Wealth of the Worlds Waste Places and Oceania

Wealth of the World's Waste
Places and
by Jewett Castello
Gilson

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Title: Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania
Author: Jewett Castello Gilson

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Redway's Geographical Readers
WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA
by
JEWETT C. GILSON Former Superintendent of Schools, Oakland,
California
Illustrated

[Illustration: From the National Geographic Magazine, copyright 1911:
The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah]

Charles Scribner's Sons New York 1913
Copyright, 1913, by Jewett C. Gilson

PREFACE
Although the term "Waste Places" carries an implied meaning of
"worthless," yet, interpreted in the light of Nature's methods, each
region described, useless as it may apparently seem, possesses a
definite relation to the rest of the world, and therefore to the well-being

of man. The Sahara is the track of the winds whose moisture fertilizes
the flood-plains of the Nile. The Himalaya Mountains condense the
rain that gives life to India. From the inhospitable polar regions come
the winds and currents that temper the heat of the tropics.
Nature has secreted many of her most useful treasures in most
forbidding places. The nitrates which fertilize so much of Europe are
drawn from the fiercest of South American deserts, and the gold which
measures American commerce is mined in the arctic wilds of Alaska or
in the almost inaccessible scarps of the western highlands. The
description of these regions and the portrayal of their relation to the rest
of the world is the purpose of Part I of this book.
Part II of the book deals with Oceania--more especially with our island
possessions in the Pacific Ocean. It presents the salient features of the
ocean grand division in the light of most recent knowledge.
The author wishes to give credit to Mr. Jacques W. Redway, F.R.G.S.,
for suggesting the subject of Part I and for the inspiration he received
from the distinguished geographer in developing the subject.
J. C. G.
Oakland, California, December 25, 1912.

CONTENTS
PART I--WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I.
THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST 4 II. THE GRAND
CANYON OF THE COLORADO 27 III. YELLOWSTONE PARK 35
IV. TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES--GIANT REPTILES AND
GIANT TREES 51 V. DEATH VALLEY 58 VI. THE MINERAL

WEALTH OF THE ANDES 67 VII. THE CZAR'S GREATER
DOMAIN 82 VIII. THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA 97 IX.
THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN 105 X. THE SAHARA
115 XI. POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC 128
XII. POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA 147 XIII. ICELAND, THE
MAID OF THE NORTH 160 XIV. GREENLAND 170 XV. WHERE
THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET 175 XVI. RECLAIMABLE
SWAMP REGIONS 183 XVII. STRANGE ROCK
FORMATIONS--NATURAL BRIDGES 190 XVIII. STRANGE
ROCK FORMATIONS--TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA 195
XIX. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--GIBRALTAR 199 XX.
THE BAKU OIL FIELDS 206 XXI. THE SOUTH AFRICAN
DIAMOND FIELDS 211
PART II--OCEANIA
XXII. THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 226 XXIII. AUSTRALIA
233 XXIV. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 244 XXV. THE GOLD
FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA 250 XXVI. TASMANIA 258 XXVII. NEW
ZEALAND 262 XXVIII. SAMOA AND FIJI 270 XXIX. THE
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 277 XXX. GUAM 285 XXXI. THE
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 289 XXXII. THE DUTCH EAST
INDIES--JAVA 301 XXXIII. THE DUTCH EAST
INDIES--SUMATRA AND CELEBES 311 XXXIV. BORNEO AND
PAPUA 319

ILLUSTRATIONS
The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah Frontispiece
PAGE
Map of Islands of the Pacific Facing 1
Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards' Roost 6
Gila monsters 9

A giant cactus in Arizona 12
The Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway 17
Shoshone Project, Wyoming 25
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado 29
Grand View Trail 33
The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, looking down canyon from
Grand Point 37
The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Mammoth Hot Springs,
Summit Pools 45
The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Beehive Geyser 47
The Brontosaurus 53
The Allosaurus 55
Twenty-mule borax team 61
The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the road 73
Llamas resting 77
Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya Railroad, Peru,
13,600 feet high 79
Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural