Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-28
white salt. sixty miles long and fifteen
broad.
Distant view Of the valley.

white salt. sixty miles long and afteer
broad.
Distant view of the valley.
But the sight that interested us most was
far to the northeast Lying lower than any
Of The other valleys. nesting down between
p%recipitous red and brown mountains, hall
hidden in dim gray haze. was the shining
white OF the alkali marshes and the yellow
sand dunes Of the bottom of the Valley oil
Death.
The horses and mules we're driven in, the
wagons reloaded and the barrels rehlled
with water for the last long pull before
reaching the valley. The first two days
were spent in surmounting the low divide
above the wash Of the Amagorsa," and
then began the steep descent into Death
valley, down a long and tortuous stretch
Of treacherous, doughty, "salt-rising
ground" past the brine pit called Mesquit
well and the graves of the borax freight
ers who persisted here from thirst, until
the evening of the 21st, when we went
into camp at Benefits well, in the bottom
Of Death valley. below the level of the
sea. II was a weird, uncanny sort of place,
in thorough keeping with the stories Of ILL
fated wagon train and the lost prospectors.
Immediately west Of our camp was the
4 idhlN idhBti lOIuiu6 inc WSSNtIh wan
OF the valley, and extending it's entire
length north and south.
Telescope peak, as seen from this point,
is one of the worlds finest mountain views,
rising more than II, 1000 feet above the
beholder, a tremendous mass of black, red
and brown, unobstructed by Intervening
foot hills or mountains. Looking east
across the valley, the view lies over the
field Of salt and alkali, level as a floor
along the edges, but broken into hum
mocks in the middle. On the further side,
rising almost perpendicularly, is the
rugged mass OF the Funeral range.
Death Valley proper, that part Of the
depression extending from Mesquit valley
on the north to the wash of the Amar-
gosa" on the south, is about forty-1ve
miles long and fifteen broad. Mesquit val
ley is nothing more than an extension of
Death valley and has all the characteristics
of the latter place, from which It Is sep
arated by only a low range of sand hills.
1t is oval in form, about thirty by fifteen
miles in extent and has a slightly higher
altitude than Death valley.
In both valleys there are considerable
clumps of mesquit (Prosopis julihora), sew
eral kinds Of CROSSWORD and, as a matter
of course, the inevitable c]reosote bush;
but, besides these, there is little vegeta-
ton. Animal life is not abundant. Mice,
moles, horned toads, lizards, a few insects
and fewer birds constitute about all the
living creatures.
The stiffness of Death.
There Is little or no wind and over the
whole region hangs an awful and most i'm
p~ressive silence. Day after day and month
after month a fierce sun beats down from
a cloudless sky, making these valleys veri-
table furnaces of dry heat. The atmos-
phere is apparently totally devoid Of mois-
ture. and this, in addition to the intense
heat OF the summer season, is the cause OF
a constant longing for water which cannot
be satisfied by drinking a reasonable
amount. Every member of our party car
ried a gallon canteen on the horn Of his
saddle, and no one ventured any distance
from camp without taking with him this
supply of water.
In such conditions Of heat and dryness
there is, of course, rapid evaporation. The
body of a horse or mar will not decom-
pose, but becomes dried up or desiccated,
and finally crumbles to dust. 1t is the
above fact that has been the foundation for
a lot of arrant nonsense about the mummi-
fed remains of human being being scattered
all over the bed of the valley. A corpse
does become, in a certain sense, mummi-
fed, but not for all time. Several years ago,
in the month Of June, an employe Of the
borax company persisted from thirst In the
southern part of the valley, and his body,
which was not discovered until the follow
ing September, was at that time in a good
state Of preservation. This mans grave Is
the first one south of Benefits we'll.
A Freak River.
After a stay of a few days at this place
the party was again divided, one-half going
to Furnace Creek, in the northern part Of
the valley, and the other to a water hole,
facitiously named Saratoga SPRING" on
the lower Amargosa. Furnace Creek lies
on the east side Of the valley. about ten
miles from it's northern extremity. 1t is
not a creek at all, as one would surmise
from its name, but a small ditch OF warm
water fed by a powerful hot spring in the
Funeral range. This place was the scene
Of the former operations of the borax COM
pany and this ditch, nearly a mile long,
was dug to conduct the water to it's prop
erty.
This so-called river, the Amargosa, Is one
of the freaks Of nature so common In this
region. In some unknown spot in the
southwestern portion Of Nevada a number
of mineral hot springs unite to form a lit
tie stream, which sneaks off toward the
south, winding and twisting about among
salt marshes and sand dunes, crossing the
line between California and Nevada in half
a dozen places. here and there disappearing
from sight only to reappear a little larger
a few miles further on, until more than
eighty miles from its source 1t makes a
bold sweep around the southern end Of the
Funeral range. and is lost for the last time
among the salt marshes of Death Valley.
Such is that strangest and most unaccount-
able of rivers, the Amargosa. Its waters
are inconceivably vile. holding in solution
large quantities Of salt and soda, and are
worse than useless. being rank, deadly
very dirty soap suds.
In a few places along the Amargosa are
fresh water springs and considerable guam
titles of salt grass, the most notable being
Resting Spring and Ash Meadows.
Foreign Financial.
LONDON, Nov. 27-Money was in strong
demand today and discounts were frmer. |
Business on the Stock exchange chiefly
$1,000 - ~ -.ttl,waarf uha aflaVIanna |