Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-28
STRANCEST ELDORADO OF ALL
Boomers Boosting Death Valley as a Region
of Unbounded Wealth.
HARD AND HOT ROAD TO TRAVEL
sketch Of the valley of the shadow
Penned by Government survey
Ors-An Excellent Locality
to Keep Away From.

The mysterious impulse which induces
men to undergo great physical hardship and
tempt the grim reaper to action in the hunt
for gold Is spreading over California like
a plague. Nome and the Klondike have
been punctured and their highways as
usual marked by wrecked hopes and human
bones. The magnet in California, II re-
ports are to be believed. is Death valley, a
sinister hole In southern California which
does not need the services OF a fool killer
to fatten adjacent cemeteries. 1t needs no
assistance. as record proves. 1t works for
its name every hour Of the twenty-four and
every day and night OF the year. II not
kindly disposed to those who enter, Death
valley is generous TO the heirs Of its vic
Tins. Funeral expenses are unnecessary.
What is mortal dries UP and blows away.
II is we'll known that the valley of the
shadow contains much mineral wealth.
Most Of the borax now In use came from 1t.
So also do stories Of fabulous riches in
gold, silver, lead and copper, and these
stories are so framed as to excite cupidity
and promote a stampede. Now a stampede
to that sinister locality would be a god
send to outhtters and hotels and the rem
nants Of mushroom towns reared by the
boomers In 1897.
the Country Looks Like.
Boom descriptions Of Death valley are Of
a glowing character, we'll calculated to
gloss over the reputation Of the locality.
just what fortune hunters go against there
Is accurately detailed by government sur
veyors who explored the region. What
these surveyors observed and experienced
.aat-n.k. ahn.1I- .t4h haapa ofartaa and Ia
here given in substance:
The popular idea Of a desert is that It is
a perfectly level stretch Of sand, totally
devoid Of vegetation Of any kind, but this
would by no means be a description OF the
country through which we were now trav-
cling, though II Is as much a desert as the
Sahara or Atacama. A succession Of val
leys from Ave to fifteen miles in width are
separated by ranges Of Jagged and ex-
tremeiy broken hills or mountains, from a
few hundred to several thousand feet in
height. A person accustomed to the noun
tains Of the Appalachian system, and those
Of the east generally, can have but little
conception Of what one Of our party htly
termed the "upness and downness" of these
desert chains, and Of the difficulties TO be
surmounted in crossing them. Some of
these, notably the Panamint, Timber, Inyo
and Grapevine nges reach tremendous
heights and are impossible, except by pack
train.
The characteristic feature Of all the
mountains Of this region, however, is their
brilliant and varied coloring. They may
be steep, rugged, barren and generally
useless, but they are never monotonous.
Within a few miles Of each other can be
seen mountains of half a dozen different
shades Of color. One peak will be COM
posed of black volcanic rock and the one
next to 1t may be a gaudy yellow. TIL
lower part of a cliff may be blood red and
the upper part gray or brown, while in
many cases the strata form large and we'll
defined bands Of strikingly different colors.
The most notable example Of this display
is to be seen in the northern part of the
Funeral range and gives these otherwise
respectable mountains a very cheap chrome
appearance.
Hard Road to Travel.
Everywhere and in the most unexpected
places are the canyons, deep and gloomy
dehles, with, in most cases, absolutely
perpendicular sides. AS the only way to
cross one Of these mountain ranges is to
ascend a canyon to its head and 90 over
the backbone" to the head of . canyon
on the OLueT SLUG, lOilOWlnB i UOWh " 1AS
valley, 1t can be seen that these gorges
are one of the most important considera-
lions for a person who would go from one
valley to another without making a detour
of maybe 100 miles.
On entering one Of these valleys from
the side one crosses first a considerable
stretch Of tableland sloping gently toward
the lowest part. This Is composed of
smooth, rounded rocks, packed tightly to-
gether as IL cemented. Here and there are
deep gullies torn out by the torrents OF
water that sweep down from the mountain
canyons after the cloudbursts common to
all desert regions. Leaving this rocky
mesa, one crosses a comparatively narrow
strip of loose, deep sand mixed with gravel
and small stones, and beyond this, form
ing a bed Of the valley, a wide stretch Of a
soft, doughty mixture of salt, sand and soil,
or in some cases pure salt. These alkaline
marshes forming the beds Of the valley are
snow white and In the bright glare of the
sunlight have the appearance of water,
making a most effective mirage.
After crossing Granite range the descent
to the valley began and the route lay for
miles through a magnificent grove of yuccas
Valley after valley and many ranges of
hills were left behind. The fact that We
could carry only three days supply of
water made 1t absolutely necessary to
reach a spring within that time, so that
several hours OF each night were consumed
in travel. When the darkness became so
thick that further progress was impossible
the painting horses were unhitched and
doled out their pitiful allowance of water,
grain and baled hay, while the men, hungry
enough to eat anything, RECALLED them
selves on bacon, bareback and coffee, and,
rolling UP In their blankets, lay down on
the sand to sleep until daybreak. In the
morning, even before it was light enough
TO see, everything was astir. Horses were
fed and hitched to the wagons and the
cook again distributed his collection of in
diSestible b~ric-a-brac.
Each day was like its predecessor, except
that as we progressed the grades became
sleeper and the horses were more easily
fatigued. In the evening we reached Gran
tie spring, the FIRST water seen in three
days, and It was well that we did, as all
the barrels and casks were by this time
empty, and another day of work without
water would have proved a most severe
trial for the horses.
This spring wars found to contain about
two barrels of excellent water In a hole ten
feet deep, which had been dug by the borax