Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-08-27
THE Lure OF
Death VALLEY
Great furOaNCe Of the South.
west From Which Few
People Escape

Goldfeld, New, Aug. ga graphic
story, describing Death Valley, ap'
pears in the latest issue of the Terra
Bella News, edited by Earle r. Glenn
ems, formerly editor of the paper at
Rhyolite. Clemens is familiar with
Death Valley and was inspired to
write this story by the tragic death
in the valley a short time ago OF
Peter Busch, with whom the writer
had long been friendly. The article
in part follows:
Death ValyeX has lost none of its
terrors Of 40, when the gold hunters
persisted in their attempt to reach the
bonanza finds in California. The relics
OF that expedition yet remain on Salt
Creek to remind passersby OF a heroic
struggle against great odds.
Today Death Valley is practically
unchanged. True, p~rospectors have
explored its remotest corner; miners
have dug for gold and silver and cop
per in the hills on every side; camps
have been made and abandoned here
and there; water holes and stations
established in times of cross-valley
travel between the Panamints and the
Funnel range; a ranch has been de-
veloped on which figs and melons
and vegetables grow in great abund.
ance-the mecca Of hundreds of
desert pilgrims and sightseeing par,
ties; a stamp mill and an aerial tram
way have been built and operated,
,rskb to1anh1ro limo raoncinO m
civilization; twenty.mule teams have
invaded the depth and hauled out
borax; yet Death Valley. deep be-
tween the towering gray hills, sunk
en-, treacherOus, desolate. isolated, is
unaltered by the coming of man. II
is still the valley of death. claiming
its victims one by one, and harboring
many an unmarked grave.
Hottest Spot on Earth.
These lines ire prompted by the re
cen news of the death of an init.
mate friend, whose eight years Of
desert experience were of no avail
in an encounter with the terrors Of
Death Valley in July. If we think
that San Joaquin valley is torrid in
summer. as compared with othe"
clines, a visit to Death Valley will
dissipate the idea. Death Valley is
the hottest spot on earth in summer.
and it's near approach to that other
warm region was aptly told on q Sign
board which the writer ono saw in
The valley. reading something like
This:
-Four miles to Keane Wonder,
eight miles TO StOveDipe, 40 feet to
hell"
). One has no idea of the oppression
of the heat in Death VALLEY unless
he has a personal experience Of it.
The sun rises hot and sets hot, with
a night sky full of strange lights, like
the flashing Of firefies, the phos'
phOric phenomena of a weird, sponki
waste. The night brings some relief
but the new day dawns hotter, It
seems, than the day before. The wa
ter in your canteen is nauseat:ng as
it almost sizzles under the glare o:
the merciless Ill The air pressure.
hot from above and hot from below
almost staggers you, while your thick
tongue. swelling rapidly from thirst
all but strangles you.
The sand dunes, marked only bv
mesquite, swallow you with affordine
refuge from the heat; the wind blows
as if from out a fiery furnace; the
sand shifts with the wind and the
trail is lost; the burros may STAN.
pede and the last of our grub may
be hopelessly scattered. Many have
suffered horrible deaths insthat far
away and lonely place; gone mac
from thirst and hunger. thrown away
canteen, grub and clothing, and war
dered aimlessly only 10 lie down and
die, the prey of the coyotes and the