Orange River

“ The natives scratch in their seeds and leave them to ripen, which they do without the least attention, and whether the country is visited by drought after the summer rains or not.
The principal drawback to the complete cultivation of the lands is the absence of roads or water-carriage. The Orange River, though a magnificent stream, and navigable in certain parts of its course, is blocked by narrow gorges, shallows, falls, and other impediments, and is useless as a water-way. ”

“ Orange River Colony, formerly Orange Free State (380) , lying between the Vaal and the Orange Rivers, Griqualand West, and the Drakenberg Mountains; has an area nearly the size of England, with a healthy, temperate climate; undulating plains slope northward and southward, from which rise isolated hills called kopjes. The chief industries are the rearing of sheep, cattle, horses, and ostriches; coal-mining in the N. and diamond-seeking in the SW.; the exports comprise wool, hides, and diamonds. ”

“ Orange River water is always turbid, and the treacherous [Page 189] bottom was quite invisible; moreover, the ridge did not run straight, but zigzagged, and altogether the passage of this preliminary channel was by no means pleasant. Another foot of water would have rendered it perilous, two feet would have made it wellnigh impossible for the strongest swimmer, for the rapids immediately below lead to one of the side-falls.
Once across and we were on an island of sand and silt, split up into deep channels by past floods, and with plenty of big trees ”

“ As for the Western Orange River and its mysteries—for it is a mysterious region—he knew it, as I afterwards discovered, better than any man in the world. Well, we trekked up to Matabeleland and, after some trouble, got permission to hunt there; and a fine time we had, getting a quantity of ivory, and magnificent sport among lions, elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceros, sable and roan antelopes, koodoo, eland, Burchell’s zebras, pallah and all manner of smaller game.
“One day, Klaas, who was sometimes a bit too venturesome, got caught in the open by a black rhinoceros, a savage old bull. ”

“ Allowing for its many and abrupt windings, this gorge, from the point at which the river hurtles into it over an obstinate stratum of rock at what is known as the Augrabies Falls, must be over four hundred miles in length. The greater part of this gorge is unexplored, being totally inaccessible.
Like the Nile, the Orange River drains an immense area of fertile country which is subject to heavy summer rains. It flows down in a raging, brimming flood, which is charged with rich alluvium, during several months of the year. ”

“ As in most mountainous regions, the climate of this great upland is hot by day and cold by night. The rivers, for the most part, shrink in the dry season to mere chains of stagnant pools; the Orange River alone is able to float small boats along the greater part of its course at all times of the year. ”

“ The river when in flood, at which time it has a depth of 40 ft., scours a channel through the bar, but the Orange is at all times inaccessible to sea-going vessels. Above the bar it is navigable by small vessels for 30 or 40 m. In the neighbourhood of the Vaal confluence, where the river passes through alluvial land, and at some other places, the waters of the Orange are used, and are capable of being much more largely used, for irrigation purposes. ”

“ W. of Algiers; it has a Roman Catholic cathedral, a mosque, a school, a college, and two castles, and exports esparto grass, iron ore, and cereals.
Orange River or Gariep, chief river of South Africa, rises in the eastern highlands of Basutoland, and flows 100 m. westward to the Atlantic, receiving the Vaal and the Caledon as tributaries, and having Cape Colony on the S. bank and the Orange Free State, Griqualand West, Bechuanaland, and German Namaqualand on the N.; a bar at the mouth and the aridity of its lower course make it unfit for navigation. ”

“ For these numerous services he rarely ever receives any thing but a smile! No wonder the man looks thin, fed on such intangible substance!
Orange Springs, thirty-five miles from the mouth of the river, is our first landing-place. This was formerly a resort for invalids, on account of the mineral properties contained in the water. Here we witnessed an affectionate meeting between a husband and wife. The lady had just returned from Jacksonville on the steamer. When she stepped on shore, and saw her husband waiting for her, she threw her arms around his neck and cried. ”

“ When we arrived at this conclusion we were at a [Page 150] spot some miles from the Orange, up an unnamed dry river that by compass bearings appeared to trend in the direction of the Gauna Gulip, from which low, but rugged and difficult, mountain ridges separated us. So to avoid a detour of at least two days, we decided to follow up this unknown ravine instead of retracing our steps, hoping that it would ultimately converge into the right river-bed, where we should be near water, of which we had very little. ”

“ Accordingly, when grown in warm but dry climates, as in Spain and along the north shore of the Mediterranean, the ground bearing orange trees is uniformly copiously irrigated two or three times a month, during the warm season, and every two months in the winter. The orange-producing portion of Louisiana is mostly confined to the sixty or seventy square miles of cultivatable land along the Mississippi river banks, south of New Orleans. ”

“ Port Jervis, Middletown, Campbell Hall, Goshen, Chester and Newburgh. The wagon roads are numerous, generally good, and are charming arteries for carriages and automobiles.
The geology of Orange County is as varied as its topography. Along the eastern feet of the Shawangunk Mountains are Heidelberg limestones, gray and Medina sandstones, shales and grits, and the mountain rocks are mostly sandstones, shales and grits. The grits extend along the top of the range through the county and are from 60 to 150 feet thick. Heidelberg limestone extends from the Mamakating valley to the Delaware River. ”

“ The visitor often gets a charming view of the city from the river, while at the same time passing suburban residences, flourishing farms, banana-groves, cotton-fields, sugar-plantations, orange-orchards, and the varied scenery which borders the river's course. ”

“ But in the deep rocky gorge by which it pierces the coast range on its seaward course, the Orange is almost inaccessible from either side. At several points the overhanging escarpments of the surrounding plateaux rise several hundred yards above its channel, and the traveller might perish of thirst without finding a single fissure or practicable track leading down to the tantalising stream which he sees flowing at his feet. ”

“ The valley of this stream is high rolling prairies, and is very fertile. Its bottoms are wide, and there are numerous branches coming in from both sides, on all of which there is timber of most varieties found West of the Mississippi, some of which is good.
Ninety miles above our crossing we came to and crossed Big Blue River, one of its main branches. Here the Emigrants came up with us, and it was late in the night before their last wagons got over. ”

“ Nowhere is this fact so evident as in New-Orleans. For the purpose of cleansing the city, water is let in at the heads of all those streets which terminate upon the river, by aqueducts constructed through the base of the Levée, and this artificial torrent rushes from the river down the gutters, on each side of the streets, with as much velocity as, in other places, it would display in seeking to mingle with the stream. Sometimes the impetus is sufficient to carry the dirty torrents quite across the city into the swamps beyond. ”

“ Elk were running in bands over the prairie and in the skirt of the timber. We reached the river at the mouth of a large slough, which we were unable to ford, and made a circuit of several miles around. Here the country appears very flat; oak-trees have entirely disappeared, and are replaced by a large willow, nearly equal to it in size. The river is about a hundred yards in breadth, branching into sloughs, and interspersed with islands. At this time it appears sufficiently deep for a small steamer, but its navigation would be broken by shallows at low water. ”

“ The error has been, in some degree, corrected in Robinson's new map of Louisiana, lately published at Natchez, which may be esteemed the best map extant respecting that section of country. He calls it Pine river.
Black river is a large, deep, and gentle stream, composed of numerous auxiliaries, which draw their waters from the counties of Wayne, New Madrid, and Lawrence; the two former lying in Missouri Territory, and the latter in Arkansas. It is navigable with boats of the largest burden, at all seasons of the year, for more than one hundred miles. ”

“ We traveled at least twenty-five miles to-day and camped a little before sunset, with but little grass for our jaded animals. Our Indian companion, Yeuemah, left us to-day, crossing the river. We passed some rocky rapids to-day in several places, but at our camp the river is beautiful, broad, clear, and placid, but the barrenness of the surrounding country affords but a dreary prospect to a man from the Western States. Were the banks of this noble river studded with fine timber and bordered with anything like good soil, its beauty would be unsurpassed. ”

“ Shortly after leaving the encampment, we crossed a stream of clear water, with a variable breadth of 10 to 25 yards, broken by rapids, and lightly wooded with willow, and having a little grass on its small bottom-land. The barrenness of the country is in fine contrast to-day with the mingled beauty and grandeur of the river, which is more open than hitherto, with a constant succession of falls and rapids. Over the edge of the black cliffs, and out from their faces, are falling numberless streams and springs ”

“ Some of these streams flow through broad and fertile valleys within the mountain's range, and, from thence emerging, irrigate the plains of the great valley for the distance of twenty or thirty miles. The largest of these rivers is called by the Spanish inhabitants the river Reyes, and falls into the lake near its northern end; it is a well-timbered stream, and flows through a country of great fertility and beauty. The tributaries of the San Joaquin are all on the east side. ”

“ To be on land, even were it a sand bank, is all that is requisite to render it in the eyes of the new landed passenger, a Paradise.
During the first part of our sail up the river, there was nothing sufficiently interesting in the way of incident or variety of scenery, to merit the trouble either of narration or perusal. Till we arrived within forty-five or fifty miles of New-Orleans, the shores of the river presented the same flat, marshy appearance previously described. With the exception of two or three "pilot stations," near its mouth, I do not recollect that we passed any [Pg 75] dwelling. ”

“ The lake covers about four hundred acres and is kept well fed by creeks and large springs. Numerous cottages dot its shores, and an amusement park is conducted under the management of the Orange County Traction Company. Extensive improvements were made in 1907, including the erection of a large theatre and other buildings.
Quassaick Creek is a fine stream entering the Hudson between Newburgh city and New Windsor, and is formed by the united waters of Orange Lake outlet and Fostertown and Gidney's Creeks. It has supplied many mills and factories with power. ”

“ Like the Nile, this stream rises sufficiently every year to overflow and fertilize its valley, so that it pro- duces the finest grass. Since 1843, immigrants had occasion- ally traveled down this stream to its sink, and had thence crossed the high, snowy range of the Sierra Nevada, from Truckee run via Donner lake, to the Sacramento valley; and as we proceeded up the river, we frequently met small parties, like ourselves, sunburned and covered with alkali dust, and worn and wearied by the long and difficult journey. ”

“ July 24.—This day we traveled nineteen miles; seven miles through a deep, dusty sage plain, brought us to where the road strikes the river. Here we halted for a short time and watered our teams. We here left the river and traveled for about five miles over the roughest, strongest road on the whole route; then seven miles through deep dust, brought us to Pool creek, where the water stands in pools but is clear and tolerably good. There is plenty of grass up the stream nearby. ”

“ The orange orchard is not the unqualifiedly beautiful spectacle one dreams it will be; nor, in fact, is it so beautiful as it ought to be, with its evergreen shining foliage, snowy blossoms, and golden fruit hanging together and lavishly all the year round. I fancy that if travellers told truth, ninety-nine out of a hundred would confess to a grievous disappointment at their first sight of the orange at home. In South California the trees labor under the great disadvantage of being surrounded by bare brown earth. ”

“ It is the fruit par excellence—fit food for the gods. I have, in the course of my somewhat eventful life, eaten oranges in the groves of the Mediterranean, South America, Mexico and the West Indies, but none can compare with the orange grown in this State. Our soil is peculiarly adapted to the growth and maturity of the perfect orange. No other soil can produce it. The West India and Louisiana seedling orange tree is wonderfully improved by being transplanted in Florida soil. South Florida will, ere long, be one vast orange grove, and will supply the world with her incomparable fruit. ”