The broad ax., 1897-02-13
2lA.

drop 70 pieces Tor want OF moisture to
hold them together.
Take down your map and draw q line
from latitude IS to 81 and longitude 116
to lis and you will have within the in
closure a block Of desert comprising
1000 square miles.
This vast Enclosure is dotted with the
white bones OF dead men and old Jokes
Of dead oxen and the paraphernalia Of
ancient emigrant trains. No vulture
wheels above in the bald, blue sky; no
wolf or coyote bowls from the sandy
ridges. 1t Is a sepulcher where silence
reigns forever. The rush has already
commenced and the fat levels along
the Mojave are marked with the deep
wheel tracks of daring prospectors.
This is because II is winter and In win
ter the desert Is comparatively kind.
Let them flrd gold and let them hang
to 1t as long as their strength lasts.
The desert will dream in placid silence
until summer comes and then the pros
pectors will die like rats in a trap be-
fore they can get over the high, stony
ridges that surround Death valley.
The area OF the desert Is traversed
by numerous parallel valleys running
from northwest to southeast and
bounded by great ranges of treeless
hills. The center valley Of these Is
the one that bears the name Of Death.
It Is the hottest on earth and vies in
many ways with the bottomless pit
and no wonder. 1t Is from 100 to 500
feet below the level Of the sea.
At various times since its discovery
individuals have penetrated the arid
waste. Once a government expedition
passed hurriedly through 1t, but could
not spare time to make explorations
for fear Of losing their lives.
Springs were found, but they were
not sufficient to quench the thirst Of
q suffering mule. The average mid
night heat during summer is said to be
close to ITO degrees, much Of which Is
subterranean.
Yet 1t is to this region and that Of
the Mojave that the gold-feyered min
ers are hurrying.
Death valley is overhung on the east
by the Funeral mountains, which rise
above it in great bald ridges. They are
called the funeral mountains because
they witnessed one Of the saddest trag-
edies that even the Death valley has
ever witnessed.
In the early SOS an emigrant train,
steering south, away from the regular
trail, sighted range Of mountains on
the far side Of wide. binding desert
Two days will take US across the des-
ert and in the mountains we will find
water" they argued.
So they filled their water barrels and,
with cracking whips, launched their
white prairie ships over the white and
motionless waves OF the borax desert.
Forty miles, fifty miles, a nights en-
campment; sixty, seventy-hve miles,
and the blue mountains that had hung
like a painting against the sky were
reached.
No wood, no water, no grass, no song
of birds or sound other than the thirsty
lowing of maddened oxen, the cry of
children and the wall Of women. Men
have instincts that are godlike in emer-
gencies such as these.
They parcelled out the precious store
of food and the more than precious
store Of water, giving the women and
children two-thirds Of everything In
sight. Then they pitched camp at the
foot Of the mountains.
On the next day, with infinite
trouble, they gradually rolled the great
wagons to the top Of the mountains,
one behind the other In q long line.
They wheeled into a stony plateau at
the top. Then q great cry broke from
them.
To the west lay the shining white
levels OF as dead a land as God ever
made. There was nothing but grease
wood and a few bare clumps Of sage
brush In sight--nothing but the silence
of death and the austerity of utter desc
lation-
And yet It was a sight that would
have filled the heart Of painter with
delight. To the northwest lay the
ranges of the Argus and the Sierras,
hundreds Of miles away. To the south
they could see the Pilot Butte, the
Calicos and the San Bernardino range,
beyoud which was safety. These noun
tains we're blue and family streaked
with snow. To the north were range
upon range Of mountains nameless and
unknown
At their feet, beyond the mesa, which
thsy reached later, was a narrow val
lay. all streaked with soda, like the
Waite ribs Of q skeleton. spotted with
lava buttes and blotehed with sage.
II was death to 90 back They could
nsyer have survived the journey. They
eosid only plunge on, into the un-
known.
And 90 they lowered the wagons By
ropes down to the mesa or table laad
below. They could get no further. A
melancholy meeting was held There
we're no tears; only sad questioning
eyes and burning gases serves the