Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores
George Hirst
Topography study from Phoenix Az to LaJolla, Ca
The area we call the Valley in Stark County is the results of a glacier, wind, a lot of water and eons of time. Recent times and the work of farmers turned that land, which was called “swampâ€, into what is a rich soil that produces great crops of beans and corn.
Recently we took a three hundred mile journey from Phoenix, Az to the shore of the Pacific ocean at LaJolla, California. Those miles revealed four different geological structures. The mountain range in and around Phoenix is called the Phoenix Mountains. Just south of Phoenix is a small set of mountains, called South Mountain. The geological history of these mountains dates back billions of years. For our purposes here, these mountains, 300 miles east of the Pacific ocean are the bare top of mountains whose base is through thousands of feet of alluvial soil down to the foundation of rock. Earthquakes, erosion and wind wore the mountains down and produced the Sonora Desert. One other note, this whole area is called the Valley of the Sun.
The highway travels across the Sonoran desert with scattered home sites, Indian Resrvations and occasional farm land. There are fields of alfalfa that are irregated and sheds that protect cattle. I saw at least one beef herd and a dairy farm.
About a hundred miles on west, a new topography showed up that were fields that were covered with small boulders in a circle. I couldn’t tell if it had been that way for a long time or if someone had pushed the rocks into that formation to obtain land for farming. Wikipedia showed a letter from a group in Arizona that was not for publication but indicated studies were being made. We passed fields that produced crops that included alfalfa and vegetables.
Next, a third topography of mountains of very large rocks piled upon one another. I saw a very large rock perched on top of one of the mountains. I wondered how it got there and how long it had been there. The reference sources did not give estimated time, but said as the earth rose and fell in very early days, mountains rose as the rocks broke up along fault lines. Erosion did its work, leaving great piles of rock from many sources. These mountains are called the range mountains, the sky islands are part of these formations.
Then suddenly sand dunes. Sand piled high and far. Signs along the road warned of blowing sand. We had heard of an accident that had happened during a storm that produced rain and very heavy winds. A majority of opinion is that the Algones dunes were formed as late as 1450AD from the wind blown sands from beaches of an old lake Cahula, which was filled from flood waters from the Colorado river. to its present location.
Then we began to climb up into The Pacific mountain ranges, the mountains are a mixture of of ignaceous rock and rocks of the tertiary ages. The mountains are formed of other lands that drifted in from all over the globe. The Pacific coast as we know it was completed 115 million years ago. The road topped out at four thousand feet and we went down into the city of LaJolla at sea level.
All the way along that super highway there we signs of people who lived and worked there. In California were fields of vegetable, lettuce broccoli, etc. I was interested to note that there were no abandoned or neglected dwelling sites all along the super highway. The information here was found in Wikipedia.
Why am I telling this to you who live in the midwest? Because I have long believed that our beloved home, the earth, was formed billions of years ago and was created by many forces. This does is no way says there was not a Power behind all of this change and creation of the earth as we know it. The most I can say that I was sort of overwhelmed with what I saw as we passed along on Route 8.
More Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores