The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-27
TRAHE OF DEATH VALLEY.
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'ssmps. Set ~ iinetrrt ftom N" 'fafurs
" eit,ea ~ dsy Il ffSm night tFanpa with
ensbirs N IN hs re Ttey ~ mn have ~
bss f,od ran,es ~ them Though fear
tbsv Nv MT hsve Nv srHfch out sheitefiha
hsrns ~ nlshtfsl, 4 a~reaesw0ut bush IL
their shelter no sands ~ The d@seft theft
erirh
In spl,e ~ ~ ard ess'es. IN spite ~ the
dIaeomfrrta and tho p%1sitive dangers 10
xhlch sven woll ou,appei travellers 90 The
Isa-ri afr subjected. savs the san ffanciaoO
Ci ron feis. the great sandy plain IL coins
~ have y speciea ~ tramp all ite own, not
an ouigrowth from cilvllted PLACES, hut an
,rtginntlon ~ Its own. an Interesting ~ veil
a. navel branch ~ n worthless tribe.
Even Death Valley, tho most bafrOn
and dangerous ~ all deserts known 20
civilized man, has IL hoboca who wander
IN and down Ne dismal length through
Nil saasons ~ the year ave The very hottest
Part ~ the summer.
Tho headutmrtera ~ all desert tFampa
arr In some small town on tho borders n
the region over which they wander. Dag
gett has more than it, share 81 them. No
also has Randsburg, Johannesburg, Ivan.
nah, and all the reSt ~ the scattered aettle-
inPntA that dot the level plain. They ara
not numerous, These foot traveilers, yet
In proportion to the population they are
probably as plentiful ss their brethren
n the Coast are around San Francisco
and Los Angeles.
Their methods OF operation are, vastly
different from those Of the Coast hoboes.
Leaving Daggett, Ivanrah or whatever
little town they have numbered during
the months Of greatest heat, some time In
late September or October they strike out
alone across the desert. One p~eculiarity
Of this class Of tramps y that they, never
move about In companies. Indeed, one
desert hobo ia usually the sworn enemy
~ all the rest Of his kind. For clothing
they have such things az they can beg,
possibly a few earn a little money during
their months Of -idleness' in the town
and spend that for clothing, but as a rule
they are CARRIED in more different colors
HI was Joseph, though Of more subdusd
hue.
over his back the desert tramp sings
y runnysaok, in which are a couple OF
empty tin cans, a beer bottle or two Of water
and such food as he can beg or steal. Thus
equipped, usually without a weapon OF
any sort, he invades a country whlch mas
brought more men to death than any other
equal area in the world outside the great
hattlefelds.
Usually his first stop will be some twenty
five miles out at a desert ranch or a solitary
n H. -. - -axyAl AZ al
slowly as his food supply will let him. The
cactus fruit is ripening about the time OF
year in which he reaches the cactus fields,
and this helps him a bit on his way, and
there are huge chuckawallahs Qizards OF
two feet in leagth OF more with edible taiisl
10 be had for the killing, n with these he
can live for som time on a smgll actual
Where night overtakes him he sleeps,
and by dear experience he knows which
water holes he can depend on yet to contain
the life giving fluid. Should one OF these
tanks" fail him in time OF exceptional
drought he must push on to the next one
or retreat to the settlement whence he came
II either OF these Is too far for him TO- reach
he dies, as many of his kind have died ~
the wears that are gone, uncared for BY
man or beast, for not even the dogs OF the
desert will accompany these tramps on their
not stop to bury the tramp when his body
is found, which is not often; the sun and the
storms Of the boundless space take care Of
him when he dies, as, indeed, they did in
life.
But IL the water hole toward which he
tramrs does contain plenty OF water he
will sometimes camp near IL Tor several
DAYS. To these springs, too, come COCA
sional prospectors, alone save Tor their
faithful burros. When one of these whose
"grubstake' was extra large disappears,
his taking off Is usually charged to the
Piutes. More often, 80 I am told by old
desert men, some tramp has felled him with
a stone, and then. after robbing his saddle
into the heart Of the desert. 1t Is days
before the dead miner is discovered, some
times the days run into weeks, and Then
all trace of the murderer has been covered
up and he is somewhere far out on the
winding white trail, living on the food he
committed an awful crime TO get.
TINS circuit of ne desert tramps who
start out from Daggett frequently runs
sett they go out to the China Ranch or to
Resting Springs, thence on across low
lava hills into the Furnace Creek country
and down to the old borax works at the north
end Of the valley. From there 1t is a short
and compa ratively safe hike OF 9. couple
of hundred miles into some one of the min
ing camrs, so that their tramp, all told,
reaches very close to three and sometimes
four hundred miles.
On this journey water holes are far apart
anu NSis 0N
and the network OF trails so interviewer by
the feet Of prospectors and of burros that
they become a veritable maze to the man
who does not keep close watch on them
year by year. To make this circuit re-
quires at least nine months of the year
from late September or October to the
last of May. For the remainder Of the
year, as has been said. the tramp loafs
around some border town, where be has
10 behave himself; ropes and telegraph
roles and willing men are too near at hand
for the committing of crimes.
It is the lonely ranches on the desert
that suffer most from this class OF wan
derers. Coming TO the ranch house. they
insolently demand food and clothing. and
they get it, too, If they do not the hay
stack Is burned that night. or even the
house Is set on fire. II the family depends
on a spring Of water, as likely as not the
water hole will be filed with stones and
earth; frequently sprinGs along the trail
are so treated when the tramp thinks that
one of his enemies is likely to pass that
way in the near future and depend on the
presence of water in the tank for himself
an his stock.
One incident Of this kind NAV be told
to Illustrate the devilish schemes these
fellows concoct. A new manager was sent
TO the boraX plant on the northern rim OF