The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-15

ONAASA "a NAAC OAQ lHCll lHGy
the following:
1t was in the fall of 81 that a party
came down Amargosa way with two
worn-out OK teams. The party had
left Independence, Mo. that spring.
but had been delayed by sickness and
had once lost its way and had left
the trail. Consequently they did not
approach the Sierra Nevada mountains
until the nearness of winter prohibit
ed their passage. They had, therefore,
turned south from Humboldt sink and
had taken the southern route by way
of the Salt Lake and Los Angeles TRAN.
one or two of the women and several
of the children had died on the way.
one of the wagons had broken down
and the oxen were Gs thin and worn
that all were attached to the best
wagon and the others abandoned, as
were some of their goods. The re-
naming women, children and outfit
were packed in one wagon, and with
the men on foot the sorrowful little
caValcade toiled on toward Ell Do
RADIO Nothing more was seen or heard
of them by the Amargosa settlers and
1t was presumed they had gone
through in safety. The grewsome find
at the poison spring tells a different
tale. 1t is a tale easy in the reading
for men who travel the desert and
know IL better than you know The
park.
If They Had But known.
Oxen in the desert are worse than
useless: they cannot haul enough wa
ter for their own needs. 1t is a long
thirsty way from water to water be-
tween the sink of the Amargosa and
Death valley if one does not know
and the party from Independence did
not. If they had they would have dug
few feet in the dry sand of the bed
of the lost Amargosa and found wa
ter-bitter, it is true, but it would
have preserved life. Neither did they
know that if with ak or Ratchet they
had split the huge bull or "nigger-
head" juicy pulp that would have
moistened the parched threats of their
oxen and themselves. But all this they
did not know and struggled on with
staring eyes and parched and cracking
tongues through the hot and sitting
alkali dust, straining their eyes across
the dreary, dull gray waste for spot
of green that might mark the presence
of water They saw that spot at the
foot of the Panamints and headed for
it, goading on their dragging, jaded
oxen. They reached 1t and all drank
their fill. That was fifty-one years
ago and their dry bones have just been
found. Pickett found an old Indian
who remembered seeing, years ago.
an abandoned, tumble down wagon
standing near the spring.
The woodwork of the wheels had
dried and fallen apart and the running
gears were held up only by the rusted
tires. How many years ago the Indian
did not know. he did not measure time
by years. Since that time the drifting
sand hRatan hack NV the ~
basalt and granite as the shore beats
back the surf had buried the evidence
of its crime. 1t requires no stretch
of the imagination to picture that scene
of lonely death, the little party of
tortured immigrants dying at the mo-
ment they thought life had been found.
That part of Death valley lying be-
low the level of the sea is only about
eighteen miles long and three or four
in width. but the Death valley proper
is about seventy-f1ve miles long and
from five to fifteen miles wide. AS
miles go the distance, with water, is
not far: without water, eternity lies
between one and the little black dots
on the map that mark the location of
water There are true and
correct maps of the valley,
but they are scared on the brains of
a few hardy prospectors. There have
been men who thought they could
cross that country alone and with the
aid of a Typographical map. Their
bleaching bones offer mute but indis-
putable evidence of their error of judg-
ment.
Madness the Result of Thirst.
In the cooler seasons men Injured to
the hardships of the desert have been
known to go for several days without
water, subsisting on the juice of the
cactus; in the summer season from
twenty-four to thirty-six hours is suf-
newcomer. a "tenderfoot,'' will go
stark, raving mad in from four to
eight hours in hot weather if he has
not water. OF such men three gall
Ions of water per day is necessary
the hot dry atmosphere causing a
rapid evaporation and phenomenal
thirst During the days in the mid
die of the summer the thermometer
stands anywhere from 1875 to 1876 de-
grees in the shade in the coolest place
that can be found. On the sand in
the sun the hight to which the mer-
curry climbs is almost beyond belief.
Only the excessive drynesS of the at
mosphere permits one to live in such
heat. Given the humidity of San
Francisco in the same temperature
and neither man nor animal could live
in it a day. 1t is this terrible heat
that boils the blood of ''tenderfoot''
until the steam cooks the brain and
drives him, a naked maniac, Shrek
ing wildly across the blistering sands.
II is a neculjar fea tilre ALWAYS ac