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

and systematically explored by par
ty Of naturalsts sent out by the Unit
ed States department of agriculture.
ONE RANCHMAN'S EXPERIENCE.
The number of men who have lost
their lives on the desert will never DE
known, but an idea may be formed
from the fact that in single season
thirteen thus perished. In the ante
railroad days it was frequent oc-
currence for teamsters and stage driv-
ers to find by the roadside the bodies
of men who had evidently perished
from thirst. Generally the discoverers
of such ghastly remains would dig a
shallow hole and give them burial.
A notable case, illustrating the dan
ger to which even the most experienced
desert traveller is subjected, was that
of a ranchman of San Bernardino
named Cornman, who sent a messen-
ger to the mining camp of Resting
Springs for the purpose of obtaining
the election returns After he had
been gone a few hours 1t struck Corn
man that the messenger had never
been on the desert and was in danger
of being lost. AS he was himself IA
miliar with the routes he saddled a
Overtaking the messenger he sent him
back and then continued on what was
destined to prove his death journey.
He reached the mines, obtained the in
formation and started back for San
Bernardino. But he never reached
that place. Some time elapsed AMI
finally parties arrived in town who had
left Ivanpah several days after Corn
mans departure. This at once caused
an investigation to be made. Expert
enced trackers found where Cornman,
evidently crazed with thirst, had lett
the trail in search of water and had
wandered aimlessly about for miles,
and finally, completely worn out and
beside himself with suffering, had
blown his brains out with six-shooter.
He left a rudely sCrawled note, which
was afterward found upon his body.
explaining that he was lost and killed
himself in preference to enduring fur
ther torture.
MANY TALES OF SUFFERING.
One of the most singular mental fea-
lures of the suffering in the Death val
ley is that man often imagines him
self lost when he is really on the right
trail. The horror and the nervous ten
sion is so great that the imagination
is inflamed and the reason becomes
dethroned. The profound desolation,
the appalling silence and the tremend-
Gus heat contribute to unsettle the
mind and weaken the nerve of the
strongest man. Not long ago men,
Der of a party of railroad surveyors
became accidentally separated from his
companions and lost sight of them be-
hind some sand dunes. He Immediate
ly imagined that he was lost and COM
menced to run about like an insa ne
man. first this way and then the other,
until he confused the points of the
compass and gave up in despair A
few hours after some of his associates
| accidentally found him lying stark
mad in the sand almost within the
| sound of their voices. He was taken
up tenderly and carried to camp, but
died the same night victim to his
| own imagination.
Columns might be filed with we'll
| authenticated tales of suffering and
| death from thirst that have come with
| in the observation Of that hard race o.
! pioneers who travelled the desert with
team and stage long before a railroad
was thought of. In those times there
was far more suffering than now AMI
| hundreds of lives were lost. Such per-
! lis are not possible now. at least along
| the railroad lines. Train employees are
under orders to pick up men who ap-
| pear to be suffering on the desert, and
under no circumstances are persons put
off the cars between stations while at
tempting to beat their way"
In 1891 party of meteorolOgists and
| biologists, under the direction of DR. G.
Hart Merriam. of the Agricultural de-
partment, made an exploration of the
valley and remained in camp there,
with considerable suffering. during the
entire summer season for the purpose
of making observation. They found
the average temperature was about
122 degrees. The thermometer some
times reached 13O and once touched
l3C The report of the temperature OBJ
server says: 1T is not only hot, but
consistently hot. and the heat is in
creased by hot blasts from the desert.
The heat and the movement of the air
makes this a very dry place. and the
relative humidity is low. The effects
of the extreme heat are very serious
Men exposed to the suns rays are fire.
quently driven insane. A story is told
of man driving in a load of boraX
who died suddenly with a water can
teen in his hand. Meat slaughtered at
night and cooked is spoiled the next
morning. Cut thin and dipped in brine
it can be cured in the sun in an hour.
A writing desk belonging to the eXpe-
diton curled, split and fell to pieces.
Tables We're warped into curious
shapes, chairs fell apart, water barrels
incautiously left empty Immediately
fell to pieces, but the most terrifying
aspects of nature We're the cloudbursts,
striking and not infrequent phenomena
for which the conditions are especially
favorable. They are concentrated
storms Of the utmost fury. A cloud
forms with great speed, grows black
and full of lightning, sags down to the
mountains and releases a flood of wa
ter The tales which come from the
canyons concerning these storms are
so marvellous that they border on the
mythical"
SOME STATISTICS
The meteorologists of the weather
bureau report that the humidity If
Death valley last year was % per cent,
whereas in Chicago it averages 70 per
cent, Washington u per cent and
other parts of the east from 20 to 90
per cent. The humidity in Death val
ley has been as low as IL per cent.
The total rainfall last year in Death
valley was lao inches, which is very
high. 1t is usually less than one inch,
while the total for Yuma, Ariz., is AIS
inches; Phoenix, Ariz,, 9S7; Flagstaff,
164; Los Angeles, 14,2S; Chicago, 1902;
Indianapolis, 47.O3; Washington, 44.72;