The Press., 1920-06-17
DESERT IN BLOOM
Irrigation Makes Garden Spot of
 Death Valley.
Furnace Creek Ranch, In Eastern Cal. ifornia, Probably the Most Isolated Farm In the WorId-Many
 Feet Below Sea Level.

Probably the most isolated farm in the world Is situated in certain spot l In eastern California, near the bottom of the United States, where some min- ing men have fitted out a ranch of some 65 acres. The place is known been made possible by irrigation, the
 water being piped from springs in the Funeral mountains.
 Edward HOgg, in describing the
 ranch. says that 1t "is situated IFS feet below sea level on the floor of the greatest depression on the face of the western hemisphere, within pis- higher than the greatest depth of Death valley. Yet, in spite of its pc culiar location, the ranch is within the shadow of Mount Whitney, whose eternal snows tower into the heavens to height of nearly three miles, the highest point of land in the conti-
 mental limits of the nation.
 Furthermore. Furnace Creek ranch is probably the only farm in the world
 where weeds are unknown. AS 1t is
 entirely artificial and surrounded by
 desert barrier, the seeds of noxiOus weeds have had no way of getting there, and unless they be imported by
 man, the ranch will undoubtedly al- ways remain free from them.
 Obviously the introduction of an abundant water supply was the prime requisite to make the ranch possible. This Is obtained from two large springs far back in the Funeral noun tains, which pour their streams upon the burned-out Death valley soil through two great aqueducts, one of steel and one of masonry. Part of the water is diverted along the route to freshen a heavy growth of willows planted to give shade to the water course. But in spite of this, the loss of water from evaporation is very great. and in summer the water emerges from the aqueduct at temper atures up to no degrees. Men and live stock. of course, cannot drink it so hot Cooling is therefore effected by means of large evaporation 'Ollas,' and the drinking water is quickly re- duced to 70 degrees in the hottest | weather.
 "The humidity of Death valleys at- l mOSphere varies like that of other places. but according to analyses made | hy the United States weather bureau. its air is the driest known. Its aver age moisture content is less than .O1 Loa al atile as gasoline and evaporating cool Ing is accomplished with great rapid ity. It is this speedy evaporation that has largely made Furnace Creek ranch possible. The ranch is primarily a
 hay farm, the principal crop being al-
 falfa, which is fed to cattle and hogs.
 After being dressed, the meat is sent
 to mining camps. The live stock
 could not live through the scorching
 summer if 1t were not for the cooling influence of shower baths with which their corrals are equipped. The cat tie, horses and mules are further pro- tected from the blistering winds by having the sides of their pens covered with sheet metal.
 White men cannot live long in the whitening heat. Consequently all the
 work about the ranch Is done by h.
 dians of the Piute and Shoshone
 tribes. under the direction of an edu-
 cated foreman. The average life of
 a white man in Death valley is very
 short. Three white foremen employed
 on the ranch lasted two summers each
 and perished during the third. Two
 others went insane and attempted to
 flee out of the valley on foot. Neither
 of them lived to get out of. the maze
 of Funeral mountain canyons.
 1.-The Stygian temperature of Death
 valley lasts for about five months of
 the year, usually from May until Oc-
 tober; the other months are cool and
 pleasant. Rain is virtually unknown.
 Consequently the irrigation of Funeral
 creek ranch is continuous"