Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-01-23

fornia, near the Arizona line. Imagine
narrow strip of arid plain, shut in between
two mighty mountain walls the peaks
stretching up into burning sky.
"When," said one of the most experienced
of travellers to the writer, 81 stood at the
entrance to the weird place there was some
thing unearthly in the view. a gray haze,
bounded by the fatal mirage hung over the
surface. The level of the basin, 115 feet
below tidewater, was blackish gray, with
scarcely n piece of vegetation to rest the
eye.
Long before white man ever looked
upon the spot it was called Death valley
by the natives on account of the direfu in
fluenceit eXerted upon man and beast. The
ground between the bony ridges that rise
on either side is an alkali paste into which
the horse sinks to his knees Hair and
hide are eaten away by the strong sub
stance, and unless one can find the paths
which cross the plain, death will come be-
fore half the distance has been passed"
There is something uncanny about the
whole appearance of things in the valley
the absence of vegetation, the long, level
reaches of white sand, looking in the twi-
light like a lake, and the quiet, which is
unspeakable. But greatest and most fear
full of all is the heat. AS into a natural
furnace the suns rays are poured, without
cloud to mitigate the intensity When
Professor Gilbert, the famous geologist,
succeeded in crossing a narrow arm of the
valley almost twenty years ago, escaping
only with his life, the thermometers in his
saddle bags ran up to $50 degrees and then
burst.
The first white man who ever visited
Death valley was Capt. Bendire, Cali
fornia Forty-niner. He made his attempt to
cross it in 1869, and was unsuccessful in
more than skirting the edge. He took back
tales of the terrible place, and Immediately
a number of miners, excited by the addi
tons to his recital made by the Indians
determined to explore the region in hopes
of finding gold. Fitting themselves out
with plenty of tools, and carrying enough
water to last ordinarily for three days
they started "A company of four.
Slipping rapidly down from the shelf OF
rock that surrounds the plain, they found
themselves in "A journey of two miles 5000
feet below the starting point. Their aim
was precpitous bluff on the opposite
side, takin in what appeared to be an oasis
with trees growing thereon midway across
the valley. But their water supply di
minished rapidly. The air, much driei
than even that of Sahara, aud the great
heat put their bodies through IA kind of al
evaporating process. SO fast did this evap
Grafton 90 on that gallon of water only
lasted rs pint in an ordinary atmosphere
Even with their abundant supply, before
they had been out "A day their blood grew
thick and fever stared them in the face
Near where they camped the first night
they found the dried up form of an Indian
and beside it "A large gold nugget.
Wild with hope they toiled on, intending
to push up to one of the gorges that
reached into the valley from the west, a,
the head of which they hoped to find 6
spring. But they did not know which tC
seek, and after toiling to the head of one
and finding nothing but bare and parchet
rocks, one of the party went mad witt
| heat. and they were forced to abandon him
| Before night two more laid down to die
and the solitary survivor was clamberinl
! the rocks with feverish haste, endeavoring
to escape from the alkali sink in which hi:
friends had persisted. They did not neeC
burial Their bodies shriveled up to mum
myike forms, and may lie where the.
fell through all eternity, staring up at thu
brazen sky. The miner ut last reached
civilization mere skeleton of his former
self.
In 1873 party of eInigrants was crossing
the plains on the way to southern Cali