The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-09
Prospectors in Death Valley in
Nevada Trying to Discover An
other Goldfelds or to Reach the
Tabled Mines of Walter Scott
The Crazy Search for Gold and
Some of the Stories to Which It
Gives Rise.
Allan Kelly in N. Y. Post.


During the months Of June and July
of this year, 1905, more men have per-
ished Of heat and thirst on the desert
between the Colorado river and the
southern end Of the Sierra Nevada than
were lost in that dreadful land during
has swarmed with prospectors ever since
the opening of the Salt Lake railroad
in May, all of them hoping to strike
leads as rich as those uncovered IN
Goldfelds and Bullfrog, and too eager
in their hunt for gold to wait until the
winter rains shall have restored the
flow Of infrequent springs, filed the
dried waterholes, and banished the in
fernal heat. .u..-
Victims of Their Own Fear.
G. W.. Turner, former owner Of an
oasis known as Indian Creek ranch in
Lincoln county, Nevada, told me some
thing about Death valley recently. Mr..
Turner is typical desert dweller,
bronzed as an Indian, lean and wiry,
tough as hickory, despite his 81 years,
and with hair and beard as black as jet.
| to Nevada overland in l849. Two or
three years ago he sold his ranch and
went to Oregon, but it was too wet for
him there, and he returned to the des-
ert, whose strange lure no man can re-
sist when once it takes grip on his
soul.
We were speaking of the seven pros.
valley in June, and Turner said:
81 have crossed Death valley often
and at all seasons, and I have learned
what it is that kills men there. 1t is
fear. The heat is awful, and when a
man faces the burning wind and his
eyeballs are scared by the glare of sun
light on the sand, he thinks he never
! will Io oh 10 o,6 blind Tor
ror seizes him. I knew one man who
killed himself when he still had can
teen full Of water. He wrote note
saying that he preferred sudden death
to the delirium that he felt coming on
him. and shot himself. 1t was the terri
bic heat that frightened him. There
are springs in Death valley, and there
is green timber in the mountains around
it. One who knows the location of the
waterholes can get thru all right if he
does not become panicstricken and weal
himself out in his blind haste to gel
somewhere. The sink might well bt
named the Valley Of Fear
Stories Of the mysterious trips Of Wal
ter Scott into Death Valley, and his re
turn with burro loads of virgin golt
from some fabulous hidden mine, hav'
lured men into that abomination of desc
lation, and none can tell how many hav
lost their way never to return.
The list Of known victims of tn
desert mounts up day by day. In tire
weeks, eleven dead prospectors wer
found, and eight others were ravini
maniacs when they were rescued. An
tn erescuers, moreover, were accidental
other travellers simply happened to fin
the mad wanderers. -.
James McRae's Adventure.
James McRae, miner, attempted t
cross Death Valley on horseback re
Gently. He knew the way, and the loca
, ton Of the water holes, and he carrie
cask Of water behind his saddle. Blu
the horse dropped under the terria
lheat, and McRae was compelled to abar
don the animal and make the rest o
| the Journey afoot. He filledshis cantee