Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-09-14

peratures Of So degrees or higher have occurred during
every month Of the year. The average number Of days
with maximum temperature of 10 degrees or higher in
June is four. in July ten and in August FIVE. In July and
August. l9lI. maximum temperatures of 10 degrees OK
higher were recorded on 43 consecutive days and during
the same summer maximum temperatures Of 100 degrees
or higher were recorded on l3 consecutive days.
This record was exceeded in 1916. however, when
10 consecutive days fell within this classification. Rec
ords Of this sort are comprehensive when one considers the
fact that maximum temperatures Of 100 degrees or higher
are Of almost daily occurrence in June. July and August
and that a monthly mean temperature Of 1868 degrees
occurred IN July. 1872"
But heat is not the whole story Of the climate Of Death
Valley. II can get cold there. too. Mr.. Eklund's study
shows that the temperature often drops 10 freezing point
or lower in the autumn and winter months. In December.
January and February. l926-l929. there were u feez-
ing days in a row. On January s. 1913. just SIX months
before the memorable record-breakinr l34-deqree Iulv
day. a temperature Of ID degrees was recorded. and the
following day the thermometer was only one degree higher.
This marked the minimum for the whole 20 years Of OBJ
servaion. as the l34 degrees marked the maximum.
DUT the ordinary autumn and winter temperatures in
I'D Death Valley are not 50 severe as that. II Is during
these seasons that most tourists now visit the valley.
tor there are good automobile roads and comfortable car
avansarles there now. and the place has become so populay
that the Y. 5. National Park Service has recently been
making an intensive survey Of the area. with the idea Of
setting II apart as = new natioT monument or possibly
even as a f~ulL-Aedged national park.
Further entries for public lands have been suspended
until the outcome OF this investigation is made known. Ma
tional Park authorities are understood to be favorably in
clincd toward the movement. which Of course has the warm
support OF CalifornIans and OF many people elsewhere who
have learned the real charm Of the desert.
In the tourist season Death Valley is comfortable. The
days are warm. but the nights are cool-"two-blanket"
nights as a rule. The best tourist season il from October
to April; after that there begin 10 Be warm nights.
But winter or summer. the visitor 10 Death Valley can
be reasonably sure Of fair weather. Not every wear can
equal the record Of the great drought of 1880 already
mentioned, with IFS 40l rainless days, but there is seldom
enough rain to spoil a picnic. When K does come. 10 ~
sure. ii Is apt 10 be a c~loudburst. which may Be- dangerous
If it catches you in a dry sream-bed. However. such un-
comfortable phenomena are very rare.
With so much heat and so little water. one would mai
urally expect to see the valley an absolute. staring desert.
with no leaf or stem Of plant life and not 80 much AZ an
insect to speak for the animal kingdom. Such were The
descriptions published by early California writers, who
never took the trouble to visit the region. but relied on the
tales OF horror told by survivors of trapped pioneer trains.
added 10 by their own Imagination.
But the fact IS that most Of the floor or The valley u
covered with vegetation. Several botanists have worked
in the place, and their lists total somewhere in the neigh
borhood OF zoo species. ranging from short-ived ANNALS
to the tough and useful mesquite. Some of these, Ike
sedges and cattails. live along the edges Of streams that
run down from the mountains and wander out. losing them
selves In fiat. marshy meadows. Others, however. brayeIy
live on the dry upland. holding their gray-green leaves like
defiant banners in the face of the tyrant sun.
And where there are plants there are also animals. There
IS a special variety Of the bighorn or mountain sheep that
Is found only in Death Valley and on its bordering noun
tain ranges Threatened with extinction a few wears ago.
these animals are now gwen the benefit of an absolute
closed season and are staging a hopeful comeback