Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-10-23

The great Sierra Nevada range that di-
vides California from the State of Nevada is
shattered toward ths South, in Moro, Inyo
and San Bernardino counties, into short and
divergent ranges between which are curious
valleys and levels of desert unlike any other
conformation on the Continent. Southern
Nevada is of much the same general charac-
ter, a waste and worthless land, except for
minerals and occasional GASES, unless arte-
sian wells sometime reclaim the soil that
only requires water to make it very produc,-
tive, in most places at least. A vast area it
is. marked on maps as silver, boraX and
nitrate belt, and much of it's surface is unfit
even for pasturage. It contains many min
ing camps, however, and is gradually COM
ing into notice and being pierced by rail
roads, It contains within it's limits one of
the least expIoretf districts of the United
States-the famous Death Valley, which,
with its rocky and barren environments ex-
tends over portion of San Bernardino and
Inyo counties, chiefly the latter, and lies
wholly within the limits of California.
Since 1850, q great deal has been said and
written about this modern Inferno Valley,
and its marvels, but the peculiar horrors OF
the place are not easily described.
According to Furnace Creek observations
the winter climate of Death Valley is not so
bad but the summer climate is so exceed
ingly dry and hot "that men have died
when water was in abundance, but they
could not drink it fast enough to supply the
drain caused by the desiccative power of the
furnace-likeair." A short walk causes great
thirst. Something in the atmosphere, even
in winter, makes the eyes very painful and
weak. Numbers of persons state that birds
which attempt to fly over the valley drop
dead with the heat and exertion. There is
no vegetation except sage-brush, and but
little of that. Near the few creeks and
springs in the adjacent hills are stunted Will
lows and mesquit bushes. Every afternoon
burning wind, fierce as a SIMEON, blows
across the valley and whirls the coarse hot
grains of sand, and even large pebbles with
lacerating force against those who venture to
face it. At Furnace Creek the heat was l2O
degrees in the shade in July, and workmen
often slept in wetted blankets in their hope
less endeaVors to keep cool. No one has
ever been able Oreport upon the heat IN the
heart of the valley, at the focus of it's lowest
point. It is only few years since the bodies
of two men, who had had water and food in
abundance, were found in the valley, the
awful heat being the cause. Mr.. Dannet
killed one of his horses and drank its blood
as substitute for water, when on pros
pocClnS TOUR Ill tIllS IeSloll laoG otth' he
three terrors of Death Valley are scarcity OF
water, extreme heat, owing to the absence
of rainfall and the enormous amount of re-
f1ecting surface of sand and stone, and hence
unparalleled dryness of atmosphere. 1t
would easily serve as not unfit companion
to that fearful circle of Dante's Inferno,
wherein he placed his old teacher, Ser Bru-
netto Latini, Secretary of Florence, describ-
ing him as walking "with scQrched counten-
ance," under a continual rain of "dilated
fakes of fire" and over q soil OF acid and
thick sand, "set on fire like tinder beneath
the STEEL" The hardiestof prospectors ever
hesitated to pierce to the center OF Death
Valley, for the binding heat swerves the
him wander without aim, although within
sight of the snow-peaks of the Sierra, until
he falls in the flames of the desert to die in
despair, forever unburied and unknown
dead men lying in the heart of dead
seas, or on the slopes Of dead volcanoes,
withered into mummies, whitened in the
pitiless sun. Not long ago such body was
found preserved by the boracic acids of
hollow in the sands. Another was discov-
cred in the Coso range, where, from letters
found with it, the poor prospector's remains
had lain for ten years.
The experiences of some of the exploring
parties, none of which have thoroughly ira
versed the valley, add to the previous out
lines. The French party from Butte county,
California, visited the region in May, 1860,
and discovered the emigrant camp in the
Northern part of Death Valley, near where,
in 1850, they abandoned their wagons,
which, in 1861, stood there still, the iron un-
rusted, the wood undecayed, untouched by a
drop of rain or dew. During October, 1860,
the George expedition followed the French
trail, and found water near where the emf
grants of 1850 had perished. Curious hiero-
glyphic inscriptions were observed on the
rocks in the hills west Of the valley.