The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-09-14
The Jajlg . llletin.
TUESDAY, SEPT. ID. 1886.
DEATH VALLEY.
ms SURROUNDINGS COMPARED WI
ne DEAD S~A.

WV tiiIS W ''ihC iucCc tCt T. ~
putes as 10 whe.her any part (
Dee ii Valley Is eolf below ihe
levc' of The sea. TIE .ates olse,-
vauoms show that considerable
portion lies below sea.level. At
the lowest point it is l 10 feet below
the level of the ocean. This is at n
place about twenty miles southeast
OF Furnace creek. This depression
extends north and south for dis
lance of sixteen or eighteen miles.
The gToun' w rsed by the Eegle
BoraX ComDany is seventy feet
below sca-'cvel. This is four miles
west of the deepest depression. The
depression at Death Valley is, how
ever, far above that 1T the Dead
Sea. the surface of which is l,3l2
feet below the level of the Mediter-
ranean. The surroundings of Lieut..
Lynch showed the Dead Sea TO he
2lS fathoms. o. about thirteen hun
dred fee5 deep in the deepest part
therefore, were its waters evapo-
rated, as were those that once COW
cred Death Valley, there would
exist depression 2,G12 feet below
sea-level. But at the Dead Sea
s,eat altitude does not exist side by
side with great depression, as at
Death Valley. The cliffs to Judea,
Oh the west of the Dead Sea, are
but from one thousand to one thou
sand five hundred feet high, while
or he east The Mountains of Moab,
which ere n continuation of the
Rauran Range, have II, peaks that
rise to Il height exceeding three
5ousand feet. AT Death Valley,
10 ever, but fifteen miles away
~ .he lowest part, rises on the
Wet Telescope Peak, which has en-
slitude of lO,937 feet above Sec
ie,ei and .i.0A7 feet above The
lowest depression.
. get some idea of the depth of
re )cttom of Death Valley we have
Dot o observe the attitude of sur
rounding places that appear to be
considerable depressions. Thus
WJshoe Lake is 1000 feet above
se,-leva', Mono Lake, $3.50; lose-
II js Vale presents the appearance
o treat depression, yet it is 4 200
fest above ;he level of the sea; and
so'ng 10 points b. the eastward of
De. II Nallev. ON the Colorado river,
s"gut TIE lowest roiut in the sur
lounIi1% country, we find that the
nc Ii of the Vcgss Wash is 700
feel love sea-lcvel. end the mouth
OF The Rio Nirgen 500. Although
We ave given 40 feet rs tie lowest
po,lt in Death Valley. Col. II. S.
W .."->on, in his report on the
.leAogy of c. ifornia, makes it 175
sect be'ow sea-leve'.
Al'hough drealy region enough,
(, er" hot in summer, it is by no
me Is he fee FIJI place that many
haye described it as hein%. Death
NsHey oroper is ahnut thirty miles
! ng aud ten miles wiGe; therefore
were . man Dyced IN the middle of
il he world have TO travel only
about five m les 10 reach the hills by
which it is surrounded.
Furnace creek, mentioned above,
Was So named for The reason that
here were found the ruins Of fur
Daces used by the Mormous during
Bucharan's Administration in 1857
for smelling lead for bullets. Ii is
said that the lead mines at this
place were known to the Indians
long before any whites were in the
country. The veins, which are of
argentiferous galena, are found in
the f@ce OF an almost perpendicular
CHI, and are from one to five feet
in width. The creek has its source
in HUXLEY Springs, and has volume
of about one hundred inches of
water. In the distance Of four or
five miles, however, this flow sinks
in the sands and is lost.
The place where the immigrants
lost their lives in 1850 is not in
Death Valley, but at Lost Wagons
Springs, on the northern border of
the valley. Many remains and
wrecks If wagons still lie strewn
fboat these springs, the water of
which is strongly alkaline.
some writer's have described
Death Valley as being almost as
fatal to life as was that which sur
rounded the tabled upas tree in the
Island If Java, asserting that birds
that attempt & fly over the valley
drop dead. A Mr.. Hawkins of
California seems to have some faith
in this story. lie says: st has
been stated that birds attempting to
fly across the valley drop dead.
While the writer cannot verify this
by cular proof, he has picked up
at different times two little birds
whose bodies were still quite warm,
having evidently just dropped
dead" Hawkins also says; "The
dryness of the air is so excessive
that moisture is withdrawn from the
body faster than it can he supplied
through the system, From this
cause frequent cases of death have
occurred when water was plenty,
but witch could not be drunk fast
enough 10 supply the drain caused
by the dessica,ive power of the dry,
hot air." We shall not dispute
what Mr. IJowl,in, eo,,s % tln