbedded with basalt flows, the lowest of which rests on granite. The beds dip 14° SW. Some of the boulders, which are granite, are 6 to 8 feet in diameter. The wide plain of the Estrella Desert is crossed west of Enid to reach a low pass through the northern part of the Maricopa Moun- tains. This pass is drained by Waterman Draw, and wells in the valley fill near this draw have obtained sufficient water for cattle, which find sparse pasturage in the valley and adjacent slopes. The divide is just east of Estrella siding (elevation 1,523 feet), where there is a wide gap floored with gravel and sand between high granite ridges. Wells drilled in the valley fill at Mobile siding (452 feet deep), at Ocapos siding (541 feet deep), and at Estrella found water which rose high in the borings but was insufficient in quantity for locomotive use. It was through this pass that Padre Garcés traveled in 1775 on the way to Yuma, and he called it Puerto de los Coco- maricopas. (See p. 194.) Beyond the Estrella divide (see sheet 24) the railroad descends to Ocapos siding in a wide valley with walls of granite. The Maricopa Mountains consist mostly of this rock, with a minor amount of schist. The east slope of this range north of Estrella has at its foot a moderately wide pediment or slope of nearly bare rock, trenched but slightly by streams. Atone place this pediment is surmounted by a hill of gravel capped by a remnant of a basalt sheet tilted to the east, which indicates uplift since the extrusion of the lava. On the west side of the mountains and in the pass there is a thick mantle of valley fill. * South of the Table Top Mountains, { erate like the Barnes. An overlying about 45 miles south of Maricopa, are | quartzite like the Dripping Spring the Vekol Mountains, which are of | quartzite is penetrated by thick sills of ii eee interest, for they contain | dark-green diabase. Next above are only a succession of Paleozoic | rusty sandy shales grading up into thin- limestones including some strata of finds | bedded limestone containing Upper |} Cambrian fossils, undoubtedly the Abrigo limestone. The higher lime- stone in an adjoining ridge carries a remarkable fauna of minute fossils, = and gastro- pods, of about 25 species of late SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 227 South of Bosque siding are the Sand Tank Mountains, which consist of a long, high ridge of schist and granite and a high, wide tab- ular mesa of volcanic rocks in a succession nearly 2,000 feet thick. This region was a center of great volcanic activity in Tertiary time, when widespread sheets of lava were poured out over the land. These have since been uplifted, tilted, faulted, and greatly eroded. Gila Bend is a town sustained by cattle, irrigation, and mini interests and is the headquarters for the Gila Bend Indian Reserva- tion, near by, where there is a colony of about 224 Gila Bend. : : = . ppt Papago Indians. The climate is very dry, with a Popaktinso - Mean annual precipitation of only 6 inches. A branch New Orleans 1,627 railroad connects Gila Bend with Ajo (ah’ho, Spanish get for garlic), 30 miles to the southwest, a copper-mining town which has a population of 3,003. Copper has been mined at Ajo since 1855, mainly from the Cornelia mine. Most of the ore carries less than 1 per cent of copper, but it is easily worked and occurs in large amount. The ores are mainly disseminated in monzo- nite porphyry and a small amount is disseminated in veins in rhyolite and tuff, into which the porphyry is intruded. It is estimated that 40,000,000 tons of ore is available. There are also dikes of diorite and later porphyry, all presumably of Tertiary age. In 1929 a total of 3,582,000 tons of ore containing from 1 to 1% per cent of copper was treated. South of Gila Bend are the Sauceda Mountains, a high range con- sisting mainly of a thick succession of Tertiary volcanic rocks of which the latest member is basalt. Hat Mountain, a prominent landmark 25 miles south of Gila Bend, has a cap of this basalt, a remnant of a lava flow of Tertiary time. Gila Bend is in the broad valley of the Gila River, which in making its huge bend southward around the Gila Bend Mountains approaches within 4 miles of the town. In this region the river is a wide water- course which ordinarily carries only a small flow. It was in this icinity that Padre Kino found a prosperous Opa (Maricopa) Indian rancherfa in 1699, and it was visited in 1774 by Anza and Garcés, who called it the Pueblo de los Santos Apéstoles San Simén y Judas. There were other rancherias along the river at which the Indians were raising two crops of grain a year by irrigation with river water. This was the farthest east that the Maricopa Indians had advanced up th river, but they have since moved to the region southeast of Phoenix. ® At the Sand Tanks, a watering place in these mountains 23 miles south- east of Gila Bend, the water is found in holes eroded in a conglomerate of Ter- tiary age which dips 20° N. This rock lies on granite gneiss and consists most- ly of tuffs and sandy tuffs containing pebbles of granite, schist, and volcanic rocks of various kinds. ists i the central ridge are mostly chloritie, and there are many transitions from schist to gneiss. Fine-grained biotite granite and phyllite also occur. 228 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The valley fill here is thick, for borings 1,530 to 1,730 feet deep, for water, appear not to have reached bedrock, unless “hard beds” in the lower 550 feet are Tertiary or Cretaceous. In the surrounding region there is a succession of older beds of gravel and sand ® which are mostly tilted and in places faulted. They are overlapped uncon- formably by the later sand and gravel that floor the valley. There are excellent exposures of these relations on the slopes of the Gila Bend Mountains near Woolsey Well, 15 miles northwest of Gila Bend, and farther west at the north end of the Gila Bend Mountains west of Dome. As the Gila Valley below Mesa is filled with a thick mass of alluvium underlain in part by sandstone of Tertiary age, it is evident that the region was 1,000 feet or more higher when the valley was being ex- cavated than it is now, and it has sunk to its present level as the younger formations were deposited. Possibly this loading was the cause of the sinking, but more likely it was due to some widespread crustal movement. A notable feature revealed by the logs of deep borings in the valley is a deposit of clay of wide extent, with a maxi- mum thickness of 860 feet at Gila Bend. This clay must have been deposited in quiet waters, such as those of a lake or estuary that continued for a long period of time. The deposition of clay was followed by the accumulation of coarser material spread by streams, and since that time terraces higher than the present bottom lands have been developed. In places these later deposits were flooded by lavas, through which the present river trench has been excavated nearly 100 feet. From the historical record the Gila River channel has changed materially in a century or less. When it was originally discovered there was a well-defined channel with hard banks sustain- ing cottonwoods and other trees and plants. The current was swift and deep in places, so that the stream could be navigated by flat boats of moderate size, and it contained sufficient fish to be relied upon as food for many Indians. It was reported also that the water was clear and sea-green, very different from the present muddy stream. Now the Gila River is depositing sediment in its lower part, and its braided course follows many narrow sand-clogged channels. Possibly these changes may be due partly to diverting and damming the water and to an increase of silt caused by the removal of forest and increased grazing in the higher region. Irrigation has been practiced in this region for a very long time, for old Indian ditches are found near the Painted Rock Mountains below Gila Bend and at other places along the river flats. Irrigation was again started in a small way by settlers who came soon after the _ eas Sing a per ae Na aes and enh: % These older beds are in general cor- Telated with the Temple Bar conglom- ae _ erate of Lee and the Gila conglomerate of Gilbert. In places they include lava flows (basalt) which are tilted and SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 229 bimonthly stage line between San Antonio and San Diego was estab- lished in 1857. The area under cultivation was small, but it was increased somewhat in the early seventies, and continued intermittently until 1905, when a heavy flood destroyed most of the canals. Some of these canals have since been restored and new ones developed, but the principal enterprise now in operation is the utilization of water held by the Gillespie Dam, 20 miles north of Gila Bend. (See p. 219.) The lower Gila River Valley figures prominently in the chronicles of many of the early explorers of Pimeria Alta. When Kino explored this valley in 1699 and 1700 and Garcés in 1771 and later, they found many Indian rancherias and some irrigation, but the adjoining region was so inhospitable that it supported only a meager population. The Pimas and some Papagos dwelt on the banks of the Gila near the mouth of the Salt River, and these streams furnished water for con- siderable irrigation. The Maricopas, who were of Yuman stock, moved gradually up the Gila Valley, pausing at Gila Bend in Garcés’ time and finally reaching the Phoenix region, where many now reside with the Pimas. The Yavapais or Apache-Mojaves lived in part in the region between the Colorado and Gila Rivers. In early days they were friendly to the whites, but after suffering various injustices they went on the warpath in 1868 and were troublesome for several years. Oatman Flat, on the Gila River a few miles northwest of Gila Bend, was the scene of an Apache attack in 1851, in which an emigrant named Oatman and his family were killed, except a young son who escaped and two daughters who were carried off. The girls were sold as slaves to some Mojave Indians, and one who survived was ransomed seven years later. This case attracted much attention and was the subject of a narrative ® that had a large circulation. North and northwest of Gila Bend the Gila Riverresumes its westerly course. The steep Gila Bend Mountains, which are in sight from the railroad for many miles, consist largely of granite with a thick succession of Tertiary volcanic rocks overlapping it on the west. These younger rocks are thick in Woolsey Peak in the center of the range, which is made up of light-colored lavas and some fragmental volcanic rocks. On the western extension of the range these rocks are capped by a thick sheet of dark-colored basalt, constituting prominent mesas. One of the highest and most extensive of these mesas is called Yellow Medicine Butte. About 14 miles north of Piedra station a large basalt-covered cuesta extends with a long slope to the Gila River, which swings north in order to pass between it and the north end of the Painted Rock Mountains. The railroad, on the other hand, passes near the south end of these mountains, near Piedra and Tartron sidings. The Painted Rock Mountains consist of lavas of Tertiary ® Stratton, R. B., Captivity of the | massacre of the Oatman family in 1851, Oatman girls and an account of the | San Francisco, 1857; New York, 1858. ~ 230 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES age, capped in part by basalt, tilted, faulted, and considerably eroded. The name is derived from Indian pictographs on bluffs near the river. On approaching Tartron siding the railroad climbs a few feet to the nearly level surface of a broad sheet of lava of relatively recent age which extends about 17 miles, to a point beyond Stanwix siding. This flow, which is wide to the north Elevation 729 feet. and south, doubtless came from several vents. The New Orleans 1,650 . iles. remains of one crater, probably a source of a con- siderable part of the lava, is a knob of moderate height 1miles northwest of Tartronsiding. Alongridg theast of Sentinel siding probably marks another outlet. The lava, which is thin near its edges, lies on gravel and sand and is of recent origin Sentinel. compared with the lavas constituting the summits of Elevation 600 feet. the high adjoining ridges that have been uplifted and in “nie large part widely removed and cut back by erosion. This recent lava undoubtedly dammed the Gila River for a while, but the stream has since cut a trench about 100 feet deep across its northern portion. In places the younger lava abuts against slopes of the older volcanic rocks, and it occupies valleys developed since the older rocks were flexed and faulted, a condition indicating a long-time interval. Several wells at Sentinel siding pass through 60 to 100 feet of this lava and obtain agood water supply from the underlying sands, which were penetrated to a depth of 1,129 feet. From the Sentinel Plain there are extensive vistas across the desert to the lofty Growler Mountains, far to the south; to the commanding and nearer Aguila Mountain (ah’ghee-la), to the southwest, culmi- nating in a high northward-sloping plateau of lava; and to the Aztec Hills, to the west. Back to the southeast Hat Mountain (p. 227) is conspicuous. To the north are many ranges, mostly of volcanic rocks, which lie beyond the Gila Valley. In this part of Arizona the railroad crosses wide desert plains, mostly covered by creosote bush (Covillea). Very little of this land can be reclaimed by irrigation, on account of the scanty water supply. The question of water is the most important consideration in these desert regions, not only for domestic use and for locomotives, but for the cattle industry, which can not exist without it. Tanks created by damming draws hold some of the rainfall, but the loss by evaporation i feet Tartron. (tee-nah’has, Spanish for large earthen jars). Wells find water in | the gravel and sand of the desert, in crevices in rocks of the mountains, a and under some of the lava flows, but the amount is generally small. The scant rainfall wets the soil and in large part evaporates, but some es underground into the coarser materials, which occur SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 231 mostly along the sides of the valleys. The water is available in some places in the valleys, but ordinarily it is only sufficient for domestic use or for a few cattle. Along the river flats there is a ground-water plane sustained by the streams and extending laterally for some dis- tance; this is the source of supply for many wells, some of which in the lower Gila Valley yield water for irrigation. In the lower part of the Salt River Valley also the underflow is extensive and in much of the area of ample volume. The desert landscape has many peculiarities. At first sight its wide gray plains and bare mountain slopes seem forbidding and monotonous. However, they bave a certain grandeur and present attractive varia- tions in light and shade during different portions of the day and from day to day. Some of the sunsets are particularly beautiful. Under the direct rays of the midsummer sun the heat is intense, but ordinarily the low humidity keeps the skin comfortable, and there is much less suffering from the heat than in a moist region at much lower tempera- ture. Mirage is frequent, especially the sort due to a film of vibrating hot air near the ground, which gives the illusion of distant lakes. In the higher mountains precipitation is greater than in the valleys, the temperatures are lower, and occasionally there is snow. LEvery- where the rains are followed by rapid growth of many flowers. The desert region of the southwest corner of the United States is a part of the Sonoran Desert, which extends north from the State of Sonora in Mexico and is very much of a unit in climate, vegetation, and gen- eral aspect. Rainfall, which ranges from 3 to 6 inches a year in the region west of Phoenix, comes mostly in widely separated heavy downpours in narrow streaks, many of them ‘‘cloudbursts,’”’ which give rise to local sudden freshets of great volume. One of these in 1930 washed out a large part of Wellton. Some floods are not confined to a channel but extend widely over the valley floor. Sand storms occur occasionally on the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California, but most popular accounts of them are greatly exaggerated. The following description (by C. P. Ross) will give some idea of a typical sandstorm. It followed showers in the mountains and came from the southeast, where at frequent intervals before, during, and after the blow there were sharp claps of thunder. At first there came bodies of flying sand in long, thin pillars reaching far upward and resembling waterspouts in shape and appearance but moving with much greater speed. These were followed by billowing clouds of sand, which, however, did not transport much material, and then came the main blow in dees waves and carrying a large percentage of fine sand. Where these waves struck the moun- tains they were shattered, and the sand was whirled high on the foot- hills, much like waves of water driven by a hurricane. In 10 to 15 minutes from the coming of the first sand the storm diminished, espe- 232 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES cially as to the amount of sand. During the height of such a storm it is difficult to travel, mostly because the sand is blinding. It also penetrates the clothing and fills the hair and every wrinkle of the skin not well protected, so that it is somewhat uncomfortable, but there is almost no cutting of the skin. Sand storms as severe as this are rare. A 710-foot well at Aztec yields an excellent water supply. Below 145 feet of sand it penetrated 455 feet of red clay, an extension of the thick bed penetrated by deep borings at Gila Bend. Aztec. . : ; Three miles due south of Aztec and conspicuous from Elevation 497 feet. ze * ° ° Population 40.* the railroad is a white quartz knob that is on a spur oe Orleans 1,671 of the Aztec Hills, which consist mostly of schist and : granite. At the west end of these hills, 4 miles west of Aztec and about a mile south of the railroad, there is a quarry in schistose granite, which is crushed for use on the roads. (See sheet 25.) Texas Hill, 6 miles northwest of Stoval, is a small butte on the north bank of the Gila River consisting of basalt, probably part of a dca small flow. Near it Garcés camped in 1775 in com- — pany with Anza’s expedition to California. The old Population 30.* -«- Settlement of San Cristébal, of which the station name is an abbreviation, was near this hill. Saints’ names were sprinkled over the country by all the early explorers, and most of them do not indicate the presence of a mission. West from the Aztec Hills is a wide desert known as the San Cristobal Valley extending to the foot of the Mohawk Mountains. A well sunk 700 feet in the valley fill at a point about 4 miles south of Stoval found considerable water, which it was hoped could be used for irri- gation. This valley, like many others that lead to the Gila River, is not trenched by its stream except where it approaches the river, north of the railroad, but its bottom is a broad adobe flat. The northern part of the Mohawk Mountains is crossed by the railroad in a moderately high, rocky gap at Mohawk. These moun- ains are very rugged and bare and consist largely of — pre-Cambrian schist penetrated by granite. Con- oo tacts of these two rocks are visible near the railroad. miles. At the north end of the mountains the schist is New Orleans 1,682 niles. southwest. The granular schist a short distance northwest of Mohawk, which is quarried for road material, contains veins of _ barite that have been mined in small amount. Five miles south of the station, on the east side of the mountains, is the old Norton or . Red Cross mine, which produced a small amount of rich silver ore : many years ago. The rock pediment on the west foot of the moun- - tams is heavily flanked by loose sand, which has been blown by the U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 33 A. THE “EXPLORER” A drawing of the st boat d by the Ives expedition up the Colorado River. B. VIEW NORTHW a ACROSS THE GILA RIV = FROM ANTELOPE HILL, VEEN WELLTON AND ROL IZ. Castle Dome Mountains in distance; irrigated fields i in middle ground. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 34 A. PART OF YUMA, ARIZ, (1923) The income of this hotel was rarely interrupted. B. IRRIGATED DISTRICT ON THE LOWER LANDS NEAR YUMA SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 233 wind and accumulated at the foot of the slope. Farther north, near the railroad, this pediment is deeply trenched by small arroyos. At the north end of the Mohawk Mountains is the Gila River; at this place Garcés in 1775 crossed to the south side of the river. The Mohawk Mountains were named Cerro de San Pascual by Anza on his expedition of 1774; he camped at their north end the following year. West of the Mohawk Mountains is the wide desert plain of Mohawk Valley, which extends west for about 15 miles to a line of ridges con- sisting of the lava-capped Cabeza Prieta Mountains (cah-bay’sa pre-ay’ta, Spanish for black head), to the south; the Copper Moun- tains, a conspicuous rugged range of granite southwest of Colfred siding; and the Baker Peaks, a short distance south of Tacna siding. The prominent Baker Peaks, named for Charles Baker, who in early days ran a ferry across the Colorado River at Yuma, consist of tilted sandstones presumably of Tertiary age.” South of the Baker Peaks are ridges of conglomerate, also of Tertiary age, extending to the flank of the Copper Mountains. Far to the north are the fantastic summits of the Castle Dome Mountains. Closer at hand to the northeast from Colfred siding is Signal Butte, rising prominently above the desert plain a scant 5 miles beyond the Gila River. Itisa small mass of basalt probably marking the center or outlet of a minor lava extrusion. A mile north of Tacna siding and extending for a mile to the bank of the Gila River is Antelope Hill, about 600 feet high. It consists of grayish arkose composed largely of granite débris and probably of Tertiary age. The dip is to the south at a low angle, and about 500 feet of beds are exposed. There are also small exposures of this rock in smaller buttes just north of the railroad 2 miles farther west, in which the dip is 15° SW., and another small exposure northeast of Antelope Hill. The material has been quarried extensively, mainly for road metal. At Wellton the old main line of the railroad is joined by the new line from Picacho by way of Phoenix. (See p. 223.) inches to 3 feet in diameter. The + to} + + tiar tna iA $4 nk 6&3 These rocks are well e: d at Baker Tanks, 5 miles south of Tacna, where the conglomerate dips 65° SW. by present streams on the slope of beds are a coarse conglomerate with many pebbles and boulders from 3 152109°—33——16 Baker Peaks as to indicate that it was derived from the same rocks under con- ditions similar to those which now exist. 234 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES WELLTON TO YUMA, ARIZ. In the vicinity of Wellton small areas are irrigated by water pumped from wells that draw their supply from the ground water of the Gila ne Valley. A 1,120-foot boring at Wellton passed eS through 750 feet of sand and clay, regarded as valley Population 80.* _—_—‘fill, and 370 feet of harder strata, including sandstone, New Orleans 1,713 which probably are Tertiary. About 6 miles south 1,756 miles). | Of the station are the Wellton Hills, a group of small knobs and ridges consisting of mica schist with minor amounts of granite, all of pre-Cambrian age. They are in the midst of the Lechuguilla Desert (lay-choo-ghee’yah), a broad, flat valley extending south into Mexico, the international boundary being about 40 miles south of Wellton. Near the international boundary are the Tinajas Altas, rock tanks containing water. They were a famous stopping place on the Camino del Diablo (highway of the devil), a cross-country thoroughfare much used in early days and so called because of the difficulties of travel and the lack of water, which cause many deaths. This road crossed the Gila Mountains 18 miles south of Wellton and passed near the Fortuna mine on the way to Yuma, a hard journey across the loose sands of the Yuma Desert. The Gila Valley route followed by Garcés encountered west of Wellton an area subject to inundation from the river. Much later stage-coach travel stopped at a place called “Mission Station,” near Adonde (ah-dohn’day), a few miles west of Wellton. West from Wellton the railroad passes through the sidings of Adonde and Ligurta and, following the south bank of the Gila River, enters the wide gap by which that stream passes around the north end of the Gila Mountains, a very characteristic desert range that consists of granite and schist of pre-Cambrian age and that doubtless is, in part at least, a fault block. A short distance north of Ligurta fossil bones found in the alluvial deposits of the river indicate the presence of not only an ancient variety of deer but also of the native horse, which became extinct in this country thousands of years before horses were introduced by the Spaniards, a few centuries ago. To the north is a fine view of Klotho’s Temple, in the Muggins Mountains, which con- sists of volcanic rocks. At Granite siding the railroad reaches the rocks of the mountain slope, and granite is well exposed in cuts and a quarry. From the quarry a large amount of crushed rock is produced for railroad ballast on many miles of the Southern Pacific lines. A thin mass of marble exposed in the north end of the Gila Mountains region are shown in Figure 61. The granite is cut by many dikes of dark intrusive rocks and traversed by veins of light-colored pegma- tite ‘To the north is the Gila River, now so well controlled by dams SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 235 that it no longer is subject to the devastating floods which it formerly carried. The long deflection of the railroad in following the river around the north end of the Gila Mountains is avoided by the highway, which goes through a high pass nearly due west of Wellton. ; Dome is a sma : satis aoa 3 place, but Gila City, = Nees + its predecessor, was a turbulent boom town with a population of perhaps 1,000 people when placer mining was in progress in 1858 and a few Dome. following years. SS From Dome the railroad passes ey wa through Blaisdell, Fortuna, and wanny wigs 8 13 Araby sidings. To the east are Se aE fine views of the steep western front aN i of the Gila Mountains. Twelve : a miles southeast of Fortuna siding iM is the old Fortuna mine, which at : nN one time produced considerable rich ore, aggregating, it is reported, $3,000,000 worth of gold (Yearbook of Arizona, 1930). The rocks at < S this place are mostly hornblende - Bae ol schist, and the gold occurred in included quartzose members. The very pronounced schistosity dips to the south and west at an angle of 45°. Feldspathic dikes cutting the schists appear to be branches of the great intrusive masses of granite that form the higher peaks. After passing the north end of the Gila Mountains west of Dome the railroad bends to the south and in about 6 miles reaches Blaisdell siding. In this bend the railroad follows the south bank of the Gila Li River. Tothenorth aregood views © . of the eastern part of the Laguna 8 Mountains, which consist of schist = similar to the rock on the north end of the Gila Mountains—in fact, _ the river gorge is simply a gateway eroded across this mass of schist. The western part of the Laguna Mountains consists of a thick body of conglomerate and boulders, probably of Tertiary age. It is FiGuRE 61.—Section of north end of Gila Mountains, Ariz. 236 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES separated from the schist by beds of arkose and shales, which crop out on the north side of the river and are also well exposed in slopes and cuts 2 to 3 miles north of Blaisdell. The beds dip 20° SE. and are overlain by terrace gravel of Quaternary age. The arkose is yellow and reddish and made up of granite detritus, in part thin bedded and showing mud cracks on some of its surfaces. Some of the pebbles are half an inch in diameter. A few interbedded strata of shale are of yellowish tint. These beds are probably of Tertiary age. A few sahuaros are present, this vicinity being about the western margin of | their wide zone of distribution. Southwest of Blaisdell siding the railroad leaves the wide trench excavated by the Gila River and ascends about 100 feet to the terrace plain of the Yuma Desert, which extends far to the south and south- west. It continues on this plain to Yuma. From the Vicinity of Fortuna and Araby sidings Pinnacle Rock, far to the west in California, is in sight. A large gold mine was formerly operated near this peak, The vegetation on the Yuma Desert is very scant; on the alluvial flat along the river, however, there is considerable irrigation by water pumped from wells of moderate depth in the gravel and sand deposits. (Turn to sheet 26.) Yuma, one of the oldest towns in the Southwest, long the com- mercial center for a large surrounding area, and now the headquarters of a productive irrigation project, is situated on the east bank of the Colorado River just below the mouth Population 4892, Of the Gila River. The Gila here is in a broad alluvial Nees 4 terraced valley, from which a few low granite knobs : protrude, and this rock is reported in deep borings. The bridge abutment at Yuma is on very coarse granite conglomerate of Tertiary age, which also forms the knoll on which the ruins of the old Territorial prison remain. Its components probably were derived from granite knobs in the center of town and to the southeast, This same formation underlies the basalt that caps Black Mesa, west of a Dam, on the Colorado River 10 miles above Yuma. Yuma is famous for its high summer temperature and large per- centage of sunshine, but with the low annual precipitation of 3.1 inches “ (40-year average), the humidity is so slight that during the greater part of the year the heat is not oppressive. Relying on the almost perpetual sunshine, a hotel near the railroad station formerly racing Pe sign ‘‘Free board every day the sun doesn’t shine” Ppl. 04, 4). Yuma. “ The precipitation varies greatly danger is greatly exaggerated. The from year to year, having been 11.4 average temperature for 29 years is inches in 1905 and 0.6 inch in 1899. 72°, with extreme from 20° to The greatest amount of rain usually | 117° in the bottom lands and 29° to ; falls in midsummer. Sandstorms occur | 117° on the mesa. ally, but their importance or U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 25 114-30" 44° 33 Sheet 26 a ee Focsuna / ay 2 32, 30 EXPLANATION A Sand and gravel (valley fill and terrace deposits) Quaternary oO Sandstone, conglomerate and gravel pane ¢ ¥ sae Tertiary and later? ce) Lavas, ash and tuff (voleanic) Pre-Cambrian Geology mostly by E. D. Wilson, 1931 D Granite and schist Rolll £1 265 California-Arizona 113 30, GGL 33 tom = / 4 1 - DAS, i680 ‘a toval 3 £L 9789. a pate» 1 Scale 500,000 linch=8 miles approximately 5 10 ) 15 20 MILES QO 5 10 1S —— a_i ——__—___ [| Contour interval 200° feet Hg! distances from New Orl 20 KILOMETERS e shown every estan shown on the m n the eT 0 miles, and the cuales a are es Som 1 mile apart with me in parentheses lower left corner is mnaped in detail on the U.S. G. &. seiaragite map of that n a3 SRR RENTERS 11430" 113-30 Topography: U. S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO., WASH... ¢ SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES Shy The history of Yuma dates back to 1540, when Alarc6n came up the Gulf of California and ascended the Colorado River to cooperate with the land expedition of Coronado. In 1700 Padre Kino came down the Gila River to its mouth, where he found, on the Arizona side, a large rancheria of Indians, which he named San Dionisio. The Yuma Indians gave a cordial reception to the first Spanish explorers and missionaries. The Jesuit missionary Jacobo Sedel- maier reached the Colorado River in 1744 and again in 1748. In 1779 Garcés established the Misién de la Purisima Concepcién on the west bank of the river opposite the present town. About 53 families of colonists, laborers, and soldiers, appropriating the best lands, settled near by and also at another mission near Pilot Knob, about 8 miles down the river. The Indians occupied palisaded towns and raised melons, squashes, and grain. Although they had previously appeared most friendly and amenable, they were irritated by the failure of the Spanish authorities to fulfill promises, and in 1781 they started an uprising in which Padre Garcés and three other priests and most of their white men associates, to the number of about 46, were slaughtered, including the visiting Lieutenant Governor of Baja California and a dozen of his soldiers who were camped on the Arizona side of the river. The women and children were enslaved. After this one serious outbreak the Yuma Indians did not prove trouble- some to the whites. Originally a powerful race, they themselves suffered much in wars with other tribes and in 1857 were almost annihilated by the Pima Indians. The first military post, then called Camp Calhoun, was established on the west side of the river in 1849 by United States Dragoons, who escorted Whipple’s boundary-survey party. In this year also a boat which came down the Gila River from the Pima region was pressed into service as a ferry across the Colorado River, and on this ferry during the gold rush many thousands crossed to California. The fare was $2 for man or animal. Fort Yuma was established on the west side of the river in 1851, when Camp Independence, as it was then called, was moved to ai site of the old mission and renamed. In 1861-62 the region was partly devastated by a flood. The settlement on the east bank of the river, called Colorado City, Arizona City, and finally Yuma, began to prosper in 1864, and in 1871 the county seat was moved there from La Paz, 75 miles up the river. The first steamboat to ascend the river was the Uncle Sam, in 1852, built at the head of the Gulf of California. In 1855 several steamboats were running on the river, and in 1857 Lieut. Joseph Ives started from the mouth of the Colorado in a 50-foot iron stern-wheel steamer (pl. 33, A) and ascended to the “head of navi- gation’’ through Black Canyon, the site of the reservoir to be impounded by the Boulder Dam. (See p. 241.) Freight boats came 238 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES up the Colorado as late as 1895. The Southern Pacific Railroad reached Yuma from the west on September 29, 1877, and established its station on the east bank, south of the mouth of the Gila, where there had been a few houses since the time of the Gadsden Purchase, in 1854. That place remained the terminus until April 28, 1879, when the tracks were completed to Maricopa. In 1880 connection with the East was effected. Now Yuma is entirely on the Arizona side. Yuma and its environs have been greatly benefited by the comple- tion of the Yuma irrigation project of the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The water is diverted from the Colorado River at Laguna Dam, 10 miles northeast of Yuma on the California side, begun in 1902, one of the first results of the reclamation act. The dam is 4,780 feet long and raises the stream about 10 feet, creating a long, narrow lake that provides water for 100,000 acres of irrigable land lying partly in Arizona and partly in California. Part of the region is the alluvial flat along the river, including the Yuma Indian Reservation of 8,000 acres on the California side, and part is on the level ‘‘mesa” or terrace extending south from Yuma, onto which the water is raised by pumps operated by cheap electric power produced near by. The mesa division comprises 45,000 acres lying about 80 feet above the valley, of which approximately 15 per cent is now being developed, with 1,400 acres under cultivation and 934 acres producing in 1930. The soil is very sandy, but its deficiency in organic matter is easily remedied by the use of fertilizer. The climate is frostless and well adapted to citrus and other semitropical fruits, which in 1930 yielded a return of $156,265, or nearly $167 an acre. (See pl. 34, B.) About two-thirds of the product was grapefruit, of which about 60,000 trees were bearing in 1930. It costs from $8,000 to $10,000 to develop a 10-acre unit. The yield of citrus fruits averages about $50 an acre after 4 years, $163 after 6 years, and $350 after 8 years. The value of all crops of the Yuma lowlands and mesa in 1928 was $5,105,132, or $113 an acre. The total cost of construction of the Yuma project has been more than $12,000,000, but this is being repaid to the Government by the owners of the land. It amounts to $55 to $90 an acre. (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.) An interesting engineering feature of this project is the siphon by which part of the water is carried under the Colorado River, an ex- pedient necessitated by the difficulty of carrying a canal across the Gila River, which empties just above Yuma. The water is brought from the Laguna Dam by a canal along the west side of the river; __ the siphon is 1,000 feet long and 14 feet in diameter and passes 50 feet below the bed of the river. The inlet may be seen just north of the railr aad bridge. The Colorado River carries a large amount SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 239 of silt,” but much of this is caught in a desilting basin at the Laguna Dam, so that it does not clog up canals farther down. The limit of area of farm units is 40 acres. The duty of water averages 3 acre-feet an acre at the farm, and the irrigation season lasts throughout the year. On the rich alluvial bottom lands a great variety of crops is grown, but the principal ones are cotton, alfalfa, millo maize, kafir corn, feterita, wheat, and barley. A yield of 2 bales of cotton to the acre is not uncommon, and alfalfa seed is a profitable product which yields as much as half a ton to the acre from two cut- tings. For hay, however, the alfalfa may be cut six or more times a year. There is a large acreage of pecan groves, some of the older trees producing as high as 180 pounds of nuts. The bottom lands are protected from overflow by levees and drained to prevent accumu- lation of mineral matter by evaporation. From Yuma a trolley line runs south down the Colorado Valley as far as Gadsden, passing west of the irrigation settlement of Somerton (population 891). In the valley filling along the Colorado River above the Laguna Dam there is considerable fossil wood, which is often brought into Yuma. The larger logs are a few feet long and less than a foot in diameter. Many of them show grain and ring structure in a very striking manner. They are said to be closely related to some of the present-day desert hardwoods. YUMA, ARIZ., TO LOS ANGELES, CALIF. The Colorado River is crossed on leaving Yuma. This great river rises in the mountains of Colorado and after its junction with the Green River from Wyoming it receives the drainage Colorado River. of a wide area in the high plateaus of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. It was discovered by Fran- cisco de Ulloa, who in 1536 ascended the Gulf of California to the great mud flats at the mouth of the river. In 1540 it was explored by Melchor Diaz, who traveled overland from Sonora, Mexico, to the vicinity of Yuma, and by Hernando Alarc6én, who came in boats from western Mexico and ascended the river for 15 days, possibly as far as Needles. Early in 1605 Juan de Ofiate reached the river in the vicinity of Yuma on a trip from Santa Fe. Owing to the custom of the natives of carrying firebrands in winter with which to warm themselves, Diaz named the stream Rio del Tiz6n (Firebrand River), a name more distinctive than the present one. The name “Rio Colorado del Norte” was first used on Kino’s map in 1701. He reached it first in 1699. Padre Sedelmaier was there in 1744. The 6 According to investigations by the | per cent, but the average amount is Bureau of Reclamation, in times of | 0.7 per cent, or 30 times as much as freshets the silt may be as much as 2 | is earried by the Ohio River. 240 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Franciscan friar Francisco Garcés, traveling alone, reached the Colo- rado in 1771 near Yuma and crossed it on a raft. He crossed it again at that place in 1774 and 1775 with Anza’s expeditions. In the vicinity of Yuma, as elsewhere, the Colorado River meanders through a shallow channel in a wide trench excavated in the great desert plain that extends to the Gila Mountains on the east and con- stitutes the Colorado Desert and Imperial Valley to the west. The trench or alluvial flat is nearly 5 miles wide at Yuma, where it is bordered by long bluffs of sand and gravel 50 to 100 feet high. The upper part of Yuma is built on the bluff, which is here called “the Mesa.”” The trench also extends up the valley of the Gila River for many miles. The surface of the alluvial flat is nearly smooth, but in places it slopes slightly away from the river, owing to the low bank or levee built by the stream at times of freshet when there is con- siderable overflow in places not protected by artificial levees. South of Yuma there are extensive sloughs and oxbow ponds along the principal overflow channels. The Colorado River empties into the head of the Gulf of California in Mexico about 60 miles below Yuma (see pl. 35), and in fact this large water body is an extension of the Colorado Valley submerged by tidewater. The volume of the river varies considerably, and at times it is greatly swollen by freshets. The floods oceur mostly in early summer and are fed by winter rains and snows in the distant moun- tains. The highest summer floods have exceeded 200,000 second-feet (cubic feet per second). The ordinary maximum flow is 70,000 to 100,000 second-feet, the minimum flow, 2,500 to 3,000 second-feet, and the average 10,700 second-feet. In August, 1931, the flow at Yuma decreased to 200 second-feet (U. S. Bureau of Reclamation). The total yearly flow at Yuma averages about 16,730,000 acre-feet (1902-1916) including 1,000,000 acre-feet or more from Gila River. The mineral content of the water ordinarily ranges from 1,000 to 350 parts per million,” and it is estimated that the geBiirreeait in suspension is sufficient to cover about 100,000 acres 1 foot deep (100,000 acre-feet) annually, Considerable sediment is also moved along the bottom of the river. The material spread on the land by overflow has important fertilizing value. (U.S. Bur. of Reclamation).” % A very large amount of material is removed from the land and earried to the ocean by all rivers. Careful esti- mates based on analyses of river waters measurements of volume of flow have shown that every year the rivers of the United States carry to tidewater 3 513,000,000 tons of sediment in suspen- sion and 270,000,000 tons of dissolved matter. - The total of 783,000,000 tons er 000 enbie 4 Ariz yards of rock, or a cube measuring about two-fifths of a mile on each side (Ms eubie mile). The total is equiva- lent to 610,000,000 cubie yards of sur- face soil. (See U Geol. Survey | Water-Supply Paper 234, p- 83, 1909.) also Bacon, J. L., Monthly Weather Review, vol. 59, p. 297, 1931; Breazeale, J. F., Arizona Univ. Bull. 8, 1926; Raabe R. H., ona Univ. Bull. 44, 1 J PLATE 35 U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 i ) rs > GUNA am] < > H os iM ny, El Centro scar dchind = A : Riven CALIFORNIA “4 AME, WAL pare ie’ 520.47 LERICAN, pega =e LaCIFIC 7 reer Se a ‘Sexicall * i “4 - y 7S “Signal Mtn < ey rs 7 pourse. i 1919-1927 --3 “e he ait ate Nar Jf ff L. f Af ON A Co™ a ata aes My fa Aly, eetes Levee 25 Miles MAP OF THE COLORADO RIVER DELTA REGION, BELOW YUMA, ARIZ. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 241 An important engineering project in connection with the Colorado River is the Boulder Dam, in Black Canyon, 200 miles above Yuma (about 15 miles below Boulder Canyon), which was started in 1931. It will completely control the waters of the river and not only maintain the supply as needed, but prevent floods and greatly diminish the amount of silt. According to printed statements of the United States Bureau of Reclamation the dam will be a curved gravity structure about 1,180 feet long and will contain approximately 3,500,000 cubic yards of concrete requiring about 5,500,000 barrels of cement. Its height will be 707 feet above bedrock; this will raise the water surface about 582 feet, or to 1,229 feet above sea level. The reservoir, 115 miles long and with an area of about 145,000 acres (227 square miles), will hold 30,500,000 acre-feet of water. It will take a year and a half for the river to fill the reservoir under ordinary conditions of flow. The cost of the dam will be about $70,600,000, not including a 1,200,000-horsepower electric generating plant ($38,000,000), the revenue from which, together with the charge to irrigators for the water, is expected to cover the interest and finally repay the cost. An all-American canal 75 miles long, provided for by an allotment of $38,500,000, will be built through the sand hills that begin 10 miles west of Yuma, to replace the present canal, which for 35 miles is in Mexico. Its cost also must be repaid by the i irriga- tion under it. This canal, with a bottom width of 134 feet and a depth of 22 feet, will supply a much larger volume of water than is now flowing in the old canal, which is the largest one in operation in this country, and will marae for greatly increasing the irrigated area in Imperial Valley. The water will be taken from the river at a point 5 miles above the present Laguna Dam, a few miles above Yuma. It is estimated that a branch 130 miles long to provide for irrigation in the Coachella Valley and increasing the area irrigable under this project to 900,000 acres, will cost about $11,000,000. Los Angeles i also receive some of the water (1,500 cecadifekt. which will be taken out at Parker and carried through long aqueducts and tunnels by way of San Gorgonio Pass. From a point 6 miles west by south from Yuma the middle of the Colorado River is the boundary between the United States and Mexico, Arizona extending about 16 miles farther south than Califor- nia. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, the original international boundary followed the Gila River to its junction with the Colorado and thence was a straight line west to a point on the Pacific Ocean 1 marine league south of the southernmost point of the port of San Diego. By the Gadsden Purchase the southern boundary east of the Colorado River was shifted to its present location, which touches the Colorado at a point 20 English miles below the junction _ of the Gila. North of Yuma the Colorado is for many miles the : : ee line between Arizona and California. ce 242 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES California, the largest of the three Pacific Coast States, has a length of 780 miles and width of about 250 miles. The area is 158,297 square miles, nearly equal to New York, New Eng- California. land, and Pennsylvania combined. The population of California in 1930 was 5,677,251, or about one- fifth of that of the Eastern States named. This was a gain of nearly 66 per cent in the 20 years from 1910 to 1930. The average number of persons per square mile was 36.5, as compared with 22 in 1920. The population is very unevenly distributed, however, the desert regions east of the Sierra Nevada being very sparsely occupied. The State has 1,264 miles of coast line, mostly bold and unbroken but indented by the fine harbors of San Diego and San Francisco. California has a great range in elevation, for some of its desert valleys are below sea level and much of the Sierra Nevada is more than 10,000 feet above sea level, the highest peak, Mount Whitney, reach- ing 14,496 feet. The lowest places are Death Valley, the bottom of which is 276 feet below sea level, and the Salton Basin, the bottom of which (when dry) is 273.5 feet below sea level. Owing to its great range of elevation and latitude, California presents a wide diversity in climate, with corresponding variation in vegetation and animal life. Along the coast in southern California precipitation is low and tem- peratures are equable. Around San Francisco Bay themoderaterainfall comes almost wholly in the winter, and the seasonal range of tempera- ture is comparatively small, although from hour to hour the change is sometimes very marked. In parts of southern California typical desert conditions prevail. The great interior valley of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers is characterized by moderate to scant winter rainfall and hot, dry summers. Snow rarely falls except on the adjoining high mountains. Forests cover 20 per cent of the State. They are notable for the large size of their trees, especially for the huge dimensions attained by been preserved against the inroads of the lumberman by the Govern- ment or through private generosity. The 21 national forests in California have a total area of 40,000 square miles, or about one-fourth of the State’s area. The national parks in the State are the Yosemite (1,124 square miles), Sequoia (252 square miles), General Grant (4 square miles), and Lassen Volcanic (124 square miles). Agriculture is an enormous industry in California, and its impor- tance is increasing. The following facts from the United States census ‘Ter rest: Of the total land area of nearly 100,000,000 Acres, about 30,442,581 acres is in farms and ranches, which with uldings and machinery have a value of nearly $4,000,000,000. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 243 More than 4,000,000 acres is under irrigation. The value of crops in 1929 was $623,103,467, the cost of which for labor and fertilizer was $212,417,664. The grain crop in 1929 was 48,451,246 bushels, of which about three-fifths was barley. The cultivated hay crop for 1929 was 4,098,993 tons, and the cotton production 253,881 bales. In the variety and value of its fruit crops California outranks all other States. Its products range from dates, figs, pineapples, and other semitropical fruits in the south to pears, peaches, apples, and plums in the north; but it is to oranges and other citrus fruits and grapes that California owes her horticultural supremacy. During 1929 California produced 53,820,634 boxes of citrus fruits, 37,738 tons of walnuts, 4,700 tons of almonds, 1,691,111 tons of grapes, of which more than half were of the raisin variety, and great quantities of prunes, peaches, apricots, olives, and melons. Other notable crops are hops, about 7,905,965 pounds in 1929; lima and other beans, 5,526,351 bushels; sugar beets, 452,818 tons; potatoes, 6,489,203 bushels; and wheat, 10,957,967 bushels. The total value of vegetables shipped in 1929 was about $60,272,659. More than 5,000 acres is in strawberries, and the fig crop in 1929 was more than 59,000 tons. California leads in apiculture, producing about one-tenth of the Nation’s honey, the amount being normally about 6,000,000 pounds, besides 300,000 pounds of wax. Much honey is exported from Los Angeles. There are about 150 species of plants that furnish nectar in important amounts; the blossoms of oranges and sagebrush are the most reliable sources. The yield of honey is closely related to the amount of rainfall. Many of the bee colonies are moved from place to place to take advantage of blossoming periods, not only for the honey obtained but for service in pollenization. Dairying is an important industry, with a yield of 445,530,000 gallons of milk in 1929. In 1930 the wool clipped amounted to 18,747,453 pounds. Cotton, melons, and dates are raised abundantly in the irrigated districts in the southeast corner of the State, and rice production is increasing rapidly. Of its mineral products, petroleum ranks first in total value, and gold next. According to the United States Bureau of Mines, Califor- nia’s output of petroleum was 227,329,000 barrels in 1931 (292,036,911 barrels in 1929), about 16 per cent of the world’s yield, and its output of gold amounted to about $8,455,200. Other mineral products are cement, 13,091,899 barrels; copper, 33,084,232 pounds; silver, $636,749; mercury, 10,139 flasks (of 76 pounds); and borate minerals, 169,870 tons, valued at $4,515,375. The total value of products from Cali- fornia mines and quarries in 1929 was $38,645,889, with a personnel of more than 9,000. The-leading industry is refining petroleum, the products of which in 1927 were valued at more than $350,000,000. California’s fisheries are also a source of much revenue. According to the United States Department of Commerce, the exports from San 244 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego had a value of $377 392,437 in 1929, and the annual imports amount to nearly $300,000,000, of which more than half passes through San Francisco. There are in the State four great universities—the University of California (enroll- ment 19,000), Leland Stanford Junior University (4,600), the Univer- sity of Southern California, and the California. Institute of Tech- nology—besides many smaller collegiate institutions. The recorded history of California began in 1542, when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explored the southern coast. Sir Francis Drake, who landed on California soil in 1579 to repair his ships, named the place New Albion, but later the name California was applied. It is claimed that this name was derived from Califa, queen of the Amazons, used by Montalvo in a romance, but also that it was taken from the name given by Cortez to the south end of Lower California and meaning fiery furnace. Until Padre Kino’s explorations in 1700 and 1701, California was supposed to be an island. In 1602-3 Sebastian Viscaino discovered the sites of San Diego and Monterey. From 1769 to 1823 21 missions were established in California under the direction of the Franciscan friar Junipero Serra and other missionaries of his order, and most of them still remain, although some are in ruins. The first overland caravans to California began in 1827, and the dis- covery of gold by J. W. Marshall at Sutter’s mill in 1848 brought a large influx of gold seekers and settlers.®® California was formerly a part of Mexico, but many citizens of Cali- fornia were Americans and strongly desirous of entering the Union, especially as trouble with Mexico increased. On July 7, 1846, the American flag was raised in Monterey, and the annexation of Califor- nia proclaimed. The treaty of Cahuenga, negotiated by Gen. John C. Frémont and the Mexican commander, Andrés Pico, and signed on January 13, 1847, ended hostilities, and in 1850 California was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first State. The official State flower is the California poppy (Esechscholtzia californica), and the State’s motto, “Eureka,” means “I have found “.” On leaving Yuma the railroad crosses the Colorado River on a_ long bridge (see p. 236) and curves around to the northwest to traverse the alluvial plain of the river, here nearly 5 miles wide. This land is included in the Yuma Indian Reservation, 8,350 acres in all, which is supplied with water for irrigation by a canal from the Laguna Dam, 10 miles above Yuma. (See p. 238.) This canal, crossed not far beyond the river bridge, was one of the early irrigation projects of _ the United States Bureau of Reclamation, having been completed in _ 1909. About 1,500 acres is under cultivation, yielding crops of various __ kinds, notably cotton, which thrives on the rich sandy soil. Much _% The first discovery of gold was | Angeles, in 1842, but it had little eco- in Placerita Canyon, near Los | nomic importance. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 245 alfalfa is also raised. A view of part of the irrigated district is shown in Plate 34, B. The Indians who occupy this reservation form a picturesque element among the various people who make up the population of the Yuma region. Usually the day trains in Yuma are met by Indian women offering beads and other trinkets. The Yuma Indians have cultivated the river flats for many centuries but retain many primitive methods. The Fort Yuma Indian School, a prominent building on the farther bank of the river, has an attendance of about 200. A statue of Garcés in front of the chapel here com- memorates the heroic Franciscan who, after martyrdom at his mission here in 1781, was interred with respect by the Indians who had murdered him. His body was later transferred to Mexico. (See p. 187.) Kino estimated that there were 6,000 Yuma families. It has been estimated that there were 3,000 Indians here in 1853; in 1932 there were 842 under the Fort Yuma Agency. The word Yuma, from ‘‘Yahmayo,” son of the captain, was applied erroneously by the early Spanish missionaries; the Indians call themselves Kwichan. A mile west of Araz siding the San Diego & Arizona Railway, a part of the Southern Pacific system, branches to the southwest and eae goes by way of Mexicali, Calexico, and El Centro, Elevation 156 feet. 2¢TOSS Imperial Valley, and through the beautiful. eans 1,756 Carrizo Gorge to San Diego. (See p. 287.) Near Araz the railroad reaches the western edge of the river flat and begins an ascent of about 150 feet onto the higher terrace or general desert level. On this grade it passes through long, deep cuts exhibiting the nature of the sand and gravel deposits that make up the terrace. At one point this material is extensively quarried for road making. Half a mile beyond the siding, on the south side of the highway, south of the tracks, are the ruins of the old Arazstage station on the river bank, constructed in 1856. The material is adobe. From a point near this place a branch road follows the west side of the Colorado River, which here makes a great bend to the south and in less than 3 miles enters Mexico near the village of Algodon. Southwest of Araz siding is the isolated Pilot Knob, or Cerro de Pablo, near the west bank of the river, consisting of a mass of lava lying against granite and schists. Near it in 1780 was established the mission of San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicufier under the admin- istration of Padre Garcés. The colony consisted of 20 settlers, 21 soldiers, and 12 laborers, with their families. In the Indian revolt of the following year two resident missionaries and practically all the soldiers and colonists were clubbed to death, and the women and children were made captives. On the slope of Pilot Knob dur- In the hes the term ‘‘adobe”’ | these sun-dried bricks are made and (colloquially ‘“‘doby”) is commonly | for a structure made of them. used both for the sandy clay from which miles. 246 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES ing the gold rush of 1849 a stone structure called Fort Defiance was built by Americans in connection with a ferry across the river near by. It was soon abandoned after a massacre by the Yuma Indians. As the level of the general desert plain is attained near Knob siding many prominent mountains come into view—the rough ridges of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains near by to the north, a group of high ridges surrounding the sharp Picacho Peak to the northeast, and various high ranges back in Arizona. Some of these mountains consist in whole or in part of volcanic rocks; others are made up of old gneisses and granites, such as constitute the Gila Mountains. A group of rocky knobs of vesicular lava, skirted 2 miles southeast of Ogilby siding, has been a source of railroad ballast. On approaching Ogilby the Cargo Muchacho Mountains seem near. They consist of schists and include a number of mines, old and new. The principal old one, the American mine, was worked from 1879 to 1918, with a production locally estimated at several million dollars. Near by are the ruins of Tumco (formerly Hedges), a town which had a popula- tion of nearly 1,000 when the mines were operating. The ore was in veins in pegmatite, which cuts the schist in every direction. Three miles north of Ogilby is a mine producing cyanite, a very refractory aluminum silicate that is useful in the manufacture of high- grade porcelain ware, electrical insulators, and refractory brick and shapes for the glass and iron industries. This mineral, which is of a beautiful blue color, occurs in a large vein with quartz, in mica schist. It is shipped to Los Angeles for the separation of the quartz and preparation for the market.” A mile north of the cyanite mine talc is mined, for use largely in paper manufacture. West of Knob siding and extending from the Mexican boundary to and beyond Amos siding, a distance of 50 miles, is a wide belt of sand hills which is more familiar to most persons than they are aware, for it has afforded the background for many ‘‘Sahara Desert”’ scenes in the moving pictures. The belt is about 5 miles wide. It presents a picturesque succession of shifting dunes, of loose pale-yellow sand, in places 200 to 300 feet high, separated by irregular basins. The high- way to El Centro formerly passed over this sandy strip on a road made of heavy planks strung together with wire. It was 10 feet wide, with passing places at intervals. In 1928 this unique roadway was displaced by a wide concrete highway suitable for the present heavy ” Cyanite is of the same composi- Ogilby. Elevation 356 feet New Orleans 1 miles fibrous cyanite from the quartz is ted _ silica 37.15 per cent, the proportion of alumina being considerably greater _ than in clay. The separation of the water, which shatters the quartz so that it can be removed by washing and SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 247 traffic of Imperial Valley. This sand-dune belt is one of the largest inland occurrences of its kind in the United States. Doubtless the dunes are still shifting somewhat, but as land surveys of 1856 show practically the same configuration as the present one, the change must be slow, and probably many hundreds of centuries has been required for their accumulation. They are a serious barrier to canal construction, as the sand is loose and drifts extensively, but in 1931 provision was made to build an all American canal through them to supply water to Imperial Valley without the deflection into Mexican territory which the old canal makes. From Ogilby northwestward the railroad passes between the sand- hill belt and the long slopes that lead up to the mountains to the northeast. At Glamis a road to Blythe leaves the railroad and proceeds to a distant pass up the Palo Verde Valley (pah’lo vare’day), a wide dry wash which rarely carries any water. As the rainfall in this region is very low, an average of about 3 inches a year, vegetation is sparse and closely adjusted to soil conditions. Ironwood (Olneya tesota) and the creosote bush (Covillea) are the most noticeable features in the vegetation; ocotillo is conspicuous in places. Some of the ironwoods are 20 feet high, but they are widely separated. Northwestward from the gap northeast of Glamis the Chocolate Mountains” make a high continuous wall extending for 20 miles as a succession of prominent ridges rising abruptly from the valley, 3 to 8 miles northeast of the railroad. In these mountains there have been a few notable mines, including the Paymaster and Pegleg, both of which were good producers of silver-lead ores years ago. At the east end are some outlying buttes capped by basalt, and in part of the range and in foothills on its south side are andesitic and rhyolitic lavas of Tertiary age. It has been suggested that the steep south front of the range in this vicinity was determined by a te granite and basalt occur in small foothills south of the main rang On the south side of the railroad is the great sand-hill | belt (see pl. 36, A), on the farther side of which is Imperial Valley. There is a down grade from a point near Glamis westward, and the tracks pass below sea level near Flowing Well siding. This place 7 The Chocolate Mountains con- | the canyon leading to this pass beds of sist mainly of granite, but schist also | white soft tuff give place to a vertical occurs, and these old rocks are over- | mass of dark rhyolitie breecia in which lain ee lavas of Tertiary age. In Iris Pass, which Glamis. Elevation 338 feet. Population 15.* New Orleans 1,785 mniles. In crosses the range north of Niland, there of stee and yellow clay, lyi igneous rocks. Near a upper end of ate which appear to zontal and contain boulders of rhyolite and other volcanic rocks. West of the pass granite is the principal rock, con- stieetinare high rocky range. (Brown.) 248 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES owes its name to the former presence of a marsh and a pool of brackish water of unknown origin. A short distance beyond is the East High- land Canal, which carries irrigation water along the east margin of Imperial Valley as far as Niland. From the canal crossing there is an excellent view of the beach of the old Lake Cahuilla, which once occupied the Salton Basin. (See p. 253.) The beach, which consists of sand, here forms a steep bluff about 40 feet high and extends far to the southeast along the east side of the canal. Near Niland outcrops of soft sandstone appear in low ridges con- stituting the north slope of Imperial Valley. The sandstone is : interstratified with shale, clay, and conglomerate, the Niland. cet Sagi conglomerate mostly as a basal member. These Population 200.* rocks are of Miocene or Pliocene age and steeply ariel Orleans 1,815 tilted. They crop out almost continuously on the northeast side of the railroad to Indio and beyond. From Niland, formerly called Imperial Junction, a branch railroad leads south to Brawley, E] Centro (32 miles), and Calexico (41 miles), in Imperial Valley. In the eastern part of Niland the railroad is crossed by the power line that furnishes electricity to Imperial Valley. The current is generated by water power in Owens Valley, 300 miles to the north. The line extends northwestward a short distance north of the railroad, to Indio and beyond. Imperial Valley has an area of about 600 square miles, occupying the central part of Imperial County southeast of Salton Sea. Most of it lies 10 to 175 feet below sea level. The parallel of 33° north latitude passes through its center, and with the low elevation and this Colorado River to be allotted to Mexico | than has ever been utilized in the area s can Members of the International | desire nearly five times as much, or one- Water ‘Commission have suggested | fourth of the total annual content of the U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 36 A. DRIFTING SANDS NEAR NORTH END OF SAND HILLS NEAR AMOS SIDING, CALIF. Chocolate Mountains in background. (Mendenhall.) B. SALTON SEA AND SALTON BASIN, CALIF. From point near Figtree John Spring, looking north to Orocopia and Cottonwood Mountains. (Mendenhall.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 37 B. COTTON IN IMPERIAL VALLEY SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 249 connection with the Boulder Dam project the supply will be provided by an all-American canal. (See p. 241.) The cost of the irrigation system in Imperial Valley has been about $18,000,000. The crops raised are most varied, with 112,432 acres of alfalfa, 22,165 acres of cotton (see pl. 37, B), and a large acreage of fruits and vegetables, including 8,000 acres in grapefruit and 70,000 acres in melons of various kinds. ‘he yearly value of its products is locally claimed to be between $40,000,000 and $50,000,000. Cotton, dates, citrus fruits, barley, and alfalfa grow side by side. From Imperial Valley New York gets its earliest cantaloupes, of which it is locally estimated that about 20,000 cars are shipped each year, and 15,000 carloads of lettuce were shipped to the eastern markets in 1926. The grapefruit crop in 1929, according to the United States Census, was 329,461 boxes, and the grape crop 4,032 tons. Alfalfa yields 7 to 10 tons to the acre for each cutting, and it is harvested several times a year. Livestock and dairying are important industries which utilize the pasturage and forage products to great advantage. It is locally esti- mated that 16,000,000 gallons of milk was produced in 1929. The United States Department of Agriculture has made a detailed study of the soils of an area of 1,100 square miles in Imperial Valley, or most of that portion of the irrigable area that lies within the United States. All of the material is alluvium derived from the Colorado River, and although most of it is suitable for agriculture, some areas are too much mineralized for most plants, and others are suitable only for certain crops. Irrigation also adds to the mineralization unless precautions are taken to avoid accumulation of saline matter by evaporation, for river water contains considerable of it in solution. Imperial Valley has a very warm climate for a large part of the year, but temperatures rarely rise above 125°, and the mean is about 70°. With very low humidity the warmth is more bearable than sultry heat in other regions. In winter the minimum has been as low as 19°, but temperatures below 32° are rare and of short duration. The mean annual rainfall is somewhat less than 3 inches. The climate in general is closely similar to that of much of the Nile Delta, but the average humidity is only about two-thirds as great and is much less variable. Dust storms, which occur mostly in February, March, and April, are short but trying. Prof. W. P. Blake, of the Government expedition of 1853, was probably the first to recognize the agricultural capabilities of the lower part of the Colorado Desert and to suggest that the water of the Colorado River could be utilized for its irrigation. A few years later river. In some years of scanty flow, | ments are 2,500 second-feet. (Homan, such as 1930 and 1931, Imperial Valley | P. T., Economic aspect of the Boulder could scarcely obtain a daily mean of | Dam project: . Jour. Economics, 1,000 second-feet, although the require- | vol. 45, pp. 177-217, 1931.) 152109°—33——_17 250 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES surveys were made for a canal, and in 1859 the State of California petitioned the United States Government to cede 3,000,000 acres of the land for development. In 1875-76 surveying parties reported favorably on a diversion canal passing through Mexico, on practically the present route of the main canal, but no concessions were granted, and it was not until 1900 that the canal was begun under private auspices. In 1901 water was available, and the excellent results obtained encouraged a large influx of settlers. The alluring but well- fitting name Imperial Valley was given to the region, and its develop- ment has been rapid and extensive. .There were many difficulties to overcome, such as rapid silting of the canal near the headgates, but the worst setback was the breaking of the Colorado River into the intake below Yuma in 1904 and 1905. The great river, swollen by a winter flood, abandoned its own bed and flowed into the Salton Basin through the old watercourses, the Alamo and New Rivers, excavating wide channels. With this influx of the river the Salton Sea grew rapidly into a great fresh-water lake, and large areas of valuable lands and canals were destroyed. It was seen at once that unless the flow could be stopped Imperial Valley was doomed. A brush mat and piling dam was started after the summer flood had subsided, but a later flood destroyed it, and other floods added to the difficulty. Late in 1906 the Southern Pacific Co. took control of operations, and after one disheartening failure, the use of vast amounts of rock brought from quarries was effective in closing the break in February, 1907. The cost of this work was estimated at $3,000,000. The flooding of Salton Sea necessitated the removal of 67 miles of railroad tracks, in places as much as 2 miles, to their present location. This flooding was facilitated by the high gradient of 200 feet or more in the valley, which gave the water greater declivity than its own low gradient down the old main channel to the Gulf of California. Soon the greater part of the river’s flow was entering the basin, and in a year or more Salton Sea had increased in length to 45 miles and in width to 17 miles, with a depth of 67.5 feet and an area of 443 square miles. Its northwestern margin extended nearly to Mecca and its eastern margin encroached on Imperial Valley. Had the water risen pr higher the great irrigation settlement would have been inun- ated. When the inflow was stopped, in February, 1907, evaporation began at once to reduce the lake, and in the next five years the level fell 25 feet. This fall of 5 feet a year was less than the average annual evaporation (about 9} feet), for some water is received from the over- flow and seepage of irrigation ditches and some through drainage from the surrounding mountains. In 1915 the depth of the water had _ diminished to 38 feet, and in 1919 to 30 feet. In the last decade the _ water level has ranged from 250 feet below sea level in 1923 and 1925 SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 251 Within two and one-half years after the Salton Sea was flooded its water was four times as saline as that of the river from which its water was derived. When the water receded and revealed a portion of the bottom of the basin it was found that several feet of silt covered the old salt deposit on its floor. It has been estimated that during the time of their overflow into the Salton Basin the Alamo and New Rivers removed from their beds and banks 450,000 cubic yards of material in nine months. At this time the Alamo River developed a waterfall 30 feet or more high, which for a while cut backward at the rate of 1,400 feet a day. Outside of the irrigated area this basin is part of the most arid desert in the country. It was called by the Mexicans and Indians ‘Lia Palma de la Mano de Dios” (the hollow of God’s hand) and was named the Colorado Desert by W. P. Blake in 1853, eight years before the State of Colorado was named. At present the name Imperial Valley is used for the eastern part of the area, Salton Basin for the central area, and Coachella Valley for the upper part from the head of Salton Sea to the foot of San Gorgonio Pass. It is an inland extension to the northwest of the valley that holds the head of the Gulf of California and comprises more than 2,000 square miles between the Santa Rosa Mountains and Peninsular Range on the southwest, and the Chocolate, Orocopia, and Little San Bernardino Ranges on the northeast. It is followed for more than 150 miles by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Structurally this area is a complex downfaulted block of the earth’s crust, deeply floored by Tertiary sediments and alluvial deposits. Its lowest part is now 273.5 feet below sea level. Its main outlines apparently were developed in Tertiary time, for it contains extensive deposits of Tertiary age, and these have been flexed and faulted. They comprise Miocene or Pliocene marine beds, overlain by subaerial beds that were formed in a desert basin somewhat like the present one. Since that time, however, the basin has been greatly uplifted, for part of the Tertiary strata have been eroded down to a level far below the present valley bottom. It has been suggested that the basin was occupied until recently by an extension of the Gulf of California, which was cut off by the building of a delta by the Colorado River, but recent investigations seem to indicate that much of the present depression below sea level was effected by crustal movement after most of the Colorado River delta was built, and therefore long after the invasion by the sea. Blake discovered that in relatively recent time the basin was occupied by a transient fresh-water lake of large extent, which he called Lake Cahuilla (ca-wee’ya). (See p. 253.) The delta cone of the river, which now cuts off the basin to the south- east, is young, however, and its top is only about 30 feet above sea level. That there has been recent faulting in part of the basin is 252 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES shown by a very fresh fault cliff or rift in the surface (see pl. 39) and by occasional earthquakes. As the great river carries a heavy load of sediment (see p. 240), it is reasonable to believe that it would be able to build a delta all the way from Yuma to the head of the Gulf of California at a rate equal to a slow subsidence. The salt in the present Salton Basin ” is believed to have resulted solely from the evaporation of river water and of transient streams running into the basin. The capacity of the Salton Basin up to the lowest point in the delta rim to the southeast, 30 feet above sea level, an area of about 2,100 square miles, is 264,500 square mile feet (square miles 1 foot deep). (Brown.) With an average annual flow at Yuma of 26,000 square mile feet, the water of the Colorado River, if it all _ entered the Salton Basin, would supply this volume in about 10 years, but evaporation would greatly retard and possibly prevent complete inundation. The Salton Basin is in many ways similar in configuration to other closed basins in arid regions. The central portion is flat, and about its borders are alluvial slopes extending to the foot of the mountains, which rise very abruptly with steep rocky slopes. A few rocky buttes or ridges rise above the basin floor somewhat like rocky islands in the sea. The lower part of the basin is filled and floored with a thick body of sand and silt which has been penetrated by borings, some of them 1,000 feet deep, without reaching bedrock, although they may reach formations of Tertiary age. The bottom of the basin is now occupied by Salton Sea. On the east side of the basin are the delta deposits of the Colorado River several hundred feet thick, which consist largely of fine sand and silt. Wells near Holtville are 500 to 800 feet deep in sand and gravel, the lower part of which may possibly be of 3 This salt was a residue left in the | exploration of 1848 found in the bot- bottom of the basin by the evaporation of the water and was in crusts 10 to 20 inches thick; there also were layers of various thickness in the mud _ below. Before the inundation of 1891 salt in considerable amount was obtained at a salt works in the bottom of the basin and shipped from old Salton sidi For centuries before, however, this salt had been utilized by the Indians. The fresh waters flo into the basin brought the salt but contained only a concentrated by evaporation. A 300- foot boring at the old salt works re- vealed 270 feet of hard clay below the salt and mud, a deposit of earlier over- of in. Emory in his small proportion, and it has been | tom of the basin a very shallow, highly saline pond less than 1 mile in length. An analysis of the water of Salton Sea made by Earl B. Working in June, 1923 (Carnegie Inst. Washington Year- book 22, p. 66, 1924), shows a concen- tration of nearly 39,000 parts per mil- lion of dissolved mineral matter. This tion the water inundation in 1907 the mineral content of the water was only about 3,000 parts per million. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 253 Tertiary age. In the western or upper part of the basin there is much coarse material and sand deposited by streams from the adjoin- ing steep mountain slopes. In places the sands are blown into dunes, which occupy areas of considerable extent. The beach line of the large prehistoric water body known as Lake Cahuilla “ is plainly visible at many places along the margin of the Salton Basin and extending up the Coachella Valley * to a point about 2 miles above Indio; it extends along both sides of Imperial Valley and southward into Mexico. The surface of the water was about 40 feet above the present sea level, or more than 310 feet above the bottom of the basin. Variation in elevation of the old beach from 30 to 57 feet above sea level indicates warping of the basin in recent time. In most places the old beach forms a sandy ridge or bench only a few feet high. West of Brawley this bench is half a mile wide, and 4 miles east of Niland, near the point where it is crossed by the railroad, it attains considerable prominence, and it continues in view to a point beyond Frink. Many fossil shells of fresh-water habit (including Anodonta, Planorbis, Physa, and Tryonia) occur in the sand. Near Fish Springs, on the south side of the basin opposite Salton siding, the old strand is marked by a band of white travertine, a fresh-water deposit of calcium carbonate, on the schists. This band is very conspicuous on a projection of the moun- tain known as Travertine Point (pl. 38, B) and encircling an isolated hill of granite 2 miles northwest of Fish Springs. The inundation of 1907 extended to the foot of the point, covering the old trail with more than 60 feet of water, but it fell far short of the ancient lake margin marked by the travertine. Macdougal * has estimated that the date of the last filling of Lake Cahuilla corresponding to the old beach was not more than 300 or 400 years ago. The local Indians have traditions of the lake which disappeared “poco & poco.” Prob- ably there were oscillations when freshets refilled it, a process which may have recurred at various times while the delta was being built. Near the mouth of the Alamo River, on the southeast shore of the Salton Sea about 8 miles southwest of Niland, the presence of a center of voleanic activity is shown by ridges of lava pumice and active “volcanoes” of hot mud emitting sulphurous steam. One of these features is shown in Plate 38, A. There are other larger ones 75 miles farther south, near Volcano Lake, in Mexico. Pumice is 7 The name Coachella is probably a isspelling of “‘conchilla” (Spanish for ™ This name applied to the former water body by W. P. Blake is that of | valley the Indians who inhabited on several sm Mecca, Cabazon, and Palm Springs. little shell), which was used in the early days and printed on the earliest 3 76 ugal, D. T., A decade of the Salton Sea: Geog. Rev., vol. 3, pp. 457- | 473, 1917. 254 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES obtained at Obsidian Butte,” on the southeast shore of Salton Sea 11 miles northwest of Calipatria. It is interbedded with sediments and is the product of a volcanic eruption, probably from a cinder cone near the present mud volcanoes. The pumice is in pieces as large as 12 inches, and only those over 2 inches are shipped. The material is sorted by hand. There is another mine in a similar deposit 9 miles northwest of Calipatria, in an area of about 100 acres on a low rounded hill From Niland westward the mountains on the southwest side of the Colorado Desert or Salton Basin become conspicuous. To the southwest, across Imperial Valley, the Fish Creek and Superstition Mountains are clearly in view. Superstition Mountain consists of a ridge of gray biotite granite about 750 feet high, flanked on its north side by Tertiary sandstone and tuff with an interbedded flow of vesicular basalt about 200 feet thick. To the west are the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains, which consist of schists and granite; beyond this range rise the high San Jacinto Mountains, also made up of crystalline rocks. These ranges are sometimes known as_ the Peninsular Mountains because they continue far south down the great peninsula of Baja California. On the north side of the railroad west of Niland are low ridges of sandstone and shale of late Tertiary age which come to the surface at Niland. (Turn to sheet 27.) At Mundo siding the Salton Sea is in sight (pl. 36, B), and the railroad skirts its north shore nearly to Mecca. It is a weird spectacle in the moonlight. In crossing the Colorado Desert and Coachella Valley from Yuma to Banning striking changes will be noticed in the natural vegeta- tion, especially near Banning, where the xerophilous (‘‘drought- loving’’) Lower Sonoran flora ceases. Near Yuma the desert plants are about the same as those in Arizona, but the sahuaro is absent. The ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens; see pl. 41, A) occurs near the ilroad as far west as a point a few miles beyond Glamis, where it recedes to the hillsides on the north, along which it continues to Red Canyon, near Mecca. The paloverde (Cercidium torreyanum) and indigo thorn (Parosela spinosa) continue to Palm Springs, and a few trees like the desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) and the mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) extend part way through San Gorgonio Pass. The mesquite thrives in the sand dunes in the Indio and Indian Springs region, where a low trailing form (Prosopis juliflora) abounds. The beautiful Washington palm (Neowashingtoniana Jilamentosa) begins at the Dos Palmas Spring, north of Durmid, and occurs in groups | at various springs along the mountain slopes past Indio. — 7 Rock from from ledges in this butte has | tridymite and barbierite, probably by oe been cos ot gol meen obsidian, | the action of hot volcanic gases. ata ; mixture of | (A. F. Rogers.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 26 Oo o o 115 30 W5 Fg ee cee ie PE Sa CARS } 2 ] EXPLANATION = A Sand and gravel Quaternary Acer B Sandstone, clay and gl t LG Pliocene 3 C Lavas and other rocks of Tertiary voleanic origin (undifferentiated) Be> D Schist and granite Pre-Cambrian and later ee Va ie d / 7, ci Woe Rw i G Aa? GS Flowing Well 7’ SSS PO! Gy — , °\ Te c LS) wf? 160i 1810 Iris > Sst : : PAY MASTER / 4 Estelle 2277 Calipatria Imp 2z -4 \\0 e aS ( 0 Scale 500,000 Calexico linch=8 miles (approximately) ene -5 10 15 r exicali ce] Lo i) i} Contour interval 200 feet mM 13 mean see feve/ The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 10 miles, and the crossties are drawn 7 mi in the lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. | topographic map of that name oe era 530° SS WS Topography from U. S. Geological Survey uadrar zh map WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO., WASH. D.C SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 255 There are some groves or this picturesque tree in Palm Canyon, as shown in Plate 41, B. The creosote bush (Covillea) extends all the way up the valley; but in the more sandy places it is widely spaced and greatly stunted. It is the dominant plant near Garnet and Cabazon. The Spanish bayonet (Yucca mohavensis) continues west and is especially conspicuous near Cabazon. The cacti (mostly Opuntia bigelovii, O. basilaris, and O. echinocarpa) extend west along the mountain slopes but do not occur low in the basin, where appar- ently their altitudinal limit is passed. The ironwood (Olneya tesota) is widely distributed on the dry uplands and bears much mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum), a parasite which also infests the palo verde, mesquite, and other trees. In the moist alkaline flats of the lower part of the valley the salt bushes (Atriplex canescens and A. polycarpa) and salt grass (Distichlis spicata) are the principal plants, and in wet places near springs rushes (Juncus cooperi), sedges or tules (Scirpus olneyi), arrowweed (Pluchea sericea), and willow (Salix gooddingii) flourish. The willow also forms dense thickets along the overflow lands bordering parts of the Colorado River. The animals and birds in the desert region of southern California are the same as in southern Arizona and, except the coyote and rabbits, are rarely seen. Large animals occur in the mountains, and deer, sheep, and Ginchied are occasionally visible in out of the way places. From Mundo siding to Mortmar siding the railroad is built largely on a bench near the shore of the Salton Sea. A short distance to the northeast of the tracks are hills and badlands of tilted sandstone and shale of Pliocene age. Some distance beyond rise the rugged slopes of the Chocolate and Orocopia Mountains. _ At Frink siding is a crusher making “‘Frink rock” for concrete from detrital material consisting of boulders, mostly of schist, rhyolite, and andesite brought by freshet waters from the mountains. The capacity of the plant is 1,500 tons a day. About 2% miles northeast of Bertram siding are the ‘‘soda mines,”’ where the mineral thenardite, an anhydrous sodium sulphate, with hidiraih. a small amount of the hydrous form (Glauber salts), peration-15 130 feet. E88 been quarried. The mineral occurs in a New Sey peed 3 inches to 8 feet thick in the Pliocene sandstones miles. and clays, which here dip about 35° N. The clean mineral is more than 99 per cent pure, and the bed has been traced for 3,000 feet. Several thousand tons a year has been shipped to San Francisco for use in making wood pulp by the sulphite process and also in the manufacture of glass. From Bertram siding to Mortmar the Orocopia Mountains are conspicuous to the north and northeast, culminating in a dark 256 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES rounded peak about 3,000 feet high, which is visible for a long distance in the surrounding country. These mountains consist largely of old black schist, but according to Brown andesitic and rhyolitic lavas also occur in them. They are separated from the Chocolate Moun- tains, to the southeast, by the wide valley of Salton Creek. At their south foot, about 5 miles northeast of Salton siding, is Dos Palmas Spring (Spanish for two palms), a watering place on the old stage road from Ehrenberg to San Bernardino. The water, which is somewhat saline, rises in a marshy poo] surrounded by rank vegetation, and on its bank is a small clump of Washington palms. A strip of loose sand marking the old shore of Lake Cahuilla is a notable feature 2 miles south of Dos Palmas Spring. There are several notable springs along the southwest side of the Salton Basin, due to the escape of ground water under artesian pressure. They are marked by clumps of trees that can be seen across the valley from the railroad, although the distance is 15 miles. One is Kane Spring, nearly due south of Bertram siding. It yields a highly mineralized water rising from uptilted Tertiary strata. Another about 25 miles farther northwest, is Figtree John Spring, which yields good water. It received its name from an Indian who lived there for many years in a grove of fig trees. Near by is Fish Spring, nearly due south of Mecca, where warm water of poor quality forms a large pool and has a flow reported to be 280 gallons a minute. Itis an outlet for the artesian flow from the higher part of the Coachella Valley. A small fish, Cyprinodon californensis, lives in the warm water. Near this spring the water line of old Lake Cahuilla (see p. 253) makes a well-marked horizontal band of light-colored travertine on the rocky slope near the base of the mountains and girdling an outlying hill. Near Mortmar siding the northwest end of the Salton Sea is passed, and in a few miles the route enters the Mecca irrigation dis- trict, where an area of considerable extent is irrigated by water pumped from wells of moderate depth. Most of Coachella Valley is underlain by water-bearing sand and gravel, which in the area below sea level yield artesian flows to many wells. Some water is also raised by pumping. The wells are mostly about Mecca, Thermal, Coachella, ‘and Indio, where the water is used extensively for irrigation. In fact, these places would be only passing sidings were it not for the underground water supply. The artesian water was discovered by the railroad company in 1888 at Thermal and Coachella, and since then 400 or more wells have been sunk, mostly from 500 to 600. feet deep and yielding from 10 to 40 miner’s inches (90 to 360 gallons a minute), the amount depending _ on the size of the well and varying with the locality. The water is _ contained in sand in the valley fill, and the head is derived from the = "ight of the intake on the sides and higher parts of the valley to the U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 38 - MUD VOLCANOES SOUTHWEST OF NILAND, CALIF. Boiling mud ae heated by buried volcanic rocks. The water is believed to rise on the San Andreas fault. phaser OF ANCIENT LAKE CAHUILLA DE OF SALTON BASIN, CALIF. B. TRAVERTINE DEPOSIT MARKING NEAR FIGTREE JOHN SPRING, ON soUuT Santa Rosa Mountains at ats (Mendenhall.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 39 A, VIEW SOUTHEAST FROM A POINT 3 MILES NORTH OF BANNING B. VIEW NORTHWEST FROM A POINT 2 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF INDIO Little San Bernardino Mountains in distance. SAN ANDREAS FAULT NEAR BANNING AND INDIO, CALIF. (Continental Air Map Co.) U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY J y : ICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 40 * A. CANYON IN TERTIARY STRATA EAST OF MECCA, CALIF. -—_—— BEDS IN INDIO HILLS NORTHWEST OF INDIO, CALIF. (Mendenhall.) B. TILTED LATE TERTIARY U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 41 A. OCOTILLO AND CHOLLA, COACHELLA VALLEY, CALIF. B. WASHINGTON PALMS IN PALM CANYON, CALIF SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 257 north and is maintained by the impervious cover of fine-grained de- posits which occupy the center of the basin. The water is derived from rainfall on the mountains and higher slopes, which passes under- ground in the coarse material extending as alluvial fans along the foot of the mountains. Most of the water falling on the mountains runs off the hard rocks and steep slopes but is absorbed by the gravel and sand of the valley fill. Several streams, such as Whitewater Creek, Snow Creek, Tahquitz Creek, Andreas Creek, and the creek in Palm Canyon, sink in that way. In the northern portion of the valley the underground water is of excellent quality, containing only from 150 to 250 parts per million of mineral constituents, but south of a line from the south end of the Santa Rosa Mountains to Salton siding the waters are too saline for use. The underground water supply about Indio and southward to Mecca is limited in amount, but about 16,000 acres is being irrigated. The crops include melons, dates, grapes, alfalfa, and many other products. The United States Department of Agriculture has made a detailed study of the soils of the Indio area, and many experiments have been made to determine the best crops and proper conditions for their irrigation. Underground waters are pumped at several places west of Indio for irrigation and other purposes. Water furnished by springs and wells east of Salton siding is of too poor quality for irrigation. At Mecca (formerly called Walters) the Coachella Valley is a wide alluvial flat extending from the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains on the southwest to the Mecca Hills on the northeast. The Mecca Hills consist of a 5,000-foot succession of poration —1S8 eet. steeply tilted yellowish sandstone and sandy shales New Orleans 1,859 with a basal member 1,000 to 1,200 feet thick of oa: brownish-red sandstones and conglomerates. These rocks are well exposed on the Shaver Canyon road east of Mecca. (See also p. 259 and pl. 40,A.) The strata are closely folded, as shown in Figure 62. In Burnt Springs Canyon and near Hidden Spring, east of Mecca, the anticlinal structure of the front ridge is well shown. At Hidden Spring the sedimentary rocks appear to be invaded by a mass of rhyolite. At Shaver Well, about 10 miles east of Mecca, a mass of old schist is exposed in contact with the overlying conglomer- ate and sandstone. To the east of this place are the high ridges of dark schist known as the Orocopia Mountains. A sandy strip mark- ing the old beach of former Lake Cahuilla is crossed by the highway a few miles east of Mecca, before it enters Shaver Canyon. About Mecca the principal products of irrigation are oranges, dates, and Bermuda onions, which are shipped to all parts of the United States. Many date palms are growing in the vicinity of Mecca and Indio, where the climate and soil seem particularly favorable. Experi- Mecca, 258 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES mental work on date culture was begun in this area by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1904, utilizing waters pumped from wells. Tests were made of many varieties from the principal date-growing regions of the Old World, but only a few were found to be suitable. The annual rainfall is less than 3 inches, and the humid- ity is very low. Although the temperature is high for most of the year, it falls below 32° at times, and it has gone to 15°. _In midwinter there are light frosts, which seldom continue beyond February. Most varieties of dates are injured by the slightest rainfall or even by dew during the ripening season, so that the complete dryness generally prevailing from August to November is especially favorable to the maturing of the fruit. As the soil at Mecca is nearly pure sand on the old lake beach, care has to be taken to develop sufficient humus and prevent the too rapid sinking of the irrigation water. There is more silt in the soil at Indio. It is necessary also to protect offshoots and seedlings in canvas-covered sheds where suitable temperature and humidity can be maintained. Most dates designed for long keeping and export have to be picked before they are fully ripened and care- sw. NE. , SantaRosa 3400 " Mts. ° ' 5 MILES Se eee Ce CSN WANN | FIGURE 62.—Diagrammatic section across Coachella Valley through Mecca, Calif. By W.C. Mendenhall fully sun dried. Seedling dates are about half females, which alone bear fruit, so that all males in excess of those necessary for pollination are culled out as soon as they can be recognized, which is from the age of 3 to 4 years. Pollination is best accomplished by shaking a frond of male flowers over the female flowers or by tying them together so that the wind will transfer the pollen. Trees usually bear fruit in _four years, at first in small amounts and then increasing in size and productiveness for many years. The fruit hangs in great clusters, as shown in Plate 37, A, and ripens in September, October, or November. On the 40-acre experimental date farm of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, about a mile southeast of Mecca, systematic tests are in progress on the culture not only of dates but of other fruits suitable to the region. At Mecea the railroad company has a 1,500-foot well which supplies 400 gallons a minute of water of excellent quality, used for locomo- __ faves at various places between that place and Glamis. The first well ___ here, bored by the railroad company in 1894, struck an artesian flow a to that found at Thermal and Coachella several years before. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 259 Thermal is a village in the irrigation settlement that extends along the Coachella Valley from Mecca to Indio and beyond. The fine fields of alfalfa and other products of irrigation in this Rlevation 121 fee. | 2e# Contrast strongly with the desert conditions in Population 400.* the valley lands which have not been reclaimed. The ee 1,865 soil is rich and responds readily to cultivation, and many oranges, dates, and melons are grown, irrigated by water from wells. In ascending the Coachella Valley there are fine views of the adjoin- ing mountains. To the west is the Santa Rosa Range, consisting mainly of hard schists and igneous rocks. To the east are the low but rugged Mecca Hills, consisting mostly of softer sandstones and clays. These and the Indio Hills, their northwesterly continuation, rise about 1,000 feet above the valley plain and show a large amount of badland topography due to rapid erosion cutting steep-sided gullies in soft materials. There are two distinct formations. The lower one, of marine origin and regarded as the same as the late Tertiary beds in the Carrizo Mountains, far to the south- east, crops out in small areas east and west of the mouth of Thousand Palms Canyon and in the northern part of the Indio Hills. It con- sists of yellow clay with some sandstone and conglomerate and indi- cates an extension of the waters of the Gulf of California to San Gorgonio Pass in late Tertiary time. In places it carries reefs filled with fossil oysters. It is overlain by several thousand feet of late Tertiary clays, apparently playa deposits, arkosic sandstones, and conglomerates. (Woodring.) 7 The strata in the Indio and Mecca Hills are folded in compressed anticlines and synclines, which in general are parallel to the trend of the hills, but the strike is somewhat more to the north and the beds are cut off diagonally by the San Andreas fault, which passes along their south side,” as shown on sheet 27.” 78 At the base of the Tertiary in this} 7 Noble, L. F., personal communica- Thermal. Coachella. Elevation —66 feet. Population 700.* New Orleans 1,869 miles. fragments of the underlying schists. The material becomes finer grained farther away from the contact, the conglomerate ing laterally into sand and clay. This gradation is well exhibited in Shaver Canyon, east of Mecea, where near eimai Well see near-by ledges of at eBay pony tion. 8 At the entrance to Shaver Canyon the beds of soft sandstone and clay dip turned in a — anticline, oe in Plate 40, the dip is bs ee northeast, and here the anticline is overturned, with ver- this anticline there is a broad basin, on 260 The San Andreas fault is a break in the earth’s crust that extends for many miles across southern and central California. Movement along it began far back in the Tertiary period and has progressed at intervals to very recent time.®! It passes along the southwest side of the Mecca and Indio Hills and traverses the valley-fill deposits in the intervals between these ridges, where in places it gives rise to a low cliff. This feature is well shown in the airplane photograph re- produced in Plate 39. Its course, as recently determined by L. F. Noble, is shown on sheets 27 and 28, together with that of another similar break known as the Mission Creek fault, which joins it near Indio. The fault trace is less conspicuous along the south side of the Mecca Hills, where in places it is marked by a low bluff, extending as far as Mortmar siding. It is believed by Noble to continue southeastward under the Salton Sea to the mud volcanoes southwest of Niland and thence southeastward by Brawley and Holtville. Another fault beginning in the Indio Hills is believed to extend through Dos Palmas and Frink Springs and continue approximately parallel to the railroad northeast of the sand-hill belt. There are scarps and springs in places along its course. North of Indio the fault extends along the southwest margin of the Indio Hills nearly parallel to the railroad and from 2 to 3 miles distant. The older crystalline rocks of the high mountains bordering the Colo- rado Desert and Coachella Valley are schists and gneisses penetrated by old granite. These schists and granites are cut by younger granitic igneous masses and overlain by a younger series of schists, limestones, and quartzites that are considerably metamorphosed. (Brown, Vaughan, and Frazer.) GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES the east side of which basal conglomer- ates rise on the mass of schist that appears at Shaver Well. The Indio Hills have practically the same structure as the Mecca Hills, except that they consist caddalhe of two anticlines in a faulted block cut off on the southwest by the San Andreas fault. (Noble, L. F., personal com- tion. munica 8t That there still is movement along this fault or other faults west of it Bull., vol. 5, pp. 130-148, 1916.) In order to e the amount of vertical movement on this line of displacement precise levels have been through El Centro, Niland, Yuma, and Jacumba, a distance of 158 miles. These, when compared with previous levels, indicate slight vertical displace- ment a short distance south of Niland (probably on an extension of San Andreas fault), just south of Brawley, and farther south on the supposed east- ward continuation of the Elsinore fault. earthquake of March, 1932, which caused Ih 1 oie Dp ane Coa 5 eee near Long Beach, was due to movement that centered in the ocean, to the west. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 261 About Indio are many trees and fields of alfalfa and various other crops. } fee : include the southern of 2 8S 85 TKS) | extension of the San 8 ops Se 25 ; 2 Andreas fault, move- es 9 ge | AA g ment along which in §& [%- mae e ae g 1906 caused the San Hes as = £ Francisco earthquake eh £ nya) om s They define the north Vos 2 RRinlk 3 $ side of the San Gabriel 93 s “128 2 s Mountains, and south- Rarer ot 3 . east of the pass they SERS S On uber. 2 extend eastward for rahe < 8 2 © 3 many miles along the ines 5 5 = E south foot of the San aK S & LS "7 8 Bernardino Moun- 2 . at Sull tains. There are sev- ifs VA, 2 POA ° a 3 eral planes of move- ee g ig a ie | 3 ment, not far apart, wore ule F § 28 Ly = a8 Ghee F: a oD Vee a oo 1S with hag slivers, or ee z Ba Yrek|Se | 88) = narrow blocks, of S61 ° Ge| 8 lt 148 schist and soft sand- ae Fi: 5 33 Wr 37] =] stone between them. 9 i Br ,., Be Pie (See pl. 46, B.) The ay 8 B bye 7 i: erosion of the sand- ae) Y o- 2 uoAUe) Xray aguolog |Z stone on the down- auigewo fs sh § thrown blocks is the a2 SS 2 ; principal cause of the s8eex BEN | FE pass. (Noble.) oS 1 Near Redlands the % Se== > faults present many RS3 features indicating SS recent movement, N y notably at one place ee ce : where a ravine has 3 bog ‘ been offset abruptly - aie 2 s The movement was S(¢<'' § Es mostly vertical, but © $79 & in some of the faults & Oe there has been a hori- x zontal displacemen . For on Tales 2) a strip of Tertiary strata lies on one of the slivers 274 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES between the faults, bordered on each side by the old schists. In general in this vicinity the faults are bordered on the north by sand- stone of Tertiary age lying on gneiss or schist, and on the south side is schist more or less heavily covered by young gravel. (Noble.) Although the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains contain similar rocks, are separated only by Cajon Pass, present identical relations to the valley of southern California and to the Mohave Desert, and are both uplifted fault blocks, they are very dissimilar in configuration. The San Gabriel Mountains are deeply cut by canyons containing graded streams and are made up of separate sharp peaks and knifelike ridges of various heights; no level areas remain, either about the summits or in the valley bottoms. The higher part of the San Bernardino Mountains has a very different character, for its west end, at least, presents a strikingly level sky line, mostly at elevations from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, and the range contains many broad valleys, some with meadows and lakes, sepa- rated by rolling ridges, a topography of an old and well-reduced type. According to recent observations by Noble this condition is due largely to the relatively recent removal of Tertiary deposits from the plain on which they were laid down. Remnants of these strata remain in places. To the east, where the elevation increases, San Bernardino Mountain and San Gorgonio Mountain rise con- siderably above the general level. Along the lower margins of the range the forms are strikingly new, and several of the streams are not reduced to grade but after meandering through the broad uplands plunge over falls into steep canyons in the front of the range. These differences in the configuration of the two ranges are not related to rock texture, drainage pattern, or difference in precipitation; it is suggested that the San Bernardino fault block was uplifted much later than the block constituting the San Gabriel Range, which has preserved none of these old forms. (Mendenhall.) Bloomington, a small place 4 miles west of Colton, is in the midst of a thriving irrigation district with many groves of oranges and Bloomington. Olives. To the north is a fine view of the San Gabriel Elevation 1,000 feet, Mountains, with their imposing high peaks and New Orleans 1,948 deeply incised canyons. Along the foot of the range _ is the main fault, but it is everywhere buried under valley fill. Just south of Bloomington are the Jurupa Mountains, rising about 1,000 feet above the plain; they consist of quartzite, % The San Gabriel Mountains con- | rocks, mainly schists, some of which sist of granite rocks of several kinds were origmally’ ig hales and sandstones and a variety of other crystalline | (me' SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 275 schists, and crystalline limestones, all metamorphosed sedimentary deposits, penetrated by granitic and other igneous rocks. Their length is about 5 miles, and they are surrounded by valley lands. Beyond the west end of this range is the north end of the high Santa Ana Mountains,*! which extend southeast from Corona. From Bloomington to Ontario there are several settlements occu- pied with the extensive culture of grapes, lemons, peaches, and other fruits. In this region the San Bernardino Plain is more than 20 miles wide, extending from the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains to the Santa Ana River ge Sa Orleans 1,959 which flows near its southern margin. It is bordered on the west by the San Jose and Puente Hills, which make a barrier trending north-northwest, beyond Pomona. To the north near Guasti are fine views of Cucamonga Peak (elevation 8,911 feet), one of the high summits of the southern ridge of the San Gabriel Mountains, and the still higher San Antonio Peak (elevation 10,080 feet) is farther back on the northern sky line. Deep canyons lead out of these mountains at short intervals, and most of them contain streams whose water, if not diverted by irrigation ditches, sinks at the mouths of the canyons and passes as a general underflow into the gravel and sand of the slope beyond. In times of freshet the streams flow greater or less distances across the slope, carrying much sedi- ment, which is dropped as the water spreads out on the plain. Occa- sional great floods cross the plain, but much of the large volume of water they carry at such times is absorbed by the porous gravel of the stream beds. The courses of these ephemeral streams across the plain are marked by dry washes, usually shallow sandy channels, many of them splitting up irregularly and some of the branches rejoining. One effective method of conserving water in this region, where it is so valuable, is to divert flood waters near the canyon mouth, causing them to spread out widely over the coarse deposits, where they sink, thus adding to the volume of underflow tapped by many wells. by great igneous intrusions and com- | basic lavas and tuffs, and all are cut pression. It is believed that the range | and altered greatly by masses of was uplifted in greater part in late andesite, granodiorite, and diorite Tertiary time. Apparently the uplift | which have been intruded in a molten consisted of the rise of a huge block of | condition. Next above there is a west- the earth’s crust along fault lines | ward-dipping succession of Upper Cre- mostly trending N. 60° W. The main | taceous and ‘Tertiary strata. In block is traversed by minor faults | general, the mountains consist of a vhich make complex. | tilted fault block with Soond flexures. 1 In the Santa Ana Movuitaing the There has been a | es of repeated Idest rocks are i Guasti. nae a ant They are overlain eerie giz by a| factor. Some of the lower terraces are _ Coarse conglomerate and in places by | marine, (B, N. Moore.) 276 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Six miles northwest of Ontario is the mouth of San Antonio Canyon, one of the larger drainage outlets from the San Gabriel Mountains, Geile: which furnishes considerable water for irrigation. On gioco the plain the creek bed spreads into half a dozen ulation 13,583. irregular ‘‘washes,’’ which are crossed by the railroad uf i iiaaans 1,963 near Ontario. From the gravel and sand under the lain a large amount of water is pumped for irrigation. The water is conveyed in canals lined with concrete and is distributed in underground pipes so as to prevent loss by leakage and evaporation. Ontario, with its companion settlements, North Ontario, San Antonio Heights, and Upland, extends widely across the salle slope and up the foothills of the mountains. The settlement is traversed by a handsome tree-shaded boulevard, Euclid Avenue, which runs north to the foot of the mountains. Ontario is surrounded by many orange and lemon groves and other products of irrigation, and one of its chief industries is a fruit-canning establishment, claimed to be the largest in the State. Pomona is a commercial, residential, and educational center, built on the western margin of the plain that extends from San Bernardino Pe to the San Jose and Puente Hills. Itis surrounded by omona. . « Elevation 886 fect, °UenSIVe groves of oranges and other fruits and pro- ulation 20,804. duces large amounts of walnuts and grapes. About he Orleans 1,967 Pomona were grown the first oranges shipped from California. The underground water supply is utilized for irrigation by pumping from hundreds of wells. Much attention has been given to making the landscape lovely with trees and garden- ing. At Claremont, not far north, are the Claremont Colleges, one of the most beautiful and outstanding institutions of learning in the coast region, and the Greek Theater, which seats 4,000. Three miles west of Pomona the vailioad passes over a low divide between the San Jose and Puente Hills and descends the canyon of San Jose Creek. The San Jose Hills, to the north, consist mainly of a thick succession of shales and sandstones of the Puente formation (middle and upper Miocene). At their northeast end, 2 miles north- west of Pomona, there is granite * overlain by lava flows and volcanic tuffs and agglomerates at the base of the Tertiary section, similar succession on the south side of the railroad constitutes the ular flows, and tuffaceous sandstone are also found in the area north of San Jose Creek constituting the east end of the San Jose Hills. South of Spadra a few blocks of sandstone are included in the intrusive rocks, and there is @ vein of coarse calcite traceable for a | mile or more, which was burned for plaster by the early Spanish settlers. | (ee p, 293.) SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 277 northeast corner of the Puente Hills. A section of the San Jose Hills north of Walnut is given in Figure 67. The Puente Hills consist of sandstones and shales of the Puente formation,” 2,600 to 3,400 feet thick (middle and upper Miocene), with smaller exposures of underlying and interbedded shales, having the relations shown in Figure 68. The granites and slates of pre- Cretaceous age at the east end are separated from the sandstone member of the Puente by tuffs and tuffaceous sandstones, somewhat as shown in the lowest section in Figure 68. The Puente formation of this region (regarded as equivalent to the Modelo formation of the region to the west) is made up of an alternating succession of coarse and fine materials with many thick members of shale and sandstone. The upper shale includes beds carrying the remains of minute marine plants and animals, principally diatoms and Foraminifera; the more richly diatomaceous portion is nearly white and of chalky texture. SSE. andsto NNW, ict BS: aati Un ceees Vertical and horizontal scales ° 5,000 10,000 Feet l iL. i. i. i i x § wz L FIGURE 67.—Section of San Jose Hills about 7 miles west of Pomona, Calif. After English and Kew. All Puente formation At the west end of the hills, south and west of Puente, overlying shales and sandstones of the Fernando group (Pliocene) are extensively exposed, and they are dropped by a fault extending along the south side of the Puente Hills, passing just north of Whittier and along La Habra, La Brea, and Olinda Canyons. The Fernando group carries a fauna of marine shells of Pliocene age and is nearly 5,000 feet thick. (English and Kew.) On the upper slopes of the western part of the Puente Hills, about 5 miles southwest of Walnut, was the old Puente oil field, one of the % According to the definition of the Sandstone member, 300 to 2,000 Puente formation by the U. S. Geolog- feet. Moderately coarse gray ical Survey, in the Puente Hills and Los to tawny-yellow thick-bedded Angles district it comprises the follow- sandstone with beds of shale; ing members: some conglomeratic bers Upper shale, 300 to 2,000 feet. containing granite boulders. hy chalky shale and sandy Lower shale, 2,000 feet. Chiefly gray shale, weathering pink to rthy shale, mostly gray to chocolate-brown, with a few black, including thin beds of beds of fine yellow sandstone. | fine-grained sandstone from top Is overlain unconformably by to base and lentils of limestone. Fernando group, 278 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES earliest fields discovered in California. The first well was completed in 1880, and at the end of 1912 there were 470 producing wells with an annual output of 7,000,000 barrels and an aggregate production of The wells were in the outcrop area of the thick 41,000,000 barrels. body of shales constituting the lower half of the Puente formation, N. WALNUT SIDING SK = eee SSSSSSS SS ES|SS=——SE==a=EaEEE ——SSS SS SS SSS SS — —— ——— ——S—_V_ _—»—> SSS SSS SES SS SSS: \ = Ss Nas SSS Ws SSS —S==- SssSss== —— SS een Toss M —S N —S LoS SS Fault N. Ss. West é Pomona REE oe cme peg a 8257/1 (Granite ',;2 iS en her esr oY + 7 he et a * 4 ————— ffs —— See : SS ae” Se ee eS re ee ° eee. _ 2 Miles i. 7 ; Ficure 68.—Sections across Puente Hills, Pomona to Whittier, Calif. After English and Kew. Tf, Fernando group (Pliocene and Pleistocene), Tp, Puente formation (Miocene) and the oil is thought to have migrated from the great oil fields to the southeast. The depths of the wells were mostly from 1,000 to 2,000 general region now comes from The large oil production of this Canyon, Coyote Hills, and other fields ae the Santa Fe, Whittier, Brea : along the south slope of the Puente Hills or south of them. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 279 Puente is the center of a great walnut district which produces more than 13,000,000 pounds of walnuts a year (1929). Near Puente the railroad leaves the valley of San Jose Creek and the Puente Hills and passes into the wide basinlike plain bordering San Gabriel Wash, into which flows the asi sts aye 1,982 San Gabriel River, a stream that rises in deep canyons ; far back in the San Gabriel Mountains. This wash is crossed a mile west of Bassett, but there is usually little water in it here except during rainy seasons. The river water is used for irriga- tion, but much of it is underground, where it is available for pumping. Some of this underflow comes out again in Lexington Wash, near El Monte. In times of freshet a large volume of water passes down San Gabriel Wash, as may be inferred from the large boulders in its bed. These boulders are crushed for road material. From Bassett to San Gabriel the railroad goes northwest across a broad plain, most of which is in a high state of cultivation, with numerous fruit and walnut orchards, beautiful gardens, and verdant fields, all irrigated by water pumped from the underflow. As the train progresses northwestward the San Gabriel Mountains are approached and there are fine views, notably of San Gabriel Peak (elevation 6,152 feet). This great mountain range consists of a huge block of the earth’s crust uplifted along profound breaks, one of which, the Sierra Madre fault, follows the south foot of the range, and another, the San Andreas fault, extends along its northern margin. These are very recent faults, for the main upheaval was at the end of Tertiary (Pliocene) time. Doubtless there was a prior mountain range in front of the site of the present San Gabriel Mountains, which furnished sediments to the pre-Pliocene formations, but the form and relations of mountains and plains at that time can hardly be conjectured. An uplift of this kind may have progressed very slowly. There was not only the general axial uplift of the range but cross faulting, which has broken the main block into huge fragments with varying degrees of tilt and amount of uplift. The planes of the main faults dip steeply to the south, at least in the west end of the range, so that the granite and gneiss of the range are relatively thrust over the strata of Tertiary age, which are considerably flexed and in places also faulted. (M. L. Hill.) In the portion of the range north of Los Angeles the rocks are schist, quartzite, and marble, old sediments greatly metamorphosed and penetrated by a large amount of igneous rocks. Granite invades the metamorphic rocks very extensively, and there are also large masses of diorite and granodiorite and some hornblendite. (W. J. Miller.) Puente. Elevation 320 feet. 034. 280 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The old San Gabriel Mission is a few rods south of the tracks at San Gabriel station. It was the fourth of the many missions estab- : lished by the Franciscan friars between San Diego San Gabriel. : aii ts sae ha nip and San Francisco and is in an excellent state of Population 7,224. preservation. It was started by Padres Cambén and gone » img 1,992 Somera, under the direction of Fray Junfpero Serra, ; September 8, 1771, and the building is typical of the architecture introduced by the friars. Early in its history a ditch was built to bring water for irrigation and for horses, cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens. The region was then inhabited by Indians, who were stolid, mild mannered, and rather ugly in features. They were not forcibly Christianized but were treated so well that many desired to live at the missions and be instructed. As the community prospered and settlers came in, the poor little hovels of adobe and reeds were replaced by finer buildings. The present village is in the midst of groves of oranges, avocados,* and walnuts, with many fine gardens. In 1850 Roy Bean, later famous as ‘‘the dispenser of the law west of the Pecos” at Langtry, Tex. (see p. 83), ran a dance hall and gambling saloon at San Gabriel, at that time a typical frontier town. The his- tory of the beginnings of California is pictured yearly in the Mission Play by the poet John Steven McGroarty, done in the beautiful playhouse adjoining the San Gabriel mission. Alhambra is an extensive settlement largely devoted to the growing of fruits, vegetables, and walnuts. There is a branch railroad from eae Alhambra to Pasadena, a city of 76,086 inhabitants Elevation 456 feet, & ££W miles to the north. This large and beautiful Population 29,472. City is a most interesting business, residential, and 495 educational center. In the eastern part is the Cali- fornia Institute of Technology, founded in 1891, which now includes among other buildings or departments the Bridge Laboratory of Physics, the High Potential Research Laboratory, the Gates Chemical Laboratory, the Guggenheim Aeronautical Labora- tory, the Seismological Research Laboratory, the Dabney Hall of Humanities, and the Kerckhoff Biological Laboratories. Near by is the great Huntington Library and Art Gallery. The observatory on Mount Wilson, one of the units of the Carnegie Institution of Washing- ton, is equipped with the world’s largest reflecting telescope Pasadena lies in a “‘rincén,” or corner, between hills and mountains, so that it has protection from winds and a slightly greater rainfall than some of the regions farther east and south. The name is an “The fruit called aguacate by the | “alligator pear,” which was a decided Mexicans and other Spanish-speaking | misnomer, as the fruit is not a pear and people now has the commercial name is in no way associated with alligators. “avocado” to replace the former SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 281 Indian word meaning crown of the valley. To the north are the high San Gabriel Mountains, with two conspicuous summits, Mount Lowe (elevation 5,650 feet) and Mount Wilson (5,750 feet), from both of which there are extensive views of the Los Angeles Plain. (See pl. 47). The Repetto Hills west and south of Alhambra consist of sandstone, conglomerate, soft siltstone, and shale of Miocene, Phocene, and possibly Pleistocene age, flexed in basins and arches. Part of the shale of upper Miocene age is diatomaceous. These rocks are of marine origin and indicate that during the later part of Tertiary time the region was submerged by the sea at intervals, and sand and mud were deposited in wide estuaries and along beaches. There was a long epoch of general subsidence, so that a great thickness of these materials accumulated. They have since been consolidated, uplifted, flexed, and faulted, and later terraces and plains have been developed on their surface. (Reed.) After passing out of this narrow belt of hilly country the railroad enters the coastal plain that extends south and west to the Pacific Ocean. This plain consists of lowlands abruptly margined to the north by the Santa Monica Mountains, Repetto Hills, Puente Hills, and Santa Ana Mountains. Much of the region is a plain sloping gently seaward, but its continuity is interrupted by hills and ridges of considerable prominence, such as the Baldwin Hills, Dominguez Hill, and Signal Hill. In general it is floored with alluvium derived from the adjoining highlands and the mountains to the north. Ina few places, however, the rocks have not yet been covered by alluvium. The plain is widest in the Los Angeles region, where it extends 25 miles south from the Santa Monica Mountains and with an area of nearly 2,000 square miles constitutes the combined delta of the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers. At its inner edge its elevation is mostly from 200 to 300 feet, and the seaward slope is 10 to 20 feet to the mile. This plain, ith its fertile soil and delight- ful climate, is covered with settlements, cultivated fields, vineyards, and vast orchards of oranges, lemons, walnuts, olives, and other fruits. Shade trees and flowers are_extensively cultivated. To this wealth of resources on the surface is added a large production of petroleum, which has been developed most profitably at many places. The Los Angeles River is crossed in the eastern outskirts of the city of Los Angeles, and the train proceeds slowly through streets for about 3 miles to the depot. Most of the city is built on low river terraces and on the inner edge of the coastal plain, but the newer sections extend onto the hills of folded and faulted Tertiary sandstone and shale that rise to the north. The Los Angeles River, like many other streams of the Southwest, is ordinarily of small volume, but during heavy rains it is considerably swollen, and at times it becomes a deep : torrent capable of doing considerable damage. 152109°—-33-—_19 282 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Los Angeles is the largest city of the Southwest, in area, population, and business. Founded in 1781 by a garrison of Mexican soldiers from Los Angeles. the mission of San Gabriel, in 1831 it had a population Elevation 253 feet. of 770, and as late as 1880 it was an easy-going semi- ia Oren 3002 Mexican town of 12,000 inhabitants centered about mil the old plaza with the mission church of Nuestra Sefiora la ‘bain de los Angeles (Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), from which the city takes its name. At La Mesa battlefield, now the stockyards on Downey Road, there was on January 9, 1847, a battle between the Americans and Cali- fornians which resulted in the capture of Los Angeles by the American forces. Among many historical episodes in Los Angeles one of the most important was the truce signed on January 13, 1847, by Gen. Andrés Pico, which when ratified gave to the United States all of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains south of Oregon. This event occurred at Campo de Cahuenga, now 3919 Lankershire Boulevard. At the southeast corner of Los Angeles and Aliso Streets is the building in which General Frémont had his headquarters while he was military governor of California, and here the city of Los Angeles was organized in 1850. With the coming of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in November, 1885, homeseekers began to arrive, and a great increase in property values and growth of the city followed. The census showed that Los Angeles made a greater percentage of increase in population from 1880 to 1900 than any other city in the United States, and there has been a remarkably rapid increase since that time, amounting to nearly 115 per cent in the decade 1920-1930. The city is the largest in area in the United States, comprising within its limits 442.5 square miles. In addition to the salubrity of its climate, which attracts citizens from all over the United States, two important factors in its growth have been the generation of electricity from mountain streams as far as 226 miles away and the availability of cheap petroleum fuel. The economical power thus available has developed a very large manufacturing center. Los Angeles has had to provide a vast amount of water for its rapidly growing population. At first local supplies were used, but later an aqueduct was constructed to bring water from Owens Valley, 226 miles distant, at a cost of about $25,000,000. Its capacity is 250,000,000 gallons a day. As still more water will be required in the future, it is planned to bring in a supplemental supply from the Ie er aR River at Parker after the Boulder Dam is completed. (See Pp. 24h.) Los Angele: C unty, with an area of only 4,115 square miles, claims st Sage ey States in value of farm property — ig to the U United ‘States census SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 283 reports it produces more than one quarter of the oranges, lemons, and walnuts (nearly 20,000,000 pounds), and more than 10 per cent of the grapefruit (157,500 bdxes) grown in the State. The milk produc- tion in 1929 was more than 47,000,000 gallons. The mean annual temperature of Los Angeles is 62°, The harbor at San Pedro, called the Port of Los Angeles, on the ocean 25 miles south of the center of the city, has a large coast and trans-Pacific trade. Its exports in 1929 were valued at $166,328,683 and the imports at $63,685,483 (U. S. Department of Commerce). Los Angeles has four large educational institutions—the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los Angeles, Loyola College, and Occidental College. The Public Library is a handsome edifice and, besides the usual material, contains a large collection of books of reference. The Museum of History, Science, and Art in Exposition Park has fine collections in many fields and controls the remarkable fossil bone deposits in the asphalt springs of Rancho La Brea (pl. 48, B), about 8 miles directly west of the center of the city. These springs of tarry material due to seepages of petroleum which have oozed up from an underlying stratum have been for centuries most effective animal traps. The asphalt has accumulated to depths of 15 to 30 feet and has preserved the bones of thousands of extinct as well as modern animals which were caught in its sticky pools.» The skeletons of elephants, camels, ground sloths, lions, saber-toothed tigers, wolves, bears, and myriads of smaller animals, including 50 species of birds, have been dug out and set up in the museum. (See fig. 69.) Carniv- orous quadrupeds predominated, a fact which indicates that animals venturing out on the seemingly solid surface were caught in the viscid asphalt and served as a bait to lure their bloodthirsty neighbors, who in their turn were also trapped and unable to extricate themselves. These animals lived mostly during the Pleistocene epoch, when the northern part of this continent was buried under great fields of ice, but some of them represent later times. In one pit was found a skull of a human being, who may have lived 10,000 years or more ago, - contemporaneously with some of the later animals now extinct, but is regarded as belonging to a later date than most of the animals. % According to Stock, the most | mastodon (M ), horse abundant m s are the saber- | (Equus occidentalis), bison (Bison anti- toothed tiger (Smilodon californicus) | quus), camel hesternus), and the dire wolf (Arenocyon dirus), | antelope (Capromeryz minor), and several kinds of ground sloths (Mylo- which are represented by thousands of bones. There were also the great - jionlike eat (Felis atrox), the coyote (Canis ochropus orcutti), and the short- _ faced bear (Tremarctotherium californi- Among the herbivores were the = cum). A Mammoth (Archidiskodon imperator), don harlanii, Nothrothertum shastense, and Megalonyx jeffersonii). Among the great numbers of condors, vultures, eagles, and hawks is the largest bird of flight, a condorlike vulture (Teratornis vaigoone = ye wry aon PO at Wyo, oN us A alli hin, ve f ch aflers \ 4" “i 3 pif’ Ly SA: ‘ee : SS ese! ih. 4 ite _— AY ere NS s NZ \, TN a a" hy /p Wy, ep ne sa SORES, EAN le) fe SN) Fiaure 69,—Restoration of saber-toothed tiger, sloth, and dire wolf at La Brea, Calif. By E. Christman V8S SHLVLS GHLINO NYALSEM AHL FO WooMAdIny SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 285 The Los Angeles region is underlain by a thick succession of Tertiary and Cretaceous strata, some of them deeply buried and others presenting prominent outcrops, especially in the hills and mountains. They are flexed, tilted, and faulted and vary considerably in character from place to place. The eastern part of the Santa Monica Mountains, projecting into the northern part of the city, contains an extensive uptilted succession of the rocks that underlie the region. At the base are old slates and schists (Triassic?) cut by granites and granodiorites, similar to those in some other ranges of southern California. They are overlain by a thick body of conglom- erate, sandstone, and shale of Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary age. Formations in Santa Monica Mountains [H. W. Hoots] Formation ea in Shale, with beds of sandstone and ash non paa ae: PRE ee Pia! 4,500 | Upper Miocene. Unconformity (folding, faulting, and basalt in : : eee bag hance ry shale, ceo flows, sare other Voleanic rocks 4,500-7,500 | Middle Miocene, (Topanga f on). Basal 1,000 feet of conglomerate east of Cahu uenga peer may be Vaq : Light-gray and red ccrmiiaaele. (Vaqueros? and Sespe? formations) -/3, 500-4, 000 i oct ag and Unconformity. sae ty nd sandstone; some fossiliferous sandstone (Martinez forma- 250+] Lower Eocene. Conetcmerate, sandstone, and dark shale, fossiliferous (Chico forma- 8, 000+) Upper Cretaceous. In the hilly region southeast of the Santa Monica Mountains, and mainly in the east-central part of Los Angeles, younger formations are also present, notably sandstones, conglomerates, and clays of Pliocene age, which overlie the Miocene beds. These are in turn overlain unconformably by the terrace and alluvial deposits of the Los Angeles Plain, above referred to. The east end of the Santa Monica Mountains is an open anticline, the axis of which is in a broad central area of Santa Monica slate (Triassic?) and plunges westward from the main granite mass just north of Hollywood. Although the general structure is anticlinal, the original folding is much complicated by faults, flexures, and igneous intrusions. Post-Modelo flexing resulted in widespread anti- clinal uplift. In the Martinez formation, and possibly also in the Chico formation, are prominent reefs of limestone 50 to 60 feet thick, the largest one being 500 feet long. (Hoots.) The Santa Monica Mountains extend to the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica. (See pl. 48, A.) In the ceniral part of Los Angeles are many exposures of Miocene beds, including shale filled with diatom remains. On Hill and First 286 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Streets above the tunnel are exposures of these shales overlain by dark, massive sandy shale of Pliocene age. Good sections of the Topanga formation (middle Miocene) appear on Glendale Boulevard between the Los Angeles River and Los Angeles, where the formation is 2,000 feet or more thick and the beds dip to the south. A con- spicuous Miocene sandstone is exposed in Elysian Park. The general structure about Los Angeles is that of a syncline or basin bordered in part on the north and east by faults. At Elysian Park, along the west side of the Los Angeles River, the railroad cuts expose sandstones of middle Miocene age overlain by upper Miocene shales. These beds are on the south limb of an extensive anticline whose axis lies in the bed of the river farther north. On Fifth Street, opposite the Public Library, upper Pliocene fossilifer- ous beds are well exposed. The strata east of the river consist mainly of highly folded middle and upper Miocene beds. (Kew.) The hills in northern Los Angeles and western Alhambra consist of a thick succession of Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene strata com- prising conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and shale. In the upper Miocene are many beds of siliceous and diatomaceous shale. The total thickness of these strata is apparently 11,000 feet. They lie on the older granites and metamorphic rocks. The Miocene rocks are exposed in many street cuts east of Lincoln Park adjacent to Valley Boulevard. Upper Miocene (Puente) shale and interbedded sandstones are exposed near City Terrace. (R. D. Reed.) In the central part of Los Angeles is a belt of petroleum-producing territory 5% miles long, covering an area of 2 square miles. Here hundreds of derricks have been erected in close proximity to dwellings. This field was discovered in 1892 by a 155-foot shaft sunk near a small deposit of brea or asphalt on Colton Street. The first good strike of petroleum was made in a well on Second Street, and by the end of 1894 there were 300 producing wells from 500 to 1,200 feet deep. The wells have been small producers, averaging 2% barrels a day each by pumping, and now much of the area is drained of its oil. The Salt Lake field is also within the city limits, about 4% miles west of the business center. It was started in 1901 and has been a notable producer, having 700 wells in 1914. The wells are mostly from 1,200 to 3,000 feet deep, and in most of the area there has been considerable gas, which caused the wells to gush in the early part of their life. The average production per well was 23 barrels a day, and the total _ production from 1894 to the end of 1931 was over 60,000,000 barrels. _ (Hoots.) The oil has been mainly useful for fuel. The petroleum in the Los Angeles district is derived largely from the upper 500 feet 3 of the Miocene and the basal beds of the Pliocene. The oil pools — are thought to be related to slight arching along the younger dis- U..S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 SHEET 29 us 17°30" California pa, Scale 500,000 linch=8 miles (approximately) = ie} 15 20 MILES Q iS 20 KILOMETERS 5 10 Contour interval 200 feet The distances from New Orleans, La., are shown every 10 miles, and the crossties are drawn 1 mile apart Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parentheses in the lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. 8. G. S. opographic map of that name 20 te Wie Saae R ~! nf BES EXPLANATION A> Sand and gravel (alluvium and ine and str ter ) Quaternary C Sandy shale; some sand- F Jo group 1 con Pleistocene and iff) stone and conglomerate is in Pliocene gn? Cajon Pass page orsd j(A° BsLava, tuff, and diabase * Miocene } e pyecun inst ort entails = Seal Beach D Shale, sandstone, and Puente (Modelo to the west) ] ae oO conglomerate and contemporaneous beds = in Cajon Pass ; — Hl : + Miocene e a I E Sandstone and clay Topanga and Vaqueros j = rm ( Miocene) and Sespe | & ames. S. Jed fault (Oligocene and Eocene) i ge = Sandstone and shale Tejon and Martinez Eocene small areas in Cajon Pass are F< included in D : : : : Shale, sandstone, and Chico formation Upper Cretaceous jomerate G Granite, schist, slate, ete. Pre-Jurassic H Marble (larger masses only) [i Carboniferous (?) Geology by W. A. English, W. S. W. Kew, H. W. Hoots, and others a eke | San Andreas fault-Cajon Pass region by L. F. Noble TORRANCE *... Oil fields of coastal plain | ue” 11730" WILLIAMS & HEINTZ CO.. WASH., 0. C Topography: U. S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 287 placements. (Eaton.) Faulting has had much to do with the accumu- lation of the oil. The most productive fields are on anticlines having the form of elongated domes, but some of the folds are of the plunging variety, with their upper Side sealed by asphalt or by an overlapping impervious bed. (Kew.) YUMA, ARIZ., TO SAN DIEGO, CALIF. Sleeping cars from several trains continue westward from Yuma to San Diego over the San Diego & Arizona Railway, which is allied with the Southern Pacific lines. The distance is 218 miles, across Imperial Valley and the high sierra of southern California, with two long detours into Baja California. This railroad was completed in 1919 at a cost of $19,000,000. It has 22 tunnels, one of them about half a mile long. The main line is left at Araz Junction, 64 miles west of Yuma, on Southern Pacific tracks extending to El Centro (40 miles). The railroad passes around the southeast end of the great ade belt of sand hills and looping into Mexico reaches ltkcick basa. Mexicali, Mexico, and the adjoining city of Calexico, New Orleans 1,830 Calif. El Centro is in the highly productive irrigated — district of Imperial Valley. (See p. 248.) The New River, an old channel from the Colorado River, touched by the railroad at Calexico and crossed a short distance west of Seeley, occupies a trench in the desert plain much deepened and widened by the great flood of water that ran through it into Imperial Valley from the Colorado River in 1905. This stream ate deeply into the adjoin- ing banks and damaged more than 7,000 acres of the adjacent region. The Alamo River, 10 miles east of El Centro, was another inlet for flood waters. From Seeley westward there are fine views of Signal Mountain, a knob of old granite and schist not far away in Mexico, and of the Sierra de las Cocopas, consisting of volcanic rocks, which extend far to the south. Farther west is dimly outlined the high Sierra Pedro Martir (mar-teer’), in Baja California, which attains an elevation of more than 10,000 feet. It consists of light-colored granite. The northern extension of this range, known as the Laguna Mountains, is crossed by the railroad near Jacumba, about 50 miles farther on, where, however, the elevation is much less than in Mexico. The continuity of its steep eastern front, believed to be a fault scarp, is a striking feature for many miles. The West Line Canal, just east of Dixieland, separates the productive irrigated land, with its fine fields of cotton, alfalfa, barley, and maize, from the original desert, with its spate outer: of arid-land plants. El Centro. 288 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Just west of Dixieland sea level is reached on an up slope of the desert which continues westward to the foot of the mountains. Three miles west of Dixieland the beach of old Lake Cahuilla is crossed at about 40 feet above sea level. This lake occupied the Salton Basin sufficiently long to develop well-marked strand features. (See p. 253.) At Plaster City is a mill making plaster of paris from gypsum mined from large deposits in Fish Creek Mountain, 26 miles northwest, and brought by a branch railroad. The deposit is inter- bedded in strata of Tertiary age, and near by is a considerable body of the mineral celestite (strontium sulphate), also included in the sedimentary succession. Halfway to Coyote Wells a low ridge is crossed showing tilted clay and sand of Tertiary age, truncated and capped by a thin mantle of sand and gravel. This ridge crosses the valley and rises into Coyote Mountain, which is conspicuous to the north. This mountain and Fish Creek Mountain, just beyond, consist mainly of a core of anite and marble and other metamorphic rocks, closely folded and encircled by Tertiary and later strata. The marble, which may be of Paleozoic age, is penetrated and metamorphosed by the granite. . Itis mostly of blue-gray color and has been quarried to a small extent at the east end of Coyote Mountain. Some portions contain con- Ss. Vall Ally oO ao Mile . e oa ) Ke i Figure 70.—Section across aera Mountain, Calif., near Alverson and Garnett Can- yons. _ aie Mendenhall. > Limestone (Paleozoic) Pda — a a bid 5 siderable graphite in the form of carbon known as plumbago or black lead. A section through Coyote Mountain is shown in Figure 70. Lying on the metamorphic and intrusive rocks is a series of volcanic tuffs, agglomerates, and dark lavas which carry interbedded sand- stones in Fish Creek Mountain. Upon these lie marine beds with corals and oyster reefs, containing many fossils. In Alverson Canyon on the south side of Coyote Mountain, red vesicular lava is overlain by green and lavender sandstones and conglomerate containing much | volcanic matter, in all from 100 to 200 feet thick. Next above are tawny sandstones and a thick succession of soft greenish-yellow shale co O clay which forms conspicuous badlands in the slopes between SS Carrizo Mountain and Fish Creek. Mountain. High-level terrace leposits lie across the planed-off edges of the shale. The Tertiary Sect their — hae on described by Mendenhall, Kew, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 48 A. SHORE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN AT SANTA MONICA, CALIF. Oil field in middle ground; Santa Monica Mountains in distance. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 845 PLATE 49 CARRIZO GORGE, ON ROUTE FROM YUMA, ARIZ., TO SAN DIEGO, CALIF. From painting by W. H. Bull. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 289 Tertiary beds also constitute the Yuha Buttes, 8 miles west of Dixieland. Among many fossils occurring in the sandstones on these mountains are numerous corals, many of them finely preserved. According to Vaughan, this coral fauna, which is considered to be of early Pliocene age, contains forms not found in the Pacific Ocean. Its Atlantic Ocean affinities indicate that in late Tertiary time there was an oceanic connection that permitted the Atlantic fauna to extend to the head of the Gulf of California; this connection, however, may have been as far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Fossils, especially scallop shells, occur in large numbers about Carrizo Mountain and near Yuha Wells, 6 miles southwest of Dixieland. West of Coyote Wells and extending far south and north is the steep east front of the Laguna Mountains, which form the extension of the Sierra Pedro Martir of Baja California. The range presents cliffs and rugged slopes of white granite, which are climbed by the picturesque main highway to San Diego, an ascent of more than 2,500 feet, passing through Mountain Springs at the foot of the mountains and Jacumba Springs near the top. At the foot of this slope in places are hills of old gravel and boulder deposits rising considerably above the main valley slope and capped by lavas. The railroad ascends the valley and near Dos Cabezas siding reaches the base of the Laguna Mountains, in which are exposed marble and schist apparently under- lying the great mass of granite which rises so abruptly to the westward. A mile beyond Dos Cabezas foothills of granite are entered and the low divide into Carrizo Valley is crossed. Thence the railroad swings southward and ascends this valley and the deep Carrizo Gorge, at its head. The gorge is about 11 miles long, and there are many deep cuts, tunnels, and long shelves cut on the precipitous slopes, in places 900 feet above the creek. Thescenery is remarkably impressive. The rock is mostly a massive light-colored granite, sculptured into many picturesque forms in the steep canyon walls. (See pl. 49.) The effects of jointing and erosion are well shown. It is believed that this valley is developed along a fault. Carrizo is the local name for the grass growing in the depths of the gorge and used by the Indians in basket making. Palms also grow in several places near the stream bed. At the head of the deep canyon the railroad comes out into a park which extends about 3 miles to Jacumba Springs. This park is due to a dropped block of lava on tuffs (Tertiary) which caps the granite in an area of several square miles in this region. The sketch section in Figure 71 shows some of the features. At Jacumba Springs (elevation 2,830 feet), where the granite appears again, there are warm springs with faint sulphureted hydro- gen emanation and notable mineral contents. Here a resort has been developed. The water was used by Indians and early aborigines, who have left many traces of their presence. North of Jacumba there is a 290 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES belt of schists, slates, and other metamorphic rocks which are regarded as Paleozoic. West of Jacumba there is a long ascent up the granite slope to the summit at Hipass (elevation 3,660 feet). In this region the granite is weathered into many grotesque forms, mostly rounded, with numerous balanced rocks and rugged pinnacles. Pronounced jointing has had much to do with the development of these features. The granite of the entire range is mostly light colored, of uniform grain, and very massive, so that much of it would make a fine building stone. Itis cut by dikes of darker rocks, and there are zones in which the jointing is closely spaced and the rock considerably shattered. The mountain vegetation is very different from that of the desert, with much manzanita and live oak. The manzanita (Arctostaphylos patula) is a shrub having a smooth bark of rich chocolate-brown color, small pale-green roundish leaves, and berries that resemble diminutive apples. It is this resemblance that gives the shrub its common name, which in Spanish signifies little apple. Bears are very fond of these berries. The manzanita covers many of the hills in California with a al ‘| / eae - rg See em ere ae press Calne hs * ~ See eS fe sees “+1, Granite RS a =) Grarite =) oy os.) mt i green Se . oe Tie Maite mee OVER Seu eo - eg a ae X ‘ . ' es | oy ee ae ae \ Se oe hacer! \ Migr ee re as } ee gies ee 2 Ey Sie ae ie aes a Oye ca a oO tMile i j u FiGuRE 71.—Section about 2 miles north of Jacumba Springs, Calif. stiff, almost impenetrable growth. Its wood is hard, and the blaze from an old gnarled root cheers many a western fireplace. The live oak grows generally in the valleys, for the mountains are mostly covered by bushes with many bare rocky spots. The summit is broad and rolling, with parks at intervals. The country near the pass is not high enough for pine, which occurs on the adjoining highlands. On the west side of the pass the railroad makes a long tortuous descent through the Campo Indian Reservation into the valley of Campo Creek, which is followed to a point considerably below Campo. Campo is a small settlement in a parklike valley surrounded by granite hills on which are many great residual boulders of granite. This granite is the source of fine gems at various places in San Diego : County, notably tourmalines of red, green, and pink colors. .--5-. > 217 Pearson i deen ae ry Mormon settlements ---.---- 208, 271 Poros: River, Tex. ..<-.--.0 35. 81-82 Morongo Indian Reservation, Calif... 267 bridge over avenins ot Pe Eons OMeg pl. i2 Mortmar siding, Calif.-_.----------- 256 7 Ariz.-N. Mex... 146, Mount Graham, Ariz___..----.-------- 155 169, 171 Mount ey.” Po peas 164 18 | Pefia Colorada 6 Mud voleano near Niland, Calif... 253, pl. 38 Porilla siding, Ariz. oe Muggins M Aries. 234 25] Pershing siding, Calif......-.-.-..---- Moun' Aveo as, AS; 21) Phillips Holy BE, Mex... 134 Mundo siding, Calif..----. 27 | Phoenix, Ariz 204 Muskrat ranch, 31 Picacho; Avi.<.:-.-------_. 197, pl. 22 Picacho Peak, Ariz_..--------------- N ERLE aa oi ph 2 176 ~=s«21: |: Piedra, Ariz. 229 Naviska siding, Ariz_....__......--... 195 22 | Pierce Junction oil field, Tex-..------- 45 301 ‘age Sheet 27-29 5 BRR B RF BREN RSEEBw 8 o8 BRBSENS mae 302 INDEX Page Sheet Pima, Ariz 21 Riverside, Calif Pi MOR ae Coes 189, 200, 201, pl. 24 Rock disint ti 19, Pimple mounds , 40 od y N. 169-171 Pinal Mountains, Arig... a 211, 213 Roemer, Bie. c scl oss ad 50 Pinalefio Mountains, Ariz..--....----- 155 21 | Rogers, A. F., cited 254 aes City, Calif. 288 oll, Ariz 223 ter of paris 118 Roosevelt Dam, Ariz....-. 205, 213-216, pl. 28 sone de los Pinos, sf Mex ii sicscce 145 20 | Rosenberg, Tex 49 Pisyas siding, N. Mex... 2. 2. occu 168 20 | Rosenfeld siding, Tex 86 Playas Valley, N Sua 168 oss, C. P., cited 220, 231 oint Loma, Calif 291 Ross, C. S., cited 98, 115, 169 Polvo sidin 121 17 | Ross sidin ng, T 121 Pomona, Cal 276 29 Rutter siding, Mex 133 Population +5 Portal, 170-20 8 Port ‘ex. 41 5 . Ss Sabinal, Tex Poston siding, sletalenenglonr ee Raat 27 3 200 = Sabine River 33, 37, 40 Potrillo siding, N. Mex_-__.--.--_-.--: 163 «IB | ri Po Butte, Ari 219 «24 ‘ibis AOL Aer be pl. 25 oN. Mers.-.s8---:------- 169 20 | Sacaton Mountains, Ariz...-..-----. 200, 225 in Southwest, map show- tain; Ariens of ees ing z 3 Prickly pear cactus, blossoms of.-----ph 81 | Sahnaro.n a2 oi, 1 6 nn nto siding, ry, enna ee che Providence Cone, N. Mex..----------- oe aig Bngeesit Sina Monument, Ati Puente, cage 276, 29 5 aa hn Oe ws ste Martinsv oe se Rie ga lg gy afi Puente oil ane 277 s 4 Tex 60-61 Pumpville sine, softs eaten sa Pitot fel _ 11, 21, 47, 252 Pyramid sides tie, Nw 2 See ree 145 20 Baltnetedy oriebe ofsese ida: a8c0h 8 153 Salt River Mountains, Ariz__..--.---- Q Salt River Valley, Ariz 201, 204-207; 213, 214-217, 218 bec siding, Tex 15 cotton field and dates in_....-.._-. pl. 26 Quitman Mountains, Tex__-_-...-.- 116-117. 16 views in es! 27 see Basin, Calif 251- R alif. 250-251, caine on "Andres nae 252, 259-260, 273, pl. 39 Racelaad, L 13-14 1 Fd Railroad Pass, Arie...0o0cs ys aeee 56 the es palace of Span- Rameby siding, Tex. -..0204 2 i ish governor in_.._-..----- ‘Rancho La Brea, Calif_.-..1--..---- | San Bernardino, Calif. _.-.-.....--.--- Randolph field, 9 | San Bernardino Mountains, Calif... 266-267, Randolph siding, 23 —,- i cited. 135,177, fia a0 21 | San Bernardino Peak, Calif__..__....- pl. Raso siding, Ariz 21 | San Bernardino Valley, Ariz__.______ 172-173 ea Tg Felipe San Felipe, Tex Page Sheet 27 2 20 wy 8 S ae aa Re 8 &EBS INDEX 303 Page Sheet Page Sheet San Jacinto Mountain, Calif....... 262-263, Span, moss 15 266, pl. 42 i: Bid > ead Rome aE 41-42 5 San Jacinto River, Tex 6 Sp pofford, Tex 7 ll San Jacin eae sho ge ce ae 37, 44 Squaw Mountain, Ariz_............... 171 San Jos 276-277 29 | Stafford, Tex 47 6 San Mar rag te 62 9 | Standart siding, Tex ll San Pear, Cali f 283 29 | Stanton, T. W., cite sity 163 ae ley Ariz 21 | Stanwix sidi Ariz 24 San pn ec ater nla ean ans 152-1 20 | Steins 20 San pee “iene Ariz.-N. Mex... 152-153, hephiline, L. W., cited_. 64, 65, 68, 70, 71, 7 9, 10 20, 21 Stiles, E., cit Santa Ana Mountains, Calif___...__- 270, 275 Stock, bai cited tu Santa Ana River, Calif-_........___- 269,276 28 | Stoval, Ariz 232 «(25 Santa Catalina Mountains, Ariz______. 183 22 | Stoyanow, A. A., cited............... ee 183 Santa Cruz River, ote 193, 225 Strauss siding, N ‘sien ati | ye" 32-133. 18 Santa Fe oil Lien 278 Strobel siding, Tex 04 14 Santa Moni Call pia of Pacific Sugar Land, Tex = ies 6 pl. 48 Sulphur, La -32 4 Santa Bi cas Boutin Galifs..:-. 285 Sulph PA, COs rosa ae 31-32, 34, = i : Santan Mountains, Ariz_.........____- 201 23 | Sulphur Spring Valley, Ariz 21 Bantaneciding, Ariz. ee 201 23 | Sul Ross College, ing se a a ne Santa Rosa Mountains, Calif.___.._._- 254 27 | Superstition Mo’ » Ariz_. 202, 217, pl. a — Timoteo Canyon, Calif... 267-269, pl. 43 Superstition mtbantane alt. 2.52 c an Xavier AD ac, Ariz., mission of.. pl. 21 io. rai 2 20 T au M ec pia, OPE eter are 227 Savoya siding, N. Mex__.......-.--.-- 166 ©6119 kp “ioe oe cg arta mcgme ee v0 95 Pesta yy oe Ariz_---.-_.-.-.- 224 nA Tanque Verde Mountains, Afigzsc: 182,185 22 Schertz “és > Tartron stag Ariz ~ 2 ? . ‘ex pebrader, F. C., cited 200 22 * abana 202-204 oa 14,15 11 Pemperatures, underground_....2---- 61, 113 Schulenbarg, a, 8 Terlingua, Tex., cule er mines at. 91 Scnwainiene k. A. T., cited 152-153 Tesnus si 14 Scott siding, L 26 3 re che bt coh on tilted Seeley, Cali “a Pennsylvanian strata near_ pl 18 1B Segu 62-63 9 | ‘Texas Segura, a 3 central, formations in__... 64-65,7 aoe 7 Seilards, » Cited ...--.--.--------- ° ntral, reertigey Minsaiiongit 50, 61 Sentinel siding, Ariz aon ee nenen nen nn ee 230024 eastern, fossil animals in___- — oe ea ae leis He SE 144 20 geo Oe siding, Ariz... ._2.._.5._.....5 20L 23 map of, by Austin 39 Shatto Soe es 54 8 | —_ western, geology of......._.---_- All Shaver Canyon, Calif. 257,259 = 27 hesineiad formations Sheeks dome, Tex 5 in 100-101 Sheldon siding, T 44 6 | Texas Hill, Ariz 22 Shu: ending, TOR oss ee SE Tey ree Ae 210 Sierra Aneha, Ariz... ...--- sec ascs imerene, ORM oe elo 29 «2 Blanca, Tex. ears Me Ja Mid ip ics cl © Soa Dae a a 4 1 Steere. Dishle; Tessie 107-108 Theieen: B, A. eied. 2c 33 Sierra Estre _aaRnER OM Re ete 226 23 | Thousand Palms Canyon, Calif....... %2 Sierra Pedro Martir, Mexico_....------ 287 Three Peaks, Ariz 224 Sierra Rica zap egg rg has Gicaes 166 «19 iding, 84 iia Ari. cool. 233 «= 25'|| ~‘Tierfa Vieja Mountains, Tex____.___.- 101 Silver Bell, aa SOAR SOP e csee ashe a 306 22) Winelen Altes, Avie 0 oo 234 Slate Mountains, Ariz....-.-.--------- 224 Tolleson, Ariz 218 Sons 8S, pl. 20 Tolman, ©. ¥., cited... 1S Small siding, Tex 118 17) Tembetoms, Arie a Snake N. Mex bok -- 14 vi ‘National M« t, Ariz., cliff Snow Creek Canyon, Calif-.......... 264 27 at........-. 233, pL. 28 mines: Calif. = co05 6c. 255 Toomey, La. 33 4 Sotol country, vegetation of.......-.-.. 80 Topas siding, Ariz..__-..-............ &% 2% South College Peak, Shee et sebeNr egy Ff Saget t siding, Tex 14 «616 South Liberty salt dome and oil f Torcer siding, Tex Be. tan 5 | Tornillo, Tex 22 6 304 INDEX Page Sheet Ww Page Sheet Toronto os be eS ortolita Mountains, Ariz............_ 194 22 | Waelder, Tex 57 8 iat ire rake Cais Calif_.._._ pl. 38 Walker Butte, Ariz 200 Tres Hermanas Mountains, N. Mex. 164-165 19 | W »G.A., cit 28 Tubac, rey Watkins siding, ‘Tex 13 Tucson, Ariz 185-193 22 savers Needle, Ariz 217 Tucson Mountains, Ariz.___________- 192-193 Weeks Island, La 18, 21 2 Tumacacori Mission, Ariz___________.- 190 Weimar, 53-54 8 Tumamoc Hills, Ariz_....____....____. 193 Wellton, Ari 223-224, 234-235 25 Tants shimeo NN, Mer oo 143 19 | Welsh, La 29-3 3 Turquoise 144, 174 elsh oi yson siding, Ariz 25 | Wendell sidi x 100 15, 16 West Potrillo Mountains, N. Mex_..-. 163 8 U Whetstone Mountains, Ariz_-.-.__--_. 162 21, 22 White Tank Mountains, Ariz_________ Uvalde Plain, Tex., depositsof_ 62, 69, 70, 72, 74 Whitewater River, Cali 27 Uvalde, Tex 74-75 ll te, W. aitnd 138 Whittier oil field, Calif 278 ¥ illeox, Ariz = 21 Vail, Ariz 182-184 22 Heading; IN, Mero: 6 ees 19 Vv: i 99,100 15 | Wilson, E. D., ci ies 24, 25 Van Horn Moun Tex_. 102, 18% 105, 112 Woodring, w. Py cited__-------- 259, 263, Van ene, Tex., formations in. 106-108 Woolsey Penk, Aris. 00 cuccic oS 220, 24 Van Horn, T 105 16 | Woolsey Well, Ariz 221.2298 24 Vaughan, F. z , cited 260, 266,267 28 | Wylie Mountains, Tex_------_--___- 109, 110 Vaughan, T. W.., cited 75, 101, 288 10,11 | Wymola, Ariz Vekol Mountains, APiseOs esd L 113, 147 ¥ Victorio Mountains, is Meso es 1 1 Yavapai Indian aN, NAGS os 2 ae 166 19 | Yellow Medicine Eames RAB os 221,220 34 Vinto' 33 a.) Yellow Peak Are oo oie Vinton oil field, La 33 4 | Ysleta, Tex 123 17, 18 WN Piles io: 25 oat 20 | Yuha on Calif 289 Ininhop ype sc sss esis out Yuma, 236-239, pl, 34 26 111, 135, 163-164, pes: 172 pe ee Gistrict ter oo pl. 34 Wobomnoes, Theis. oo Bees ah Yuma Desert, Ar 236 25 Vulture Mountains, Ariz....-..------ 219 Yuma Indians 237, 245