Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1912-12-04
Death Valley, Cal. and the Peak of
Mt. Whitney, Cal. the Lowest
and the Highest Points in u. S.
Respectively.
Truthful and Interesting Description of the
Different Varieties of Tropical and
Attic Vegetation between these two
Points.

traveller, arriving at a well, hnds
there a board sign with an inscrip-|
ton which tells him that the next
water" is perhaps tw~enty-seven |
miles further along re takes
enough to last him for that dis
lance. and thus accompanies the
journey by stages.
Imagine a narrow strip OF arid
plain shut in between two mighty
walls OF mountains, the peaks OF
which stretch up two miles into the
burning sky. Whatever there is OF
vegetation is extremely tnorny anc
spiny. while the animal life consists
mainly OF rattlesnakes, weird-look-
ing lizards. horned toads and scor-
pions and trantulas of astonishing
size. \ gray haze hangs over and
about the whole appearance OF
which there is something unearthly
the two ranges OF mountains look
ing like the backbones OF a couple
Of monstrous beasts.
Once upon a time the valley was
a long, narrow lake. Mineral salts,
brought by streams from the rocks
of the mountains. accumulated III
it. and when the water fnally dried
up were left behind in a sort OF
crust that extends over 4 large part
of the desert of today. This crust,
mainly composed OF common salt
and borax. forms a strip that is as
much a. ten miles wide in places.
1t is so glittering white in the sun
shine as to threaten blindness TO
anybody who ventures to gaze i'll
tently upon it. and in the distance
il looks like a sheet of water. Many
is the lost man who has been de
ceivcd by this false appearance.
Here. in the sub-cellar OF the
United States. the air is 50 dry that
the moisture OF the human body
cv~aporates with great rapidity.. One
needs to drink two or three gallons
of water a day, and still one is
thirsty all the time. If one did
nothing but sit down and drink
water he would still be thirsty.
The aspect of the deserr at night
is hardly less strange. It Is then
that the curious animal population.
hidden during the parclling heat of
the daytime. exhibits a horrid ac~
tivity. Ont conn the rattlcs1akes
and other reptiles from their holes,
and from their burrows emerge
short-tailed mice that Jump about
afte the manner OF ~2rasshopperS in
pursuit Of the scorpions on which
they exclusively feed. Standing
about here and there, and half Wis.,,
bic in the dim light. are specimens
of the dead man cactus" which.
five or six feet in height, look. with
their extended arms. like corpses in
uncanny attitudes.
Out Of thi, Valley OF Death the
expedition could not go by passing
directly over the Panamint Range, !
because the latter is too steep TO
be climbed. The landscape on that
side of the desert strip Is literally |
set on edge. the rocky barrier be
ing so precious that. ii the journey
were practicable, one would pass in
two miles from below the sea level
to an elevation of thirteen thousand
feet.
To get out. it i necessary 20 go
down TO the lower end of the valley.
which is about one hundred miles
long, and up through a ravine. De,p
pools at that end are inhabited By
eyelcss fishes OF a species unknown
anywhere else in the world. Some
distance beyond, and south Of the
Funeral Range. which hens in this
desert on the east, i Dead Mountain
supposed by the Indians OF the
ncighboring region to be the abode
Of their departed warriors. This no
ton comes from the fact that its
precipitous rocks are much broken
up. and the sun. shining on lis
white points and angles, makes the
mountains look from a distance as
If a whole convention OF ghosts was
assembled upon it.