The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-08-02
euNsrOCE FROM DEATH Valley.
Sole Relic OF the Original Di.oovsrsr. of
the Place,

the Place,
San Francisco Chronicle: An old gun
stock, white as bone. light as feather
and full of waving lines, made where
the wood gasped in the excruclatlng
heat Of the desert sink we know as
Death Valley, is one of the latest addi-
lions to the Park Museum. The stock
was picked up by j. w, Droallard where
q train Of emlgrants persisted forty
seven years ago, and was presented TO
the museum by Jefferson g. James, OF
this city. The carved old stock, white
as skeleton, tells good story. 1t was
found where a large emlgrant party per-
ished 1850 and where for many years the
tracks OF the wagon wheels and the
marks of the fires could still be seen, 30
deathly IL natures stiffness In this re-
markable region.
1t was from the fate Of this very party
to which the old gunstock belonged that
the region was named. They had the
honor OF christening the place but, like
many pioneers, they paid dearly for thu
privilege. II was party Of thirty gold
seekers, with their wives and children,
all unmindful Of the deadly grasp OF the
country into which they had so blithely
ventured. After q one-day camp they
were so overcome by the heat and still
more terrible arIdlty that more than half
their number perlshed. A few escaped
over the Panamlnt Mountains to the
west and the others returned the way
they came. 1t was a pltlful experience.
Ten years later a party of prospectors
came across the camp, with Its wagons.
chains, yokes, camp equipments, guns,
and children's toys, to say nothing OF
the melancholy skeletons of men, wo-
men and children, and their faithful
horses. Even the tracks made In the
sand by the little ones could be still
traced. or all the stories told Of Call.
fornia pioneers none Is so full OF human
interest as this, and yet II is told only
by tradition, though survivors OF the
party still remain.
Then there was the "gunslght lead"
One OF the survivors Of the other party
carried a piece Of rock, probably black
metal" from spring he found In the
Panamlnts, TO the settlements. A gun
smith, when asked to make n sunsight OF
II, found II TO be silver. Why should the
story be considered incredible? The lead
has been covered by the debris OF a
cloudburst. II may never be found, but
there seems no good reason to doubt Its
existence
There are hundreds OF unknown
graves in the region. Some are marked
by lonely crosses, others not at all. How
many men have wandered from the trail
and have never been found no one
knows. At the lower end of the valley
travellers used 10 pass six skeletons iTl
one day. and near some OF them werq
deep holes dug beneath the greasewood
bushes, where men gone mad with thlrGl
had dug their fingers TO the bone in the
search for water. II ls n terrible region,
this country below the sea, where only
the dust storms somewhere the stiffness
is everlasting, and where It never rains.
Mems bodies dry there as fruit dries
under the process OF evaporation, and
woe betlde the prospector who loses hin
way or does not know the location OF
the nearest water hole.
In such a home the bleached and
cracked gunstock has been lying these
many years. the wood starting and
gasplng for the rain that never came.