The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-20

unfortunate victim is the sting OF its
teeth. The next thought is that he has
but three minutes longer TO live
The record of deaths in this desert IS
frigEfful. In very instance the victims
first become insane. John c. o Brien, a
prospector, reached some coyote holes on
the euge of a dry lake The water there
only aggravated his thirst. his brain
gave way, and he began digging in the
sand with his hands. When help reached
him he was found dead under grease
bush, with his fingers worn to the Gone
from insane efforts 10 dig for water A
strang delusion often seizes the sufferers
The dreams of water become realities to
the wanderer. He believes he it at last
N the water. More than one man mas
been found stripped naked and walking
about on the burning sand holding his
clothing above his head. As reScuers ap-
preached they were warned to be care
full, for the water was deep, and once
they were within reach of the dying man
he would clutch them as drowning man
might do.
pearance of the region:
The valley and its lowering black walls
of barren rock are weird and strangely
sublime in their desolation- For miles
and miles the curious mountains may be
seen outlined against the clear blue Sky
Stretching from the mountains teet are
glistening fields of salt. Here and there
are running streams of salt and mineral
waters. To drink them is to die. Inc
view is closed in by the gloomy GIFTS OF
the Funeral mountains, which form an
impenetrable barrier at the east OF the
canyon. The scene is one of violent con-
trasts of glazing whites and dead blacks
Some parts of the valley are wastes
of hot sand. drawn in places into hlgh
mounds by the whirling blasts that sweep
down the gorge. There, too. is the curl
Gus 'self-rising earth. As far. as the
eye can see it appears in curving out
line, up and down, as if pulled up by
natural yeast. The unfortunate creature
that steps up on the little hills viii crash
through, for they are not mucn m, more ore
of thin, Shiny, salt mud of unmeasuraoee
depth.
''Still stranger is that section of the
is called salt earth Innumerable PIN
nacles, tapering to points as fine as
needles, and over foot long, rise in
close array from the ground. These are
as hard as stone and as dangerous as
sharpened steel There. too, are the rich
fields of borax which have tempted many
a man to his DEATH
One of the most dreadful stories in the
long -historv of tragedies in Death val
ley was that which a well known and
aged Methodist clergyman, Rev. E. w
enceS of a party of which ne was one,
during their travels across this region
of desolation. In September 1898, party
of SO emigrantS started from the southern
end of Utah to cross the desert to the
mines of California. There were q
wagons, drawn by sturdy oxen, beside
which trudged the shaggy men, rife in
hand, while under the canvas awnings
rode the women and children. In q short
time there was division of opinion as
to the proper route across that painless
waste in front; and next day five wagons
and their people went east to reach
Santa Fe whence there were dim Mexi-
can trails to Los Angeles) and the rest
plunged boldly into the desert. The
party which went by way of Santa Fe
reached California in December, after
terrible sufferings. The larger company
Travelled in comfort for few days until
they reached about where Phoebe New.
now is. Then they entered the land of
horror, and for more than three months
wandered, lost in that realm of thirst,
months earlier the heat would have
killed them in a week or two. 1t was
almost impossible to get wagons through
country furrOWed with canyons;
they soon abandoned their vehicles, pack
ing what they could upon the backs OF
the oxen. They struggled on to glitter
ing lakes, only 10 md them deadly poison
or but a mirage on barren sands. Now
and then a tiny spring in the mountains
gave them new life. One by one the
oxen dropped, day by day the scanty
ated from the rest. being stalWart and
authenticated with families, reached
Dean valley ahead of the others, and
were lost. Their memified bodies and
protruding bones were found years later
by Governor BlaiSdell and his surveyors.
The main part of the emigrating party
crossed the Valley at place where IL WAS
20 miles between the mountains, but not
one of them ever having been in that
region before not having the least idea
where there were springs of water, and
where there were passes through the
mountains by which they could get TO the
Pacific coast they wandered about this
horrible desert waste for weeks. One
week they would move toward what
seemed TO be favorable mountain pass,
and the next they retraced their steps.
For days at q time they went without
drink. Children died quickly and the
oxen We're killed for their meat. Even
the viscera of the beasts was eaten by
mer with its terrible heat. not one of
the party would have lived more than a
few days to tell of their experiences. Day
by day some of their number sank upon
the burning sands, never 10 rise. The
survivors were too weak to help the fall
was nervous little Mrs. Brier who had
come to Colorado an invalid, and who
shared with her boys of four, seven and
nine years that indescribable tramp of
800 miles, For the last week she had TO
lift her athletic husband from the ground
moments before he could stand. She
gave help to wasted giants, any one of
whom a few months before cou a have
lifted her with one hand. TWenty-seven
persons died in agony in one week.
AT last the few Survivors crossed the
range which shuts off that most dreadful
of deserts from the garden of the world
and were tenderly nursed to health at
the hacienda of a Spanish family. Mr..
Brier had lost 100 pounds In weight, and
the others were thin in proportion.
Fl. G. T1NSLEY.
ARIZONA HORRORS.