bee geaee aad aase re ee spapada Madr D Passe has tiese err ee ee é rersasanead pueda sd 2d bene pag granes vs da bbe Metrir er rene ha pypadaeesaadsaadaesdas?e ead aNadwweed pedDbseodee gle b dase dees ae as ha pe aGRED ROT ESPAENTIER EDS eye pthnese rr ec Ve Cie ag puree roiveaad pipetouetaas ped Db eae ea TTA INT GE OEeE Rey reer y Seen © srabaa aaee wogeseee’ ehtbiies ange yiHdeaaelaad PO neveeesne VaSPT EARL STATO THERA STAT SS asanane Shanti doaacce woGearee Poptdepaedun trea aaeed een ete uC ae judgzaid pedsvagtebihaaraegusess paara rev ied avagunbidn Vin hareep daa aeendidas eo dhvue anand PIE UWIN ET LET EETERAT LANE RAE Rn an ne peroeainda Sieebewodunr ei hiased Rigdad aude Feadeberad dr aaerieetans Sabena adbbeatuidaad paraivecteagat dd tewerrnd a pairabadpoeat Viaevalay S2eagaT bast eaaanaveddodeaoada pehaheseeetdsgariaae aebed Pegs esddedetiaaaraaivaerae pap nare Vea bagenud aaa Sane ae wader bot ape naniy ts eahsetteeranaathbetpuece Viveuroeeee sv r raed ek he ae ivaaer alee Peer oe besa a Greenday neta ae deruumt di dereve sah bobae ans eage eee dee risearvas ge sivnagad dad sane Pipi bapadurny bua sso ivaaseaes saggirabgabé doeeangedusaad seuenrany Stvaeoony iuauarae Peoreeaval goa vpoornnaig binge heeeus Voevss avec ted saavnaaes Parra re are shag te dod e oe ae roenensasane vided da pared hires ad daa aeds Wanna yevduueere Sogecen dees aerdiedunia® sYeewedidurroorudaa Pazouaarneasa de payne mie gait ny hia ve suadsadaventects behinyredl Shuarsttatees bhp eeaeet Penna agae taeerne VRP AD IOS L ypies sp bere de bea ! bavanddea can piaeaeree ewes peneararyEe” Sypuaeude pupcuderae npn nee wraeeeetiadatidayeed Grecugneger vane iae ey siasaee Pedophile weabon sae aaa eae ee egzesbed dues tee puanny neeugie ROS Vice tre Rae paper eaedn nae ugtev@eregseed puasane bane ae wy dawns peyarcge bewaegaig? eaenogaaaae abactetrnae dyes taseaerns sear wnee Pee 3S NR Pyueeccnane waregeeervaac aad egergad perwoeenygy nidbivaasiauas yadannr wgreeenroade paver aet payrataeudderuens oder gsee aaa weeun da aug ad ts ay ent huadargnae Pa eose seers sheveawer ars yhawanvage Phere pear n ra re NESTE Np eed) ea aT OREO KE peradtad Fiauaet Parente ee) dio bem ana waren aaa sy nage dnsnne pager bozrredernd rig@eanaanenayt pprsed oon cdaguuagnagain pepdunbaut vandureeed rethusgactazearee redding Nyepeaganunadde. weeawesnis? tuaveccnoe? daapuaade epee iwbskhy dee ea ent eae “bittaeeotvarare peenneuls feowbernaeene FEU Oe ere sephenaauiaara vineceb sae’ SRNL WERE RU DNS SEAT VEN ORUR NG GE ADELA R ENE teeeaaahis aerhine rivuiit Lime gir qasaue gitiwadnad beepboszurer® dovarye tehneeuagt ea peecuneata lee peandgtaka nebo paongad Be kt Hd agen ee eer erKT RCT td htt Sea | Smithsonian Institution Libraries Given in memory of Elisha Hanson by Letitia Armistead Hanson 2 _ ‘i ue Ca Re wl ae He D ? i iA 7 Bs e f s 4 ae ¢ Cay { : “3 = ‘ iy » t ? = i H } % i © eit} ‘ ' Ye 4 ei THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY Editor GILBERT H. GROSVENOR Assistant Editor JOHN OLIVER LA GORCE Associate Editors A. W. GREELY Arctic Explorer, Major Gen’! U.S. Army C. HART MERRIAM Chief U.S. Biological Survey O. H. TITTMANN Superintendent of U.S. Coast and Geo- detic Survey ROBERT HOLLISTER CHAPMAN U.S. Geological Survey G. K. GILBERT U.S. Geological Survey ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL Inventor of the Telephone DAVID T. DAY U. S. Geological Survey DAVID FAIRCHILD In Charge of Agricultural Explorations, Dept. of Agriculture HUGH M. SMITH Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Fisheries N. H. DARTON U.S. Geological Survey Vol. XXI—Year 1910 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY oe ae EASON Ay HUBBARD MEMORIAL HALL ~~ a WASHINGTON, D. C. NOV 9 1981 9) ay Ps WASHINGTON, D. C. PRESS OF JUDD & DETWEILER, INC. 1910 CONTENTS ; Page The National Geographic Society’s Alaskan Expedition of 1909; by Raupu S. Tarr, of Cornell University, and LAWRENCE Martin, of the University of Wisconsin, Leaders BCC EO RP CIEIOM a VecRie ei lere ects oe Sa te aaa e sana d on eianate are Sle Sia elated be Gigli aacarel ee a Bane I Photography in Glacial Alaska; by O. D. von ENGELN, Photograpl -r of the National Geographic Society’s Alaskan Expedition Of 1909...........c cece cece et eeeeeeeeeees 54 Mee DISCOVEEY. OF the North Polez ists) 08 Shi di ak edna cle wb 'k eB Ue waa da ws oe tleuds 63 _ The Coal-Fields of Alaska: With a Few Notes on the Mineral Wealth of the Territory 83 RPI WCC INCNILS ) ee see sreer re ck Pk mss aie teas Sie e o we ae ole Gis og Wiel Uin Gu Sa'o vin Gav 4 dlete eae easels 88 miner National Geographic. SOciety..04 so ce aa vets eo eee oie ie ws cles O00 6 tis Ge so beveceeenes ecu 88 pipet eww SY OFC DNGUIALIUIIN: ee Os ui s 2d Hielais ks ola od Pka4 dis due < wolble ee os oe sa.e oewebe 90 A Traveler’s Notes on Java; by HENRY G. BRYANT........ 0. ccc cece e cece cee eseeeeeaes QI An Ancient Capital; by Isaset F. Dopp, Professor of Art and Archeology in the Ameri- ean College tor Girls, Constantinople. 22.00. ocecc cee ccc cc cec ccc coc ceedeceeuss III The International Millionth Map of the World; by BarLEy Wiis, U. S. Geological SURVIVES hte tas cite hurt Pe eke ce ete, On Pee vie RIAN eae htt a ee 125 he Land-of the Crossbow; by(GRORGE FORREST. 00... 6 .ceccscccceecsccccccceestteenes 132 The Great Natural Bridges of Utah; by Byron Cummincs, University of Utah......... 157 ioe SOE ® POlATesE MPCCILION esos, eis ae ees ce le: wc cies He odin o Wale ao aa e so ie ws OSes 167 Wilkes’ and D’Urville’s Discoveries in Wilkes Land; by Rear Admiral Joun E. Pitts- BES SN Tan Seta ca ce seaeute erate re Law viel b's waeyele soo a WUo0% oy 9:Sreln cn AlplelfeWsings nie tele ieee eeeke 17I mresoreat ice Barrier; by HENRY GANNETE 2 ook occa ee cvees sects ce eecce vse cesses 173 ne Barrave of the Nile; by DAY ALLEN WILLEY. ....6..cccccccccsscscccconsessesestos 175 ETEROMCH EGE OMEADIIIC, SOCIELY use + «>see ee 807 The Lost Wealth of the Kings of Midas; by E1zswortH HUNTINGTON........sceceeee 831 AD Paik About,Persia and Its Women} by Etta C.-SyvKes.... 2.020 oe.c ae 847 The Greatness of Little Portugal: by OswaLn CRAWFURD. 2.00 shite. + o-0cne idee Serene . 867 ‘The Woods and Gardens of Portugal; by MARTIN HUME. ..%.-4 ¢0< (os oeenete eee 883 Glimpses of Korea and China; by Wittiam W. CuHaptn, of Rochester..............025- 8905 A New Source of Power. Billions of Tons of Lignite, Previously Thought Too Poor Coal for Commercial Use, Are Made Easily Available ; by Guy Exuiorr MircHELL.. 935 Kboova Liberian Game: by GaN COLLINS «0.06.9. .005 Chests aubioie: 6 0c o's a ip GRO? eloge See 044 The Pest of English Sparrows: by. N. DBARBORN ...... .. 2.00% de eis ous «01s 6)» 5 eee ee 948 Mr-Roosevelt’s. “Atricam Game’ Prails?7 3... saab oleae ous cee ste oe shea crak eee 953 Whe NIStEtOR. Feber Bertie bs cseps. ds do leleeie eve Bhwalesavw 4 o 0GUe 4 5 ecerg uae Gi FUME Sas ete 965 Orie Colore diy PUCeres ee oie wos dccmes He vabans, eueiesetla sg cue anaes tee ten sara ners oe 965 mbhe Mar Without thesHoe. .. 236 ke Seek a oka « pee Re, Made so ape en eee eee 967 Among the Cannibals of Belgian Kongo... ... 06.2050. cece dete ons sctee dee ee National’ Geographic Societys. 25. 20 wile ls oe «eos os eco oe bole oe ie a ie ecpiele Sere 972 Race Prejudice in the Far East; by Metvirie E. Stonse, General Manager of the Asso- Clated’ Presse. 6 oe. Be ce i Re a sia Bao eects dc Ee 973 Some Mexican Transportation Scenes; by WALTER W. BRADLEY... ....-.-+0+- eee eee eees 985 The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, “I'he Bridge of the World’s Commerce”; by HELEN ROLSSON@OBRERR. (ti,.c-< cia eect ens aes oe Te re ee es PP cy 5 eae QgI Hewers of Stone; by JrREMIAH ZIMMERMAN, D.D., LL. D.......22.500.: see eee = e e 1002 Agricultural Possibilities in Tropical Mexico; by Dr PEHR OLsson-SErrer, Late Com- missioner of Tropical Agriculture to the Mexican Government.................-5-- 1021 An Interesting Visit to the Ancient Pyramids of San Juan Teotihuacan; by A. C. GALLOWAY os TE eae ei oe a ee ST ee ee ce eee IO4I A North Holland Cheese Market; by Hucu M. Smrru, Deputy Commissioner, U. S. Bureau’ of. Fisheries |. ced enn G00 cae ee ohn poke One e PE a aes Le ee ae Oe An Ideal Fuel Manufactured Out of Waste Products; by Guy Exiorr MrrcHELL eer 1067 National Geographic Society 02/2. 0. sc5 escl ve ee ee soles tyme + reser = atclnee cision tae 1074 VOL. XXI, No. 7 a ik DAVE GARDENS OF THE: JERID WASHINGTON GEOGRAPHIC MAGA ZIUNIE, JULY, 1910 ae By Tuomas H. KEARNEY With Photographs by the Author ITH its feet in the water and its head in the fire,’ as the Arab proverb has it, the date palm is at home in the vast deserts that stretch from Morocco to the borders of India. It thrives where the air is almost abso- lutely dry and where the summer tem- peratures are the highest on the globe. Under these conditions only do the best varieties of dates reach perfect ripeness. But as it is also tiecessary that the roots of the palm find plenty of moisture in the soil, the fruit is confined to the oases— favored spots in the deserts where never- failing springs or wells allow of irriga- tion. No country is more celebrated for the excellence of its dates than the Beled el Jerid (Land of the Palms),a small group of oases situated at the northern edge of the Sahara and distant about 250 miles southwestward as the crow flies frorn the city of Tunis. Some years ago I visited these oases in order to obtain palms for the date or- chards which the National Department of Agriculture has established in Arizona and in the Colorado Desert of Califor- nia.* My visit was so timed that I * Tn the southwestern United States there are deserts as hot as the Sahara. Rivers and arte- reached the oases soon after the begin- ning of the harvest. This made it pos- sible to test the fruit of the different varieties while fresh from the trees and to select the best of them for introduc- tion into the United States. The Jerid is best reached by means of a railway which crosses southern Tunis from the busy little seaport of Sfax, on the east coast, to the rich phosphate mines of Metlaoui, near the Algerian frontier. Leaving Sfax one morning in October, an all-day journey in a slow mixed train brought me to Gafsa, 25 miles from the end of the line. It was a desolate coun- try through which we passed, wonder- fully like the high plains of eastern Colo- rado and New Mexico. An occasional cluster of “gourbis,” or tents of «skins, .an* occasional flock .of multicolored sheep and goats, tended by half-wild Bedouin children, were the only signs of life in the monotonous landscape. The vegetation consisted sian wells supply water for the irrigation of many thousands of acres. In the belief that the physical conditions meet all the require- ments of the palm, the Department of Agricul- ture is devoting much energy to establishing date culture in this region. During the past ten years agricultural explorers have visited many parts of the great desert zone of the Old World in search of the best varieties. 544 THR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE MARKET PLACE AT chiefly of brown clumps of the grass called “alfa” or “esparto,” the long tough leaves of which are pulled by hand and shipped in bales to Europe for making baskets, straw hats, and paper of fine quality. After spending the night at Gafsa, I was up betimes and took an early train to Metlaoui, the terminus of the railway. Here I was met by two Arab boys with donkeys sent by the Controleur Civil from Tozer, the chief town of the Jerid. A discharged soldier, returning to his oasis home at the expiration of his service in a regiment of “spahis’—the Franco- Tunisian cavalry— invited himself to join our company. It was a 35-mile ride over the desert from Metlaoui to Tozer. Although late in October, the heat was intense. The road—a mere track and hardly distinguishable—followed _ part way the stony bed of a dry “oued,” and then struck out across the desert. Over- head was the cloudless sky, underfoot the blazing sand, and around us the sharp forms of desert mountains, devoid of soil and trees. At midday we lunched in the scanty shade afforded by the mud TOZER brick walls of a little “bordj,” a walled enclosure where travelers may encamp and, if need be, defend themselves against marauders. The Arabs, who had hitherto beguiled the way with gutteral chatter and laugh- ter and occasionally with a nasal chant- ing that kept time to the jog trot of the donkeys, were silent during the long, hot afternoon. Towards evening the air freshened and our tired animals quick- ened their steps. Alighting for a moment, Yusuf ben Mohamed, the ex-spahi, ad- justed his fez with the aid of a pocket looking glass. Then, taking from _ his wallet a sash of crimson silk and giving one end of it to the donkey boy, he turned round and round until it was neatly wrapped in many folds about his waist. We were evidently nearing the end of our journey. A few minutes later we paused on the brink of a deep ravine and saw before us—sharp and black against the red even- ing sky—a long fringed line of palm crowns. It was the oasis of El Hamma, the first of the Beled el Jerid. We skirted a corner of this oasis, passed through its THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID 545, { Z : Z z Dates grow in large bunches which contain hundreds of the fruit. Some of the clusters. are so heavy that the fruit must be straddled on the nearest leaf stalk (as in this illustration): to prevent the stem of the cluster from being broken by the weight. THE HOUSE AT TOZER IN WHICH THE AUTHOR ROOMED FOR SIX WEEKS THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID - TOMB OF A MOHAMMEDAN SAINT AT THE EDGE OF TOZER OASIS mud-brick village, and, after 9 miles more of donkey back, reached Tozer. It was none too soon, for I was well nigh exhausted with the fatigue of be- striding all day the huge padded saddle on which the Arabs generally sit cross- legged. After a hasty dinner, | was in- stalled in the one-storied house, built around three sides of an open courtyard, which was to be my home for the next six weeks. In the morning the first duty was to present my credentials to the French ad- ministrator of the Jerid region. That functionary, who enjoys the double title of “Controleur Civil” and/“‘Vice-Consul,”’ received me courteously and detailed a spahi to accompany me in my explora- tions of the oases. Mounted on a fine gray horse and wearing a uniform con- sisting of a sky-blue burnous over a white “haik” or jacket, my guide made a picturesque figure. The one-eyed El Hachemi ben Achmid, who spoke passa- ble French, was engaged as interpreter. and was thereafter a constant attendant during my stay in the Jerid. A scrawny boy who carried the camera completed the retinue, and: without further loss of time we started for the gardens. Cross- ing the open market-place, on which face the modest public buildings, and winding through a series of narrow, crooked streets, we soon found ourselves on the outskirts of the town. Here, in a shallow stream, naked children were disporting themselves, and women, with skirts tucked up above their knees, were wash- ing clothes. We then traversed a few rods of bare sand and plunged into the oasis. The transition from the blinding glare outside to the cool shade of the gardens was delightful. Entering one of them, we found it a jungle of date palms, planted in no apparent order, some so close that the stems almost touch, and in other places far enough apart to leave room for little patches of vegetables and lucern and tender young barley. Be- neath the tall palms there were other trees—figs, apricots, and olives. Huge grape vines hung in festoons from the trunks, and long runners of melon and cucumber trailed over the eround. Here and there oranges and THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 548 (PSS aSed 90S) Ul dA] 0} AYIPOYUN oie YOIYM ‘sudpiesS ajep dy} ULY} PUNOIS J9YySty uo Inq st UMO} dYT, VIGHIN FO NMOL FHL SSE 8 Sas SAAS a THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID big rosy pomegranates gleamed in their setting of dark glossy foliage, and the jasmine, with its white corollas, starred the semi-twilight. Beds of scarlet pep- mens) elowed like fires in the deep shadows among the trees. The first garden we visited was the property of a wealthy sheik, who was waiting to receive us. The old gentle- man’s wrinkled brown face, picturesquely framed in the snowy folds of a huge tur- ban, was all alight with cordiality as he led us, with many a greeting of “Salam” AiG oauna. -( wealth). to avhut in’ the center of the grove. There were assem- bled his gardeners or “khammes.” They were dark-skinned, sullen-looking men, clad in shirts and short baggy trousers of coarse blue cotton cloth, with arms and legs bare. A brief order from their master sent them scampering up the scaly palm trunks. In a few seconds they were with us again, the loose folds of their shirts bulging with dates of many kinds. The harvest was already in progress, and it was interesting to watch the man- ner of gathering the fruit. Dates grow in large bunches, weighing from 10 to 40 pounds, which hang beneath the crown of leaves on long yellow or orange-col- ored stalks, hard and polished as ivory. An expert workman, known as the “getaa,’ climbs to the top of the palm, gripping the scaly bark with his bare toes. He is armed with a “mengel,” an iron knife, having a heavy serrated blade at right angles to the shank, which is set in a wooden handle. Severing the stalk with a stroke of his knife, he gives the heavy cluster to the man who straddles the trunk just under him. It is then passed from hand to hand by men and boys who cling to the tree, one below the other, until it reaches the ground. The number of the rungs in this hu- man ladder depends, of course, upon the height of the palm. Sometimes seven or eight men beside the getaa are required. Only the best varieties of dates are handled thus carefully; for the ordinary sorts it suffices to toss the cluster to the 549 ground, where they are caught in sheets. They are then packed in skins or baskets. to be kept for local consumption, or they are exchanged for wheat and barley, which the nomads of the high central plateaux of Tunis and Algeria bring down to the oases in the fall on the backs of their camels. The fine Deglet Noor dates, of which the Jerid exports from one to two mil- lion pounds every year, are prepared for shipment before leaving the gardens. No curing is necessary. The divisions of the clusters are separated, the unripe and the spoiled fruit is culled, and the dates are packed on the branch in the wooden boxes in which they are despatched by parcels post to Europe. The finest are afterwards selected and arranged in the small oblong boxes, decorated with gaudy lithographs of palm trees and camels, that are seen in our fruit shops at Christmas time. Riding back to Tozer at noonday for luncheon and siesta, we could make but slow progress because of the crowds that thronged the bridle paths among the gar- dens. Here and there where two roads crossed were stationed venders of broad beans. The beans, almost as large as chestnuts and not unlike them in flavor, were boiled in petroleum tins over char- coal fires and were sold hot to laborers and idlers. The air was resonant with the shrill “ir-r-r-a” of the donkey boys and the shouts and songs of men and children. For the time of date harvest is a halcyon season in the Beled el Jerid. The long hot summer is over. The days are still comfortably warm and the nights just cool enough to be bracing. Dates are to be had for the asking, and all the world is well fed and contented. In the afternoon we sallied forth for another visit to the gardens, returning through the cool twilight. Then for the first time 1, could appreciate: the full beauty of the oasis. The level rays of the setting sun lit up the palm tops, turn- ing the dull purples and maroons of the fruit clusters to glowing crimson and their stalks to burnished gold. Against THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 550 S2T0S “WT Aq O04 SSS Se ES \ oo BS Se MOIS stuyed oY} YOIYM Ul MOT[OY 24} 930N (ISS Bova HHS) VIMHN LV SWIvd ALVd JO CUVHOYO LvTND V SSA“ THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID the clear beryl green of the eastern sky the feathery leaf crowns were silhouet- ted. Overhead a star or two began to glisten in the azure that was fast chang- ing to dusky violet. Day after day of the delightful Saha- ran autumn was spent in these explora- tions, so that I soon became familiar with the topography of the region. The Jerid oases are four in number. Tozer and Nefta, which comprise about 6,000 acres each, are the largest. They are sepa- rated one from another by a few miles of sandy desert, where stunted gray bushes anes,tue- onl veretation during the greater part of the year. Immediately behind the oases rises a steep bluff, which here forms the northern boundary of the Sahara. The date gardens occupy a gently sloping shclf about one mile wide between this and the Shott el Jerid, a great shallow pond, usually covered with a glittering crust of salt and containing water for only a brief time after the in- frequent winter rains. It is one of a chain of such dry lakes that stretches from near the eastern coast of Tunis to the Oued Rir country a few miles south of Biskra, in Algeria. There are said to be nearly one million date trees in the Jerid. Each oasis is a dense forest, of which the ownership is much divided. The individual holdings range in size from a few square rods to several acres and are separated by “‘ta- bias,’ walls of dried mud surmounted by a palisade of the thorny palm leaves. Numerous springs, gushing forth at the base of the escarpment that shelters the oases from the north winds, furnish an abundant and constant supply of water for irrigation. At Nefta the springs are situated in a deep basin, of which the sides are much higher than the tallest palm in the beautiful grove that covers its floor. This is the “Ras el Ain” (Head of the Spring), which the French call the “Corbeille” or basket. At Tozer and at Nefta the water of the springs is gathered into one large canal. It is then diverted by means of dams situated at convenient points into the irrigating ditches that penetrate 551 every corner of the oasis. Long, shallow notches are cut in the palm log that forms the weir, and the number, length, and depth of these notches determines the amount of water received by the sev- eral divisicns of the canal. Two guards are stationed day and night at each weir to regulate any dispute that may arise over water rights. To facilitate irriga- tion, the gardens are divided into little plots or basins, separated by low mud dikes. More than one hundred distinct varie- ties of dates are grown in these four small oases. There is a bewildering amount of diversity in the shape, color, and flavor of the fruits. Some are round as apples, others egg-shaped, others fin- ger-shaped. They range in size from that of a small hazel nut to the bigness of a man’s thumb. When ripe they are of every imaginable hue, from golden brown to prune purple, and even jet black. Very tancitul are the Arab names of many of the varieties: “bride’s finger,” ‘raaner Of the cticumber,. “ox. brain,” “pizeon eve; gazelle’s horn,’ are literal translations. Some kinds are hard and dry, only moderately sweet, and have a _ nutlike flavor. These “dry dates,” which can easily be kept for a year or more, are a staple article of food throughout north- ern Africa and southwestern Asia. They form a compact and nutritious ration, es- pecially suitable for carrying on the long caravan journeys. Other kinds, soft as butter and drip- ping with syrupy juice, must be eaten the moment they ripen. The excessively rich and sweet sorts are used only as a des- Sent. The Deglet Noor—the name is some- times translated “Date of the Light”—is the only variety exported in large quan- tity from Tunis to Europe and America. It is neither an extremely dry nor a very soft fruit, but has a firm, clean flesh, translucent as cloudy amber, and can be kept in good condition for several months after it is harvested. The inimitable YATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE THE 552 E GARDENS WE FOUND IT A JUNGLE OF DATE PALMS OF TH NTERING ONE Photo from David Fairchild AN IRRIGATING CANAL IN A DATE ORCHARD oro, ox = ec ia i eal an = jog O ip Z fa a faa << O 2 2 — al (2 ae Eo 554 flavor of this variety is the standard of excellence in dates. No farmer’s boy is more ofa connois- seur in the qualities of the different kinds of apples in his father’s orchard than are the Jeridis with respect to dates. Each of the best varieties has its partisans, and there is keen rivalry among*the proprie- tors of gardens in extolling the merits of their favorite trees. ‘Tre choicest fruits are picked one by .ofie as they ripen in the clusters and are kept by the owner for his own table and for gifts to his friends. One of the finest of all dates, rivaling the: Deglet Noor in) flavor and. much larger, is the.“ Menakher,* an extremely rare variety peculiar to the Jerid. When I sought to learn why a date which they esteem so highly should be so nearly ex- tinct, the natives told a story that is a curious commentary on the state of Tunis before the French occupation. The Beys, it seems, were exceedingly fond of Menakher dates, and no other sort was served at their banquets. Each year, at the time of harvest, their agents visited the oases and took possession of the entire crop, usually without paying for it. The people wearied finally of this extortion and ceased to plant Menakher palms. They went even further, cutting down many of the old trees in their gar- dens. The towns of the Jerid are situated on higher ground just outside the oases. They thus escape to some extent the ma- laria that lurks in the gardens, where fre- quent irrigation keeps the soil constantly moist. Even the gardeners dwell mostly in the villages and trudge every morning to.the scene of their labors) Only dur ing the ripening season, when the fruit of the choice varieties must be guarded against thieves, men camp among the trees in little paln--leaf tents, which are sometimes elevated on posts at a corner of the wall to afford a better lookout. The houses are of sun-baked brick, similar to the Mexican adobe. In the fa- cades of the more pretentious buildings the bricks are arranged in curious geo- metrical patterns, the only attempt at ex- THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE terior ornamentation. The indispensable date palm furnishes whatever wood is needed in construction. The narrow streets are frequently arched over, mak- ing a deep shade that is very grateful at noonday. Benevolent householders some- times place benches outside their doors in these arcades, where any passer-by 1s welcome to repose himself. The population of the Jerid numbers about 30,000 souls, whose livelihood de- pends almost entirely upon the product of their palms. The Jeridis are seden- tary, seldom venturing far from the shel- ter of the oases. They do not wander over the plains with flocks and herds as do the Bedouins farther north, nor are they conductors of caravans like their Algerian neighbors, the Soufis. They are a peaceable folk, and ever preferred paying tribute to making armed resistance in the days when the Touaregs and other warlike tribes of the Sahara were wont to raid the oases. They have lived for unnumbered centuries in the villages where we find them today, desiring no occupation but the care of their date gardens. The beauty of their gardens was cele- brated by the Arab geographers of the Middle Ages. In yet earlier times, when Tozer was the Roman Thusuros and Nefta was called Nepte, the oases ex- isted, although possibly the olive rather than the date palm was then the prin- cipal tree. Like nearly all successful agricultural populations of the Barbary States, the inhabitants of the Jerid are primarily of Berber stock, belonging to the race that peopled northern Africa before the com- ing of the Phcenicians and the Romans. But there is a large admixture of other racial elements, notably of the Arab and negro. The small tradesmen and handi- craftsmen are mostly Jews. One even sees occasional individuals who have fair hair, blue eyes, and a I’ght complexion, inherited perhaps from some Vandal conqueror or Christian slave of a later epoch. A charming little denizen of the vil- iages is the sparrow that nests in the Ol Or THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID THE GARDENS ARE DIVIDED INTO SMALL PLATS BY MEANS OF LOW DIKES OF EARTH TO FACILITATE IRRIGATION 556 | THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZI TURNING OVER THE RICH BLACK SOIL WITH THE MESSAH OR SHORT-HANDLED HOE, WHICH IN THE OASES DOES ALL THE DUTY OF A PLOW AND CULTIVATOR (SEE PAGE 557) THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID 557 chinks of the mud-brick walls. This is not our dingy city bird, but a glorified sparrow, who wears a dainty dress of russet and steel blue. Earliest dawn arouses him to cheerful twitterings and occasional snatches of sweet song. The Arabs call this bird the “Bou Habibi,” the “Father of Friends,” and believe that he brings good luck to any house in which he makes his nest. He is strictly a town dweller, never venturing into the desert and seldom met with in the gar- dens. Nothing in common has he with such nomads as the linnet and the sky- lark. He will not live in captivity, and attempts to naturalize him no farther away than the city of Tunis have always failed. The Ramadan, the Lent of the Mo- hammedans, commenced ere | had been many weeks in the desert. From sunrise to sunset the natives took neither bite nor sup. By the middle of the afternoon the people of Tozer would be faint with hun- ger, and huddled in silent groups at the edge of the town, watching the sun as if conjuring it to hasten its setting. The moment it disappeared, the signal was given by a small cannon installed for the purpose in the market place. Instantly all was noise and motion. Fires were lighted everywhere. The air was filled with the grateful odor of cook- ing. Lamps were hung out on the mina- rets and laughter and song resounded from every house. Most of the pcpula- tion devoted the entire night to revelry and were unfit for work in the daytime. The feast of the “Little Bairam” follows the month of fasting, and it was during those three days of childish merrymaking that I left the Jerid for a season. Batly<= in’ February 1 alighted once more from the “train mixte” at Metlaoui and rode southward across the desert. It was a brilliant day, the sky blue as tur- quoise, the air soft and warm. Crested desert larks, near relatives of the Euro- pean skylark, rose at every few steps, scattering showers of low plaintive notes. This lark and the little black and white “Comforter of the Camels’ were the only birds I saw in the open desert. When I reached Tozer the gardens wore a changed aspect. The palms were bate’ Of irlit. bere and: there. among their rough brown trunks gleamed the tender pink of blossoming apricots. The buds of the fig trees were beginning to disclose the lovely green of their young leaves. Hosts of linnets sang all day long in the palm tops, recalling the choirs of gold finches on May mornings at home. Gardeners, stooping low to their work with the “messah,” the short-han- dled hoe, which in oasis agriculture does all the duty of plow and cultivator, were turning over the rich black soil. The object of this second visit was to purchase and prepare for shipment the palms that had previously been selected for introduction into the United States. The date, be it said, like the apple and other fruit trees, does not ‘come true from seed.” There is almost infinite di- versity among the seedlings, with small chance that any will bear fruit exactly like that of the parent tree. It is only by taking up and planting the leafy shoots that spring from the base of a palm that the variety can be maintained unchanged. The offshoots are fit to be removed and planted when they have begun to form roots of their own. The Jeridis say they are at their best for starting a new tree when their trunks are of the size of a camel’s head. The oasis gardener, when about to take up one of these baby palms, first trims back its outer leaves, so that only two feet or so of the thorny stalks remain. He next digs a hole around and beneath it, severing its roots. With a heavy chisel he proceeds to divide it from the parent trunk. The roots are then cut off close to the stump and the offshoot is ready to be planted. If its: to be transported. to a distance, the base of the little palm is dipped in puddled clay to poultice its wounds. It is then snugly wrapped in several layers of “lif,” a coarse brown-matted fiber that grows around the bases of the leaf stalks of the date. The wrapping of lif is se- cured by cords plaited from the same ma- terial. So wrapped, a healthy offshoot can be shipped without risk to the ends 558 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE A “SOFT” TYPE OF DATE (TRONJA), WHICH KEEPS FAIRLY WELL Some are round as apples, others egg-shaped, others finger-shaped. They range in size from that of a small hazelnut to the bigness of a man’s thumb (see page 551) THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID of the earth. It is by vir- tue of this simple method of packing that the Depart- ment of Agriculture has succeeded in introducing many of the choicest varie- ties of dates into Arizona and California. Several weeks were spent in getting together the col- lection of palms, for the rarer sorts had to be sought far and wide. Of certain varieties but a single off- shoot could be had in any one oasis. Only a few of the most popular kinds are found in some of the orchards, while others are veritable botanical gardens, containing a tree or two of almost every variety known in that part of the Sahara. Such is the celebrated gar- den at Nefta that once be- longed to the sovereigns of Tunis. A special quest was made for the Menakher, the royal date which was formerly reserved for the table of the:.Beys. But, after. ran- sacking the Jerid, only nine plants could be obtained. One of these was a present from $i Brahim ben Mo- hamed el Ouadi ben Ouidi, a magnate of Nefta. After infinite coaxing, the great man came one morning, with the carefully wrapped offshoot in his arms, holding it as tenderly as though it were an infant in brown swaddling clothes. But even then the honor of presenting to the American Government a date palm of this rare variety had to be painted in the most glowing language my interpreter could command before Si Brahim was persuaded to part with his treasure. The entire collection, some eight hun- dred offshoots, was at last ready for ship- ment. Four score camels were needed to An expert workman, known as the 559 ‘ ‘getaa,” armed with a “mengel,” an iron knife having a heavy serrated blade, with which he cuts off the bunch of ripe dates (see page 549) convey the palms across the desert to the railway. With the drivers, many of whom were followed by their wives and children, it was a rather imposing cara- van that assembled one morning at Tozer. Ten additional camels were to join the main body when it should reach El Hamma. Meanwhile a cold north wind sprang up, filling the air with dust and sand. “Late: in the: evening came word that the El Hamma contingent re- fused to. set ‘forth in’ the- face of the storm. This was unwelcome news, for ZINE GA MA TIONAL GEOGRAPHIC A N Uv: Ul soseo oY} oO 1 UMOD Q 0 uLIq sneojed [erjUI9 (6¢S a8ed 99S) ][ez 913 Ys oy} JO speurou oy} YoIt | M Ag[Ieq pue JeosyM IOF pd SUBYXI II Sojep FO s}10s AreUIpIO oJ, THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID 561 PACKING THE DATES FOR SHIPMENT THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE THE TALL MINARET OF THE MOSQUE IN AN OASIS TOWN arrangements had been made to ship the palms by a steamer that was due to sail from Sfax within a few days. In this emergency I consulted the Caid of Tozer, the principal native official of the Jerid. He took prompt and decisive action, at once despatching a spahi with imperative orders to the refractory camel drivers to proceed without delay. When I reached El Hamma early the following morning, I learned that this emissary had tried first persuasion, then threats, and at length had resorted to blows. A sound drubbing convinced the recalcitrants that the weather was not sufficiently inclement to prevent travel- ing, and at midnight they departed. I soon overtook them and found them THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID 563 SAO RES ST NA SERGE By the middle of the afternoon the people would be faint with hunger and huddled in silent groups at the edge of the town, watching the sun (see page 557) OU 64 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE SCENE IN AN OASIS TOWN Photo from Bishop J. C. Hartzell THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID 565 Photo from Bishop J. C. Hartzell CHIVDRYN2OF V2 = 3) DATE GARDENS 566 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE CAME, WITH LOAD OF DATE OFFSHOOTS PRESENTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE OASES TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT It required 90 camels to carry all the offshoots across the desert to the railway marching along dejectedly, for not only were their shoulders still aching from the beating of the night before, but they would have to pay a fine of one franc for each kilometer traveled by the spahi who administered the punishment. Such, FE] Hachemi assured me, was the law of the country. At noon I came up with the main cara- van, which was traveling in very open order. The camels were walking side by side and browsing as they went, while the drivers plodded afoot through the sand. The sheik or leader was a tall, well-set-up Soudanese, with skin as black as ebony. But most of the drivers were natives of the Souf oases, who have al- most a monopoly of this vocation in the Algerian and Tunisian Sahara. ~ Their sturdy limbs and dark, smiling faces offer a striking contrast to the lank forms and sullen, anzemic visages of the stay-at- home residents of the Jerid. When the sun dipped below the hori- zon that afternoon the last camel had been unloaded at Metlaoui, and the palms were stowed away in the freight cars that waited to carry them to the coast. The drivers from El Hamma, who had made remarkable speed at the last, went away rejoicing when they learned that their fine would be remitted. A few days af- terward I had the pleasure of watching the good ship Tafna as she steamed out of the harbor of Sfax with the cargo of date offshoots snugly reposing under tar- paulins on her deck. Ten weeks passed by, and the little trees reached their 1ourney’s end in the new oases of the American Sahara. They were soon safe in the ground, alongside their cousins from the banks of the Nile and from Muscat and fur-away Bagdad. With the blazing sky of the desert once more above them and the life-giving wa- ter about their feet, they are growing and ripening their fruits as if there were no 8,000 miles of land and sea between them and the mother palms of the Jerid. THE DATE GARDENS OF THE JERID 567 Ae GATHERING THE DATE HARVEST Photo by F. Soler The top man hands the heavy cluster to his fellow just beneath, by whom it 1s passed from hand to hand until it reaches the ground. Note the oranges growing under the palms CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT The Story of the Los Angeles Aqueduct By Burt A. HEINLy OD sowed the Mojave from an (5 almost empty hand, they say, and-so perhaps’ Hie did Hor a few weeks of early spring this desert blooms as a paradise, but the blossoms bring no fruits. Quickly the broad acre- age of flowers relapses into the sullenness of mile on mile of yellow sand, scorched day after day from the heat of a glaring sun. The rattlesnake finds protection in the narrow shade sci the: sage, prusi: NVith: the exception ‘or the lizard? other creeping things seek their holes and come forth -aiter dark, “Death “Valley Alies within Mojave’s depths, while the west- ern confines are bounded by the Sierra, into whose canyons run windrows of sand like fingers groping in the dark. It is almost paradoxical that one of the most Titanic struggles ever under- taken by a municipality is being carried on within this desert waste, and the struggle is one for water. At the northern outpost of the Mo- jave’s sands a river, after gathering the drainage of the snow-clad Sierra for more than 150 miles, flows into an alka- line sink and wastes its fatness in evapo- ration from the sun’s heat. One hun- dred and fifty miles across the Mojave, straight southward as the crow flies, rises the mountain wall of the Coast Range. Beyond lie foothills undulating into val- leys, and a broad coastal plain on which nestle nearly 100 communities about the central metropolis of Los Angeles. It is the plan ot Los Angeles to carry the waters of this river and its tributary streams 250 miles southward across the Mojave Desert, beneath the Coast Range, and into the San Fernando Valley, where the precious fluid will be used to quench a city’s thirst, to irrigate thousands of acres of rich soil now non-productive for want of moisture, to develop electrical energy to light her buildings and her streets, and furnish power for manufac- turing industry on a scale new to the Pacific Coast. The enterprise is now in the third year of its accomplishment, and will require from two and one-half to three more years for its completion. Five thou- sand men working through the blinding heat of the summer day and the blessed coolness of the desert night could tell the story better than pen can write. THE CITY DOES ALL THE’ WORK WELLE ns OWN WORKMEN Mr John R. Freeman, the eminent hydraulic engineer, who is known for his connection with the Panama Canal and the New York Aqueduct, in describing the features of the project to a body of Boston engineers recently, classed the Los Angeles Aqueduct as the most inter- esting hydraulic construction now under way on the American continent. It is not the largest. The Panama Canal, the New York Aqueduct, and the Erie Barge Canal all outrival it in the order named, but in not one of these are toibe found the features which make this project so spectacular in construction and so full of promise after completion. The enterprise is not alone interesting because of the magnitude and the seem- ingly insurmountable difficulties being overcome, but it is remarkable because it is a public work which has been built at much greater speed than was promised and with less money than it was stated would be required. The city is doing the building with its own workmen and with its own engineers, one small contract ex- cepted. Only in the arid West does one come to a full realization of -the valine otea drop of water.. Glere it becomiesmihe pearl without price. In a land where the rains fall with the first days of November We) CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT NOILVAVOXA HONAML LV daovW'lId Ad OF, SI LI AWHHM “LMASAd aHL OLNI S’THAOHS-4YHMOd DIG AHL JO ANO ONIIONVH GNV WHHIADOL GHTdNOD SHNIONA NOILOVUL UVTIGYALVO OML THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 570 INASAd AHL HONOUHL LINGNOD HHL QNIODIG MYOM LV THAOHS WVALS V TZ . . \ . CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT and cease with the coming of April, not to descend again until the approach of another winter, the truth of this saying is appreciated. Los Angeles lies in the heart of such a land, where through the long summer growing things usually mark moisture artificially applied. Five years ago, when the city stood face to face with the grave problem of a steadily decreasing water supply and a rapidly increasing population, Owens Valley, the cleft in the Sierra from which the waters are to be taken, was almost unknown. ‘Today even the children of the public schools have familiarized the location and characteristics. The valley is a narrow one. Seven miles will span it at almost any point. To the eastward are the brown Inyos, to the westward the white Sierra. This latter range of mountains forms the roof- shed of the United States. Mount Whit- ney, snow-clad monarch of them all, rises to a height of 14,502 feet. Twenty-three other peaks exceed 13,500 feet in eleva- tion. Along the Sierra the snows lie deep throughout the year. From the base 35 streams debouch and pour into Owens River from a drainage of 2,800 square miles. Since the time when the land was new this river has spent its volume in alkaline Owens Lake, which has an approximate area of 75 square miles. Without an outlet, the very high evaporation of 90 inches each -year has: kept-the lake at about the present size. Some water from the river has been used for irrigation in the valley, but by far the larger part has done service for no man. To insure a water free from alkali, Los Angeles has gone 35 miles above the mouth of the river to build the intake of the aqueduct, and the supply that the city will use in the future will be of almost half the mineral content that its citizens are now drinking. There are a few scat- tering settlements in the valley, but the rugged mountain chain which yearly sends down its floods offers scant encour- agement to the settler. Moreover, the government has included the territory within a forest reserve, so that freedom O71 from human contamination, apparently, is forever preserved. SECURING THE LAND RIGHTS The ranches which carried water rights were purchased for cash in hand. Land was cheap then in Owens Valley. Los Angeles bought 120.square miles for a little over $1,000,000, and did this~so quietly by the use of water-works funds that speculators who follow.a city in its enterprises like dust follows in the rear of an army were unaware of their oppor- tunity until too late. Compare the ex- penditure for this item with the millions which New York city has paid to insure the pureness of its new supply. So much for the prize for which Los Angeles paid little more than a million, and for which it is now expending $23,- 000,000 to bring within the city limits! Now to follow the sinuous course’ of aqueduct building, marked today by hun- dreds of tents and unpainted buildings strung out along the desert, or perched high on mountain sides, or hidden away in canyons. The big water-course is designed to deliver a daily supply of 260,000,000 gal- lons to the two storage reservoirs at its lower end. The first 22 miles, from the intake to the toe of the Alabama foothills, is in canal 50 feet wide and Io feet deep, un- cemented and at a slightly higher eleva- tion than the river. The excavation is here being done by three electric dredges working night and day, and with 8 miles completed “April 1, 1910. At the Alabama foothills we strike into the mountain side, where a concrete ditch" 18: feet wide and, 15 feet deep. is being constructed. This will receive the flow of half a dozen good-sized mountain streams in addition to that of the river, and will carry the water, at an elevation of 200 feet above the surface of Owens Lake, a distance of 38 miles to the Hai- wee reservoir. THE STORE-HOUSE OF THE WATERS The Haiwee basin is the old course of the Owens River before the stream was 72 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE WHERE ROADS ARE NOT PRACTICAL, LOG RAILWAYS AND AERIAL TRAMS CARRY MEN AND MATERIALS TO THE POINT WHERE THE ENGINEERS HAVE LAID OUT THE. COURSE OF TH AQUEDUCY CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT TaaSdd AAV fOoW AHL JO IYVAH AHL NI SNOILVALS ATIdd NS ~~ LONdaNOV ‘TIVIWS ANVW HHL JO ANO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE J. B. Lippincott, Assistant Chief Engineer (with book) ; Hon. Fred Eaton (center), father of the Owens River project; William Mulholland (side), Chief Engineer dammed into Owens Lake, and at a time when Mother Nature was making over the Western Hemisphere. When the hy- draulic-filled dam is completed, the reser- voir will have an area of 15 square miles, and will serve for storage, regulation, and clarification of the summer floods. Once full, if its supply were to be cut off entirely the storage capacity is suff- cient for the needs of Los Angeles for more’ than three years. From the Haiwee reservoir the water will be carried southward in a closed concrete conduit for a distance of 125 miles, following, as a rule, the contour of the country through which it passes. Sometimes the snaky thing of dirty white will lie along the surface of the desert; at other times it »willorest in ;michessent in rocky mountain walls; canyons it will descend on one side, then ascend the other as a large cylindrical metal -shell nearly an inch in thickness; mountains which forbid ascent will be burrowed. When at length the northern base of the Coast Range has been reached the waters will be given rest in the Fairmont reser- voir, but only temporarily. HOW THE WATER WILL BE RELAYED From the bottom of the basin, which is one for regulation, the water will pass 26,860 feet through a tunnel under the Coast Range to come out on the edge of San Francisquito canyon; thence for II miles through conduit and tunnel to be shot down 800 feet upon the restless wheels of two large hydro-electric plants ; thence for 7 miles and another sheer de- scent of 700 feet to develop more electric power ; then on again 16 miles to a third power plant, finally to find freedom in the San Fernando reservoirs. These two basins perched on the rim of the San Fernando Valley will look down 1,000 feet upon Los Angeles, 20 miles away, and a score of other towns and cities of the Pacitic coastal= plam: No pumping is anywhere necessary. The only expense will be that of maintenance, which should be small because of the enduring character of the materials em- 575 CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT JUOG ML fo l } U jnponbe sy} Jo UOIsTAIG SUIPJUNOM OY} FO SsouUsIIed PUL SsoUP[Od 9Y} JO Bapl UL SaAIS puNoIsyoeq PYJ, “YOOI Pljos Jo yno 4nd asom saz YS NOISIAICG ANOAMVL AHL NI GvOU AOGIY AVUOD AHL ONIGIING ERAS AMG SSS O16 ployed in the construction. From the in- take, at. am ‘elevation, of 33500 feet, the water of its own gravity will flow with gentle velocity, excepting at points where power is developed, to the impounding basins at the lower end, and will there be drawn off as needed for irrigation and domestic use. The size and the shape of the conduit south from the Haiwee reservoir vary greatly. Both. are -determined, by the character of the country “and (the) soil formation. The average size of the ex- cavation now being made is 12 feet wide and or reet deen, With the exception of the 22 miles of unlined canal and the 38 miles of lined conduit which empties into the Haiwee reservoir, the aqueduct is being covered. The lining of concrete for the conduit ranges from 8 to 12 inches. The con- crete slabs moulded into a covering have a thickness of 6 inches and are reinforced with steel. There are 22 miles of canal, 43 miles of tunnels, 15 miles of steel siphons and concrete flumes, and 137 miles of con- crete-covered conduit, with 13 miles of the remaining distance made up by reser- voir distance. This makes a total of 230 miles from the point of intake to the lower outlet. Thence the water required for domestic consumption will be carried 20 miles in a riveted steel supply main, which will empty into the reservoirs of the city’s present distribution system. This is’ the -Los sAngeles Aqueduct The major portion of the most difficult and expensive part of the work is fin- ished. In point of difficulty 68 per cent of the aqueduct and 46 per cent in dis- tance is completed. THE GROUNDWORK OF THE PROJECT Let us go back five years and with the first party of engineers examine the bare expanse across which they were expected to search out the cheapest and most fea- sible route. There was then a rambling trail that led out of Mojave on the South- ern Pacific north to Keeler on the shores of Owens Lake and the terminal of the Carson and Colorado narrow gauge. The THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE path was dug into the desert more than 40 years ago by the wheels: of “Remi” Nadeau’s 20-mule freighters, which car- ried the rich silver ore of the Sierra Gordo mine to the port of San Pedro at the rate of four cents a pound. Wind and sand and cloudburst in the moun- tains have changed it somewhat with the years, but Vasquez and his gentlemen of the road, were they alive today, could still pick out the points of vantage where they gave unwelcome greeting to travel- ers of the trail, For four decades and until 1909 a stage coach, vestige of the days of ’49, made tri-weekly journeys as the only method of communication and transpor- tation between Mojave and Keeler, stop- ping at seven points for change of horses. These seven points mark as many water- holes. You will not find the precious fluid elsewhere along the path. Had you not the wherewithal to ride, and had the trace of wheels been blotted out, you could have still guided your steps by empty bottles. It is a dry land and brings thirst quickly. At times even fuel with which to cook—and fuel was sage brush—became a rarity for these engineers. One party followed another until there were more than 200 men in the field. With labori- ous effort they marked their progress with a line of stakes set 50 feet apart, sometimes in places where a human foot had never trod nor cared to tread. They found little or no water, no fuel for the development of power, no railroads to carry materials, men, and “sapsrmtence, and for 100 miles within the zone of the aqueduct not even trails. The $23,000,000 bond issue was voted June 13, 1907. Immediately the portion of the plans of these engineers that called not for aqueduct excavation, but for overcoming obstacles by which aqueduct construction might be accomplished, be- gan to materialize. A FEW OF THE DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME They built 225 miles of road and trail, one notable example in the Jawbone Di- vision being hewn for 8 miles in solid. Gia AS Oe ob RAL J PRS BR NG WAT PRION © ¢ QZ) ONO al S J99} OOO'ET UT AD ‘S][IIp 19uA ) a NVwa LSvoo ATIW AAIW ATUYVAN SI HOIHM JIM GREASE dF SY} UO YIOM je SIOUITY WIaNN sassvd “TANNO DL HlAav Zia ct AHL dO. ‘IV L4Od HLNOS AHL NI THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 578 ooo‘oSZ¢ ONIJSOO ‘SHINUVNOG ANOLSAWIT Sdad@ AVID HIM “AIW TNAWAD IVdIOINOQW FHL CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT _ rock at a total cost of more than $40,000. They laid 180 miles of water mains from springs far back in the mountains to the line of the aqueduct. These systems are four in number, and with reservoirs at high elevations insure a copious supply of pure water for domestic use and for the mixing of concrete. ‘They staked the course of a standard gauge steam railroad 125 miles in length with the expectation that the city would construct, own, and operate the line. The Southern Pacific stepped in, however, and in return for the handling of the 1,000,000 tons of aqueduct freight took the transporta- tion problem off the city’s hands. The new road is completed today from Mo- jave to Owens Lake, and by fall will be in operation to the mouth of the Owens Valley. The railroad parallels the aque- duct as far as this is feasible. Materials and supplies are stored in warehouses along the tracks and thence are trucked by mule-team freighters or caterpillar traction engines to the places where they are required. For long stretches the aqueduct lies at an elevation of 1,200 feet above the desert, and at points where road construction is not feasible aerial cables serve as carriers. With the questions of water supply and transportation out of the way, there yet remained the problems of communi- cation and of power for the mechanical equipment. The difficulty in the first instance was disposed of by the building of a copper wire telephone system from the headquarters in Los Angeles to the intake, 250 miles north. From the main line branches ramify into each of the 100 or more camps, so that the chief is always in touch with his engineers. The energy of two mountain streams have been utilized to furnish power-. Three hydro-electric power plants gener- ating a total of 3,300 horse-power have been erected, and the electric fluid is carried over high-resistance transmission wires as far southward as Mojave. By this means the three dredges are driven, many of the power shovels, all the tun- mele equipment, half a dozen machine shops, and a cement mill, not to mention 579 the lighting of all the camps. ‘The ex- pense has amounted to one cent per horse-power per hour. To have em- ployed steam at the high cost of fuel, not to. consider the scarcity of water, would have cost ten times this amount. The sandy waste that for centuries has felt only the light tread of the skulking coyote today crunches under the wheels of heavily laden lumber freighters, and canyons that had heard only the wailing cry of the mountain lion resound with the tattoo of hundreds of hammers. ‘The sometime path of the aqueduct through the silent desert became a scene of trans- formation. Barns, warehouses, laborers’ quarters, mess-halls, power-houses, and hospitals went up as if by magic. Where there was immediate need, white tents arose over night like mushrooms in a pas- ture after an April rain. Eight months saw 500 wooden structures erected and 600 temporary canvas shelters. THE CITY MANUFACTURING ITS OWN MATERIAL In the estimate of materials required, 1,200,000 barrels of cement was the prin- cipal item; - Cement 1s. a° mixture of limestone and certain clays rightfully proportioned, burned, and ground to an impalpable powder. Mixed with sand and gravel and water, it forms a concrete that, after being allowed to set, has the hardness of rock. Almost midway between the intake and the outlet of the big watercourse, and on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the city’s engineers discovered excellent deposits for the manufacture of cement: No city previous to this time had en- tered into the cement-making business, but Los Angeles, undeterred, purchased the lands and began the erection of a plant. Los Angeles today owns the vil- lage of Monolith, is the sole employer of the 250 laborers and_ skilled artisans dwelling therein with their families, and every 24 hours ships out along the aque- duct more than 1,000 barrels of cement. Even at this rate the mill cannot keep pace with the unprecedented speed of 580 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE PLACING THE FORMS, TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE POURING OF CONCRETE ojoyd jo Jyey Joddn ut uMoys st pur] vy} yo youd daajs oy] AOVA S NIVI NOW FHI ONO'IV HOIH 1ND AHOIN V NI LONGANOV AHL ONIdlInd € SSS WMA Bip stis CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT 582 building, and recourse is also had to cor- poration mills. In two localities within the aqueduct zone deposits of tufa or volcanic ash have been discovered, and grinding plants have been erected at both points. ‘The product is mixed with the Monolith ce- ment to forma mixture ‘stronger but closely similar to the material used by the Romans in the construction of their aqueducts 2,000 years ago, and which are doing service to this day. While this preliminary construction was in progress 18 months rolled around. In’ December, 1908, {the Bos Angeles Chamber of Commerce called upon the chief engineer to give a statement of how much of the aqueduct had been com- pleted to’ that date. Mr Mulholland met the committee of this body with some trepidation. It is human nature, whether in Maine or Cali- fornia, for taxpayers to demand results, and these immediately. “Well,” he an- swered, ““we have spent about $3,000,000 all told, I guess, and there is perhaps 900 feet of aqueduct built. Figuring all our expenditures, it has cost us about $3,300 per foot’”—this defiantly. He waited for his: words. to sink: in; -then added, “But by this time next year I'll have 50 miles completed, and at a cost of under $30 per foot, if you'll let me alone.” “All “right, Bill,’ said the chairman. (In Los Angeles, grown from a village to a metropolis in a decade, the residents still call each other by their first names.) “Go ahead; we’re not mad about it.” THE RESULT OF CO-OPERATION AND CONFIDENCE Herein is to be attributed no small part of the success of the undertaking. Mulholland has the confidence of the community. It believes in him implicitly, and he believes implicitly in the job and the men under him. “If Mulholland told these people he was building the aque- duct out of green ‘cheese, said a news- paper reporter, ‘“‘they’d not only believe but take oath that it was so.” The project is inseparably associated with the man and his life’s work. He is now 54 years of age and is Irish by THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE birth. At 20 he came to America. Two years later he landed in California with a fair education, a wonderfully retentive memory, ambition to improve himself, and $10 in his pocket as his capital. His first work was in digging artesian wells. Six months afterward he accepted a posi- tion’ as “zanjero,” or diteh-cleamer for the Los Angeles City Water Company. For three years he lived alone in a cabin far up in the Los Angeles River bottom. His days were passed in ditch-cleaning, his nights between sleep and study. Step by step he pulled himself upward. In 1882 he was made superintendent and chief engineer of the company. The im- pecunious policy of the corporation and an inability to keep pace with the growth of the city forced: the; municipality, in 1902, to take over the property. Mr Mulholland was retained in his position, and a non-political Board of Water Commissioners was placed in office. Under the supervision of Mr Mulholland and these men the enterprise prospered exceedingly. “Today it is one of the three most successful water works in the United States. No sooner was the water department upon a firm basis than Mr Mulholland set about to seek a source of supply larger than that/of the eeosee meetes River. Mr Ered Eaton, at. one. time superintendent of the City Water Com- pany and later city engineer, then mayor of Los Angeles, had lived in the Owens Valley for 1 years. “Hemel conundent that~in this. cleit in they Stegr slays the city’s only hope. Mr Eaton prevailed upon Mr Mulholland to visit the valley with him, and he returned with the con- viction that Mr Eaton had found what he himself had sought without avail. Nei- ther the great distance nor the seemingly insurmountable obstacles could frighten him. He knew only that Los Angeles must have water to continue her exist- ence as a city, and that the water must come from the Owens Valley, 250 miles in a straight line to the northward. The Water Board purchased or took options on $1,000,000 worth of land and water rights solely upon his recommen- dation, the money being advanced from 583 CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT LaaASad AAV(OW AHL NI LONGANOV THT 16. WHA00 AHL NO ONILIOd ZINE THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGA 584 1 SR nec ne SN RRR AS ORTH AV Id NI WHAOO FHL GNV LINGNOD Nado OINIMOHS CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT ‘the revenues of the water department, of which the board has the right of ex- -penditure. FINANCING THE PROPOSITION © In 1905 the people voted $1,500,000 in ‘bonds to pay for these properties and carry on the preliminary engineering in- vestigations. When his plans and esti- ‘mates had been approved by a board of consulting engineers of national reputa- ‘tion, they voted $23,000,000 more to com- ‘plete the project. This was the extent ‘to which the people could bond them- ‘selves under their charter from the State, and was.a tax of $88 upon every man, woman, and child within the corporate limits. They knew also that they would be called upon to vote upwards of $6,- 500,000 more bonds for the electric-power development as soon as the city, by its growth in taxable property, could legally ‘do so. Here, certainly, was not only an en- ‘during faith in themselves, but a blind ‘trustfulness in the man who had told them what they must have and how they could get it. The faith was built largely upon the ‘successful operation of the present water ‘System, the known honesty of the public ‘servants identified with the plant, and the absolute freedom from all politics which has been maintained in the water depart- ‘ment since the city began the purveying of its water. The confidence that has been given Mr Mulholland and his chief assistant, Mr J. B. Lippincott, formerly United States ‘Government Reclamation Engineer for the Pacific Coast, they have passed on to the men whom they have assembled about ‘them in the work. By the time the preliminary prepara- tions for construction had been com- ‘pleted an efficient organization had been developed. The line of the aqueduct was apportioned into 11 divisions, the length ranging from 6 to 23 miles, depending upon the character of the construction. An assistant engineer was placed in charge of each of these and given large latitude in the management of its affairs. 585 THE QUESTION. OF THE CONTRACTS When the time came to determine whether the work should be done by con- tractors or under the direct supervision of the city, the aqueduct engineering force stood ready for the latter upon 30 days’ notice. Mr Mulholland was anx- ious that the city should do its own work. He contended that this was what he and his assistants had been employed to do, but the Board of Public Works, which has the expenditure of bond moneys, was undecided. Bids for the construction of the Jaw- bone Division, comprising 23 miles of the most difficult excavation, were adver- tised. The proposals ranged from 50 to 1oo per cent higher than the estimates which had been prepared by the city’s engineers. The board told Mr Mulhol- land to roll up his sleeves and pitch in. Three weeks after the command was given they were opening the first tunnel portals. This was in November, 1908. Just 12 months later a little over 50 miles of conduit, tunnel, and canal had been dug. In the Jawbone Division the cost was in many instances 50 per cent less than the figure demanded by contractors, and the entire 50 miles required an ex- penditure of between 10 and 12 per cent less than city engineers had estimated. At the time the bonds were voted the promise was made that the enterprise would be finished in the summer of 1913. April 1 the Aqueduct Bureau, basing its estimates upon the work already accom- plished and the daily rate of progress, stated emphatically that Owens River water would be delivered in Los Angeles > by, May, 1, 1012; and at a’ cost less than the $23,000,000 which the people had provided. How much less they did not pretend to say, but there were intimations that it would be a round $2,000,000. However, June 1 the flurry in the money market caused the city’s New York bank- ers temporarily to stop taking aqueduct bonds until some time in the fall. Con- struction was therefore immediately scaled to meet the new conditions, as the bureau at the time had little more than $800,000 on hand. A popular subscrip- THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE dt bdadintidti dd iitaLitipibiddlitire ONE OF THE AQUEDUCT TUNNELS CARRVING WATERY THROUGH Av DESERT 587 THE AQUEDUCT SPANS SMALL DESERT WASHES BY RECTANGULAR CONCRETE CULVERTS 588 tion for aqueduct bonds will be opened during July for the purpose of adding to this fund. The loss: of time,-and, what is ‘of ereater hurt, the partial destruction of an organization wonderful in its eff- ciency, will extend the time of completion somewhat beyond May, 1912. Despite the temporary delay, due entirely to the unforeseen financial conditions, there is every reason to believe that the task will be accomplished well within the original time limit. Six months after the opening of the Jawbone Division, the Board of Public Works let a small contract of Io miles of easy conduit and tunnel section, be- cause the board desired to be able to compare private and municipal efficiency, the result to guide them in the building of the remaining aqueduct mileage. The city, with the exception of this one con- tract, is doing all its own work. Basing the cost upon contractors’ bids for the completion of the Jawbone Di- vision and the extras made necessary on the single contract, the aqueduct could not have been completed under $40,000,000. This statement is based upon the careful figures of the aqueduct’s cost-keeping department. Throughout the country there are an overwhelming number of illustrations to show that where a municipality under- takes its own public work, the cost and period of construction range from one to one and a half times more than under private contract. THE CITY DIVIDES THE PROFITS WITH THE WORKMEN What, then, are the reasons for the unexampled speed and low costs? First, undoubtedly, is the complete prepared- ness provided before any excavation was attempted. Secondly, the efficiency of the men and the organization of which they are a part. This isa public work without any politics. All employees are American. There is no contract labor employed. There are no men on the pay-rolls who have outlived their useful- ness, or have been failures in life and have found a berth because of friendship THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE at the city hall. Youth and virility fil the ranks of the 5,000. Every man in a position above that of day laborer re- ceived his certification from the City Civil Service Commission. He holds his place provided he is competent for the duties assigned him and not othewise. He climbs upward and is given prefer- ence as he shows himself capable. Every one works for records. ‘These: are published for each 10-day period and. sent broadcast by the cost-keeping bu- reau, and thus the spirit of rivalry is. fostered and intensified. When a camp: once gains the pennant for good and rapid work it strives with all its might: to retain the emblem. The city further divides with the men the profits which result to the munici-- pality from unusual endeavor on the part of its employees. A careful determina- tion is made of how much tunnel can be: bored in a certain character of rock or soil by a crew in 10 days, or the average: distance that should be made by a power shovel or a concrete gang in the same interval. Wherever the set distance is- exceeded, every 10 days the city pays a bonus to each man for every extra foot accomplished. Under this system the workmen themselves drive out the lag— gards and the drones. Drones and lag- gards retard progress and cut down the bonus. ‘That the city’s policy is a paying: one is shown by the fact that all Ameri-- can records for tunnel boring have been repeatedly broken, as well-as those for other*forms of excavation and cement working. The-engineers have not participated in the money awards. When the opening of the aqueduct was placed one year ahead: of time, an assistant engineer complained to the board: “This is a great thing for the under dog, but where does the engi-- neer come in? His only reward is to- work himself out of a job as quickly as possible, while the men under him reap - the benefit in increased wages.” “We hadn’t thought of that,” admitted General Chaffee, who is at the head of the Aqueduct Advisory Board. “We'll look into it.” Two weeks later a notice was posted of a substantial increase im CARRYING WATER THROUGH A DESERT BUILDING AN INVERTED SIPHON ACROSS WHITNEY CANYON TO CARRY DOWN ONE SIDE AND UP THE OTHER (SEE PAGE 574) THE WATER THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE ANOTHER VIEW OF AN INVERTED SIPHON: IT IS BUILT OF CONCRETE HEAVILY REINFORCED WITH STEEL (SEE PAGE 576) 591 CAM OGING WATER. THROUGH A DESERT ALMIOIMLOAUTA AG NAAT SI qOawud AAL iss ee sie BR ye : aS Piso ngrn ae tng Shoo 8 MNVE JO AOVA ONILLADWHANN oy tebe _ envi ile Y tig 592 salaries for assistant engineers and super- intendents. A day laborer who has a complaint receives the same courteous treatment and there is the same willing- ness on the part of the board to investi- gate. June I, 1910, 99.9 miles of aqueduct had been excavated. Of this, 36 miles was .tunnel, bored for