The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1907-08-03

Silence is more han golden at mid
day in midsummer in the depths Of
Death Valley. 1t is almost h price
Of life itself. If one should attempt
to speak while the whitening, blasting
gusts are blowing, the result would
be similar to that of breathing in flame.
The throat is instantly parched. the
tongue thickens and the saliva ceases to
flow.
Precious are the drops that emenate
from the salivary glands and every eff
fort must be made to keep these organ
in steady performance of their functions.
The skin OF a lime, a twig or a small
pebble should be kept constantly under
the tongue. 1t is a saying of the "des-
ert rats that the chuckwallas that ven-
ture down to the borders Of the valley
take the last named precaution. but we
did not dare the allegation of nature
taking by investigating the huck-
wallas we found and publishing the re-
suit of our inquiry.
My companion, Hugh Hunter. and
myself-both rather inexperienced path
finders-have returned from an excur-
sion to Death Valley that was hazardous
in the extreme. ignorant as we were OF
the location of water holes. armed with
an Inaccurate map and confused by con-
ficting stories told us by people who
claimed to have thorough knowledge OF
this s~uperheated a~nte-chamber of hell.
Furthermore. the journey was made
on foot, each ~adventurer being weighted
by a heavy pack.
From Rhyolite the first stage Of the
excursion is easy, 1t being twelve miles
across a gently ascending plain to the
base of the Funeral range. whose diff
cut form the portals to the
valley.
Reaching the summit of his range In
the comparative cool of the July dawn
the eye is greeted by a sight such as is
given nowhere else to see. Had Dante
viewed this mingled grandeur and DESC
lation his Inferno would have had a set
ting of reality rather than of dreams.
The declivity to the valley is at a
perilous angle. save for the long. wind
ing roadway which we eschewed. In the
near foreground are rose-tipper, needle
like peaks. while apparently unfathom-
able " are still filled with the
ado of the night.
In the distance rise the Panamints
ten thousand feet in air. while beyond
them are described the submits OF
Whitney and the other eliminating
peaks of the Sierra, more than fourteen
thousand feet high-the Valley of Death
lying at our feet, growing momentarily
more and more distinct.
Neither words nor photography car
describe this profound cash in the anat-
omy of nature. 1t appals with its i'm
mensity, its desolation, it's silence. Be-
meath the shifting sands. thousands OF
feet below us, lie the bones of hundreds
of bold adventurers, for be it known
that us persisted in one party and
yearly the quote is added to by from
eight to thirty, although the records
give but a fraction of the roll of death.
Many perish every year who were
strangers in the land, who passed un-
noticed into the place of skulls, who
died down there on the great white
plain, unknelled and. perhaps. UNI
mourned.
The terrors of Death Valley rave not
been overrated. although the INITIATED
often mile as they hear the apparently
grossly exaggerated tales of travellers.
One Zundrsd and Fifty Degrees
1t is only in midsummer that the odds
are against the tenderfoot who ventures
into this hideous furnace, this charnal
house, although victims have been
claimed at all seasons
Believe me. it Is not exaggeration to
say that we experienced a temperature
of $50 degrees and perhaps more. fol
after climbing to q watering place l,sOe