The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1907-08-08

49,
Review.)
Silence is more than golden at md
day IN midsummer M tne depths of
Death valley. 1t is almost the price
Of life itself. If one should attempt
gusts are blowing, the result wound
fame, The throat is instantly
parcned, the tangue thickens aud the
saliva ceases to now.
Pernlclous are the drops that ema-
nate from the sallvary glands and
every effort must u made to Keep
Shese organs in sleauy performance
lime, a twig or a small pebble saould
be kept constantly under the tongue.
1t is a saying OF the desert ra.s
that the chuckwallas tnaG venture
down to the borders OF the valley take
the last named precautlon, but we aid
not dare the allegation of mature
taxing" by investigating the cnuck-
wallas we found and publishing the
result OF our inquiry.
My companion, Hugh Hunter, n
myself both rather in, experienced
pathnnders-have returned from an
excursion to Death valley tina was
hazardous in the extreme, ignorant as
we were OF the location OF water
holes, armed with an inaccurate map
n conlus,d Cy conflicting st"ries
told US by people who claimed to ha G
thorough knowledge OF this supe.-
heated anLe-cnamoer Of hell
furthermore, tue journey was mad.
on foot, eacn adventurer being wight
ed by q heavy pack.
From Rhyolile the first stage IF the
excursion was easy, it being twelve
miles across the Funeral range, whose
difficult canyons form the portals 10
the valley.
Reaching the summit of this range
in the comparative cool of the July
dawn, the eye is greeted by a sigat
such as is given nowhere else to see.
Had Dante viewed this mingled grand
eur and ~desolation, his Inferno would
have had a setting of reality rather
than Of dreams.
The declivity to the valley is at a
perilous angle, save for the long,
winding roadway which we escheweu.
In the foreground are rose-tipped,
needle like peaks, while apparently
unfathomable canyons are still flied
with the shadows of the night.
In the distance rise b fanamints,
10000 leet in air, while beyond tnem
we descr ed the SUBMITS of Whitney
and Inc otner eliminating peas u
the Sierra, noe Than l4,vUO re-
high-the al y Oh leah ~ rs a.
our teeL, .ro". Ig ~arLy more
n Moie uls.04nct.
Neither worus nor photography can
describe this profound gasn in the
anatomy OF n.ture. 1t appais WITH
its immensely, It's desolation, it's si4-
lence. o,neath the shifting sa-as
tn0usanus U1 ret Ue4ow uS, lie tn~
bones Oh hundreds o. bod auventur
ers, Ior 20 1t Known that Ilo IN one
party perisheu, and yearly the quo.a
Is adued TO by from eight to thirty,
although the records give but a irdc-
ton Oh the roA, Of dea.h. Many per
ish ev.ry year who were strangers IN
the land, who passed unnoriced into
the place of skulls, VINO died down
there on the great white plain, un'
kntlied and, perhaps, unmourned.
The terrors of Dealh valley haye
not been overrated, although the un-
initiated often smile as they near the
apparently grossly exaggerated taies
Of travellers.
It is only in midsummer that the
odds are against the tenderfoot wac
ventures into this hideous furnace
this charnel house, although victims
have been claimed at all seasons.
Believe me, it is not exaggeration
to say that we experienced a temper
aature Of $50 degrees and perhaps
more, for after climbing to q watei.ng
place 1900 fest above the sea ievel
we found the temperature in the late
afternoon, in grateful shade, to be
lie degrees, while in the coolest hour
Of the night tn, thermometer at this
altitude registered l04.
Unsufferable as the heat is in
caim-when the eyes redden, a heavy
weight seems bearing down the cnes'
and a contracting band OF semi
molten metal encircles the throat
when he persp rat on gush.s from ev'
cry pore and the sands cannot be
touched lest tine hand DlssIer-unsuf-
ferable as is the calm, tn, breeze is
far worse. 1t 8 not ike the heat OF
the sun, ev,n sup~erlatively heated
but Their, seems TO be an open furnace
door in front Of the face. 1t wlthers
it overcomes. No a can lace IL.
What wonder tina. men tall to tie
sand and never rise agalns Ia a
few days thheir bodies are unrecog-
nizable. 1t does not becom, pDt.id
1t dessicates, leaving q parchbe-t-iike
skin, close clinging to the es'
Within a day, perhaps a few minutes
the sands DRIFT over the fallen bod es
The sands of this one-time arm OF
the Pacific are not granular they are
reduced almost to molecules. 1t is
impossible to grip a handful and re-
tain it, for the particles swiftly pass
through the clenched fingers.
There is nothing animate in the
desert, save for an occasional clump
of mesquite in that portion above sea
level line, or one or more rugged
varieties of cactus. The great, slug
gish, diamond back RATHER and the
little pugnacious sidewinder prefer the