NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, ronuwame ay Tm NATIONAL GROGRAPHIC SOCIETY, - WASHINGTON, D.CCONTENTS Terligatlogs Mii/Oatiformli: Wn, tabtinond Malt ‘A rip to Pama and Giirfea: Michard @) Good Acréta Micarigua with triditt and Mabbéte; Rat Peary May, 159, neue or roChiR eeniscuee AS tarioe, ste fal comTHE OGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. Vol. I. 1889, No. 4. IRRIGATION IN CALIFORNIA. By Wa Hasmonp Hats. Mr, President and Gentlemen af the Soviety : Wirew I was invited to address this society Thad no mate- rial ut hand on the subject. I have came to the east with- ont any notes or memoranda whatever, from which to prepare a lecture of address, no statistical data which would make a paper valuable, no notes of characteristic facts to render an addtess interesting, and no time to write anything to guide te in any way toa proper treatment of the «abject. Some of your members have thought that I have written something worthy of being read, aud hence this invitation to address you. But, even if they are right, people who ean write cannot always.talk, 90 if T fail in ‘this adress, [shall hope, on the basis of their opinion, that you will find in the reports I have written something warthy of read- ing. The subject hae been announced as the “Problems of Irri- gation in the United States I shonld like very much to speak broadly on that subject, but Tam unuble to do so, for the reasons have given, and shull have to speak rather of irrigation in Cali: fornia, trusting that something which is said, may, perchance, be valuable in relation to the sabject at large. Irrigation in the far west, generully, is attracting a vast deal of attention. ‘This is particularly the case on the Paewie Coast—the field with which You, be a78 Nutional teeagraphio Magazine. Tam specially acquaibted. I apprehend that although many gen- Henen present lave a far-teacking and detinive appreciation of the stibject at large, many others do not appreciate the value and Importance of irrigation, In the arid parts of California (for we do riot awhmit that Californis is ax a whole arid) it isa vital mat- tor, There It ix a question of life, for the people. Not more than anesixth of the tillable area in the State ean sustain a really dense poptilation, without irrigntion ; two thinds of it will not sustain even a melerate popmlation, without irrigation ; while ane thind will not sustain a sparse population, without such artificial watering. Thivk woll over these facts, They are very Figniticaut. T doubt whether they are generally appreciated in cn ori fuse, J have no doalt many persons are tamiline with the geography ‘of the State, bit, donbtless, some are net, California has a coast fino of #00 roiles and g width of from 140 to 240 miles, Tt i traversed almost throughout its length by a great mountain ehain extending along tear the eastern huundary, whieh is enlled the wera Nevada, and hy'a leser range, more broken and less unified, Htod.the Coast Range, the south: on of which, after joining the Sierrn Nevada, is called ‘the Sierra Madre, sad at the further extremity, the San Jacinto and San Diego mountains, Within the interior of the State, Jacked down upon by the Sierra Nevada on the east, amd cloted in by the Coast Range on the west, i the great interior basin— the valley of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers—forming a plain 450 miles long, with an avernge width of from 40 to G0 miles, Quteide of the Sierra Madre in the southern part of the State, and within the Goast Range, is another interior valley, nearly 100 miles in fength and from 20 to 50 miles im width, and outside of the Coast Range, and lying next to the ocean, is a plain whose length is from 0 to 70 miles, and width 18 to 40 mites, ‘These three areas—the great interior valley, the southern interior valley, and the coast plain Of the outh—ace the prineipal irrigation regions of the State, Numbers of smaller areas, as thse in San Diego county, come in as irrigation regions of less importance, and the scattering valleys along the Coast Range farther north, as the Salinas, ete., will cotne forward in the future as important irrigable districts of the State, Still further north, in the interior, there are the great plains of Lassen and Mono counties, and some scattering valleys in Shasta county, whereTrigation in California. 279 irrigation is also practiced or is being introduced, and these are on a par with the districts of San Diego county, in the matter of rank as irrigation regions East of the Sierra Nevada, and at their bitee, lies the Owen's river country, an area suitable for irvigntion, where irrigation is nesossary aud where it is being introduced, Upon the great Mojave desert aud the Colorado desert, there is at present no irrigation, ‘The water supply is very scanty. This iv an ittigation region of the futare, bait it is not regarded by Californians aga practicable one at present. With thie general idea of the Stato, we will now look st the rainfall and water supply, ‘The State contains 157,440 square miles of territory, of whieh 17,747 drain into the ocean north of the Golden Gate, 21,665 drain inte the yeean south of the Golden Gate, 58,942 devin inte the interior basins, and 62,086 dr atthe Golden Gate. (Of this territory which drains out by the Golden Gate, 26,187 square miles vomprise tho Sicramento valley, 81,805. square miles the San Joaquin valley, and 4,00¢ the countey draining directly to the bays, making the 62,080 given above as the whole area, ‘he aecessity for irrigation in California, and the relative hecewsity in different parts of the State, are shown by the distri- bution of rainfall, ‘The San Joaquin valley bine an average of less than 10 inches of rainfall, the Sucramento has an average of hetwonn 19 /and 20 inches. ‘The great deserts of the Mojave and Colorado have aa average of less than 1) inches, and in certain ly 4 to 9 inches, "The Salinas valley; a small portion ef the coast above Lox Angeles, and a portion of the interior valley of the south, have also an average of les than 10 inches, Sh, we may say, that the great ietigation regions of California have average amonnts of rainfall varying from about @ up to 20, Wut generally less than 10 inches, ‘This rain is distributed in four or five months of each year, with somo slight showers in one or two mouths other than these; the remainder of the year being absolutely dry, with no rainfall whatever. Hence, you will sea at once, the necessity for the artificial application of water in California, In the older countries of Enrope, where irrigation hax been practiced for eenturies, for instance, in Spain, where water is used more extensively than in California, the annual ‘menn rainfall ranges between 10 and 25 inches, In the irriga tion regions of France, the mesn rainfall ranges from 10 to 40 inches ; in the irrigation regione of Italy, the rainfall is between localities 9280 thuiconal (eographie Magazine. 20 and 83 inches—for instance, in the valley of the Po, the elastic land of irrigation, the annaal precipitation is from 26 to 8 inches, There are none of these European irrigation regions where the rainfall js less than 10, and generally it is over 20 inches. But yon will see that the most of the Californian irrigation regions bave less than 15 inches, some less than 10, und the greatest rui fallof any large irrigable region in California is 18 inches, or, exceptionally, for smaller regions, 95 inches; while iv Europe, the maxima are from 25 to 40 inches in countries where irriga- tion has long been practiced, It follows, thon, that there ix no place in Europe where it isso much neoded as aver a large part of California. Another reason why the necessity is felt in our Pavific Coast State, is found in the character of our soils; and not aloe the: surface soils, but the base of the soil—the deep subsoils. We have soils oxceptionally deep ; svils which oxtend below the surface to 50 fret, underiaid hy loose sand and open gravels, so that the rainfall of winter is lost in them. “The annual rain seldom runs from the surface. It follows that these lands are generally barren of yegetation without the artificial applica~ tion of water, Considering now the sonrees of water-supply : we have in the southern part of the State many streams which flow only for a few wocks after rainfall, and other strears which run two or three months after the rainy season, But thére iw not a stream in all Californis xeuth of the Sierra Madre (except the. Colorado, whieh bas it sources of supply outside of the State) which flowa during the yummer with a greater volume than about, 70 to 80 cubic feet per secand—a stream 15 feet in width, 2 feet deep, and flowing at the rate of 24 to 8 feet per second —a little stream that, in the eastern part of the continent, would bé thonght insiguifi- cant. ‘The largest stream for six months in the year, in all south- ern California, ix the Los Angeles river. ‘The Santa Ada river, the next largest, flows fro two sevenths to one third ax much ; the Sun Gabriel, the next largest, has perhaps two thirds or three fourths as much os the Santa Afla; and so, a stream which will deliver as much water as will dow in a box 4 foct wide and 14 feet deep, at a moderate speed, during summer months, would be regarded as a good-sized irrigation feeder in that southern country. In the greater interior basin or central valley, we find other con ditions, Here we have a different class of streams. The great Sierra Nevada receives snow upon its summits, which does notFrrigation in California, 28h mélt till May or Sune and July, ‘The melting of these snows is ‘the source of supply of the streams ; s0 that, while in far southerit California, with two or three exceptions, the greater flow of water in the streams is alinost gone by Jane, in this central region it is the period of the height of irrigation, and the streams are flowing at their maximum. Kern river presents about £000 to 3000 eubie foot of water per second; King’s river presents in the maximum flow of the season about twice to three times as much as Kern river; the Tuolumne river about as much as King’s, As we go farther north, the Sacramento river presents more than three times as much ax the Tuolumne, ho that ii the northern part of the great valley, where the rainfall on the valley itself ia greatest, and, consequently, the necessity for irrigation is least, the irriya- tion supply increases ; and conversely, the greatest area of irriga- tion in the valley and the greatest necessity for it, is, in. general, whero the water supply is lonst, About 190, years ago irrigation was commenced in. Califa ‘The Roman Catholic priests, coming from Mexico where irriga- finn bad loug been practiced, introduced it, ‘They established missions amon the Indians, started cultivation, and by the labor ‘oof these Indians built the original irrigation works, ‘The practice Of irrigation was extetided in Sau Diego county, a4 far axwe are able to trace, to several thousand acres; in San Bernardine county in the southern interior valluy, they thus cultivated and watered, perhaps 2000 acess and in Los Angeles county ther were pos: sibly 2000 aeros irrigated under Mesieas rule, “Traces of the old mission works are found in San Diege, San Bernardino and Lok Angeles counties, and as far north as Monterey county. Then came the gold fever, when cauals wore duy throughout the foot-hills of the western alope of the Sierra Nevada, for the supply of water forthe mining of gold: and these canals have sinog, in many instances, been turned into feeders for irrigation, Several thousand miles of irrigation ditehes have thus been crited from old mining ditehes. Tu 182, band of Mormons camo from SaltLake into tli San Hernardine valley « they bought a Mexican grant rancho there, took possession of come old inission works, eoustructed otters and started irsigating. That was probably the first irrigation colony, on a lurge seale, composed of others than Mexicans, in California, In 1840, some Missouri settlers went into the valley of Kern river, diverted water from that stream, and commenced irrigation upon xsmall seale, In 1858, the watersaaa National Geographic Magazine of Cache oreek, in the Sacramento valley, wore taken gut for irri- gation, Th 185%, the waters of King’s river were taken ont and ntilized for irrigation, ‘Those instances represent in general out- line the commencement of irrigation in the State, Now we have in the neighborhood of 750,000 ur 800,000 acres actually irriguted each year, and that represents what would aedinivily be called ah inriyation area of 1/200,000 acres ; and there are commanded by the works—reaonably within tho reach of exiting eansl—an arva of about 2,500,000 sores, In the organization of irrigation enterprises there is great diversity, Commencing with the simplest form, we have a ditch constructed by the individnal irrigator for his own mae; we har thett sticéessively ditches constructed by associated irrigators without a definite organization, for the service of their dwn Inud only: ditehes constumed hy regularly organized ascoeiations. of farmers, with elected officers ; works constructed hy: farmers whe have incorporated urer the general laws of the State and isynedl stock certificates of ownership in the properries, tor the service ‘of the stockholders only ; werks where incorporations have beem formed for the jurpose of attaching water stock to lands that ate to he sold, bringing in the element of speculation ; thea works where the organization has heen effected with a view of selling watersrights : und finally, organizations thit aw incurporated for the purposo of selling water, There ts a great difference between the principles of these methods of organiaation, and the practical ontoame és a great difference in the servier of water and in the duty of water furnished by them. In selling water, measurement of volume is made by modules—the actual amount of water delivered is measured—or it fs sold by the aere served, or in pies portional parts of the total available flow af the season, ‘The general character of the irrigation works ef the State varies very much with the varying cunditions tmder which it ix prac- ticed, In the San Toaquin valley, King’s river, for instance, comes out of the mountains nearly on a level with the surface, of the plain, cutting down not more than a few feet below its hanks ; and hence but little Inbor és required ta divert its waters out wpon the lands to be irrigated ; but farther north, the ‘Tuolumne, as another example, comes out of the mountains in a deep cation, and the foot-hills extend far down the plain on eneb side, It is easily aven, then, that it will require a million or more dollars to divert from the latter stream the amount of water diverted fromInrigation in California, 283 King’s river by the expenditare of a few months’ work, by a small force of the farmers themselves. On King’s river, individual and simple coopérative effort is sufficient to bring water enough upon the plains to irrigate thousands of acres, while im the case ‘of the Tuolumne river it is absolutely necessary to have associated chpital in large amount—an entitely different principle of organi- sation from that which was originally applied on King’s river and the Kern and other rivers in the southern part of the great central valley, In disoussions on the eubjeot of irrigation some people have advanced the iden that the works should be undertaken by ‘the farmers, and that capital should have nothing to do with them. That may de yury well where the physical conditions will admit of such a course, and where nothing but the farmers’ own sorvive depends upon it; but the great majority of the streams of California are of such a character that the work: of the farmers van avail nothing. ‘There must be strong associations and large cupital, For this purpose. special Iaws are required. On the ‘Sunta Afia, in San Bernardino county, water has been easily diverted, and such is the caso with every stream in the interior valley of San Bernardin and Lot Angeles counties, Capital for the first) works was not required. The water was procared hy primitive methods and the works were simple, But in San Diego, an entirely different condition of affairs prevailed. ‘There the waters are hack in the mountains, twenty or twenty- five miles fromthe coast, and the irrigable lands are close alone the woast, or within tenor twelve miles of it, To bring the ‘water out of these mountains requires the vonstruction of ditches following the mountain sides for 20 to 45 miles, But simple ditches do not answer, because of the great quantity of water lost from them, So the companies have resorted to fuming, and even to lining the ditches with cement, Thus in San Diego, individual effort in ont of the question. Farther north again, in the great interior valley, King’s river is a. stream where vouperative and individual effort have been efficient, although it Fequites a greater amount of capital there thin in the southern inwrior valley, In the southern interior valley, perhaps, £10,000 would often build dite and divert all the water that the supply would furnish, On King’s river the works have cost from £18,000. tw $80,000 each ; on Kern river the works have cost from $15,000 to $250,000 each; and on the Tuolumne they will cost from $1,009,000 to, $1,200,000 apicue, On Merced river, the cost haswe National Geographic Magazine, been $600,000 for one work. Taking tho streams from San Joaquin river north, that come out of the Sierra Nevada, up to the northers! end of the valley where the Sacramento river enter it, every important stream vomes inte the valley within a decp gor ‘The beds of several of the tiorthern streams areso filled up with mining debris that diversion from them would he comparatively easy, but in their matural state there ie not an important otream north of the San floaquin which eould be stilicod for irrigation by any other means than through the ayency of capital in large amouit. On the west side of thin great valley the tillable strip is comparatively narrow, It icon the lee side of the coast range mountains. Previpitation is made first on the seaward face of the Const Range, and then crosses the valley, dropping upon the inland facw of the autor range very little more than upon the walley itself, where the precipitation i only aboot Li inches. So that we have no streams coming ont of the Coast Range into the sonthorn part of the interior valley specially noteworthy as irrigar tion fewlers, But as we go northward the Coast Rane becomes wider, and the big mountain basin containing Clear Lake fur- wishes a lange supply of water to Cache Creek, probably enough {or 10,000 aeres. Stony Creek flows between two: ridges of the ‘Coast Range, aud out on to the plains, furnishing about the same amount of water; but still there a streams from the Coast Range into the valley that are comparable with those of the Sierra Nevada. In tho northuastern corner of the State, om the great plains of Modos, we have the Pitt river, a xtream of very considerable volume, but ite waters are ln comparatively deep channels, not very well adapted tod 1 the consequence ix, thoy have been utilised to a very-emall extonty only’ on stall botton-land farms, ‘The whole stream can be utilized, however, and the country wat The practico of irrigation fornia is as diverse as it could well he, California, as you know, covers a wary large range in ste hut a greater range In the matter of climate and adapta: 10 the eultivation of ero» Th the southern portion of the u, the orange and this banat and matiy’ other semi-tropieal feaits foutinh, [i some localities along the fout-hills of the Sierra Neruda, also, those fruits flourish, ‘iowlarly the orange and the temon. In the valley of San Joaquin, wheat is grown hy irrigas tion, and im some places profitably, and im Kern county quite profitably (sore it not for high transportation changes), beeauscIrrigation in California, 285 the cost of distributing and applying water has hewn reduced to @ minimum, ‘Thero the lands have been laid out with as much care and precision as the architect would lay out the stones in a build- ing and the mason would place them, Irrigation is conducted in some Kern river districts with the greatest ease, searcely requir ing the use of the shovel. ‘The lands are so laid off with the cheek levels that hy simply opening gates in the proper order, an the irrigation superintendents know how, the waters flow out and cover the successive plas or “cheeks in their order, without leaving any standing water, aud finally fowing off without mi rial waste. ‘This is the perfeotion of irrigation by the broad oF submerging: ayster wo wherein the slope of the ground is first ascertained, platted by contours, aud the cliecks to hold the water, constricted with seraptrs, are then ran ont on ¢light grade vontoury—not perfuctly level, but on vory gentle sloper, ‘There is no portion of the far southern part of the State where the cheek method is applied as it-is in Kern county. ‘The practice in San Bernardino is to.irrigate ontirely by running water in rill between the rows of plints. Orange trees planted #4 to 30 feot Apart are irrigated by rills in plangl furrows, & to 8 between rows, down. the slope ef the orshard, whieh slope varice from about § foot in a hundred to-t ors ina hundred, In Los Angeles county they imake bnuke about a foot high around wach individual tree, fuming basins S ar to 10 of 12 fect in diame eating to the size of the tree. Into these the water is conducted by a ditch, and the basin béing filled, the water is allowed to remain aid souk away. ‘The fow, early fut valley lands, when irrigated, are generally divided into square “cheeks, without respect to the slopwof the ground, and the eurface is simply flooded in water sanding 6 inches to a foot in depth, Tn the narthern part of the State, in Placer and ‘Tuba counties, clover is grown an hills having aide slopes of 10 to 15 feet in a Inindred, and irrigated in plough furrows et arngnd on comtanne —whieh furrows are about & to 1 feet apart horizentally—and the water is allowed te soak into the ground from each such furrow, These are the five principal methods of applying water: by the check system ; by Filla; hy the basin method ; by the basin method a4 applied to tow valleys; and by contour ditches om hill sides, ‘The method selected for any particular locality is determined not alone hy the erop to be cultivated, but alse rac286 National Geographic Magazine. bythe slope of the Inud and the character of the gail. Por instance, on lands where oranges are cultivated, in the southern part of the State, where rille are most generally used, water cannot be applied by the flooiling system, for the reason that irrigation would be followod hy cracking of the soil, so that the frees wonld be killed. Tt ix necessary on such land to Itivate immediately after irrigation, and the method of applica tot is gevertied thore by the sail thin by the character af the erop. We find in California very marked and important efforts fale lowing irrization. For instance, taking the great plains of Fresno, in the San Joaquin valley: when irrigation dommenced there twenty years ago, iL was 70 to BO feet down to Koi] water—absn- lutely dry xoil for nearly 80 feet—and it-was the rale throughout the great plain, 26 miles in wilth amt 85 miles in length, that soil water was beyond the reach of the suction pump; now, in Places, water stands on the surface, rishes grin, mosquitos rece, malarial fevers abound, and the people are erying for drainay aud lands, whose owners puidd from Sve to ewenty dollars perae for the right to roecive Water, now nend drainage, and irrigation ix considered amneceskary. ‘The amount of water tiken from King’s river whieh was,a few years azo, reganded as not more than sufficient for one tenth of the land immediately commancdesd aml that seemed to require it, is now applied ro 8 fearth of the irrigation keeps on, the tine will eoue -y will require draining, u distriet, where water is applied by thé Firead method, T saw in | ugh water, liy nstoal measurement of hoy, ub acres of Innd to cover it 18 fect deep, ia one season, vould it all have beon retained apon it, It simply souked into the ground, ar flawed out under the great plain, ‘Taking cross sec- tions nf this country, north and south and east and west, I fonnd that where the depth to soil water had, bofere irrigation, heen hout 80 feet, it was then 20, Jo, 49 or 0 and mare feet down te “The soil water stood undor the plain in the form of a moun. tain, the slope runaing down 40 to 50 feet in a few miles on the west and north, Qn the south and southiwest the surface of this water-mountain was much more steep, Inv the Kern river country, we have a somowhat similar phenomenon, Irrigation, in the upper portion of the Kern delta, affects the water in the wells 6 or @emiles away. As I remember the effect. is felt at the rate ofTerigation in California. 287 about a mile a day, that iste say, when water is used in irriga- ting the upper portion of the delta, or of Kern island, aa it is called, the wells commence to rise a mile away in twenty-four lonrs, and five miles away in perhaps five days. In the soutbern portion of the State, in San Bernarding county, at Riverside, we find no auch effect at all, There it was 70 to G0 fect to soil water before irrigation and it is, a8 a general rule, 70'to 90 feet still, Water applied on the surface In some places has never even wet the soil all tho way down, and wells dug there, after irrigation had been practiced for years, have pierond dry ground for 25 or 30 feet before getting down to where soil waters have wetted it from below, The consequences of these phenom- ena are twofold, Ta the firve place, im the country that fills up water, the duty of water—the quantity of land which a given amount of water will irrigate—bas increased. Starting with w duty of not more than ¥3 acres 10 4 cubic foot of water per second, ve now find that, in some lovalities, this amount rates: from 100 to 180 acres; and that some lands no longer In the southern portion of the State, how: igates no more than at first; and it ix seanely possible that it will ever irrigate much more, ‘The saving, ae irrigation goes on in the far southern porti the State, will be effected chiefly through the better constrie- tion of canals aud irrigation works of delivery and dis In Tulare valley, the duty of water will increase as the ground fills up, In Fresno, a county which was regardod. as phenomenally healthy, malerial fevers now are found, while in San Bernar- dino, at Riverside, euch a thing is carely known, Coming to Bakersfield, a region which before irrigatln commenced wan famed for its malarial fevers—known as unhealthful throughout all the State—shere soil water was originally within 15 feet of the surface, irrigation hus almost entirely rid it of he malarial effects Chilis amd fever are rare now, where before irrigation they were prevalent. What is the reason that where ebills and fever pre. vailed, ittigation has made a healthful country, while where chills and fevers wem not known, irrigation his made it nohealthful ? Taecount for ® in this way: in the Kern river country before irrigation was extensively introduced, there were many old abandoned river channels and sloughs, overgrown with swamp vegetation and averhung by dense masses of rank-growing foliage. i require irriggatin ever, the eubje foot of wateross National Geographic Magazine, Adjacent lands were jn a more or leas awam py condition; ground waters stood within 10 or 20 feet of the surface, and there was no: hard-pan ur impermeable stratum between euch surface and these waters, In other words, general swanipy conditions prevailed, and mularial influences followed by chills and fevers were the result, Irrigation brought about the clearing aut of many of these old channel ways, amd their use as irrigating canals. The Jinds wert cleared off and cultivated, fresh water was introduced through these channels from the main river throughout the bot months, and the «wamp-like condition of the eountry was changed to one of a well-tilled aricnltural neighborhood with streams of fresh water flowing through it; and the result, ar [have said, was one happy in ite effect of making the climate slubrious and healthful. Considering now the case of the King’s river or the Fresno country, the lands there were a rich alluvial deposit, abounding in vegetable matter which for long ages perhaps hae been, exeept as wetted by the rains of winter, dry and dessicated. Suil water was deep below thy surface, ‘Then irrigation came, Owing to the nature of the sail, the whole country filled up with the water. Its absorptive qualition being great and its nateral dminage defective, the vegetable matter in tho snil,swiljected to more or loss continued excessive moisture, bas derayed. ‘The fluctu- ation of the surface of the ground waters ar diffrent seasons of the year—snch eurface boing at times very near to the ground warface, and at other times 6 ar 6 foe lower—has contributed to the decaying influcrices which the presunoe of the waters engen- dered. ‘The result has been, when taken with the general overs growth of the country vegetation dav to irrigation, a witia: tion of the atmosphero by malarions outpaurings from the soil, The advantage of the pure atmosphere of x wide and dry plain has been lost by the miasmatie poisonings arising frem an over: wet and ilhdrained neighborhood, with the resalts, a+ affecting human healthfulness, of which [ kaye alniady spoken, ‘The remedy is of course to drain the country. ‘The example in but a repetition of experiences had in other countries, ‘The energy and pluck of Californians will soon eorrect the matter. George P. Marsh, in his“ Man and Natute,” Inid it down as a rule that an cffert of irrigation was to concentrate land holdings in a few hands, and he wrote an artiole, which wes published in one of our Agricultural Department reports, in which he ratherLrrigation in California. 289 deprecates the introduction of irrigation into the United States, or says that on this account it should be surrounded by great safeguards, He cited instances in Europe, as in the valley of the Po, where the tondeney of irrigation had been tw wipe ont small land holdings, and bring the lands into the hands of a few of the nobility, He vited but one cauutry where the reverse had beer the rule, which was in the south and east of Spain, and pointed out the reason, as he conceived it, that im south and south. eastern Spain the ownership of the water went with the land and was inseparable from it, under ancient Moorish rights, Tt is a fact, that where tlie ownership of water goes with the land, prevents centering uf land ownership into few hands, after that ownership is once divided among many persons, in irrigated regions, But Mr. Marsh overlooked one thing in predicting harm in our country ; that is, that it will be many years before we will get such a surplus of poor as to bring about the result he feared. In California, the effect of irrigation has uot been to center the land in the bands of a few. On the contrary, the tendenoy has heen just the other way. When irrigation was introduced it became possible for small land holdersto live, In Fresno county, there are many people making a living for a family, each on 20 acres of irrigated Land, and the country is divided into 20 and 40vore tracts and owned in that way. In San Bernardino the sume state of things prevails, Before irrigation, thew: lands were owned in large tracts, and it was not an uncommon thing for one owtier to have 10,000 to 20,000 aeres of land, So that the rule in California, which is the effect of irrigation, i to divide land holdings inte small tracts, atu in this respect, also, irrization is a blessing to the comntry. It enables lange owners to eat wp their lands and. sell out tothe many, Land values have advanced from 81.25 in this great valloy to #50, #150 und even #250 por acre; imply by attaching to the land the right to take or uae water, ition an annual rental: in the sautliern portion of tate, they have advanced from &% and #10 w #500 and even $1000 an acre, where the land has the right to water; and many calculations have been made and examples cited by intelligent and 10 show that good ofange land ar good rajaine grape land with sufficient water supply is well worth 81000 an sore. Water rights ran up proportionately in value. A litthe stream flowingan inch of water—an amount that will flow through an inch square opening under four inches of pressure—in the200 Nutionat Geographic Magazine. southern part of the State, is held at values ranging from. 8500 to $5000, Such a little stream has changed hands at #5000, and not at boom prices either, Inthe interior prices are muel less, being from about a quarter to a tenth of those in the far southern part of the State, Fully one fourth of the United States requires irrigati When Lsay that, I mean that fully one fourth the tillable area ‘of our country requires irrigation, in order to support such a population as, for instance, Indiana has, ‘The irrigated regions of Ttaly enpport populations of fram 266 t9 300 people to th square mile; of sonth France, from 180 to 380 people te the square youtheast Spain, frum 200 te 840, When we have 50 10 the square mile in-an agricultural region we think we have popiilation, ‘The great interior valley of California will not support, with- ont irrigation, an average of more than 1% to 20 pwople per square mile, [rrigatoit and it will support as many as any other portion of the country—reasonably it will support 200' fo the sqnary mile. Chaye no doubt that the population will run up to ten or twelve tnillions in that one valley, and there are regions over this country from the Mississippi te the Pacific, millinns of acres, that ean be made to support a teeming popalation by the ertifela! appligstion of ater, “And why hes it not been dong Viefore?, Simply far the rensow that there is a lack of knowledge of what cin be dono ‘and a Jack of organization sind capital to carry. out the-enterpriscs: The government has recently plaged ac the lispasal of the United States Geological Survey an appropriation for the tives tion of this subject, to ascertain how irrigarton can be secured, the cust of jrrigation works, and point out the incaus for frek Hon, in the aril rogivns, [tis une of the wisest things Congress ever did; wise in the tine and in the subject. The time will soon come when the question would hayo been forted upon the country, and the wisdene of preparing for that time cannot be too highly commended.Rond about Asheville. a1 ROUND ABOUT ASHEVILLE By Hamer Was, A naoan amphitheatre ties in the heurt of the North Carolina mountains which form its encircling walla; its length is forty miles frum north to south and its width tem to twenty miles, At its southorn gate the French Broud river esters; through the northern yate thy sane mixer flaws out, augmented by the many streams of its extensive watershed, ‘From these watercourses the even arena once arose with gentle slape to the surrounding Weights and that sarface, did it now, exist, would make this region a very warden, marked by ite genial climate and adequate rainfall, But that level floor exists no longer; in it the rivers first sunk their channels, their tributiries followed, the gullies by hh the waters gathered devpenod, and the old plain was thus'disaccted, It he new only visible fem those points of view from which remnante of its surface fall into a common plano of vision, ‘This is the case whenever the obsertor tans upon the level of the old. arens he may then sweep with a glance the profile of a geographic conslition Which has Ing sitice passed away. Asheville is built upon a bit of thie plain between the ravines 4f the Freneh Broad wid Swannanoa rivers, now flowing 280 foot bolow the towel, aml at the foot af the Beateatchor hille; toward whieh the ground rises gently, The position is a comm manding one, not only for the far reaching view, bur alsa as the mcéting pldee of lines of travel from north, emith, east, and west. Ths Asheville beeame a town af | vrtanee long before + were projected glong the lines of the od tuempiies, The village wis the center of western North Carulina, ax well of the county of Buncombe, and was thoreforn appropriately the home of the district Federal court, A Muy session of the court was in progrens nine years age when Troidle wp the muldy street from the Swannanoa valley, Several well-known mounchiners were on trial, aid the town strect was vrowded their sym pathizers, Jean mountainedrs in Wue and Wutternut homespun, Horses were hitched at every available rack and feneo, and horse wh202 National. Geographio Magazine. trading was sotive. Whiskey was on trial at other bars tham that of the court, and the long rife, powder-horn and pouch had not been left in the mountains, To a *tenderfoot * (wha had the day beforw heen mistaken for a rabbit or a revenue officer !) tho attentions of the crowd were not reassuring. ‘The general opinion was, I felt, akin to that lang afterward expressed by Groundhog Cayee: ‘Tt air au awful thing ter kill a man by aovident;* and E staid bata very short time in Asheville, Riding away toward the sunset, [traversed the old plain withont seeing that it had bail a continuous surface. T noted the many gullies, and T lost in the multitude of details the wide level from which they were carved. That the broader fact should be obscured hy the many lessor ones is no rare experience, and perhaps there ix no class of observations of which this las been more generally tru thar of those involved in landscape study. But when-oneo the Asheville plain has heen recognized, it can puver again be ignored. Tt etiters into every view, both ss an element of beauty oud a8 evidence of chunge in the conditions which determine topographic forma Seldom in the mountains ean one got that distance of wooded level, rarely. is: thu fore tccoond s6 ike a gem proportioned tr its settin ville-one meets with glimpses of river and valley, anuken in reach beyond reach of woodland which stretch away to the blue mountains, ‘The even tidges form natural rowdsites, and driving oue Gomes ever and anon upon a fresh viow dos the stream {ae neroid the plain and ay te the heights, thy student of Appalachian history, the dissected plain is a si nificant contradiction of the time honored, phrase, “the everlast- ing hills.” ‘Thar plain.was a fact, tho result of definite i of exosion sit existe ne more in consequence of changes, What wer the original conditions? Tn what manger have they changed? Let us take account of certain other ficts lefore suggesting an answer, Of the mountaing which wall the Ashe- ville amphitheatre, the Blue Ridge on the east and the Tinka non the west aro thé two impartame range Bi forms the divide between the tributaries of the Adantic and thosw of the Gulf of Mexien, and the streams which flow westward from it all puss through tho Unaka chain, Tt aemld be reaxonatie to suppose that the rivers rase in the higher and floweil through the lower of the two ranges, but they do not. The Blue Ridge ik an irregular, inconspicudns elevation but TittleRownad about Ashervitie. 293 over (000 feet above the sea; the Unaka mountains form 2 mas- sive chain from sp00 te 6500 feet jn height. ‘That streams should thus flow through mountaine higher than their source was once explained by the assumption that they found pasuaee rents produced by éarth convulsions: but that vagne rked the carly and insufficient appreciation of the power of streams as channel cutters, and it ns ynseed diseredited inte the history of our knowledge of valley-formation, That rivers carve out the deepest cafions, as well ax the broadest valleys, is How a trifisin which we must secept in framing hypotheses to acount for the courses of the Freneh Broad and other similar streams, Moreover, since waters from a lower Blue Ridge could of theirown impulse have flowed over the hig We are brought ta the question, was the Wlue Ridge once the higler, or have treats working on the western slope of the Unake range (when it was « main divide), worn it through from west to east, capturing all that broad watershed between the two mountain ranges? “Either hypothesis is within the possibility of |} established river action, and both suggest the possibility of infinite change in mountain forms and river systems, Without attempting lere to discriminate between these two hypotheses, for whieh a broadct foundation of facts is nevdled, let us look at the chatinel of the Freich Broad below Asheville, in the river's conrse through the range that is higher than itsdource. Deseend- ing from the old plain into the river's ravine, we at once lose sll xterided views and are closely shut in by wooded slopes and rocky buffs, “The river falls the aiore tajilly as we descend, ani ite tributaries leap to join it, the railroad scarce finding room between the rocks and the brawling current. The way is into a ragyed and inhospitable gonge whose walls rise at last on either hand into mountains that culminate some. thirty below Asheville, At Mountain Island the waters dash leauti- fully over a ledge of conglomerate and rnsti out from a long © Hot Springs, Beyond new sories of rapide into the deep water abu thé limestone cove in which the springs occur, the valley, thongls narvow still, is Willer wil bottom lands appear, Thus the water gap of the Frome Broad through the Unakas is narrow and rugged, the river irelf a tossing terreot; but-bad we pussed down other streams of similar course, we-shoulid have-found them even tuore turbulent, their channels ey hurd rocks. On Pigeon river there mory sharply carved in the re many cliffs of polished294 National Geagraphie Magazine, quartzite, aod on the Nolichuoky rivers V-shaped gorge some eight miles long is terraced where the ledges of quartzite arw horizontal aud is turreted with fantastic forms where the strata are vertical, Where the river valleys are of this sharp cut char- acter in high mountains, the abrupt slupes, \d rocky nacles are commonly still more sharply aceented in the heighta, ‘The Alpine tourist or the mountaineer of the Sierras would ex- Jeet to olimb from these cafians to ragged combs or to scarcely accessible needle-like peaks, But how different from the heights of the Jungfrau are the “balds” of the Unakas! like the ice- worn granite domes of New England, the massive balds present a rounded profile against the «ky, Although composed of the hardest rock, they yet resemble in their contours, the low relief of w limestone area, Broad, even surfaces, on which rocky ont- crops are few and over which a deep loam prevails, suggest rather that one is wandering over a plain than ona great moun- tain; yet you may sweep the entite horizon and find few higher peaks, Tho view ix oft vory beautiful, it is far-zoaching, pot grand. No crags tower skyward, but may domos'rike nearly to the sane heights, and dome-like, their slopes are stecpest toward the bese. The valleys and the mountains have exchanged the vharacters they naually hear; the former ure dark and forbidding, wild and inaccessible, the Jatter are broad and sunlit of softened form, habitable and inhabited. All roads and villages are on the ieighiny only passing travelers and. those whe prey upon them frequent the depths, ‘These facté of form ure not loeal, they are general; all the streanis of the Unakx mountains share the features of the French Broad Cafion, while peaks like Great Roan, Bix Bald, Mt. Guyot, are but examples of a massive mountain forte cornmon through ont the range. Thus the Unaka chain presents two peouliar faets for ome consideration ; it is cut through by streams rising in a lower range, and its profiles of erosion are convex upward net down ward, IC we follow our river's cour beyond the Unaka chain the valley of East Tonnessee we shall still find the channe! vat; here and ‘there bottomlands appear, now o on'the other, but the banks aro more often steup slopes or verti. eal cliff’ from fifty to one hundred feet bigh, The creeks and brook» meander with moderate fall through the undulating surRound about Avheville, 285 face of the valley, but they all plunge by a mony or less abrapt easeade int the main rivers. [tis this evident that the tribmta- ries caunot keep pies with the rivers in channeleut latter will continue 10 sink below the surface of geweral deride i rate of cortasion below that of the confluent streams, If from topographic forms we turn to consider the materials, the rocks, of which they are composed, we shall find a general rule of relation between relative elevation and rock-hardnees. Thus the great valley of Enst ‘Tonnossce hax a general surface 2000 feet below the mean height of the Unukas: it is an area of easily soluble, often soft, caleartous rocks, while the mot consist af the most insuluble, the hurdest, sil of the Unakus the surface i« again ower, inchuling the irregular divide, the Blue Ridge ; here also, the feldspathic gneisses and miea schists are, relatively speaking, easily solubh coherent. What is thus broadly true is true in detail, also where a more silicious limestone or a sandstone bed occurs in the valley it forms « greater or less clevation above the surface of the soft rocks; where a more suluble, less colierent. stratutn, crops the mountain mass, # hollow, a cove, corresponds to it, Of valley ridges, Clinch mountain is the most conspinons exuinple ; of mountain hollows the Freeh Broad-valley at Hot Springs, or ‘Tuekaleccher Cove beneath the Great Smoky mountain, is a fair illustration, But impassive rock-harduess, mere ability to resist, is ot avlequite to: raise monntaina, nor iy rock-woftness au aetive agent in the formation of valleys, “Phe passive attitude of the rocks implies a force, that iy resisted, and the very terms in-which that attitude leexpressn() suggest the agent which applies the fore. Hardness, coherence, insolubility,—these are terms suggestive of stance toa force applied to wenr away, to dissolve, as flowin water wears by af the sediaient it carries ated as. perc lating waters take the aolable constituent of racks {tte poltition. And it is by the slow mechanical and elwmieal action of that not ouly cafiens are darved but even reduced wo gentle slopes, Ifwe designate this process by the word “degradation,” it follows from the relation of revistance to elevation in the region ander discussion that we may say: The Appalachiang are imoun- tains of differential degradation ; that is, heights remain where tains, us rocks, East and none out.206 National Geographic Magazine. the roks have heen leait energetically acted on, valleys are earved where the action of wator haa been most effective Io order that the process of degeadation may i tin! that a land mass be somewhat raised above the sea, and, since the process ix a never-veasing one while streams have suffi cient, fall to carry sediment, it follows that, ziven time enough, every land surface must be degraded to a sloping plain, to what ‘has bean called a base level, With these ideas of mountain genesis and waste, let ux con- sider some phases of degradation. in relation to tepoxraphic forms: and in doing so Leannot do better than to.tiw the terins employed by Prof. Win, M. Davis, ‘When a land surface rises from the ocean the stream systems whieh at once develope, are set the task of carrying back to the sea all that stands above it. According to the amount of this alloted work that streams haye aecomplishod, they may I said to bo young, mature or aged and if, their task omee nearly cum- pleted, another uplift raise more material to be carried off, they may be said ta he revived. ‘These terms apply equally to the land-surface, and cach period of development ix characterized by gertain topographis forms, In youth simple stream systems sunk in steop walled eaftons are sepurated by broad areas of surface incompletely: drained. In maturity complex strean: xystoms extend branches up to every part of the surface ; steep slopes, sharp divides, pyramidal peales express the rapidity with whieh every portion af the surface is attacked, In old age the gently rolling surface ix travetsed by many quiet lowing sireams; the Heights are gone, the profile, are rounded, the covtours subdued, Im the first emergence from the sea the courses of atreams are determined by aceidents of slope, it may he by folding of the rising surface into troughs and arches, D maturity the process of veltogressive erosion, hy whieh aatream cuts back ito te watershed of a less powerful opponent stream, adjusts the channels to the outerops of soft rocks and Teaves the hurder strata axeminences In olf age this process of differential degradation is complete and only the hardest rocks maintain a slight relief, Suppose that an aged surface of this charaeter be revived : the rivers hitherto flowing quietly in broad plains will find their fall increased in their lower courses ; their channels in Soft rock willRound about Asheville, 297 rapidly become cafions, and tho revived. phase stream in the same manner that the cafions of youth extended back into tho Brst uplifted mass, Lf the area of soft rmcks be hounded hy a considerable mss of very hard rocks, it ix can etivable that a sevond phase of wey a base level, might creep over the valley while yet the summite of the first ull age re mained unattacked, am perchance revival sucéeed revival the record of the last uplift might be read in sharp ett channels of the wrest rivets, while the forms of each preceding place ted ike steps to thy still survivin domes of that eatliest old age. Is there aaght in thene speculations te fit our facts? IT think there is, We have seen that our mountains and valleys are the result-of differential degradation, and that this is not only broadly tras but true in detail ab This is evidenee that strerms have buen Jong at work adjusting their charyels, they have passed through the period of mat We have climbed to the suminite of thé Ungkas and found theme composed wf rocks as hard a« tha¥e From whieh the pinnacle ‘of the Matterliorn is chiseled : bat wesee thent gently sloping, as ap hose summits are very, very old We have recognized that dissveted plain, the level of the Asheville amphithoatre, now 2,409 fet above the sea; it wns 0 surface produced by subacrial erosion, and as such ivis evidence af the fact that the French Broad River, and ecb of ite tribnta- ries as drain this area, at one time completed their work apen at, reached a have level, That they sleuld have accomplished this the Tevet of discharge of thy Seulpriring streaine must have been constunt during 4 long period, a condition which implies either that the fall ftom the Asheville plain to the ocean was then uch less than it now is, or thatthrougt veal eatses the French Broad waa held by a natural dam, where it cate the U nada, cha Af we whould find that other rivers of this region have carved the forms of age upon the surfaces of thei¢ intermuntare valleys, aud there is how sume evidence of this kind at bad, then we must appeal to the more general cause of bas-levelling and tevept the conelusion thatthe land stood lower in relation to the ocean than it now does, Furthermore, we bave traversed the ravines which tho streams have cat in this ancient plain and we nay note on the xecompanying atlas sheet that the branches ex- end back into every part of it; the revinus Uemseives prove shat the level of discharge bas been lowered, the stream have shor208 National Geographic Magasine, been revived; and the wide ramifieation of the brooks ix the characteristic of approaching maturi We have also glanced at the topography of the valley and have found the rivers flowing in deep-cut simple ebannels which are young, and the smaller streams working on an undulating surface that is very sensitive to processes of degradation, The minor stream systems are very intriente and apparently mature, but they have not yet destrayed the evidence of a gen: eral level to which the whole limestone arca was once reduced, hut which now is represented by many elevations that approach 1,800 fect above the sea. Here then in the valley are young river channels, mature stream systems and faint traces of an ear- Vier base level, all of them more recent than the Asheville level, which Is in tar less ancient than the dome-like summits of the Unakas, What hiatety can we read in these stiggestive topographic forma and their relations ? ‘The first step in the evolation of a continent ie ite clewation above the sea, ‘The geologist tells us that the earliest uplift. of the Appalachian region after the close of the Carboniferous period was preceded or accompanied by w folding of the earth's erust into mountainous wave-like arches; upon these erosion at once began and these formed our first mountains, Where they were highest the geologist may infor from geologie structure and the outcrops of the eldest roeks; but the facts for that inference are not yet all gathered and it can only be ssid that the heights of that ancient topegraphy were probably ax great over the val ley of Tennessooe as over the Unaka Tho positions of rivers were determined iy the relations of the arches to each other and, as they were ina general way parallel, extending from northeast to southwest, we know that the rivers too had northeast-southwest courses. From that first drainage system the Tentiessee rivor, as far down as Chattanooga, is directly de- seended, and when the gealogie structure of North Carolina and Esat Tenneaspe is Known, we may be able to trace the steps of ad- justment by which the many waters have been concentrated to form that great river. At present we carinat sketch the details, but we know thit it was along process and that it was accom. panied by a change in the rairon d'etre of the mountain ranges. ‘The first mountains were high because they had been relatively raised ; they gave place to hill that survived because they hadRound about Avhonille, 290 not been worn down, A topography of differentia! uplift gaye place to one of differential degradation, And to the latter the domedike “halde” of the Unakas belong. ‘Those massive sum- mits of granite, quartzite and conglomerate are not now cut by running waters; they are covered with a mantel of residual soil, the product of excessively slow disintegration, and they aru the temmants of a surface all of which has yielded to degradation, eave thom, Tn time the stream will cut back and carve jagged peaks from their masses, but ktanding on their heights my thought hax turned to the condition they reprosent—the condition that is past, And thus in thought Chaye looked. frum the Big Bald out ona gently sloping plain which covered the many domes. of nearly equal height and streteted away 10 merge on the horizon in the level of the sea, ‘That, | conceive, was the first base level plain of which we lave any evidence im the Appalachians and from that plain our present valleys have been eroded. The eon- tintrital elevation must then have been 4,000 or 4,000 feet less than it is tow, and the highest hills were probably not more than 2,800 feet above the sea, ‘This wax perhaps a period Of constant relation between sea and land, but it was sueceeded by one dur ing which the land siowly rose. The rivers, which had probably i nearly their present courses, were revived ; the impor: tant claniels soon sank in eaiions, the tributaries leaped in rapids and cst back inte the ld base level. ‘The region continued to rise during a poriad long enough to produce thee=sential features of the mountain ranges of to-day ; then ix stead still in relation to the xea or perhaps subsided somewhat, and the French Broad and probably other rivers mare record of the pause in plains like that about Asheville: Again the Iand rose slowly; again it paused, nnd rivers, working always fram their mouths backward, carved a baseleyel in the limestones of the great valley ; but hefore that level could extend op through the gorges in the Unakas, the continent was raised: to ite present elevation, the Atteams responded to the imereased fall given them and the rivors in the valley began to ent their still inoomplete ea ‘Are ve not led step by stop fron these latest sharply nels up siroain through the chapters of erosion to the still st ing domes of an'early otd age? Let us sum up the history we have traced. Thery is renson to believe that: ist. The consequent topography of the earliest Appalachian uplift wax entirely removed daring a prolonged poriod of erosion and was replaced by a relief of differential degradation,00 National Geograph Magesine, 24, The buldeof the Unakas represent the heights of that first known approach to a base-leyel. ad. The topography of the region ux been revived by a gem etal, though net necessarily uniform, uptift of :ia00 feet or more, divided by twa intervals of rest; during the first of these the Asheville base level was formed ; during the secbnd, the valley alone was redated. 4th. The latest mavement of the uplift has been, geologioally speaking, quite recent, and the revived streams have accomplished: ‘yt a simall part of their new task. ‘Thos conclusions are reached on the observation of a ringie class of facts in ono district ; they must be compared with the record of continental oseillation on the sea cansta, in the deposits ‘of the coastal plain, and in the tapography of other distriets, “The history of the Appalachians is Written in every river tem and ou every mountain range, but in characters deucrmined ry by the local conditions, Only when the know! ede, to which overy tourist may contribu, is extended over the entire rogion shall we know conolusively the whole story.A Fripto Panama and Darien. 301 A TRIP TO PANAMA AND DARIE By Hicuamp U. Goomr, Tur Government of the United States of Colombia in its act of Concession we te Panama Canal Company provided that it should give to the Inter “yratiedtement ef avec toutes tea miner qwils pourront contenir” 500,000 hectares of land. Some of the ¢onditions attached to this grant were, that the land should be selucted within eortain limits and survoyed by the Canal Company ; that a topographical map shonld be made of the areas surveyed and that an amount equal ta that surveyed for the canal should also be surveyed for the benetit of the Colombian Government. It was alao further agreed that it would not be nocessiry to romplate the eanal before any of the land whould be granted, but that it would be given at different times in amounts Proportional to the amount of work avcomplished. Thus in 1887, the Government agreod to consider that one-half of the work on the eanal had been finished and that tho eanal was condoquontly entitled to 260,000 hectares of land, upon the completion of the necessary surveys, ete, The lund was eventually chosen partly in Darign and partly in Chiriqni as follows In Darien three one hetWeen the Paya and Mangle rivers, one between the Maria and Pirri rivers, the two amounting to 100,000 hectares, and one lot of 24,000 hectares between the Yape and Pucro rivers, Tn Chiriqui, which is a Province of Panama just east of Costa Rica, two lots-were chosen atnounting to 125,000 heetares, one detween the Sigsola and Rabalo rivers, and the other between the ‘Catabella and San Pedro rivers. ‘The Canal Company wanted the title to the Tnud in order that it might be used as collateral seourity in bolstering up the finances of the corporation, and the Colombian Government was: doubtless yery willing to ley the Canal Company have this amount, or ag much more as was wanted, both parties being equally aware of the valueless character of the land for any practical purposes, My services were engaged in 1888 in connection with the aatro-302 National Geographic Magazine. nomieal work incident to the survey of these grants and it was intended that I should visit both Darien and Chiriqui, but the contract term expired about the time of the completion of the work in Darlen, which was taken up firsi, and it was deemed prodent for various reavons, the chief of them being the un- healthiness of the locality at that season of the year, about the middle-of April, not to remain lunger on the Isthmus, If it had been possible ta work as expeditiously as in this eountey there would have been ample time te have completod the necessary astronomical work for both surveys, and withont understanding men and methods peculiar to a tropical country Tstarted outwith this expectation, but noon found ont that any efforts looking towards expediting any particular matter were, not only useless but were detrimentally reactive upon the person putting forward such efforts, ‘Thus it was nearly the first of March before [ reached Darien, having sailed froin New York a mouth proviously. Passage was bad from Panata to Darien ina steamer chartered for the purpose. Sailing acrows the Bay of Panama and entering the Tuyra River at Booa Chiea, we ascended the river as faras the village Real de St. Marie, At this point the steamer was abandoned thd further transportation was hud jy'eanoes, Darien ie 4 province of the Stateof Panama and itshoundari as given by Lieut, Sullivan in, his comprehensive work om ** Prob lem of Interpeeanic Communication,” are as followa: “ The Atlantic: coast line is.included between Point San Blas and Cape Tiburon; that of the Pacific extends from the mouth of the Bayano to Point Ardita. ‘The eastern honndary is determined by the main Cordillera in jts sweep arose the Tuthmus from & post- tion of close proximity to the near Point Avitita, toa similar position near Tiburon, on the Atlantic. The valleys of the Mandinga and Mamani Bayano determine its western limit.” ‘The Darien bills as seen from the Atlantic side present to the view an apparently solid ridge of moustains, although there are in teality many low pavaee which are concealed by projecting spurs. ‘The dividing rldjge huge close to the Atlantic, and the rivers, ‘of which there ary a great many ou this side, plunge abraptly to the sea, On the Pacific ide the rivers have a much longer di tinge to tlow before reaching the sea, and the territory bordering on the avenn is low and swampy. “The tidal limit of the Tuyra River is nearly fifty miles from its mouth, and ou this river andA Trip t Panama and Darien. 808 many of its tributaries one can travel many miles inland before ground suificiently solid to land pan can be found, ‘The vegeta~ tiow within this low lying area is thick and closely matted togetler, and this fact taken in conneation with the swampy char acter of the ground, makes travel on foot through auy portion of it exceedingly difficult Therefore the various fivers, which form a very complex aystens and penetrate everywhere are the natural hihways of the coumtey, ‘The ehief rivers om the Pacific are thy Tuyra and Boyano with their numerous tributaries and on the Atlantic watershed is the Atrato A peculiarity noticed at Real de St, Marie, whiel is at the tion of the Pyrrhi and Tuyra riversand at which point the tide las fall of twelve or fftwen feet, was that at low tide it was impossible to enter th of the Pyrrhi with a boat, while five or six tiles up the stream there was always a gaod supply of flowing water and at double that distance it became a mountai torrent. Outside of the kwampy area the character of the country ia rough and mountainows, ‘The valleys are narrow and the ridges exceedingly sharp, the natoral result of a great ruin fall, ‘The hills are able to resist the continued wasting effoet of the vast volumes of decending water only by their thiek mantle of ace mulated vegétation, and were it not far this protection the many manths of ious annial rain would long age have produced a leveling effoet that wonld have made unnecessary the Varions attempts of man to pierce the Isthmian mountains and form an artificial stenit. The ridges are sometimes level for a short distance, but are generally broken amd are made up of a suceession of well rounded peaks, “These peake are always complotely covered with trees an from the top nf the sharpest of them it is impossible to get a view of the surronnding vountry, ‘he highest point elimbed was sbuut 2,000 feet above ses level and the highest peak in Darien ia Mt, Pyrrhi which i between three and four thousand. Darien bas been the scene of a great dval of surveying and ex. plerition from the time that Columbus, ia 1508, coasted along its shores, hoping to find a atrait connecting the two eceans, up to the present time, Balboa, in 1610, discovered the Pacific by crowing the Darien mountains from Caledonix Bay. ‘This diss covery taken in connection with the broad indentations of the fund noted by Columbus, led the old world to believe in the exist- arise anSid National Geographic Mayacine, ence of a strait, and the entire coast on ench side of the new world was diligently searched, ‘The Cabot, Ponce de Leon and Cortex interested themselves in thix search and it was not until about 1592 that all expectations of finding the strait were aban, doncd. ‘The idea of a direet natural communication between the oceans being thus dispelled, the question of an artificial junetion arose, and in i551 4 Spanish historian recommended to Philip IL. of Spain the desirability of an attempt to joi the oveana by the same routes to whieh the attention of the whole on of the world ix now being drawn, that is, ‘Tehauntepec, Nicaragua and Panama. From this time up to the commencement, of the work of the Isthmian expeditions sent out by the United States, and which lasted from 1870 to 1878, but titele geographical knowledge relative to Darien was cbt United States expeditions undonbtedly diil a great amount of Value able exploration and surveying, and while the names of Strain, Truxton, Selfridge and Lull will always be held in high esteem for what they accomplished in this direction, still it is to be regretted that with all the resources at their command they did not make a complote map ef the country, And hore Ewant to bring forward the suggestion that all that has been accomplished and more, could have been accomplished if the various explorers lad known, or practically utilized, «fact that my own experience and that of other topographers, in thin country and Darien, has im- pressed upon mej and that is, that it ie easier in a rough nnd mountainous country to travel on the ridge than in the val Tu Darien they were looking for a low juss in the Cordillera and Uhis was what should have first been songht, directly. Having found the low passes the valleys of the streams draining ther from could have then heen examined, and thus all necessary mation cauld have been obtained anid the subject exhausted, plan followed hy the Isthmian expeditions waa to ascend a stteam with the hope of finding a suitable pass, ‘The pass might be found or it might not, and if not, se much labor as for as the direct solution of the problem was concerned: was lost, A pass of low altitude was of primary importanes and sbould have been sought for in an oxhanstive way, Humboldt said in substance, “ Do not waste your time in run- ning experimental lines across, Send out a party fully equipped, which keeping down the dividing ridge the whole length of the Isthmus, by this means can obtain a complete knowledge of theA Trip to Panama and Dorion, 805 hypsometrical and geological conditions of the dam that obstructs the travel and commerce of the world.” But strange to ray this plan suggested by ach an eminent authority a Humboldt and 4o strongly recemmended by common setise, has mever bien Tole lowed, and today after all the money that he lives lost in exp sin Daslon, there te oy wudlelent aan collected to prove eonslusively that there ow not now exigt ntéroceanic canal that possesses merits superior at prescnt It is trae the dividing ridge would be difficult. to follow on arcount of the great numberof coufusine spurs, but T think [am safe in saying that starting fromthe sum mit. of the main ridgo at Culebra pass on the Isthmus of Panama, the dividing ridge extending to the pass at the head waters of the Atrate could be exhaustn followed and studied with as toveh facility as vould either the ‘Tuyra or Ateato rivers, embrao- ing with vach their reapeetive: tributaries. Liraveld on some of the high dividing ridges im Darien, and did not find that progress was at all iflicult, and especially noted the fact of the absence of tangled undergrowth and matted vines whieh is sis charaetoriatio of the Darien forests gencrally. Now a few’words about the inhabitauts of Panama and Darien, and in referring to these L mean the native inkabitante and pot the indiserinminate gathering of all nationalities that were attracted by the Panama Canal, In Coutral and South Amrica, as in North America, the abo- Figivin! ambabitunt sean the Indian, Whe thy Spaniards. first attempted ty colonize Darien they wete met and resisted by the native Indian just as our furefathers were in Virginia, and Massa- chusetts, and as with us so in Panama and Darien the Tndians on hack by doyrées from the shores of both oceans fare found only in the fac interic yy resemble our Indians in appearance, but are smaller, They are averse to manual labor and Hive almost entirely by huoting and fishing, although they sometimes have «mall plante- tians of plantains, baniuas, oranges and leraons, ‘The Spaniards in settling in the new country Lrought very fuw women with them anil the Colombian of to-day is the result of the admixture of the Indian and Spanish blood, anil bax many of the characteristics af enc rice. [i addition to the Indian and Colombian there are in Panama and Darien a comparatively large number of negroes, who were originally imported as slaves by the carly Spaniards, some route for at have been 4308 National Geographic Magazine. and who now constitute by far the larger portion of the inhabit- ant af Darien, bwing found usually in villages along the valleys of the larger streams, In contrast to the Colombian and Indian they are large in stature and make excellent laborers, ‘The principal villages in Darien, ax Yovisa, Pinagana and Real de St. Matic, are inhabited exclusively by the neyroes, with the exeeption of Spanish judge in euch, who exercises gremt authority, Besides being a judge im civil avd criminal cases, he practically controls everything in his particular village, as all contracts for labor ace nogotinted with him and settlement for services made thromh him, Upon reaching Durien the first work assigned me was the sur- vey and exploration of the Pyrrhi river, ‘This survey was made for two purposes : primarily, to determine if, any of the country ‘bordering upon it was of a sufficiently desirable character to include it within, the rant, ani sevdnilly, to secure data for the general topographical map, My Instructions were to proceed ias far south as latitude 7° 40" The aseent of tho river was made im canoes until the frequency of rapids made it necessary’ to abandon them, and then the journey was continued on foot, yen erally wading in the middle of the stream, as the undergrowth was too thick toadimit of prageess along: the banks, Sometimes the water was yery shallow ; at other times, where it bad been tucked up by dams of porphyritic reek, it reached above the waist, and near thy end of the jontney where the river ran between vertical walls of great. height it Was nectsiary to swim jn order to-get beyond this vation, ‘The aurvey of this river was satisfactorily ancomplished in for the survey was to take mgs anid to ostimate distances, ‘These coatses avd plotted a4 they were taken and thus the topos ehed in eonners 18 about a week routhod adopts compass be: distas qtaphical and other features eould he readily ske fon with them, ‘To check and control! thin wurk, obsery every day at noon with a sextant, om the sui, for ‘unibwisitidian altitudes af stars we were tak latitnde andl time, and at night were obtained whitl ppossilile, Thos a numberof rivers were surveyed—ahe Maria, Tuouti, Yovisa and other tibutsriee of the Tuyra, When it was found that a wufficiently cotrect idea of the country for topographical parposes could not be obtained by siraply meandering the water courses, lines or trockaa were cnt through the forest from streamA Trip to Panama and Darien. 307 to stream, ani whore two xtfeanie thus connected were tributaties ‘of a common river, all of which had been previously aurveyed, a cloned figure was obtained, ax adjustment for etrors of clowure made, and by putting together the topographical data obtained by the four lines, there wax generally found to be sufficient information to give a satisfactory though of course a crude delineation of the ineludid aca. After a number of ri ul Neen examined with more on tess accuracy in this way, it wae finally deeided that thi aria far one portion of the grant best suited for the purposes of the Canal ‘Compintry lay on the right bank of the Tuyza river, and that the portion of the river which lay betwen the mouths of two of its tributaries, thy Rio Yape and the Rie Puors, should be one of ‘the boundaries of the grant. The Yape and Paceo have courses approximately parallel toeach other and at right angles ty the Rio Tyra, and these streams were ule chosen as boundary lines, eo that the grant would have the three rivery ax nat ries, and the fourth and closing boundary was to bea straight Jine from a certain point on the Vape to the Pacro, sa loeated as to include within the four boundaries an atta approximately eq iia! to the amount uf the grant, which in thi# partioular cane was 25,000 heotarés. The prublem then presented wax: given tlirce rivers for three boundaries of a figure to establish a fourth atid artificial line, completing the-tignre in wueh a way that it should contain a given area, and also to procure data for a topographical map of the country surveyed. This survey was put under my direction and 1 was inetrnoted to proceed to A point overlooking the Tuyra river, between the Rio Yapé and the Rio Pucts, near the mouth of the Ria: Capite, for thy purpose of establishing a base camp. ing Real de St. Marie on the evetiing of March tsth, with fleet of twelve canes aud ubout thirty native laborers, we reached the site for the camp in two days After Innding overything, the work of clearing away trees and underbrush over an arca sufficiently lange for the camp was commenced. “The men worked willingly with axe and machéte, and soon the forest receded and left bare a semi-cirealar space facing the riv ‘Two houses were needed and without saw, nail or hammer the construction was canmmenced and prosecuted rapidly. Straight trees about six inches in diameter and twenty feet long were cut and planted vertically in holes dug out with the machéte, and808 National Geographic Magazine, hoci¢ontal pieces of & smaller diameter were securely fastened om with long tough strips of bark, and thus-a square or oblong frame was fashioned, The horizontal pieces were placed at a distance of about three feet from the ground, on which a flooring was eventually laid, and at the top of the frame where the slope of the roof began. On the top pieces other poles were tnid and fastened across and Jengthwire, and on these the men stood while making the ekeloten of the roof. ‘The latter was made very steep for better protection against the rain. Aftor the ridge pole was put in position other smaller poles were fastened on parallel and perpendicular to it sa that the whole roof was divided up into squares, and it was finally completed by weaving: in, thick Dunehes of palm and other leaves in such a way as to ronke it thoroughly waterproof, For aut purpose no protection on the sides of the structures other than the projecting eaves was cous sidered necessary. A floor uf poles laid very close together was rat inane house, the one used for aleeping purposes, and in the other a table for cating, writing, dranghting, ete,, was made, Thus in two or thrée days the place was made thoroughly habita- ‘ule, and men were detailed to ave that the grounds, eto., were always kept thoroughly clean and im & good sanitary condition, a-very negessury preciution in a tropical country, The forest afforded game, the river an abundance of fish; hananas, oranges, lemons and pineapples were easily procured from the natives, who also farnished material for a poultry yard, and thus while located at camp Capite, situated as it was on a picturesque spot overlooking two swiftly dowing rivers, with good drinking water,» commis- sary department well stocked, a French codk who would have done himself eredit anywhere, I could not but think that heroto- fore pictures of life in Darien had been too somberly drawn, and that where so much suffering and sickness had prevailed among the early explorers it was heeause they had gona there not prop: erly outfitted, and because easried. away with ambitiouy enthn- siasm their adventurous spirit had cansed them often to uniertake that which their calmer judgment would mot. have dictated ; and that to these causes as touch as to the unbealthy condition of the locality was duc their many hardships, Several days were spent here getting time and latitude obwervations and in mapping out plans for the work, It was decided that the mouths of the Yape, Capite and Pacro and other points along these rivers, such as moutha of trivutery streams, ete., should be astronomieally lo-A Trip Panama and Darien. 309 cated, that these points should be connected by compass lines, and also that cross lines should be run at varions points from the ‘Y¥ape to the Capite and from the Capite to the Pucro, It was further decided that ay time was limited it would be impracti- eable to runout th fourth side of the figure that would contain the grant, 4s the countey around the headwaters of the streams was known to be exceedingly rough and mountaineus, and to follow any straight line would nocessarily involve a great amount of laborious cutting and climbing. Furthermore, in onter to know just what direction this line should follow it would ‘be first necessary to make a connected preliminary survey of the three rivers ; to plot this survey and then by inspection of the map and consideration of varivux start- ing points to decide on the most available location of the fourth side, Instead of this it wax considered best and sufficient yo arbitra- rily adopt a certain waterfall on the Rio Yape, the location of which was approximately known from a revounoisanee previously made, as the initial point of the line connecting the upper Tape with the Pucro and closing the figure. ‘Thus it only beeame nee- tisaty, as far a8 the boundaries were concerned, to run a line along the Tuyra, joining the mouths of the Yape and Pucro ; to run a line from the mouth of the Yape to the waterfall above referred to; and to run up the Puero sufficiently far to be certain that when the work was completed and plotted, « line drawn from the position of the waterfall on the map in auch a way as to inolude the desired area would intersect the Pnero at some point within the limit of what bad been surveyed, Ihave pot thme to go into the details of the various trips Ly land and water neces- sary to carry out thess plans, Before starting it was known exactly what was necestary to be done ; each assistant engineer had his work olearly mapped out before him, and each one faithfully performed the task allotted to him, so that the whole survey was brought to a successful completion, This brought to a close all the work in Darien, the other tracts having been surveyed vefore my arrival snd conse- quently the whole expedition returned to Panama, and soon afterwards I returned to this country. Iu going to und returning from Darien, 1 passed twice over the Panam railroad and along the line of the Panama canal, and I have thought that 9 few facts relative to the canal aud railroad might prove of interest to the Geographical Society. 310 Mariszirve. iticnarl Ceogpray Pablishod herewith isa sketoh showing the loeation of the railroad, canal and tributary drainage, ani x profilealong the axis of the canal, ‘The first surveys for the railroid were tinde in 149, and was probably the wnt of the California gold fever that Drought about ite construction at this particular the. Ground was brokeft in January, 1980, and the Last ruil was laid in dane wary, ‘The length of the road is 47.6 miles and it crosses the dividing yummig at an clvation of 269 feet above the mean level of the Atlantic ecean, ‘Thy maximum grade is 60 feet to the mile. Soon after the trad was built aecurare fevelé were run to deter tine the difference, if any. between the Atlantic amd Pacific oeeans, and it was found that te mean levels were same, althouh noe variations 0 canses, and considerible fh differences of tidusin the Atlantic aid Pacific, the greatest rise is-ouly 1.8 foot, whilo st Panama thete is at times a difference of over 2b feet between high and low water, ‘The cast of the railroad was 873,000,000. “Phe existence of the railroad was probably the deciding eause that led Leseeps to the adoption of this location of the proposed canal, Now that the scheme has practically failed easy ti sev and appreciate the difficulties that lay in the way of building acanal at this particular place; snd it certainly scems that if sdund engineering principles hind been adopted ut least some of these difficulties could have been understood amd properly rom batted. ‘The while howorer, from an engineering stand- poiut, seems to have been conducted in the ‘most blundering manner, ‘Leseps is a diplomat and financier, but in no sense « great en- gineer, In the constraction of the Suox canal, the questions of diplomacy and finance were the most difficult to xettle, while the engineering problums were comparatively simple. In Panama the opposite conditions prevailed. Concessions were freely: him by the Colombian government and money freely offered him by the French people, but he néver grasped or comprehended the difioulties that nature bad planted in his way, and thes only seemed to occur to him when they blocked progress in a certain direetion, The Paris Conference, controlled by Lesseps, deaided in veAb Trip to Panena aud Darien. 3 on the & h of May, 1878, that the construction -of an inter. mal wah possible aed that it shawld be built from the Gulf of Limon to the Lay of Panama, The tide-lovel scheme wax adopted and the following dime sions deehlwdl upon, vie Length, 42 jes; depth, 28 feet: swidthi at water Hine 164 fuel, amd width at bottom 72 feet, onto stotermined apon wax abent the aamo ax that of the A, that is along the valleys.of the Chagros and Obispo, crossing the ilivide at the Culebra pass ant then descending to along thy conrse of the Rio Grands, ‘The profile h is reproduced from Selettee, = the state af prog op dannary dst, 1885, nt ufexenvation that hax tit slight difference ity the Appenranee of Ue profile, “The portion showi ii black bs whit las Levu removed dlony the asi of the canal amd represents an eapenditate of over $385,000,000 und seven years’ Tabor, The reuxons that inake tie sehome dnpractieable are brieily thes, some of whieh were known befor the work wax commenced, and all af which should have been wndorstoo ‘The first great difficulty is in cutting through the ride eul- minating at Culebra where the original eurfaeo was 354 feet above the bed of the proposed ea Tt was never known what thw geological formation of this tidge was until the different strata were laid bare by the Workinun’s pick, and the slope adopted, 14 tod, was Faun to be insufficient in the less compaet formations, even at the comparatively whaflow dopth that was reached, and many and “a “ct done sino that tine wy rious landslides were of frequent oeour- renee. Another sorions diftioulsy was the disposition of the excavated material, for upon the completion of a sea-level course this chan- nel would natarally drain all the country hitherto tributary to the Ohagres amd Rio Grande, and avy substance not reinoved toa rresit distance would eventually be washed back again into the canal Bur porlipy the greatest difficulty wax in the contral of the immense qurface drainage. ‘The Chagres river during the dry season is, where it crosses the line of the canal near Gamboa, only about two feet deep and 250 foet wide, bit during a food the depth becomes as much ay forty feet, the width 1,900 fect, and the volume of water discharged 140,000 cubic feet per seeond, ‘Tho bed of the river is here 42 feet-aboye sea level, or 70 feot above what the bottom of canal would have been. Now add toa2 National Gengruphio Magazine, this a 4¢-foor flood and we have a water surface one hundred and tan fost above thy hed of the canal, Tn order to keep this. immense volume of water from the Canal it was propowd to build alarze dam at Gamboa, uni to convey the water by an entirely different and artificial route to the Atlantic. [tis imposible to show on the map the whole drain~ age area of the Chagres, but a rough ealealation shows it to be about 500 square miles. This seems a small total drainage aron, but when iis considered that the annual rainfall is about 12 KET, that this rainfall is confined to about one half the year, and that in six consecutive hours there has been a precipttation of over six inches of rain, some idea of the amount of water that finds its way through the Chagros river during the wet season may be formed, As T said before it was proposed to protert thy canal fram the waters of the upper Chagres by an immense dam at Gamboa, snd for the purpose of controlling the water tribatary to the lower Chasees two additional canals of channels were to be constructed on cither side of the main canal. ‘Thus, ae the river ixvery tor tnous and the axix of the canal crossed it twenty-five or thirty tines, many deviations of the former became necessary. In some places the eanal was to acoupy thy hed of the river and in others it cut across bends leaving the river for its original natural parpose of drainage. ‘The difficulty in retaining the floods in these constructed channels would of course be immense, expecially in some of the eases where the water ishing along ite natural chantel is suddenly turned at right angles inte an artifteial one, Thus it ie elear that asile from the enormous ex indidént to the removal of the immenwe ameugt of earth aid rock mucessary to complete the canal, that gmnting all this no- complished, it woulll be prictically. impossible to maintain a ses fovel eanal by reason of the difficulty in controlling thie Chagres and preventing the canal from filling 1 ‘The canal company finally came to tiie conclusion that the sea- Jevel scheme was impracticable and it was abandoned, and plans were prepared for m lack system, As seon on the profile there were ten leks proposed, five on each side of the summit level ‘The summit Ievel wax to be 160 feet above sea level and eonse- quently each lock would have a lift of thirty fect. ‘The profile was constructed expenially to show the amount remaining to be executed to.complete the lock system, and a mere inspection willA Trip to Panama anit Darien, aa show the relative smount of completed and uncompleted aren along the axis of the canal, ‘To complete the summit eut it is still neeesiary to excavate 111 feet, 43 fect having already been excavated, through a horixontal distance of 8906 feet. The width of cut at top surface for the required depth uta slope of 11 tot would be 780 feet, but as T said before, at this slope landslides: were of frequent occurrence and the slope would probably have to be increased to’ at least ¥ to 1. Granting the necessary excavations made, there would be still the problem of the control of the Chagres river and the water supply for the summit Iovel to provide for, At first it wax thonght that the water supply could be obtained from the storage of the waters of the Chagres and Obispo, but this idea was event- ually abandoned, cither from a belief in the insutficieney of the water supply during the dry season, or from diffieulties in the way of conveying the water to the simmit level ‘Then it was that the advice of Mr. Eiffel, a noted French engi- noer, was sought, and after a visit to the Isthmus he proposed that the summit level should be eupplicd by pumping from the Pacific. A contrat was immodiately maily with Eiffel, who was heralded all aver the world as the man whe would save the canal, and immediately a posi the seventh that had been an- nounced, was fixed for the opening of the great eanal, Tdo not know just how much work was done towards perfecting the system for pumping, but probably very little was ever ac ished in this direction, as soon after this seheme was thonght of the available farids of the canal company began to be very searce, and there ne been since then a general collapse: of work all along the line until now it is entirely suspended. From what I havesaid and from what ean be seen from the: pratile, it will be readily understood that as far as the sea-level project is concerned tbe amount done icnot muvh more thant a neraping of the surface, relatively speaking, and that what has been done is in places whore the obstacles were fewest, Ty regard to the Tock canal about one third of the necessary exoavation has heen made along the axix of the canal, but taking into consideration other requirements necessary for the comple Vion of the seherne, T whould eatimate, roughly, that probably onky ong sixth of the whole amount of work had been accomplished. ‘The question now naturally arises as to whatwill be the probable future of this great enterprise, “tta National Geographic Maguzis The French: people have seen the scheme fail ander Leadeps ia whom they had the most unbounded confidence, and it is not likely that they will raise any more money to be put in it aca busines enterprise under any other management. Saddled as it is with a debt of nearly four hundred millions of dollars, it would be difficult to-convince any one that it could ever prove to bea ying investment, Nordo Tthink that any American oe Eeglish sorporation ean be organized that could obtain «nch concessions from Loweps uc would make the scheme an inviting field for capitalists, and thus my opinion is that the “Cerpirguie Cniver- sells du Conat Interactamique de Panaria hus irretrivvalily ¢al- Japsed, and that the eanal will remain, as it is now, the most gigantic failure of the age.8 aration sujdusoo ay qe 8 Ky OF YON 98 pirma9xa ae Pusey dy) * piamoaxn yom servOypHy AOR "IVNVO VRVNVd MHL 40 sodSKETCH SHOWING LOCATION OF PANAMA RAIL ROAD, PANAMA CANAL AND TRIBUTARY DRAINAGE P | Somip of Suite aber & 1 dg NAMA |ENTRANCE TO HIGHLANDS RIVER SAN JUANAcross Nicaragua with Transit and Mawhéte. 310 ACROSS NICARAGUA WITH TRANSIT AND MACHETE, By RE. Puuny, ‘Tnx action of this National Society, with its array of distin- guished members, in turning its attention for an hour to a region which has interested the thinking world for more than three cen- turles gives me peculiar pleasure and satisfaction, I propose this evening to touch lightly and briefly upon the natural features of Nicaragua, to note the reasons for the inter- eat which hax alway* centered upon her, to trace the growth of the great project with which her nameis inseparably linked ; mu somewhat in detail, the life, work, and surroundings of an engineer within her barders; and finally tu show you the result that i to crown the engineer's work in her wide spreading forests and fertile valleys. That portion of Central America tow included within the Ihiundarics of our sister republic Nicaragua, has almost from the moment that European eyes looked upon it attracted and charmed the attention of explorers, geographers, great rulers, sw dents, and tnen of saygaciots and far reaching intellect. From Gomara the Jong list of famous sames which have linked themselves with Nicaragua reaches down through Hum- bolde, Napoleon Hl, Ammon, Lull, Menocal and ‘Taylor. ‘The shores were first seen by Europeans in 1462, when Colum~ ‘bus in his fourth voyage rounded the cape which forms the northeast angle of the state, and culled it “Gracins w Dios,” which uame it bears to-day, Columbus then coasted southward along the eastern shure. In 1522, Avila, penetrated from the Pacific coast of the coun- try to the Inkes and the cities of the Indian inhabitants. Previous to this the country was occupied by a numerous population of Aztecs, or neatly allied people, as the quan- tities of specimens of pottery, gold images, and other articles found upon the islands and along the shores of the lakes, prove conclusively.a6 National Geagraphe Magazine, Tw 1629 the connection of the likes with the Caribbean sea was discovered, and during the last half of the eighteenth een- tury a considerable commerce was carried on by this route between Granada on Lake Nicaragua and the cities of Nombre de Dips, Cartagena, Havana and Cadiz, Tn 184) Niearagaa threw off the rule of the mother country and in 1828 formed with her sister Spanish colonies, a confedera» . Thin sonfederation was dissolved in 1998, and since then Nicuragua hat conducted. her own affairs, In point of advance- ment, finsneial no! wl stability of government she stands to- day vearly, if not qaite, at the head of the Central American republics, ‘Nivaragun extends over a little more than four degrees each of latitude and Jongitude, from about Noi to No 15° and: from 83° 20/ W. to 87° 40" W. Tis longest side is the northern border fram the Gulf of For seca northeasterly to-Cape Gracias & Dios, two hundred and ninety miles. From that cape south to the mouth of the Rio San Juan, the Caribbeun coast line, is two hundred and fifty miles. Nearly due west across the Isthmus to Salinas Kay on the Pacific, is one hundred and twenty miles. ‘The Pacific const line extends thence northwest one hundred and sixty smiles, In point of sive Nicaragna stands first among the Central American republics baying an area of 51,800 square miles, It is larger than either the State of New York or Pennsylvania, about the size of Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined, and #8 one-fourth as large as France or Germany. Ite population nambers about 300,000, ‘The Gulf of Fonseca, at the northern, and Salinas Bay at the southern extremity of the coast line sretwo of the finest and Jargest harbors on the Pacifio coast of Central America, About midway between them is the fine harbor of Corinto, and there are also several other ports along the cé-sst, at San Jann del Sur, Brito and Tamarindito. On the Caribbean coast no harbors suit- able for large: vessils exist, but numerous lagoons and bights afford the best of shelter for coasting vesels, ‘The central portion of Nicaragua is traversed, from north to south, by the main cordittera of the isthmus, whieh, bere greatly reduced in altitude, consists merely of a confused runs of poaks and ridges with an average elevation acarecly exceeding 1,000 feet.Acros Nicaragua ivith Transit and Machite, 317 Between this mountainous region and the Caribbean shore stretehes a law level country, covered with a dense forest, rich in rubber, cedar, mahogany and dye woods [tis drained by see eral large rivers whoxe fertile intervales will yield almost ine ible harvests of plantains, bananas, oranges, tropical frits, West of the mountain zone is a broae valley, about one lun dred and twouty-tive feet above the level of the sea, extend from the Gulf of Fonsoos, southeastorly 19 the frontier of C Rica ‘The greater portion of this valley is occupied lly two Jakes, Managua and Nicaragua. The latter one handred and ten tuiles long by fifty or sixty miles wide is really an inland oa, deing onetalf ax large as Lake Outarin and twive as Lure as Lang Island Sound. "These lnkes, with the rainfall of the adja~ wont valleys, drain thronh the nable San dann river, whieh dis chatyes into the Caribbean at Greytown, nt the southeast angle ‘of the country. Beewoen the Pusiiie and these fakes ies narrow strip of tand, from twelve ti thirty ruiles in winkth,, stretching from the magnifi- ceat plain of Leon with its cathedral eity, in the. north, to the Fol- ling indigo fiefs and the raean plantations which surround the garden city of Ttivas, in the south, The lowest pass across the backbone of the New World, from Bebn to the Straits of Magellan, extends along the San du a Lajas—Rio Grande “ divitte,” be. tween Lake Nicaragua and the Pavifie; the simmit of this divide ix only ndred and Sityetwe feet above the sea and forty-two foot abuve the Inke. Niewrayua pwesents yet another unique physical feature, Lying between tie elevated mountain masses of Costa Ries on the south and Honduras on the north, the average eleva: tion of its own mountain backbone hardly ane thousand feet, it evatiral thoroughfare of the beticticent Hortheast Trades. ‘These winds sweep in from thy Carihbean aeruss the Atlantic Alopes, break the surface of the lakes into sparkling waves, and then disappear over the Pacific, aerating, cooling and purifying the country, destroying the germs of disease and making Nicarax ci the healthiest revion In Cetitral America, ‘The scene the yastern portion of the eonntry is of the luxuriant sameness peoufiar to all tropical countries,ais National Gengraphis Magazine. In the vieiuity of the lakes anil between them and the Pacifié, the ixolated mountain peaks whieh bound the plain of [eon ou the northeast ; the mountain ixdands of Madera and Ometep the towering turquoise tastes of the Gosta Rican voleanoe nnd the distant blue mountuins of Segovia and Matagaipa, visible beyond the sparkling waters of the lakes, feast the eye owith scenic beauties, unsurpassed elsewhere int grandeur, variety and Fichivess of coloring. ‘The products of the country are humerous despite the fact that its resources are as yet. almost entirely: undevelaped, Maize, plantains, bananas, oranges, limes, and indeed every tropical fruit, thrive in abundance. Coffee is grown in large quantities in the hilly region in the northwest; sujar, tobaved, cotton, rice, indigo and cacao plantations abiund between the Inkes und the Pacific; potatoes and wheat thrive in the uplands of Segovia; the Chontales region east of Lake Niearagua, a great grazing section, xapports thousands of head of cattle ; and back of this are the gold and silver districts of La Libertad, Tavali and others, Numerous trees aud plants of medicinal and commercial yalue are found in the forests, Game is plentiful and. of numerous varietien; deer, wild hog, wild tarkey, manatee and tpit; and fish abound in the -streams and rivers, The temperature of Nicarazua is equable, The extreme variation, recorded by Childs, was 29° observed near the head of the San Juan in May, 1851. ‘The southeast wind predominates during the rainy” season, Ocoasionally, in June or Octaber as a rule, the wind hauls round tosouthwest and a femporn? results, hoavy rain xouetines falllog for a week or ten days, ‘Phe equatorial cloud-belt, following the sun north in the sprin is late reaching Nicaragua, and the wet season is shorter thaw in regions farther south, ‘The average rainfall, based an the reeards of nine years, ix 64.42 inches ‘The “trades” blow almost throughout the year Strowg during the dry season and Frosh ening during the day ; the wind vowes frou the east-northeast, and blows usually for four to five days, when, hauling to the exst or southeast for a day or two, if calms sown, then yoos: back to northeast and riser again. ‘The Spanish divcoverers of the reat Lake Nicaragna, coming upon it from the Pacific, and noting the dluctuations of level eausedLEON CATHEDRALAerosa Nivavagua with Transit and Machéte, 319 by the action of the wind upon its broad surface, mistook these fluctuations fae tides and felt assured that some broad strait can- nected it-with the North Sea, Later, when Machnea had discow- ero the geand river outler uf the lake, and the restless wearching of other explarers in every bay and inlet alung both sides of the American isthinus hid extinguished forever the ignis fatuus “Sect of the Strait,” Gomara pointed this out as one of the most favorable localities for an artificial communivation beuween ‘the North and South Seas, Tt was not until 1831, however, that an acoutat survey of w shijp cxual route was made by Col, O, W.Ch Viiis survey which showed the ake of Nicaragua to be only ow hundred and seven fect above the sea,and the maximum cle: vation between the luke ard the Pacitie to be ouly furty exhibited the adyantayes of this raute so clearly and in such an nnangwerable manner that it his never since buen possible to ignore ti L570, under the administeation af General Grant and large! through the unceasing efforts of Adniral Ammen, the United States boyun a deries Of systematic surveys of all the rus across the American isthuis from Tehuantepee to the head waters of the Rio Atrato ¢ and sis with the plans and cults of all these urveys before it, ao josed of 2. Chief of Kagineers; U.S. Army; Hon, Carlile: Pat uperincemdens, U. Survey j and Rear Adiizal [anie! Amu of Bureag. of Navigation, U. gave its verdict im favor of che ne feet, es sare La missio ay; g jearagua route. ‘The International Canal Congress at Paris, itr 1872, bad seh convineing information placed hefore it that it was forced, in spite of its prejudices, to admit that in the advantages it offered for the construction of @ lock eanal, the Nicaragua route was siperiog to any other across the American iathmius To 187i, andl again in’ 1880 Civil Engineer A. G. Menoeal, U. Nu the chief engineer of previons geveramental surveys, surveyed and revised yyortions of the routy, and in 1885 the same engineer, assisted by myself, surveyed an entirely new line on the Caribbean side, from Greytown to the San Juan riverynear the motith of the San Carlos. On the eastern side of Nicaragua, all these surveys (excopt the last), were confined almovt entirely to the San Juan river, and its immediate banks; and the country on either aide beyond these320 National Geographic Magazine, narrow limite was, up to 1686, almost entirely unknown, Between. ‘Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, however, every pass from the Bay of Salinas to the Gulf of Fonsora bad been examined. Th TBBS the party of which [was amember proved a nearly direct Tine across the country from a point on. the San Juan, about three miles below the mouth of the Rio San Carlos, to Greytown, a distance of thirty one iiles by our line, a4 compared with fifty six miles by the river and forty-two miles by the former proposed canal rou Tn December, 1887, Fwent ont in charge of a final surveying expedition, consisting of some farty engineers and assistants and ene hundred and fifty liboren, to resurvey and stake ont the ine of the canal preparatory to the work of coustruction, ‘The information and personal experience gained jn yrovlows surveys made it powible, without loss of time, to locate the Various sections of the espedition in the most advantiageons man: ner, and push the work with the greatest speed consistent with aeeuracy. ‘The foration lines of the previous surveys were taken as a pres liminary line and eatefuily temensared and retevelled. Pre: Hiainury offsets were run: the loration mace, and staked of npon the ground ; offsets.run in from three hundred to.one hundred feet apart, extending beyond the slape limits of the canal; borings made at frequent intervals: aud all streams ganged. The result of this work Was a serles of detail charts ami pro files, haved upon rigidly whecked uetramental data, and sovering the enticn Tine from Grexiown to Brite, from whieh to vatinate quantities and cost. Asomay be imayined by thowe faniliar with tropical eonntries; the proseoution of a surver iy thew regions ix an arduans and It work, and ony dunmanding special qualifications in the en= days ate tilled with a suveyaion of surprises, usually bles and constaut happenings of the unexpected, Frob- n mivother euuntey will the traveler, explorer, at engineer, « variety ef obstacles to his progress raphical feature wf the vanstry le slronlet and Millen ander a tropical utvwth of huge trees and tangled undur Wrnsh, so dense thar it is [inpessibile for even a strong, notive min, burdened with nothing hut «rifle qo Fores himwelé through it Without a sliort, heavy sword or suechéte, with whiok to ent tix wity.Acraaw Niemvagna with Transit and Machéte, 321 Unider these circumstances the most observant engineer and ex- pert woodsman may pass within a hundred feet of the base of a considerable hill and not have a suspicion of its existence, or he imay be entirely unaware of the proximity of a stream antil he is om the point of steppiig over the edge of its precipitous banks, The topography of the country bas to he laboriously felt out, much as a blind man familiarizes himeolf with his surroundings, Tn doing this work the indispensable instrument, without wl the transit, the level, and indeed the engineer himself is of 110 tise, is the national weapon of Nicaragua, the machéte, a short, heavy sword, ‘As soon as he is able to walk, the son of the Nicuraguan 4 or Audéro takes asa plaything a piece of iron hoop or an old knife, and imitates his father with his maeAéte, As he gets elder a broken or worn-down weapon ix given him, ard whm hy able co handle it, a full size maohére ix entrusted to him and he thon considers himself a mau, From that day en, waking or sleeping, our Nicaraguan’s muechéleisalwaysat his side, With it he cuts his way through the wouls ; with ithe builds hiseamp thie bed ; with ithe kille his game and fish; with it at a pineh te shaves himself, or extracts the thorns from. his fee hts his duels, and with it, when he dies, his coun 20 nin the fioll the whi of w party, equipped with u pocker void barometer, i4 always skirmishing aload of the line with a machétero, or axeman, 19 eut a path for hin ine vhiet, however, speedily «lispenses with the mre way for himself muuch more rapidly, snon as hy decides where the line is to go the en: to the ting compass and att at peckéteroe and the two lwat. oes immediately begin cut: toward the sound of hie v ee ee row path to him, drive a stake where he was standing amd then turn Imck toward the other aiaehéferod, wher have been follo thom, cutting a whlee path and clearing away all trees, vines and branches so that the transit man can sce the flagat de stake, The moment the lending merodéteroe veach him the chief starts off again and hy the time the main body of axemen haye reached his former position the head ynachiteroy are cutting toward the sound of his yoiec in a new position. Ay soup as the ling is eleared the transit man tukes his sight and moves ahead to the: stake, the chainmen follow and. driveagg National Geographic Magazine: stakes every hundred feet, and the Jevellor follows putting in elevations fad eros setious, In this way the work goes an from early morning autil nearly dark, stopping about an hour {ur lunch, After the day’s work comes the dinner, the table graced swith wild hog, or turkey onyorall, After dinner the smoke, thon the day's nates are worked up and duplionted and all hands get into their nets. For a ynoment the countless nocturnal noises af the great forest, enlivened perhaps by the scrum of a tiger, ur the deep, mutfied mar of a puis, fall upan drowsy ears, then follows the sleep that always accompanies hard work and good Iwalth, ti the bull-epiced howling monkeys set the forest welio- nt of the breaking dawn. In revonndissanee and preliminary work the experiéioed engi: néer, is able, in many eases, to avoid ubstuoles without vitiatine ) reaules of his work, bucin the final Tncation, in staking out mts thousands of feet long aerosn country, no dodging ia posible. On the hillsand elovatud ground the engineer ean, compara oly eyaking, get along quite comfortably, his prineijal annoy: ances boing the uneven ebaracter of the ground, which compels him to ser hie instrument very frequintly, and the necessity of bstaeles, The Hine may run for smie Uistanss aver level groutd eovured with a comparatively open growth, thea without yarns fit onicounters the wreck afi fallen tree, ini hourk any con ned Lownie & passite through the mass of Leoken Tins and elute Lond henmd regether with vines and lure pastroam is crowed, and the line nay cross and reeross fouror fine: thoes in the-wwst thousand fect, The engitioer rutist either clink: down tho stecp banks, for the stream Burrow decge in chy stitf clay ef these valleys, fond the stream and climb the oppicatite: tak, Gr he ciust fall a teee from Hank vo bank and ervee on its slippury trank twenty or bwenty: five foot above thy water. Wither oa the itiinediate hitik or in ite vicinity is almost eer tain'to he encountered ae xaceate” clearing, Thismay by oily oue or twe hundred feet across.or it may beahulf a mile $n the former vase the “aaecate” grass will be ten or fiftoen feet in height and so matted and interwoven with vines and briarscrim Nictragua with Transit and Machite, 823 that a funnel may ‘be ent through it ax through a hed UW the cleuring he large, the tough, wiry gras is no fh man’s ead, and a path has to be mowed throuh it, while the aun heats down into the furmacelike enclosure till the blade of the mvachite becomes almost t60 hot te towel, anything thus far mentioned are the Sitica oF Some of thee in the larger valleys and near the coset are miles in extent. upivd exelusively by the low, thick Sifico palms, these awitn Ure season absolutely impnssable except for monkeys anit alligators, and even att Hof thodry season the engineer enters apan one with sinking heart-ax well ns feet, and gamergrs from it tired and: nsed np. in every portion of his Te is ait the utmost: difficulty that be tinds a prac- tu Tocate Mis inatyument, geierally: wtiliging the the trunks of the clusters of palms, from pioint te: point Ins dw wade from kinve to shinldae deep in the black mash ane waste Gow asic From high trees in elevated lovalities, inv & country #0 bor are their feslts reliable at expenititire of tine, labor, atl pationee: undulating and modumntely broken ground, the tops of the trees, though they may he one Lunlred and. lifey feet from griumil, are level as the top of a hedge. Even. an isolated hill if it be rounded in vikaper presents hatdly better facilities, the trena at the base amd on the sides, in thik effort to ronel the sim he grow taller than those on the summit, and there ik no one tree that commands all the others, er than a tivable pla Tittle Tot: ke formed‘ anil io movin ‘al recon an iwolated hill of several hundred fect in height he found, itt steep sijles otlminating ina sharp peak, ono day's work hy three or four good axmen, an cutting neighboring trees, will prepare the way ly of the general relief and topog- raphy of the adjac If after these preliminaries have evn complited the engineer imagines that he has only to limb the tree and sketch whut he secs, to obtain reliable knowledge of the country, hie i¢ doomed to serious surprises in the future. Tf he makes the ascent during the middle of the day, he will, after he has cooled off and rested from his exhausting forts, see apres] out before him a shimmering landscape in which the uni form green carpet and the vertica: sum combined, have obliterated324 National Geopraphic Magazine. all outlines except the more prominent irregularities of the ter- rene, and have blended different mountain ranges, ope of which may be several miles heyond the other, ito ome, of which only the sky profile is distinct, Naturally under these conditions estimates of distance may be half or double the truth, ‘Thero are two ways of extracting reliuble information from these treetop roconnaissances. If it bo in the rainy season the observer must he prepared to make a day of it, and when he ascends the tree in the morning be takes with him a long light line with which to pall up his coffee nod lunch, Then aided hy the successive showers which aweep across the landscape, leaving fragments of mists in the ravines, and hunging grey screens between the different ranges and mountains, bringing ont the relief first of this and then of that section, an accurate sketch may gradually be made, The time of pussage of a shower from one peak to another, or to the observer, may als be utilized asa by no moans to be despised chock upun distance estimates, If it be the dry season, the observer may take his choice he» tween remaining on his perch in the tree from before sunrise to after sunset, or making two ascents, que early in the morning and the other late inthe afternoon, In this ease the slowly dis- persing clouds of morning, and the gradually gathering mists at sunset, together with the reversed fights and shadows at dawn and sunset, bring out very clearly the relief of the terrens, the overlapping of distant ranges, and the cours of the larger streams, Thix kind of work cannot bo delogated tu anyone, and besides the wrduaus labor involved in climbing the huge ttees, there are other serious annoyances conneoted with it, ‘The clitaber is almost certain to sisturh some venomous insect which revenges itself bya savage sting which has to be endured; or he may rent rlathes and skin also, oi-setie thorny vite, of another, erushed by his efforts, may exude a juice which will leavy lcm tattooed for days; then, though there may not be a mosquito or fy at the base of the tree, the top will be Infested with wyrh black fies, whieh cover hunis and face, and with oxtrem Aihoying results Ou the other hand the explorer may asa pensation have bis nostrils filled with the perfume of some liant orchid on a neighboring branch ; and there is a breezy epjoyient in watehing the showers ay they rush across tho green earpet, and in listening to the roar with which the big drops beat upon the tree tops. feof minutAcross Nicartigua with Trangit and Machite. 32% The ‘special phnée of field work which fell to my personal Tot was entirely reconnniseance, coisisting af oanoe examinations of all streams in the vicinity of the line of the canal, to determine their xourves, character of valley, and approximate water shed ; of rapid nirline compass and aneroid trails, to connect one stream, or valley head with another, or furnish a base line for a seeneral sketch plan of a valley ; and of studies of the larger features of the terrene, from elevated treetops, ‘The last has been already described ; in the eeeend the ¢: ence was very similar to that of the parties inv running main lines On these occasions three or at ost four hardy Aodéron (rubber hunters) comprised the purty, owocarrying the blankets, mosquito hare and provisions for several days, and one or two cutting the Tightest possible practicable trail and marking prominent trees, In a day's march of from five to vight miles,and this was the uimost that even such a light, netive and experienced party could cover in one day, every le and same almost impossihle kinds of traveling was en d, and thoroughly exhausted men erept init their har every night. ‘The cans: reconnaissances were 1m mont rinpleasint ax wWellas most enjoyable metioet with them. Tho innumerable laraiy fallen trees ve andl over oF then ich. the exnoe mus almost inevitable eapsining of rhe canoe, the me hanks on either side and the frequent nevessity night ina bed nf anal into which the drow inhabit these valleys have trampled the clayey x the disagreeable ineitents, From the head of qanee nay actor of Uiesw

You might also like

• Fear: Trump in the White House

  

  From Everand

  Fear: Trump in the White House

  Bob Woodward

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (738)
• A Man Called Ove: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  A Man Called Ove: A Novel

  Fredrik Backman

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (4609)
• A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story

  

  From Everand

  A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story

  Dave Eggers

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (231)
• • Magazines
  • Podcasts
  • Sheet music
• The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

  

  From Everand

  The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

  Viet Thanh Nguyen

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (120)
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

  

  From Everand

  Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

  Angela Duckworth

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (588)
• Yes Please

  

  From Everand

  Yes Please

  Amy Poehler

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (1891)
• Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

  

  From Everand

  Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

  Gilbert King

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (266)
• The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

  

  From Everand

  The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

  Meik Wiking

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (399)
• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

  

  From Everand

  Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

  Chris Voss

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (838)
• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

  

  From Everand

  Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

  Phil Knight

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (537)
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

  

  From Everand

  The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

  Siddhartha Mukherjee

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (271)
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

  

  From Everand

  The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

  Mark Manson

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (5794)
• The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

  

  From Everand

  The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

  Thomas L. Friedman

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (2259)
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

  

  From Everand

  The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

  Ben Horowitz

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (344)
• Principles: Life and Work

  

  From Everand

  Principles: Life and Work

  Ray Dalio

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (599)
• Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore

  

  From Everand

  Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore

  Jay Sekulow

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (137)
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

  

  From Everand

  Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

  Doris Kearns Goodwin

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (234)
• The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

  

  From Everand

  The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

  Brene Brown

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (1090)
• John Adams

  

  From Everand

  John Adams

  David McCullough

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (2409)
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir

  

  From Everand

  The Glass Castle: A Memoir

  Jeannette Walls

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (1712)
• Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

  

  From Everand

  Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

  Margot Lee Shetterly

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (895)
• Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

  

  From Everand

  Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

  Carmen Maria Machado

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (821)
• Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel

  Jesmyn Ward

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (1103)
• Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

  

  From Everand

  Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

  Frank McCourt

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (440)
• Wolf Hall: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  Wolf Hall: A Novel

  Hilary Mantel

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (3811)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

  

  From Everand

  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

  Betty Smith

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (1929)
• The Woman in Cabin 10

  

  From Everand

  The Woman in Cabin 10

  Ruth Ware

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (2322)
• The Light Between Oceans: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  The Light Between Oceans: A Novel

  M.L. Stedman

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (789)
• The Constant Gardener: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  The Constant Gardener: A Novel

  John le Carré

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (104)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower

  

  From Everand

  The Perks of Being a Wallflower

  Stephen Chbosky

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (2100)
• The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel

  Garth Stein

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (4200)
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

  

  From Everand

  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

  Ashlee Vance

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (474)
• The Outsider: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  The Outsider: A Novel

  Stephen King

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (1839)
• Haunted - Issue 24 - All About Ghosts 2019

  

  Document70 pages

  Haunted - Issue 24 - All About Ghosts 2019

  canadutchy

  100% (2)
• The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

  

  From Everand

  The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

  George Packer

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (45)
• The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner)

  

  From Everand

  The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner)

  Sarah M. Broom

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (98)
• On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

  

  From Everand

  On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

  Naomi Klein

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (73)
• Little Women

  

  From Everand

  Little Women

  Louisa May Alcott

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (104)
• Brooklyn: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  Brooklyn: A Novel

  Colm Tóibín

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (1937)
• Manhattan Beach: A Novel

  

  From Everand

  Manhattan Beach: A Novel

  Jennifer Egan

  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

  3.5/5 (792)
• Bad Feminist: Essays

  

  From Everand

  Bad Feminist: Essays

  Roxane Gay

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  4/5 (1015)
• Steve Jobs

  

  From Everand

  Steve Jobs

  Walter Isaacson

  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  4.5/5 (806)
• Fangoria 333

  

  Document71 pages

  Fangoria 333

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1893-Vol 4 No 7 February

  

  Document52 pages

  1893-Vol 4 No 7 February

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1893-Vol 4 No 8 February

  

  Document40 pages

  1893-Vol 4 No 8 February

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1892-Vol 4 No 5 March

  

  Document20 pages

  1892-Vol 4 No 5 March

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1892-Vol 4 No 2 March Muir Glacier

  

  Document100 pages

  1892-Vol 4 No 2 March Muir Glacier

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1892-Vol 3 No 5 February

  

  Document98 pages

  1892-Vol 3 No 5 February

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1891-Vol 3 No 1 March

  

  Document38 pages

  1891-Vol 3 No 1 March

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1891-Vol 3 No 4 May

  

  Document16 pages

  1891-Vol 3 No 4 May

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1891-Vol 3 No 3 May MT - St.elias

  

  Document192 pages

  1891-Vol 3 No 3 May MT - St.elias

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1890-Vol 2 No 4

  

  Document66 pages

  1890-Vol 2 No 4

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1889-Vol 1 No 2

  

  Document90 pages

  1889-Vol 1 No 2

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1890-Vol 2 No 3

  

  Document78 pages

  1890-Vol 2 No 3

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1890-Vol 2 No 2

  

  Document98 pages

  1890-Vol 2 No 2

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1890-Vol 2 No 1

  

  Document84 pages

  1890-Vol 2 No 1

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1888-Vol 1 No 1

  

  Document90 pages

  1888-Vol 1 No 1

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet
• 1889-Vol 1 No 2

  

  Document104 pages

  1889-Vol 1 No 2

  canadutchy

  No ratings yet