The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-26

w. Il. Curtis, in Chicago Record.
About sixty miles north Of Barstow,
Cal, where the Los Angeles branch of
the Santa iFe railroad leaves the san
Francisco line, is that awful desert
known as Death valley" 1t is
pocket. a sink in the earth, an aver
age of 200 feet below the level of the
sea, and avs once the bed of salt
lake, which has evaporated in that dry
and rainless atmosphere, and left an
area about seventy-five miles long and
from six to twenty-five miles wide, in
which human existence is almost i'm
possible because of the heat and the
lack of moisture.
Death valley is hemmed in on all
sides by mighty mountains, the Flu
neral and Amargosa ranges, which rise
to 5000 feet on one side and 5000 feet
on the other. Telescope peak, the most
conspicuous of the range, measures
1O99S feet. Along the east side of the
desert is a narrow, glistening artery
of salt. The remainder of the bottom
is covered with a thick deposit of
borax. The crust is thin and usually
breaks through under the feet of the
IEdNtltF, DuC Ill one pace IL Is SlIOuS
enough to hold up heavy teams that
follow the roadway across it. At the
northern end there is salt marsh
surrounded by a deposit of white
shifting sand and ashes mixed with n
tenacious clay. 1t is very soft ana
can be traversed only with great diff
Guilty.
DESTITUTE OF VEGETATION.
The valley is entirely destitute of
vegetation. but is bordered on the west
by clumps of mesquite trees and 9TH
er species of desert shrubs and cacti.
The animal forms are few, hornel
toads, lizards and snakes being the
only living creatures with the eXceD-
tion of a small black gnat, which dur
ing the spring torments travellers by
singing their ears, eyes and noses.
Around the rugged walls that inclose
the valley mountain sheep are seen
frequently, and two or three camps of
Piute Indians can usually be found
there during the hunting season. There
are only two permanent residents near
the valley brothers known as Cub
and Phi Lee, who married Piute
squaws and have lived apart from the
world for many years in a mountain
canyon, apparently Contented with
their lot
A San Francisco company has been
engaged for several years in taking out
borax from what is satirically called
Greenland Ranch" About thirty
acres are fenced in, and water is
brought from a spring about nine miles
distant in the mountains. and stored in
two reservoirs for mechanical and irri-
cation purposes. As is usually the
case. the soil of the desert is very pro-
duCtive when watered and cultivated
and yields six or seven crops of alfalfa
a year with vegetables and fruits of
most extraordinary growth. The boz
TaX is hauled by steam motors to the
"ailWay station at Daggett, on the
santa Fe road The company formerly
used twenty mule teams, but the diff
Guilty of sustaining animal life in the
desert was so great that the steam
motors were substituted, A narrow
gauge railroad is now projected. AMI
1t is believed the profits from the borax
mine will justify it.
BORAX MINERS.
The employees in the borax mine re-
ceive $40 day, and they earn it, for
they are engaged in what is probably
the deadliest occupation known, and
neither man nor beast can survive in
that climate for a great while The
hands change frequently because they
become exhausted. The dry air and
the heat of the sun sap the moisture in
their bodies so rapidly that they can
not live there a great while without
losing their vitality. They drink a
great deal, and some of them sleep in
tubs of water in order to repleniSh the
moisture of the system. The average
life of the mules that We're formerly
engaged in hauling borax from the
mines to the railway was only six
months. They became broken windel
and consumptive from inhaling the
dust of the desert and enduring the
heat. The wagons We're made espe-
cially for their work, and weighed 5000
pounds. The usual load was 10000
pounds, and it was hauled by a team
of twenty mules. Behind each wagon
was a tank containing 100 gallons of
water, from which the animals were
given a bucketful at intervals of an
hour during their sXty-mle Journey
across the bitter sands. Each wagon
was accompanied by five or six men.
The mules We're driven by a braided
rope, called the jerk line" which was
attached to the bits of the off mule If
each team. The driver sat under an
awning on the wagon and cracked his
whip, but he had little responsibility.
Tor the road was plain, and in that ter
rible heat no animal had energy
enough to resist orders Some times,
when a wagon broke down and the
water in the tank gave out, the mules
became frantic and fled into the desert.
where they died Of thirst. The expense
Of replacing the teams so frequently
led the managers of the mine to aban-
Hon them and adopt steam as a motive
power.
AN IMPRESSIVE SILENCE.
over the whole region hangs an aw-
ul and most impressive silence. Day
fter day, month after month year
fter year and century after century,
he fierce sun has beaten down from a