Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-08-17
REMINDER OF A TRAGEDY.
Tale That the Gunstock from Death
Valley Tells


An old gunstock, white as a bone
light as a feather and full of waving
lines, made where the wood gasped II
the excruciating heat of the desert sink
we know as Death valley, is one of the
latest additions TO the Park museum.
The stock was picked up by j. W. Droal-
lard where a train of emigrants per-
tshed AZ years ago, and was presented
to the museum by jefferson G. James.
of this city. The carved cid stock
white as a skeleton, tells a good story
1t was found where large emigrant
party persisted in 1850 and where for
many years the tracks of the wagon
wheels and the marks of the fires could
still be seen, so deathly is natures still
ness in this remarkable region.
1t was from the fate of this very
party to which the old gunstock be-
longed that the region was named
They had the honor of christening the
place, but, like many pioneers, they
paid dearly for the privilege. 1t was a
party of 30 gold seekers, with their
wives and children, who came into the
lAoAli tJit cast all Oh
the deadly grasp of the country into
which they had so blithely ventured. |
After a one-day's camp they were SO |
overcome by the heat and still more |
terrible aridity that more than half /
their number persisted. A few escaped /
over the Panamint mountains to the
west and the others returned the way
they came. 1t was pitiful experience
Ten years later a party of prospectors
anne across the camp. with its wagons.
,hains, yokes, camp equipments, guns
md children's toys, to say nothing of
he melancholy skeletons of men, wom-
n and children and their faithful
loTses. Even the tracks made in the
and by the little ONES could still be-
raced. OF all the stories told of Cali
arnia pioneers, none is so fun Of hu.
nan interest as this, and yet 1t IS told
My by tradition, though survivors OF
he party still remain.
Then there was the "gunsight lead" !
me of the survivors of the party carried 7
piece of rock, probably "black METAL a
rom a spring he found in the Pana- t
hints, TO the settlements. A gunsmith I
hen asked to make a gunsight of il, }
'und it to be silver. Why should the c
DRY be considered incredible The leao v
rs been covered by the debris of !
oudburst. II may never be found :
1T there seems no good reason to doubt =
5 existence. =
There are hundreds of unknown ii
'aves in the region. Some are marked ci
I lonely crosses, others not at all. How Ii
amy men have wandered from the
all and have never been found no one
lows. At the lower end of the val OF
7 travellers used to pass six skeletons IN
one day, and near them were dec, Is
les dug beneath the greasewooG -
shes, where men, gone mad witt h.
irst, had dug their fingers to the bone ar
the search for water. Ii is a terrible Ar
yion, this country below the sea sh
lere only the dust storms come, where Sc
; stiffness is everlasting and wherc to
never rains. Mems bodies dry there. of
fruit dries under the process of evap- w
ltion, and woe betide the prospector ST.
% loses his way or does not know II
; location of the nearest water hole. VI
n such home the bleached anC
cked gun stock has been lying thess !
ny years, the wood starting and Ito
ping for the rain that never came use
! Francisco Chronicle. ice