Las Vegas age. [volume] (Las Vegas, Nev.) 1905-1947, 1927-06-04
DEATH VALLEY NOW
EASILY ACCESSIBLE
Roads Into Desert Areas Are
Good.-Depth of Great De-
preston Below Level OF
Sea Shown.


the Bishop Reg .ster, is published,
as it gives a fne description OF
the valley and the way in and
out:
The road as a whole is in good
coalition Darwin Wash offers
the first slow-speed going. The
EIchbaum toll road is good, oc-
casiOnal dips being the chief oc-
casions for slowing up now and
then; it is being improved besides
Bungalow City, about 10 miles
from Lone Pine, is the present
terminus of the toll road; The lat
ter is to be extended over the
sand dunes to SJovepipe Wells,
five miles further. Mr.. Eichbaum
expects to overcome the ever
shifting sands by laying hard
SURFACED road, which he expects
the winds to keep Wept clean.
1t takes what the present day
calls vision, enterprise, courage
and no small amount OF cash to
launch a venture like Bungalow
City with its attendant items Of
highway, water supply and other
details. The undertaking has been
frequently referred TO as The Wrig-
ley enterprise. Mrs Eichbaum
assured the writer that this is
a completely mistaken belief. Mr.
Eichbaum and herself with their
home at Catalina, are the sole
financial hackers and promoters
of the enterprise.
Whatever old desert rat may
wander that way, without know
ing of Bungalow City. will surely
disbelieve his own eyes oE be-
holding its neat buildings and
understanding the grade of ac-
commodations available Eleeuia
lights and water pumped from
wells are supplied. Service is
given by a small staff of Uniform
ed help. Fresh milk and vege-
tables, hauled over the Death Val
.ey railroad ending at Ryan, then
t. the city" by truck, and fresh
meats, from Lone Pine, help in
making up as satisfying a menu
as any traveller could ask. Mr.
and Mrs. Eichbaum have under
taken a development which merits
success.
At present the road On toward
Stovepipe Wells is a detour, and
a rough one for probably six
miles Beyond that it is again
good with the exception of 10 or
2 miles between Ryan and Death
Valley Junction. Supervisor Brown
at Shoshone, stated that he ex-
pected to begin work on the last
mentioned stretch in a few days.
Here and there are seen objects
especially characteristic OF the
country. Occasional bench marks,
showing 23O, 263, or other num-
Der of feet below sea level are
visible. At one point stones have
been piled up in gravemound
shape, running north and south,
and with a penciled marbled slab
purporting to record the burial of
q man there last summer. The
whole thing looks like a fake, as
Death Valley people said they be-
lieved it to be- But there are
plenty of graves in the region,
mostly unmarked in all probabili
ty. Two of them are near where
the road reaches the salt bed
known as the Devils Golf Course.
The road passes the ruins of
the old Harmony bOrax works, the
first built in Death Valley by F.
NJ. Smith, in the early SOS. Parts
of the Old engine, the borax watts,
and parts of the adobe walls of
the mill and of the dwellings OF
workmen, are there to be seen by
the curious. Some of the sage
brush gathered for fuel is still
there, and cooked a meal for us
in the old mill as well as if it
had not been weathering for more
than 40 years.
Three miles beyond is the Fur
mace Creek Ranch, itself good for
an interesting chapter. A mile
more, and the Furnace Greek inn
is reached, a completely modern
hostelry in every respect, with I
the staff and accommodations OF
a good city hotel. 1t stands on |
hill, the perpendicular walls OF
which give the appearance OF a
huge foundation put there to raise |
the structure above all danger OF
the cloudbursts which are the oc- |
Casional and paradoxicaI terrors
of the region.
Eight miles sOutherly, along the |
old borax-team road, the Devils !
Golf Course begins 1t is a bed /
of salt miles in surface, dimen-
sion and of greater depth than we
have heard OF any one measuring. |
1t is a level spread, speaking in
broad sense, it more detail, |
there is probably not a single
square foot of level space on the
whole expanse. Tn surfac is torn !
and twisted and otherwise shap !
ed into a mass of Jagged peaks,
ridges and depreisions. Where I
visited, the peaks are compare
lively low, with an S-inch differ
ence of level uncommon; but fur
ther toward the west, the points
and chunks are three to four feet
above the lower spots. The bed
is not exactly salt. but salty; a
taste of a white exposed surface
gave only a very mild saline i'm
preston. EPSON salts and other
chemicals are in the compound,
and a large part of the makeup is
starlight dirt. giving the idea of