Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1912-12-04

YIN thN boLloli VI W Ni'tN'
States to the top thereof is a dis
lance of less than 100 miles.
The bottom j. in California; so
likewise is the top, The bottom Is
covered with boraX; the top Is GOV
cred with
Sounds ~puzzling doesn't it; But
the explanation is very simple, The
bottom is in Death Valley, 276 iect
below the level OF the ocean The
top is the peak of Mount Whitney,
l4,50l feet above sea level. The
distance between the two is ninety
two miles.
Gazing eastward from Mount
Whitney one can see Death Valley
or. more accurately speaking the
Panamint Range. which forms its
western boundary. Looking north.
the view extends more than 1901
miles. and within that distance there
high. 1t is the roof of the United
States.
Recently, the Government Geo
logical Survey took the trouble to
establish these figures with definite
e~xactness. incidentally settling TIL
old dispute as to which was the
highest mountain in the United
States, Whitney or Rainier. The
fact, as thus proved. is that the
former overtops its magnificent
rival by 40 feet, approximately. a
trinc perhaps. but enough to win by.
The Whitney summit, it ma be re
marked, is quite unlike that OF Ran
Ter. being a sharp and naked peak,
swept bare of snow by wind all the
year round. It's apex has been
marked by a pile OF rocks and an
aluminium tablet.
The figures in question were de
termincd by running a line of levels
IA task attended with extraordin-
airy difficulties and dangers. 1t was
necessary TO cross the most dread
full desert known to mar Ca valley
strewn with the corpses OF earlier
wayfarers). and to reach the summit
Of a mountain which not long ago
was supposed to be impossible to
climb. The last ten miles of their
Journey carried the surveyors from
the Tropic Zone to an Arctic region
of eternal SHOWS.
1t was an interesting trip. Let us
blow it in imagination-happily
wedding the physical hardships and
'erils which the actual Journey in
olved,
The line OF levels determined the
fact hat the lowest point in Death
Valley, and three miles east or a
running spring Of remarkably pure
water called Bennett's Well-the
said well being but ten feet higher,
266fect below sea level.
There are several springs OF more
or less potable water in Death Val
ley, II one knows where to look.
The trouble with the earlier way
farers was that they did not possess
the knowledge. Hense the scatter
ed remains of human beings and
Of horses-silent memorials OF many
q grim tragedy. The bodies OF men
and animals killed by thirst instead
Of d%ecaying, have been transformed
into mummies. owing to the ex-
IRENE dryness Of the air. A num-
Der Of emigrant trains were thus
destroyed in trying TO cross the
desert in former days, and in one
such instance forty people lost their
lives. But within recent years most
of Death Valleys victims have been
recently inferred. their graves being
marked by mounds with a piece of
rock at each end, and in some cases |
by a board with a name scrawled on
it in lead pencil,
The Government expedition which
was headed by r. Fl. Chapman and
George r. Davis. had the ADVANTAGE !
of knowing where the wells of goo,.l
water were located. In fact. there
is now a well-mapped trail through !
the valley. which is so marked out
as 20 strike springs at intervals. The