, 1902-06-11
H death VALLEY
NO KNOWN HOTTER OR DRIER SPOT
IN ALL THE WORLD.
Region OF Southern California That 10
Dreaded by Au-Grin stories o: Hard
ship and Death Within It, Rorters-
Sand storms OF F.ar.ui lnten,ity.

Dreaded by Ail-Grin stories q: Hard
ship and Death Within 1t, Rort.>-
s.ud storms OF Fear vi Intensity.
No complete exploration OF the
famed Death valley OF southern Cali
fornia has yer been made. owing to
the fact that few human beings could
endure the climatic conditions there.
The region is doubtless the most in
salubrious II torrid on the face OF
the earth. and the bones of men and
animals that stre~ its heated sands
testify to the fact that those who
named it fully understood its nature.
But despite the difficulties that have
confronted explorers an expedition is
now in the valley which gives prom
Use Of revealing to the world many
physical features hitherto matters OF
mere speculation. and adding greatly
to the sum of knowledge pertaining
to a vast territory 50 inhospitable as
to have inspired a popular dread only
paralleled by that which surrounds
the deadly upas tree of fable and
story.
Last November the expedition re-
ferred to started on its mission and
Is expected to conclude its researches
in May. 1t consists OF Il dozen Elmer
alogists. botanists and biologists of
California and several biologists from
Boston and Chicago.
Death valley lies in Inyo county.
about $50 miles from the nearest rail.
road. $50 miles from the Pacific ocean
and close beside the Nevada California
state line. 1t is a part Of the Mojave
and Colorado deserts and is the quint-
essence OF all that is melancholy.
grim II withered in desert charac-
teristics. The valley proper is about
100 miles long and 80 vide. All about
are mountain walls of bleached gran
lite. In some places the walls rise
sheer several thousand feet. The val
ley is scanned with deep canyons and
desolate whitened gulches. and there
pre but few places where one may
cross from one side of it to another.
In summer. when the mercury ranges
from 1925 to l45 in the shade and when
rocks are a ~shimmering white and
the alkali wastes are scorching, even
the strongest cannot make the jour
ney safely.
The bottom of the valley Is made
up of great areas of saline deposits.
beds of borax and salt, which. under
a strong sunshine. present a CHASTITY
appearance with their glistening
whiteness. There are dozens of crat-
ers of extinct volcanoes in the valley.
and with their blackened ruins and
coating Of dark cinders. acres in area,
the general Wilderness Of the valley
bottoms stands out all the more lone
ly and CHASTITY.
Sand hills that shift and grow and
diminish with every desert whirl-
wind abound, and great sink holes
(half a mile in diameter) are found
all over Death valley, as dry as pow.
der. with an alkaline sediment dry
on the bottom. where it was deposited
thousands Of years ago.
There is no known hotter. drier
spot in Africa or Asia. Birds which
abound in the Sierras do not wing
their way across this spot. Nature Is
absolutely lifeless in Death valley.
Nowhere else in all America is evap.
Grafton SO high. Ones thirst must be
slaked every few hours even in the
depth Of winter. and thirst soOn be-
comes raging and in half a day may
cause insanity. Many a hardy min
ing prospector has gone insane with
thirst in a few hours when on the
edge OF Death valley. The desert from
Mojave to the Searles bOraX works
OH the western edge of Death valley
Is frequently dotted with graves OF
transfers and prospectOrs who have
reeled and died on the hot sands when
they had run short of drinking wa.
ter.
SandstOrms are a serious thing on
the Colorado and Mojave deserts. but
nowhere do they approach the deadli-
ness OF a sandstone in Death valley.
The slmoons Of the Arabian deserts
are well known in literature. but the
present explorers of Death valley say
the simoOns are mere babes by the
side of a bowling gale Of hot sane in
this place. The not air rising from
the canyons and bottoms of the val.
leys encounters the cold atmosphere