Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-04-07
CLOSE TO SUB1ERRANeAN FIRE.
Are the Feet of Those Who Walk nn the
Burning sand of Death Valley.

-hf tue rect oi Those Who Walk Hn the
Burning sand of Death Valley.
Mr.. Frederick Momson's lecture nn
Death Valley, which was delivered al
Metropolitan Temple recently. added
something To our knowledge of one of
the most curious spots in the State Il
was Il year or two after the discovery
of gold that its existence waS made
known by the frightful destruction nf
an Immigrant party by thirS, within
its limits.
The immigrants were coming ia
through Nyc County, New: they cross,
Cd pass in the Paramint Mountains
and struck into the valley. where their
skeletons lie to this day. Some ten
years afterwards the United States
boundary Commission surveyed the
valley and pronounced it to be the
bed "t Il former lake, which has been
drained in one of the last volcanic
commissions on this side of the noun
tainS. Since then it has been visited
by occasional explorers and gath"r"r>
OF hnrlX; but as it contains no water.
hS the air is imprcgnatcd with me
phltic gases, and as the THERMOMETERS
S"lnolltneS registers as much as 40
degrees in the shade in summer. vi>i-
tors have been few and far between.
Yet it is an interesting spot. 1t is
part of the belatcd world, to which
the Great Salt Lake, the Subtcrranran
river Of Mojave and the Colorado" Dc>-
ert belong. and Of which the gcySrrS
of Sonoma are an offshoot As Green
land is a relic nf the last glacial age.
so this distressed region is a surviving
relic of the latest igneouS age; an era
when nothing was finally settled. AMI
fil" and water We're contcnding for
supremacy over the soil. Similar re
9ionS exist in southern Calabra and in
the vicinity of the Dead Sea in Pal,s.
tine; the volcanic force has so far lost
its primitive energy that earthquakes
are light, and there are no eruptiunS;
but the volcanic gases continue to cS-
cape in such quantity that travel is
attended with danger to life, and the
water springs are polluted with salt.
sulphur and poisonous ingredients. In
the California S"lfatara excessive hea,
is added to the other horrors of the
place. Til" centre of the valley is hot
ter than SEMINAR, and the only animal
life Is few specimens of tropical
reptiles
MIR. MomSon is reported to have said
that the bottom of the valley is TIL
lowest depression on the earth's sur
face. This is not strictly correct. The
lowest levels obtained in Death Valley
are about 43O feet below the sea.
whereas the surface of the Dead Sea
in Palestine is 100 feet below. RuI
the hole which goes by the name of
Death Valley is pretty deep. Tie
crust of the earth throughout the val,
lcys of San Bcrnar,lino and Inyo Couli-
ties must be very thin. The travel
ler'S feet are separated from the in
ternal body of everlasting fire by Il
slim sheet Of earth and rock, whirl,
would offer but n slight resistance t"
seismic force. A few miles distant
from Death Valley there is Il region
which may be surveyed by the eye.
and which contains thousand activ"
volcanoes small of their kind to hr
sure, baby volcanoes, so to speak bur
still actively engaged in throwing up
mud and water. And not many miles
away Is the range of granite noun
tains, among which Mount Whitney
rears its head through the clouds; solid
masses Of primeval rock which must
have worn the shape in which we see
them now when the plain at their frrr
was seething, raging caldron in
which fire and water contcnded for the
mastery
To see such marvels of nature people
cross oceans, spend fortunes. and car
ry their lives in their hands. Neither
Mauna Loa nor Hecla offers such Won
ders to the beholder as Death Valley
and the Colorado Desert. In January
and February the heat in the valley is
bearable-not over 80 degrees in the
shade. Excursion parties might be
fitted out with supplies of food and
water, and, in Il few days, the visitors
might see enough to realize what the
world was like in the Plut"nic age.
The contrast between the pleasant val
leys of the rivers, with their fruit trees
bursting into blossom. and these dread
full deserts, with their awful cha>nlS
and their hideous inhabitants, would
be thing not easily forgott"n.-San
Francisco Call.