The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-09-22
DEATH FROM THIRST.
Terrible Experiences IN the Coio-
RADIO Desert
An ARID Region Where Life In Any Form
Is Hard 60 sustain-Sand storms
Which Out Down Taio-
graph Poles.

The great Colorado desert, which
forms part of San Diego county. al
lured three prospectors to their death,
as was recently reported These mon,
who were seeking gold, died within o
few thousand yards of an abundant
water supply, simply because they made
slight miscalculation as to wi.is was
needed to carry them safely over the
hot. dry. tr,acherous desert plains. says
San Diego corrcspc 1dont OF lie New
York Tribune One of their stampeded
mules died at the edge Of the water
pool The other rnnlcs were found
alive. Tie bodies Of the Lien were
found not far apart. as they had fallen
when overcome by the death weakness
This Is only one o. thousands OF in
stances OF the terrible possibilities, OF a
death from thirst in the western dos-
erta During the sommer their average
daily temperature IS over one hundred
end ten degrees The air is absolutely
dry, and strong men can-,o, count ON
living unless he gets water at Least
every six hours Cloth-oovered cam
teens containing scrcla, gallons Of
water are usual receptacles used In des-
ert misrching, and f re I,'arts day VIII
keep u nan feeling Petty comfortable.
A great danger in desert marching Is
the liability Of finding water holes,
where the nights encampment is TO be
made. dried up. Vcars ago Gen. Canby
marched brisude or so across q forty
fve-mile stretch of desert in Colorado.
The water holes along the route were
dry, and for many hours the troops were
without water. A nun ba- of the men
died en- route, and rnany others were
carried along in army wagons, at
deaths door, physically. The utmost
exertions of the officers were needed to
keep the men from lying down and
dying. All the dogs Of the command
died on this awful trip, their bodies
swelling 10 twice the natural size be-
fore death ensued Upon reaching the
Grand river, after an all-day march, the
thirst-stricken troops were allowed to
drink all the water they desired.
The symptoms Of approaching death
from thirst are an overwhelming lassi-
tude which rapidly increases A kind
OF film forms over the eye and partially
obscures the vision. The mouth, tongue
and throat become parched, the tongue
feeling like q oorncob, as It grows
dry and hard Hallucinations fit
through the brain until the weak
ness becomes 30 greet that unconscious
ness follows and death soon ensues,
as the unwstered blood thickens
and interferes with the functions Of
the heart Men have been known to
60 without water for forty-eight
hours, but the conditions were different
from those Of the desert. A San Fran
cisco sailor, who was taken from
waterlogged ship, had been without
water for fourteen days, save such
scanty supply as he could lick from the
spars In the form of accumulated dew.
When found this mans throat was actu-
ally closed up and before an entrance
to his stomach was obtained by proper
medical means the poor castaway died
When It comes to a question between
the dangers of desert or sea the natives
IN these parts much prefer the sea as
being safer than the desert Winds on
the desert can be as fatal In effect as
the veriest hurricane on record A long
continued sandstorm deals death all
along Its route. This sand is so oppres-
sive to section hands OF transcontinent-
al railroads that they wear goggles for
the protection of their eyes. The
sides Of telegraph poles exposed to the
prevailing desert winds are literally
eaten out by the constant friction. aud
the station windows on the windy side
arc quickly turned into ground glass by
these sand blasts In crossing the des-
ert freight car containing supple
mentary water tanks is attached to the
locomotive Stationary water tanks
are an unknown quantity on the des-
erts, except In rare instances.