Show I ACROSS DESERT BY AUTO OUT IN DEATH VALLEY lILLY THY THEY RUN COMPASS There Is one place In America where automobile drivers dri steer by the compass compa That is out In the tho desert country of southern Nevada and southeastern California Cali Call fornia ornia where new towns spring up overnight overnIght over overnight night about now found copper and silver and where men are too busy making fortunes to make roads Ten years cars n ago o no DO one dared to go o far into the w waste ste pI places R that lie east tat of th the Si Sierras and east eat and south of the black m range of the Only the wandering wan ivan dering prospector with his burro loaded with oi oil cans full fulI of water ventured out into the wastes of sand and cactus Now all aU that is gone cono The minin mining promoter takes the Pullman to Goldfield or south to Mojave ve beyond Tehachapi He Ire steps down from rom tho the plush and loath leath loather leather er upholstered car ear and aDd into a 60 horse power auto that that- will whisk him out of civilization in five minutes and through h the dreary mountains of brown Bla slag and sand to the newest mining town in the heart of the parched wilderness Vh Where re Stands Very cr near Dear the countr country where for twenty years cars men have o gone ono out into th the sage e and the tho cactus on vain hunt bunt for forth forthe forthe th the mythical Pe leg Smith mine is s the station of loj O on the Southern Pacific Pacific Pa Pa- and Santa Fe Fc railroads Mojave is right richt over ocr tho the high pass in the south south- em em bow how of the tho Sierras that divid divides s the wheat fields and fruit orchards orchard of the tho San Joaquin valley vaHey from the desert ert that stretches awa away over oer to th the continental divide in Colorado The worst part of that d desert ert be begins ins at Mojave There is a bi big garage always read ready with heavy machines that take one on a n wild plunge into the tho land of ster m mystery There is a semblance of a t roa road from e over o the low 10 ran range e of mountains into Death valle alle valley and aDd beyond to the new minin mining camps on In the lower ridges of the Funeral mountains It is only a semblance and the landmarks s are always always al ways matters of keen calculation to the chauffeurs because the winds that raco across the level loel sands make and unmake mountains and blot out trails in a week weeks week's a time Tho Trip to Skidoo If the tho venturesome venturesome- traveler wants to togo togo too go o to Skidoo th the mushroom camp about the tho great reat copper deposits at the north end of f Death valley aHey he hires on one I of the autos for a price that seems fabulous until he takes the trip once then ho hI marvels i that there thero aro are men and machines that can ran do the trick and come como out ont whole Well WelI watered and with extra butts of water stowed in available for awa away Cr c every place emergencies emergenci's with baggage battened down and protected 3 against dust by tarpaulins and with driver and passengers gers goggled and muffled against the whirling alkali the bt big machine puffs past s 's flourishing arra array of saloons saloons sa 81 sa- sa loons and in the winking of an eye oe is is out in the tho desert For tho most part the floor of the thc desert is hard baked by hy the suns of man years cars Everywhere between en the scrawny blotches of the r Joshua oshua trees trees- spindling cacti that wither like dead ghostly arms the arms the leprous leprous' scurf of tho the alkali shows white The Tue low hills lulls arc I pimpled with the blue bunches of tho the scrub sage There is not one thin thing green not a n thin thing that looks as if nater water wa wa- ter had touched it since tho the day da when the Colorado river dammed up the Gulf of CaI California fornin and aDd left an inland sea to stagnate there and pass away As the auto ploughs over the hum- hum mock floor of the tho plain or goes teetering teeter ing own the incline of some low hill hilla a hea heavy neavy Vj cloud of dust lust and fine tIne sand whirls up tip from under the wheels and coats the pa passengers with an inch deep crust The sun smashes down own from the tho coppery blue sky making the metal metalwork metalwork metalwork work on the thc ton eau blistering to the bare hand Red eyed cj-cd and gasping aspin for a fresh breath of air the men inca in the seats Beats see seethe seethe seethe the glimmer of the mira mirage e. e seemingly only a half a mile mile- away and watch the sl sky line lino of h hills melt and run into new forms with every change in direction T The e journey seems scorns to be over oyer the bald faco face of the moon where everything c is Jon long dead Stops at Dwelling Places There aro are some stopping places along tho the roa road 1 where men exist precariously These TheBe tho the chauffeur ma may strike or run runby runby runby by ip in his method of following only a astar astar astar star course through the pathless desert If t happens that the man nian at tho the wheel spies the tho shimmer of a tin vessel vesel or picks out tho the low roof of some some- shack off on tho ed edge e of a hill hilI he ho will wiIl turn off of the course and chug chug up to the dwelling place of one of these marooned people of the dr dry land It may bo be only to pass the tho time of lay day When our chauffeur takes the tho road aga again 1 he of course assists in in a bull by not DOt taking the tho road there being none in all probability Instead off the machine machine machine ma ma- chine in 8 swings 8 set dead ahead for the crooked finger er of Burnt Butte Maybe Marbe that stack of slag sing will be his guidepost for an hour then a turn around the base of a mountain and some somo other prominent peak in the blue black Pana Pana- mints will act as his director Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times if ho is new Dew to the tho road be lie will get out his compass Eventual Eventually after the burning hours of midda midday have passed and the sun has dropped behind the flaming crests of th the tho mountains suddenly become a vivid purple the lon long grade prado up the mountains mountains mountains moun moun- to Skidoo points to the end of the tho journey After tho the auto stops pantin panting in front of the general store hotel town office hall if a 3 little reckoning Is is s staken taken it will be found that tw twenty five miles an hour and sometimes more has been the general average for the tho desert junket This over oer no roads and rj right ht slap through the wilderness is pretty prett good time |