The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-10-11
DENIzEN OF DEATH VALLEY.
Only Permanent Resident of the
Torid Region Takes First
Leave in 10 Years.

Mont Lee, most marvellous of men,
hascrept backfrom his horror-stricken
haunts in Death valley to Gods
try. Over the Mojave desert to the Cal
ifornia coast he has come for the first
breath of pure cool air that has reached
his lungs in Is years, says the San Fran
cisco Examiner.
Mont Lee is the only man whom the
t%errors and privations of Death val
ley cannot make afraid. Heis the only
man who can dwell in the shadow of
the Funeral mountains and not go mad
under the frightful strain to which
mind and body are there subjected. He
is the only man among all the hundreds
who have dared the deadly dangers of
that desert furnace, that fate has
spared, the only one who can dwell
from year to year in the hottest spot
on earth, where the thermometer
climbs to 40 degrees in the shade and
the cruel heat waves beat necessarily
upon their human victim until, pray
ing with parched lips for water, he
sinks dying to the sun-baked earth, "a
spectacle to haunt forever the memory
"a crazed and gibbering thing that is
more mummy than man, the life
choked out of him by that demon of the
desert sands, Thirst.
From Death valley, hotbed of human
suffering, grave of human despair,
comes the man whom the demon of
thirst has thus far tortured in vain.
For the first time in Is years of physic-
al torment he gazes upon green trees
and fertile fields and sees Nature smil-
ing benignly upon her children, while
yonder, by the frowning Funeral noun
tains, she shows a mood so merciless
that men, languishing upon her burn
ing bosom, wither into shapes that
none can recognize, and perish cursing
her to the last.
country to stay.
He is going back. In a few days the
desert will claim him. Mont Lee has
declared that Death valley will never
down him, and he has daily fought
death for Is dreary, desperate, lonely
years.
The season why Mont Lee dwells on
desert sands under a sky from which
not SO much as one plying %raindrop
ever falls is simple enough. He earns
a living there. The sum would not seem
n to tempt-$75 monthly and ex-
penses-but it is sufficient to lure Mont
Lee and hold him there, year after
year.
For Is years Mont Lee has had charge
of the Pacific Coast Borax company's
claim in Death valley. For the past five
years he has lived at the mouth of Fur
mace creek, near the Greenland ranch,
200 feet below the sea level on alkali
ground. He has outlived every mar
who has worked with him in the val
ley. One after another he has watched
them sicken and die, or go mac with the
misery that death only can relieve.
His task it has been to keep the sand
and alkali and the scorching winds that
sweep the desert from destroying their
wooden headstones. Grim, stolid, I'M
daunted, he has stuck to his post, with
Stay. His health is not what it was
when he ventured first into the valley,
though he is still strong, and burly of
face and figure. If the awfulness of his
environment weighs upon his spirits
he does not betray his emotion.
Lee has a squaw wife and several
half-breed children. His Indian COM
panion remains with him only a partof
the year.
Lees fate is prophesied by more than
one who wonders at his recklessness.
1t was predicted last year by an old and
experienced desert ranger named Ben
nett, of Ash Meadows, New, who lost
his life within a quarter of a mile of
Benefits wells in Death valley. Ben
nett was crossing to the Hot Springs,
and the terrific heat robbed him of his
reason. Jumping from the wagon he
tore off his clothing and groveleddn the
alkali water, although there were wa
ter barrels and shovels in his outfit.
Mont Lee saw Bennett die. He SCOTS
at the suggestion that he, too, will
some day succumb in the same way.
death valley" he repeats, twill new
er down me-"
There is little danger of sunstrokein
the valley. The air is too dry for that.
No mist wells the suns glare, and mois-
ture is unknown. The heat cracks the
lips, pinches the face until the blood
starts, swells the tongue, sucks the
moisture from the body-and then
comes madness, and upon the heels of
madness treads the specter, Death.
Mont Lee has a brother, Sam, who
assists him in his work. They have
helped to hunt and bury scores of
bodies since they went into the val
ley. 1t is the custom of miners in the
desert to establish the grave of an I'M
fortunate wayfarer bya piece of scant-
ling at the head and foot of each name-
less grave. Sandstorms tear away the
humble monuments and the next pass
erby replaces them. On Lees way back
to civilization recently he repaired the
graves of five soldiers who lost their
lives in the Fremont expedition.
1t is o Planned to provide Death
valley with sheet iron milestones. with
engraved directions, hat will be heat
and wind proof, guiding to the alkali
Hr.n A-. --1-