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

with tnat OIL tne DOlIOllleSS PIT ihC
atmosphere Is totally devoid of mois-
ture and everything that is exposed
dries very rapidly. The body OF
horse or a man will not decompose,
but becomes desiccated and finally
crumbles to dust. Some time ago an
employe of the borax company perished
from thirst while trying to find a lost
mule, and his body lay from June until
the following September in a perfect
state of preservation, except that 1t
was shriveled by the heat and the
evaporation of moisture.
Such an atmosphere of course causes
an intense thirst in both men and ami
mails, and the Unsuitable longing for
water cannot be satisfied except by
copious drinking. In the northern part
of the valley is a sink of bitter water
which some facetious explorer christ
ened Saratoga Springs" and at the
southern end is a so-called river named
the Armagosa, which is one of the
strangest freaks of nature. In some
unknown spot across the Nevada boun-
dary a number of hot mineral springs
unite to form little stream which
runs off toward the south, winding
and twisting among the soft marshes
and the sand dunes. here and there dis
appearing from sight, only to emerge
again from the sand a few miles far
ther on until it makes a bold sweep
around the southern end of the Fu-
neral range of mountains and disap-
pears in the borax beds of Death val
ley 1t is one of the strangest and
most unacCOuntable of rivers. IT'S
waters are inconceivably vile. They
hold in solution large quantities of salt,
soda, boraX and other minerals, and
are a deadly poison. People who have
drunk Of them have always perished.
Dreadful as Death valley is, its
northwestern arm, known as Mesquite
valley is worse. All the waters upon
its surface are poison, and down
through the canyon hot. suffocating
wind blows with terrible velocity. Du'-
ing its course through the desert it
frequently gathers clouds of white sand
that have blinded many a horse and
rider, and at frequent intervals t.
Whirls down the canyon like a cyclone
of sharp crystals. Under the glisten-
ing beds of salt and bOrax are con-
cealed streams of salt water which
flow sluggshly toward some unknown
outlet or may be Tapped up by the
parched winds.
One of the strangest phenomena OF
this extraordinary place is what from
tiersmen. for want of a better name,
have called raising earth" BY the
action of the sun a crust composed of
minerals and clay has been formed on
the surface, and by some curious pres
sure of nature has been lifted from the
earth in irrpu11 a purN,pc lilo "a,
and the solid earth varies from one to
ten feet, and the depth frequently
changes after heavy wind storms by
the displacement of the air beneath.
The man or the animal that steps upon
this crust is gone forever 1t is abso-
lutely impossible for any one to cxtri-
cate himself when plunging in the
raising earth"
Another phenomenon that appears
frequently in Mesquite valley is in
Vulnerable pinnacles of salt and borax
that rise from the ground to the height
of foot or eighteen inches. They are
perhaps from four to six inches in dia .
meter at the base and taper off until
the points are as sharp as needles and
| as hard as steel An animal that falls
upon them is cut to pieces, and they
| are frequently made more dangerous
by being covered with the drifting
| sands. They call this "the DEVILS play
ground"
WHEN THE VALLEY BECAME FA-
NOUS
Death valley first became famous. -
| rather infamous, because of the expert
ence of caravan of argOnauts who
| called themselves the jayhawkers.
| They started from Galesburg, ILL.,, on
April 8, 1S49, to find their fortunes in
California. When they reached salt
Lake City they were showed in, and
being impatient to reach the gold fields
| Joined several other parties under the
| leadership of a Mormon elder nam "a
Hunt in an attempt to cross the noun
tains through southern California.
They went southwest from Salt Lake
city, crossed the lower part of Ne
Vada, and entered Death valley, where
| they wandered for four months. For
hfty-tWo days they had no food except
| their emaciated oxen, but they finally
came out of the awful desert and en-
tered Santa Clara valley. where they
We're kindly received and cared for a t
| the ranch OF a Spaniard named Fran
| cisco.
Every year since 1872 the survivors
OF this fearful experience have had n
reunion. The last was attended bv
| only fOur-COlOnel John b. Cotton. of
Kansas City; Alonzo G. Clay, of Gales
Durg, H., l.. A. Richards of Beaver
| city, Neb., and Charles Il. Mecum, of
Perry, Ia. Eight other survivors sent
messages. 1t is very remarkable that
| so rev lost their lives. The party was
was composed of thirty-five men, one
woman and two children. Three died
| IN the desert, one expired from ioy
at the end of the journey and another
was driven insane and was lost. I'm
der the circumstances they can be par-
doned for telling some extraordinary
tales, which lost ntne of their sensa l.
tional features by being told and re-
told in every mining camp on the Pa .
cltic slope until the region which has
real terrors enough to entitle it to the
distinction Of being the most danger
Gus spot on the globe was magnifol
into vsrtable hell of horrors from
which no one could return alive,
FATE OF PROsPECTORS.
The valley, surrounded on all sides
by the vast expanse of arid, stony des-
ert and precipitous mountain chains.
remained practically unknown to the
outside world for many years, al
though it was visited in the year 1867
by Lieutenant Charles f. Bendire and
by Lieutenant Wheeler in 1871. In the
early '70s silver and gold were dis
covered in the Panamit mountains,
near by. and mining camp was es-
tablished in Surprise canyon, on the
side of the range opposite Death val