The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-02-28

on this desert pit The earth grows hotter
and hotter as tho days pass till the naked
| hand cannot bear to touch even the woody
parts OF tho sage and grease bushes. while
| rock or bit OF iron scorches as IL from q bed
| OF Goals. The dir Rlows and dances and
bakes. And thon comes the cloudless gale.
gathering heat Us It hurrics along between
| tho blazing sun and the white hot sands OF the
desert until at last it bursts In through the
passes Of tho Panamints like blast OF fame
There It picks up the hot dust and sand. and
tossing them nloft In Clouds converts the val
| ley into averitablc nit OF hell.
People have read from time to time that mon
and boasts. and even birds. trying to cross
Death Valley fall down and die. 1t is true.
| Even the desert innet, whose home Is on these
| arid wastes sometimes succumbs to the ter
rors amid which II lives. When caught in
the midst OF Death Valley sand storm in tho
hent OF the summer. these birds fall gasping
from tho mosquito trees in which they vninly
sock shelter and die Li'e is burned out OF
them. 1t Is not that the air is poisonous; the
air Is simply heated till no living organism
higher than that OF a reptile can endure 1t.
did not 500 this. OF course. but Mr. J. W. s.
Perry. tho superintendent of the Pacific Borax
Company Mt Daggett. man OF education and
experience. and Lenndcr Lee. an old desert
both told me that they had seen birds dead and
dying under less trying circumstances than
those which prevail in an August sand Storm
and believed thnm. Moreover. il is on record.
I'M report written by Henry q. Hanks. as State
M.ncraogist OF California. that Mr.. II. H. llaw-
kins. who visited Death Valley in 1857. saw
tho sarie phenomenon. while two rrospcctors
who tried to cross the valley in the same year
fell down and died, although they had plenty
of water with them. Tho tcrrors of Death
Valley have been misunderstood and grossly
misreprrscntrd. but considered as they are
when ut their wp.st-.tLnt is when tho sum-
mcr sand storm is ra.ing-thcy have never
been exaggerated. 1t is simply impossible to
adequately portray such storm. let alone ex-
aggcration in describing il.
rs l sail. II sand storm, more or less Sc
we're. is making Death Valley uncomfortable
about half the time. / have this stnte-
ment from several mon familiar with Death
Valley ard the desert region round about.
What shall be said. then. OF the following quo
tation from tho report OF the state Mineralo
gist Just referred to:
Oct. I. 1850 Dr.. 5. G. George. DR.. W. +.
Lilley. Il. j. Henderson. stephen Gregg. Mr..
Thnycr. and J. Il. Bill organized II search for
the Gun-ght Load. They remained
at the cmGrant camp for somc time prospect
ing tho hills in every direction. Although ton
years Ind passed. tracks OF inen. women. and
children We. distinctly seen. "a fresh US If
newly made the irons OF the wagons were
whore they had boon lot. Tn, remains OF OK
yokcS wert seen. which had been hid out for
use the following day. with tho chains extend
ed on the ground in front of each wagon
showing the number Of oxen TO eurh and
traces OF the old camp fires were seen"
With sand storms raging half the time so
that tho mir is full Of drifting dust. with sand
augers slender tornadoes. in fact-drifting
about sucking up the sand; with "a burning
wind fierce and powerful. blowing articles of
considerable weight some distance. and hurl-
ing the coarse. hot sand with such force rs to
lacerate the fnce when EXPOSED. tho men being
frequently Obliged to wear wells and goggles"
as the report elsewhere says. how did it hap
pen that. although ten years had passed.
the tracks OF men. women. and children
were distinctly srcn?' The facts alleged
cannot be doubted by any ono who visits
the Death Valley. l did not see the
tracks referred to nor very much OF the debris
of the old caIlI. The tracks had been oblit-
Grated and tho remains Of the camp carried off
by the men employed in tho valley during tho
cooler months) when borax WAS produced
there. and by tho prosDector5 attracted thore
by the presence Of n civilized gang OF men
with supplies. But did see sand storm and
sand augers. and / saw tho old wagon trails
made years ago and unused for years. but still
as distinct as IL but month old. Moro
over. saw sand dunes. though comparatively
small ones. wherever saw n growth OF mes
quite trees. and they were dunes that grew
fast enough and large enough to cover big
clumps Of these trees. Why does not the sand
obiiterntc tracks and trails?
The answer as given by the desert mon is
that tho sand there is of such a nature that |
when impressed by tho wheel OF vehicle. or
even trodden by tho foot Of child. it is COM
pressed. not to say felted. together. so that the
wind has little il any effect upon it. Tho wind
does indeed they say. blow sand and dust into
trails and tracks. but it blows them out again |
and leaves the mark undisturbed. But whom |
tho sand is blown among the mesquite trees
the branches hold tho accumulation and SO |
are buried.
But II the storms OF Death Valley fail to pile |
up any great quantity Of sand in the shape OF |
dunes. the winds in a part Of tho Amargosa |
Valley to the east make up for tho lack have |
had the good fortune to see some remarkable |
heaps Of sand in various parts Of tho United |
States. There is such heap a ver-
table wavo OF sand. fifty feet high |
and a milo and n half long. ut Cape |
Ilenlopen. that is rolling back from the soa |
another sand wave on tho long. slender island |
north VI CapO Hatteras. between the Pamlico |
Sound and tho Atlantic Ocean. This sand |
wave. though no moro than fifteen fect high. |
is not only destroying all the trees and every
vestigo Of vegetation in its pathway. but it is |
driving from their homes tho entire populn- |
ton. some hundreds OF souls. OF that part OF |
the island. More remarkable in themselves |
Though loss in surroundin. conditions. be-
cause they arc destroying nothing OF conse- |
Iucnce) ere the sand waves in the Snake River |
Valley in eastern Idaho. On tho north side Of |
tho north fork OF tho rivor may DO found n |
series OF sand waves thirty miles long. for all |
the world like rollers on shelving seacoast. |
They vary in height from 25 to more than |
300 feet. Tho prevailing wind is from the |
Southwestern blows up the valley. And these |
waves are travelling up the valley before 1t. |
It is a curious fact that they arc composed |
Of fine white sand. the like OF which 10 not |
found elsewhere in that vicinity. and they are |
over n continuous bed OF black lava |